Posts Tagged ‘Bella Union’

FATHER JOHN MISTY – ” Holy Shit ” The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Posted: January 15, 2016 in MUSIC
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Father John Misty performs a song off of his latest album “I Love You, Honeybear.”

Staying true to his name, Father John Misty often delivers live performances that transcend the stage and feel like out-of-body religious experiences. His appearance on last night’s installment of Colbert was no different.

Josh Tillman commanded his way through both the subdued and dramatic portions of I Love You, Honeybear highlight “Holy Shit” with grace as well as a conviction that perhaps only a preacher could muster up.
While the studio version uses a swelling orchestral arrangement to signal a shift in the song’s dynamics, here that instance is marked by a pretty epic drum solo, wild, flashing lights and all. Everything changes after that point — you could say it was a true “Holy Shit” kind of moment.

Its been a phenomenal year for FATHER JOHN MISTY. His breakthrough second album, I Love You, Honeybear figured highly in most Best of 2015 lists including being Number 1 in GQ, Loud And Quiet and Drowned In Sound, Number 2 in Shindig and Rough Trade Shops, Number 3 in The Guardian and Sunday Times, 5 in Uncut, 11 in Q and Number16 in NME. To add to these accolades Father John Misty has now been nominated for International Male Solo Artist at the year’s Brit Awards alongside Drake, Justin Bieber, Kendrick Lamar and The Weeknd.

In other news, with his two Roundhouse shows in May having long-since sold-out, Father John Misty recently announced a third and final performance at Camden’s iconic venue on Friday 20th May. Upcoming UK live dates below:

Wednesday 11th May – LEEDS – O2 Academy
Thursday 12th May – GLASGOW – O2 ABC **(SOLD OUT!)**
Friday 13th May – MANCHESTER – Albert Hall **(SOLD OUT!)**
Saturday 14th May – GATESHEAD – The Sage Gateshead **(SOLD OUT!)**
Sunday 15th May – NOTTINGHAM – Rock City
Tuesday 17th May – BRISTOL – Colston Hall
Wednesday 18th May – LONDON – Roundhouse **(SOLD OUT!)**
Thursday 19th May – LONDON – Roundhouse **(SOLD OUT!)**
Friday 20th May – LONDON – Roundhouse
Saturday 21st May – SOUTHAMPTON – O2 Guildhall

Critical acclaim for I Love You, Honeybear, out now on Bella Union:

“I Love You, Honeybear is a masterpiece. An at once personal and existential examination of a love affair and love itself, the album contains melodies other writers would kill for.”
Sunday Times (Album Of The Week)

“Hugely entertaining… Its hard to tell where Joshua Tillman ends and his alias Father John Misty begins – but it doesn’t matter when the songs sound this good.”
The Guardian – 5 Stars ***** (Album Of The Week)

“A revelation… A hugely ambitious, caustically funny album about the redemptive possibilities of love.”
NME – 9/10 (Album Of The Week)

“It wows the listener outright… An album that reaffirms your faith in the transformative powers of love.”
The Observer – 4 Stars **** (Album Of The Week)

“Tillman is one of music’s most arch satirists.”
Time Out – 4 Stars (Album Of The Week)

“A compelling and addictive listen. The gags are good, but the songs are always better.”
Loud And Quiet – 10/10

“For it’s black lyrical humour alone, I Love You, Honeybear would be a winner. The fact that it’s matched to towering songwriting and swirling orchestrations makes it masterful stuff… A provocative star is born.”
Q – 4 Stars ****

“An epic creation which takes its cues from the likes of Harry Nilsson, Dory Previn and John Grant, it belongs to that honourable tradition which sets beautifully orchestrated pop and AOR against brutally honest and sometimes comically profane sentiments, sung with dramatic, edge-of-the-cliff conviction… A truly compelling album.”
Uncut – 8/10

“Essentially an album-length love letter to his new wife, these are grand arrangements in the style of Randy Newman and Harry Nilsson.”
MOJO – 4 Stars ****

“A former Fleet Fox delivers something wondrous: a tart, timely, Broadway-bright boost for the devalued currency of the love song. Sneaking dark lyrics into plush settings in no new trick, but there’s no denying Tillman masters it.”
Independent On Sunday – 4.5/5 *****

“Richly layered and immaculately played, Tillman has a forte for poignant detail as well as some deliciously spicy wit.”
Metro – 4 Stars (Album Of The Week)

“His second album restates his lyrical brilliance… Strings, mariachi trumpets and harmonies work a treat, framing tunes that echo Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman.”
Daily Mail – 5 Stars *****

“FJM mixes tuneful Americana with heavy dollops of ’70s-style balladry. Much of it sounds like Elton John, circa Don’t Shoot Me, with the same blend of witty and powerful lyricism.”
Sunday Express – 5 Stars ***** (Album Of The Week)

“An album that evokes – and stands up to – the likes of Glen Campbell’s Reunion: The Songs Of Jimmy Webb and Gene Clark’s No Other, Tillman has created a sumptuously arranged set of gold-standard singer-songwriterly fare, the FJM guise has allowed Tillman to loosen up and write the most acerbic, carnal and surprisingly lovelorn material of his career.”
Record Collector – 4 Stars (New Album Of The Month)

“This breathtaking album will surely see Father John Misty walk away with all those end of year trophies.”
London In Stereo (Album Of The Month)

“FJM wields a grand echoing production that evokes the decadent 70s pop craftsmanship of Harry Nilsson, while tossing out some of the funniest lines since Dylan’s scornful peak.”
Mail On Sunday – 4 Stars ****

“Rich and rewarding… Slowed-down honky tonk and sumptuous orchestrations in Nothing Good Ever Happens at the Goddamn Thirsty Crow’ are reminiscent of classic Elton John while ‘Bored in the USA’ combines dreamy piano balladry with sardonic lyrics.”
Financial Times – 4 Stars ****

“an album by turns passionate and disillusioned, tender and angry, so cynical it’s repulsive and so openhearted it hurts.”
Pitchfork – 8.8

“I Love You, Honeybear is an exceptional work… A lush string-laden album anchored by a literate turn of phrase that’s by turns romantic, deeply cynical and often incredibly funny.”
Shindig – 4 Stars ****

“With his new Father John Misty record, Tillman is opening up and baring everything.”
DIY – 4 Stars ****

“Rich and absorbing… Brilliant stuff.”
The Sun – 4 Stars ****

“Tillman repeatedly hits the compositional sweet spot… The songs glow with gorgeous, flowing orchestrations and svelte arrangements.”
The Mirror – 4 Stars ****

LANDSHAPES – ” Stay “

Posted: January 14, 2016 in MUSIC
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Lost practices, hidden worlds, secret topics – Landshapes shift around the dark, magical borders of alternative culture, soaking up poetry and peccadillos, high art and low desires. On their second album Heyoon, released on Bella Union, Landshapes explore everything from a 17th Century tale about migratory space geese; tragic Dutch artist Bas Jan Ader who died on a failed Atlantic crossing, the desire to inhabit another’s psyche and nights out at drag bars. With Landshapes, anything could happen. Previously Lulu And The Lampshades, 2012 saw them accrue a wealth of guitar pedals, a fascination for mind-expanding noise and, following a mis-billing in Paris, a new name: Landshapes.

EXMAGICIAN – ” Job Done “

Posted: January 8, 2016 in MUSIC
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exmagician

Danny and James last broke cover as the songwriters behind Cashier No.9, whose lush, David Holmes-produced album To The Death Of Fun (Bella Union) brought them critical acclaim (Best Album at the NI Music Awards, shortlisted for Best Album of 2011 by the Irish Times), strong radio support from BBC 6 Music, Radio 1 and Radio 2 and a string of sold-out club dates and major festival appearances across the UK and Ireland.

 

Since then the pair have moved on and returned with something new. Self-written and produced with the help of Rocky O’Reilly (And So I Watch You From Afar, General Fiasco, Mojo Fury), their first EP as exmagician leaves behind the Laurel Canyon sheen of Cashier No.9 in favour of something louder, fuzzier and grittier, born of a playful attitude, greater confidence and a load of new pedals and synths. “It’s the dirt under the fingernails,” says Danny with a smile.

EXMAGICIAN is the collaboration between longtime friends Danny Todd and James Smith. The Belfast duo released their self-titled debut EP ‘exmagician’ on Friday 20th November via Bella Union.

The musical reinvention is apparent from the very first seconds of opening track Kiss That Wealth Goodbye, which steams in with a filthy riff, the product of a guitar and a synth melding together so you can’t tell which is which – a feature of the album. “It’s like early Beefheart meets Add N To X,” says Danny – a measure of just how broad the duo’s influences are. “David [Holmes] lent me a Korg MS-20 and then I bought one myself. That synth shaped a lot of the record.”

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PROMISE and the MONSTER – ” Time Of The Season “

Posted: January 8, 2016 in MUSIC
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Surely the most reliable record label on the planet, Bella Union seem to already be lining up some of the most exciting records of 2016, including Promise & The Monster’s first release for the label. The work of Stockholm based Billie Lindhall, “Feed The Fire” is an album that seeks to challenge the listener, seeking to find the beauty and pain in opening one’s emotions to destructive forces, There’s something in the guitar that reminds me of Echo & The Bunnymen, but in a broad picture, this isn’t like that at all. I’m struggling to find a “sounds like” comparison, but this should certainly appeal to fans of Cocteaus and The Bunnymen.

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Promise and The Monster is the stage name of based dark indie-dream-folk songstress Billie Lindahl. She started the project in 2007 and has released two albums. After a break of more than four years, her third album “Feed The Fire”  comes out tomorrow via Bella Union. It’s said that she simultaneously explores areas of light and dark, birth and death. These are not meant to be contradictory forces, but rather complimentary. And it’s all about finding the balance. She says the album’s title plays into that a little bit. Fire can kill you, but it can also give you life. So you have to keep it going and respect it.

Recorded with friend and producer Love Martinsen, the pair set out to create a darker and more mechanical version of the elegant pop-records of the 1960’s; as Billie puts it, “a Lee Hazlewood song on top of Nico’s late eighties records”. Feed The Fire is an ambitious record that pairs the hazy-atmospherics of Warpaint with the lush orchestral flourish of Scott Walker and the gloomy Southern-Gothic of Timber Timbre, a very good place to be we’re sure you’ll agree.

PROMISE and the MONSTER – ” Time of the Season “

Posted: December 6, 2015 in MUSIC
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From the upcoming album Feed The Fire, released January 22nd 2016, “‘Time Of The Season’ weaves between deep, gothy tumult and astral projections. Twangy guitars dart around synth horns, distant drums shuffles and, predominantly, Billie Lindalhl’s ethereal vocals that lead the meandering melody up an away like the wings on the instrumental body. And this new video, replete with dark shadows, glimpses of gold faces and beams of light peeking out match the song’s swirl perfectly.”. Stockholm’s Billie Lindahl, aka Promise and the Monster, struck by its dark beauty, it’s driving, melodic sounds and Lindahl’s frankly irresistible vocal. For her third album, Feed the Fire, out in January next year, she’s moved to the iconic Bella Union label,

promise and the monster

LOWLY – ” Fire “

Posted: September 28, 2015 in MUSIC
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Bella Union is very pleased to welcome Danish-quintet Lowly to their roster of excellent artists.

Their new EP ’Sink Way Into Me’ will be released on limited edition vinyl and digitally on Friday 30th October, featuring the new single ‘Fire’, which you can listem too here. Lowly appeared out of nowhere in April 2014 with the release of the bewitching ‘Daydreamers’ The sound, already so rich and full, was like being put under a magical spell.

Initially brought together- in hindsight I’d suggest by a visionary alchemist-purely to fulfil part of a short music project at the school they all attended, Nanna, Thomas, Steffen, Kasper and Soffie immediately found the chemistry so many musicians search years to find.

The individual influences of each, so different it seemed to begin with, truly give Lowly that unique sound, one that has been developing over the course of the last year. Recent shows and festivals have been received ecstatically and we were lucky enough to witness one of those performances at Spot Festival earlier this year. Simon Raymonde commented that simply, Lowly are one of the best young bands i have seen live in a long time. The music is at times intricate yet deep and sensual, the fascinating rhythms of drummer Steffen a perfect counterpoint to the gorgeous melodies of Soffie and Nanna. The overall effect of this in tandem with the liquid bass and keyboard lines creates a set that has you on the verge of crying and dancing all at the same time. There isn’t a band out there today like them, which is thrilling. To make music that is both emotional and influential at this early stage, shows that Lowly a band of limitless possibilities.

LOWLY will be visiting these shores in November to play a handful of shows.

Lowly

FATHER JOHN MISTY – ” The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apartment “

Posted: September 18, 2015 in MUSIC
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“The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apartment” off of the album, ‘I Love You, Honeybear’

This video is partially inspired by the LeBron James quote “It is precisely the superficial differences between people who are otherwise alike that inform the hostilities between them.” Special thanks to my body double Tyler who I had to kiss no fewer than two dozen times and whose breath I can still smell in my mind’s eye.

Father John Misty  off this year’s excellent I Love You, Honeybear. It’s a surreal romance that sees a suave Josh Tillman approaching a bummed-out version of himself at a bar. They hit it off and proceed to snort cocaine, go swimming, and, finally, hook up. (Coincidentally, this is a narrative that Young Thug touched upon earlier this week in his“Best Friend” video). The clip was directed by Drew Pearce, who co-wrote Iron Man 3 and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.

Pearce said, “It has been an honor to explore the palpable sexual chemistry that exists between Josh Tillman and himself. I hope this video does their enduring love affair justice.”

PINS – ” Live at Salford Media City ” 5th May 2015

Posted: June 6, 2015 in MUSIC
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PINS recorded live in session for the BBC at Media City UK in Salford on the 5th of May 2015.
Setlist
01 Too Little Too Late
02 Molly
03 Dazed By You
04 Young Girls

Life is full of fleeting moments: our new album Wild Nights is about recognising and enjoying these moments; it’s about living for today and feeling alive. We shared a lot of wild nights whilst making our new album

Faith Vernon – lead vocals & guitar
Lois MacDonald – guitar
Anna Donigan – bass
Kyoko Swan – keyboards
Sophie Galpin – drums

HANNAH COHEN – ” Claremont “

Posted: May 7, 2015 in MUSIC
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An emotional number from the singer’s ‘Pleasure Boy’ album. The first lines of “Claremont” suggest that Hannah Cohen has reached an emotional breaking point: I’m not gonna let you take this away from me / I’ve let you break almost everything. The track contains little besides softly-strummed guitar and Hannah Cohen’s quavery-but-resilient voice. Why won’t you just love me? she wonders, her tone beginning to wear—she’s almost past the point of caring.
The video for the song, directed by Jay Anania , expertly mirrors the elegant simplicity of the tune. Cohen sits alone at a half-cracked window with her guitar, and the camera spends a lot of time zoomed in close on her face. There’s a claustrophobic feel—you’re almost too close—that enforces the intense intimacy of the song. But there’s also a feeling of unknowability: despite the scrutiny of the lens, the singer’s face is half in shadow.
Cohen met Anania by accident. “A year and a half ago, my best friend convinced me to meet up with Jay about a strange (and very cool) experimental film he was planning to shoot, I politely agreed to meet him, but fully expected not to be interested because I’ve never acted before. That wasn’t an option. Jay’s excitement and creativity is infectious and before I knew it, my hair was eight inches shorter, platinum blonde and we were shooting scenes. When it came time to shoot my own videos for this album, the first person I thought of was Jay. He’s just the kind of director that you trust implicitly will ‘get it.’ Watch the video above, and catch Hannah Cohen on tour in June with none other than Paul Weller, founder of the Jam and the Style Council.

PINS – ” Young Girls “

Posted: May 6, 2015 in MUSIC
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Ridiculously rad Manchester, UK, quartet PINS are back with a new, second album, “Wild Nights”, out next month and we’re stoked to premiere the video for current single “Young Girls.” Sonically it’s indie-pop edged out with a feeling of questioning melancholy, and just a smidgen of menace, and from the second they hit the screen you wanna be part of their gang.

It’s not just that they look good—Saint Laurent’s Hedi Slimane is a firm fan—but even when they’re lazing listlessly on a bed, or staring impassively down the barrel of the lens, or, you know, casually wiping blood off a baseball bat, they’ve got a fall-in-line-and-don’t-fuck-with-us attitude that’s magnetic.

“Filmed in Manchester and at favourite look out point ‘The Edge’ in Alderly Edge,” explain PINS. “The video is the tale of four girls, thick as thieves. They are dreamers, they are bold and they are bonded by a secret. All for one and one for all.”
Meanwhile, director Amy Watson, had a very specific vision for this short: “I wanted to play around with the usual ‘girls just wanna have fun’ type of music video. You know, friendship, solidarity, road trips and all the usual tropes of girly bonding. I wanted to take that wholesomeness and push it to a weird place.”

Like we said, don’t mess with these young girls. Wild Nights is out on 9th June via Bella Union Records.

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