These are exciting times in the Civil Civic camp. After years away from Australia, they are finally returning to the bosom of their beloved country to play some shows and drink beer and shit. Plus Remote Control Records are releasing their debut album ‘Rules’ on 01 February…

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Fortitude Valley, Black Bear Lodge, 07 February  |  Tickets
Sydney, Brighton Up Bar  |  Tickets
Altona, ATP I’ll Be Your Mirror, 16 February  |  Info
Melbourne, The Tote, 19 February  |  Tickets

On 16 and 17 November, our friends at The Local are presenting a festival in the Crouch End area of London, cleverly entitled ‘The End’. Utilising a wealth of diverse rooms they’ll present a enviable line-up of musical talent, not least the wonderful Gravenhurst, who’ll headline at the Music Palace which we’re running for the weekend.

Tickets are £20 but if you book before 19 October you’ll only pay £12.50, giving you access to all venues, assuming they’re not full when you roll up.

Here’s the Facebook page, for all you modern people out there.

We saw the talented Sophia Brous supporting Jens Lekman at London’s Hackney Empire last week, with a certain Mr. Aaron Cupples of Civil Civic on – unlikely as this seems – acoustic guitar.

She and Jens became pals when he was living in Melbourne, and she duets with him on the track ‘Erica America‘ on his new album. Pitchfork liked it.

Touted as a “human powerhouse” and “prodigious chanteuse” (thanks, Rolling Stone), Melbourne’s Brous possesses an uncompromising vision for pop. Equal parts pop auteur and exotic diva, she weaves together a mesmerising palette of ’60s soundtrack fetishism, shimmering psychedelia and industrial lounge, with nods to pop traditions stretching from Japan to Brazil to Eastern Europe, showcasing stunning melodies, crowned by an extraordinarily powerful voice.

Since releasing her debut EP through Onelouder/Universal at the close of 2011, with intoxicating lead single ‘Streamers’ (video below), she received widespread critical praise, national airplay and award nominations across Australia. She’s sung on Bollywood soundtracks and Hollywood film scores, curated festivals, and kept up a constant schedule of new projects and collaborations with artists including Michael Rother (Neu!), the aforementioned Jens Lekman, Francois Tetaz (Gotye, Kimbra), Brian Chase (YYYs, USA) and Mick Harvey (Bad Seeds, Birthday Party), who makes up part of her live band when she plays as a full-five piece.

She’s unusual.

We like her a lot.

Click: homepage, Soundcloud, Twitter, Facebook

Jenny Hval has written a book.

Inn I Ansiktet (Sings With Her Eyes) is about the evils of the visual media: the murky footage of a naked Paris Hilton, images of the terrified Nancy in Nightmare on Elm Street, the bizarre caricatures from Paradise Hotel. It’s about making your voice heard through feedback at a rock concert, about the way the voice changes when you speak another language, and about being harassed by a stranger in Perth.

But again and again Hval returns to Carl Th. Dreyer’s 1928 silent movie Jeanne d’Arc, to which she performed music in 2011; to the face of Renée Falconetti, the actress who embodied Jeanne; to a woman who heard the voice of God inside her own body.

Inn I Ansiktet is a fascinating, critical exploration of the voice; what it means, what it expresses. Jenny Hval’s personal experiences as a musician and singer illuminate – and are illuminated by – intriguing reflections on the female voice, on its constraints and its transgressive potential, as these appear in art and popular culture.

Ja Ja Ja returns to The Lexington after our summer break…September’s roll call features the dramatic electronic pop of Sandra Kolstad (Norway), the atmospheric post-R&B of The xx’s new favourite band Phantom (Finland), and the gentle alt-folk of The White Album (Denmark).

Tickets £5 advance, £6 door.

7.30 doors
8.20 The White Album (30)
9.15 Phantom (30)
10.10 Sandra Kolstad (30)
10.45 Project Fresh Socks DJs

Sandra Kolstad makes electronic pop music that’s danceable, explosive and extravagant. She’s playlist and national newspaper material on her home turf, nominated at Oslo’s by:Larm festival for a new internationally-breaking artist award, and early responses to her forthcoming album'(Nothing Lasts) Forever’ – out 28th September on Trust Me Records – suggest this was as much a premonition than prediction. Known for her ambitious, highly visual performances, Kolstad is a classically trained pianist, swathed in kaleidoscopic projected lights, accompanied by noise musician Marck Fuck and long-standing collaborator Francis Petter Eldh, a Swedish jazz musician and improvisor.

In Helsinki January 2012, two musicians and startup entrepreneurs (Tommi Koskinen from Kitkaliitto and AudioDraft with Hanna Toivonen from Mukava Music) combined forces to become the beguiling electronic duo Phantom. They launched their first EP ‘Scars’ and music video at SXSW 2012 in Austin, Texas and since then they have drawn attention from around the world including a blog post from The xx and a positive Pitchfork review. They have also played several gigs abroad provoking rapturous responses, with the show incorporating stunning realtime Kinect visuals and an original handmade instrument (midi theremin) affectionately called UFO.

The White Album are from Copenhagen and consist of three very good friends – Claus Arvad, Frederik Vedersø, Jakob Eilsø- with big beards and very big hearts. Rooted in folk and indie they make music that transcends structural boundaries of both a practical and musical nature. Everybody is a frontman in this band, each distinct voice and composition finds it’s place in a soulful conglomerate of well-seasoned musical spirits. Just as the original ‘White Album’, there’s no right or wrong. Just ideas. Mostly wonderful ones.

The new issue of the UK’s finest music paper, The Stool Pigeon, features what we consider to be the most thorough, well-researched article on the state of UK music festivals that we’ve read. We were interviewed for it, and great credit goes to the writer, Ben Cardew, for a proper piece of investigative journalism.

Read it here.

As Civil Civic announced on their website yesterday, they have “a track recoded in the spirituous sessions for the ‘RULES’ LP. We couldn’t find a way for it to fit into the LP so we dropped it. We still think it’s a slamming fun ditty so we are throwing it up here for y’all. Cut a rug…”

We’re very pleased to be involved with this show, conceived and hosted by Laurie McNamee, to raise money to help Jason Molina and his family meet some of the medical costs accrued in his struggle against the ravages of alcohol and drugs. You can read more about Jason’s situation here, a pretty honest account from a friend here and the latest word from Jason himself here. All those involved in this show have been close to Jason in some way, some of us fleetingly; in our case during his many shows at our old venue The Luminaire.

Laurie has amassed a fine cast of musicians who’ll come together at The Macbeth on 9th September 2012, as follows:

Alasdair Roberts
Emit Bloch
The Mariner’s Children (solo)
Dog Ears
Jess Bryant
Fierce County
Ali Warren
Rafaeli and The Real
Brigid Power-Ryce
Vintage Synths
Peter Delaney
Laurie McNamee
… and special guests to be announced soon enough

Alongside us, the show is being promoted by beware! the crows bite, The Local and Stroke Your Beard.

Doors 7.30
£15 at WeGotTickets

More information here

The Macbeth
70 Hoxton Street
London N1 6LP
Map here

Ja Ja Ja returns to The Lexington for the last time before our summer break, but don’t worry; we’re back in September.

Opening proceedings is Sansa. This Finnish songwriter – awarded Live Debutant of The Year by the Helsinki Festival in 2010 – has supported everyone from Martha Wainwright to Robert Plant in her homeland. Schooled at the capital’s Pop & Jazz Conservatory and courted by major labels around Europe, she’s steadfastly stuck to her creative calling, exploring a love of sound and film at Helsinki University. Her debut album Savior showcases a voice of delicacy and purity, while her music toys with folk, pop, electronica and the occasional ode to disco.

Next up are the Oslo-based quartet Maribel, whose critically-acclaimed, shoegazing debut album Aesthetics in 2009 blended established their ability to “soundtrack the most hallucinogenic dream or hellish nightmare at the flick of a switch” (Drowned in Sound). Their follow-up on Splendour took inspiration from classic film scores by Barry, Mancini and Morricone, revealing dark, slow-burning, atmospheric dream-pop.

Closing the evening are Denmark’s Reptile Youth, who’re gaining quite the reputation for party-bringing, crowd-surfing, partial-nudity and the like. This trio’s super-infectious post/synth-pop/rock has had all manner of media outlets righteously salivating.

“Occupy Wall Street now has an A-list soundtrack: the compilation Occupy This Album.” – Rolling Stone

Music For Occupy is a compilation of music by, for, and inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement and the 99%, released 15th May 2012.  Among many great artists such as Mogwai, Ani DiFranco, Patti Smith, Tom Morello, Yo La Tengo, Anti-Flag, Willie Nelson, there’s one of our own: Hanne Hukkelberg, who contributed the song ‘On My Wall’

See the full track listing here.

Listen to a digital sampler of the album here.

Watch Hanne live in London, 30 April 2012, presented by Bird on The Wire