Recorded at her mother’s house in Victoria BC, ‘Are You My Mother?’ is one of 2011’s most innovative releases. It is a deeply personal record that was largely born through two years of Kathryn caring for her terminally ill mother. Yet the songs on “Are you my mother?’ are universal in their tone because the record relates to so many facets of all our lives. This is NOT a eulogy. Rather, it is a statement that life is a mixed bag, and that without losing things you would never know to cherish them. Yes there are songs of loss on ‘Are you my mother?’, yet there are also songs of love, friendship, and whimsy. It is a beguiling album, that - because of the wisdom and experience communicated by her voice - gives the illusion of being written by someone in the twilight of their years, while at the same time it expresses the excitement and wonder of a young woman who is just finding her own voice.
‘Are You My Mother,’ is one of the most exciting and honest debut records of 2011. You will hear a moment in time and all of the feelings that were contained in it. Kathryn Calder will be playing the End of the Road Festival on Sunday 4 September at the Tipi Tent Stage.
The Ladybug Transistor
Amor de Días (Spanish for 'love of days') is the name of the—until now—secret new group of Alasdair MacLean of the Clientele and Lupe Núñez-Fernández of Pipas. Street of the Love of Days, their debut album, will be released in the UK on 17 May as a digital download and 13 June on CD.
Finding common ground as painters as well as musicians, and having regularly appeared onstage together (often with Lupe reading the text of The Clientele's 'Losing Haringey') they decided to collaborate on a project of their own.
Wandering in Madrid, Alasdair noticed a street sign for Calle del Amor de Dios, which he mistakenly translated as "Street of the Love of Days". The name struck him as a great title, even after Lupe corrected him (he was actually on the Street of the Love of God).
At times spare and empty, at times rich with instrumental texture, at times jazz-tinged and hypnotic, Street of the Love of Days is of a quality to rival anything either Alasdair or Lupe has recorded before.
The band will be heading out for an extensive US tour with Damon and Naomi in the spring and will play some UK dates when they return in June including these:
Sat 8 June, Union Chapel, opening for Howe Gelb with A Band of Gypsies
http://www.unionchapel.org.uk/events.php?gig=8e298ae4-79f2-483d-af88-6cf5d19ef553
Sun 12 June @ The Lexington, London (afternoon album launch, free)
Fri 17 June @ Scandinavian Church, Liverpool
Sat 30 July, Indietracks, (near Derby)
http://www.indietracks.co.uk
Links:
Press photos/bios/media etc:
http://www.amordedias.com/press
Led by songwriter David Feck, Comet Gain have released a string of critically acclaimed records on Kill Rock Stars, Track & Field and What’s Your Rupture? - albums such as Tigertown Pictures, Réalistes, City Fallen Leaves and 2008’s singles collection Broken Record Prayers establishing the band as one of the most fearlessly passionate and fiercely intelligent British bands around. The current line up comprises David Charlie Feck (vocals, guitar), ex-Huggy Bear bassist Jon Slade (guitar), Rachel Evans (vocals), Kay Ishikawa (bass), ex-Morrissey/The Meteors drummer Woodie Taylor (percussion), Anne Laure Guillain (keyboards), and Ben Phillipson of The Eighteenth Day Of May (guitar).
Unapologetically literate and emotional, Comet Gain seek out inspiration and ballast as much in the music of the girl-group era pop, heartfelt Americana, british post-punk, and 60s psych rock, as in the words of the known and forgotten beat poets, kitchen sink dramas, and new-wave French arthouse cinema. From The Modern Lovers, Felt, The Go-Betweens, Big Star, and the Byrds, to Kerouac, Shelagh Delaney, and Godard, the band are influenced by an incessant drive to “distill the spirit, and those moments of musical defiance” by “recalling old stories of friends, of being lonely, and what kept you sane; finding a common ground, taking a deep breath and then picking up our guitars and singing these songs.“
Crystal Stilts’ new album In Love with Oblivion will be released in the UK on 11 April 2011 on Fortuna POP!.
Crystal Stilts burst out of Brooklyn's storied post-punk indie scene in 2008 with a string of releases that culminated in their fantastic debut album Alight Of Night. Deftly combining the spooked 60s Texas psych of 13th Floor Elevators and Red Crayola, the gothic blues/punk howl of Gun Club, the dark, experimental DIYism of early Flying Nun/Xpressway groups and a dash of classic 60s pop by way of early Mary Chain b-sides, Alight Of Night won universal accolades and established the band as first-class purveyors of haunting, atmospheric post-punk pop. In Love With Oblivion sets the bar even higher as they reach dizzying, fuzzy heights as first class purveyors of haunting, atmospheric post-punk pop.
An all-dayer featuring dulcet-toned Kansas vocalist Piney Gir and her Country Roadshow.
Support from the UK based Alt-Americana quartet, The Cedars with soaring vocals, infectious rhythms and blasts of slide guitar and banjo. Plying tales of lost love, revenge and rural homicide, The Cedars manage to straddle the divide between the dancehalls of the 20's and 30's and what's going on in the scene right now.
Adeline Vesta play folk-rock, indie and alt-country with Sarah from The Research and Go Team! percussionist Chi
The Werewandas play harmonious country-billy indie-garage foot-tapping stompers.
Eliza Newman is an Icelandic violinist, ukelele and piano player, and is also a trained opera singer (formerly of Bellatrix) who'll play some ukulele accompanied quirky folk-pop.
plus DJing from Radio 6/ The Other Woman's Ruth Barnes plus Amy Ashworth and Amanda.
