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This Is The Kit announce new track and video
This Is The Kit are pleased to announce their new single Coming to Get You Nowhere, the second track taken from her forthcoming fifth album Off Off On which will be released by Rough Trade Records on October 23rd.
Kate Stables of This Is The Kit explains the meaning behind the video and the song:
“We made the video from footage of our friend’s car getting stuck when they came to visit us during our rehearsal time just before we went into the studio to make Off Off On. It felt like a car getting stuck and people having to work together and ask for help to get it unstuck was a fitting story to accompany this song, which is itself about getting stuck and the ways we can help or hinder ourselves when it comes to getting out of unhealthy patterns. making this video has been really nice for me during this time of not being able to get together with the rest of the band.
I miss them and the time we spent together making Off Off On so it’s been great to hang out with them in video form. Not as good as the real thing of course but comforting none the less.”
Kate Stables decided to work on the new record with producer Josh Kaufman, New York-based member of Bonny Light Horseman & Muzz, who has also collaborated with The Hold Steady, The National and most recently Taylor Swift. Stables first met him when working with Anaïs Mitchell on a cover of the Osibisa song Woyaya, their paths later crossing at the PEOPLE residencies in Berlin and Brooklyn.
“We were on the same page about a lot of musical ideas, as well as doing things I wouldn’t do musically. It was a lovely mixture of ‘you’re exactly in my brain and exactly at the opposite end of my brain.’” After the band – completed by Rozi Plain (bass/vocals), Neil Smith (guitar), Jesse D Vernon (guitar, keyboards), Jamie Whitby-Coles (drum/vox), – reunited for the cold-water rehearsals in Wales, they headed to Wiltshire’s Real World Studios, just finishing in time for everyone to get home for lockdown.
BEGGARS ARKIVE PRESENT: TOP OF THE POPS
Beggars Arkive is excited to announce a very special arrangement with the BBC and BBC Studios, to launch previously unseen Top Of The Pops performances from their label group artists.
The performances range from the very first Beggars signing The Lurkers in 1978, to a performance by Adele in 2008, plus everything in between, including Gary Numan, The White Stripes, The Cult, Bauhaus, The Strokes and many more. The footage is broadcast quality and has been transferred directly from the BBC archives.
Premiering on the Beggars Arkive YouTube channel starting Thursday September 10th at 7pm GMT (2pm EST/11am PST) there are 52 videos in total that will launch over the course of 16 weeks. The first few weeks will include Adele w/ “Hometown Glory”, The Cult w/ “She Sells Sanctuary” and “Fire Woman”, The White Stripes w/ “Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground”, Gary Numan w/ “Cars”, Bauhaus w/ “Lagartija Nick” and more!
Top Of The Pops was the world’s longest running music TV show and ran from 1964 to 2006. It included performances from the best-selling artists at the time, and every artist jumped at the chance to be on the show.
Thanks to an agreement between AIM (Association of Independent Music) and the BBC, we are able to make these available.
Beggars Arkive is honoured to be able to host these performances and look forward to sharing this legendary footage.
Adrianne Lenker Announces Two New Albums, songs And instrumentals Out 23 October
Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker announces two new albums, songs and instrumentals, out 23 October, and today presents a new single, ‘anything’.
‘anything’ is a look into Lenker’s introspective and quietly magical catalogue. Backed by soft fingerpicking, Lenker’s magnetic voice references a flurry of memories and beautiful imagery – a hot sun, juicy mango, family fighting on Christmas eve, a circle of trees. It’s a deep and unflinching love song. As the track continues, its pulse held steady by Lenker playing her guitar with a paintbrush, her words get more abstract: “weren’t we the stars in heaven // weren’t we the salt in the sea // dragon in the new warm mountain // didn’t you believe in me?”
songs and instrumentals are two distinct collections, both written and recorded in April after Big Thief’s March tour was abruptly cut short due to coronavirus. After returning to the US from Europe, Lenker decamped to a one room cabin in the mountains of western Massachusetts. “I grew really connected to the space itself,” says Lenker. “The one room cabin felt like the inside of an acoustic guitar — it was such a joy to hear the notes reverberate in the space.” With a hankering to capture the feel of the space, Lenker enlisted the help of engineer Philip Weinrobe, gathering a mass of tape machines, a binaural head, and a pile of XLR cables.
After almost three weeks of setup and troubleshooting, the studio finally was operational – although the only functioning tape recorder the duo had was Phil’s battery powered Sony Walkman. Although at peace with the idea that they might just be recording the whole record on cassette tape, a friend was able to dig a Otari 8 Track out of storage and deliver it to the pair right before they’d lost all hope. Nine of these songs were written freshly during the recording session. Lenker and Weinrobe began and closed each day with an improvised acoustic guitar instrumental, later making a collage of their favourite pieces, which became the first side of the instrumentals album. “We wanted to make a record that put you, the listener, in the most intimate position possible,” explains Weinrobe.
“I had a handful of songs that I was planning on recording, but by the time Phil arrived I was on a whole new level of heartsick and the songs were flying through my ears,” says Lenker. “I was basically lying in the dirt half the time. We went with the flow. A lot of the focus was on getting nourishment from our meals. We cooked directly on the woodstove, and we went on walks to the creek every day to bathe. I’m grateful that this music has come into existence. These songs have helped me heal. I hope that at least in some small way this music can be a friend to you.”
This recording is 100% analog-analog-analog (AAA). No digital process was used in the production of this sound recording. Weinrobe describes the process in more detail: “Not only does this process allow for a very specific type of sonic experience to come alive, but the process also dictates how we work. The fine-toothed editing and micro adjustments that every modern record relies on are not available. The computer screen is not glowing while the music is being recorded. The entire workflow becomes a part of the music in a way that is simply not possible when working in digital audio. AAA is a very labor and resource intensive process and it has a wide array of limitations compared to digital record making, but there is no other way we could have achieved both the capture and delivery of this music without it.”
The albums’ stunning covers are watercolour paintings by Adrianne’s grandmother, Diane Lee. songs and instrumentals will be packaged together on double LP, CD and cassette.
JAZZ INGRAM SHARES THE OFFICIAL VIDEO FOR ‘2AM’ ANIMATED BY FREDDY CARRASCO
21-year-old artist Jazz Ingram follows up his recently released single ‘2AM’ with the official video directed by Japan-based visual artist Freddy Carrasco, and animated by Brice Maleo.
Produced by NYC-based Owwwls, ‘2AM’ is a self-proclaimed “diary entry” of the transition from being out at 2am, to getting home at 2am. “When I wrote this song I was really at the beginning of my ‘I could not go out’ phase. This song is kind of a record of my intentions changing from being out all the time to where I’m at now,” he muses. “People party like it’s their profession, you know,” The track now comes with the official video, animated by Freddy Carrasco who has previously worked with the likes of Cartoon Network, Nike, Armani and Adidas to name a few. “I wanted to make a video that’s current, but timeless,” he states. “We’re all drawn to some form of escapism. Things are just amplified now and it’s giving us time to focus on what’s really important.”
Born in Rochester, raised in Atlanta, Ingram’s mastery of words developed at a young age. At the tender age of 15, he uploaded his first single ‘Make Em Bounce’ to Soundcloud, helping him to build Jazz a small but devoted online following. Now, with 3 EP’s worth of weird and wonderful tracks under his belt, Jazz’s latest cut further cements his cult status as one of Atlanta’s most exciting new voices.
Yo La Tengo announce 'Sleepless Night' EP
On October 9th, Matador Records will release Yo La Tengo’s Sleepless Night — a limited edition six-song EP which includes covers of songs by The Byrds, The Delmore Brothers, Bob Dylan, Ronnie Lane, and The Flying Machine along with one original (‘Bleeding’).
The tracks on Sleepless Night were initially released as one side of an LP included within a limited-edition catalogue accompanying the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s career retrospective for the Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara. A longtime YLT fan, Nara worked in collaboration with the group — Georgia Hubley, Ira Kaplan, and James McNew — to choose the EP’s songs.
This Matador version of the EP is a single-sided 12” with original cover art by Nara, a drawing of the band by Hubley, and an illustration by McNew etched on the record’s flip.
Ira Kaplan on Sleepless Night:
We met Yoshitomo Nara in 2003, would see him at his art shows and our concerts. We dj’d at an opening at the Asia Society, and on another occasion he drew a picture of Georgia strangling me on a Gloomy pencil case that became one of Georgia’s prized possessions until it was stolen from her at the bar at the K-West hotel in Shepherd’s Bush. To make the catalogue of his 2020 exhibit at LACMA more personal, the idea came up to include an LP of some of Nara’s favorite songs as part of a deluxe edition. We were asked to provide one side of the LP (and that one track be a new composition), with the other side being another six songs selected by Nara, in their original versions. Here are the six songs we contributed to the LACMA record, chosen in collaboration with Nara.
I probably was introduced to “Blues Stay Away from Me” on NRBQ’s Workshop lp, working backwards to the Louvin Brothers and the Delmore Brothers (with a detour to Doug Sahm and Band). Our version was recorded by Mark Nevers in February 2011. Charlie Louvin had died just a couple of days before. We were on a tour with William Tyler that came to an end in Nashville. The three of us and William and Kurt Wagner threw together an arrangement of “Blues Stay Away from Me” as a tribute and closed our show at the Exit/In with it. Since we were hanging around Nashville for a few days before going home, we went to Mark’s studio and recorded it.
“Wasn’t Born to Follow” was recorded by Gene Holder as part of the sessions that resulted in Stuff Like That There. Dave Schramm on lead guitar. I’m sure I heard the Byrds’ song for the first time when my mom took me and a bunch of my friends to see Easy Rider. (One kid was forbidden by his parents from joining us, as was my younger brother. My dad took my brother to see Butch Cassidy instead, and I’m guessing my friend stayed home and did homework.)
Ronnie Lane didn’t write “Roll On Babe,” but his is the version we’re covering. James recorded it in Hoboken. (And that song was among the songs Georgia played when we dj’d at the Asia Society.)
While making And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out in Nashville, Roger Moutenot recorded Dylan’s “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” for a John Peel birthday show. As best as we can tell, we sent the one and only copy of the master to England. Yes, we’re as dumbfounded as you are, if not more so. After a lot of sleuthing, we came up with this.
“Bleeding” was written by us, recorded in Hoboken by James.
James also recorded The Flying Machine’s “Smile a Little Smile for Me” for Michael Shelley’s Super Hit Tsunami!, available to people who pledged to WFMU’s 2019 fundraising marathon.
Just weeks ago, Yo La Tengo released We Have Amnesia Sometimes — a collection of five instrumental compositions that the group recorded in the spring during socially distanced sessions at their rehearsal space in Hoboken, NJ.
On September 4th, Matador will reissue Yo La Tengo’s Electr-o-pura as part of the Revisionist History series. Now in a gatefold sleeve and cut from the original 58-minute master, the new reissue is pressed for the first time on two LPs to ensure the highest quality of audio the album has had on vinyl to date.
