Loney Blues, the European video…

A quick one.

Yes, we admit it. We are very relieved that MDNA’s Superb Owl show last night was amazing and massive and fun.  She’s 53, you know.  And back in the game.

(Also: Stereolab.*)

Speaking of the game, we have new things for you. We’re very proud to announce the signing of VISIONS OF TREES to the label.  We’ve been fans since they opened for Memory Tapes in 2010.  They are equal parts Sonic Youth, Moroder and Madonna, excellent people and utterly bursting with ideas.

The album is coming in the Spring.  First tho, a non-lp tune, Deeper Than Sleep, a little taster of what is to come.  Sign up to get the mp3 and further treats, before we get going with the album.  You could also do worse than go see this from 2011 single Sirens.  

They are playing The Line Of Best Fit’s 5^th Birthday party at White Heat on Feb 28 with Icona Pop and NZCA/Lines.  An amazing bill.  Come.

LONEY DEAR.  Did you see the stunning video for Loney Blues.  It is not a remake of Halloween.  Although it does remind us a bit of that.

Loneydear.com has had a makeover. All the best bits and bobs from the promo have been added in and will continue to be.

Emil has been taking his full band show on the road across Europe and recording bits along the way.  Catch My Heart live in Paris  and also live in Brussels here.  There are some UK dates this month and the full tour which winds across Europe and into the US with Of Montreal is here.

19 Feb  Bristol The Louisiana   Buy tickets

20 Feb  London, UK Bush Hall Buy tickets

We have a new SIC Mgmt client for you.  PHILCO FICTION.  We braved the weather to go see them play in their home country of Norway in December and were blown away.  Absolutely lovely people too.  The Guardian did a nice piece, as did the 405.  Rob DaBank, Huw Stephens and John Kennedy all played a tune or two on the radio in the last few weeks.  Following Euro dates in January, they played a Sold the fuck Out show at the Lexington a week ago.

And they had time to record a jaw dropping one take, one mic, one glitterball, one drum version of Portrait Of Silence for our favourite new music blog, NoFearOfPop too.

Next stop SXSW.

STUDIO WATCH. 

Come on then. ANR have got 35 amazing new songs for the next record and are aiming for that sweet spot between Around The World In A Day and Parade.  Goddam.  MEMORY TAPES is busy in the studio too, as is AIR FRANCE, as is NIVA and LEVERAGE MODELS. Expect releases from all the above this year.

Did you see these badass re-imagined vintage posters of modern films?

Our old friend Akira The Don has been making some amazing videos for his Life Equation album. Next up is one for Broke featuring Gruff Rhys.

*Stereolab.  Years ago, I quite like Stereolab. Wasn’t such a fan of them live.  I bought a few elpees in the last year and loved them.  Finally, I cracked this weekend.  I admit it, they are amazing.  Amazing.  One the very best European groops of the last few decades. I ordered a further 10 (ten!) albums on Amazon marketplace yesterday. Their catalogue is so big but AMP is sooo cheap.  Stereolab penance starts now.   Looking forward to it too.

Also basking in the warmth of SIC love this month

Cloud Nothings second.  Incredible. Albini at the helm playing Scrabble and removing melodies.

Lindstrom’s newest Six Cups Of Rebel is mentally brilliant. Hilariously OTT  and fun.

As is 2 Bears great debut record. For similar but very different reasons.

As is Standard Planets’ forthcoming kraut/prog/psych debut elpee.

As is First Aid Kit’s #1 in Sweden second elpee, The Lion’s Roar

As is the Drexciya catalogue which is new to us but we love it.

Did you buy the David Bowie song by song biography by Pete Doggett?  No? Well more fool you.

We watched The Kill List finally. Was NOT expecting that.  It is burned onto our brain.  Forever. Pretty damnedoriginal and The Wickerman is all I can suggest as a comparison.

Watch it as a double bill with Red State.  Kevin Smith has made an amazing film.  It isn’t like ANY of his other films.  Bleak and harsh and diamond sharp.  Plus it skewers religious extremism which is a subject close to all of our hearts. Right?

The Ides Of March was indeed a Candidate for our times.  And pretty damn fine and shiny. If depressing.

As was Contagion.  All fun and smiles in the winter, innit.

then Loney Dear, offers the second single from Hall Music, Loney Blues directed by Ewan Macleod, with just a hint of the Michael Myers…

Vera Todorova, a young Berlin-based film-maker, was given a wildly ambitious brief: to remake the George Lucas cult sci-fi debut THX1138 for not much more than the cost of a couple of flights to Berlin and back. She rose to the task, amazingly, and delivered a memorably great narrative video that starts like some contemporary newsreel footage of civil disobedience and ends up…well, shan’t spoil it, but “demented, sci-fi mind control” is not a phrase we use often. But we will. And it fits here.

Taken from the album ‘Player Piano’ available from Something In Construction.

Amazing.

Jan 19, 2012 – Vera, Groningen, Netherlands
Jan 20, 2012 – Willie, Deventer, Netherlands
Jan 21, 2012 – Tivoli Oudegracht, Utrecht, Netherlands
Jan 22, 2012 – Rotown, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Jan 26, 2012 – Handelsbeurs, Gent, Belgium
Jan 27, 2012 – Festival Mo’fo, Paris, France
Jan 28, 2012 – AB Club, Brussels, Belgium
Feb 16, 2012 – by:Larm Festival, Oslo, Norway
Feb 17, 2012 – by:Larm Festival, Oslo, Norway
Feb 18, 2012 – La Route du Rock Festival, St-Malo, France
Feb 19, 2012 – The Louisiana, Bristol, UK
Feb 20, 2012 – Bush Hall, London, United Kingdom
Feb, 22, 2012 – Schocken, Stuttgart, Germany
Feb 24, 2012 – Apartaménto Hoffman, Conegliano, Italy
Feb, 25, 2012 – El Lokal, Zurich Switzerland
Feb, 26, 2012 – Gleis 22, Munster, Germany
Feb, 27, 2012 – Roter Salon, Berlin, Germany
Feb 28, 2012 – Knust, Hamburg, Germany
Feb 29, 2012 – Ideal Bar, Copenhagen, DK

North America
Mar 19, 2012 – Bootleg Bar, Los Angeles, CA
Mar 20, 2012 – Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco, CA
Mar 22, 2012 – Mississippi Studios, Portland, OR
Mar 23, 2012 – The Media Club, Vancouver, Canada
Mar 24, 2012 – Chop Suey, Seattle, WA
Mar 27, 2012 – First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN * #
Mar 28, 2012 – The Metro, Chicago, IL * #
Mar 29, 2012 – Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH * #
Mar 31, 2012 – Webster Hall, New York, NY *
Apr 01, 2012 – Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA * #
Apr 02, 2012 – Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA * #
Apr 03, 2012 – 9:30 Club, Washington, DC * #
Apr 04, 2012 – Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, NC * #
Apr 05, 2012 – The Orange Peel, Asheville, NC * #
Apr 06, 2012 – Track 29, Chatanooga, TN * #
Apr 07, 2012 – Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA * #

* w/ of Montreal
# w/ Kishi Bashi

As heard on Radio 1 in the DAYTIME, yo.

Here is the sleeve

…the amazing video for Memory Tapes’ Yes I Know got nominated for a Grammy.

Damn.

We know! A-mazing.
But yes.
It isn’t quite Xmas yet, so just don’t ask. The topic is still closed.

Although, we will say this.
We are guessing this will be the last Xmas shopping season of its kind. We are expecting the High Street to disappear next year. Shock and awe, retail dominoes and soon an endless sea of Poundlands, Greggs, Primark, McDs, GamblingDens; the last men standing.
Bad news for you your ass if you work in a shop. The season of good cheers, thanks, see ya later.

Still, there is music. We need to huddle round the hot hot music and warm our hearts and minds and make everything feel better, be better.
Stay close. We want to feel your beating heart. Yes, we do. So if you don’t yet, pretty please do…Follow on Hypemachine Like us on Facebook. And if you don’t yet, then Tweet along @SICrecords

We have smartened up somethinginconstruction.com too.  Do look around.
We are going to add more things to it too. Reviews, whatnot.
Send us something if you want us to include it.
Thanks hugely to Edie for her work on that.

But what of the music?
What IS on the SIC Stereo. This is, THIS is..
Gifts..
Also, we just gave away a FREE SIC sampler called The Fall of 2011 with the good people at The Quietus. A track from each of our releases (Loney, ANR, Memory Tapes, Concretes, Niva etc) this year all downloadable and FREE. Like the songs, buy the albums; you know the drill. FREE, yes?

The Talent..
We love The Quietus too. Cos, well they are good people and not easily swayed and they let things like THIS happen. Without doubt the best LONEY DEAR interview I have seen. Excellent writing. Emil just did a run of sold out shows in London. Magical is a much bandied about word. .
Have a go on this rather amazingly beautiful spectral dub rework of My Heart by Parisian genius Holy Strays.

Loney Dear just got added to the Leisure Society’s massive Barbican show with The Heritage Orchestra on December 8th. Tickets here.
More Loney Shows in 2012. More to come too.
19-jan NL Groningen – Vera
20-jan NL Deventer – Willie
21-jan NL Utrecht – Tivoli de Helling
22-jan NL Rotterdam – Rotown
26-jan BE Gent – Handelsbeurs
28-jan BE Brussels – AB Club -
20-feb UK London – Bush Hall -

MEMORY TAPES released the Trance Sisters Remix EP on Dec 5th featuring remixes of Player Piano tracks from Seams, Jensen Sportag, 9op and NZCA /Lines*
He’s also the subject of yet another viral video thang. See below. Over a million views on various platforms. The music is an excerpt from TreeShip, a bonus track on Seek Magic.
Dayve is beavering away on well, it’s a secret but expect a lot of new Memory Tapes music in the New Year.

New to SIC MGMT is NZCA/LINES. Pronouced Nas-Ka. And it’s somewhere between 80s Scritti and 90s TLC. Which, unless you are a knuckle dragger, out to make you squirm with joy. New single Okinawa Channels should be upon the internets right about now, along with footage from the live session they recorded last night.
Do check out the excellent video for debut single Compass Points from September, of which The Guardian asks, “What happens when you ditch the guitars and listen to nothing but R&B and Stravinsky?” Good question. Debut album is out early 2012.
Shockingly great already live. And being besieged with offers of shows accordingly.

NIVA is also prepping his debut album. The critical acclaim on this dude is mounting up. I am sensing a dark horse amazing classic POP album in Oh12. Did you see the video for the very recent and very brilliant single Dirty Water on The Guardian? Verrry Lithium.
Expect a few remixes of that popping up in the next week or two.

AIR FRANCE are working on an EP for early 2012 too. Damn. You got this and this, right?

ANR are recording Elpee #2 right about now. Damn and Damn again. It’s sounding purple.

LEVERAGE MODELS debuted their live show to a packed house this week in New York. The band featured sundry Liught Asylums and Yeasayers. Expect a lot more from them in 2012. You may catch up with their Roxy/Numanisms here

THE SILENT LEAGUE are resting. Justin has been touring in Mercury Rev with Portishead in Australia and having a silly amount of fun.

SIC’s Official End Of Year Albums: Sweet 16
Accept no substitute.
Not to be confused with mithguided lisps you might find elsewhere.

1. PJ Harvey: Let England Shake
2. TVOTR: Nine Types Of Light
3. Gruff Rhys: Hotel Shampoo
4. White Denim: D
5. Suuns: Zeroes QC
6. Girls: Father, Son, Holy Ghost
7. Bright Eyes: The People’s Key
8. Azari + III: Azari + III
9. Gem Club: Breakers
10. Balam Acab: Wonder/Wander
11. The Chemical Brothers: Hanna OST
12. Ford + Lopatin: Channel Pressure
13. Colourmusic: My___is Pink
14. Hooray For Earth: True Loves
15. Lykke Li: Wounded Rhymes
16. Peaking Lights: 936

17. My Morning Jacket: Circuital

18. Tamar: Visits

19. Kurt Vile:  Smoke Rings

20. Cuckoo Chaos:   Woman

That is about it for now…

Except, obviously, it isn’t. Dying to tell you about a few OTHER THINGS but am bound not to.

Here are some SIC Recommendations.

Drive. The film. Amazing. DVD’s out in January. Buy it.
Drive. The film’s soundtrack. Amazing proto disco and spook.
Driver. The Xbox game. Lots of fun, thematic but not strictly amazing.

MW3. Short but unbelievably exciting and violent. War is hell. But “realistic” war sims are heaven.

Philco Fiction. A wonderful debut album from these Norwegians is going to blow your head off next year. It sounds like pop music from the future. Brilliant pop songs, brilliantly arranged and produced. Embarrassingly great. We are off to see them this week in fact, hopefully. Listen to this and disagree.

Speaking of blown minds. The new edition of New Scientist has a cover story on the Multiverse. Infinite universes, y’know. Easy to read. Hard to forget. To infinty and, quite literally, beyond. Some of these quantum physicians/philosophers might just banging some deeply strong weed though. Looking at you, Dr Nick Bostrom at Oxford University

Beetroot. There is a tide in the affairs of vegetables, no doubt. Roast it, boil it, make it into cakes, sculpt it into little graven idols of Prince… It’s all good in the beetroot hood. Welcome back, your purpleness. I think we parted on bad terms when I was 8 and didn’t like the purple flowing into my other food on the plate. I was young, forgive me.

The screen play of Inception was a revelation. Damn fine work, Nolan.

Also you should go and see the John Martin exhib at Tate Britain. Must confess I had never heard of him before but it is called Apocalypse and the ad looked cool, so we went. A Victorian Sleb, obsessed with Biblical scenes of destruction, and well, destruction in general; these mainly utterly HUGE canvasses are boggling and have had a direct influence on films like Inception and, um, Star Wars. The upmarket civic centre of HELL looks pretty amazing. Must visit. The son et lumiere show at the end is tripped the eff out.

Totally loved the fuzzy psych of Tammar’s debut album Visits. If you like Black Mountain/Angels, dig in.

And while you are there in THAT place go check out Caveman.

Also Ziggy Played Surf Guitar. I am sure you can guess the contents of that CD. Had to buy it. It is great though.
Cos it’s David Bowie see.

Also been digging Zola Jesus, Visions Of Trees, Balam Acab, Morphine, Standard Panets, League, Pet, Shocking Blue, Azari and III, Danzig (!), Television Personalities and David Sylvian lately.
But not Tinie Tempah. What utter balls. Belated verdict.

We finally saw GIRLS play. Damn. If you get the chance, go. Joyous. Amazing. Raw. Lavish. Sad. Actually I used those same words to describe the Loney Dear shows this week too. Mebbe we should get them together.

The Gruff Rhys Hotel Shampoo show was just fantastic too. Props to Turnstile, you are on a roll.

The 72 Bus drivers need a shout out. Not one I use often. But see, there is a particularly crap uppydowny (it IS a word) barrier that regulates traffic across Hammersmith bridge. Except it often doesn’t rise up when buses approach. Bus drivers have fucked it up or rammed it 31 times in the last 6 months. 31! Badass.

If you are feeling, um, say, slightly psychotic or perhaps like a pent up 15 year old or just a little gonzo/badass after a hard day’s ramming, then we’d recommend a triple bill of Drive Angry, Crank2 and Hobo With A Shotgun. Depraved, hilarious, foolish, horrific, cheeky, smart and possessed of an edge of the seat tension from start to finish that is lacking in action films on the whole.

I don’t exactly recommend Matthew Herbert’s Pig Record. But you need to hear it. Once. All sounds made by pigs or bits of pigs. Conceptual as. Weird as. Hard to take. And scary as hell. Do not listen if you are, um, refreshed.

And finally….

Venture with us into the Tripatorium…..

amalgamation from dunun on Vimeo.