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ALBUM & TOUR NEWS: Prawn stream new album ‘Run’, tour the UK September/October 2017

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On September 22nd, Prawn will release their new album entitled ‘Run’ via Topshelf Records. Today they are streaming the album in full via Upset.

Go here to listen to the album

The stream follows on from the release of their latest single “Greyhound”, which was streamed directly via Prawn’s website last week.

 

TOUR DATES

* = w/ The Flatliners

Oct 20 – Nottingham, UK @ Bodega *
Oct 21- London, UK @ The Dome *
Oct 22 – Kingston, UK @ Fighting Cocks *

Prawn’s magnetism has always come from the textures they produce. Drawing as much influence from post-rock and punk as the emo world they’re often written in to, the Ridgewood quartet have released two full-length albums, two EPs, and three splits since their 2008 formation – and make their return this year with a new record, Run, which is released this September on Topshelf Records.

Recorded in the space of just two weeks this March at The Barber Shop Studios, a lake-front old stone church in Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey, but written over the course of two painstaking years, the new album sees the band expand upon those aforementioned influences, carving out a dark but wildly immediate collection of songs that sits as their most formidable work to-date.

“A lot of what came out was the sheer difficulty of truly relating to one another,” Tony Clark says of the records thematic poise. “I felt like everywhere I looked at relationships in my life, there was some feelings of alienation and isolation. I tried to go further than my personal relationships and analyze how I was relating to ideas or communities I partake in.”

Punchier and more proactive, Run refines the sound of 2014’s Kingfisher LP – which swelled with both brass and string arrangement – by concentrating only on the instruments they’re able to play live. Coupled with a production that is consciously raw and provocative, Run is the sound of Prawn at their intoxicating best, mirroring the restless energy of their live shows and moments of sweeping ambience that balances the whole thing on a knife-edge.

“There’s good will in my devil’s skin…I hope it’s enough because love I am ready,” Tony Clark sings on opening track ‘Hunter’, immediately foreshadowing everything that follows; a rocky ride that always tries to keep a piece of itself in the light. Elsewhere ‘North Lynx’ is hypnotically dramatic, swelling from a tender guitar refrain to a huge finale, while ‘Leopards Paw’ throws Tony Clark’s gravelly vocals in to battle against heavyweight Explosions In The Sky-esque guitar lines for one of the band’s most powerful sequences to-date.

A significant release on its own terms, let alone as a building block to wherever this band might take themselves, Run is the sound of a band truly finding comfort in their surroundings and channelling it in to the most focused and exhilarating work of their life.

“I grasped onto the fact that we’re always going to feel alienated or isolated one way or another in our relations. I think we all want to be good people and contribute good to the world even if were all a little fucked up.“

Run will be released on September 22nd 2017 via Topshelf Records.

Prawn is:
Tony Clark – Vocals & Guitar
Jamie Houghton – Percussion
Kyle Burns – Guitar
Ryan McKenna – Bass

For more information, visit:
https://www.facebook.com/prawnmusic
https://twitter.com/prawnmusic
https://prawnnj.bandcamp.com
http://www.topshelfrecords.com

Prawn – Run

Release Date: September 22, 2017
Label: Topshelf Records
Formats: Digital, CD, Vinyl, Cassette
Pre-order: http://tpshlf.co/TSR177

Track Listing

1. Hunter
2. Snake Oil Salesman
3. North Lynx
4. Cricket In The Ward
5. Hawk In My Head
6. Empty Hands
7. Short Stem
8. Rooftops
9. Leopard’s Paw
10. Greyhound
11. Split Logs

TOUR & ALBUM NEWS: Shania Twain announces 2018 UK & Ireland tour, new album ‘NOW’ released 29th September

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With the imminent release of her stunning new album ‘NOW’ (out 29th September on Virgin/EMI) and three decades into her storied career, Shania Twain has never sounded better. Containing the singles ‘Swingin’ With My Eyes Closed’ (which impacts Sept 29th) and the joyful lead track and radio mainstay ‘Life’s About to Get Good’, ‘NOW’ is the first time Shania has assumed the role of sole songwriter and co-producer.

Dates

September 2018

Fri 21st GLASGOW, Glasgow SSE Hydro
Sat 22nd MANCHESTER, Manchester Arena
Mon 24th BIRMINGHAM, Birmingham Arena
Weds 26th IRELAND, Dublin 3Arena
Sat 29th BELFAST, Belfast SSE Arena

October 2018

Tues 2nd LONDON, London O2 Arena

Tickets on sale 10am Friday 29th September and are available from here.

SHOW NEWS: Companie Animotion come to Halifax with a new circus and music show for young audiences

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Compagnie Animotion are a French theatre company who have been commissioned to produce a new show – The Musicians of Bremen – for young children. This is a joint venture with the ARC, Stockton and The Civic, Barnsley.

As part of the national tour, The Musicians of Bremen comes to Square Chapel Arts Centre on Wednesday 1 November at 2.30pm.

The children’s show, based on the classic Grimm’s fairy tale, tells the story of four animals, a donkey, a cat, a cockerel and a dog, who become extraordinary friends.

‘The Bremen town musicians’ has a crème de la crème artistic team with musicians and circus artists onstage and offstage; movement direction from Yorkshire company Urban Angels Circus, puppets and direction by local artist Alison Duddle.

Audiences can look forward to Compagnie Animotion’s interdisciplinary style with trapeze, tumbling and puppetry all wrapped up with live klezmer-inspired music.

Cie Animotion was founded in 2005 by artistic director and performer Hayli Clifton, then based in Yorkshire, with the aim of creating visual and international theatre and promoting sign language and Deaf culture.

After several years of developing projects and shows for with Deaf and hearing professional and non-professional performers, for example choreographing for the Biennale de la Danse in Lyon in 2006 and 2008, the company was invited to be company in residence in Livron, in France for six years. The company is currently residing in Aouste-Sur-Sye.

Animotion use experiences to bring audiences together, and focus on how theatre can be a life changing, political changing, and inspiring experience.

A little-known tale, Musicians of Bremen, touches on the subjects of old age and attitude in our society, addresses issues of prejudice and discrimination and celebrates the wisdom of our older generation. A perfect experience for grandparents to bring little ones to!

For more information and to book for The Musicians of Bremen on Wednesday 1 November at 2.30pm visit squarechapel.co.uk or call the box office on 01422 349422 and for more information about the theatre company Compagnie Animotion visit themusiciansofbremen.wordpress.com

THERE’S A WORLD OUT THERE – ALBUM REVIEW: Lomelda – ‘Thx’

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This is the first in an occasional feature – ‘There’s A World Out There’ in which we will choose things to review – albums, singles, gigs – that we like and feel are worth a listen – but are not made or played in Yorkshire. It’s as simple as that.

When I first listened to some of the tracks on ‘Thx’ I thought it naive (and I say this in terms of the music) and just too eclectically DIY, going back – and I’m glad I did – I still found it naive and eclectric but it had a depth, a depth that I found engaging. We’ll get to the music but first some information. Lomelda is the name that Hannah Read chooses to perform under. Hannah Read is a songwriter from Texas.

‘Interstate Vision’ – the first song on the album – is the one that, on my second time around, grabbed me. Well perhaps grabbed is too strong a word, perhaps wormed it’s restrained way into my head would be a better way of describing it. It helps that in some ways it reminded me of The Cowboy Junkies with it’s gentle low key melody, the vocals drawing you in. Those vocals by the way are on the edge of falling apart. This song has the sound of something that you just know already.

If you think you now have the measure of Lomelda, think again my friend ‘Bam Sha Klam’ introduces electric guitar upfront. It’s ragged, shambling. The drumming bears very little relation to the rest of the track. It builds and then it drops into a weird echo-y section to fade that is just strangely charming. ‘From Here’ features more electric guitar in a song which is almost conventional. Although the guitar is delightfully warped. It’s Americana if you will but Americana through a lens of slightly out-there West Coast psychedelia.

‘Thx’ returns to an acoustic led vibe, but it’s warped. It’s folk but folk with an Incredible String Band feel. ‘Out There’ could be something done by one of those Laurel Canyon singer/songwriters but again it has that Lomelda touch of warp. It’s all off-kilter. But the whole is captivating.

The title of ‘Far Out’ is somewhat slightly misleading. Far from being ‘far out maaannn’ it’s actually a string led ballad, although it’s ragged, it’s somewhat rambling. But what it isn’t is indulgent. It’s incredibly clever.

‘Nvr’ starts with a simple drum and guitar figure. Hannah’s vocals are simple, unadorned. And then it starts to build. Gradually there’s a dirty sound that comes at you. We might describe this as a drone, but it’s more than that, and then there’s piano. This sounds like a mess, it isn’t.

And what comes next? It’s a country ballad ‘Nervous Driver’. Yes, it has these off-key moments, this time in the shape of a piano. What this may sound like is a simple tale of being a nervous driver but this isn’t clearly what the song is about. ‘Mostly M.E.’ (and no that isn’t a typo, that’s how it’s spelt) is perhaps the most conventional song on the album. There’s no warp, no off-kilter moments. It’s beautiful.

And finally ‘Only World’. The intro features a slightly out of tune piano, but this is only the start of it. This is like everything that’s gone before added together. It’s epic, it’s layered, it soars. It’s wonderfully intoxicating.

Hannah is a songwriter who goes very much her own way. Her music can’t be put into an easy niche. When you think you’ve got it sussed, she goes and switches direction. Her music is strange at times, always slightly warped, ragged. But what comes through is her spirit. This music is meant, it’s real and organic.

‘Thx’ is out now and available from Double Double Whammy

FESTIVAL NEWS: Gearing up for the Best Music Festival yet!

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Chris Helme

The festival, which is currently in the running for four awards in this year’s Yorkshire Gig Guide Awards – Yorkshire’s Outstanding Festival, Yorkshire’s Outstanding Contribution, Yorkshire’s Outstanding Promoter and the People’s Choice Awards – continues to grow from strength to strength and is widely known as one of Yorkshire’s finest Music Festivals.

Ellen Cole the Curator of the festival says: “Each year we strive to offer our audiences a great musical experience and this year won’t disappoint. We have a wide range of musicians and bands on the line-up, some of which will be known and some of which will be unknown. We showcase the work of a diverse range of musicians as our aim is to inspire and encourage our audiences to actively go out and watch local, regional and national artists regardless of whether they have a record deal or not. There is a lot of talent not just in York, but also Yorkshire and beyond and the aim of our festival is to offer a platform for that talent. We showcase a wide genre of music from country to surf rock and from funk to folk, so that there is something for everyone to enjoy. Our September festival runs alongside the York Food and Drink Festival, which means there will be plenty of delicious local food and drink for everyone to enjoy.”

This year’s music festival will feature renowned performer Chris Helme, who first rose to prominence as the front man of John Squire’s post-Stone Roses band The Seahorses and has now carved out a hugely successful solo career; well-known prog-rock folk musician Heather Findlay; voice of an angel Edwina Hayes, who has won her reputation as a true natural talent of gentle folk-Americana; big beat music collective Grinny Grandad, who have had their music aired on television and radio and regularly play at big festivals including Glastonbury. Other acts who will be performing include Toni Bunnell; Leather’o; Dan Webster; Joshua Burnell & Band; Supermoon; Laura Kindelan; Smith n Wallace; Fiona Lee; Paul Lewis; Simon Bolley Band; Slack Habits; Mulholland; The Bronze; Kitty VR; Bull; Andy Doonan; The Blueprints; Flora Greysteel; Kitsch; Atomic Raygun; the mesmerising Kymberley Kennedy; Unsigned Songwriter of the Year Winner Gracie Falls; renowned folk musician Boss Caine and North Lincolnshire’s folk extravaganza Ramble Gamble, who are returning to the festival after rave reviews in 2016!

Ellen goes on to say: “the line-up is phenomenal this year and we cannot wait to see what our audiences think. We pride ourselves on offering a family-friendly and fully inclusive event and each year to ensure that the venue is fully accessible so that everyone can get involved with our incredible festival. We even have bunting this year, which I for one cannot wait to hang up… I get pretty excited over little things!”

Entry into the festival is free of charge and everyone is welcome. Throughout the event, York’s Little Festival of Live Music will be fundraising for York Mind, a local charity which helps local people with mental ill-health. Any donations, however big or small, will be greatly appreciated.

York’s Little Festival of Live Music will take place from Friday 22 – Saturday 30 September (excluding 25 and 26 September) and the music will take place each evening from 5pm-9pm.

For more information go to: facebook.com/YorksLittleFestivalOfLiveMusic, follow on Twitter: @live_music_fest or email: yorkslivemusicfestival@gmail.com

LIVE REVIEW: Welcome Festival, Central Methodist Church, Todmorden,16th September 2017

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This festival, to welcome refugees, included activities for children, information, and refreshments. There was also a concert in the top room, ably presented by MC Ibrahim, from Palestine. It began with the robust acapella singing of Women Asylum Seekers Together: beautiful harmonies combined with energy. Their programme included songs of resistance like “Asikatali” and “We want Rosa to stay”. The song “We will be all right”, started out to the tune of “We shall overcome”, and included a line, ”We want Yarl’s Wood to close”, then moved to a livelier tune. They got the audience clapping along and even dancing.

Two Syrian singers followed. Enas Aljabi gave us her melodious and heartfelt version of “Let it Go”. Moheddim Aljabi sang first in (I assume) Arabic and then in English, with his powerful expressive voice. The English version asked whether someone has to go to war to be a man, and why people don’t help others who are in trouble.

Antony Brannick took to the piano for the not undemanding task of presenting a brief history of European classical music: from Bach via Beethoven to Bartok. It included Handel’s “Harmonious Blacksmith” and a relevant and thoughtful piece by Grieg, “Homesickness”. He brought out the personality of each composer.

Children from the singing workshop downstairs showed they had put the time to good use in two songs, both about food – one with actions about fruit and veg, with which the audience joined in, and another in praise of chocolate.

To conclude the concert, Dr Suhad read her own poem, “My beautiful peaceful morning”, which took the familiar peace symbols of an olive tree and a dove, and presented them as living beings, showing the effects of war and peace.

Probably your next opportunity to hear any of these artists will be the next Antony and Friends concert, same venue, 7.30 pm, 23 September.

VIDEO & TOUR NEWS: WEIRDS release video for ‘Old World Blues’, tour with DZ Deathrays in September

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The track is taken from their debut album SWARMCULTURE (read our review), which was released earlier this year on Alcopop! Records

“Lyrically, Old World Blues is quite claustrophobic, and I really wanted to get a sense of entrapment and anger across. The title was a phrase that had been kicking around in discussion for a while, and just stuck- it became the perfect banner for the slouching, drunken feel of the track. We’re also big fans of expansive, totemic titles and ‘Old World Blues’ felt like the title of some kind of psychedelic spaghetti-Western film, and we just felt that it worked.

We set out to write the slowest, sludgiest, heaviest song we could get away with. We wanted a real slow, almost hip hop style beat, and the riff just spawned from there. I wrote the verse lyrics on the back of my flight ticket in Marseille Airport in a boiling hot departure lounge at the height of summer. I guess the song is our crest of intent, us taking aim and limbering up- we’ve got you in our sights.”
– Aidan Razzall, vocals

Fast gaining a reputation as fierce and unpredictable live force, WEIRDS are gearing up to perform at Liverpool Psych Fest and Reeperbahn Festivals, before supporting DZ Deathrays on their UK tour this September.

Dates

20th Sep – Sugar Factory, Amsterdam (NL)
21st Sep – Reeperbahn Festival, Hamburg (DE)
23rd Sep – Psych Fest, Liverpool
24th Sep – Hope & Ruin, Brighton (w/ DZ Deathrays)
25th Sep – Hobos, Bridgend (w/ DZ Deathrays)
26th Sep – The Horn, St. Albans (w/ DZ Deathrays)
27th Sep – Camden Monarch, London (w/ DZ Deathrays)
28th Sep – Camden Assembly, London (w/ DZ Deathrays)
28th Oct – The Finsbury, London

TOUR NEWS: Jordan Allen announces November 2017 dates

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Kicking off in Preston on the 30th November and taking in a total of 16 dates from there on, the band will be also be heading to the likes of Glasgow, Hull, Birmingham, Cambridge, Southampton, London and more. Proceedings wind up in their native north west, with tickets for the Manchester and Liverpool dates expected to sell like hot cakes. Tickets are on sale Monday 18th September at 6pm from: www.jordan-allen.com

On the Winter tour Jordan Allen will also be joined by friends and local talent, with each night promising a rotating showcase of top flight new artists. Some of the more regular fixtures for the tour include Devon rockers SEVEN CITIES who are currently putting the finishing touches to their latest EP, plus electrifying and enigmatic Scottish outfit REAL LIFE ENTERTAINMENT fresh from their crowning victory as winners of The Pogues Whiskey: Shot At Discovery’s five month search for the UK’s next big rock band. See dates and details below.

Dates

30 Nov – Preston – The Ferret
01 Dec – Leicester – The Cookie
02 Dec – Plymouth – The Underground @
03 Dec – Brighton – Sticky Mikes @
05 Dec – Hull – Polar Bear *
06 Dec – Newcastle – Think Tank *
07 Dec – Glasgow – The Garage *
08 Dec – Leeds – The Chapel
09 Dec – Birmingham – Sunflower Lounge @
10 Dec – Cambridge – Portland Arms @
11 Dec – Norwich – Waterfront @
12 Dec – Bristol -Crofter’s Rights @
13 Dec -Southampton – Joiners Live @
14 Dec – London – Camden Assembly @
15 Dec – Manchester – Ruby Lounge @
16 Dec – Liverpool Studio 2 @

* Real Life Entertainment
@ Seven Cities

TOUR NEWS: Holy Moly and The Crackers November 2017 dates

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Holy Moly and The Crackers will be heading out on their biggest headline tour to date, to promote their gutsy new album ‘Salem’.

Over recent years Holy Moly & The Crackers have produced a moonshine mix of genres, creating their own unique and compelling sound, influenced by an electric and eclectic range of folk and popular music. But ‘Salem’, which they will unleash this year, is a departure. It’s folk only insofar as the songs are built around a narrative – they have a driving, urgent beat about them. The band has hardly drawn breath over the last two years – furiously touring and developing their live show, yet all the while creating new material, pushing at their sound, moving things on.

‘Salem’ is lifting the band’s live show to another level: “We’re changing and developing all the time” say the band. ‘We describe ourselves as ‘gypsy-folk-rock’, but that’s a very loose time. Now there’s a bigger beat; more compulsion, a harder drive, a darker underbelly. We’re toughening up.”

November dates

3 Edinburgh, Henry Cellar’s Bar
4 Aberdeen, Foodstory
5 Glasgow, King Tuts
9 Birmingham, Hare & Hounds
10 Hull, The Adelphi
11 Hunmanby, Community Centre
12 Sheffield, Greystones
15 Nottingham, The Bodega
16 Scunthorpe, Cafe INDIEpendant
17 Manchester, Jimmy’s
18 Newcastle, Cobalt Studio
22 Winchester, The Railway
23 London, The Islington
24 Andover, The Lights Theatre
25 Bristol, The Golden Lion
26 Brighton, The Brunswick

ALBUM & TOUR NEWS: Howie Payne new album ‘Mountain’ out 27th October, October 2017 dates

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The new album, The Stands’ frontman’s first since his 2009 Ethan Johns-produced debut ‘Bright Light Ballads’, contains the recent Radio X playlisted single ‘The Brightest Star’ plus new track ‘High Times’, which is available as an instant grat with album pre-orders from www.howiepayne.com

‘Mountain’ was recorded at London’s State of The Ark Studios during the last week of July 2017 before being mixed and mastered in Los Angeles.

“I think ‘Mountain’ is my best record so far,” says Howie.“It’s got a mellow vibe but the songs are rooted in real life which gives it some weight and a bit of edge’.

“We recorded it in just four days, and pretty much live, during one of the hottest weeks of the year, and you can hear it in the sound, like the voltage is heavier, and the air is thicker in the silence between the instruments. Most of the tracks were recorded in just a few takes – we’d never played them together before but the band were just really on it. We’d run through a song once or twice, get the sounds up and then play it until we got a version that sparked. I did ‘Bright Light Ballads’ the same way and I really dug how after you do a take you can listen to the song right then, with the singing and everything. I’ve made records where I’ve built it up from a zillion parts, and it’s cool, but I went at this one live because there’s something different about the feel you get into the songs when everyone’s playing and singing at the same time, you know.”

Listen to ‘High Times’ on Soundcloud or The Brightest Star’ on Soundcloud, Spotify or iTunes

In October Howie will embark on a headline UK tour. The set will feature songs by The Stands, songs from ‘Bright Light Ballads’, plus Howie will premiere the new songs from ‘Mountain’. The ten-date tour starts at Liverpool Buyers Club on October 12th and culminates with a show at The Borderline in London on October 28th.

HOWIE PAYNE ‘MOUNTAIN’ TRACK LIST:

1. Quick as the Moon
2. All of These Things
3. Some Believer Sweet Dreamer
4. The Brightest Star
5. Holding On
6. After Tonight
7. Thoughts on Thoughts
8. Hold Steady the Wire
9. High Times
10. Evangeline (Los Angeles)

All Songs written by Howie Payne
Produced by Howie Payne & Dom Monks
Mixed and Mastered by John Paterno

Formats: Vinyl LP, CD, Digital

HOWIE PAYNE UK TOUR OCTOBER 2017

Thurs 12th Liverpool – Buyers Club
Fri 13th Leeds – Belgrave Music Hall
Sat 14th Glasgow – Hug & Pint
Mon 16th Newcastle – Think Tank
Fri 20th Birmingham – Actress & Bishop
Sat 21st Nottingham – Bodega
Sun 22nd Leicester The Cookie
Mon 23rd Oxford – The Bullingdon
Wed 25th Southampton – The Joiners
Sat 28th London – The Borderline

Tickets www.howiepayne.com

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