INXS: Rockin’ The Royals
With England’s much-ballyhooed royal wedding less than two weeks away, INXS today released its 1985 “Rocking the Royals” performance — a concert staged for Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana — as a digital album in Australia, New Zealand and Mexico, with the rest of the world to follow “Soon.”
Much, if not all, of the band’s Listen Like Thieves-era performance already has been released as B-sides on singles, extra tracks on promotional items or via 1991’s Live Baby Live album — and you can watch video of the 11-song performance with remastered audio from those sources courtesy of YouTube user negfbjm.
The Rocking the Royals: Live 1985 digital album, however, is the first complete, one-stop release of the full performance, which also comes accompanied, at least on the Australian iTunes version, with a 10-minute commentary track by the Farriss brothers.
The concert took place Nov. 4, 1985, read an account of the concert below…
Tracklist: INXS, Rocking the Royals: Live 1985
1. “Burn For You”
2. “Kiss The Dirt”
3. “Dancing On The Jetty”
4. “The One Thing”
5. “This Time”
6. “Shine Like It Does”
7. “Listen Like Thieves”
8. “What You Need”
9. “One X One”
10. “Original Sin”
11. “Don’t Change”
12. Farriss brothers commentary
After heading to South America to promote the recently released ‘Listen Like Thieves’ album, the band were due to hit North America. The band were in hot demand as their ‘Live Aid (Oz for Africa)’ performance had screened just a few months prior, and American fans were keen to hear the new tracks. Instead of putting their touring commitments first, the band decided to return to Australia for the “Rocking The Royals” charity concert for Victoria’s 150th anniversary celebrations.
The concert took place at the Melbourne Concert Hall, with INXS headlining while other acts included Models, Kids in the Kitchen, I’m Talking and comedian Richard Stubbs. As well as selling tickets for inside the Concert Hall, for the fans who couldn’t get in big screens were put up outside in the Alexandra Ave Underpass, and people could pay $2.50 for “Underpass Dancing” outside.
During the concert Michael said “I’d like to say hello to everybody out on the highway”. At the end of the night the band and “the Royals” appeared outside on the balcony over the underpass so the fans outside could catch a glimpse of them. It was estimated 15,000 people partied outside the venue during the show.
INXS were on their best behaviour during their performance, however as usual they put on a great show even though they spent a lot of the night looking up to the Royal box to see if Charles and Di were enjoying the show! “I’d like to thank you all for coming here tonight…especially two of you” Michael stated during ‘Don’t Change’. The band members parents also got to sit in the Royal box that night, as guitarist Tim Farriss once stated “Our parents were happy with our choice of profession as musicians at last”.
The band performed eleven songs, six from ‘Listen Like Thieves’ (’Kiss the Dirt’, ‘This Time’, ‘Shine Like It Does’, ‘What You Need’, ‘One X One’ and the title track), three from ‘The Swing’ (’Original Sin’, ‘Burn For You’ and ‘Dancing on the Jetty’) and ‘The One Thing’ and ‘Don’t Change’ from the ‘Shabooh Shoobah’ album. Just about all of these live songs have been released on various INXS releases over the years. ‘Burn for You’, ‘The One Thing’, ‘This Time’ and ‘One X One’ were included on 1991’s ‘Live Baby Live’ album. ‘This Time’, ‘Original Sin’, ‘Burn For You’ and ‘Dancing on the Jetty’ appeared on the 12″ single for ‘This Time’ in the UK ‘Listen Like Thieves’ appears on the 12″ of ‘Listen Like Thieves’, while ‘What You Need’ and ‘The One Thing’ appear on the ‘What You Need’ UK 12″. ‘What You Need’ is also available on the free promo cassette that originally came with the 7″ of ‘What You Need’ in the UK. ‘Shine Like It Does’ was included on the special UK 10″ edition of ‘Devil Inside’.
That only leaves 2 songs which haven’t been released on commercial singles. ‘Kiss the Dirt’ from the concert was pressed on a 12″ Atlantic Records promo (PR866) in America though. So that leaves ‘Don’t Change’ as the only song not on any INXS release or promo release.
A special Australian-only promo 12″ entitled “Musical Excerpts from Living INXS” was given to radio stations and featured 2 tracks from the concert – ‘One X One’ and ‘Listen Like Thieves’. It comes in a picture sleeve similar to the video cover and is valued at $120 (Aust) in the Australian Record Collectors Magazine.
This concert was one of many INXS highlights in their career with Michael Hutchence, and luckily they were able to film it with seven cameras capturing the night. The video was directed and produced by Karl Steinberg. “I hadn’t seen the band live before the night”, said Steinberg, “but I was immediately impressed by the high standard of the band’s sound and performance. With six individuals giving so much in the performance, it was a challenge to capture it all as it happened”.
The video was entitled “Living INXS” and includes all 11 tracks and was released by WEA Music Video in 1986, unfortunately the video has since been deleted from stores around the world, so the only way to get a copy is to buy one second hand. Hopefully one day this will be re-released on DVD and Blu-Ray.
A special ‘Rocking The Royals’ 16 page programme was available on the night for this one-off concert.
The Latest & Best Albums
David J Roch SKIN + BONES. Dram Music
“Formed from the remains myself after everything around me came crashing down. I fell out of love with music for a good 6 months and think that the world may well have fallen out of love with me. After 6 months of falling over words and melodies in my mind I started to write and perform again, first solo, then with a drummer and eventually with a full band. The songs I wrote and still write are chapters from my life put to music to allow me to make sense of what I have done and what I will do. I hope that this has given you an insight into why I
perform and play, until we meet again this is a very humble David; saying goodbye. take care. x”
I believe Mr Roch hails from Sheffield - at one time the heart of the stainless steel industry. Well, here is a record that fits in very nicely with that era of unique quality, utility and design beauty… In fact I believe that in 2011 that probably won’t find a more moving, haunting or beautiful record. Yes folks it’s yet another wonderful recording that you will not hear on the radio airwaves, including BBC Radio 1 or 2, and it’s nothing short of criminal.
Opening track ‘The Lost Child’ sets the tone with a folk-pop song that is utterly beauitiful and highly original. Check out Roch’s quite unique voice; its almost impossible range; and bask in the song’s jaw-dropping melody… ‘Hours Of Need’ with its stupendous opening bass rhythm, truckloads of melody, excellent lyrics and vocal performances, including the most angelic female backing vocal. It’s difficult to pick a favourite here although next track ‘Evil’s Pillow’ comes dangerously close with its stunning melody and vocal performance which includes heartbreaking moments when his falsetto soars to the heavens. I frankly doubt that I will hear a better song in 2011. Roch uses a number of well-judged instrumental devices including some gorgeous orchestral moments. ‘The Devil Don’t Mind’ for example features a strong blues vibe and bare-bones instrumental arrangement that gives pride of place to the vocal which at times is a capella.
And the same story continues through the rest of an album that has already become an early contender for album of the year. And if you thought Ed Sheeran - heavily promoted by FC on Radio 1 - is great, this record will make you think again…
5/5
Seasick Steve YOU CAN’T TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS. Play It Again Sam
In an interview with an Australian magazine, Seasick Steve attributes much of his unlikely success to his cheap and weather-beaten guitar, ‘The Trance Wonder’ and reveals the guitar’s mojo might come from supernatural sources. “I got it from Sherman, who is a friend of mine down in Mississippi, who had bought it down at a goodwill store. When we were down there last time he says to me, ‘I didn’t tell you when you bought it off me, but that guitar used to be haunted’. I say, ‘What are you talking about, Sherman?’. He says, ‘There’s 50 solid citizens here in Como who’ll tell you this guitar is haunted. It’s the darnedest thing: we’d leave it over in the potato barn and we’d come back in and it would be moved. You’d put it down somewhere and the next morning you’d come back and it would have moved. When you took that guitar the ghost in the barn left’. He told me this not very long ago and I said to him, ‘Sherman! Why didn’t you tell me this before?’ and he said, ‘Well the ghost was gone – I didn’t want it around here no more!’”
Can this man ever make an average or bad record. The answer is a simple and categoric NO! From the moment Seasick Steve stepped into the limelight on British TV (on Jools Holland’s LATER show) his live performances and numerous recordings just get better and better. This album is a blues stunner with songwriting, vocals and instrumentals of the highest order. On this occasion he’s also taken the production tiller and done an amazing job - the sound quality is pristine! From the dark and moving contemplation of opener ‘Treasures’ to the rampant rock of ‘You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks, to the threatening bass and deathly pace of ‘Burnin’ Up’, to the rapid unmitigated joyous vibe of ‘Don’t Know Why She Love Me But She Do’, Steve doesn’t put a foot wrong.
I would love to hear the whole of this beauty performed live because it’s that good. What a great record!
4.5/5
Beatsteaks BOOM BOX. Warner
Peter Baumann, Stefan Hircher, Alexander Ross Waag and Bernd Kurtzke founded the Beatsteaks in 1995. Shortly after Arnim Teutoburg-Weiß joined the band as a singer and additional guitarist. In 1996 the band won a local music competition in SO36 and played a concert in Berlin with the Sex Pistols as opening act. This was also the tenth performance for the band.
In 1997 the band recorded its first album 48/49, named after the number of their rehearsal space. It contains several songs in German, while the more recent albums are in English. In 1999 their second album Launched appeared on the American punk label Epitaph Records. Thomas Götz already played the drums at that time. On bass, Torsten Scholz replaced Alexander in 2000. This was followed by tours with Bad Religion, Die Ärzte and Die Toten Hosen, bringing the band to a wider audience.
Their breakthrough was achieved in Berlin in 2004 with the album Smack Smash, especially with the second single I Don’t Care As Long As You Sing with which they won the MTV European Music Awards 2004 in the category Best German Act. At the end of 2005 they released the double-DVD B-Seite, which included a self-produced documentary on the band’s history, a compilation of several concerts and music videos of the band up to this time. In 2006 they played a short summer tour, consisting of 3 concerts and two festival performances. Following the publication of the preliminary single Jane Became Insane on March 9, 2007 appeared the current album .limbo messiah on 30 March 2007.
This is the album that knocked Adele off the top of the album chart in Germany and I can see why. Opener ‘Fix It’ gives a solid clue to why with its blues rock vibe, stunning instrumental backdrop and crazy vocals. It’s one of the strongest opening gambits I’ve heard on a rock record, and highly original with it! ‘Milk & Honey’ is the first single off the album - a more conventional tune but ok none-the-less. What’s so good about this
record is that the band has progressed beautifully considering its 16 year vintage… ‘Cheap Comments’ is a rhythmic humdinger with a powerful dance vibe while ‘Let’s See’ is a reggae-infused pop song and ‘Bullets From Another Dimension’ sounds like a modern day Adam And The Ants.
The diversity of sounds here is mind-blowing, while the quality of material and performances is sustained throughout. This is an album to put a smile on your face and a new spring in your step. Love it!
4/5
Shake Recommends #3
Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows (D.R.U.G.S.) D.R.U.G.S.. Warner
Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows is the new Alternative-Rock Metalcore project founded in 2010 when vocalist Craig Owens was let go from the Michigan-based post-Hardcore band Chiodos he had fronted since 2001. To round out the band, he selected other musicians who have undergone similar experiences: guitarists Nick Martin and Matt Good, Story Of The Year bassist Adam Russell and Matchbook Romance drummer Aaron Stern. They made their live debut in the fall in Pontiac, Michigan USA.
In February 2011 was released the quintet’s first album, “D.R.U.G.S.”, via Decaydance/Sire Records; the 11-song set is the most aggressive album Owens has made in his musical career, yet it still retains the keen sense of melody that has helped him become one of today’s most celebrated frontmen.
2011 so far has been pretty empty of good heavy rock records so this one is very, very welcome. Opener ‘If You Think This Song Is About You, It Probably Is’ really gets this record off to a storming and epic start, and comes complete with great melody, vocals, instrumental arrangement and production. There’s a threatening feel to the next track ‘The Only Thing You Talk About’ which is about love gone wrong but it’s trounced (despite its good quality) by next song ‘Graveyard Dancing’ with its mixed pace, powerful melody, pleading vocal and one of the best instrumental arrangments here. And the good news continues - no filler here friends…
This record grows on you with each play and is a briliant debut for the band.
4/5
Max Raptor PORTRAITS. Naim Edge
There is nothing remotely Jurassic about this Midland conceived 4 piece whose forthright narrative and powerful live set is spearheading a hungry horde of New Wave British Alt-Rock bands. Having cut their teeth landing support slots with The Zutons and Canadian punk-rockers Billy Talent, the Max Raptor boys embarked on a UK tour supporting British punk legends The Stranglers in 2010, to riotous applause. Playing to such a well established and specific fanbase as The Stranglers could have been risky, but time and time again Max Raptor prove their credentials in the live habitat.
It appears that punk rock is enjoying something of a revival on the evidence of music heard so far this year. This is one of the better ones with just eight songs (effectively a mini-album) of top quality with some mind-blowing performances from the band. melody is high on the list of this this band’s musical priorities as are lyrics that are both intelligent and thought-provoking. The best thing for me is that each time I listen to this a new favourite song emerges and I’m struggling to choose just one to play on our radio show… If you love powerful punk rock, this you gotta have!
4/5
Mojo Fury MOJO FURY. Graphite
This four-piece band comes from Belfast, Northern Ireland and have supported Biffy Clyro and Forward Russia at home; last year they toured the UK with Oceansize and Castrovalva, alongside shows with the likes of Foxy Shazam, whilst releasing their debut single ‘The Mann’. Mojo Fury is a modern rock band whose music features riffs galore, vocal hooks to the brim, great songwriting, and a rhythm section that motors it down all the right paths – their feet dipped in the alternative side of “popular” rock music currently being rattled across by the likes of Pulled Apart By Horses and Future of the Left.
Think a 2011 version of Oasis but heavier, much heavier and you have Mojo Fury. And what a great record this is starting from the explosive instrumental intro to great opening track ‘Mann’ - immediately one of my record highlights. Melodies here are nothing short of stupendous and there ain’t no better example than next track ‘Bones’ which also comes with a heavy serving of originality - another favourite. Sonically, there’s a fair amount of diversity with tracks like ‘Colour Of The Bear’ with its darkly rhythmic blues vibe. Then listen to the drums and guitar on the deathly-paced ‘Deep Fish Tank (Factory Settings) - sheer brilliance - topped off by glorious backing vocals!
No filler here just brilliant heavy rock - look out Grohl…
4.5/5
Moby’s New Album May 18
MOBY
DESTROYED
MAY 16TH, 2011
History is littered with iconic insomniacs - Charles Dickens, Groucho Marx, Marilyn Monroe and David Bowie, to name but a few - all of whom were regularly kept from the tender embrace of Morpheus by their over -stimulated brains and voracious artistic appetites. Moby is yet another major artist to join the ranks of this illustrious slumber-free role-call. For Moby, sleep deprivation is as much an inevitable consequence of the modern international music star’s peripatetic lifestyle, as about being an unquenchable creative dynamo. “The last thing I should be is a travelling musician,” Moby admits. “Some friends of mine, if they go from LA to London, they’re immediately on British time; or they go from Singapore to San Francisco and they’re immediately on San Francisco time. I, unfortunately, go from NY to London and sit in my hotel room not sleeping, hour after hour.”
Aside from getting a chance to relish “some amazing sunrises you wouldn’t normally see, stuff that’s hidden from the sleeping world”, Moby has turned these sleepless nights to his advantage – a process he calls “repurposing insomnia.” During his last world tour Moby brought along a laptop Pro Tools setup, a microphone and keyboard and began to write and record music on the road. The bleary, after-hours statelessness of the touring regimen and the meditative solitude induced by gazing out on silent urban nightscapes pervades his new compositions, imbuing them with a liminal ambiguity that oscillates between ennui and epiphany.
“You’re in Cologne, in a hotel, room, you have insomnia, you’re exhausted but you can’t sleep,” describes Moby, setting the scene. “You look out of your window and everything as far as you can see is quiet and still, except for the occasional changing street light. You’re hardly going to make jump-up-and-down, hi-energy music… I tend to make music in that environment that’s quieter, more atmospheric, a little disconcerting, but hopefully also a little warm, enveloping and beautiful at the same time.”
With a hard drive full of wee small hours recordings, Moby returned to his studio in downtown Manhattan (New York being after all “the city that never sleeps”), where he set about turning the sketches into full-blown songs. The result is Destroyed, his ninth studio album, a 15-track collection rich in the kind of melodies that are lodge in the brain by stealth rather than by bludgeon, with a hook-line quotient unrivalled in Moby’s canon since 1999’s international breakthrough hit, Play.
Like its predecessor (2009’s post-punk-inspired Wait For Me), Destroyed eschews deluxe studio gloss, taking its cue instead from proto-electronic pioneers such as Suicide, DAF and early Heaven 17 – artists whose fearless efforts with electronic instruments resulted in music of immense character, filled with a kind of raw, sonic graininess that Moby doesn’t hear in much music nowadays. “I don’t really like too many big, well-produced records. I tend to like old records, whether it’s a Billie Holiday or John Lee Hooker recording … even a record like Cream’s Disraeli Gears: you listen to the technical quality of the recording, and it’s disastrous – but it sounds and feels amazing. What I love about John Lee Hooker’s first single, ‘Boogie Chillen’’, is that it’s just a guitar, a vocal and a guy hitting a box; it leaves room for me, the listener, to enter the recording. Whereas I listen to a new pop record and it’s so big, so bombastic and over-the-top, and so perfectly produced, I feel like I’m at an incredibly loud, dynamic party that I’m not invited to.”
An album of generous sonic space (with some dirt left in), Destroyed possesses a many-sided allure and fluidity. Offering dissonant, minimalist introductions inexorably ceding to epic crescendos, for all its sonic flourishes the moody tranquillity of its roots show through: “The trajectory of a lot of the songs is like the trajectory of hotel insomnia,” Moby explains. “It starts out disconcerting and then you sort of make peace with it. The more time goes on, the more you realise that it’s not disconcerting, it’s actually quite interesting. The songs begin minimal and fractured and then build and fill in a little bit.”
Restricting himself to just a handful of vocals (often processed through a half-broken Korg vocoder), Moby instead spread vocal duties across a cabal of female guest singers. Ranging subtly through a variety of styles - from the pointillist electronica of “The Broken Places” and the soaring, hymnal “Be The One”, to the soulful funk of “The Right Thing” via the Bowie/Eno-indebted ‘The Day’, the unadulterated synth-pop of “Blue Moon” and the symphonic melancholy of “Lie Down In Darkness” – Destroyed, Moby contends, is designed to be experienced as an album. “When I was growing up, albums were some of my best friends,” he recalls. “Heaven Up Here by Echo and the Bunnymen and Closer by Joy Division - I was closer to these records than I was to my family and friends. I love the idea of an album as a cohesive body of work; it’s still really precious to me.”
Destroyed’s title and front cover derive from a Moby photograph. It depicts the final part of an LED
security-warning sign “Unattended luggage will be destroyed,” which flashed up one word at time in a deserted hallway at New York’s La Guardia airport. For Moby the title succinctly expresses the psychological state bought about by life in almost perpetual motion. “Anyone who’s travelled a lot, or even a little, will have experienced being in an airport, in a hotel, when everything around you is vaguely familiar but disconcerting in its familiarity. You’re in an airport in Singapore and all looks normal, except your circadian rhythms are all screwed up; you haven’t eaten well; you haven’t slept; it’s unnecessarily bright, you’re covered in that weird, synthetic travel grime … and there’s that feeling of just being ‘destroyed’. Sometimes you get past the level of exhaustion and it starts to feel good … the narcotic quality of feeling ‘destroyed’.”
Evocative titles, many of them lifted from Moby’s favourite literary works, are a recurring motif on Destroyed. “Lie Down In Darkness” is named after a William Styron novel; “The Violent Bear It Away” and instrumental “Victoria Lucas” salute Flannery O’Connor’s so-named Southern Gothic morality tale and Sylvia Plath’s first pen-name, respectively – erudite literary references entirely befitting the great-great-grand-nephew of Herman Melville (author of Moby Dick).
A deluxe art book of Moby photographs, also titled Destroyed, has been published to coincide with the album’s release. Stark and amusing images, taken during Moby’s many global peregrinations, capture (like the songs on the album) the strange atmosphere of everyday ‘non-places’ and the curious abstraction of serial international travel. Moby had to be cajoled into publishing his photographic work; but in fact, far from being a dilettantish digital camera-wielding dabbler, he studied film and photography at SUNY Purchase. Indeed, Moby has been a keen lens-man ever since, as ten year old, he was presented with a Nikon F camera as a Christmas present by his uncle, a professional photographer for The New York Times.
Music, photography and literature are all grist to Moby’s creative mill. His composer credit appears on over 300 Hollywood and art-house movies (including Paul Haggis’s The Next Three Days, which features Destroyed track “Be The One” on its soundtrack, alongside other Moby material). Polymath though he may be, Moby asserts music is the centre of his universe: “The reason I got involved in music was, growing up, no other art form affected me as powerfully. I loved photography, I loved sculpture, I loved books, I loved painting, but nothing resonated with me on such a profound emotional level as music did. Forty years later, I’m still as obsessed, maybe more obsessed, with music than I’ve ever been.”
Shake Recommends #2
James Rhodes BULLETS & LULLABIES. Warner
Rhodes has forged a career through a resolutely unconventional path. As a child, he used his love of music as a form of escapism against a traumatic life of abuse. After turning down a music scholarship at the age of eighteen, Rhodes didn’t play the piano again for another decade, instead working in the City while battling drug and alcohol addiction, as well as spending time in mental institutions. The birth of his son was the catalyst he needed to quit his day job and to pursue the career he had always dreamed of.
Bullets & Lullabies is a two-CD album that allows you to pick the disc to suit your mood. Disc one features fast and furious “Bullets”, whilst the second disc of “Lullabies” is the gentler option. According to Rhodes, the album could have just as easily been called “Uppers and Downers” or “Cocaine and Benzos”, a statement which pretty much sums him up. “The idea of Bullets and Lullabies is to give you an idea of what it’s like to live in my head for 24 hours. And if that doesn’t interest you in the slightest you still get to hear some particularly awesome music…” explains Rhodes. He continues, “This is 24 hours in my AM PM - madness, anger, fear, chaos, hope, victory, acceptance and a host of other emotions on an infinite loop.”
Disc one, the ‘Bullets’ segment of the album features Rhodes’ performances of compositions by Ravel, Moszkowski, Beethoven, Chopin, Grieg, Alkan and Blumenfeld. The contrasting second disc, ‘Lullabies’, highlights music by Rachmaninov, Debussy, Grieg, Chopin, Ravel, Debussy and Brahms. Does he achieve his above stated objective? He certainly does and you can clearly sense a number of emotions and moods coming through in his playing. What’s so refreshing here is that Rhodes has shed the mystique and formality playing almost like a freestyle jazz pianist or rocker - purists may find sleep difficult after hearing it. The material of course is wonderful but it is Rhodes’ openness, honesty, interpretation and skill that makes this a highlight of the release year thus far in 2011.
5/5
Ringo Death Starr COLOUR TRIP. Club
Texas band Ringo Death Starr is Elliott Frazier (guitars and vocals), Alex Gehring (guitars and vocals) and Daniel Coborn (bass, vocals and drums) and this is their debut record.
“The demise of Shoegaze was not much mourned at the time, which to me seems rather a shame, not least for the monotony and predictability of Grunge. For all its more indulgent and easily mocked qualities, there are some great sounds from Shoegaze’s attic. From Ride’s first two EPs, through the Boo Radley’s pre-Wake Up Boo efforts, and on to Slowdive’s Souvlaki Space Station, it’s well worth re-visiting, and covers a far broader range of sounds and styles than you might remember. Equally, an album like My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless deserves to be held up as the incredible classic it is (for all that Kevin Shields seems incapable of releasing the re-mastered version any time this decade).”
“Fortunately, it seems that Shoegaze, and the scuzzy noise-pop of the Jesus and Mary Chain (JAMC) are not entirely lost. In fact, regardless of what Chapterhouse and their ilk have been up to since the early nineties, in the meantime a trio of Texans appear to have gone round their house and stolen all the records that they used to listen to. And then learned to play them. And, more importantly, missed out the half of each of those records that was, in retrospect, rubbish.”
“My favourite song on the album is probably Do It Every Time, an infectious slab of noise pop featuring the killer line ‘we’re falling apart again, she took my cardigan,’ in a drawl oozing with ennui. It’s to Elliot Frazier’s credit that, if anything, he sounds underwhelmingly bored of things falling apart, and far more disconsolate about losing his cardie. The flipside is that Imagine Hearts, the opener, is far more about guitars distorted into swirls, buried female vocals, and that odd drift that My Bloody Valentine perhaps, with retrospect, should have trademarked.”
I happen to agree with everything this Amazon critic has written so I’ll end with a strong buy recommendation and…
4/5
Heidi Spencer And The Rare Birds UNDER STREETLIGHT GLOW. Bella Union
Heidi Spencer is a singer/songwriter from Milwaukee, Wisconsin (The Cheese Capital Of America!) and ‘Under Street Glow’ is her debut album with her band The Rare Birds.
“Spencer has a singularly distinctive voice. A little cracked; a little breathy and with the power to bring her compositions to life with a bewitching mixture of pathos and authentic charm. There are ten songs in the set. A little bit country; a little bit folksy but reading between the lines we perceive a composer of imagination with something all her own to share with the listening world. The production is a little rough around the edges (in a nice way!) and emphasises all that is best in her simple but evocative, homespun arrangements. Spencer is nothing if not believable in the musical tales she has to tell.”
“Opening track ‘Alibi’ finds her snapping her fingers in the beats between the bars as she delivers the lyrics with a touching tremble in her voice. A curious fusion of longing and regret. ‘Moth Met Spider’ is a fragile and strangely affecting invention too. ”
“‘Red Sky’ is a strong contender for top track. A bruised and broken instrumental arrangement supports the simple two-part harmony; leaning dangerously to the left and then to the right it nonetheless manages to stay upright until the final chord. Concluding track ‘Whiskey’ is a cautionary tale sung with passion. It’s as close as Ms Spencer comes to being a cowgirl. As the clouds gather around her it is not hard to imagine her riding off across the plains into a acid-coloured sunset to escape her heartache.”
Yet another Amazon review that hits the proverbial nail on the head… There’s a mountain of quality, distinction and originality here - vocally and in Spencer’s song-writing. The simple acoustic instrumental arrangements and bare-bones/honest production are the icing on a gorgeous cake that tastes better with each play.
4.5/5
Killing Bono! The Movie
Sony Music is pleased to announce the CD and Digital Download release of Killing Bono: The Original Soundtrack Album. Killing Bono is the critically acclaimed rock ‘n’ roll comedy, based on the true story of two Irish brothers struggling to forge their path through the 1980’s music scene, whilst the meteoric rise to fame of their old school pals U2 only serves to cast them deeper into the shadows. Killing Bono was released theatrically by Paramount Pictures in the UK and Ireland on April 1st.
Neil McCormick always knew he’d be famous… A young Irish songwriter and budding genius, nothing less than a life of rock ‘n’ roll stardom will do. But there’s only room for one singer in school band The Hype and his friend Paul’s already bagged the job. Neil forms his own band with his brother Ivan, determined to leave The Hype in his wake. But there’s a problem: The Hype have changed their name… to U2. And Paul has turned into ‘Bono’. Naturally there’s only one option for Neil: become bigger than U2.
The brothers head to London in their quest for fame, but find their every action dwarfed by the soaring success of their old school rivals. Then, just as they land some success of their own, Ivan discovers the shocking truth behind Neil’s rivalry with U2, and it threatens to destroy everything.
As his rock ‘n’ roll dream crashes and burns, Neil feels like his failure is directly linked to Bono’s success. Is he the yin to Bono’s yang? Is he forever destined to live in the shadows of superstardom? And what if the answer lies in… Killing Bono? Much more than your average movie soundtrack, the Killing Bono OST features eight unique new arrangements written by Grammy-nominated song writer Joe Echo, which have been performed and recorded by Ben Barnes and Robert Sheehan, the actors who portray Neil and Ivan McCormick in the film.
The album also includes an exclusive and previously unreleased track entitled Street Mission, written by U2’s first incarnation, The Hype, and performed on the Killing Bono OST by Martin McCann (who plays Bono) and the band portraying The Hype in the film. Killing Bono documents the rise of U2 from their first concert as The Hype to the peak of their fame as the biggest band in the world, and Street Mission is followed on the soundtrack by U2 classic I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, from 1987’s landmark album The Joshua Tree, the release of which drives the climax of the film.
Other tracks include the original 1987 recording of Stop The World by Shook Up! (Neil and Ivan’s band portrayed in Killing Bono), former Live lead singer Ed Kowalczyk’s The Great Beyond, taken from his debut solo album, and music from the film’s score, by Academy Award winning British composer Stephen Warbeck. Two songs, Some Kind Of Loving and Sleepwalking, feature original Shook Up! lyrics, with musical re-workings by Joe Echo.
Joe Echo is an acclaimed up-and-coming Irish singer/songwriter, whose collaboration with Madonna on the track Celebration earned him a Grammy nomination in 2010. His song On All My Sundays features on Paul Oakenfold’s #1 Dance album Perfecto Vegas, and he has recently worked with Blur and The Verve. He will release his debut solo album later in 2011.
To coincide with the theatrical release of Killing Bono and the CD & Digital Download release of the soundtrack album, a re-issued version of Neil McCormick’s memoir I was Bono’s Doppelganger was released on Thursday March 31st, featuring brand new cover artwork and additional material; the book will be repackaged as Killing Bono.
Directed by BAFTA winner Nick Hamm, Killing Bono is based on journalist Neil McCormick’s best-selling coming of age novel I was Bono’s Doppelganger, with a screenplay by BAFTA winning writers Dick Clement and Ian LaFrenais, with Simon Maxwell. Its young cast boasts some of the UK’s most promising acting talent, including Ben Barnes (The Chronicles of Narnia) as Neil McCormick, Robert Sheehan (Misfits) as Ivan McCormick, and Martin McCann (Clash of the Titans, The Pacific) as Bono. Killing Bono is also the legendary Pete Postlethwaite’s last ever screen appearance. Ian Flooks, one of films producers, was U2’s agent from 1980 till 1997.
Official Website www.killingbono.co.uk
Official Blog www.killingbonoblog.com
Official Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Killing-Bono/192657544396
Official Twitter http://twitter.com/killing_bono
** Shake Verdict: A great night out if you love music based films, and even if you don’t like U2 this is an engaging story that keeps you rolling along till’ the end, I loved it, especially watching it in Liverpool where I first saw u2 way back in 1980, 30 years later the band are still going strong as is the writer of this film, Hot Press is still one of my fave music magazines too, all in deffo worth the price of entry and something i will want to own on DVD, Nuff Said… Jj: 8/10
Shake Recommends #1…
R.E.M. COLLAPSE INTO NOW. Warner
It makes me laugh (or cry) when I hear music critics slagging off an album like this because ‘it doesn’t come close to… (a previous album)’. R.E.M. have been recording since 1980 and have released fifteen studio albums (including this one), and not every one of them could be a MURMER or AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE. How many OK COMPUTERS has Radiohead released? It’s all bullshit of the most lazy kind, so what’s this new album really like? It’s good, in fact it’s very good albeit not a masterpiece. It amazes me that a veteran rock band can still deliver the goods while sounding new and fresh…
‘Discoverer’ opens the album with a pounding, slow drum rhythm overlaid with jangling guitar and the most passionate Stipe vocal. This has everything including powerful melody and typically good lyrics. Superb and edgy production completes this wonderful package. ‘All The Best’ repeats the dose while ‘ÜBerlin’ reminds me of previous classic cuts with its acoustic backdrop. ‘Oh My Heart’ sounds like Dylan at his very best and is a highlight of this album.
I like COLLPASE INTO NOW a lot and rate it as one of then band’s best albums, and it gets better with each play. I have no hesitation in recommending it to fans and those not familiar with the band.
4/5
Alessi’s Ark TIME TRAVEL. Bella Union
Alessi’s Ark is a project of singer-songwriter Alessi Laurent-Marke. She grew up in Hammersmith, London, UK and first got into music when her mother gave her a copy of Graham Nash’s 1971 album Songs for Beginners. She took up the drums at the age of 11 when her secondary school required students to take up an instrument. Her drum teacher played locally in different bands and through this she began going to see
various bands live with her dad, sometimes attending as many as four shows a week.
But why do I like this album so much? Perhaps it’s because Alessi doesn’t try too hard making it all sound so natural, easy and accessible. Perhaps it’s because there’s nice variation in pace and mood that holds the attention. Perhaps it’s because it’s acoustic folk-pop which is both intelligent and supremely melodic. The truth is that it’s all these things and more, including the record’s fine production and twelve songs of consistent quality.
4/5
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart BELONG. Rainbow Inc/Play It Again Sam
Now here’s a band that has matured nicely with this second album. I saw thw band perform a few years back when they were being strongly hyped but I was disappointed in the first record, although live songs did come alive. BELONG is a cracking record starting with the rambling opening and title track. The multi-layered vocals are magical; the low hum of guitar and drums floating underneath are dark and threatening; with a strong melody underpinning a superb introduction. The band’s sonic signature is kind of muted while voices reflect youth and a high degree of innocence. Lyrically, this is top drawer and clever with it: “She’s the heart in your heartbreak, she’s the miss in your mistake…” Just occasionally the sound become sharper and louder such as in ‘The Body’ and ‘My Terrible Friend’ which are more overtly rock. Strongly recommended.
4/5
Laura Jansen: Bells - Debut LP
Laura Jansen is primed to break out in 2011 with her US debut album Bells, a collection of piano-based alt-pop songs, out March 22 on Decca Records. Born in the Netherlands to a family constantly on the move, the LA-based Jansen spent her teens moving around Europe and the US. That sense of longing for connection and a hunt for home, along with a Christmas Day end to a rocky relationship, deeply affects the Hotel Café mainstay’s music.
In early 2011, Jansen will tour with Joshua Radin and Cary Brothers, make a stop at SXSW and head out on the Hotel Café tour later in the year. This is Jansen’s second tour with Radin, who fell in love with her music after seeing her play the Hotel Café, the LA hotbed and musical incubator. Laura was even invited to perform with Joshua at Ellen DeGeneres’ wedding. Jansen’s touring partners have also included Ingrid Michaelson and William Fitzsimmons.
Bells, already platinum in Jansen’s native Holland, is a layered confection of piano melodies and pristine vocals, with all songs written by Jansen except for a bare-bones cover of Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody,” which has spent over a year in the top regions of the Dutch singles chart. “Single Girls,” the album’s emotionally loaded first single, is a breathy, delicate pop metaphor for the devastation of getting your heart smashed to pieces. Title track “Bells,” inspired by the homesickness felt after a real-life breakup and the pealing of church bells, is a pure outpouring of sweetness and grief. But it’s not all songs of woe. At the other end of the spectrum, the playful, wily “Wicked World” transforms seemingly innocent fairy tales into stories of wanton naughtiness and urges listeners to let down their hair to its ragtime beat.
For many of us, suffering a painful break-up means a journey through the famous five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Laura Jansen learned this unpleasant lesson five years ago as she struggled to make sense of the implosion of a very stormy romantic relationship. “The end came on Christmas Day, which was pretty awesome,” she says jokingly before turning reflective. “I thought the pain might literally kill me, but it’s amazing the little things you start to do to save your own life. It’s fascinating.”
Jansen, a Dutch-born, Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, and musician, chronicles those little things, like cutting her hair, buying pink floral sheets, and venturing out for a drink with the guy down the hall, on “Single Girls” - the deceptively simple, but emotional first single from Bells, Jansen’s upcoming debut album for Universal’s Decca Records. A dreamy collection of piano-driven alt-pop songs, Bells has already gone platinum in Jansen’s native Holland, propelled by “Single Girls” and a stunning cover of Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody,” which has spent more than a year lodged in the Top 10 on the Dutch singles chart. In the U.S., Jansen is a fixture in the constellation of artists associated with Los Angeles nightclub The Hotel Cafe - a musical haven, creative incubator, and ultimately, national launching pad for such confessional-minded artists as Sara Bareilles, Priscilla Ahn, and Joshua Radin, whom Jansen toured with in 2008 and will hit the road with again in 2011.
Jansen connects by using the sweet clarity of her pristine voice to tell deeply relatable stories. The playful, ragtime-esque “Wicked World” urges listeners to uncurl from the fetal position, grab some friends, and go have some fun. “That song is about how it’s time to go out and meet some men. It’s time to do some drinking, because being depressed is getting old,” Jansen says. “It came out of the realization that little girls are raised on fairy tales. We are expected to be married and have babies. Those rules do not apply where I live. L.A. is its own little circus.”
On “The End” Jansen comes to terms with a relationship’s conclusion by realizing that there’s no blame to be placed. “It’s when you finally say, ‘We can’t fix this. We’re just going around in circles and I need peace,” she says. “I sing that song with a smile, because the turmoil is over.”
“I write and play music to work stuff out,” Jansen explains. “If you’re a performer, part of that is a public process, which is weird that there’s an exhibitionism to our therapy. But to me, that’s much more effective than popping some pills and talking to a shrink. It feels really good to get it out, and it feels even better to play the songs and look out at an audience and see someone whose face is saying, ‘I totally get it.’ That, in itself, is healing. I have had incredibly moving experiences while playing live. Some serious shit goes down at the shows. There’s laughing and dancing and lots of interaction, but the people I meet and the stories they tell me afterward are what make me feel less alone. I’m always hoping that somewhere in my uber-personal story, I’m hitting on the universal.”
Record Store Day: April 16 2011
UK Record Store Day 2011: Saturday April 16th
Record Store Day is a celebration of independent record stores and the way they contribute to music, with this day seeing them secure hundreds of exclusive items from record labels which are only available through participating stores. A global event , Record Store Day sees over a thousand record stores taking part across 18 countries and four continents. More than 150 UK indie record stores took part in last year’s event and over 180 are signed up for this year.
Sony Music has lined up its best ever series of releases to support the event. Additionally Columbia Records’ The View have recorded the anthem for the event in the form of their new release “I Need That Record”.
Mike Smith, Managing Director of Columbia Records, says: “I’m thrilled that once again that Columbia Records and Sony Music have come up with a fantastic selection of bespoke releases for Record Store Day. It’s heartening to see how this event has grown in such a short space of time for independent record stores and it’s now a genuinely exciting day in the music calendar each year. I think The View have perfectly expressed how we all feel about records and music.
Pete Leggatt, VP Of Sales, Sony Music says: “With over twenty very different products & over 20k units manufactured, Sony Music is more committed than ever to ‘Record Store Day’ and the valuable Indie retail sector it represents”
The initiative, which is designed to promote independent retail, has the support of all four majors and many indie labels, who have produced an extensive range of limited-edition goods for the day. A veritable smorgasbord of enticing releases are scheduled to mark the annual celebration of musical independence. If you weren’t already aware, the following treats will only be available at independent record shops on the appointed day. Hurrah!
AC/DC – “Shoot To Thrill” - special 7” vinyl b/w “War Machine”.
BETH DITTO – “I Wrote The Book” – Special 4-track EP on CD and vinyl –ltd to 500 copies.
BOB DYLAN –“Subterranean Homesick Blues”Ting Ting Remix – 7” vinyl in customised Tong Tings sleeve
BROKEN BELLS –“Meyrin Fields” – Ltd edition 3 track EP.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – “Gotta Get The Feeling”/”Racing In The Park” – Special 10” Vinyl.
CULTS – “Do You Know What I Mean” - UK exclusive 7” vinyl with etched b-side.
EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER – “Puerto Rico 1972” – Single vinyl bootleg concert release, limited and numbered.
FOO FIGHTERS – “Medium Rare” – special 13 track limited edition covers album.
JIMI HENDRIX – “Fire” – Ltd edition red vinyl.
KINGS OF LEON - “Holy Roller Novocaine” – 5 track EP on 10” vinyl.
MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA- ”Simple Math”/”The Plan” – Ltd edition 7” vinyl.
MICHAEL JACKSON – “Hollywood Tonight”/”Behind The Math” – 7” vinyl.
MILES KANE – “A Girl Like You” - Produced by Edwyn Collins, 1k ltd edition 7” vinyl.
MURRAY JAMES – “Protect Me “ - Debut Deconstruction single on 7” vinyl only.
PETER GOLDMARK – Ltd edition Columbia T-shirt - (Peter Goldmark invented the 12” vinyl).
PRIMAL SCREAM – “Screamedelica” – Numbered triple vinyl in gatefold sleeve with booklet.
RAPHAEL SAADIQ – “Radio”/”Can’t Jig Anymore” - 7” vinyl.
RAY LAMONTAGNE – “Live – Fall 2010” – special vinyl 6 track album.
THE CLASH – “Magnificent Seven”/ “The Cool Out” – Numbered red vinyl and CD single.
THE VACCINES – “LIVE FROM LONDON” – Limited edition bootleg album on CD and 12” vinyl.
THE VIEW – “I Need That Record” - Limited numbered 7”vinyl with etched B-side.
The View will be undertaking a store PA’s and signing on Record Store Day: Rock-A-Boom, Leicester – 4 Silver Walk Leicester.
SPINEFARM RECORDS TO SUPPORT APRIL 16th EVENT WITH SIX LIMITED EDITION 7” SINGLES PLUS INSTORE APPEARANCE FROM UK ‘STADIUM ROCKERS’ JETTBLACK…
AS REGULAR manufacturers of vinyl, and proud of it, Spinefarm Records are delighted to be celebrating ‘Record Store Day’ on April 16th 2011 with six 7” singles featuring tracks from some of the key artists on the label. All of the singles will be strictly limited to 300 copies and will come in a ‘Spinefarm Records’ house bag specifically designed for the event.
SINGLE 1 – RAMMSTEIN ‘Waidmann’s Heil’ / ‘Liebe Ist Für Alle Da’.
Both tracks are taken from the Berlin band’s current ‘Liebe Ist Für Alle Da’ album.
SINGLE 2 – FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH ‘Falling In Hate’ / ‘Far From Home’.
Both tracks are taken from the US band’s current ‘War Is The Answer’ album, now approaching gold status at home.
SINGLE 3 – COB / KILLING JOKE ‘Northpole Throwdown’ / ‘Fresh Fever From The Skies’.
The ChildrenOfBodem track is taken from the Finnish band’s just-released ‘Relentless, Reckless Forever’ album, while the Killing Joke track comes from their latest ‘Absolute Dissent’ release.
SINGLE 4 – HELLYEAH / JETTBLACK ‘Pole Rider’ / ‘When It Comes To Lovin’’.
The Hellyeah track is taken from the US crew’s second ‘Stampede’ album, while the Jettblack track is taken from the UK band’s ‘Get Your Hands Dirty’ debut album.
Jettblack will be taking time out from the recording of the follow-up to ‘Get Your Hands Dirty’ to sign copies of the 7” single and play an acoustic set at The Rock Box in Camberley at 1pm, 151 London Road Camberley Surrey GU15 3JY Tel: 01276 266 28 Email: mailorder@rockbox.co.uk / Website: www.rockbox.co.uk
SINGLE 5 – HELLOWEEN / APOCALYPTICA ‘The Sage, The Fool, The Sinner’ / ‘Bring Them To Light’.
The Helloween track is taken from their latest ‘7 Sinners’ album, while the Apocalyptica track (featuring Gojira’s Joe Duplantier on guest vocals) comes from their most recent ‘7th Symphony’ release. ‘7 Sinners’, ‘7th Symphony’, 7” single. Perfect.
SINGLE 6 – THE ANSWER. ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Outlaw’ / ‘Fooled Me’ (demo)
Both tracks are exclusive to this release. ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Outlaw’ is a cover of the Rose Tattoo classic (1978), while ‘Fooled Me’ is a demo recording of a track at one point in contention for the Irish band’s third studio album, currently being mixed.
Amongst the temporary array of exclusives is a single from US rockabilly bloke Dan Sartain, and vinyl offerings from the likes of Mazes, Miles Kane and The View. Specially-commissioned EPs from Beth Ditto, Esben & The Witch and Tracey Thorne will also be available. Various split singles will also be released, including a collaboration between Brad Laner and Joensuu 1685, plus a tribute to Cardiacs’ lead singer Tim Smith by Oceansize and Porcupine Tree. of Montreal have also paired up with Casiokids on another dual release entitled ‘Expecting To Fly’/'London Zoo’.
Meanwhile, Brighton’s Resident, Glasgow’s Love Music, Carmarthen’s Tangled Parrot and Belfast’s Head are the UK’s top independent record stores, according to a Record Store Day poll. The results are based on more than 4,000 votes in a public poll on indierecordshop.org, a website backed by the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) to highlight the contribution of indie stores. ERA director general Kim Bayley said the four winners – one from each country in the UK - show “the diversity and dynamism which are still the hallmark of the UK’s independent record stores”.
Stay abreast of the Record Store Day updates and goings on by consulting the website: www.recordstoreday.co.uk.
** 1 Week Later: London: On 21st May, some of the Europe’s leading independent labels will get together for a unique event in the heart of London’s Soho.
Independent Label Market is a follow up event to Record Store Day which is being held on the 16th April, and will further raise awareness of the exciting music produced by independent labels from the UK and beyond. The event will take place on Berwick Street, where the heads of these labels will sell their wares directly to the customers, at that traditional goods exchange - a market stall.
Armed with flasks of tea and punnets of 7”s, each label boss will man their own stall and spend the day meeting their public - and where better to launch this than on Berwick Street, where the first market appeared in 1778. Berwick Street and the surrounding area has always been very well known for its independent record shops, especially through the 1990s into the early 21st century (including Vinyl Junkies, CD City, Sister Ray, Selectadisc, Reckless Records, Phonica, and Mr Bongo’s), however many have now closed due to the emergence of digital downloading.
Westminster Council are very supportive of Independent Label Market and it looks like it will be a fantastic boost to the trading community in the area. http://independentlabelmarket.tumblr.com/
Paper Aeroplanes: Dragons Fire!
Paper Aeroplanes – We Are Ghosts: New Mini-Album Released 18th April 2011
“very strong debut… a confident collection of gems” Record of the day (debut album review)
“you could streak the sky with this album’s melodies and people would stand, necks craned, mouths agape, gasping at the beauty of it all… It has an effortless, uncontrived universality” Adam Walton BBC Radio Wales
Paper Aeroplanes is a girl and a boy from Westest Wales, now based in the capital of Wales and the capital of England. They make melancholy-tinged acoustic music centred around distinctive vocals.
Their recent single, ‘Not as Old’ was playlisted on national radio – including a Bob Harris session on BBC Radio 2 and gathered a multitude of regional radio plays. The track - written and produced with Matt Prime (Will Young, Eliza Doolittle) drew much praise from enthused critics and bloggers alike.
We Are Ghosts is Paper Aeroplanes’ new mini-album which follows a tumultuous past year for the duo. Suffering the frustrations of being churned through the major record label excitement mill - i.e. courted and schmoozed by big-wigs at well-known labels, sitting in countless platinum-plaqued offices listening to many ‘definite maybes’ from chin-stroking decision-makers.
“First a top A&R guy travelled to Cardiff for a specially arranged showcase with us”, says lead singer Sarah, “then the man responsible for a well-known international artist’s career set up 3 showcases and took us out for drinks in a Soho Members Club. We’re waiting for someone to make that move, but still wanted to put our new material out there. I’m sure it’s a familiar tale but it can be hard to deal with and easy to lose your identity as artists”.
The new record marks a change in approach and a feeling of independence, with comparisons already being drawn to Turin Brakes, Mazzy Star and Alison Krauss. Produced and recorded entirely by the band in guitarist Richard’s flat, the songs are all acoustic lead and possess a warm, genuine but distinctly raw feel which they felt the previous album lacked. We Are Ghosts was mixed by David Wrench (Kathryn Williams, Stephanie Dosen, Y Niwl, Guillemots).
We Are Ghosts is a truthful hard-worked labour of love, written and recorded with integrity, frustration, emotion and guile. Available from iTunes and directly from their website.
Free download “Flee” cleared for posting: www.paperaeroplanesmusic.com/media
www.paperaeroplanesmusic.com // facebook.com/paperaeroplanesmusic // twitter.com/sarahaeroplane //youtube.com/paperaeroplanesmusic // myspace.com/paperaeroplanes
Paper Aeroplanes – Coffee Shops and Cafes
In an age where people are buying more and more online, where global chains are elbowing out true independents and where we want everything faster and ever more convenient… a self-managed folk/pop band from the Westest extremes of Wales are slowing things down.
“The idea started when tracks from their debut album were added to the Costa Coffee playlist. We had texts and emails from friends all over the country saying they’d heard us in Costa; but being added to the great wash of ubiquitous elevator muzak didn’t seem to introduce us to many new fans. Starbucks tried to start a music label and Caffe Nero host unplugged live events, but we just thought, what about the Indies? Our music, ethos and tastes are far more geared to those smaller, unique hidden gems and we wanted to play with that idea.” - Sarah Howells - lead singer.
It’s a simple concept. The band has produced a batch of limited edition 4 track CDs with the details of their 12 favourite UK cafes on the back. Those cafes will give away the CDs, free with food purchases, and the band, in return, will promote the cafes to their fans and networks. Its small businesses of different kinds sticking together.
The 4 track CD features the track ‘Safe Hands’ from forthcoming mini album, We Are Ghosts, (released April 2011). The second song, ‘Black Seeds’, is exclusive to the CD and unavailable anywhere else. It’s completed with a new acoustic version of Bob Harris’ favourite ‘Orange Lights’ and a live version of the band’s debut single ‘Cliché’, which was recorded at a sell-out gig in St John’s Church in Cardiff.
“Outstanding, I’m a big Paper Aeroplanes fan” - Bob Harris BBC Radio 2
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Shakenstir Photo Supplement |
DPK: Digital Press Kit |
The Swell Season |
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