We are excited to announce that Kuro's S/T debut album is released today.
You can buy direct from us: Rocket
Or from all good record shops.
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"It is forebodingly droning chamber music, with a pinch of Alice Coltrane sprinkled here and there, with eerie fluttering sounds lurking in its undergrowth which will make you think of crippled ravens." The Quietus
"In a year that has seen so many fantastic albums 'KURO' still stands out as one of the best. It is a sublimely beautiful and intense experience." Dayz of Purple and Orange
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The band are going to be on tour with fellow Rocket band H.U.M (and their offshoot zOH/) in November, dates are:
H.U.M / KURO / AYN SOF (Paddy from Gnod)
18-20 November / Geneva, Monstre Festival
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H.U.M / KURO
21 November / Zurich, Boschbar
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KURO / zOH/ / Cheval Scintillantes
22 November / Basel, Klappfon at Flatterschafft
23 November / Bienne, sacred hood at Le Salopard
25 November / Lyon, Le bal des Fringants
26 November / Saint-Etienne, le 17
27 November / Clermont-Ferrand, Raymond Bar
28 November Saint-Aignan, ZZ HQ
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Ahead of Gnod's performance at Alternativa Festival in Prague tonight the band were interviewed live on Radio Wave.
You can listen here: Radio Wave
Information on tonights festival performance here: Alternativa Festival
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It reads:
Kuro have the prefect track as the winter of your discontent kicks in…
OK, so today’s not been great. Actually, who I am to say, maybe today’s been your dream day, and if that’s the case, bravo! If you’re not having a great day, then Bristol’s Kuro might have the answer. Before we go any further let’s explain who Kuro are. They are a duo from Bristol consisting of classical violinist Agathe Max and noise artist Gareth Turner. On paper a classic violinist someone who likes to create abrasive noise soundscapes shouldn’t work, but, like a lot of things, it works perfectly. The school of thought is very similar for both back grounds. Layers and layers of sound and Avant-Grade noise is built up to create something breath taking and harrowing. Listen to John Tavener in the 1990’s and you’ll know what I’m getting at. This duo met at a ZamZam Records night. “At the end of the show we decided to play a jam together, and the improvisation went very well” Max recently said “Gareth and I had already a very similar approach to the sound, textures and layers with our solo projects so it was easy to connect and create a wider range of frequencies playing together...
Read the rest here: The Year in Music
Then listen to the album in full over at The Quietus
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It reads
Newcastle (upon Tyne) behemoths Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs (that;s 7 pigs for those playing at home) have been blowing speakers and minds all over the UK the past few years - my only gig seeing them was the last time I was at the Brixton Windmill, and I had tinnitus for days (not Part Chimp level, but enough to have to lip read for a bit afterwards). The guys are back with album Feed The Rats, and 'Sweet Relief' is anything but - brutal yet brief (for them), it's a Sabbathical slaughterhouse. It's out in the new year (preorder here), and will be launched at the Lexington January 21 - definitely one to mark down in the diaries.
See the full piece here: Sonic Masala
Album is released on 17 January
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Listen to Kuro's album in full here: The Quietus
And preorder on ltd vinyl and CD here: Rocket Bandcamp
The piece reads:
KURO are set to release their self-titled debut album via Rocket Records later this week and ahead of that, we are offering you the chance to check it out in full above.
The band are comprised of two Bristol-based musicians Agathe Max, violinist and Gareth Turner. As a classically trained violinist, Max claims that she has “… always tried to avoid boundaries between musical genres in order to create bridges and freedom that allows the instrument to express its potential.” and that “in KURO I feel that I just find the balance between experimentation and a more classical approach in the melodies and harmonies but here again I think more in terms of layers than notes.” On this debut release, this comes together through Max and sound engineer Turner’s combination of psych, drone and ambience....read the rest via link above
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It reads:
Kuro’s earthy drone of violin, electric cello, electronics and a pile of effects boxes turned out to be an unexpected treat. Agathe Max’s violin and Gareth Turner’s electric cello laid down atmospheric and cinematic loops that suggested North African drone music washed down with intense crescendos and bursts of feedback. Drawn from their recently released self-titled debut album, it was a set that defied easy pigeonholing but had a sizeable crowd enthralled with its psychedelic ambience and shamanic sonic landscapes.
Read the full review here: The Arts Desk
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Friends of Rocket 'Fuzz Club' are releasing another instalment of their Reverb Conspiracy compilations and Volume 4 which is released on November 17th contains a track by Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation.
The press release reads:
Reverb Conspiracy Vol. 4 is a collection of 12 tracks from some of the best in Europe’s unfathomably fruitful psych scene – offering a plethora of gems of the rock and roll, kraut, shoegaze, folk and garage-rock variety, and just about everything in-between.
The highlights of the record include the dark, discordant ‘krautgaze’ of My Invisible Friend, the mammoth 15 minute spaced-out jam from Giobia, the ominous and mind-altering Ulrika Spacek and the kaleidoscopic splendor of Josefin Ohrn + The Liberation. Volume 4 also boasts immersive cuts from the likes of The Madcaps, Soft Walls, Pretty Lightning, The Oscillation and Fuzz Club’s own otherworldly psych juggernauts TAU, 10000 Russos, The Orange Revival and Throw Down Bones – each and every track a piece of experimental sonic mastery in its own unique and distinct right.
Preorder here: Fuzz Club
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It reads:
Kuro is, on paper at least, an unlikely pairing of Bristol-based classically trained French violinist Agathe Max and Gareth Turner, sinewy bass man of avant-psych noisenicks Big Naturals and Anthroprophh.
It’s not as bizarre an alliance as you might think. Turner who has a long association with Rocket (he was there from the beginning, playing on The Heads/Lillydamwhite split that constituted LAUNCH 001) is a considerable self-taught talent and the perfect foil for Max’s more tutored and no less exceptional, or experimental, virtuosity. So impressed was Max following a post-gig jam and a couple of further improvised sessions that she relocated to the musically rich West Country “capital" to enable this collaboration.
“Kuro” is Japanese for black and this sure is dark, sombre and introspective listening. Alternately restrained and demonstrative, it’s often precarious balanced between the infernal and the heavenly, where culture competes with Cthulhu, an eight-stringed beast that takes many forms, some of them frightening but for the most part consisting of patiently executed, textured...
Read the rest here: Soundblab
Album is released on Friday, preorder a copy here: Rocket Bandcamp
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The mighty Chrome are heading back to the UK in support of their new album and Rocket's very own Teeth of the Sea have been announced as support:
Baba Yaga's Hut presents:
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Chrome
Teeth of the Sea
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The Dome
Feb 8th
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Tickets here: Baba Yaga's Hut
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