Crushing Death & Grief

LAST HARBOUR + THE DOOMED BIRD OF PROVIDENCE + VIOLET WOODS

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:19:00 -0500

Sunday 25th March @ The Portland Arms

Doors 8pm, £5 from here

LAST HARBOUR

Based in Manchester, Last Harbour are an expansive collective playing “swooning dustbowl baroque” (Plan B) that is “rich and foreboding” (Drowned in Sound) . From dusty laments to doom- filled rock, from starkly beautiful duets to drifting clouds of looped noise, the only claims they make for their music are that it is honest and heartfelt.

Their new album ’ Your Heart, It Carries The Sound ’ was written in isolation in a small Northumbrian cottage in October 2010 and recorded in April 2011 in St Margaret’s Church, Manchester. The songs are recorded almost entirely live, with producer Sam Lench employing the church as a soundstage. His approach carefully uses the architecture of the building to sculpt and shape the music, creating a sense of the band within the space.

This new album sees a different approach from their previous album ’ Volo ’ (2010) , a dense, textured album co-produced by Richard Formby (best known for his recent work with Wild Beasts). For ’ Your Heart, It Carries The Sound ‘, the band stripped back the arrangements and placed a mature, more direct concentration at the core of each song. The confident, intimate vocal of K Craig is at the centre, the instrumentation is sparser, and the band’s line-up has changed with piano, tenor guitar, heavily-processed guitar effects and organ to the fore. The addition of vintage analogue synths and waves of natural reverb give ’ Your Heart, It Carries The Sound a timeless, ephemeral aspect.

www.lastharbour.com/

THE DOOMED BIRD OF PROVIDENCE

Aggressive and disturbing tales of the early years of the country of Australia, drawn from texts recounting colonial degeneracy. All set to music heavily indebted to Jacques Brel, Scott Walker and the English Folk Revival, with terrifying results. www.doomedbird.com

VIOLET WOODS

12-string twang, Moe Tucker beats and echoplex vocals from Cambridge folks otherwise seen in The Puncture Repair Kit, Bouvier, Fuzzy Lights, etc.
http://violetwoods.tumblr.com

PATTEN + THE SOFT

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:20:25 -0500

Thursday 1st March @ The Portland Arms
Doors 8pm, £5 adv from here

PATTEN

With a debut LP at the sharp-end of many Album of 2011 lists, the elusive Patten is coming to Cambridge, crafting something fresh and new out of the debris of falling genres. Sketches of dirty electronica blend with industrial beats and dance floor breaks, but all heard through the post-dubstep industrial greyness of inner city life. It’s not exclusively dark though. There’s optimism at work here and a joyful blend of noise that brings to mind gloriously Technicolor environments. Influenced by a heady brew of Tricky, Massive Attack and the IDM of late 90’s Warp, there’s no need to classify this – there are echoes of the past, but this is the sound of the future.

www.patttten.com

THE SOFT

Finally a local band to get excited about, Bury St Edmunds’ The Soft have escaped the confines of Suffolk, their music finding influence on both sides of the Atlantic and championed by the likes of No Fear of Pop, Largehearted Boy and The Line of Best Fit. There’s a hint of the xx in their swirling and ambient electro-pop that flirts with darkness and light. There’s an experimental heart to their music, but that doesn’t mean they’ve ignored their obvious love of pop music. Having floored the crowd at last year’s Wish You Were Here festival, the future is very bright for this group of youngsters.

http://thesoft.bandcamp.com/

STANDARD FARE + TIGERCATS + MODEL VILLAGE

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:02:00 -0500

Friday 20th January at The Portland Arms
Doors 8pm, £5 adv from here

STANDARD FARE

Originally from England’s highest town, Buxton, the three members of Standard Fare are now based around the North, from where they produce freewheeling, autobiographical indiepop (though never twee) music. Jangly, Lemonheads-esque guitars, bittersweet, swooping twin vocals, and Orange Juice rhythms all came together on 2010’s ‘The Noyelle Beat’ to make make one of the freshest, most unadulterated bits of British guitar music of the last few years. New record ‘Out Of Sight, Out Of Town’ should be out just in time for this gig, and is informed by the escapism induced by their their semi-rural origins, but translated into the elusion of conflict, the complications of relationships, bitterness, that kind of thing. Loved by the kids and by us too.

www.standardfare.co.uk

TIGERCATS

Frenetic indiepop-come-post punk from East London with people who were/are in Esiotrot and Hexicon. A bit like Elvis Costello & The Attractions when they were good.

http://haircutrecords.co.uk/site/tigercats/

MODEL VILLAGE

Humane adult-orientated pop music, recently described as “among the bright and beautiful things the world has to offer.”

http://modelvillagethepopgroup.tumblr.com/

C JOYNES + ALAN WILKINSON + PADANG FOOD TIGERS

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 06:55:00 -0500

Wednesday 7th December at The Portland Arms
Doors 8pm, £5 on the door

C JOYNES

The well-travelled Master Musician of Histon, C Joynes, has been the most enthralling and consistently excellent creator of leftfield music in the Cambridge area for a number of years. His considered and very English take on that whole post-Fahey Tacoma guitar thing is difficult to pin down without sounding trite or contrived. Highly influenced by his frequent trips to the further corners of the globe his combination of technique with a lack of reverance for the self same allows Joynes to eke out a unique facet of authentic folk music, without all of the bullshit trappings of “authenticity”. As we shall be toasting its recent release, it seems likely that he will play selections from his latest offering for the esteemed Bo’ Weavil Recordings, “Congo”.

www.myspace.com/cjoynes

ALAN WILKINSON

A fellow Bo’ Weavil Recordings artist, Alan Wilkinson is one of England’s fieriest improvising saxophonists. First coming to notice through Leeds’ Termite Club, which he was a founding member of, Wilkinson has been a mainstay of London’s free improv scene from the ’90s onwards. As well as working with many of the great modern improvisers - Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Sunny Murray, Eddie Prévost - he is equally at home with some serious names outside of jazz, such as Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Spring Heel Jack and Talibam! Wilkinson will be playing by himself, in support of his new solo CD “Practice”.

http://www.boweavilrecordings.com/wilkinson.html

PADANG FOOD TIGERS

Highly nuanced ambient hissing, elegant sparse banjo, field recordings and mournful open guitar from two of Rameses III.

www.myspace.com/padangfoodtigers

HIGGS CANCELLED

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:36:27 -0500

Really gutted to let you know that Daniel Higgs has cancelled his entire U.K. tour, so the gig on Dec 7th won’t be happening. We may well be doing something to recognise the release of the new C Joynes LP on the same date instead.

FLOAT RIVERER + HALO HALO + PETE UM

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:30:00 -0400

Thursday 17th November at The Corner House
Doors 8pm, £4 adv from here

FLOAT RIVERER

This couple of nefarious dweebs formed the group Float Riverer whilst hitching around Britain last year. Just guitar and drums, with a mix of barked and crooning vocals, are employed in the creation of super-catchy garage pop gems with dirt under the fingernails. Formerly found in Hotpants Romance and I Had An Inkling, they cook up some kind of Sebadoh/The Clean/Scout Niblett/Sleater-Kinney/The Fall/Thee Oh Sees bouillabaisse, heavy on the pepper. By the time of this gig they’ll have already toured Europe twice, put out an eponymous LP and got Everett True all excited too.

http://floatriverer.blogspot.com/

HALO HALO

Halo Halo are a pretty unlikely-sounding trio who play some kind of South and East Asian pop music mixed with early 80s post-punk dance beats and howling boy-girl harmonies. Named after a popular Filipino pudding they create the same kind of excitement that you probably got the first time that you heard The Slits, except The Slits never used electric banjo. Totally ruling live, believe us.

http://halohalomixmix.blogspot.com/

PETE UM

Grindingly awkward shithop.

http://www.umbusiness.co.uk

CANCELLED DANIEL HIGGS + C JOYNES + PADANG FOOD TIGERS

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 09:45:00 -0400

DANIEL HIGGS HAS CANCELLED HIS ENTIRE UK TOUR. FUCKING GUTTED.

DANIEL HIGGS

One-time lyricist and frontman of Baltimore, Maryland’s superlative holistic rock group Lungfish, Daniel Higgs have been pursuing a solo musical path since the mid-2000s. This latest work is far removed from the mesmerisingly grinding sounds of America’s last true folk band, though a common primal and ritualistic streak remains. Mixing drones and jaws harp with banjo and poetic voice Higgs’s stark material tackles the mystical and the evangelical, with flashes of a pure dark humour at the root of it all. On this tour he will be joined by Maya Dunietz (piano/percussion) and Assaf Talmudi (accordion/electronics).

Daniel Higgs at Dischord
Daniel Higgs at Thrill Jockey

C JOYNES

The well-travelled Master Musician of Histon plays selections from his latest offering for the esteemed Bo’ Weavil Recordings.

www.myspace.com/cjoynes

PADANG FOOD TIGERS

Highly nuanced ambient hissing, elegant sparse banjo, field recordings and mournful open guitar from two of Rameses III.

www.myspace.com/padangfoodtigers

KWJAZ + GRIEF ATHLETES + BRIDEBURGER

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 06:59:00 -0400

Monday 10th October at The Portland Arms
Doors 8pm; £6 adv from here

KWJAZ

Mindblowing retro-futuristic jams from the ever-great Not Not Fun label. Structurally, this is all poetic meta-narrative, progressive juxtaposed psychedelic loop-art, globalist sound-collage, provider of the coolest and sweetest oceanic & tropical vistas, like what would have happened if Jorge Ben and Robert Ashley had a lovechild who became a benign, narcotic post-concretist composer. Think of the liquid properties of the most hazy 70s bossanova via Marcus Valle, produced by Spencer Clarke of the Skaters circa NOW, done by Madlib’s little white brother.
KWJAZ on Facebook
http://www.brunchgroupe.com/kwjaz.html

GRIEF ATHLETES

Lo-tec brutalism using bastardised electronics, cheapo keyboards, amps on full and a whole load of interference. Black metal drones meet concrete scrapings.
http://griefathletes.bandcamp.com/

BRIDEBURGER

One-man scratchy shoegazing with assorted electronic interventions adding up to some bleakly harsh sounds.
www.myspace.com/brideburger

LET'S WHISPER + TENDER TRAP + PLANTMAN

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 08:21:00 -0400

Monday 3rd October at The Corner House
Doors 8pm; £5 adv from here

LET’S WHISPER

Let’s Whisper is the bedroom pop project for Dana and Colin from sentinels of the indiepop underground, The Smittens. Based in Burlington, Vermont the duo play heartfelt songs, somewhat melancholic compared to the Smittens’ sweetness and light, but still retaining an unknockable joy. Formed in 2003 they’ve only just got round to releasing their debut album, “The Shortest Days”, on WeePOP! Records. A disc of warm, simple pop, it’s suitable for people who might like K Records, Swedish indie groups, Architecture In Helsinki, that kind of thing. Prepare to be charmed something rotten.
www.letswhisper.com

TENDER TRAP

Tender Trap is the most recent vehicle for venerable indie-pop icons Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey. Amelia was originally lead singer with C86 legends Talulah Gosh, who were joined by Rob just before the band’s break-up. The pair went on to play in the seminal bands Heavenly and Marine Research. Tender Trap were formed in 2001 when they teamed up with John “DJ Downfall” Stanley, another Marine Research-er. They had a bit of a quiet spell before returning in 2009, including a highly fun evening at the Portland Arms. Latest album, “Dansette, Dansette” (Fortuna Pop!) s a hook-packed mixture of 60s girl-group harmonies, guitar fuzz and the stripped down grit of bands like Beat Happening and The Raincoats. Now featuring Emily from our pals Betty And the Werewolves, Tender Trap have got a whole bunch of new tunes ready to try out in front of you, the lucky punter.
www.myspace.com/tendertrap

PLANTMAN

TFC/Go-betweens/Flying Nun style straight-up indie rocking from Southend. www.myspace.com/plantman35

THE LOVELY EGGS + ANGUISH SANDWICH + VIOLET WOODS

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 16:47:00 -0400

Tuesday 29th November at The Portland Arms
Doors 8pm; £5 adv from here

THE LOVELY EGGS

The Lovely Eggs are David and Holly. David plays the drums and things like the xylophone and bicycle bells and squeaky horns and slightly squeaky recorders and things like that. Holly sings and plays the guitar and a floor tom with a wooden stick with lots of thick wool tied around the end. Safely isolated from the music biz up in Lancaster, The Lovely Eggs have developed a refreshingly detached view of the world which they choose to express through the medium of unkempt pop songs. They’ve played gigs with Jad Far and Shonen Knife, both of whom are pretty good reference points for locating what The Lovely Eggs are all about - strange and fantastical images set to a load of scrunchy guitar fuzz. They love nothing more than to play in unusual places and they have performed all over the world from Amsterdam squats and Los Angeles scrap yards to steam trains in Ripley, charity shops in Leeds and tea parties in Manchester. They have slept in record shops in North Carolina, entered female arm wrestling competitions in Chicago and sang on the beach in Bournemouth. After the success of their debut album “If You Were Fruit”, The Lovely Eggs resurfaced in 2011 with their second album, “Cob Dominos” - preceded by the single “Don’t Look At Me (I Don’t Like it)” and its John Shuttleworth-featuring video.
www.myspace.com/thelovelyeggs

ANGUISH SANDWICH

Thunderingly fun reverbed up dance jams with terse lyrics and sit-down bass playing.
http://anguishsandwich.blogspot.com/

VIOLET WOODS

Some Cambridge bods out of various bands and such playing swirly jangly stuff.

ZUN ZUN EGUI + THEE LUDDS + LES ADVENTURES SOUS LA MER

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:06:00 -0400

Wednesday 26th October at The Portland Arms
Doors 8pm; £5 adv from here

ZUN ZUN EGUI

Is there such a genre as everycore? It seems to be the only suitable one for Bristol via all over the place group Zun Zun Egui. No one else out there is mixing 90s emo guitar, highlife drum patterns, Magma-esque prog, a few metal bass riffs and whooping polylingual vocals. Expect heavy grooves, tropical melodies, switched-up rhythms and, above all, expect to dance yourself into a pulp. http://www.zunzunegui.org

THEE LUDDS

If John Dwyer was from Leicester and not Rhode Island then he might’ve formed Thee Ludds rather than Coachwhips or Thee Oh Sees. Primordial garage frugging of the highest order.
http://theeludds.tumblr.com/

LES ADVENTURES SOUS LA MER

Psychedelic New Wave electroanalogue skronk from Jellica and Man From Uranus www.myspace.com/mfujellica

TROUBLE BOOKS + HONG KONG IN THE 60S

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 10:26:18 -0400

VENUE//CB2 basement (map) TIME//8pm TICKET//£5 adv from here

TROUBLE BOOKS

Hailing from Akron, Ohio, Trouble Books are currently on a roll having just finished an album with Emeralds and komische guitarist Mark McGuire. A perfect collaboration, as their starry-eyed, lo-fi blend of pop, electronica and folk feels as though it should soundtrack lazy days and evenings where you watch the sun set and the stars rise. Trouble Books will provide the perfect sounds to fill an August evening. http://www.barkandhiss.com/trblbks/

HONG KONG IN THE 60S

Contemporary pop music filtered through a kaleidoscope of 60s and 70s retro-fitted and bookish influences. Hong Kong in the 60s sound like Stereolab or Broadcast if they’d enjoyed wearing cardigans and listened to Belle and Sebastian, or Portishead if they’d enjoyed more evenings watching Top of the Pops. Having recently been reviewed, enthusiastically, in The Wire, a chance to see them for yourselves. http://hongkonginthe60s.com/

an afternoon with MOUNTAINS + SIMON SCOTT + JOHN CHANTLER + YPSMAEL

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 10:29:20 -0400

VENUE//Cambridge Unitarian Church, Christ’s Pieces (map) TIME//3pm TICKET//£7.50 adv from here Spend a lovely Saturday afternoon in the marvellous Unitarian Church, with some awesome blissed-out music. It’ll all be over in time to head to the Portland Arms for the Mick Flower and Neil Campbell gig in the evening.

MOUNTAINS

Mountains is Brendon Anderegg and Koen Holtkamp, two sonic explorers whose long history, shared philosophies, and love of sculpting sound, has resulted in some of the most densely layered and blissful music crafted in recent memory.The duo is known for obscuring the boundaries between acoustic instrumentation and electronics. New album, “Air Museum”, comes out next month on Thrill Jockey.

www.myspace.com/apestaartjemountains

SIMON SCOTT

Formerly the drummer of Slowdive (a band all the cool kids are citing as an influence these days), Simon Scott now animates field recordings, tempers them with larghissimo guitar, and colours with unexpected soft textures. www.myspace.com/o3o3o

JOHN CHANTLER

Th UK-based arm of ROOM40 Records and sometime Tenniscoats, Lawrence English and Maher Shalal Hash Baz collaborator, John Chantler has spent the last few years perfecting making grittily psychedelic tunes on modular synthesiser. He’s just released his first solo album in seven years, “The Luminous Ground”, on which Chantler almost duets with his electronic setup, treating it as an expressive and occasional unpredictable partner in incremental improvisations. http://inventingzero.net/home/

YPSMAEL

http://ypsmael.tumblr.com

LET'S WRESTLE + PIFCO + DIRTY COUSINS

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 16:04:27 -0500

VENUE//The Portland Arms (map) TIME//8pm TICKET//£4 adv. from here

LET’S WRESTLE

Scrappy Londoners Let’s Wrestle are a classic power-trio with a bit of a Swell Maps-meets-Hefner vibe. Named after a David Shrigley book, the three lads seem to be mostly influenced by all those classic US bands of the 80s and 90s - like Hüsker Dü, Dinosaur Jr., Fugazi, Pavement, Yo La Tengo - but with a clear nod to the Flying Nun scene, and the very British nigglingness of Wire. They hit the Portland in advance of the release of their second LP, “Nursing Home” (Full Time Hobby / Merge), recorded with that Steve Albini. http://www.myspace.com/letsfuckingwrestle

PIFCO

Pifco are a relentless kraut-garage duo from Harehills, Leeds, suitable for appreciators of Coachwhips and The Fall. Mary drums tenaciously whilst providing serious keyboard squelch at the same time. All the while Stevsie digs at his Rickenbacker and barks out brusque but kind-of hummable melodies. They’ve got a couple of albums out on Run Of The Mill, both of which are ace. http://www.myspace.com/pifco1

DIRTY COUSINS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUw5VsQZ7kI (((Oh Dear had to cancel at the last minute. Sorry about that.

DUCKTAILS + JULIAN LYNCH + BIG TROUBLES

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:12:48 -0500

VENUE//The Portland Arms (map) TIME//7:30pm TICKET//£7.50 adv from here In association with bad timing, a night of three of the best groups releasing music on the shit-hot Olde English Spelling Bee label, Ducktails, Julian Lynch, and Big Troubles.

DUCKTAILS

Homemade psychedelic pop by Real Estate guitarist Matthew Mondanile, a man whose love of the quirkier edge of the 80’s has seen the release of numerous releases on both Olde English Spelling Bee and Woodist. Everything’s covered in a murky, lo-fi sheen that may seem impenetrable at first listen, but soon reveals a warm and tuneful underbelly that appears, and sounds, bigger and bolder than his simple setup should suggest. Think pre-Matador Kurt Vile mixed with a sprinkling of Panda Bear’s blurred pop aceness. http://www.myspace.com/ducktailss

JULIAN LYNCH

Recent love in the Avesta of online music, Pitchfork, has seen Lynch’s star shine high and bright. Latest long-player “Mare” is a dense walk through the long history of American music. Mixes of folk, Americana, lo-fi and pop combine to provide a surprisingly complex sound. The acoustic guitars shine through, a counter-point to Lynch’s rather hushed and mumbled vocals. Music this impressive doesn’t come round very often. http://julianlynch.bandcamp.com/

BIG TROUBLES

Soaring choruses of bon marché grandeur, Big Troubles carve a smooth, shoegazing arc through a cloud of static and fuzz. But, impressively, they don’t leave the hooks and catchy-tunes wanting, they’re the focus point, the light that shines through a heady brew of sounds. http://www.myspace.com/inbigtroubles

CONQUERING ANIMAL SOUND + KELVOX1

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 16:40:20 -0500

VENUE//CB2 Basement (map) TIME//8pm TICKET//£4 adv. from here

CONQUERING ANIMAL SOUND

Conquering Animal Sound are the Glasgow based duo of Anneke Kampman and James Scott. The pair starting making music in late 2008, messing around with toy instruments and loop pedals, and a sense of playfulness has remained through to their recently released debut album, “Kammerspiel” (Gizeh Records). CAS collect sounds both musical and non-musical from a vast array of sources and fashion them into rich, organic and textured arrangements, pinned down by undulating beats that riff on the synthetic nature of drum programming. On top of this are layers of Anneke’s sweet and perplexing, crystalline Northern European vocals. Comparisons with the work of Björk are kind of obvious but pretty close to the mark, and there is much in common with folks like Hanne Hukkelberg, Grouper, Hot Chip and Múm. http://conqueringanimalsound.tumblr.com/

KELVOX1

Haunted underwater glitchstep from Cambridge. Burial meets David Lynch meets “Let’s Dance” meets Sega Megadrive. kelvox1.bandcamp.com

EUX AUTRES + BETTY AND THE WEREWOLVES + HEAD OF PROGRAMMES

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 14:13:44 -0500

VENUE//The Corner House (map) TIME//8pm TICKET//£5 adv. from here

EUX AUTRES

Eux Autres are makers of exuberant, perky tunes with an alkaline heart. The band was formed by dislocated Nebraskan brother and sister Heather and Nicholas Larimer in San Francisco, and more recently they were joined by drummer Yoshi Nakamoto from The Aislers Set and Still Flyin’. Eux Autres write compact songs with sparse instrumentation. Their music has been unfairly described as “fun.” But while the surface of the songs might seem nonchalant, the lyrics offer skewed observations and fierce barbs. Most of their songs are about a) military history b) being “done wrong” or c) sports. The band sounds like the unrequited love song Doug Martsch would have penned for Francoise Hardy. Their latest collection of downer-pop, ‘Broken Bow’, has just been released by WIAIWYA. www.euxautres.com

BETTY AND THE WEREWOLVES

Fuzzed-up Grrrl pop racing straight at you like Talulah Gosh on an careering night bus. BATW sing songs about getting dumped at tube stations and falling in love with proper pop stars and put them out on glittery vinyl – pretty twee, right? Yet is also no word of a lie that they are Fucked Up’s favourite band. Thinking about it, loads of punk bands seem to love them along with all the indie kids, it’s like the perfect storm. Whooping, howling, thrashy guitars, garage rhythms, moreish tunes and boozy party fun are all present, plus a few highbrow literary allusions. www.myspace.com/bettyandthewerewolves

HEAD OF PROGRAMMES

Dark, bittersweet songs of an alt.country/indie rock persuasion from the West Country. File somewhere between Smog, Arab Strap and Tindersticks. www.myspace.com/headofprogrammes

ANTA + CITY SEVENTEEN + BORING GIRLS + SQUEEZE ME MACARONI

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 11:52:47 -0500

VENUE//The Portland Arms (map) TIME//8pm TICKET//£4 adv from here

ANTA

Space-prog Bristolians ANTA are all about the heavy riffs. The instrumental four-piece follow monolithic licks with towers of psyched-out ostinato, all at preposterous volume. The resulting tunes sound a bit like Sleep jamming with Hawkwind after a good session of King Crimson and Oneida tunes. It’s all the best bits of classic prog, the more enlighted doom groups, with a bit of metropolitan smartness that keeps from navel-gazing inanity. Their limited edition debut LP, “The Tree That Bears The Equine Fruit”, recently came out on a subsidiary of Geoff Barrow’s Invada Records, and is an epic treat that, naturally, kicks off with a gong. Switched-on heads who made it down to see The Psychic Paramount back in ‘09 should find much satisaction in ANTA. www.anta.me.uk

CITY SEVENTEEN

A Cambridge bass-free three piece creating instrumental music spanning myriad approaches: expect math rock, Morricone-esque desert scenes and post-krautrock drones & jams. http://cityseventeen.co.uk/

BORING GIRLS

Fresh to our ears, three Cambridge lads making loud, thrashy, disenchanted scuzz. Not for nothing are they named after a Pissed Jeans tune. http://boringgirls.bandcamp.com/

SQUEEZE ME MACARONI

Warmly overdriven, Grouper-like loops and laments. http://www.myspace.com/thatsqueezemegirl

CAM DEAS + C JOYNES + YPSMAEL

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 22:01:15 -0500

VENUE//CB2 basement TIME//8pm TICKET//£5 on the door

CAM DEAS

Post-Blackshaw outer-shredder Cam Deas is a guitarist indebted not only to the whole Fahey Takoma school, as is all the rage, but also to fellow Sheffielder Derek Bailey. Veering between whirling cyclones and waves of traditional finger-picked 12-string blues and psychedelic freak-outs of clicking and scratching free improv, Deas’s sounds range from folky aggression to smoked-out bliss. Studious and endless emotional crescendos dipping in and out of ragas compete with prudent and considered amelody, all to the listener’s amazement. A slew of releases include some on the essential labels Blackest Rainbow and The Great Pop Supplement.

http://www.presenttimeexercises.com/

C JOYNES

Heavy thumb-led finger-picking techniques that hark back to traditional country-blues and early ragtime, venturing off to explore alternative melodic traditions inspired by a multitude of travels. One of Cambridgeshire’s greatest musical exports, Joynes is the modern-day Histon giant.

http://www.myspace.com/cjoynes

YPSMAEL

Audio detritus skilfully reassembled into washes of elongated cinematic soundcushions. http://www.myspace.com/espenloup

GATE + TALVIHORROS + LES ADVENTURES SOUS LA MER

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 11:53:55 -0400

VENUE//The Portland Arms TIME//8pm TICKET//£6 adv from here / £7 o.t.d.

GATE

Cracked and dissonant mournful looped laments plus unlikely electronic rhythms from Michael Morley of New Zealand’s avant-rock masters, The Dead C. Morley has been working under the Gate guise for 20 years, but his gigs in December will be his first in the UK, coming off the back of the Dead C’s appearance at the Godspeed You Black Emperor ATP shindig. Gate’s latest album, A Republic of Sadness (Ba Da Bing) is Morely’s first solo effort in over a decade and comprises the apex of his various interests into one collection. Morley’s guitar and vocal drones permeate through his looped beats and sounds, ultimately reaching towards a sound that is not quite dance, not quite noise, not quite electronica, and never ever ambient. As far as we can tell, this will be one of only two UK gigs, which is pretty mega. www.myspace.com/dewline

TALVIHORROS

Dark, ambient guitar gloom creeping through the shortwave frequencies which, when peeled back, reveals post-metal textures beneath. www.talvihorros.com/

LES ADVENTURES SOUS LA MER

MFU + Jellica = subaquaelectrojoyfest. www.myspace.com/mfujellica

Crushing Death & Grief

LAST HARBOUR + THE DOOMED BIRD OF PROVIDENCE + VIOLET WOODS

LAST HARBOUR

THE DOOMED BIRD OF PROVIDENCE

VIOLET WOODS

PATTEN + THE SOFT

PATTEN

THE SOFT

STANDARD FARE + TIGERCATS + MODEL VILLAGE

STANDARD FARE

TIGERCATS

MODEL VILLAGE

C JOYNES + ALAN WILKINSON + PADANG FOOD TIGERS

C JOYNES

ALAN WILKINSON

PADANG FOOD TIGERS

HIGGS CANCELLED

FLOAT RIVERER + HALO HALO + PETE UM

FLOAT RIVERER

HALO HALO

PETE UM

**CANCELLED** DANIEL HIGGS + C JOYNES + PADANG FOOD TIGERS

DANIEL HIGGS

C JOYNES

PADANG FOOD TIGERS

KWJAZ + GRIEF ATHLETES + BRIDEBURGER

KWJAZ

GRIEF ATHLETES

BRIDEBURGER

LET'S WHISPER + TENDER TRAP + PLANTMAN

LET’S WHISPER

TENDER TRAP

PLANTMAN

THE LOVELY EGGS + ANGUISH SANDWICH + VIOLET WOODS

THE LOVELY EGGS

ANGUISH SANDWICH

VIOLET WOODS

ZUN ZUN EGUI + THEE LUDDS + LES ADVENTURES SOUS LA MER

ZUN ZUN EGUI

THEE LUDDS

LES ADVENTURES SOUS LA MER

TROUBLE BOOKS + HONG KONG IN THE 60S

TROUBLE BOOKS

HONG KONG IN THE 60S

an afternoon with MOUNTAINS + SIMON SCOTT + JOHN CHANTLER + YPSMAEL

MOUNTAINS

SIMON SCOTT

JOHN CHANTLER

YPSMAEL

LET'S WRESTLE + PIFCO + DIRTY COUSINS

LET’S WRESTLE

PIFCO

DIRTY COUSINS

DUCKTAILS + JULIAN LYNCH + BIG TROUBLES

DUCKTAILS

JULIAN LYNCH

BIG TROUBLES

CONQUERING ANIMAL SOUND + KELVOX1

CONQUERING ANIMAL SOUND

KELVOX1

EUX AUTRES + BETTY AND THE WEREWOLVES + HEAD OF PROGRAMMES

EUX AUTRES

BETTY AND THE WEREWOLVES

HEAD OF PROGRAMMES

ANTA + CITY SEVENTEEN + BORING GIRLS + SQUEEZE ME MACARONI

ANTA

CITY SEVENTEEN

BORING GIRLS

SQUEEZE ME MACARONI

CAM DEAS + C JOYNES + YPSMAEL

CAM DEAS

C JOYNES

YPSMAEL

GATE + TALVIHORROS + LES ADVENTURES SOUS LA MER

GATE

TALVIHORROS

LES ADVENTURES SOUS LA MER

CANCELLED DANIEL HIGGS + C JOYNES + PADANG FOOD TIGERS