Rowan Coupland is back with an absolutely incredible new self-released EP. You can stream or download it on a pay-what-you-like basis from his bandcamp page or even just listen below.

The songs are written about and during Rowan’s stay in Paris. He’s now over in Vancouver for a while, so get in touch with him if you live in the area on rowancoupland(at)gmail.com.

We have an extra special show this weekend arthritis grounds of Charleston house. The house was owned by Virginia Woolf’s sister Vanessa Bell with her husband Duncan Grant and over the years became the artistic home of the writers and painters that made up the Bloomsbury Group – including Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton Strachey.

We’re not quite as influential as the Bloomsbury Group (yet!) but as a Sussex via London based community of like minded thinkers it seems like a nice fit to be playing in their beautiful home.

The lineup features Rowan Coupland, Animal Magic Tricks, Woodpecker Wooliams and Laish. The event runs from 10pm – 11.30pm this Friday (24th) and forms part of Charleston’s excellent short story festival, Small Wonder. The event is totally acoustic.

Tickets are available directly from Charleston on 01323 811626. The capacity is only 50 and at the time of writing I know there are fewer than 5 tickets remaining.

Rowan Coupland is touring the UK right now. He really is one of the best live performers you will ever see so don’t miss him:

Sunday 12th September- Stanmer House -BRIGHTON
Monday 13th September- The Wheatsheaf- OXFORD
Tuesday 14th September- St John on the Wall- BRISTOL
Wednesday 15th September- St James Wine Vaults- BATH
Friday 17th September- Fuel- MANCHESTER
Tuesday 21st September- The Fishtank- DURHAM*
Wednesday 22nd September-The Rude Shipyard- SHEFFIELD*
Thursday 23rd September- Indy Jax- HEMEL HEMPSTEAD*
Friday 24th September- CHARLESTON- EAST SUSSEX*

*with Animal Magic Tricks

His debut official EP will be released by Willkommen shortly, details to follow.

Click for full size

Following on from the great success of 2009′s event, which saw The Leisure Society, Peggy Sue, Alessi’s Ark and more delight a sold out crowd, Brighton’s premier folk collective Willkommen Records and co-conspirators and renowned South Coast independent music promoters Melting Vinyl are very pleased to announce our second all day show at Stanmer House.

The venue is in a nature reserve on the outskirts of Brighton, a mere stroll from the University of Sussex campus and at the heart of the Sussex Countryside. Stanmer House is a beautifully restored, Grade I listed stately home built in 1722. It’s regal but inviting and warm – the perfect environment.

This year’s event takes place on September 12th, and we’ve given it a name: FOXTROT.

We also have a VERY special guest headliner – we have booked a truly stunning artist, but we just know it will sell out as soon as we announce them and we want to give the Willkommen and Melting Vinyl faithful a chance to get the tickets before this happens.

From outside of the Collective we are delighted and honoured to have Anna Calvi, Francois & The Atlas Mountains, Rachael Dadd and Rayon Breed join us for and suffuse our celebrations with their unique, folk-flecked talents.

A range of fantastic artists from the Collective and the extended family will be playing. We have an increasingly rare performance from Willkommen’s mother band, Shoreline, who deal in sublime sea shanties.  FOXTROT will see the first full set in Brighton from Willkommen’s very own super group, The Climbers (featuring Nick Hemming and Christian Hardy from The Leisure Society), who will be playing songs from their debut, The Good Ship , an album which has won over pundits as diverse as Mark Radcliff, Bob Harris and Don Letts.  Hot on the heels of the success of their recent sophomore outing, Of Flight and Fury, The Miserable Rich will be wooing one and all with their string adorned pure-pop. So at one with the folk tradition is Mary Hampton‘s stark beauty that no less an icon as Eliza Carthy was inspired to praise her My Mother’s Children album in fRoots magazine. Perennial festival favourites, Sons of Noel and Adrian, will be serving up their heady, psychedelic -folk stew. Laish, who will be releasing their debut album on Willkommen later in the year, specialise in lovably scuffed, singer-songwriter confessionals. Kristin McClement is hard at work on her debut too with Christian Hardy at the helm. Her winsome, whispy, wonder-folk is the reason she’s a rising star. Also about to release his first Willkommen music is Rowan Coupland who will dazzle with his post-modern take upon the troubadour tradition.

We have a lot of very special surprise extras still to announce so stay posted.

Stanmer House, Stanmer Park, Brighton BN1 9QA. Doors open at 2pm.

Tickets are priced at just £20 plus booking fee and, to give Brightonians the best chance of getting tickets, for a week tickets will only be available from Resident and Rounder Records – from their stores in Brighton or on 01273 606312 or  01273 325440 respectively.

There is a limited free return  Bus from Old Stiene, Brighton on a first come first served basis or take the train to Falmer, Number 25 bus to Stanmer or Number 78 bus to the House.

All Ages Welcome, under 16s to be accompanied by an adult. Alcohol not to be brought in, bar and food will be available.
www.willkommenrecords.co.uk www.meltingvinyl.co.uk www.stanmerhouse.co.uk www.thebiglemon.com www.resident-music.com www.rounderbrighton.co.uk

We had a few technical hitches with our mailing list and it seems a few people didn’t successfully receive the link to download our free Christmas covers compilation, so here it is again, available to download for a limited time only:

https://rcpt.yousendit.com/642455248/bac0b2da23acaecf1cae5445428b676c

The compilation features Shoreline covers Sons of Noel and Adrian, Sons of Noel and Adrian reworking The Miserable Rich, Redwood Red covering Sons, Curly Hair covering Laish, Stray Airmail (Alistair Strachan and Mary Hampton) covering Shoreline, Atlas Crease covering The Miserable Rich, Rowan Coupland covering Shoreline, Laish covering Moonshine Moonshine and The Great Park covering Sons and vice verse. It’s a great listen!

You can also stream or download individual tracks from last.fm:
http://www.last.fm/music/Various+Artists/Willkommen+Christmas+2008