Seerauber Jenny is the creation of Fran Barker who set about making a record in the leaky conservatory at home, armed with a four track tape machine, musical instruments and a head full of ideas.
With the fuzzy influences of Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine amongst others, Barker set out to make her own music, the resulting raw creations drawing the interest of Neil Claxton, formerly of Mint Royale and Seerauber Jenny was born.
Seerauber Jenny release their debut single through the Fandango label on September 27th, the double A side single will feature the tracks Push It Away and Waste Of Time.
The animated video to support Push It Away can be seen below:
Seerauber Jenny – Push It Away
Seerauber Jenny are already getting rave reviews for their compelling and enthralling live shows and have already been invited to perform at the BBC Introducing event at Band On The Wall in Manchester in October.
The band are playing at the following venues in September and October, with London dates to be announced:
September 16th – Brighton – Juice FM Acoustic gig – The Windmill
September 17th – Manchester – Kraak Gallery
October 8th – Brighton – Brighton Live
October 13th – Manchester – Band on the Wall (BBC Introducing event @ In The City)
The debut single ‘Push It Away’ / ‘Waste Of Time’ will be released though Label Fandango on September 27 2010, available on Limited edition 7” & digital download.
Little Fish are a duo from the UK, featuring self taught guitarist and singer JuJu Sophie and Nez Greenaway on drums, the pair have just witnessed perhaps the craziest year of their life, culminating in the release of their debut album Baffled & Beat.
Legendary singer/songwriter Linda Perry was that impressed with the band’s demos that she flew over to the UK to see them perform, in a pub in Oxford. Perry signed Little Fish on the spot and took them to LA to produce their first album.
It was Perry who set new goals for the band, in particular in the song writing department where she pushed JuJu to new and unexpected heights by constantly pressuring her for new material.
Little Fish earned their stripes on a string of support dates, sharing stages and venues with the likes of Placebo, Them Crooked Vultures, Hole, Juliette Lewis and most recently Blondie.
The end result of an intense year or so is the album Baffled & Beat, a real gem of an album repaying the faith that Perry and others had shown in Little Fish from the start.
As much material as possible on the album was recorded live in the studio , capturing Little Fish’s amazing energy and enormous sound almost to perfection.
Little Fish seem predominantly a garage rock/ post punk band, but there is so much more to them and while JuJu plays the aggressive, articulate and loud front woman to perfection, her softer side on tracks like Sorry State, with the brilliant line ‘Why does misery like company’, Lucks Run Out and the title track prove that the girl really does have an incredible voice.
In fact it is the underlying melodies that set this album in a category of its own, given the chance Baffled & Beat has all the credentials to reach a mainstream audience while remaining true to the cult status that Little Fish currently enjoy.
The first single from Baffled & Beat is not the obvious choice for me, Whiplash gives a reasonable taste of what Little Fish are about, but there are other tracks that are more radio friendly, in my view. None the less the single Whiplash will be released on September 6th.
Little Fish will headline the BBC stage at the Reading/Leeds Festival this coming weekend and at the following venues in September:
8 Sep Proud Galleries Camden Town
18 Sep Southsea Festival The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
To celebrate the release of their latest album Sugar, the psychedelic rockers Dead Confederate are offering a free download of the lead single Giving It All Away on their official website for a limited time. Sugar is released in the UK on September 6th.
Giving It All Away is probably the most instant and commercial of the tracks on Sugar and the obvious single from the album. It also features the guitar playing of Dinosaur Jr’s J Mascis, which is no bad thing.
Dead Confederate have learned a thing or two by supporting the likes of Dinosaur Jr and Meat Puppets on tour and their appreciation of the pioneering 80’s/90’s masters can be heard throughout this latest offering.
While retaining the psychedelic nature of their previous efforts, Sugar finds Dead Confederate tidying up their production with tighter songs, without abandoning the driving guitar work and unbridled emotion that has so far set them apart from others.
Controlled fuzzy guitars and trippy distorted vocals feature throughout this album, the intentionally warped vocals adding to the warm feeling, but the production by John Agnello also weighs in with a dark alt-grunge flavour adding overall depth and bringing to mind Smashing Pumpkins at their best.
The tone is set from the excellent first track In The Dark and the album simply draws the listener in from there on, growing in presence as it goes . Sugar is an almost perfect collection of experimental alternative and psychedelic rock music and if you enjoy Giving It All away, check out the album at Dead Confederate My Space.
Dead Confederate – Giving It All Away
For more information or to download the track Giving It All Away, visit the Dead Confederate website.
The Xcerts will release their much anticipated second album Scatterbrain on October 4th, promising a brilliantly sinister and filthy quality to their sound as they delve back to the early grunge era of the nineties.
Scatterbrain is produced by Mike Sapone , the first UK act to be overseen by the American, early recording began earlier this year at his New York home.
While the new album promises an angrier young band than heard on their excellent debut album In The Cold We Smile, the band have lost none of their pop sensibilities and catchy melodies on Scatterbrain.
The Xcerts were encouraged to experiment more on the new album by producer Sapone, who turned out to be like a fourth member of the band. Murray MacLeod says “There’s parts that would never have happened, had we not worked with Mike.”
Murray MacLeod went on to defend the change of direction sound wise on Scatterbrain, saying: “If we didn’t sound different, I’d be worried. The first album was – as for most new bands – something of a ‘greatest hits’ from the band’s early years, when they were still finding their feet. This time, the album was almost entirely written in a six-week break between tours and as a result paints a much more vibrant picture; a single body of work that makes sense; a proper album that it would seem blasphemous to shuffle.”
Talking about the influences on the new album, MacLeod said; “There are certain records that we’re all really into that have a similar sound – a balance of raw emotion and good production. ‘In Utero’ by Nirvana, ‘Pinkerton’ by Weezer, ‘Either/Or’ by Elliot Smith, ‘The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me’ by Brand New, ‘Nebraska’ by Bruce Springsteen and ‘For Emma Forever Ago’ by Bon Iver. That’s pretty much exactly how we wanted this record to sound.
This is an album lover’s album for the fans of the band. It’s not about a particular track or single and should be listened too as an entire body of work with an open mind. We hope everyone falls in love with it like we have.”
xcerts video young (belane)
The Xcerts will release the single Young (Belane) one week ahead of the album on September 27th. The video to accompany the single was recently filmed in the remote Welsh countryside and directed by Joseph Rodrigues Marsh.
The band managed to call upon friend and actor Jamie Campbell Bower to perform in the video. The actor is best know for his role of Caius in ‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon’ and has recently completed the filming of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ Part I and II. His filmography also features films directed by Tim Burton and Guy Ritchie and he is rumoured to be cast as King Arthur in a 10-part American TV series called ‘Camelot’ alongside Tamsin Egerton as his queen Guinevere.
In the video for Young (Belane) Bower is cast as a creepy-obsessed fan that kidnaps the band and drags their unconscious bodies back to a secluded barn to add to his ultimate shrine of memorabilia. When not force feeding them Macaroni Cheese or cutting off trinkets of their hair Bower’s character gets distracted and while he’s dancing to one of the The Xcerts’ early releases the band make for an escape! But will they be successful?
Well if you can wait, the video will be unveiled at 5pm August 25th, exclusively on The Xcerts website.
In support of the release of Scatterbrain The Xcerts will be hitting the road in support of Futures before headlining their own national tour. Dates below:
SEPTEMBER
18th Southsea festival, Portsmouth
21st Joiners, Southampton w/Futures
22nd Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff w/Futures
23nd Borderline, London w/Futures
25th Roadhouse, Manchester w/Futures
26th Underground Festival, Gloucester w/Futures
27th King Tuts, Glasgow w/Futures
28th Cockpit, Leeds w/Futures
29th Academy 2, Newcastle w/Futures
New Jersey based punk rock band The Gaslight Anthem have announced a European tour which will kick off a couple of months after their scheduled appearance on the festival stages of Reading and Leeds.
The Gaslight Anthem have been catapulted into the mainstream spotlight on the back of their third album release American Slang, reaching top twenty album status in the UK and USA and pretty much everywhere else that matters.
American Slang sees the band finding their own voice, the lyrics are perhaps more personal and introspective but singer Fallon’s raw throated vocals are stronger than ever, behind the bands driving dynamic force.
The Gaslight Anthem have continued to build on the success of 2009, which was a monumental year for the band, touring the world in support of their much acclaimed album The ‘59 Sound and performing at all of the major festivals around the globe.
The Gaslight Anthem full UK and Eire dates;
October:
21st UK London, Hammersmith Apollo
22nd UK Southampton, Guildhall
23rd UK Bristol, Academy
24th UK Wolverhampton, Civic November:
16th UK Nottingham, Rock City
17th UK Leeds, O2 Academy
18th UK Newcastle, O2 Academy
19th UK Edinburgh, Picture House
20th UK Manchester Apollo
21st IRL Dublin, Olympia
22nd N.IRL Belfast, Mandela Hall
