Autokat 'Shot / Seven Years' Out Now!

AUTOKAT
SHOT / SEVEN YEARS
Catalogue Number: aA2W/024
Format: 7" Vinyl & Download
Single released: Monday 19th February on Akoustik Anarkhy Recordings.

"These Mancunian scamps are just fantastic...they get better and better with each listen." Guardian

"Autokat are already able to realise the kind of intelligent post-Britrock sound that few others seem able to manage." The Independent

"Sleek'n'sexy post-rock with one foot firmly on the dancefloor." NME

Shot / Seven Years is the double aA side single and first tracks to be lifted from one of Manchester's best-kept secrets, Autokat and their debut album 'Late Night Shopping' (out March 5th).

Informed by the shadows of the city, the paranoia of urban life and the hangover of too much partying, it is a tense, turbulent album - an indie classic in waiting. Think Magazine mixed with The Cure and early Radiohead, but contemporary too - Autokat's sound is, as The Guardian Guide expertly put it, 'Bloc Party without the earnest wibbly-wobbly worrying'.

Signed to Manchester's influential Akoustik Anarkhy – the label affiliated to the clubnight and parties that hosted early performances from like-minded souls The Longcut and Nine Black Alps - Late Night Shopping is a DIY album in the truest sense of the word. There's no sinister major label lurking in the shadows here - just a partnership of mutual respect between band and label and a burning need to get this music out there. Fittingly, the album was recorded in Autokat's rehearsal space and in guitarist Dave's front room. But somehow, it achieves considerable feats of sonic acrobatics. It's a record that's been pored over, deconstructed and tweaked to represent the vision of this undyingly experimental band; an album that prises apart the perception of a typical guitar band set-up.

"We did the vast majority of this down at The Unit which is our practice room, located in a disused Mill in deepest darkest Ancoats, with only rats, mice and scallies for company," say the band. "We've always preferred to do it all ourselves as, in our experience, most producers/engineers want to put too much of their own slant on it. We really tried to avoid that overproduced sound that a lot of bands fall foul of."

That sound – melodic but dark, poppy but sinister – is what makes Autokat so special. This their third single follows The Driver (Rough Trade stores & The Independent single of the week) and Dish Out – both of which sold out in doubly quick time. Make sure you shoot down your local record emporium then February 19th for this special seven inch and then back for a bit of Late Night Shopping a couple of weeks later…

London Album Launch – Sat 10th March – Brixton Windmill & Manchester date to be announced very shortly.

Listen to the single in advance here: http://www.myspace.com/autokat