THEESatisfaction – QueenS

Liars – WIXIW

This is the Street Music Magazine album of the month for may 2012, for real.

Liars – Angus Andrew, Aaron Hemphill and Julian Gross – have announced further details of their eagerly awaited new album. Titled WIXIW (pronounced “wish you”), the 11-track album will be preceded by a single, No.1 Against The Rush.

WIXIW is released on Mute on 4 June 2012 and is their sixth studio album and the follow up to 2010’s critically lauded Sisterworld (The Quietus’ Album of the Year, #9 in the NME’s Albums of the Year who said of the album “…this incredible album is your passport to a better place.”).

Liars will return to Europe for live dates including Field Day – 2 June, and a series of intimate shows, including London’s XOYO – 12 June and Manchester’s Ruby Lounge – 15 June (full list below).

The title, WIXIW, is explained by Angus Andrew, “’wish you’ is a familiar and universal sentiment of longing and hope, but when misspelt becomes uniquely shrouded and difficult to interpret, which in many ways is representative of our music and the songs we wrote for this album”.

He continues, “the word being a palindrome offered us some comfort, and came from superstitious behavior that was the result of extreme uncertainty and doubt. The word and spelling struck us because it seemed to exude a special quality or power.”

Recorded in LA, self-produced by the band with additional production from Daniel Miller and mixed by Tom Biller, the album, is hard to shake, tough to pin down, and impossible to get out of one’s head even after an initial listen. Simultaneously the most accessible and most challenging release from these iconoclasts, it is both a summation of Liars’ work up to now, and a complete break from anything you’d ever heard the band do previously.

“If we aren’t confusing people, it’s not us,” Andrew laughs. “If we aren’t confusingourselves with what we do, then we’ve failed.”

WIXIW Tracks:
1. The Exact Colour Of Doubt
2. Octagon
3. No.1 Against The Rush
4. A Ring On Every Finger
5. Ill Valley Prodigies
6. WIXIW
7. His And Mine Sensations
8. Flood To Flood
9. Who Is The Hunter
10. Brats
11. Annual Moon Words

Live:
02.06. Field Day, London
07.06. Nouveau Casino, Paris
08.06. Tivoli De Helling, Utrecht
09.06. AB Club, Brussels
10.06. Roter Salon der Volksbühne, Berlin
12.06. XOYO, London
15.06. Ruby Lounge, Manchester

Concerts in Munich/GER

Gonjasufi – The Blame

Do. 24.05. Obits*, Kafe Kult

Mudhoney/w Rocket From The Tombs

Mo. 28.05. Billy Bragg, Ampere

Di. 05.06. Tortoise, Feierwerk

Mo. 25.06. Gonjasufi*, Feierwerk

Mo. 02.07. Shearwater, Feierwerk

Do. 12.07. Patti Smith, Rathausplatz Dachau

Do. 19.07. Warpaint, Freiheiz

Di. 14.08. Mark Lanegan, Freiheiz

Do. 18.10. John Cale, Freiheiz

Do. 29.11. Calexico, Muffathalle

Di. 04.12. The Black Keys*, Olympiahalle

*Concerts we visit

Quantic & Alice Russell With The Combo Barbaro – Look Around The Corner

Ladies and Gentlemen,
this is the album of the month for april. And yes, it is funky. And yes, it is jazzy. And yes, Street Music Magazine is dancing.

Quantic & Alice Russell With The Combo Barbaro – Look Around The Corner (Tru Thoughts)

Producer, musician, DJ and composer Quantic and singer/songwriter Alice Russell are two of the UK’s best loved independent artists. Through their respective solo projects and various acclaimed collaborations over the last decade, they have become leading lights of the international funk, soul and alternative dance music scene.

The two all-time biggest selling artists on Tru Thoughts records, the label that brought them together, Quantic and Alice Russell have each captured the World’s imagination not just for their natural born talents but for their unique and refreshingly passionate take on their craft, with an authentic yet creative approach. They both played a pivotal role in the UK’s funk and soul resurgence of the early 2000s (out of which sprang which spawned the hits of the likes of Mark Ronson, Amy Winehouse and Adele). With ever-growing international fanbases, sell-out tours, and coverage across the World’s music and cultural media they are now well established artists; Quantic released a critically acclaimed ‘Best Of’ compilation last year, celebrating 11 years and 14 albums on Tru Thoughts, while Alice Russell regularly plays to thousands both at home and abroad, and is recording her fifth longplayer.

2012 sees the release of ‘Look Around The Corner’, the first ever full collaborative album from these two musical soulmates. The sound of this intoxicating record mixes sweet soul and blues with overtones of folk and gospel, and the inimitable swing of Quantic’s world-renowned outfit the Combo Bárbaro, who form the core band. Recording at Quantic’s Sonido del Valle studio in his adopted home city of Cali, Colombia, producer/musician Quantic and singer/songwriter Russell had the space and time to revel in their creative chemistry, revisiting and building on the spirit of their previous collaborative tracks which have peppered the last decade (big hitters include “Pushin’On” for Quantic Soul Orchestra and “Sweet Calling” for Russell’s solo project). For legions of hopeful fans around the World, this is the culmination of a tense will-they-won’t-they storyline, and ‘Look Around The Corner’ proves good things come to those who wait.

The first single – the album’s title track – has been added to the official BBC 6Music Playlist for daily rotation, amongst a raft of early media support all over the world including national radio playlisting in Germany, France, the Netherlands and the USA. With Alice Russell’s versatile, shimmering vocals and Quantic’s trademark warm production alongside big string sections, spine-tingling harmonies, unshakable hooks and an uplifting crescendo, it is no surprise. Once the lead track has lit the touch paper, the album abounds with melodies and momentum from there on in, brimming with big, classic-sounding yet fresh and original songs.

Quantic, aka Will Holland, moved to Cali, Colombia in 2007, and the sessions that became ‘Look Around The Corner’ took place over two visits that Russell made in the intervening four years. Pushing the concept of their previous collaborations, reflecting the locale and the players’ backgrounds, Quantic and Alice Russell infused the style with a Latin undertone; the blues and soul sound still takes centre stage though, rather like the soul records made in Miami and New York in the ‘70s, or the disco from the Bronx. Chicago’s Chess label was a key influence on the production aesthetic, and a mutual love of Minnie Riperton fed into some of the vocal melodies.

Holland and Russell reminisce on what was clearly a personally and creatively fulfilling experience for both artists:

Holland: “Once I’d left Brighton, I yearned to make more music with Alice – it was something that I missed being out in Colombia… Alice was among the first to come out and visit me and collaborate with the new musicians I had found. When you hear of artists taking trips to record in exotic locations you always imagine Caribbean scenery, romantic sunsets… but this trip was a little more urban – recording in the heart of the city, in the smog and hustle bustle of downtown Cali… We also performed an acoustic set in a friend’s bar called Saloon one night, and travelled a little by road. I remember us travelling down to nearby Pasto in my car and listening to Dorothy Ashby on repeat”.

Russell adds, “On the first few tracks we ever did together, way back in the past, we never even met – we just did it remotely, being busy with other projects. So it was a real luxury this time around to be able to get away from everything else, and go over to Cali to be there solely to spend time and make this music. We were rediscovering influences that we both love. It was also my first time recording with the Combo Bárbaro, which was great.”

Holland agrees, “It’s true. I think this was a far more intimate recording experience than anything we had previously done. In a way, being out in Colombia allowed to isolate ourselves a little and concentrate on the real essence of what we wanted to accomplish.”

Joining Quantic and Alice Russell on this project are Mike Simmonds (Alice Russell’s regular strings guru who joined them in Colombia from London); as well as Alfredito Linares, bassist Fernando Silva and conga player Freddy Colorado, all from the Combo Bárbaro. Wilson Viveros, from coastal town Buenaventura, was an invited drummer; also on drums for some songs was Jazz drummer Larry Joseph from Cali. Alfredito is the instrumentalist star of the show, sprinkling his magical and charismatic brand of bluesy, boogaloo piano throughout the album.

Quantic & Alice Russell With The Combo Barbaro – Look Around The Corner

Elfin Saddle – The Wind Come Carry

The Melvins – Freak Puke

Freak Puke is an upcoming album by the Melvins, which is scheduled to be released June 5th, 2012 through Ipecac Recordings. It features a slightly different lineup consisting of Buzz Osborne on guitar and vocals, Dale Crover on drums and Trevor Dunn on bass. This lineup has toured together under the moniker “Melvins Lite”. This is the first album since 2004′s Pigs of the Roman Empire to not feature the bands current lineup with bassist/vocalist Cody Willis and drummer Jared Warren.

1. Mr. Rip Off
2. Inner Ear Rupture
3. Baby, Won’t You Weird Me Out
4. Worm Farm Walt
5. A Growing Disgust
6. Leon vs. The Revolution
7. Holy Barbarians
8. Freak Puke
9. Let Me Roll It
10. Tommy Goes Berserk

Hanni El Khatib – You Rascal You

Concerts in Munich

Brian Blade

Di. 10.04. Xiu Xiu, Feierwerk
Do. 12.04. Big Sir, Ampere
Do. 19.04. Pelican, Feierwerk
Sa. 21.04. Brian Blade, Unterfahrt
Andrew W.K., Feierwerk
Do. 24.05. Mudhoney, Feierwerk
Di. 05.06. Tortoise, Feierwerk
Do. 12.07. Patti Smith, Rathausplatz Dachau
Do. 19.07. Warpaint, Freiheiz
Di. 25.09. Fu Manchu, Feierwerk
Di. 04.12. The Black Keys, Olympiahalle

*Concerts we visit

Rocky Votolato – Sparklers