The 109’s follow their 2017 eponymous debut with ‘Hollow Point’, a set of 11 new songs that showcases the band’s combination of ferocious rock riffage, searing lead guitar breaks, and harmony vocals. The 109’s are an English four-piece who celebrate a mutual love of the late ’60s and early ’70s rock – Sabbath, Zeppelin, AC/DC, The Who, MC5, Grand Funk Railroad. This melting pot of influences has created a blistering, dynamic fusion of all that is best in rock, and their music has garnered praise from DJs, festival promoters and gig-goers alike.
The musicians come from strong improvisational backgrounds and write their songs as a collective, jamming until they find riffs, melody lines and unusual rhythms and cadences that can be boiled down into short, punchy song structures that strut effortlessly through complex, unexpected changes. The album has been produced by Jason Wilson, at Stakeout Studios who has produced bands such as ‘Don Broco’ and ‘You Me At Six’. Jason has translated the tremendous power and passion of the band’s live performances into recorded songs that have an equal sense of aggression and grandeur.
On “So Long” Matty says:
“Sometimes a song begins not with a melody or a lyric, but with a guitarist suddenly discovering a unique tone or sound. This riff appeared literally seconds after I plugged in a freshly purchased effects pedal, an Octave Multiplexer, which gives the guitar that distinctive phat fuzzy tone. We added some lyrics that pay homage to our interest in grungy, dystopian sci-fi and the rest of the song wrote itself”.
Lead guitarist, Matty P, is also an author and member of the UK Crime Writers Association. He has published four novels in the UK to date – Scarecrow, Stolen Lives, Broken Arrow and Werewolf – under the name Matthew Pritchard, and was nominated for the CWA’s Gold Dagger Award.
The band’s line up is as follows:
Drums – Steve Collings
Vocals and Guitar – David Gambril
Bass – Andrew Horstead
Guitar and Vocals – Matthew Pritchard
LINKS:
https://soundcloud.com/the-109s/sets/album
https://www.facebook.com/the109s
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-109s/id1153559243
https://twitter.com/the109s
https://www.instagram.com/the109s
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX-DfgIKTdyQmAoBtLCjFUA
http://www.the109s.com
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The Silence Factory – High
Windsor, Ontario rock band The Silence Factory has released the Official Video for “High,” the second single off of their upcoming EP due out later this year. Produced by Juno award-winning and Grammy-nominated producer Gavin Brown (3 Days Grace, Billy Talent) and the video directed by Jendo Shabo from Moonjump Productions.
The band formed in October of 2015 and has been playing shows across Canada ever since. The band entered a number of competitions in 2016 and placed in the top 10 for their region in CBC Searchlight and took first place in the Windsor/Walkerville Fringe Festival Battle of the Bands. Notably, in June of 2016, the band took first place in Rocksearch sponsored by 97.7 HTZ FM out of Niagara. This prestigious contest helped launch the careers of many rock bands including the Standstills, Glorious Sons, My Darkest Days, The Trews and Finger Eleven.
Their debut CD released in February 2016 has received critical acclaim from Canadian Beats magazine and the Windsor Independent magazine. Canadian Beats had this to say about the album:
Drawing on modern rock acts Reignwolf, the Living End, Billy Talent, Our Lady Peace, and Matthew Good, mixed with the classic sounds of The Beatles and Led Zeppelin, NM&TSF are helping usher in a new wave of emo-rock with the listenability of pop, the intensity of emo, and the power of hard rock. This band has a sound that the riff aficionado, the hip dance, and the tortured writer can go to on a date together and all enjoy the show.
In music cinema and folklore, audiences appreciate the story of the long term musician plugging away for decades until finally making it, are awed by the suddenly risen star, the musician who is discovered and instantly famous, or, through a series of fortunate musical events, creates a spontaneous and rapid name for themselves.
NM&TSF fall into the latter category, a group who, since forming last November, has had a series of serious commercial accolades including winning the 2016 97.7 HTZ-FM’s Rock search, being a Regional Top 10 finalist for CBC Searchlight, and being the 2016 Windsor-Walkerville Fringe Festival Battle Winners. NM&TSF carries a mighty rock and roll axe drawing serious blood with each swing.
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Voice of Aiko – Prescription Dream
In collaboration with Voice of Aiko, Arts Council England, and charities REST, MIND & APRIL, Enya Belak Gupta unveils a powerful new film to help tackle the global prescription drug crisis. Prescription Dream is a slick and stylish documentary that illustrates with chilling insight the terrible impact prescription drugs can have. The tense, unnerving tone employed throughout represents the helplessness and confusion of dependency sufferers. The film was released online on Wednesday 17th October 2018 with the aim of generating cultural discourse around this pressing issue. Working with Stakk Media and partner charities, the Prescription Dream will be released with a weekly vlog series sharing people’s personal stories of their experiences with prescription drugs. Voice of Aiko is also running musical workshops with those affected as part of the campaign.
What drove us to launch this project was hearing the shocking statistics and stories about what potential harm medications prescribed by the doctor can cause and how easily this can be helped by us just talking about it more, allowing people to make informed choices. We hope that with this emotional song, Enya’s stunning video, the artistic workshops and the weekly vlog we can raise awareness on this very important subject.
For more information please visit:
http://benzoinfo.com
http://www.w-bad.org
http://www.april.org.uk
http://www.mindincamden.org.uk/resources/articles/minor-tranxDirected and Concept by Enya Belak Gupta
Starring Calista Kazuko
Director of Photography: Aadhar Gupta
Edited by Enya Belak Gupta
1st AD: Elena Osipova
Gaffer: Sam Robinson-Horley
Spark: Ana Ferreira De Lima
Camera Assistant: Philip Reinking
Makeup Designer: Esmeralda Velia
Styling and Production Design: Enya Belak Gupta & Calista Kazuko
Color Correction: Teleking, Ljubljana
Grader: Fran Sokolić
Executive Producer: Aadhar GuptaShot at Leman Locke Hotel in London.
Music by Calista Kazuko, Samim Winiger, Miguel Toro & Jack Brown
In collaboration with London based charity REST (MIND) who provides support for individuals who may be experiencing difficulties due to Benzodiazepine dependency.
SPECIAL THANKS:
- Melanie Davis
- Jason Harrington
- Millie Kieve
- Locke Hotels
- Zoran Mihailović
- Sam Robinson-Horley
- Samantha Sheridan
- Lorraine Solomons
- Heather Yeomans
- Pink&Green Colors
About Voice of Aiko
Voice of Aiko is a creative collective of musicians, filmmakers, and artists joining forces to campaign for real societal change. Aiko’s first project Prescription Dream sees founder Calista Kazuko collaborate with fellow musicians Samim, Miguel Toro, and Jack Brown and filmmaker Enya Belak Gupta to spotlight an ongoing global prescription drug epidemic. In England alone, there are an estimated 1.5 million people suffering from medically prescribed benzodiazepine dependency, and more than 1 million patients are taking dependence-forming drugs unnecessarily. Antidepressants are also a major problem, with statistics showing that roughly 50 Americans die from prescription painkiller overdoses every day. In partnership with charities REST, MIND & APRIL, Aiko’s Prescription Dream project will raise awareness and open dialogue on this devastating issue. The campaign includes a series of musical workshops with Let’s All Create which use art to help heal those who have been affected. Voice of Aiko is grateful to be supported with public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.SOURCE: Official Bio
LINKS:
https://twitter.com/VoiceofAiko
https://www.facebook.com/VoiceofAiko
https://www.instagram.com/VoiceofAiko
https://tinyurl.com/voiceofaiko-spotify -
Rude Audio – To The Sun
Rude Audio is proud to announce their new ‘Rude Redux’ EP, slated for release on October 8, 2018, through Zirkus Records. Featuring five tracks, this new release sees the band refine their trademark sound, and fusing their love of woozy dub with throbbing electronics. Here, house music, flecked with Arab and Indian vibes, also shamelessly cavorts with dub.
Ahead of this release, Rude Audio present the lead track ‘To The Sun’, complete with a new virtual reality-inspired video, directed by Ali Ingle. This week, Andrew Weatherall also just premiered two tracks from the new EP on his radio show.
Rude Audio is a South London-based collective with a history of putting on fantastic underground parties, releasing the occasional dubby Balearic opus, engineering for the disparate likes of Paul Weller, Lemon Jelly, and Royal Blood and generally mooching about anywhere that doesn’t have bouncers or operate a dress code.
The core of the collective are Mark Ratcliff (whose releases have been played by the likes of Andrew Weatherall, Laurent Garnier, Kris Needs, Don Letts, Graeme Park and Rob de Bank, as well as BBC Radio 6’s Nemone and Gideon Coe), Owain Lloyd (mixing engineer for everyone from Oakenfold and Weller to Niall Horan) and Dave [The Rave] Brennan (ex-The End recordings and key player at tech house dons’ label, Bombis).
The EP represents a progression from Rude Audio’s latest ‘Rudest’ EP. More hooks, more chug, and more Middle Eastern and Indian influences, while retaining an underlying commitment to the dubby end of the spectrum. Inspired by the more open-minded dancefloors proliferating in the south and east London, where world music might brush up against techno, dub and indie dance, the ‘Rude Redux’ EP operates between 108 and 120 BPM – fast enough to dance to, slow enough to let the music breathe.
Inspired by the new, eclectic, lower BPM spirit found on more discerning south and east London dancefloors in recent years, the ‘Rude Redux’ EP has allowed Rude Audio to bury into its abiding love of dub, leftfield house, and middle eastern sounds and weld everything to a chunky four-to-the-floor anchor.
The Rude Audio sound takes dub and house as its starting point and heads out into analog electronic waters, where the chuggy, Balearic spirit of the early 90s progressive house meets its more modern, low slung counterpart – think A Love From Outer Space, indie dance and nu disco.
“Whenever we are producing and getting excited by our output, we always insist that things sound as good as early Future Sound Of London singles and remixes. More broadly, we continue to be inspired by the more open and eclectic dancefloors of the early 90s and their spiritual counterparts today. Long may the Balearic spirit continue to resonate,” says Mark Ratcliff.
This EP includes a remix by Rich Lane, one of the best underground remixers and producers in the UK electronic music. His tunes are spun by all the key players in the new Balaeric scene – Andrew Weatherall, Sean Johnson, Daniel Avery and Logan Fisher. His sound has spread across dancefloors such as A Love From Outer Space with some of his recent remixes already considered classics.
“Rich Lane’s remix of ‘Steady State’ is our favorite remix of the last 5 years, and his remix of our own ‘To The Half Moon’ is right up there alongside it, in our humble opinion,” says Ratcliff.
Rude Audio continues their residency at Flaxonptootch in Kentish Town, London, the first Thursday of every month, where art shows mutate into parties later in the evening. He is joined by an extra special guest this September.
Rude Audio will host a launch party for the EP in mid-October supported by some special guests, more detail to follow.
“Absolutely loving this, thats brand new and extremely good for you”
– Don Letts, BBC 6“This is indeed amazing – this is Rude Audio”
– Andrew Weatherall“Insofar as modern players on the electronic music scene go, Rude Audio number among the most dynamic, stirring the pot to concoct blends that transcend sub-genre, weaving brilliant ethnic hues into their musical fabric”
– Big Takeover Magazine“Rude Audio might not be a household name in the electronic music world, but it may just become one if they continue making music of this caliber… a seamless hypnotic Balaeric spell”
– Overblown MagazineLINKS:
http://www.rudeaudio.net
http://www.facebook.com/rudeaudio
http://www.rudeaudio.net/blog
http://twitter.com/RudeAudio
http://soundcloud.com/rudeaudio
http://www.youtube.com/user/ThatDirtyEcho/videos