A decent recording of last Friday’s Damo Suzuki set has surfaced so we’ve put it up for free download over at Soundcloud. You can stream it above too. The band features members of Sons of Noel and Adrian, Soccer96 and Eyes & No Eyes. There are videos surfacing on YouTube too.
On Feb 25th The Mariner’s Children will be releasing their stunning new Sycamore EP. You can stream a track from it, “In My Bed”, below. You can pre-order the EP now at Broken Sound.
The EP launch will be at The Lexington in London on March 18th (tickets here) and the band will be on tour supporting Willy Mason.
Rowan Coupland has self-released a new album titled Slow Wave of the Future.
You can preview it above and buy it from his Bandcamp page.
In his own words:
“SLOW WAVE OF THE FUTURE fell into place over a 6 month rootfinding expedition to the suburbs, forests and islands of British Columbia. A spiritual odyssey fought on bicycles, transit without a ticket, the backs of pest extermination trucks, voyages shared with washed-up sherpas, the first ever sights of whales in the company of elderly Sikh gentlemen, and Christmases spent on boats surrounded by fluorescent jellyfish. With songs charting the movement from Europe to Vancouver and back again, the album is fragments of sounds, friends, songs and precipitation all recorded and glooped into one. These are songs of a loss of nationality, of love and family, and of a return found in leaving.”
Aside from found sounds and field recordings, all playing of instruments and all lyrics were by Rowan Coupland, except for track 9, which is an American traditional, (version: Cass Wallin) based on an English ballad.
In the past we’ve created several collaborative Willkommen projects for free download over the Christmas period.
This year we asked as many Willkommen related artists as possible to simply contribute thirty seconds of sound. I stitched them together in the order in which they arrived to make a sonic patchwork quilt. The result is incredibly diverse and beautiful despite the random nature of its composition and form.
Thank you to the following people for contributing:
Alessi Laurent-Marke (Alessi’s Ark)
Woodpecker Wooliams
Said Speaks
Landshapes
Marcus Hamblett
Soccer96
Eyes & No Eyes
Hamilton Yarns
Thomas Heather
Danny Green (Laish)
Gravenhurst
John Smith
Fiona Sally Miller
Nick Hemming (The Leisure Society)
This Is The Kit
Rachael Dadd & Ichi
Rozi Plain
Birdengine
Helen Whitaker (The Leisure Society)
Steve Aston Trio
Rowan Coupland
Turbo & Silke (Martha Rose / OCDC)
Jacob Richardson (Sons of Noel and Adrian)
Emma Gatrill
Chimes (Christian Hardy)
Mary Hampton
Alphabets Heaven
François Marry (François & the Atlas Mountains)
Here are a few links to past collaborative projects for free download on last.fm:
Hamilton Yarns have released an excellent new album, called “Calm Down Grandad”. Band member Iain Paxon says, “It’s a mixture of experimental pop, instrumental interludes and wandering sound journeys. You could conceivably dance to some of it – if you try, please report back and let us know what happened!”
The Wire magazine call it “beautifully layered, free-breathing electroacoustic pop… the use of environmental sound is inspired”
The 42 minute CD is packaged in a hand-cut gatefold sleeve and with a double sided A3 poster. The first 30 or so will come with a free 25x25cm screen print. It is also available as a download.
You can read more about it and buy it here.
