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Outblinker announce The Remains of Walter Peck EP!
"...Glasgow's standard quo rejectionists..." - Spin
"...as blissful as they are boisterous." - NME
"...slick, modern Kraut for an uneasy Britain...." - The Skinny
Fame is just so fucking futile. That's the thing about being an outsider. You accept your fate. You know that 50 years from now a bank won't be butchering your work to flog mortgages to suckers. You make your noise and you watch it echo for a bit then dissipate. Like our protagonist, Walter Peck, your ashes are gradually diluted by a planet of dirt and your music even more rapidly subsumed by the white noise of the world.
In many ways, Outblinker owes it's existence to Walter and certainly this EP - The Remains of Water Peck released on 6th May 2016 via Stabbed In The Back Records - would never have been recorded or co-written with Ben Power (Blanck Mass/ Fuck Buttons) were it not for Mr Peck's unifying influence. His friendships, a chance meeting, a jar of human remains and a table of beers. It's a long story. Suffice to say he'd suggest we enjoy it while it lasts.
We are certain Mr Peck would approve of 'Farrokh Bulsara', the free download track released by the band to celebrate today's announcement. The song premiered on Spin yesterday and is now available to download via the ABoF SoundCloud page.
The product of a musical pilgrimage to record in a medieval church on a remote island in Orkney, these three songs are a precursor to Outblinker's debut album (due October 2016) and a tribute to the transitory, fleeting nature of everything we seek to build and accomplish. All the beauty, all the greed, all the pride and all the fucking politics. Given long enough, none of it will last. And thank fuck for that.
When the lights across the planet finally go out for the last time and all the MP3s evaporate in microscopic puffs of electrons and all the CD's lie scattered across the land like the scales of some huge, extinct fish: what then for all these idiotic fucking pop songs? And what then for the Bach and Simone, Mercury and Mingus?
Nothing. That's what. Sweet anonymity. Sheer oblivion.
And as time marches on ceaselessly into that eerie, silent new era, none of those chart anthems will mean any more than the centuries of forgotten folk music, decades of shitty demo tapes or the deluge of vacuous, ironic, indie shit currently sloshing around. How will Virgin, Warner, Universal and Sony trick kids into buying their cynical, hollow bullshit then? Especially when there are no kids left to fleece.
Art is for now so eat your fill. You're not taking it with you and ultimately there's no point leaving it here. Walter Peck taught us that much.
The Remains of Water Peck by Outblinker is released on 6th May 2016 via Stabbed In The Back Records and is available to pre-order on Outblinker's Bandcamp page.
Introducing… Vienna Ditto!
"...woozy sci-fi inspired blues fused with catchy melodies." - Gigslutz
“…wild-eyed rockabilly riffs with sparse, atmospheric electronica.” - Q Magazine
Vienna Ditto’s latest EP Ticks - out Friday 13th May 2016 via Ubiquity Project Recordings - combines gospel blues, surf rock and primitive electronica to create a sound that is full of naïve wonder, yet mildly threatening.
The title track from the EP premiered on Gigslutz and you can also listen to it now via the band's Soundcloud page.
Ticks is a collection of seven sonically-alluring sci-fi blues tracks that slip somewhere between a Quentin Tarantino soundtrack, a charity shop Bacharach-on-the-Moog-Synthesizer album and a bad night on the brown acid.
Each track has its own sound; Frank Account swaggers like a glam rock incarnation of the Andrews Sisters, whilst infectiously-catchy title track Ticks - which grouches along on a deeply Kinks-y riff and a Planet Rock electro beat - crackles with a nameless, twitchy paranoid disgust. The EP also features more gospel-influenced tracks such as Motherless Child, which feels almost like it could be a cut from an Etta James or Nina Simone record, with lead singer Hatty Taylor’s smokey, bruised vocals taking centre stage. The band put the dark, almost dystopian vibe that clings to the whole affair down to “...mainly being up at night, not eating so good and watching (German 20s Expressionist film) Metropolis over and over”.
The pop-noir duo consists of Hatty Taylor (vocal and synth) and Nigel Firth (guitar) who first met in 2000 when Nigel taught an eleven-year-old Hatty to play guitar. Ten years later, they formed a band in Oxford and have been creating exceptional, boundary-pushing music ever since. Nigel is the engine behind Vienna Ditto’s restless experimentation and sonic evolution, while Hatty is responsible for the band’s effortless and enchanting lead vocals.
Vienna Ditto have already received praise from the likes of Q Magazine, Artrocker, BBC Radio 1’s Huw Stephens and BBC 6Music’s Tom Robinson amongst others. With Ticks, the unlikely, delectable and ever-so-slightly dysfunctional duo delve a little deeper into the phenomenal sonic capabilities of combining blues, electronica and surf rock to create something truly mesmerising. Catch Vienna Ditto live at the following dates, with tickets available from their website.
1st April - The Wheatsheaf - Oxford
16th April - Boileroom - Guildford
16th April - Rock For Refugees - Boileroom, Guildford
6th May - St James Wine Vaults - Bath
12th May - The Bullingdon - Oxford
13th May - Rising Sun Arts Centre
14th May - The Moon Club - Cardiff
3 - 4th June - Brew At The Bog - Inverness
5 - 7th August - Sunflowerfest - Hillsborough
Ticks is out on 13th May 2016 via Ubiquity Project Recordings and is available to pre-order via the duo's Bandcamp page now.
Ghostface Killah announced for Restless Natives Festival!
Acclaimed rapper and Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah is the latest artist to be added to Glasgow’s Restless Natives Festival line-up, appearing on Friday May 13th 2016 at St. Luke’s.
Restless Natives will open its doors from May 9th - 15th 2016, featuring an array of diverse music and film events spread throughout seven venues and studios in Glasgow’s East End.
The festival’s heart and soul lies within the DIY scene as Restless Natives not only aims to bring people together in and around the East End of Glasgow, generating income for the local community, bands and charities, but it also aims to promote ethnic diversity and gender equality throughout the program. The festival is reflective of a truly modern DIY ethic that showcases talent from a broad spectrum, mirroring the diverse talent the creative scene has to offer.
“There's a common argument put forward during discussions about DIY promotion that, small independent acts are one thing but big bookers - the likes affiliated with Live Nation and other multinationals - are a "necessary evil" to bring big acts to a city,” says Restless Natives organiser Chris Cusack. “That may well be true when the system is set up to make it impossible to even get in touch with the agents representing the big acts but, where contact is possible, often the DIY collectives - providing they have a good track record and can demonstrate reliability - offer fairer prices for fans and fairer compensation for the artists themselves. These collectives and DIY promoters can also frequently side-step the politics that can squeeze a particular city or town out of the routing considerations of a high profile band. Ghostface Killah was our attempt to demonstrate how a professional approach and real enthusiasm for the musical act can help bring someone to a town they otherwise would skip.”
All events will be individually priced as affordably as possible to ensure accessibility for people from all economic backgrounds and the organisers will also be donating a portion of gate receipts towards specially nominated East End charities to help their community.
As well as the recently announced Ghostface Killah, the festival already boasts a strong line up including Cardiff's alt rockers Future of the Left, Sheffield mathcore champions Rolo Tomassi, Canadian composer Tim Hecker, electronic maverick Blanck Mass, Chicago Into It. Over It, US cult heroes The Hotelier and Glasgow’s own Tuff Love, United Fruit, Happy Meals, Spinning Coin and Nightwave. Full details of further showcases, film nights and talks programmed by Hotgem Music, Nightschool Records, No One Knows Records, Winning Sperm Party, Stretched, Fuzzkill Records, Nice n' Sleazy, Bloc+Music, Song, By Toad and Struggletown are also set to be announced very soon.
A number of film events have already been confirmed including The Skinny presents Couple In A Hole with live Q&A by Geoff Barrow (BEAK>, Portishead) and Billy Fuller (BEAK>, Robert Plant Band), The Room featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes documentary and live Q&A with Greg Sestero, Song, By Toad presents The Ambiguity Of David Thomas Broughton with exclusive unseen footage, Restless Natives’ own national exclusive of Blood, Sweat and Vinyl : DIY in the 21st Century starring Neurosis, Godspeed You Black Emperor and ISIS (the band!) with live Q&A by director Kenneth Thomas, Une Chant D'Amour & A Page Of Madness with an exclusive live original score by Adam Stafford. Plus special guest-curated screens by The Glasgow Film Theatre, Africa In Motion, The Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival and The Radical Film Network.
Restless Natives Festival will take place May 9th - 15th 2016 and tickets are available via the Restless Natives website.
Lowla release video for single ‘Reckless’!
"Pop that is unashamed to be pop, that is plastic, fantastic, and completely in your face.” - Clash
Lowla have released the video for their forthcoming single Reckless, due out on March 31st 2016 via DIY.
The video is an ode to the Lara and Lo’s favourite decade - the 90s! Premiering on Clash, the video for Reckless is available to watch now via the band’s YouTube channel.
The single is also available to stream now via Lowla’s Soundcloud page.
Reckless channels the likes of Sky Ferreira, Lapsley and Grimes but with a DIY sound that gives the single a little edge. The single celebrates the moment you leave the darkness of a break-up: “Sometimes, we get so absorbed in a love that's lost, Reckless calls for an almost violent break-up with your break-up,” the girls explain.
Heavily influenced by all things 90s, including a love for Levis denim, Lowla is the brainchild of producer Lo and creative stylist Lara. After meeting through chance when Lara appeared as a guest vocalist on a session that Lo was producing, Lo was immediately impressed and shortly after asked Lara to work on a project of their own. In addition to sharing the song writing and performance of their music they are both able to use their talents to bring together their vision for a project which is both musically and visually pioneering.
Reckless is out March 31st 2016 via DIY.
La Boum Fatale release No Tongue in Cheek EP!
"... a wonderful and unique take on ambient melodies and ideas..." - Indie Shuffle
"...an immersive sonic journey." - Earmilk
In advance of the release of his debut album Holygram, out 8th April 2016, German producer and musician Antonio de Spirt aka La Boum Fatale has released his new EP No Tongue In Cheek out now via Sinnbus.
The lead track from the EP premiered on Indie Shuffle and the Liam Back remix premiered on Earmilk. You can stream both tracks along with the rest of the EP now via the Sinnbus YouTube page.
On the remix EP de Spirt brings together collaborators and friends, old and new, such as 9b0, Matvrak and Kirrin Island plus illustrious names like NGHT DRPS, Liam Back and Austin Edward.
Around the time of La Boum Fatale's debut EP Damwild in 2012, Antonio was based in Hamburg and about to make his first tentative steps onto the scene. His secret hit ‘AAA’, as well as a couple of other remarkable electronica listening beauties, were very well received and ingratiated La Boum Fatale with remarkable ease.
Rather than following the usual releasing routine, de Spirt - having now move to Berlin - allowed himself the luxury of experimentation. With an open mind and a willingness to grow, he concentrated on his live shows, working with many different set-ups, experimenting with his music with a graphic design-like mindset. Partnering with producers like Glenn Astro and Sieren, he created unconventional remixes for bands like Me And My Drummer, Hundreds and Sizarr.
In 2015, having spent time honing his craft and vision, de Spirt finally began to focus on tracks for his debut album Holygram. The album is a sonic kaleidoscope and an adventurous, immersive and captivating soundscape - single No Tongue In Cheek only just scrapes the surface.
La Boum Fatale’s No Tongue In Cheek is out now with debut album Holygram to follow on 8th April 2016, both released via Sinnbus.