A.O.R. / TOWA TEI feat. LINA OHTA (PV)

By Conan The Destroyher

Here's an artist that I for one will never get sick of, Towa Tei! The former member of Deeelite has released a new PV called A.O.R.(Don't you like it when Japanese people get all conceptual on you?)

I wish I could say much about the PV, but it looks very dark. The tune is catchy but in saying that I can't say much about the PV


Give Towa some credit where its due by visiting his myspace
http://www.myspace.com/towatei

System and Station

"Portland's S&S are a pretty rockin' band whose angular axwork gets puffed up into lofty billows--kinda like Sunny Day Real Estate, Built To Spill's arena-sized moments, or The Sea and Cake on high spin." – Village Voice


"Like 90's underground cult heroes Shiner and Unwound, System and Station delivers a precise, visceral version of noisy pop, full of angular guitars, rhythmic, slightly hypnotic melodies and intelligent lyrics. RFK Heise's vocals are the compelling centerpoint, as urgent in quieter passages as they are in more climactic moments." – Portland Tribune


"Part prog, part pop, part punk, part jazz-rock fusion, S&S seems to have hit on the perfect mixture of instrumental prowess and accessibility that made the early 70's so much fun (and diverse). Frank Zappa would do"Follow Your Arrow" proud as the tune takes the listener on a challenging time signature changing magic carpet ride..." – Amplifier

System and Station returns with its fourth full-length A Nation of Actors (Latest Flame Records) to deliver its most solid work to date. Principle songwriter and anchor of the band, RFK Heise, introduces elements of the gentle (at times plaintive) ambiance formerly reserved for his side project Protest Hill. A Nation of Actors rides through poppier terrain that its predecessor Here Is Now, without sacrificing the angular guitar work or the two ton rhythm section.




System and Station formed as a three piece in Boise, Idaho in '98. Despite frequent moves to and from the West coast (though now based in Portland, OR), mainstay Heise has guided the band through three full length records, three EPs, 18 national tours and 12 breakdowns (some in -20 degree weather, some strictly mental.)



The band has performed with Marky Ramone to Shiner, Alex Chilton to Built To Spill, Jermy Enigk to Canyon, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club to Meat Puppets... oh and Sloppy Seconds, too.



From catchy melodic pop to disarming vocals and pensive lyrics, A Nation of Actors glistens from beginning to end.

System and Station Live:

06/13 Portland, OR @ Ash St. Saloon (RFK Heise Solo)

06/26 Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theater

07/20 Seattle, WA @ The Sunset Tavern

07/21 Portland, OR @ Someday Lounge

08/20 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge CD Release

08/28 Los Angeles, CA @ Knitting Factory

08/30 Tucson, AZ @ Plush

09/03 Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar

09/04 Indianapolis, IN @ Melody Inn

09/05 Madison, WI @ The Frequency

09/06 Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club

09/09 Lincoln, NE @ Box Awesome

09/10 Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room

09/11 Denver, CO @ Hi Dive

09/12 Boise, ID @ VAC

09/13 Seattle, WA @ The Sunset Tavern


Release Date: August 19th, 2008
A Nation of Actors Tracklisting:

01. The Magnetic North (MP3)

02. Sell Out

03. A Light To Lead You Home

04. On The Way

05. Rainy Days In Future Cities

06. Too Late Too Soon

07. The World Is Run By Wires

08. Pictures Found In Paragraphs

09. Out On The Wall

10. Dumb Luck

11. A Nation Of Actors

Check them out on myspace (Because everyone knows that you can get good music from Myspace)
http://www.myspace.com/systemandstation

Record Label
http://www.myspace.com/latestflamerecords

One man wonder band From Bubblegum to Sky creates sugary sweet pop in his new album A Soft Kill, out now. Fans of Apples in Stereo, Beach Boys, and My

One man wonder band From Bubblegum to Sky creates sugary sweet pop in his new album A Soft Kill, out now. Fans of Apples in Stereo, Beach Boys, and My Bloody Valentine listen up.



From Bubblegum To Sky Live:

06/13 New York, NY @ Piano’s – NYC Popfest

06/15 Washington, D.C. @ Red and Black Bar

06/19 Brooklyn, NY @ Union Hall

From Bubblegum To Sky’s Mario Hernandez is back with his highly anticipated third album, A Soft Kill, out this week on LA-based Eenie Meenie Records. The label teamed up with Brown Sound Clothing for a unique approach to releasing A Soft Kill – the album is available as a digital download only or as a limited edition box set containing the album on vinyl LP, a code to access the record as a download, and a limited edition From Bubblegum To Sky t-shirt.

“…a plateful of promise, a cool treat for the coming dog days of summer.” – San Francisco Weekly

For those who still need their music housed on plastic, the first 100 orders will receive a blank CD-R to burn the album to adorned with a one-of-a-kind hand drawn design on each by Hernandez. In addition to traditional music retail outlets, the individually numbered box sets will be for sale at select lifestyle stores throughout the nation making it a true collector’s piece.

“…a pop masterpiece…” – Reel Around The Fountain

PiL, meds, disco, half Mexican, half Japanese, The SOS Band, monster guitar riffs, drinking, more drinking, The dB’s, divorce, death, arrests, cannibalism, no compromises, The Bee Gees, shimmering melodies and stalking. From Bubblegum To Sky ain’t no sunny pop affair – it just sounds like it.

“While he’s lining his lips with cherry lip gloss, making dope pronouncements, Hernandez’s chorus keep kids hoot–hooting, like Cats exiled on Main Street.” – Magnet

By winter, A Soft Kill, the third full-length album by From Bubblegum To Sky is certain to be considered one of the greatest one-man albums of the year. Only the maturity that comes with brushing against and immersing oneself in the influences mentioned above could bring out an album that is at once ultimately catchy, realistically morose, and expertly played. In a word: fucking relatable.

“…a pop masterpiece…” – Reel Around The Fountain

The one man is Mario Hernandez and he’s been wrestling with a few demons. Hernandez’s previous records Me and Amy and the Two French Boys (Eenie Meenie, 2000) and Nothing Sadder Than Lonely Queen (Eenie Meenie, 2004) certainly hinted at genius – what with the confessional lyrics sung in a helium tinged voice that lights the drapes on fire meeting the hook laden crunch fest that cools ‘em down. With A Soft Kill, Hernandez has crafted a masterpiece. He demurs, stating, “This record is much more inspired – less obvious indie pop, more organic and drunk. It’s an outlet and easily my favorite record.” Ours, too.

Samples from the album

I Always Fall Apart (120 Kbps)
Guest Relations (120 Kbps)
Even The Sunbeams (120 Kbps)

A Soft Kill brings to mind the concept of the vices people use to kill themselves slowly. Not a murder, but a soft kill. Feelings we’ve all felt are wrapped in pristine pop melodies, sandpaper-y guitars and a vocal style dictated by the radio programs of second generation pop songs and high voiced singers that Hernandez listened to before departing Japan for America at the age of 12.



As a self-contained pop machine (occasionally joined by bassist Frank Jordan and Keyboardist Bill Evans) Hernandez does the control freak edict of Billy Corgan and Dave Grohl proud on A Soft Kill. No one should be playing drums on a From Bubblegum To Sky record but Hernandez -- this kind of urgency demands the percussive touch of the author, after all! And is he ever keeping time – 11 songs, 30 minutes. It doesn’t get any better.



“I feel like it’s a band, even though it’s just me,” he says. “The things that people are doing to me, or I’m doing to them, or whatever experiences I’m having -- that’s the band. I couldn’t write without those experiences and in a way that’s what a band member does.”



These are the words of the ONE man becoming THE man. When Mario Hernandez is letting it all hang out, you wanna hang out, too.


From Bubblegum To Sky’s A Soft Kill will be released by Eenie Meenie Records as a digital download and vinyl LP only. The vinyl configuration will come packaged with a From Bubblegum To Sky t-shirt designed exclusively by the Brown Sound Clothing Company, available online and in select lifestyle stores. Check out the company that created this exclusive offer HERE. A Soft Kill was recorded at CBS Studios in Oakland, CA on a Tascam one-inch reel-to-reel.

In The Press:

“From Bubblegum To Sky sound as if they’ve enlisted My Bloody Valentine, the London Philharmonic, The Beach Boys, and Ride to help make massively brilliant jangly noisy pop.” – First Coast News”



“…what pop sounds like in my little fantasy world.” – There Stands The Glass



“…short, charming, 60’s–licked, “Beatles–esque” seducer, wispy and jangling.” – A Limerick Ox

“...A Soft Kill is chock full of the ABC’s of ice cream indie...” – Advance Copy



Check out the bands official myspace page!
http://www.myspace.com/frombubblegumtosky

FRANKMUSIK ... FREE "Done Done" track to download, plus support slot with ROBYN

FRANKMUSIK

"IN STEP"

Single Released 9^th June

LIMITED EDITION 500 7"

(Apparent Records)

"Frank is enormously engaging, uproariously funny and faintly terrifying. It's hard not to feel that if he doesn't become a pop star it will be pop music's loss". The Guardian

Frankmusik's pop music is beamed in from the neon lights and hover-bikes of a dystopian Pacific Rim Metropolis. 'Blade runner pop' is how he describes it and with its rushing synthetic synths and lightspeed vocals, you can imagine Frankmusik AKA 22 year old Vincent Frank performing to replicants in a dive bar in the shadow of the 700-storey Tyrell Corp complex.





Speeding along at 145bpm both tracks are under the influence of Frankmusik's misspent youth in the suburbs of South London listening to jungle and drum and bass. 'In Step', conversely, was written in the grip of youthful depression and insecurity. Vince quit his degree in product design at the London College of Fashion to focus on music, feeling at one point that all he had was 'my computer and my nightlife - I was freaking out'. Like all the best British pop, Frankmusik remodels the dull stuff of everyday experience and machines it into glistening, majestic fantasy - universal emotions in hyper-colours. Producing all his tracks himself, Vince is a new whirlwind force in the accelerated UK pop landscape.


FRANKMUSIK "IN STEP" VIDEO





He's a fluent self-taught pianist. He's started his own label to put out his debut release, Apparent Records. He's done his own artwork for the release, as well as his own video (go to youtube to see the awesome clip he put together with a couple of friends and a flashing hula-hoop). In his downtime from DJing, he's remixed 31 other indie bands over the last year, produced 2 tracks for grime prince Tinchy Stryder and is working as a producer for a new act called Sisley. Meanwhile, he's taken his bedroom stems into the studio with Jacques Lu Cont AKA Stuart Price, the man that co-produced Madonna's 'Confessions On A Dancefloor


B-side 'Done Done' is about an ex-girlfriend who 'tore my heart to pieces' through infidelity. It aches and soars with teenage tenderness, like M83 if they were in-thrall to 80s British pop. Vince grew up on a diet of his Mum's 7" collection; ABC, Thompson Twins, Julia Fordham. Having just stepped off the Wonky Pop tour supporting Alphabeat and with a Sam Sparro support tour lined up, Frankmusik is stepping up to his destiny as the soundtrack to all tomorrow's summers.


So for your listening entertainment click on the link to preview the B-side of "Done Done"


FRANKMUSIK-Done Done (B-side)(160 Kbps)

Obscure 80s punk collector faves Bum Kon finally releases debut album 25 years after immortal Drunken Sex Sucks EP.

Drunken Sex Sucks

Release Date: April 22^nd, 2008

Bum Kon (named after Korean mass murderer Woo Bum Kon) was one of the best punk rock bands in the early ’80s, even if few outside of its Denver home knew it. To those who were familiar – Fanatic’s own Dave Clifford for example, who witnessed the band during his very impressionable pre-teen years -- Bum Kon was the coolest, most intimidating band on the planet, gliding from a blisteringly fast style on par with legends like the Circle Jerks and MDC into equally intense sort of SST art-metal on its later pair of albums. Larry Denning, Mark Thorpe, Erik Oberhausen and Bob McDonald thrashed with more wild abandon than nearly any other band of the now well-documented early underground scene depicted in the popular documentary film American Hardcore.




In 1983, the band recorded its only single, “Drunken Sex Sucks” (released by Local Anesthetic Records and recorded by Bob Ferbrache), which sold through two pressings at the time and now fetches up to $150 on eBay. Five songs appear on the single but twenty more were recorded at the same session and have been unavailable until now. Some of the tracks that did not make the single are arguably better than the ones that did.



Shortly thereafter, the band focused its energy into two albums in an evermore intriguing mixture of Scratch Acid art-rock crossed with Voivod style tech-metal and these recordings were forgotten over the years. The original tapes were found while mastering the Local Anesthetic compilation (also recently released on the Smooch Records label) and now the best hardcore record from ’83 that was never released can finally see the light of day, a mere 25-years after its recording.




The fact that its four-song 7-inch EP on Local Anesthetic Records (the Denver label whose full catalog also recently received deluxe reissue treatment) has remained eminently collectible is testament to the frenzied power of Bum Kon. This album is co-released by MAXIMUMROCKNROLL Records and is guaranteed to please punks both old and new.


Now for your listening and ipod pleasure, here are a selection of tracks from the album

Giving In (MP3)

Drunken Sex Sucks (MP3)

Nancy Reagan Fashion Show (MP3)

You can also stream the Album via this link

Bum Kon E-Card

Also visit the Smooch Records official site and Myspace

http://www.myspace.com/smoochrecords
http://www.smoochrecords.com/

Thanks once again to Fanatic Promotion, one of our newest musical hook ups!

Black Kids - Hurricane Jane video now available

The Black Kids are a band from Jacksonville, Florida consisting of Reggie Youngblood (vocals / guitar), Ali Youngblood (vocals / keys), Dawn Watley (keys /vocals), Owen Holmes (bass) and Kevin Snow (drums).


You already know how it goes - with one of the most recognisable guitar intros of recent times - Black Kids are set to release their sultry future smash single 'Hurricane Jane' on June 23.

Having been available as a demo since last summer, this song is one of the main reasons Black Kids found themselves caught up in the hype whirlwind this newly recorded version further proves they are definitely substance over style.

Black Kids are by no means all about this track, their debut single. 'I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You' entered the UK Charts at #11. Their debut album, 'Partie Traumatic' is choc-full of equally effervescent pop songs just waiting to be heard.


Black Kids are on tour across the UK in June:*



2/6 Oxford Academy

3/6 Cardiff Clwb Ifor Bach

4/6 Glasgow King Tuts

6/6 Manchester Academy 3

7/6 Lancaster Library

8/6 York Fibbers

9/6 Sheffield Academy

11/6 Stoke Sugarmill

13/6 Colchester Arts Centre

15/6 Norwich Arts Centre

16/6 Northampton Roadmender

18/6 London ULU



2/7 Nottingham Rescue Rooms

3/7 Leeds Cockpit

5/7 Liverpool Barfly

10/7 Brighton Concord


20/8 Newcastle Academy

21/8 Bristol Thekla

For more information and track samples goto
http://www.myspace.com/blackkidsrock

BOOKA SHADE ..... WALTER AND ARNO TALK ABOUT NEW ALBUM

http://www.bookashade.com/

SEBASTIEN TELLIER NEWS

Its Friday folks! So lets get that ball rolling with some Sebastien Tellier news!

SEBASTIEN TELLIER
"DIVINE" (single released 19th May)

** Midnight Juggernauts Remix of "Divine" Available for Download **

'Divine' is a supremely uplifting slice of electro funk with beach boy-esque harmonies and the single package comes complete with added doo-wop, and significant re-arrangement, in its new Radio version form and also with killer remixes from Australia's Midnight Juggernauts and France's latest exciting electronic producer/artist Danger.

http://www.bangonpr.com/media/Seb/divine_midnight_juggernauts_remix.zip (192 Kbps)

"Divine" will be released on May 19th, shortly before Sébastien represents France in the Eurovision Song Contest (how bonkers is that by the way!)















Here's is the video for "Divine" directed by Ace Norton

'SEXUALITY' IS OUT NOW ON LUCKY NUMBER

The new album 'Sexuality' has been co-produced with Daft Punk's Guy Manuel De Homem-Christo and has received rave reviews across the board. It is stacked full of stylish electronic grooves, irresistible synth riffs and slow-burning atmospheric keys.

It is Tellier's musical statement of intent for lovemaking: emotional, hypnotic and oozing with sensuality, coming across like a modern day Serge Gainsbourg. Musically, the album touches on everything from synthetic electro and classical, to 80's inspired pop and disco, and fizzes with a creative energy that is hard to resist and even harder to pin down. "Divine", Sexuality's triumphant pop moment and one of the finest singles of Tellier's career, will see a single release next month, complete with brilliant remixes from Australia's electro kings Midnight Juggernauts and France's next great electro hope Danger.


'Aural Viagra' MOJO
'Achingly Romantic' Q
'A modern electronic masterpiece' CLASH
'The best French dance album since Discovery' MIXMAG
'Monsieur Tellier continues to pervert the very nature of pop music' DAZED


www.myspace.com/telliersebastien
www.myspace.com/luckynumbermusic
www.luckynumbermusic.com

THE BLACK GHOSTS-I WANT NOTHING (FRANKMUSIK REMIX)

The Black Ghosts-I want Nothing (Frankmusik Remix)(128 Kbps)


Hot on the heels of their universally lauded Mixtape compilation, The Black Ghosts, AKA Simon Lord and Theo Keating, are gearing up to release 'I Want Nothing', the first full single to be taken from their eagerly anticipated eponymous artist album on 28^th April through Southern Fried Records.

Encapsulating the Electro-noir vibe exuding from the album's grooves, taking in influences as disparate as Music Hall satire and Hammer House horrors and distilling them into a twilight world of intrigue set to devious beats, 'I Want Nothing's five and a half minute extended mix is the perfect precursor to the album's ghetto-gothic aesthetic. With the intro's stabbing beats giving way to ominous cathedral riffs and Simon's bitter-sweet harmonies, the pulsating rhythms at the heart of 'I Want Nothing' propel it deep into dance-floor territory.

The remix package for 'I Want Nothing' is a veritable who's who of cutting edge producers, kicking off with the acclaimed Sinden. Famed for his original vision when it comes to the rub-down, Sinden ramps up the rhythm, adding claustrophobic bass and old school hi-hat grooves throwing a huge curveball in the break down, before launching back into the heads down action.

German technophile, Markus Lange brings concrete beats and lysergic bass to the fore on his reworking giving proceedings a distinctly glitchy feel that complements the originals dusky nature. DC Recordings' Vincent Markowski drops a fierce snare workout with stabbing subs and psychedelic synths, twisting 'I Want Nothing' into a cool club killer, whilst Scratch Pervert Plus One and Mixologist Beni G add the final mix under their Jack Beats moniker, going straight for the Electro jugular with a cut-up vocal, rolling leads and a driving b-line.

With 'The Black Ghosts' album released at the end of June, Simon & Theo will be taking the Decks FX and Vox show on the road, calling at the Old Queens Head, London on March 28^th, Shivoo in Leicester on April 1^st, Fabric in London on April 11^th, Cell in Lincoln on May 16^th Gatecrasher's Summer Sound System on 24^th May and Rock Ness on 7^th June.

Tracklisting

1. "I Want Nothing" (Extended mix)
2. "I Want Nothing" (Sinden remix)
3. "I Want Nothing" (Marcus Lange remix)
4. "I Want Nothing" (Vincent Markowski Remix)
5. "I Want Nothing" (Jack Beats Remix)

TOUR DATES

April 26th - Stealth, Nottingham

May 1st - 10th: Vice Tour, US

May 16th - Cell, Lincoln

May 24th - Gatecrasher Summer Soundsystem

May 31st - Wax On Live

June 6th - Paradise, Manchester

June 8th - Rockness, Scotland

June 13th - Trailer Trash, London

June 20th - Social, Paris

June 29th - Glastonbury

July 11th-12th – Japan

Visit their Myspace page for more info
http://www.myspace.com/blackghosts