Thursday 8 May 2008

aA presents the incredible line up that is......

aA presents the incredible line up that is:

THE RUBY SUNS, THE BEEP SEALS, SPECK MOUNTAIN & CATS IN PARIS... plus Deejays, Soft Priest, Young Will & LEGO...

Friday 16th May 2008,

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 135 Grosvenor Street,, Manchester, Northwest M1 7HE,

£6 Advance
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/29765

20:00 till late.

'Ever-weird Mancunian label' MIXMAG JUNE 08

Phew what an embarrassment of talent on offer, 4 of the most exciting & fascinating bands around in one night, topping the bill are THE RUBY SUNS, fresh from arriving on these shores from Auckland New Zealand and sprightly keen to show off their incredible new album SEA LION, released recently on MEMPHIS INDUSTRIES. Their woozy calypso rhythms have been compared to the exotic stylings of Beirut and Lord Kitchener. Ryan McPhun, leader of the ensemble, moved to New Zealand from LA which certainly ensured a sun time continuum, but also added the essential 'totally tropical' element required to ferment the strange lovely trip of SEA LION. It sounds as if it was decorated by nature itself & effortlessly paddles the forgotten wispering streams where widescreen Rogers & Hammersteinesque dreamy island love affairs, foam over in to uplifting Hawaiian chants & solar dappled brass melodies. Coming on like a shipwrecked OF MONTREAL putting on a gang show on for PANDA BEAR, they'll certainly be bringing a much needed & rare shaft of sunshine for our slate grey victorian skies. Expect knee slapping, hand drums, conches, nose flutes and hordes of bikini clad Samoan women (ok we made that bit up).

Warming the throne for The Suns and warping the grey matter for the rest of us we are delighted to tell you we also have The Beep Seals, Manchester's premier soleil soaked psych popsters, who'll be teasing us with nuggets from their fantastic debut album 'Things That Roar', due for release on 9th June 2008 on the ever shiny Heron Recordings. 'Things That Roar' was recorded in their native Chorlton, over ten days in February with Norman Blake from Teenage Fanclub and Tom Knott from fellow mancunian's The Earlies, which sounds like a recommendation in itself to me....But what the hell is a Beep Seal? Glad you asked. According to the band, a Beep Seal is "a seal with a honker for a nose, a poem by Captain Beefheart and a 'f*cking great name' according to Wayne Coyne, and he should know."

Just in case The Suns & The Beeps weren't enough for the discerning and bright eyed denizens that you are, we also got Chicago's finest exponents of dream psych - the sublime SPECK MOUNTAIN, whose heavenly and highly refined debut album 'SUMMER ABOVE' was voted fifth best album of 2007 by Manchester's esteemed Piccadilly Records, as well as picking up various other prestigious record store type gongs stateside along the way. Recorded in New York and Chicago in 2005 and 2006, Summer Above is an entirely self-produced record. Parts of it were taped in late night sessions at a New York voice-over studio Dubway, where the then-duo were allowed to record from midnight until 6am each day. "We had no idea how long it should take to make a song in the studio," says bassist Karl Briedrick. "An ADD prescription came in handy and we were able to stay awake during those weird hours." They've been called ethereal, magical and enthralling; promoters of trippy, psychedelic pop-rock built on organ drones & shimmering guitars which are all kept loosely glued home by singer Marie-Claire Balabanian's soft, sedated, honey-dripped vocals. Trivia fans should note Speck Mountain are named after the first and last words in Brett Easton Ellis's 'Glamorama', quick get a biro... With Speck Mountain now a three piece with the addition of guitarist/tape delay player Kate Name and a permanent relocation to the blustery town, things seem to be seeping in to place, "People don't come to Chicago to get famous, or to live in the hippest city in the country," says Marie-Claire. "People who make music here make it out of love." quick get a wet wipe... Speck Mountain also currently have a tremendous single out 'Hey Moon / Stockholm' is available on vinyl and download NOW.

Opening the nights proceedings are a band that need no introduction round these here parts, it is of course the wilfully obtuse and finely furry; the Joyfully peculiar and sharply ambitious 'CATS IN PARIS', whose debut single FOXES is flying out of the shops even as I type. Ok, so it's not exactly on solid salmon pink vinyl as promised, but we all like transparent cerise vinyl just as much, special thanks to our record manufacturers for 'doing their own thing.' Talking of FOXES, DJ magazine exclaimed the single 'A clever and inventive piece of shapeshifting anti-pop that twists its way through psych, punk, no wave, rock and kraut. Lovely.' and duly gave it 4/5, fellow specialists MIXMAG decided to tag it as 'Brainwrong prog wig-out' - as accurate a charge if ever I've read one, they go on to say 'Rapid tempo-switches and leaps from loud to quiet and back, keyboard arpeggios sweeping up and down, jazzy interludes, indecipherable lyrics, yelps, whoops and glam rock squeals: we're not sure we want to question too deeply what well of madness this red vinyl 7" comes from, but we're glad it exists...Wise words. Foxes is also getting amazing radio play, the full majestic 5 & half minutes of it, XFM London's John Kennedy made it his big one recently, Huw Stephens has been hammering it on Radio 1 and currently has it 'in his radar' & Marc Riley is a lofty man & determined fan. In fact they are about to record 4 songs for the Huw Stephens show, down at BBC Maida Vale, not bad for a band who only released their first scantily clad 7" single a couple of weeks ago. Watch this space for news of other radio sessions.

All in all it looks to be a night of divine extremes, with committed and outlandish dj support betwixt bands from Soft Priest, Young William & Mr Lego, to stay in would be plainly ridiculous, we'll see you there and don't forget your nÄ lei '

http://www.akoustikanarkhy.co.uk/
www.myspace.com/akoustikanarkhy
www.myspace.com/therubysuns
www.myspace.com/beepseals
www.myspace.com/speckmountain
www.myspace.com/catsinparis
www.myspace/softpriest

http://www.wegottickets.com/event/29765

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