Category: News

Sound of Yell ‘Brocken Spectre’

Posted on by chemikscott

Stevie Jones – another El Hombre Trajeado alumnus – joins the Chemikal family.

His versatility and fluency across several instruments place him among the most sought-after collaborators in Scottish music, but with his alchemical debut album under the monicker Sound Of Yell Stevie Jones steps out of the wings into centre-stage. Herein lies a series of routes paved with genres with which Jones has a long and fecund history – acoustic psychedelia, folk, jazz, improvisation – yet so sinuous, interwoven and undulating as to leave the listener at liberty to choose their own pace and terminus.

Upcoming live shows06/11/14 – Glasgow – Platform
08/11/14 – London – The Vortex Jazz Club

Have a listen to ‘Caiman’ from ‘Brocken Spectre’.

‘Brocken Spectre’ is available for pre-order here.

Hubby supports Mogwai

Posted on by chemikscott

Just missed Hubby on his recent UK tour? You now have a couple of dates to rectify that as he supports Mogwai in Aberdeen and Rotherham at the end of the month. In addition to the UK dates Mogwai have kindly asked him to support them at a handful of gigs in Belgium, Holland & France.

If you haven’t picked up a copy of the ‘Ampersand Extras’ vinyl which is released next week then you can get one from the man himself while he is on the road.

 

Adrian Crowley ‘Some Blue Morning’

Posted on by chemikscott

Adrian Crowley returns with his seventh studio album ‘Some Blue Morning’, due for release on the 10th of November. ‘Some Blue Morning’ is the follow up to 2012’s Choice Music Prize nominated ‘I See Three Birds Flying’.

Crowley achieves a number of interesting and brilliant advances with this collection. The compositions move between sparse dream-state ghost-songs and song-stories to all-out epic numbers with tense nerve-ending strings. We hear essential contributions from members of London string ensemble Geese, cellist Kevin Murphy and singer Katie Kim, amongst others. ‘Some Blue Morning’ was recorded in Dublin with long time friend Steve Shannon.

Live dates around the album release should be announced very soon. If you can’t wait until then have a listen to the track ‘Trouble’.

Holy Mountain – UK Tour

Posted on by chemikscott

Dig out the ear protectors folks, Holy Mountain are hitting the road again.  Embarking on their first run of dates since April, they’ll be taking in Wakefield, Manchester, London, Birmingham…do you know what?  They’re over on the right there, just click the links and do the needful.

What do they sound like live?  Like this…

Conquering Animal Sound UK Tour & Ltd. Ed. 12″

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Conquering Animal Sound have announced a UK tour in October and a limited edition 12″ entitled ‘Talking Shapes’. The white label 12″ includes four previously unreleased tracks that were recorded at Chem19 with Jamie Savage. The 12″ is limited to 300 copies and the sleeve will feature screen printed artwork put together by the band themselves.

Tracklist
1. The Next Day
2. HTR1A
3. Puskas
4. A Solid Door

You can have a listen to the opening track ‘The Next Day’ below. If you are lucky enough to get along to any of the live dates then you can purchase a 12″ from the band.

New Album & Tour Dates for Hubby

Posted on by chemikscott

With four months of an incredibly eventful 2014 still to go, RM Hubbert has only gone and announced another album and string of tour dates before the bells toll on December 31st.

Ampersand Extras (13th October, 2014)
We’re delighted to announce the October-bound arrival of ‘Ampersand Extras‘: an exhaustive accompaniment to RM Hubbert’s trilogy of albums from which it takes its name: ‘First & Last‘, ‘Thirteen Lost & Found‘ and ‘Breaks & Bone‘.  Available on vinyl and digital download it contains all of the material that emerged from those three albums’ recording sessions but were not considered appropriate or complimentary inclusions on the LPs themselves. 

To read the full press release for the album and have its myriad wonders explored far more eloquently than we ever could (thanks to our inestimable scribe Sean Guthrie), please click HERE.

Tracklisting
1. PB
2. Song For Jenny (with Alan Bissett)
3. Canine Shaped Frogs
4. Elliot (with Luke Sutherland)
5. Hanging Pointers
6. True Love Will Find You In The End
7. Sticky Pine
8. For Fuck Sake D, Sit Nice
9. Cherry Blossoms (with Esperi)
10. SG 666
11. Mo Vela (with Alasdair Roberts & Emma Pollock)

Hubby’s prodigious touring schedule doesn’t seem to be winding down either as he announces yet another series of shows that will see him take in Ireland and the UK before heading off round the world to play in New Zealand and Australia. 

Spawny bastard.

You can see his dates over on the right or down below…who the hell knows nowadays with all the different gizmos you’re probably reading this on.

The Phantom Band UK Tour

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“It’s a record without a weak link, that doesn’t outstay its welcome, and
excites you about the possibility of seeing it all played live.” 9/10 Drowned In Sound

Well here’s your chance then… The Phantom Band are back on the road this autumn with a UK tour. Following on from the gigs around the release of their third album ‘Strange Friend’ the band have confirmed an additional ten dates with more to be announced soon.

‘Strange Friend’ has rightfully been enjoying plaudits from far and wide. I think we can let the praise speak for itself. All you need to do now is come along and see them…

“This is the Phantom Band in direct mode, and it suits them… Psychedelic Outdoors Rock? This genre will hike and hike.” 4/5 Mojo

“Strange Friend marks a measured step towards accessibility for one of Britain’s most innovative bands.” 8/10 Uncut

“Strange Friend is a tight, concise and incredibly satisfying listen with the right mixture of familiarity and progression” MUSIC OMH

“The world they inhabit is strange and congenial and often beautiful” Album of the Month, The List

“At its best it’s irresistible” Q

“2009’s ‘Checkmate Savage’ and 2011’s ‘The Wants’ pulled together elements as diverse as Krautrock, campfire sing-songs and pure, pulsing pop. ‘Strange Friend is all this and more.” 8/10 NME

Come On Die Young Reissue : July 21st

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Arriving in March 1999 with an album cover that referenced The Exorcist and a title scalped from a well-known Glasgow gang slogan, you’d have expected Mogwai’s ‘Come On Die Young’ to be an apocalypse-harbouring, pre-millennial assault on the senses. Instead, we were treated to a darkly elegiac – surprisingly restrained – response to the aural fireworks of their ‘Young Team’ debut from two years earlier.

Recorded and mixed at Dave Fridmann’s Tarbox Road Studios in Upstate New York, ‘Come On Die Young’ begins with a sample of Iggy Pop eulogising the genius of punk rock and ends with a track entitled ‘Punk Rock/Puff Daddy/Antichrist’.  This thoughtful and irreverent diptych enclosed an hour of music that was as beautiful as it was blistering and as poignant as it was unpredictable: preconceptions of what to expect from a Mogwai album, disassembled at a stroke.

‘Come On Die Young’ was – and remains – a hugely accomplished, elegant and important album, setting a benchmark for the fierce intelligence that would characterise Mogwai’s future body of work.  The reissue of ‘Come On Die Young’ – fifteen years after it originally hit the shelves – recognises the vital role this album played in Chemikal Underground’s development as the label approaches its 20th anniversary in 2015.  This deluxe edition of ‘Come On Die Young’ has been painstakingly put together by the band and label, unearthing more than an hour of bonus material including:

  • Previously unreleased takes from early Chem19 sessions of ‘Waltz For Aidan’, ‘Christmas Steps’, ‘Rollerball’ as well as ‘7-25’ (which ultimately featured on ‘Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait’).
  • Seven remixed and remastered album tracks from CAVA sessions pre-dating the final Tarbox recording sessions.
  • Two previously unreleased tracks ‘Satchel Panzer’ and ‘Spoon Test’. 
  • Rarities ‘Nick Drake’, ‘Hugh Dallas’ and the 3 track ‘Travels In Constants EP’. 
  • The original, previously unreleased version of ‘Helps Both Ways’. 
  • A1 ‘San Siro’ poster for Mogwai’s Barrowland Ballroom show from October ’99.
  • Boxset includes 4 x 180gsm LPs featuring the original 2LP and 2LP of bonus material.
  • Two Chem19 Demos are exclusive to the boxset: ‘Christmas Steps’ and ‘7-25’.
  • Boxset includes a download code for all audio within the boxset.

“Sometimes ‘CODY’ is kind, sometimes it is cruel and at many times it is lovingly, leeringly abstract. Because this is Mogwai in full, frazzled, fantastic effect. Live fast. Play slow. Die Young.”  NME

AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW

Mogwai’s new album ‘Rave Tapes’ is out now on Rock Action Records.
www.mogwai.co.uk | www.rockaction.co.uk

The Phantom Band ‘Strange Friend’

Posted on by chemikscott

The Phantom Band are back with their third long player ‘Strange Friend’, due for release on the 2nd of June and the loooong-awaited follow-up to 2010’s ”The Wants’.  It’s great to finally have all the strange and exotic sounds that have been emanating from their rehearsal room (next door to our office) these past gazillion months transform themselves into the 9 track aural extravaganza that’s listed below.

The band will also be playing a few live shows in June around the release of the album (look to your right).

Tracklisting
1. The Wind That Cried The World
2. Clapshot
3. Doom Patrol
4. Atacama
5. (Invisible) Friends
6. Sweatbox
7. No Shoes Blues
8. Women Of Ghent
9. Galápagos

To whet your appetite you can have a listen to the opening track ‘The Wind That Cried The World’. Welcome back old friends…

RM Hubbert Spring Tour & New Single

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Does he ever stop? RM Hubbert is about to set out on tour in the UK & France in support of the release of the digital single ‘Buckstacy’. The single is backed by a cover version of Daniel Johnston’s ‘True Love Will Find You In The End’. (The first time Hubby played ‘True Love…’ was at the wedding of a member of the band ‘Remember Remember’…)

‘Buckstacy’ is taken from Hubby’s third studio album ‘Breaks & Bone’, which we hope you have already. If not then we strongly urge you to buy a copy from the man himself whilst he’s on the road; or alternatively why not get it from our online shop here?

The tour kicks off in Perth before Hubby hops across the Channel to France to play four shows with Belgian band ‘Girls In Hawaii‘ who we would encourage you to have a listen to. Hubby then has a number of shows throughout England & Scotland. Details of the venues and cities he will be visiting can be found below.