30 Jun 2018

Rocket Probes – June playlist




Lay Llamas – Thuban
(Lay Llamas new album was released this month and its psyched out summer vibe has been a perfect soundtrack)
Lay Llamas

Oneida – Romance
(One of our albums of the year...)
Oneida

Camedor - En Ut / Alba
(Repetitious electronica minimalism)
Camedor

Our Solar System – Origins
(Nice swedish psych on Beyond Beyond is Beyond)
Our Solar System

Deaf Kids – Pés Atados
(Such a pleasure seeing this lot play at Supersonic Fest and down the Shacklewell Arms, great band)
Deaf Kids

Joanna Brouk - The Space Between
(Ambient The Necks like minimal classical chimes, synth, and piano)
Joanna Brouk

Ben Vince & Joy O– Transition 2 / Systems Align
(Great techno/jazz collaboration from Houswives Ben Vince and Joy O)
Ben Vince & Joy O

Warp Transmission - The Process Ultra
(Nice bit of psych rock with a Gaye Bykers meets early Monster Magnet type of vibe)
Warp Transmission

Deru - 1979
(Eno-esque Ambient sounds)
Deru

Crack Cloud – Swish Swash
(Nice mash-up of Housewives, Beefheart, Stereolab and Talking Heads)
Crack Cloud

Rafael Toral – Sound mind sound body
(Sit back and relax...)
Rafael Toral

BIB - PMF 
(Last track on their EP POP...proper sludged out psych punk that the man, the legend Cherrystones turned us on too)
BIB

New Kingdom - Good Times (Del Remix) / Animal
(Great stoned out Hip Hop)
New Kingdom
New Kingdom

Black Midi – bmbmbm
(Repetitive noise...bit of a GNOD meets Housewives feel to it)
Black Midi

OGOD – More Hearing
(Good doomy space rock)
OGOD

Sophia Loizou - Irregular Territories
(Mike from Teeth of the Sea pricked up our ears to this droning jungle noise)
SophiaLoizou 

Fire! - The Hands
(Jazz. Rock.) 
Fire!

Street Sounds – UK Electro
(Going way back to our roots, used to breakdance to this!!)
Street Sounds

Listen to our 'updated-monthly' Rocket Probes Spotify playlist:


---

Listen to first play of new Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs track on Mary Anne Hobs BBC6 Music Show


That is right...you can hear an exclusive first play of brand new Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs track called 'Cake of Light' on today's Mary Anne Hobbs show on BBC 6 Music.

Listen here at about 2h:48m: BBC 6 Music

And watch this space for more Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs news real soon!

_

29 Jun 2018

Watch GNOD (R&D) live in Cork



---

Bristol Psych Festival reveals stage times


Bristol Psych Festival is just one weeks away, and they have just revealed their stage times

It will be an early start for you to go and see Anthroprophh.
They are first on, at SWX at 3pm

And then Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs headline the Lanes at 11pm

The Heads also play The Lanes at 8:30pm

Info/Tickets here: Bristol Psych Fest

---

28 Jun 2018

The Skinny reviews Supersonic


They say this about GNOD:

Salford psych-noise band Gnod begin closing out the evening back in the Custard Factory. Two bass players and a good sense of humour make them one of the more unique and enduring acts of their ilk in the UK today. It’s psych you can sing along to with a grin from ear to ear. 

Read the full 5/5 review here: The Skinny

---

27 Jun 2018

The Arts Desk reviews Supersonic


Some mentions of Housewives, Gum Takes Tooth's performances and this about GNOD's set from the Arts Desks review of Supersonic:

"Particular highlights were Gnod’s wild and trippy heavy psych set that finished off with an epic version of “Bodies for Money” that shook the venue so much that the crowd had all kinds of paint flecks and general grot raining down on them from the rafters, due to the ferocious groove."

Read the whole review here: The Arts Desk

--

Fuzzy Sun includes lots of Rocket bands in their 'Half of the year Round-up'


Great to see GNOD, GOAT, Lay Llamas and MIEN in Fuzzy Sun's round-up of their best albums of the year so far

Read the full list here: Fuzzy Sun

---

GNOD and MIEN in Uncut Magazines 'Albums of the Year so Far'


Uncut Magazine has published a list of the best albums of the year so far and they have included:

No.22
GNOD – Chapel Perilous

No.40
MIEN – MIEN

See the full rundown here: Uncut Magazine

---


26 Jun 2018

The Guardian reviews Supersonic


This years Supersonic Festival was amazing!!!
We had such a good time and massive respect to Lisa and her team for putting on a superb event.
It was so good to get all the UK tribes together in one place once again.

The Guardian have just put up their review and there are some mentions of  GNOD's pummelling set and the Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Tomaga, UKAE, Big Lad supergroup that closed the Saturday night

Read the review here: The Guardian

Photo by the lovely Ian Fraser

---

Burger Records have released a ltd edition cassette version of MIEN's debut album


As announced previously Burger Records are  releasing a ltd edition cassette version of MIEN's debut album. And they have just sent us this photo of the finished article.

Buy your copy from here: Burger Records

---

Bristol 247 reviews Bonnacons of Doom live at The Cube


They say:

Taking to the stage in floor length cloaks and with faces obscured by mirrored discs (echoing the debut LP cover) Bonnacons of Doom played Industria, Rhizome, Solus, Sutcliffe, Argenta and Plantae: essentially said debut album, albeit out of sequence and with the bonus of Sutcliffe. They did not perform an encore yet left the audience in that bittersweet state of simultaneous delight and disappointment.

Like a brooding avalanche slowly gaining momentum the set opened with a drone that gradually grew louder as a gong incessantly summoned the musicians to the stage. And then the avalanche commenced, pounding the room exquisitely. Industria was a menacing slice of Tibetan metal, chanting and building ominously without ever truly reaching a crescendo. Rhizome, with extra floor tom power, was that crescendo: a massive crescendo disguised as a cymbal splashed drumming tour de force, a riff monster. It battered the crowd, paving the way for the storm to come.

Solus, Sutcliffe and Argenta were a relentless display of power and ingenuity – music as heavy as metal but not heavy metal – eschewing all the conventions of rock to twist base metal into something harder, something different. Solus led with vocals that disturbed and soothed in equal measures over diamond hard riffs and off kilter solos. Argenta teased us with its soothing introduction, peaking with towering riffs and dipping with soothing noodling (not a pejorative), which ebbed and flowed...

Read the full piece here: Bristol 247

---

Johhny from Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs tells Crack Magazine his 'Most Memorable World Cup Moment'



He said:

It’s a close call. Michael Owen’s goal against Argentina at France ’98 jumps out, as does Joe Cole’s screamer against Sweden in 2006, but I’m going to have to go with a Japan and South Korea World Cup qualifier between England and Greece in 2001.

David Beckham’s last minute goal from a free kick at Old Trafford. The goal made the score 2-2 and with Germany drawing their last qualifier, England automatically qualified for the World Cup on goal difference. The stadium absolutely erupted when that ball hit the back of the net.


I was lucky enough to be at the game! My dad is crazy about football and started taking me to matches from the age of 7. It was such a tense match, so much rode on the result going our way. We should have won easily really, but England never make things easy for themselves. I was sitting behind the goal that Beckham’s equaliser went into, the whole team celebrated in front of where we were sitting too. It really felt like I’d witnessed a historical sporting moment in the flesh. A funny thing I remember was a bloke and his son sitting next to me. The bloke was clearly getting a little annoyed at his son, who really didn’t care that much about football. When the goal went in, he hugged me, not his son! Poor lad.

Read the full piece here: Crack Magazine

---

Storia Della Musica reviews Lay Llamas' 'Thuban'


They say:

Bizarre tipino, Philip K. Dick. The ontogenesis of Valis , the first chapter of the trilogy of the same name, is marked ex-abrupto by an inexplicable apparition: the lightning-like materializing of vortices of light in rotation apparently harmonious with the whirlwind of Dick's disconnected thoughts. A synaesthetic perceptive communion that, in the words of Massimo Padalino, will raise in the writer " Pain. Amazement. LOSS "( Space is the place) Stories of space, stories of spaces, Bologna, Meridiano Zero, 2016, p. 206) and will induce him to radically rethink the network of spatio-temporal relations with which he interacted in his own double reality, literary and phenomenal. It would be simple and simplistic to read in the Dickian photophony the revealing "illumination" that obscures the retinas and purifies the soul of a Saul of Tarsus of psychic science fiction: also because every light, however blinding, presupposes an equally pervasive, piercing shadow. . Thus, pearl of the constellation of the Dragon, the magnitude of Thuban was also unchallenged (adaptation of the Arab thu'bān , indicatively "serpent", and here the rest of the connections with the world ofItalian Occult Psychedelia will make it the most careful reader ...), at least until the advance in astronomical time has not turned into advancing in space: the polar star of the past was dethroned, cannibalized by the eternal cycle of succession that regulates universal existence broadly...

Read the full review here: Storia Della Musica

---

Kalporz 'big-ups' Bonnacons of Dooms solo album


They say:

This here is a record I had been waiting for months and that in the end did not disappoint the expectations and proves even more surprising and spectacular than I expected. Bonnacons of Doom is the first eponymous LP of an experimental collective of mysterious musicians (during their live performances, which are practically a kind of dramatic theatrical performances according to a devotional style to classical culture) from the Lancashire and Yorkshire region. they chose Liverpool as their base of operations. If this description before description can even remotely make you think of the Goats, you are not completely out of the way: although the sound is different,

Their conception of the ritual as well as of psychedelia, as can be seen listening to the record (composed of practically five long tracks), is different from that of the Goats. Meanwhile, for the kind of sounds, which here have no connection with that free-form almost "Zappiana" nor much less references to the sound of the African continent: the music developed in the album has a distorted, noisy, noise and surrounded by a certain shamanism drone and post-industrial that lets imagine future rituals of the future and superstitions like those that surround the Mycogen sector on Trantor, the imperial planet of the imaginary of many science fiction novels by Isaac Asimov.


Recorded at the Suburban Home Studios of Hookworms (MJ) frontman in Leeds in just one session and with members of Mugstar, Forest Swords, members of the Jarvis Cocker band and Youthmovies, this record could only come out on Rocket Recordings (surely one of the labels that is never afraid to dare) and if it gives me so much, I know that hardly can not be for fans of the psychedelic genre, one of the records of the year. If they continue to be so surprising in the future, we'll see, but for now it's all right.

Read the full piece here: Kalporz

---

The Chapel Mag say some words about Goat's 'Let it Burn'
































They say:

In May of 2018 the GOAT Swedes released the single "Let It Burn", 6 minutes of intense psychedelic rock with its characteristic groove, once again tribal and ritualistic, the GOAT submerge us in their fucking paranoia fuzz. If you did not know them, PLAY. If you knew them but like me, you had not heard that this great song was there, PLAY. If you were aware of everything and you are wasting your time reading this, that at least you have been giving the PLAY. Boy you better run to your mom now.

See the full piece here: Chapel Mag

---

Distorsioni reviews Lay Llamas album Thuban


It says:

There was a lot of waiting in the underground psychedelic scene for the return of Lay Llamas of Nicola Giunta , which saw the departure of co-founder Joel Valenti ( JUJU ) that in recent years has become a guarantee for European neo-psychedelic field. The Sicilian musician four years after his debut at home Rocket Recordings  "Østro"  introduces new coordinates for his sound journey, because in the imagination of Lay Llamas music is synonymous with travel through time and space, a bridge between ancestral eras and future: the guide to this musical trip is precisely " Thuban" , Arabic word for "dragon, snake" but also one of the names of Alpha Draconis, which between 4000 and 2000 ac passed through our skies as a polar star. So a journey that in search of a metaphorical polar star touches the Mediterranean coast to transit in equatorial Africa and move towards pristine alien landscapes, as you can guess from the initial and mysterious Eye-Chest People's Dance Ritual , a diaphanous electro-pop filtered from a kraut sensibility that re-proposes itself in the Holy Afro-pop of Holy Worms , under the sign of hypnotic reiteration...

Read the rest here: Distorsioni

---

22 Jun 2018

Bearded Gentlemen Music list '11 of the best heavy psych albums of 2018 so far'


They say:

No1. 
Anthroprophh – Omegaville (Rocket Recordings)
This is Paul Allen of The Heads’s side project and man, this is some trip! Omegaville hits the ground running with a couple of chaotic scorching fuzz-heavy roadburners only to land a couple of miles later in bat shit crazy country doing all kinds of drugs with Hunter S. Thompson. If you really dive into this record, especially the later parts, there is a serious risk of never getting out again. You might find yourself trapped in your Las Vegas hotel room with a big green lizard’s tail sticking out of your pants…don’t say you weren’t warned!

See the full rundown here: Bearded Gentlemen Music

---

21 Jun 2018

Massive 40% Rocket Store Discount Sale

Massive 40% Rocket Store Discount Sale:

As its our 20th year we'd delighted to offer you all the opportunity to refuel your Rocket back catalogue, be it something you've been wanting or something you've not heard.

So for one weekend only (22nd-24th June) we are offering a massive 40% off any of our digital and physical stock.

Just visit our store: 

Digital: Downloads

Physical: Merch

And use the unique discount code 'TWENTY' to access your 40% off our stock.

Many thanks for your support this year & over the years!

---

20 Jun 2018

The Quietus reviews Bonnacons of Doom's S/T debut


They say:

In his memoir Jolly Lad, Quietus co-honcho John ‘Babadook’ Doran muses on the differences between Liverpool and Manchester - cities which are just 35 miles apart but have noticeably different cultural vibes. Doran (who is from Rainhill, near St Helens) posits that Liverpool is more insular and conceived by its residents as an almost abstract notion; Liverpool, he says, is essentially the community that lives there. Mancunians, on the other hand, are attached to the place itself: the buildings, their bricks, the architecture and the industry of their city. Both places have hosted significant numbers of Irish immigrants but the Celtic character has had greater impact on the Scouse personality. Manchester remains relatively Protestant in nature.

As such, Liverpool's musical contributions have been more “warm-hearted, psychedelic, and romantic” (see The Beatles, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Mighty Wah! and The Zutons), whereas Manchester's sound tends to be “urgent, intellectual and dark-hearted” like The Smiths, Joy Division and Simply Red. All this intersects with each city's respective drug culture: Merseyside being principally an LSD and marijuana kind of a place; Manchester more inclined to ecstasy and speed...

Read the full piece here: The Quietus

---

Backseat Mafia reviews Lay Llamas – Thuban


They say:

Four years after the release of debut Østro, Lay Llamas return with their second offering Thuban, released on Rocket Recordings. Dwelling in the night sky of the Northern hemisphere, Thuban (named after the Arabic for snake also known as Alpha Draconis, and sometimes as the ‘dragon’s tail’) was the star closest to the North Pole from the fourth to the second millennium BC.

The album has been characterised as much by forward motion as cosmic drift and follows a number of smaller releases on labels such as Backwards, 4 Zero and ArteTetra. With a string of stunning live performances, notably supporting Goat at London’s Roundhouse and Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia. Yet following the departure of vocalist Gioele  Valenti, Thuban  is very much  Nicola Giunt’s  brainchild,  involving  as  many  of  twelve  different  musicians  with  him  writing  lyrics,  singing,  producing,  mixing  and  recording  at  his home. It utilises new instruments from marimba to sax to kalimba to pilot this craft to dimensions unknown. The result has been a step beyond the kraut-damaged psychedelic mantras of Østro into a realm seemingly without boundaries, one in which a pan-global fascination with rhythmic hypnosis and an unquenchable experimental zeal manifests hermetically-aligned revelations aplenty...

Read the full review here: Backseat Mafia

---

Flowers Must Die to play Helsinki Psych Fest


This will be Flowers Must Die's first show in Finland, and probably their only show this year after the Rocket Twenty event....so not to be missed!

Info/Tickets: Helsinki Psych Fest

---

18 Jun 2018

GNOD – one of ten bands you must see at this weekends Supersonic Fest on Louder Sound


They Say:

10 bands you need to check out at Supersonic Festival 2018
Supersonic Festival co-founder Lisa Meyer talks us through the acts you simply can't afford to miss this year

Originally starting out life as a one-day festival in Birmingham in 2003, Supersonic Festival has grown into one of the world's most important events for new and exciting music. Cherry-picking the finest in experimental music from all over the globe, the festival's line-up grows increasingly diverse with each passing year. 


But with so much on offer, it can be a struggle to work out what the festival's must-see bands might be. So, we turned to Supersonic co-founder Lisa Meyer for her guide to the festival's most essential viewing. Here, she guides you through Supersonic's ultimate must-sees:

Gnod
"Literally the best album title ever which came out on great UK label Rocket Recordings: JUST SAY NO TO THE PSYCHO RIGHT-WING CAPITALIST FASCIST INDUSTRIAL DEATH MACHINE. Their music is reflective of the world we’re living in right now and their driving rhythms bring an audience together into one heaving mass, absolutely brilliant live band."

Read the full piece here: Louder Sound

---

15 Jun 2018

Echoes and Dust reviews Lay Llamas Thuban


It says:

Thuban is Lay Llamas 5th album and their second for Rocket Recordings, after 2014’s Østrø. Thuban (the Arabic for ‘snake’) is named after the star closest to the North pole from the fourth to the second millennium BC, just so you know!

The album begins with Eye-Chest People’s Dance Ritual with a loose drum-driven track, overlayed by a lush, spacy vocals driving the melody and an african style guitar break in the centre. There’s someting of the way Karl Hyde (Underworld) treats his vocals that makes me think a Lay Llamas/Underworld collaboration would yield some interesting results.

Holy Worms came out a a single in April this year and has a killer afrobeat rhythm, with retro synths and a phat funky jazz bass. Silver Sun was another single that made it onto the album. It starts like a satellite breaking up on re-entry, and then morphs into a heavy pounding bass/drums combo with a crazy sax solo over the top...

Read the rest here: Echoes and Dust

---

Lay Llamas Thuban - released today



Today sees the release of the new Lay Llamas album 'Thuban' in all good record shops.

The album features contributions from GOAT, The Pop Group's Mark Stewart and Clinic. The 8 track album album is the brainchild of Nicola Giunta, and involved as many of twelve different musicians yet with Nicola writing lyrics, singing, producing, mixing and recording at his home, whilst utilising new instruments from marimba to sax to kalimba to pilot this craft to dimensions unknown. The result has been a step beyond the kraut-damaged psychedelic mantras of 'Østro' into a realm seemingly without boundaries, one in which a pan-global fascination with rhythmic hypnosis and an unquenchable experimental zeal manifests hermetically-aligned revelations aplenty.

Buy from here: Bandcamp

or stream here Spotify  Apple Music

-

Some great reviews have been coming in for the album:

"an album that already promises to be among the best in 2018.” Rolling Stone

"an album that is once again a journey, literally out of time.” 5/5 - Il Mucchio Selvaggio

"the new masters of the Made in Italy psychedelia.” Album of the Month - Rockerilla

"a timeless cosmic rock album.” 85/100 Rumore

"...with Mark Stewart, Clinic and Goat, Thuban is the invocation ritual of a new digital tribality." Linus Magazine

"with no doubt a great record." Buscadero

"a determination to push boundaries." Soundblab

"mesmerises you with its sincere eclecticism and wide sphere of influence." Psych Insight

"a marvellous album."  4/5 – Primal Music

"undoubtedly one of the albums of the year."  Dayz of Purple and Orange

---

14 Jun 2018

Primal Music reviews Lay Llamas album Thuban


It says:

It’s been four years since the release of Italian-based sonic manipulators ‘Lay Llamas’ sublime debut album ‘Østro’ on Rocket Recordings and since then their sonic manifestations have gone from strength to strength. Since the departure of Gioele Valenti (now with his own band – JUJU) ‘Lay Llamas’ have come solely under the command of Nicola Giunta who has reimagined their collective sound into something otherworldly, melding the rhythmic side of krautrock with afrobeat, neo-psych, electronica, spoken-word and experimental atmospherics. Having put out a number of smaller releases on labels such as Backwards, 4 Zero and ArteTetra, ‘Lay Llamas’ under Giunta’s guidance have played on the live circuit with some heavy hitters from the modern psych scene such as the infamous ‘Goat’ at London’s Roundhouse and effortlessly managing a sonic demolition job of some considerable force at Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia. Now they have returned to Rocket Recordings to unleash the latest chapter in this fascinating story. Their latest long player entitled ‘Thuban’ is an eight track sonic rollercoaster of unparalleled psychic abandonment featuring contributions from members of ‘Clinic’ and ‘Goat’ along with spoken-word contributions from Mark Stewart of ‘The Pop Group’ fame. ‘Thuban’ gets it’s official release on the 15th June 2018 and is available to pre-order right now on various formats via rocketrecordings.bandcamp.com 

Melodic wind strewn instrumentation buffers and whirrs as the opening salvos of ‘Eye-Chest People’s Dance Ritual’ arrive pulling twinkling frequencies with it as swells of synth rise from deep below the mix. Metronomic drum patterns dance repetitively alongside the throb of melodic bass and sequenced electronics as those hazy vocalisations meander into audible range attached to woozy instrumentation and the pull of guitars. Instrumentally sublime, this opening track is deeply captivating and filled with sonic brilliance...

Read the full review here: Primal

---

Rocket Interview in latest Razur Cuts Magazine


Razur Cuts interviewed Rocket's Chris Reeder about the labels 20th Anniversary and the magazine has just been released.

You can buy a copy thru PayPal, just send £4.50 (includes postage )to email address;
deeko1963@googlemail.com

Follow Razur Cuts on Twitter at: @razurcutsmag

---

12 Jun 2018

Watch Julie's Haircut live at the legendary Teatro Regio




On the night of January 27th 2018 Julie’s Haircut performed live at the legendary Teatro Regio in Parma (Italy). Only 100 members of the audience were allowed in to sit on the stage of the theatre with the band playing against the breathtaking background of the stalls and gallery.

Watch a simply mind bending rendition of lave favourite Purple Jewel

---

Transmission Luton reviews Goat's Let it Burn
































They say:

So……….where do I start. Well let me just say that I believe this to be the best song I’ve heard since Arctic Monkeys released R U Mine? early in 2012. To put this into context, when that track was released I DJed in a converted toilet (Ginglik, Shepherds Bush) at The Rifles aftershow party and that night I played R U Mine? 5 times in total!  I’m DJing at Club 85 in a few weeks and this will certainly be on the playlist, and every single DJ playlist until I hang up the headphones. 

The other guys at Transmission HQ will tell you that I make sweeping statements all of the time, but this time its for real!, This is the best song in the last 6 years. Let me explain why as I obviously listen to the track whilst writing this.

Now I know absolutely noting about the band Goat but after a quick bit of research I find out they are a mask wearing, experimental, psychedelic rock band from Gothenburg in Sweden who’s back story claims they are just one of many incarnations over the last 30 years of a group from a small, voodoo-worshipping northern town named Korpilombolo. Now as interesting as this is, it doesn’t tell you quite how I feel about this track. And boy does it make me feel something. I feel like the coolest mother fucker to ever grace the planet when I hear it. Not many songs in the last 5 years or so make me feel anything...

Read the whole review here: Transmission Luton

---

Psych Insight reviews Lay Llamas album Thuban


It reads:

It seems a long time since I was grooving to the distinctive beat of ‘Østro’, the Lay Llamas first album for Rocket Recordings. That was at the label’s showcase night at the 2014 Liverpool Psych Fest, a night that I described at the time as  “the very pinnacle of my live music experience“: a statement that I stand by nearly four years later. The Lay Llamas set convinced me to buy that album, which has had regular plays on the Psych Insight turntable ever since. I have always liked how it seems to contain many influences without being beholden to them. It seems to drift in its own little cloud, and has retained its own unique appeal for me.

There have been other Lay Llamas releases since then, but none for me have quite matched that moment in time that ‘Østro’ did: until now that is. However, the only thing that that collective have in common with the current group is central character Nicola Giunta, who has assembled a new set of musicians (twelve contribute here) to produce ‘Thuban’...

See the full review here: Psych Insight

---

Julie's Haircut reveals, Live video, new ltd edition EP and UK tour dates via Echoes and Dust


Head over to Echoes and Dust now to watch an amazing video of Julie's Haircut performing at the legendary Teatro Regio in Parma:

Watch here: Echoes and Dust 

The band have also revealed a ltd edition, self released two track vinyl EP to coincide with their up-and-coming UK tour in September:

4 Manchester - Night People - Facebook Event
5 Leicester - The Musician Pub - Facebook Event 
6 Brighton - The Hope & Ruin - Facebook Event
7 London - The Shacklewell Arms - Facebook Event
8 Bristol - The Crofters Rights - Facebook Event

And about the EP:
Julie’s Haircut will be touring England next September. For the occasion, they will self-release a limited edition 12” single including the songs “Karlsruhe” and “Fountain”. Though both songs were previously released for digital download, this is their first physical release. Pre-orders for the record are open at this link: Shop

---

Stream Lay Llamas new album 'Thuban' in full via Rockerilla


Lay Llamas new album Thuban in released this Friday in all good record shops, but you can listen to it in full now via Italian site Rockerilla.

Listen here: Rockerilla

The album is picking up some amazing reviews:

"an album that already promises to be among the best in 2018” 
Rolling Stone

"an album that is once again a journey, literally out of time” 5/5 
Il Mucchio Selvaggio

"the new masters of the Made in Italy psychedelia” Album of the Month 
Rockerilla

"a timeless cosmic rock album” 85/100
Rumore


You can pre-order the album on ltd vinyl from here: Bandcamp

---

11 Jun 2018

Dance of Architecture reviews Gnod's Chapel Perilous


Roughly translated, they say:

Yes you have to talk about GNOD. It's a moral obligation. If I do not speak of GNOD, I do not see what is the purpose of this blog.

Yet, at first glance, it's just a rehash of the old school Swans. Yes but no.

The first track is based on this satanic triton accord, dissonance max, groovy drums, it's CAN mixed with SWANS, and there's this guy who tells stuff, I do not understand much but it looks like a program policy. It's a political group, yes, like MC5. It's CAN VS SWANS VS MC5. The guitars do not caress the ears in the direction of the lashes it is clear, they seem to look for something else, like a start, as a manifestation of will, they have a program that could perhaps be summarized to these few lines drawn from The Outside Zone: 1) unconditional freedom of life forces; 2) willingness to create; 3) exaltation of the multiplicity of thoughts, perceptions and feelings, therefore, of the non-conforming, the non-standard and the subversive which are its condition; 4) Vitality.

The singer screams "there's no space for me" it's one of the few things I can understand in the middle of this volcanic eruption. No space is unfortunately the condition of the alienated modern man, he has no place either around him or in his head. Open space is a beautiful program I find. So GNOD proposes to make fart some physical and mental barriers with electric eruptions. A good big ultra high temperature flow that aims to dissolve everything that gene, blocks, clutters. In other words, it is music ram, it is needed nowadays it is true, to tell the truth it has always been needed. This violence is legitimate, useful and Dharma compliant. It does not hurt anyone, it's the same order as blowing your nose, making pumps or splitting wood: high concentration of energy and expulsion...

Read the rest here: Dance of Architecture

---

Watch Hey Colossus play 'Hey, Dead Eyes, Up!' live at De Kreun



---

Watch GNOD live from Band in the Wall Manchester


-
--

Raven Sings the Blues reviews Lay Llamas 'Thuban'


It says:

Heading into Nicola Giunta’s second outing for Rocket there’s a sense that the Italian artist has reached further and deeper than he has previously under the Lay Llamas moniker. Where his previous outing saw fit to ruminate in the Krautrock kiddie pool, Thuban embraces an immersive psychedelic experience, roping in African polyrhythms, snaking Thai funk, German Progressive sweat and late ‘90s UK psych-pop. The tapestry he weaves out of those pieces makes it clear that Giunta’s record shelf runs deep, and while emulating (and to some extent, yes, appropriating) these sounds can often place an artist on a precarious perch, Giunta layers his influences like samples, finding the common threads in his preferred sounds and tightening the seams until they fit snug.


Given his curatorial bent and label affiliation it should come as little surprise that there is a crossover kinship between Giunta and Goat. The bands met while playing shows together and hit it off well enough for Giunta to snag a vocal contribution from band members on “Altair,” a tack that can’t help but sound like Goat as a result. Though the album is largely Giunta’s own, having parted ways with Lay Llamas previous steady vocalist Gioele Valenti, there’s a collaborative air to the record that accentuates its patchwork quality. Aside from the aforementioned Goat drop in, Mark Stewart of The Pop Group and members of Clinic also find their way to the grooves of Thuban and Giunta makes the most of the input of his influences...

Read the rest here: RSTB

---

Burger Records release ltd edition cassette version of MIEN's debut album


Our friends at Burger Records have released a  ltd edition cassette version of MIEN's debut album and you can buy it direct from them here: Burger Records

You can still buy the album on ltd edition LP which comes on 5 different coloured vinyl versions and CD from your local record shop or direct from: Bandcamp

---

Soundblab reviews Lay Llamas album 'Thuban'


They say:

The guiding star, Thuban’s galactic trajectory once brought it forward as the brightest and most visible star viewed from the Earth’s North Pole. The Pole Star. It remained there for over 2,000 years before its position was assumed by an ascendant star, and now cannot be seen by the naked eye. its relevance and heavenly splendour are virtually lost until it re-emerges as the Pole Star again in 20,000 years time.


The pretence of the Lay Llamas album, Thuban is to tout itself as a guiding force for cosmic wonder. The music is rhythmically connected with Afrobeat and German rock traditions, and shares kin with many of the Rocket Recordings roster artists, in sound and a determination to push boundaries. The album is, to some extent, experimental, calling on actual collaborations with Clinic, Goat and The Pop Group’s Mark Stewart, as well as drawing upon foundation sources such as world music, psychedelia and avant-garde jazz improvisation. The latter comes courtesy of some disruptive gonzo sax which interposes itself, so as to subvert the late night mood of tracks  ‘Cults and Rites from the Black Cliff’ and ‘Silver Song’ with a skittishness bordering on the neurotic. On ‘Fight Fire With Fire’. Mark Stewart's (Pop Group) narration of a futuristic world devoid of humanity is literally neurotic. Human freaks proliferate from the ashes of corporate greed, political malfeasance and biological manipulation. Like Trump's inner circle, or Italy's Lega Party. Sci-fi doesn't displace our contemporary world. It reflects on its more negative trends....

Read the full review here: Soundblab

---