Latest News
Introducing… Black International!
Black International have released 'A Fence To Keep People Out', a free download track taken from their forthcoming album A Lesson In Repression. The video that accompanies the song premiered on Exclaim!.
You can download 'A Fence To Keep People Out' for free via the ABoF SoundCloud page.
The duo make music that dwells in the dark spaces between the floorboards, the cracks in the walls, so it's only fitting that their video was filmed on the site of an abandoned mental hospital. There are two of them, but their gut wrenching sound could fill a catacomb. You can watch it now via the band's YouTube channel.
Band members Stewart Allan (vocals, guitar & keyboards) and Craig Peebles (drums & percussion), from Midlothian, Scotland, took over a former Victorian manse and temporarily transformed it into a working studio. This allowed the duo to live and breathe the creative processes of their sophomore album, improvising structures, words and arrangements. With the aid of sound engineer Andrew Bush (The Twilight Sad), they were successfully able to capture the raw, visceral energy of their live show in combination with more textural and stripped-back work, creating music with elements of contemporaries such as Shellac, The Fall and Sonic Youth, but also drawing from wider sources in electronica and post-rock.
A Lesson In Repression is Black International’s second album, following their debut In Debt. They’ve used it as a means to reset their creative boundaries, and open up new avenues for exploration. Live, they’ve graced the stages of Wickerman, Tramlines, GoNorth and Oxjam Festivals, have heard their music played on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio Scotland and have supported the likes of Speedy Ortiz and Die! Die! Die! The remainder of 2015 will involve the release of the forthcoming album, live performances throughout the UK and may even see them take over another unsuspecting space to record their next EP.
A Lesson In Repression is released via Good Grief Records on 30th October 2015.
Introducing… Beach Fatigue!
Beach Fatigue release their first single Drunken Grrrls on 30th October 2015 via Kool Girl Records.
Previously known as Heavy Petting Zoo - the band who surprised audiences with their menacing garage rock and lively shows - they have recently had a name change as they get ready to launch their debut album. And yes, they still have that dancer.
Drunken Grrrls will be the first cut from their forthcoming long player and will see the band continue to explore their blend of garage-surf rock and powerful riot grrrl vocals as heard on previous singles Crash (Too Pure Singles Club, 2014), and Isabelle (Joy Formidable split single, 2015) - which has seen them gather attention over the last few years.
You can stream Drunken Grrrls via the ABoF SoundCloud page.
Formed in Swansea, the band’s members - Amy Zachariah (vocals), Ben Rodway (guitars), Joe Rees (bass & vocals), Billy Horwood (drums) and Jon (dancing) - all went to the same comprehensive school as the city’s most famous figure - Dylan Thomas.
Beach Fatigue have previously played alongside the likes of Menace Beach, Eagulls and Evans the Death, and have played at Green Man, Reading & Leeds Festivals and return to Swn Festival in November this year.
Since their inception, the band have received continuous support from BBC Radio Wales’ Adam Walton and Bethan Elfyn. And since their surprising appearance at Cardiff’s Swn Festival in 2013 - which saw them receive a 9/10 from NME’s Laura Snapes - they’ve received plays from Radio One (Huw Stephens, Jen & Alley), 6 Music (Tom Robinson, Steve Lamacq, Nemone), Amazing Radio (Shell Zenner, Simon Raymonde, Gill Mills) and XFM (John Kennedy). Whilst blogs like Sweeping the Nation, Little Indie Blogs and God Is In the TV have followed their progress with glowing reviews.
Drunken Grrrls is released 30th October 2015 via Kool Girl Records.
Watch Adam Cleaver’s video for ‘Man or Beast’!
"…poetic lyricism is matched to a voice capable of swooping up into the heavens." - Clash
Adam Cleaver has released the video for EP title track and single Man Or Beast, a captivating alternative folk song that captures Adam's personal journey through his twenties.
The video premiered on TMRW Magazine's website, who described it as "uplifting and anthemic". You can watch it now via Adam's YouTube channel.
You can also stream the single on SoundCloud.
Man Or Beast is very personal for Cleaver. The single is about making big decisions and the drastic changes they may bring but Adam is all about the bigger picture and ultimately that’s the message of the single - something everyone can relate to at any point in their life. Musically, Adam’s influences range from Fleet Foxes to Iron & Wine, however, on the EP he hones these influences with a modern edge think Fleet Foxes meets Hozier but with Adam’s signature sweet, beguiling vocals.
Filled with rumbling drum beats, anthemic riffs and Adam’s entrancing vocals, Man or Beast is an enthralling listen from start to finish. Each track marks a point of artistic evolution for Cleaver as he sings about his struggle to reach honesty whilst dealing with a wealth of emotions that feel all too human. Man or Beast is an EP that questions fears, anxieties and trust.
Adam Cleaver worked with Matt Harris (HAWK) on Man or Beast creating a beautiful, organic sound prevalent throughout the EP. Adam has already received support from BBC 6Music’s Lauren Laverne who featured Adam’s The Salt Mine as her ‘Headphones Moment’ as well as playing the track multiple times on her show. The Salt Mine has also been featured on Clash, Amazing Radio and John Kennedy’s XFM show but with this forthcoming EP, Adam is raising the stakes and is ready to show us what he’s really made of.
The video for single The Salt Mine premiered on Clash Magazine's website, and you can watch it now on YouTube and download it for free via SoundCloud.
Man or Beast is out on September 18th via Veta Records.
Introducing… Strange & Primitive!
“…a journey through exotic, electro-tinged and undeniably catchy soundscapes.” - Exclaim!
Canadian duo Strange & Primitive's self-titled debut album is a cerebral journey through sound and space. Synth-infused melodies, dissonant beats, off-kilter riffs and emotive vocals fuse together, creating unique and intricate circuitry. Strange & Primitive is an album that feels like a newborn sentient being, its neurons pulsing with dark energy brought to life by the band’s curiosity to explore their musical boundaries.
Originally writing instrumental songs together, Jeff Musgrave and Graham Fish decided that vocals would give the band a more ‘human’ element to the music. The album is full of metaphors, riddles, dark fantasies and the pair’s deepest inner workings as they question people, life, motives, communication and power.
You can watch the video for singles Difficulties Be Damned and Eureka on the band's YouTube channel.
You can also stream the singles via Strange & Primitive's SoundCloud page.
There’s a distinct 80s flavour to the album, albeit the darker side of the era. Difficulties Be Damned is tense - tribal beats and robotic synths entwine, crescendoing with electronic eloquence. The track is trance-like, with Musgrave channelling Mark Hollis-esque vocals, in homage to influences like Talk Talk. ‘Eureka’ is lighter in comparison but still in keeping with the bands brooding sound. ‘The Hunt Is Over’ harks back to the aforementioned Talk Talk’s moodier moments whilst track ‘Highwayman’ takes us for a drive in the dead of night, synth-laden beats and guitars fuelling the journey as the band steer us towards an end point that seems to mysteriously dim as we get ever closer. ‘Keep Your Eyes On Daylight’ is the one instrumental track on the album, which gives us an insight into the less ‘human’ element of the band, before they decided to add vocals to the proceedings. The 7-minute track breaks the continuity at the exact half-way point of the album as we reach our second act. Its filmic, futuristic quality sounds like a Tron: Legacy soundtrack that could have been.
Jeff and Graham grew up on different sides of Canada. Jeff was born in Osaka, Japan but brought up in Vancouver, with Graham born and raised in Guelph, Ontario. Jeff moved to Guelph to attend University in 2005, where he met Graham after responding to an advert looking for a singer / guitarist. They enjoyed jamming together, infusing their styles, honing their craft and released an instrumental album Melody In The Half-Light in 2012 under the name Audiograft. Self-titled album Strange & Primitive is their latest creation - a rebirth of enmeshed styles, influences and experiences.
In the studio, the pair take on whatever role is required of them with the exception that Jeff sings on every track. As Strange & Primitive they are one heart, one soul, one melodic organism brought to life by music.
Strange & Primitive’s self-titled debut album is released in the UK via The Deep Floor Inc. on 20th November 2015.
Watch The Jaguar Club’s video for ‘Hard Cider’!
“...jagged guitars, off-kilter synths and soaring vocal harmonies” - The Line Of Best Fit
The Jaguar Club have released the video for ‘Hard Cider', a track taken from their EP Close.
The video is a sumptuous blend of claymation, hand drawn animation and photography depicting scenes of love, companionship and mourning. The video premiered on The Quietus, and you can watch it now via the band's YouTube channel.
You can also download the track for free via The Jaguar Club's SoundCloud page.
The video for the band's previous video 'Stringer' premiered on The Line Of Best Fit. You can watch it on YouTube and download it for free via Soundcloud.
Originally a trio formed in 2006, The Jaguar Club’s line up includes founding members William Popadic (vocals & guitar) and Yoichiro Fujita (bass & vocals) along side new additions Nadia Brittingham (keys, guitar & vocals), Gavin Dunaway (guitar) and Patrick Eager (drums). They will be spending the remainder of 2015 touring, including winter dates in the UK and developing material on the road for their next release, a full length album.
EP Close was inspired by a return to the idea of a band being "a band.” Someone writes a song and then the group completely re-moulds it fighting to fit their best ideas in. Hoping to catch the magic of the rehearsal room, the EP came together over a week in a DUMBO Brooklyn studio under the guidance of Nick Stumpf (French Kicks, Caveman, etc). Tracked largely live in the studio with minimal overdubs, the result sounds like a band… and a great one at that.
Close is released via Sleepwalking and is available to buy digitally on iTunes.