Qtier share the stunning lead track from their second EP out now on iconic Berlin label BPitch Control
Qtier share the stunning lead track from their second EP out now on iconic Berlin label BPitch Control
We can announce Lost in the Manor will now be filming live acoustic sessions and to start us off we have the stunning Gitta de Ridder performing without you I'm Broken. The song is a very sad tale and we will let Gitta explain in her own words what it's all about. It's a long explanation but stick with it...
The song explained in Gitta de Ridders own words
"This last Christmas I spend some time down in Devon with the Man and the Family, my Step Dad-in-law got given this book called "Do birds still sing in hell" I found myself reading the back, starting to read the book, and unable to put it down until I finished it a day and a half later.
I don't often get so carried away but it had me sitting upright with tension, gave me goose-bumps, made me cry my eyes out and had a huge impact on me.
It's a true-story about a guy "Horace Greasley" renamed Jim by his fellow soldiers. An English lad that gets send out to the war in WW2 at 20 years old and ends up in France where he gets captured by the Germans. They go on a 10 week march, no food, no water, constant walking no rest to Holland (as you can imagine most Prisoners Of War -POW's- die on this journey) Then a 3 day train journey which is horrific, and the worst POW camp imaginable. I couldn't get my head around people treating people like this.
Anyway, his luck turns as he get moved to another Working-Camp where he falls in love with the owner's daughter and they start a crazy love affair. But, he gets moved and they loose each other. she spends months trying to find out which camp he is in and finally succeeds. He find a way to escape the camp at night and goes out to meet her 2-3 times a week over the space of a couple of years. Can you imagine going back to the camp after you were free?! mad.
They meet in this little church, they make love, and enjoy spending time, and at some point he manages to smuggle in a radio into the camp and spread around the BBC news.
When the war is over he goes back to the UK, she had to run because she is now the bad guy being hunted by the Russians (German) They finally write letters to each other with the letters suddenly stopping. A year later he gets the news she has passed away whilst giving birth to his child. They both don't make it.
He does marry and has kids later and at 98 he gets this book written (word for word true story) by a ghost writer. It all broke my heart.
Swollen with sonic exploration, Michael A Grammar’s ‘Random Vision’ might be projected through a vaguely baggy, psych-rock prism, but its caution-to-the-wind approach makes for a refreshingly genre-bending whole. Blasting off, the bombastic ‘The Day I Come Alive’ recalls heady Madchester euphoria, its Messianic complex not diminished by the opening ‘I’ve been searching for Jesus’ line, and a massive sky-kissing chorus more exaltation of praise than hooky one-liner. It’s an anthem grounded by a supercool shuffle from a rhythm section who also show funky form over the closing bars of ‘Suzanna’, which unpromisingly kicks off like INXS fronted by an Elvis impersonator, but takes a radical turn when a serrated guitar riff sparks like a jump-lead, hot-wiring the track into life. ‘Upstairs Downstairs’ is heavy-duty psych, evoking a reined-in Tame Impala herded on by another fearsome riff, this one chopped out in a stacatto rush as if the guitarist is clasping powder-flecked plastic rather than a plectrum. Threatening to climax in a cacophony of power chords, instead the tune drops easier than Luis Suarez and fades on a cushion of dreamy arpeggios. This predilection for the unpredictable peaks on the EP’s closing number – ‘The Way You Move’ has a driving root-note intro, suggesting a Doves-style pop epic, before it segues into a kind of grungy bossanova, a Bond theme made all the more surreal by the return of those pub singer vocals; the mumbling melody juxtaposed with spectacular fretwork. Even the extended outro is more enervating than indulgent, evidence of a band enthused by the scope of their dexterity. There’s the occasional dizzy spell in Michael A Grammar’s Random Vision, but the overall expressiveness and excitement of this EP are as clear as day.
Random Vision is released on 27 January on Melodic.
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Oasis is the first single to be taken from Alphines highly anticipated debut album. Oasis will also be the tile of the album. It's great to see Catherine Pockson and Bob Matthews back in such fine form.
Oasis is set for release on March 3rd via Untrue Records and if you want to catch them live they will be playing at The Basement on Thursday 27th February in London
This gratifying release is the debut single from Northern American, who, unlike Of Montreal, perhaps, or Beirut, ain’t lying: they do indeed hail from where their name suggests, Los Angeles to be exact. And there’s a distinctly Californian dreaminess to ‘Wander’, a tune whose joker is its beautiful, trembling guitar refrain, a shimmering two-chord euphonic swarm that floats above a loping rhythmic march punctuated by a prominent snare shuffle. Meanwhile, singer Nate Paul’s sweetly judged insouciance stokes a gracefully descending chorus hook. Everything here, from the piano glissando to the faraway-siren-like intro has space to kick back and radiate, with the exception of the curious bridge, where the band seem to be testing out the percussive merits of a complete set of kitchen utensils. This superfluous interruption aside, ‘Wander’ is sufficiently lustrous to combat the fiercest January bluster. They could use it in the States right now. Fire it up and glow.
Wander is released on 20 January on Heist or Hit Records.
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'Chez Folie' is the addictive new track by Folie Ordinaire, taken from their second EP. Infused with a new-wave disco beat, the bassline, synth, guitar hook and falsetto vocals defy you not to dance. Treading the line between electro, rock and pop punk, there's a hint of The Cure about them (as well as an affinity with the likes of MGMT), and a similar sexy abandonment. The video follows suit, dripping with sequins, disco balls and glitter. But what shines the most is their energy, led by frontman Antoine, which spreads across the dance floor and out of the speakers. It's a great advert for their live shows, and a sign that these lot are more than just festival scenesters, where they've been making a name for themselves since 2010. And if you don't want the party to stop, the remix by Robin Twelftree takes the track into the realms of clubland, driven by the distinctive beat and manipulated vocals. This is an infectious tune that's difficult to shake; trust us, you'll be singing it to yourself later.
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