Latest News
Artifacts single ‘Sad Face’ out now!
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- Artrocker Magazine
Artifacts are pleased to announce the release of the single, Sad Face, out now via The Disappearing Act Records and available to buy on iTunes.
Sad Face follows hot on the heels of the recent download of b-side ‘Fracture’, and sees Artifacts continue to explore their stadium-sized sound, driven by Patrick Fitzroy’s dreamy, echoing vocal melodies and surrounded by walls of epic guitar riffs and chiming synths.
Sad Face further displays Artifacts’ diverse sound and enhances the band's credentials as 'ones to watch'. Artifacts' mature sound is driven by Patrick Fitzroy's powerful vocals, aided and abetted by a band confident in their ability to produce technically skilled passages - complimenting the aforementioned vocals perfectly. The music swells and guitars soar as tender, introspective moments are accentuated by a kind of rawness the likes of which White Lies and Clinic would be proud of.
You can stream Sad Face below or from the band's Soundcloud page.
Watch the video for Sad Face below or from the bands YouTube page.
Sad Face is the follow up to the brilliant single Echoes, released earlier this year to widespread acclaim. The band picked up support from the likes of Artrocker, The 405, God Is In The TV and Music Muso having previously received praise from Clash who described the band’s sound as “Noisy guitars embellished with synths struck like percussion”.
Artifacts were formed in secondary school by Patrick Fitzroy (vocals/guitar), Mark Rivers (sampler/keyboards) and Craig Brown (drums/vocals), with Sam Upton (guitar) and Tom Doyle (bass guitar) completing the current line-up. The band draw on influences such as My Bloody Valentine, Jeff Buckley, Sigur Ros and Radiohead, without ever imitating, to produce a modern and distinctive sound unbound by specific genres.
2013 has been a busy year so far for the band - having released Echoes in January, they have been performing throughout the UK, culminating with a recent headline slot at the High Street Live Festival in Crawley. Artifacts have maintained their momentum with the free download of ‘Fracture’, released on on July 3rd, followed by a remix by Esstie, before the release of the Sad Face single and video.
Sad Face is out now via The Disappearing Act Records and is available to buy on iTunes.
Matthew Collinggs releases free download single & b-side
Edinburgh composer Matthew Collings is pleased to announce the release of the free single, They Meet on the Subway, which includes the free b-side, 'It was a Hungry Summer'.
They Meet on the Subway is taken from the album Splintered Instruments, released earlier this year via Fluid Audio Recordings, and follows on from the most recent download track,Vasilia. They Meet on the Subway immediately creates a sense of unease as the oppressive soundscapes grind monotonously - further skewed by Collings' distant, distressed vocals. The track ominously builds as industrial like soundscapes fluctuate, before being set free by a wall of distorted guitar as They Meet on the Subway comes to an intense climax.
You can download 'They Meet on the Subway and the b-side 'It was a Hungry Summer' below or from the ABoF Soundcloud page.
Splintered Instruments is Matthew's first solo project having previously performed under the name Sketches for Albinos. Here Matthew takes inspiration from the likes of Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Public Service Broadcasting, Autechre and Bedroom Community Record Label to create a sound exploring abrasive soundscapes of noise combined with atmospheric, ethereal beauty akin to Sigur Ros and God Speed You! Black Emperor. The album exhibits Matthew's eclectic influences as well as his unerring ability to construct a sense of diversity throughout - highlighted by the crisp, clean 'Routine', and juxtaposed by the mass turbulence of 'They Meet on the Subway'.
The album features a raft of special guests ranging from Helgi Hrafn Jonsson (a member of Sigur Ros's backing band), Frank Aarnick (Icelandic Philharmonic Orchestra) and Ben Frost (Bedroom Community) - who also engineered and produced the album.
Having picked up support from the likes of The List earlier this year, Matthew is keen to maintain the momentum gained from his first self-titled project. The release of Vasilia will kickstart a busy second half of the year for Matthew with a single to follow in August, a planned tour of Europe this winter, commencing work on a follow up record as well as continuing to create sonic art projects such as the Erik Parr collaboration, The Third Mind.
They Meet on the Subway and the b-side 'It was a Hungry Summer' are free to download from the ABoF Soundcloud page and Splintered Instruments is out now via Fluid Audio Recordings with press packs available on request.
Atom Eye returns with ‘The Otolith Sessions’
“... a masterful display of evocative music and true experimentation...”
- The Music Fix
Following the release of the cinematic EP Trilogy120, Atom Eye aka Elsie Martins returns with an ambitious full length album The Otolith Sessions due for release on 18th November 2013 via Forwind. The album is the culmination of a year’s worth of sound experiments captured on various machines of a bygone era.The materials underlying each composition were formed from experiments with magnetic tape manipulation - deconstructing, layering, looping, suspending, pitch-warbling... carefully tended arrangements that unravel gently, to glorious, dramatic effect.
The Otolith Sessions will be offered as a limited edition CD accompanied with an exquisitely presented book featuring beautiful images and texts eluding to the recording materials, machinery and processes.This indispensable companion piece to the recording also encompasses an audio cookbook with recipes for you to create your own magnetic tape experiments.
A trailer for The Otolith Sessions is available to watch now via Atom Eye's YouTube channel.
Elsie Martins is a musician who takes raw elements of atonal field recordings and morphs them into compositions and rhythms – both dark and light, intense and subtle, whole and transient. Atom Eye takes you on a journey: it's the soundtrack to your dreams... or your nightmares.
A slow rumble sneaks across the dreamy haze of a winter's moor... like an aural spectre; never quite visible, but definitely there. The haze burns off as a crisp sun rises through the hills scorching a path
through the landscape as though its energy were focused through a magnifying glass. Atom Eye is the glass that pierces through you, darkly.
Drawing influences from film soundtracks, experimental music and sound art, The Otolith Sessions was mixed & co-produced by James Aparicio (Liars, Spiritualized) and features guest appearances from regular collaborators; award-winning percussionist Pete Lockett (Björk, David Holmes, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Lee Scratch Perry, Primal Scream) and Mute Artist, Composer and Producer Simon Fisher Turner whose work includes soundtracks for Derek Jarman's Caravaggio,The Last of England,The Garden and David Lynch-produced Nadja.
The Otolith Sessions will be released on the Forwind imprint on the 18th November 2013.
Death Rattle Fortress EP Sessions - ‘White Ropes’
"...Lynchian-grade dystopian opera."
- The Line of Best Fit
London based electronic gloom-pop duo Death Rattle are releasing a trio of stunning live performance videos this month, filmed within the stark and atmospheric confinements of an underground crypt. The first in this series of specially recorded live performances was released yesterday - White Ropes is available to watch now via the band's YouTube channel.
A trailer for the sessions was released last week, you can watch it now on Death Rattle's YouTube page.
The live sessions feature three tracks from their 2013 Fortress EP - 'White Ropes', 'In Time' and 'Fortress' - and offer the very first insight into how the band perform their alluringly dark and mesmerising tracks as a live band.
Fortress EP received outstanding press from the likes of The Line of Best Fit, The 405, Noisey (VICE) and Artrocker, with their sound drawing comparisons to Lykke Li, Zola Jesus and Portishead.
The EP is available to download free now via Death Rattle's Soundcloud page.
With recent appearances at Tramlines Festival Sheffield and Islington Assembly Halls in London, the band have announced a Pussy Riot Fundraiser show supporting Princess Century (ex Austra) at Kraak, Manchester on Monday 20th August as well as some shows in Belgium and Holland in September.
The band are currently working towards their debut album, due for release in 2014.
The Lunchtime Sardine Club’s debut album ‘Icecapades’ out no
"...breathtaking." - The 405
Brighton based artist The Luchtime Sardine Club aka Oliver Newton (Yndi Halda / Bermuda Ern / St. Coltrane) releases lo-fi, psych-folk debut album Icecapades, out now via Sonic Anhedonic Recording Co.
Gold Flake Paint are hosting an exclusive stream of the album on their website but you can also buy and stream Icecapades from The Lunchtime Sardine Club's Bandcamp page.
If you'd like a little taster though, there are two free tracks available to download now from the ABoF Soundcloud page - 'Rumours' and 'I'm... Jesuschristmaam'.
The album is a collection of short stories, such as the death of a boxer, the sleepy sickness epidemic of the 1920s, the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers, an old woman's embalming and murderous distortion.
'Charon and the Boxer' opens the album gently crescendoing into a cacophony of guitars and violins, however, straight into 'I'm... Jesuschristmaam', here Newton hones a sound akin to American artists such as Sufjan Stevens and Bowerbirds. Although there's a quiet joyfulness underlying each track, some take on a more atmospheric, introspective feeling as heard on 'Quesadillas' and 'Old Truths, Rare Grooves', which would not be out of place on an Andrew Bird record. As the record comes to a close, the music slowly transforms into Midlake-esuqe vintage soundscapes. Icecapades is a truly wonderful, organic musical journey.
The Lunchtime Sardine Club recently grabbed the attention of Amazing Radio with the first single 'Rumours' and also featured on a Big Scary Monsters best of... compilation earlier this year. With the sound branded as "a happier Elliott Smith circa 1998" by Brighton Noise, The Lunchtime Sardine Club's Icecapades is the perfect concoction of Elliott Smith's storytelling style and Grizzly Bear's lo-fi folk.
The Lunchtime Sardine Club's Icecapades is out now via Sonic Anhedonic Recording Co.