Hurray for the Riff Raff's new album 'Small Town Heroes' is out now via ATO Records. Produced by front-woman Alynda Lee Segarra and engineered by Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes), 'Small Town Heroes' features 12 new, original songs all written or co-written by Segarra with support from a vivid cast of Crescent City musicians, including her longtime right-hand-man on fiddle, Yosi Perlstein, keyboard player Casey McAllister and two members of the Deslondes: Sam Doores on guitar and Dan Cutler on bass.
Segarra, a 26-year-old of Puerto Rican descent whose slight frame belies her commanding voice, grew up in the Bronx, where she developed an early appreciation for doo-wop and Motown from the neighborhood's longtime residents. It was downtown, though, that she first felt like she found her people, traveling to the Lower East side every Saturday for punk matinees at ABC No Rio. "Those riot grrrl shows were a place where young girls could just hang out and not have to worry about feeling weird, like they didn’t belong," Segarra says of the inclusive atmosphere fostered by the musicians and outsider artists who populated the space.
The Lower East Side also introduced her to travelers, and their stories of life on the road inspired her to strike out on her own at 17, first hitching her way to the west coast, then roaming the south before ultimately settling in New Orleans. There, she fell in with a band of fellow travelers, playing washboard and singing before eventually learning to play a banjo she'd been given in North Carolina. "It wasn't until I got to New Orleans that I realised playing music was even possible for me," she explains.
"The community I found in New Orleans was open and passionate. The young artists were really inspiring to me," she says. "Apathy wasn’t a part of that scene. And then the year after I first visited, Katrina happened, and I went back and saw the pain and hardship that all of the people who lived there had gone through. It made we want to straighten out my life and not wander so much. The city gave had given me an amazing gift with music, and it made me want to settle there and be a part of it and help however I could."
Many of the songs on 'Small Town Heroes' reflect that decision and her special reverence for the city. She bears witness to a wave of violence that struck the St. Roch neighborhood in the soulful "St. Roch Blues;" yearns for a night at BJ's Bar in the Bywater in "Crash on the Highway;" and sings of her home in the Lower Ninth Ward on "End of the Line." "That neighborhood and particularly the house I lived in there became the nucleus of a singer songwriter scene in New Orleans," she explains. "'End Of The Line' is my love song to that whole area and crew of people."
Lucky Number is thrilled to present the debut AA single, 'Bamboo / Trippy Gum', from Deers.
One fairly average Madrid afternoon in March, pals Ana Garcia Perrote and Carlotta Cosials disappeared into their rehearsal studio and stepped out clutching two of the most perfectly ramshackle pop songs you will ever hear.‘Bamboo' flies like an arrow to the heart: pure '60's pop sounds, cantering rhythm and guitars twanging with tremelo, feeling effortless as the pair interpolate each other's lyrics instinctively. “I need you to feel like a man when I give you all I am. I know you’re not hungover today, you are classifying your cassettes”.
As it's title suggests, 'Trippy Gum' offers a more psyche edge, with a gloriously extended fuzz-solo, and at least two massive songs crammed into it's four and a half minute duration. It’s bottled magic and leaves our glasses nearly full with anticipation of a Deers-filled vision of the future.
One month after recording the single, bass player Ade Martin and drummer Amber Grimbergen joined Ana and Carlotta for their first live show, to a sold out Madrileos crowd. Deers will be making their debut London appearance at Sebright Arms on Monday June 9th
rooklyn Duo Xeno and Oaklander are a minimal electronics girl/boy duo from Brooklyn, NY. They began writing music and soundtracks in 2004. Liz Wendelbo is French / Norwegian and Sean McBride is from Maryland. They record their songs live in their Brooklyn studio and play analogue synthesizers and instruments exclusively.
This summer, Xeno and Oaklander bring their minimal electronic sounds to Ghostly International with new album Par Avion, their first for the label, June 24th. The album's title is a reference to postcards — it translates as "by plane", and was used to mark airmail sent from exotic places. The songs are postcards of love for a cold age — shimmering moments from the present, romantic messages from the past, and love mementos for the future. Together, they make up an album of contrasts — the songs move from upbeat to downbeat, slow to fast, light to dark.
Par Avion's rich diversity of sounds comes at least in part from the fact that it's an album-long ode to synesthesia. As singer Liz Wendelbo explains, “Sound makes me think of a scent, which makes me think of an image, which makes me think of a certain kind of light.” The sensory experiences are palpable: "Jasmine" calls to mind the intoxicating scent of jasmine flowers that bloom at night, "Nuage D'Ivoire" sweats under a tropical sky full of clouds that hold the key to the past and the future, "Sheen" glistens with reflections dancing in the water and with inner visions of romance, where light and dark meet in the pupil of the eye.
Adding to the sense of exoticism, Wendelbo's whispery vocals are sung in both French and English, calling to mind Jane Birkin and Françoise Hardy. Again, there's a contrast between dark and light — the alluring, tropical warmth of Wendelbo's vocals is juxtaposed against duo's signature icy cold, ultra-modern synth sounds. Those sounds have a new component for Par Avion — synth wizard Sean McBride uses an analogue Serge modular synth to create washes of sound that recall '90s shoegaze. The result is an album that stimulates and fascinates throughout, a rich feast for all the senses, a world to get lost in again and again.
Par Avion will be released in LP, CD and digital formats. A special edition vinyl version, limited to 350 hand-numbered copies, will include flesh colored vinyl and a rose-scented art perfume insert, allowing further personal exploration of synesthesia.
Arrow Films’ Noir label is pleased to confirm that the highly-acclaimed Irish TV-drama Amber will be released on DVD from Monday 30th June 2014 and available on digital download from today (Wednesday 4th June), following it’s BBC transmission.
Following their recent success with international shows such as Salamander, Hinterland and Generation War, Arrow Films will continue to house quality international crime shows from various European territories, with their newly launched sub-label ‘Noir’, a spin-off of the hugely successful Nordic Noir imprint that now incorporates crime series from multiple countries under the wider umbrella Nordic Noir & Beyond.
Having already seen massive success with their Bafta winning series The Bridge, The Killing and Borgen, Arrow Films are thrilled to announce the release of the Irish TV-drama Amber, which begins airing in the UK on BBC 4 this week, the series comes to DVD in the UK on 30th June 2014.
iving in Dublin’s suburbs, Ben and Sarah Bailey are recently separated yet doing their best to get on with their lives while remaining good parents to their children, Amber and Eamon. Then, in one day, their lives are turned upside down when Amber fails to return home one evening.
The disappearance of 14-year-old Amber Bailey sets off a two-year search during which time her family experience unimaginable guilt, fear, and devastating grief as they live out every parent’s worst nightmare.
Investigating the case of the missing teenager from different viewpoints, each episode plays with the chronology of events and focuses on the perspective of one individual connected to the case as first her family, then friends, then complete strangers become drawn into the quest to find out what happened.
As the drama unfolds the audience must answer pivotal questions to unravel the mystery… What are “the daughters of the air”? Who is the prison inmate who claims to know something about Amber? Who has Amber’s phone? And was someone watching Amber online?
An ambitious and powerful story, Amber is an emotional journey filled with psychological insight and unexpected twists as the girl’s disappearance has an impact far greater than anyone could have imagined, imparting the sense of loss, incomprehension and anguish a family feels when a loved one, especially a child, goes missing.
Starring Eva Birthistle (Waking the Dead, Wake Wood), David Murray (Zonad, Raw), Lauryn Canny (A Thousand Times Goodnight), Levi O’Sullivan, Justine Mitchell
Executive Producers:Jane Gogan & David Crean
Director:Thaddeus O’Sullivan (IFTA winner – Single Handed, Into the Storm, Stella Days)
Writers:Rob Cawley & Gary Duggan
Produced and Created by: Rob Cawley & Paul Duane (Secret Diary of a Call Girl)
Mute are delighted to announce the release of Plastikman’s new album, EX, his first album release since 2003’s Closer. Listen to an excerpt here: http://po.st/EX
Plastikman, aka Richie Hawtin recorded EX at the Guggenheim, New York’s iconic art museum. This very special performance was at the invitation of influential Belgium fashion designer and artistic director at Dior, Raf Simons, for the Guggenheim’s annual fundraiser, performed around a specially constructed LED obelisk.
Richie Hawtin explains, “I knew that Raf was a long time Plastikman fan so by accepting his offer to perform at the Dior event at the Guggenheim I knew I’d set myself up to a huge challenge. Although Raf was happy to have the already complete Plastikman Live 1.5 show, I locked myself away in a series of intense studio sessions and quickly recorded enough new material for the performance and realized I might also have enough for a complete new album. The music came out of me effortlessly as I was very inspired by the opportunity to play in this beautiful architectural space renowned more for art than music. The location also allowed me to step far away from the dancefloor, giving me a huge amount of freedom to EXplore any sonic ideas that I had. Art, music, architecture, painting, sculpture – these mediums are supposed to live together.”
EX is released digitally on 10 June and on vinyl, CD and limited edition SubPac bundle on 14 July. In addition to the vinyl, CD and digital releases, Plastikman has teamed up with SubPac to create a Limited Edition Premium Bundle. The album will be presented on vinyl, with a signed certificate of authenticity and a custom Plastikman edition of the SubPac S1. SubPac is a unique portable bass system that allows an immersive music experience. When you’re using the SubPac, the powerful bass and sub-bass frequencies – the sensations you usually only get in a club situation – are reproduced meaning you can actually FEEL the music.
Richie Hawtin explains, “By introducing the physical dimension of sound, the SubPac creates a direct connection between the fan and the music in its purest form,
allowing a deeper appreciation for the music we all love. As with all Plastikman albums, there is a lot of sonic information in the lower frequency range, that make the SubPac a perfect listening accompaniment in order to fully appreciate the experience.”
Plastikman will perform only one show this year, at Sónar 2014 on 12 June. New tracks will be presented at the Barcelona festival, pushing the boundaries of techno, offering a synchronicity of art and sound, a place for electronica that’s both cinematic and thought-provoking. Plastikman’s career has pushed at the frontiers of dance music, rejecting first the endless drive for faster speeds and, later, the blatant pop aspirations in favour of more imagination and more musical engagement.
Richie Hawtin is many things – an extraordinary DJ, creator of the ENTER. experience, mastermind behind the M_nus label, technological innovator, art aficionado – in 2011 he collaborated with British sculptor Anish Kapoor for an installation in Paris - and style icon. Before this, though, and perhaps most famously of all, he was and is Plastikman, an electronic music phenomenon whose followers are legion and fanatic.
Between 1993 and 2003, Plastikman created an astonishing body of work, one that didn't so much define a time and place as explode them, expanding the dimensions of Detroit techno and redefining the possibilities of electronic dance music. Across six albums (‘Sheet One’, ‘Musik’, ‘Recycled Plastik’, ‘Consumed’, ‘Artifakts (B.C.)’, and ‘Closer)’ and numerous singles such as ‘Spastik’, ‘Plastique’, and ‘Sickness’, Plastikman evolved into one of contemporary electronic music’s most distinctive voices: minimalist, psychedelic, seriously groove-laden, and ever mindful of the transcendent properties of electronica.
Plastikman was never going to be a heritage dance act and this latest renaissance opens doors few never knew existed, showcasing a master at work.
EX is released digitally on 10 June and on vinyl, CD and limited edition SubPac bundle on 14 July.
