Republic of music

Republic of Music Blog

Tuesday April 24, 2012

ROUGH TRADE INSTORE ANNOUNCEMENTS!

Rough Trade have a lot of exciting in-stores coming up over the coming weeks and months.
To check out who is playing CLICK HERE

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Monday April 23, 2012

New Releases – 23rd April 2012

01. ‘My Bones’ by Tom Williams & The Boat [taken from the new album 'Teenage Blood', out now via The Young And Lost Club]
02. ‘Song For You’ by Marbert Rocel [taken from the new album 'Small Hours', out now via Compost]

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Thursday April 19, 2012

Listen: Ugly Custard – Hung Upside Down (taken from Record Store Day Release)

Strut celebrates Record Store Day this year with an extremely limited LP reissue from some of the UK’s finest session musicians. Created by library music legend Alan Parker, Ugly Custard’s self-titled album is heavy organ-lead psychedelic funk at its best, and the Strut release (limited to 1000 copies worldwide) will mark the first in a series of limited LP reissues from the label. See below for a stream of “Hung Upside Down” which is taken from ‘Ugly Custard’.

Ugly Custard has become a cult classic among vinyl diggers – a dense, heavy, psyched-out set from a short-lived side project put together by UK library and film music composer, Alan Parker (known to savvy collectors for his work on the legendary KPM 1000 series, as well as recordings w/ Donovan, David Bowie, and others). The album reunited Parker with leading session players and fellow members of the band Blue Mink including Herbie Flowers (bass) and Roger Coulam (organ) alongside prolific drummer Clem Cattini (The Tornados, T-Rex, Hot Chocolate).

The album features Parker in top form, re-arranging known standards into open, wigged-out jams including Paul Simon’s “Scarboro’ Fair” and Stephen Stills’ “Hung Upside Down.” Side 2 focuses on original Parker compositions including the sitar-drenched “Cry From The Heart” and a co-composition between Parker and The Mohawks’ Alan Hawkshaw on “Custard’s Last Stand.”

Ugly Custard is pressed on heavyweight vinyl and features new sleeve notes including an interview with Alan Parker. Originally issued on Kaleidoscope (KAL 100) in 1971.

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Wednesday April 18, 2012

Watch: Fetsum – Nobody Knows (Live acoustic session)

Fetsum performing an acoustic version of the track ‘Nobody Knows’, which is taken from the forthcoming album ‘The Colors of Hope’ which is released on 28th May on Sonar Kollektiv.

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Wednesday April 18, 2012

Watch: Jazzanova – Believer (Funkhaus Sessions)

Jazzanova ‘Believer’ (Funkhaus Sessions) with vocalist Paul Randolph. ‘Believer’ is taken from the forthcoming Jazzanova album “Funkhaus Studio Sessions”, released on Sonar Kollektiv in May 2012.

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Wednesday April 18, 2012

Watch: Reptar – Blastoff

Reptar – Blastoff from Lucky Number Music on Vimeo.

Having recently signed to Lucky Number, Reptar release their debut international single, Stuck In My ID, physically as a very special limited seven inch single/CD EP package for Record Store Day on April 21st and as a single track download only on April 23rd. The single and EP, entitled Oblangle Fizz Y’all, have both been produced by Ben H Allen (Animal Collective, Gnarls Barkley, Bombay Bicycle Club).

With a reputation for riotous, must-see live shows Reptar became the most talked about band of 2011’s SXSW with the NME declaring they were “the most synonymous name in Austin”. UK dates are to be announced very soon, with their debut album to follow in the summer.

Reptar are Graham Ulicny (Vocals, Guitar), William Kennedy (Keys), Ryan Engelberger (Bass) and Andrew McFarland (Drums) and have been likened to The Talking Heads, Animal Collective, Prince, and The Jackson 5.

For more information on Reptar please visit: http://reptarmusic.com

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Thursday April 12, 2012

Friends announce debut album and stream new single

After blazing out of Bushwick in 2011 with the two buzz-worthy singles, “I’m His Girl” and “Friend Crush”, a reputation for turning live gigs into spontaneous DIY parties (and vice versa), and a bio built to withstand the most cynical indie-blog cred-vetting – Brooklyn’s Friends will release their debut album Manifest!, June 4th on Lucky Number (World excl US) and June 5th on Fat Possum (US).

Produced by the band – singer Samantha Urbani; multi-instrumentalists Lesley Hann, Matthew Molnar, and Nikki Shapiro; and drummer Oliver Duncan –its twelve tracks were recorded between last summer and this spring with engineer Daniel Schlett at Strange Weather studios in Brooklyn.

Full track-listing and more details are forthcoming but, for now, as a further provocative taster we are delighted to present the anthemic “Mind Control”, which is to be the band’s next single and the album’s climax.

Mixed by Paul Epworth, it sums up the seditious streak of Manifest! The musical choices are brazen even by Friends’ standards: superfly bass, slinky synth, crybaby wah, bongo solo, group chants. Lyrically, it also might be the Friends manifesto, were it not for the strong possibility that Ms. Urbani is taking the piss, poking a bit of good-natured fun at her band’s ‘indie’ image and at our expectations of it.

“I don’t want to rule or be ruled/I just want the right to be cool/However I chose to do what I do/Wherever I choose to be or with whom/Hey, I don’t need your money, I can grown my own food/I don’t need your beauty standard, I can be my own dude.”

Lucky Number Music Website
Fat Possum
Friends Facebook page

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Wednesday April 11, 2012

Anna Ternheim announces London show

With her beguiling new album “The Night Visitor” due for release 14th May, ANNA TERNHEIM has just announced news of a London headline show at Bush Hall the following week… Date/info below:

Tuesday 22 May – LONDON – Bush Hall (£14)

Having left her native Sweden to live in New York in 2010, acclaimed singer/songwriter Anna Ternheim reached out to her friend Matt Sweeney to play him the new songs she’d been writing. Stunned by their haunting beauty, Matt presented an idea he had harbored for some time; the two of them taking their business to Nashville where he would produce the album with Dave Ferguson, Johnny Cash’s longtime engineer (best known for his work on Cash’s final “American” albums).

It was here in early 2011 that work began on “The Night Visitor”. Numerous Nashville legends contributed their talents to the recording including “Cowboy” Jack Clement, Kenny Malone, Ronnie McCoury and Tim O’Brien. Will Oldham also dropped by to contribute backing vocals.

Already a huge critical/commercial hit in Sweden, “The Night Visitor” has been described as a story-telling album, and the songs are full of vivid images. Bow Your Head is a haunting, epic tribute to the beauty of nature, spending the day with your lover in a time of perfect unawareness of what the future might bring. In Walking Aimlessly Ternheim aims only to drift, and for people to drift with her. And then there are songs like the duet The Longer The Waiting The Sweeter The Kiss, originally written by Pat McLaughlin, sung by Anna and Dave Ferguson together with heart-wrenching sincerity.

“The Night Visitor” is released 14th May on V2 Records. Click here to listen to ‘Walking Aimlessly’ and ‘Bow Your Head’

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Wednesday April 11, 2012

Watch: Van She – Idea of Happiness

The first single to be taken from the forthcoming Van She album released on 9th July on Modular.

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Wednesday April 4, 2012

Robin Pecknold and Daniel Rossen to join Van Dyke Parks for Barbican show in June

Bella Union are excited to announce that Robin Pecknold (Fleet Foxes) and Daniel Rossen (Grizzly Bear) will be joining Van Dyke Parks as guest vocalists at his June Barbican show in celebration of the reissue of his classic early albums. Robin and Daniel will bring their vast vocal talents to the occasion alongside the orchestral accompaniment of Britten Sinfonia at what promises to be a truly memorable night! Date/info below:

Saturday 23 June – LONDON – Barbican (£15 – £25)

Bella Union will release ‘Song Cycle’, ‘Discover America’ and ‘Clang Of The Yankee Reaper’ on 18th June 2012.

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