For those of you off to End of the Road festival this weekend, there are lots of Willkommen related bands that you should go and see.

FRIDAY

• Woodpecker Wooliams at 12:30pm on the Garden Stage
• Landshapes at 1pm on the Wood stage
• Rachael Dadd at 1:45pm in the Tipi Tent

SATURDAY

• Laish at 1:45pm in the Tipi Tent
• Eyes & No Eyes at 2:45pm in the Tipi Tent
• The Leisure Society at 5:15pm on the Wood Stage

SUNDAY

• Ichi at 12:30pm in the Tipi Tent

We should have our own stage shouldn’t we?! Yes I think so too. We also highly recommend but aren’t yet affiliated with Joe Gideon and the Shark (0:30am, Saturday night, Tipi Tent), Bo Ningen (5pm, Sunday, Big Top) and the mighty David Byrne (9:30pm, Friday, Woods Stage) – one of the best live performers I’ve ever seen. This is quite a handy page for seeing all the stage times in one place. See you there!

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:

• Willkommen Covers The Sleeper – various artists covered each song from The Leisure Society’s debut album. Originally released as a free Rough Trade bonus CD.
• Willkommen Foxswap – various artists covered each other’s songs before the Foxtrot festival
• Willkommen Christmas 2008 – again various Willkommen related bands covering each other’s songs

Our distant cousins Rachael Dadd and Ichi are having a grand time out in Japan and have asked us to let you know they’re both blogging about their experiences. At the time of writing they’ve both been recently updated. Check out Rachael here and Ichi here.

For the next Willkommen night we’ve got a fine and eclectic mix of music in store. The Hand are a duo from Bristol who play mesmeric songs on kora and banjo. They toured in Japan last year with This is the Kit (who played a great Willkommen night last November) and while there struck up a rapport with Ichi.

Ichi takes the notion of a one-man band to new heights, conjuring up fun, surprising tunes from steel drum, trumpet, glock and more.

These musical compadres have been on the road in Europe and the UK since March this year, and I believe this is their last gig together before Ichi returns to Japan, so let’s make it one to remember!

Support comes from the delightful Jo Burke (of the Mary Hampton band and Laish), who will be performing her own material.

Friday 3rd July, Sanctuary Cella, Brighton, at 8pm. Tickets are £5 and are on sale online here and at Resident Records – 01273 6060312 – and Edgeworld Records.  More info here