Latest News
Introducing… Mausi
Mausi, fronted by Italian born siblings Daisy and Thomas Finetto, formed after meeting Ben Brown and Benji Huntrods at university in Newcastle. After ambitiously performing an accappella cover of Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek” at their first gig, the foursome were convinced of their undoubted talent and decided to go off and write some songs. Mausi were officially born.
The band wasted no time in releasing their debut single, Follow Me Home, via Racecar Music, a label they set up themselves, in March. The single exhibited the uplifting harmonies allied to an alternative pop sound that splices the best elements of bands such as Phoenix and Mates of State.
New single, Sol, further enhances Mausi’s reputation to produce fun, danceable tunes, building on the pop foundations with subtle disco influences from the likes of Damn Arms and Pony Pony Run Run. Daisy and Thomas’ harmonies melt your heart with a sense of warmth and positivity backed up by a beat that it is unashamedly dancey. Backing lyrics exclaiming “Dance, Dance, Dance” highlight the band's intentions and elevate Sol to loveable catchy levels.
The video for Sol is availabe to watch now on Mausi's YouTube channel.
Having promoted a sold-out single launch at The Cluny in March as well as supporting acts such as Thomas Tantrum and Dutch Uncles, Mausi look set to build upon this and bring their latest offering to a wider audience.
Sol will bring a hint of summer back to brighten the onset of those Autumnal hues and will definitely have you longing for more Mausi-inspired indie-pop.
Sol is available to download for free via the band's official website.
Alternatively, you can stream Sol via the band's Soundcloud page.
sol. by mausi
The Shaking Sensation Album Scores 4/5 in Artrocker Magazine!
Danish post-rockers, The Shaking Sensations, are due to release their debut album next week and have been given a resounding thumbs up by Artrocker Magazine, who scored the record 4/5!
"Post rock magic tricks from Denmark here, wih a hint of Sigur Ros' icicles forming on tracks such as 'Our Hearts Were Young and Gay'." - Artrocker Magazine
You can read the full review HERE.
If you fancy a little taster of what the bands epic sound, you can have a listen to "Glass Wings" on the ABoF SoundCloud page.
East of Youth is out on September 12th 2011 on Pad & Pen Records.
For more information about The Shaking Sensations, Pad & Pen Records or our PR services, please email info@abadgeoffriendship.com.
Keith TOTP free MP3 featured on Indiependents.
Keith Top Of The Pops' debut album, Fuck You! I'm Keith Top Of The Pops has already sent ripples through the press, both online and print.
The latest to come to our attention comes courtesy of Indiependents, who are sharing the free album track, "I Hate Your Band", with all of their readers. If you haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, head over there now - it's just the thing to cheer you up on a Monday!
Watch this space for more news about the debut album, and Keith TOTP's upcoming tour.
Hello September: News from ABoF HQ!
Festival season is done and dusted, the wellies are being put away for another year and we're looking forward to a very busy September here at ABoF HQ.
Since it's the start of the month, we thought we'd send a little update about what we've been working on over the summer and what we have to look forward to. If you've any questions about what you read below, please get in touch: info@abadgeoffriendship.
Free MP3s can always be downloaded from our Soundcloud page and any other information you need about the artists, labels and other companies we work with can be found on our official website. Thanks for reading - we hope you have a great month ahead!
Last.fm's Ghostpoet Pop-Session
It's no secret that we've been working with Last.fm this summer to help create online buzz and PR around their partnership with HP, promoting "The Power of Sound". HP and Last.fm’s partnership celebrates the Beats audio technology that comes with HP Premium PC, laptop and tablet devices through a series of live music events and artist interviews, curated by Last.fm.
The partnership kicked-off with a number of pop-up acoustic gigs which took place around London. The first two were a big success; Slow Club enchanted fans and passers by alike in Soho Square and The Boxer Rebellion got the tourists clapping along on Carnaby Street.
Ghostpoet was the latest to get the pop-up session treatment, playing to a packed-out crown at The Big Chill Bar on Brick Lane in August. The video of the session is available to watch now on Last.fm's YouTube channel.
For the latest news on the partnership, special giveaways and unique content, check out HP's Facebook and Twitter pages.
September Releases
We've lots of different releases out this month from post-rock to folk and straight-up indie, check them out below...
Copenhagen post-rockers, The Shaking Sensations, initially formed to escape the confines of their small, desolate and windy town in western Denmark. Little did they know, that in doing so, the five-piece would build a reputation that would see them join a group of up-and-coming post-rock bands following in the footsteps of heavyweights like Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Their debut album East of Youth will make you fall in love with post-rock all over again as they add a new energy and reinvigorate the post-rock genre.East of Youth is out September 12th on Pad & Pen Records. Download the album track "Glass Wings" HERE.
Following on from the success of their UK tour, and their previous single, Hopscotch Machine Gun Madness, Reading-based A Genuine Freakshow are back with the third single - the double A-side Our Bodies / New Houses. Fresh from their Reading and Leeds Festival performances, the guys are also about to embark upon a UK tour to support the release.The band are also giving away a four track sampler taken from their album Oftentimes. Just visit their official website and enter your details.
Our Bodies / New Houses is out on Peartree Records on 26th September 2011.
After building up a stellar reputation among fellow musicians while touring Europe and the US, Keith Top Of The Pops & His Minor UK Indie Celebrity All-Star Backing Band is releasing his debut album - Fuck You! I'm Keith Top Of The Pops. Keith has attracted a fantastic line up of musicians to record alongside him, including Dyan Valdes of The Blood Arm, Fruitbat and Jimbob from Carter USM, Keith Murray and Chris Cain from We Are Scientists and Ian Catstiltskin, Eddie Argos and Jasper Future from Art Brut. As a result, the sound is a collection of wonderfully chaotic freeform rock tunes that sound like a cross between The Fall and Half Man Half Biscuit, with more bitter and twisted undertones.Fuck You! I'm Keith Top Of The Pops is out on Corporate Records on 26th September 2011. The album track "I Hate Your Band" is available to download HERE.
Sweet Baboo is Stephen Black, a native of the North Wales countryside and a single-minded, idiosyncratic, contrary singer-songwriter who possesses an ear for a sparkling melody, a restless soul, and a gift for a deft lyrical turn; from darkly funny to piercingly tender, twinklingly boastful to deliciously self-deprecating. Following the release of his third album, I'm a Dancer/Songs About Sleeping, Black has returned in 2011 with his latest EP - Girl Under A Tree.Black's productivity is all the more remarkable given his extra-curricular activities, which have seen him working with an ever-growing array of musicians. This year alone Black has played on albums by Cate Le Bon, Slow Club and H. Hawkline, and has been a regular part of the touring line-ups for all three bands.
Girl Under A Tree will be released via Shape Records on 19th Sept 2011 on limited 10” white vinyl / download. Download the EP track "The Day I Lost My Voice" HERE.
The summer that was…
Our biggest successes this summer have been two bands that couldn't be more different - The Blood Arm and Knifeworld.
The Blood Arm returned with their second album Turn And Face Me. Although some reviews were mixed, the general vibe from the press was of admiration and respect for the band who clearly wrote their songs with a nod back to greats such as Dexys Midnight Runners, Elvis Costello And The Attractions and Adam And The Ants.Uncut said the band evoked "a classic lineage of ramshackle boho party-rock", whilst WORD called their sound "a good one". Even punk rock magazine Big Cheese picked up on the album saying that the music "will undoubtedly get you out of your seat".
Meanwhile, Knifeworld rocked the alternative press with the release of their EP Dear Lord, No Deal. The band featured in magazines Classic Rock Prog and Rock A Rolla plus alternative music and culture website The Quietus.
The reviews also poured in with Rock Sound picking up on frontman Kavus Torabi's unique songwriting mentioning that "you won't forget him in a hurry". The aforementioned Classic Rock Prog, always big supporters of the band called the EP "a jazzy workout; a rapid metronymic group vocal; a pause for quiet reflection; an ambitious psychedelic wash of melodies…". Quite a description there and we whole heartedly agree!
And the rest…
Congratulations for making it this far and thanks for reading… so what else have we been up to?
Well, for starters we've also been working with vintage recording studio An Endless Room. The studio currently has a competition on MTV UK's website to win free studio time. The busy folks at Endless HQ are also planning a regular podcast which will feature special guests talking about music, the studio, their own projects and also tinkering about on some of An Endless Room's weird and wonderful equipment. We'll have more updates on that soon.
Paul ABoF also wrote an article recently for This Is Fake DIY's blog. The blog had a feature running called "The Beautiful Game" and Paul was asked to write something about Celtic FC.
Claire ABoF is still busy writing and drawing webcomics in her spare time. The webcomic series "Socially Inept" is currently being published by our friends over at The 405, whilst The Cyclopes (an ode to the X-Men) is being published on Beyond Comic Books.
Super assistant Ed has been frustratingly trying to pass his driving test all month. You can read about it on the ABoF blog. Let's wish him the best of luck!
Sweet Baboo Interview!
Stephen Black (aka Sweet Baboo) has had an amazing year so far, making his way across the UK playing at every festival going, as well as touring with Cate Le Bon, Slow Club and H. Hawkline. We managed to grab hold of him in between shows to quiz him about his upcoming release, and how he plans to spend the rest of 2011.
Be sure to check out the track "The Day I Lost My Voice", which is available as a free download. You can also watch the video for the track on Vimeo.
Your influences seem to be pretty varied. Who did you have in mind when you were recording the Girl Under A Tree EP?
At the time I think I was listening to a lot of music by a band called Woods, and stuff associated with them like Ducktails and Real Estate so I tried to rip these records off best I could, unfortunately I'm not quite as cool and American as them so it turned out like it did. I'd also done some recording with another band, Wickes, just before recording the EP where we tried as best we could to mess about with as much of the sounds as I we could, so I took a lot of inspiration from that too.
The record is availiable on Download and Vinyl, a nice mix of old school and new school. What was the thinking behind cutting out the middle ground of CD?
Um, I don't think there was much thinking behind it really, the record label Shape, only make limited runs of vinyl. It's great 'cause it's easily manageable, you can see them going down and there are a lot less boxes in the house than if you made a 1000 cd's. To hold as well, Vinyl is so much nicer than cd, the artwork always looks better big. As for download, I think it would be silly to ostracise (right word?) people who don't have a record player. Most people I know now only buy records and mp3's, I hope the cd is on the way out really.
You're touring with Slow Club straight after the EP's release. What will you be doing to make sure their audience remembers the name Sweet Baboo?
I'm not sure, a stage outfit?
How was the festival season for Sweet Baboo? Any highlights or lowlights to share?
I've done a fair few festivals this year. I don't think there's been many lowlights, highlights were playing with Jonny (Euros Childs and Norman Blake) and Gruff Rhys at Glastonbury, making a serious racket at Green Man Festival playing in my friend Huw's band called H. Hawkline, playing in Daniel Johnston's backing band at Wilderness Festival and the whole of the Fence Collective's Home Game up in Fife, where I was fortunate enough to play as Sweet Baboo, as well as in Cate Le Bon and Slow Club's bands.
You've worked with some famous names in the past. Will any of them be returing the favour on any of your live dates or future releases?
I don't know, if any of them ever wanted to that would be great.
How is it pursuing a career in music from the North Wales countryside? Are there pros and cons to being outside of the big city?
I don't actually live in North Wales anymore (maybe I should change my press release) I live in Cardiff now. I did live there for over a year though before moving back. I loved it, peace and quiet, loads of space and where I lived no neighbours around for a good 100 yards so I could make as much noise as I wanted to really. The only con was that it took an awful long time to get to London and back.
You've already done some BBC sessions for 6 Music. If you were invited to the Live Lounge, what would your 'quirky' cover version be?
Freak Me by Another Level
Girl Under A Tree will be released via Shape Records on 19th Sept 2011 on limited 10” white vinyl / Download.
If you'd like more information about this, our PR services or anything else, please email info@abadgeoffriendship.com