ANNOUNCING YARD PARTY

9 June 2013

We're super excited to announce YARD PARTY - a three day music festival taking place at Hackney Wick's tremendous and intrepid Yard Theatre in August.

It'll focus on a wide variety of international underground music, from folk to noise by way of damaged romantic pop - scroll down for the full line-up.

YARD PARTY's intention is to haul the DIY concert out of its expected parameters and into 'interesting pastures new' - to enhance the potency of the music and its effect on the audience, and to deconstruct the passive nature of what witnessing live music in 2013 shouldn't be.

The festival will take place on Thursday 15 and Friday 16 August from 5:00 to midnight, and then on Saturday 17 August from noon to midnight, all-dayer style.

Tickets are £33 for the weekend, or £12, £10 and £15 for each day - you can buy them now.

CHESTER ENDERSBY GWAZDA'S 'SHROUD'

27 April 2013

Our next release is available for pre-order right now.

It's the 'Shroud' LP from Baltimore resident and in-demand producer, Chester Endersby Gwazda. Chester began quietly writing and recording an ever-growing personal catalogue of pop-centric gems amidst his busy schedule realising the visions of others.

These songs have grown into his debut album 'Shroud', which is full of vocal harmonies, meticulous arrangements and precise timbres that bespeak his sensitive ear and fascination with pop music.

You can listen to 'Skewed' below to see what we mean - a track Pitchfork quite rightly describes as "trembling with vitality".

Skewed

NO AGE are forever cascading forward in a positive direction, gleefully instinctive, erupting out of your speakers, blasting away the clouds above the smoggy cityscape to reveal a solar flaring sun. With an ecstatic force bubbling around and beyond their music, they release contagious energy like they're main-lining a field full of whirring wind turbines, while tuned into an ancient celestial power source. No Age is the duo of Dean Spunt and Randy Randall, they are on a constant journey to explore the furthest reaches of sound. They set out with one particular rule in mind: To write songs that they would be psyched to listen to.

On a first listen, discovering each new dose of their alchemy is exhilarating, they produce perfectly crafted songs, underpinned by infectious melodies and ear-piercing cacophony. This swirling mix of unstoppable momentum is catapulted into the stratosphere by sweeping bursts of symphonic growls. Their power is enunciated through their ability to take their core of catchy song-writing and expand its emotional influence through tone, structure and noise.

With their forthcoming album 'An Object', their fourth so far, No Age have forgone the straight and narrow route, landing in a strange and unexpected place, feet planted in fresh, fertile soil. This new LP finds Dean Spunt exploding from behind his kit, landing percussive blows with amplified contact mics, 4-string bass guitars, and prepared speakers, as well as traditional forms of lumber and metal. Meanwhile, Randy Randall corrals his previously lush, spastic, sprawling arrangements into taught, refined, rats' nests.

This special one off show in London sees the duo stopping off to showcase tracks from their new album way ahead of its August release date, seriously too excited! The floor is going to buckle, that's for sure!

TENSE MEN is a new project from Sauna Youth honcho Rich Phoenix on drums and Cold Pumas' Ollie Fisher on guitar. Looped, claustrophobic surges of brittle guitar and shocked drum beats that stack up to create a sound a lot larger than the sum of its parts. Check out their cassette on Cazenove Tapes right now!

SIRLOIN (VEG is New Zealander, Dave Currie, lining up stammering drum machines, damaged synth noise and spooked slow-motion atmospheres into a deliriously heady cloud of tripped out dance music.

LONNIE HOLLEY was born on February 10, 1950 in Birmingham, Alabama, the seventh of 27 children. From the age of five, Holley worked various jobs: picking up trash at a drive-in movie theatre, washing dishes, and cooking. He lived in a whiskey house, on the state fairgrounds, and in several foster homes. His early life was chaotic and Holley was never afforded the pleasure of a real childhood.

Since 1979, Holley has devoted his life to the practice of improvisational creativity. His art and music, born out of struggle, hardship, but perhaps more importantly, out of furious curiosity and biological necessity, has manifested itself in drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, performance, and sound. Holley's sculptures are constructed from found materials in the oldest tradition of African American sculpture. Objects, already imbued with cultural and artistic metaphor, are combined into narrative sculptures that commemorate places, people, and events.

Holley did not start making and performing music in a studio nor does his creative process mirror that of the typical musician. His music and lyrics are improvised on the spot and morph and evolve with every event, concert, and recording. In Holley's original art environment, he would construct and deconstruct his visual works, repurposing their elements for new pieces. This often led to the transfer of individual narratives into the new work creating a cumulative composite image that has depth and purpose beyond its original singular meaning.

The layers of sound in Holley's music, likewise, are the result of decades of evolving experimentation. 'Just Before Music' features Holley's first studio recordings made in 2010 and 2011 and was released last year by Dust To digital to widespread acclaim.