Amelia Rivas and Christian Pinchbeck don't just sing about feverish, frayed and  fractured romances – in the three years since forming  Elephant, they've been living one.

Their first recordings, recorded in the strung out early mornings after the night before, were delirious and light-headed. Rivas’ stream of conscious lyricism combined with Pinchbeck’s innate melodic nous to create vignettes of delight and wonder.  A debut single followed, 2011’s woozy Ants, followed by the Assembly EP.   But before they had a chance to capitalise on the growing acclaim around them the duo’s relationship broke down, almost to the point of no return.

That seemed to be Elephant’s graveyard.  Yet an unexpected rapprochement in late 2012, and a renewed musical hunger saw Rivas and Pinchbeck reconcile.  The first fruit was this year’s gauzy single Skyscraper, which announced their return in spectacular fashion, with Rivas’ swooping vocals allied to a spectral chorus creating an eerie, lens-flared 3 minute wonder of song.

Now, new release Shapeshifter provides confirmation that Elephant are truly back as a force to be reckoned with. “I flew to the moon to mirror you and I saw the future” sings Rivas, with a raw melancholy and nostalgic longing. A sumptuous missive of love lost and lessons learned, that sparkles with charm, optimism, and the sort of lush swoonsome string arrangements that reach into your chest and wring your heart dry. 

Backed by the sparse and stretched out Snowday, as icily cool as it sounds, full of chiaroscuro contrasts and flickering atmospherics, it’s a release that suggests their debut album is set to be one of the standout albums of 2014.

ELEPHANT LINKS: 
 
Facebook - www.facebook.com/elephanttheband    
Twitter – www.twitter.com/ElephantTwit  
Label -  www.memphis-industries.com


Elephant - Shapeshifter

From the new album The Scene Between out 23 March (UK), 24 March (US).

www.thegoteam.co.uk


The Go! Team - The Scene Between

Papercuts - Future Primitive (The Go! Team Remix)

Tokyo Police Club - Your English is Good

The Pipettes - Pull Shapes

El Perro Del Mar - God Knows (You Gotta Give to Get)

Dungen - Panda

Barbarossa - Solid Soul

Barbarossa Imager - out 11th May

Preorder the album http://smarturl.it/imageritunes 

Barbarossa - Home (feat Jose Gonzales)

Barbarossa Imager - out 11th May

Download from www.barbarossamusic.com 

Barbarossa - Imager

Outfit - On The Water On The Way

Hooray for Earth - True Loves

From the album Infinite Summer. Out 22/1 on Memphis Industries.

Preorder from http://www.nzca-lines.com

NZCA Lines - Two Hearts

Infinite Remixes

Two Hearts (Kid Francescoli Remix)

NZCA LINES - Two Hearts (Kid Francescoli Remix)

Field Music - Disappointed (French 79 Remix)

NZCA LINES - Two Hearts (French 79 Remix)

Lier

Griptide

Barbarossa - Griptide

Poliça's Lay Your Cards Out, from the album Give You The Ghost.

Poliça - Lay Your Cards Out

Remix of Frankie Rose's song Pair of Wings by Time and Space Machine

From the Frankie Rose album Interstellar.

(p) Memphis Industries Ltd 2012 under licence from Slumberland

Frankie Rose  - Pair of Wings (Time and Space Machine Remix)

Taken from Malihini's debut album 'Hopefully, Again' (out 08 March 2019) - http://smarturl.it/hopefully_again

Phantasma (master 1)

Malihini - Hopefully, Again

Brand new single from Stats - taken from debut album Other People's Lives.  Order the album on LP, CD, DL here : http://smarturl.it/otherpeopleslives

Catch Stats live in 2019 as follows:

16 Feb – Rough Trade East, London – 1.30pm
17 April – Bermondsey Social Club, London
27 April – Are You Listening Festival?, Reading
7 May - Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds
8 May – The Hug & Pint, Glasgow
9 May – YES, Manchester

Other People's Lives

Stats - The Family Business

Jesca Hoop unveils her brand-new single “Red White and Black” taken from her forthcoming album STONECHILD. Order STONECHILD here : http://smarturl.it/stonechild

Having previously shared the Lucius featuring track “Shoulder Charge”, Red White and Black is perhaps the most overtly political track on the album, as Hoop explains: 
 
“Red White and Black is a poem, like a snapshot, set in post civil war USA when slavery was "abolished" and swiftly rebranded by the prison system.  It’s a personal acknowledgement and willingness to join the conversation for change.”

She continues “I write from personal perspective, about relationships mostly and I don’t find much music in politics, but as hate crimes increase, women’s rights are being rolled back, and the two nations I call home are building walls… well, the political has become deeply personal.”

Produced by John Parish (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding, This Is The Kit), STONECHILD was recorded in Hoop’s long time home Manchester – a first, given previously she’s ventured back to her native California to record.  Parish’s minimal and purist approach helped clarify Hoop in her ideas subtly yet effectively realigning her sound. The simplified arrangements draw focus to the fundamental sophistication of the songs.

The album title was settled after a trip to a Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum, where the Stonechild is a sad, compelling display of an unborn foetus carried by a woman for over 30 years. “They become a hard ball of bones, a rock. Phonetically, it's a beautiful sounding word - hard and soft – but also, I am taken by the idea of carrying something for a long time, perhaps in secret and then giving it up. I hope I have made an album of substance. There is meat on the bone” 

While Hoop’s trademark finger-plucked guitar and ethereal textures remain, the songs and their presentation are ever more direct. “He – Parrish - was a gentle collaborator until he killed one of my darlings” Hoop jests. “I’ve never been so brutally edited, and I wasn’t shy about expressing my discomfort at the sight of my work on the cutting room floor. He said, you will forgive me, and in some way I think I actually enjoyed that treatment…being stripped back to the bare basics…albeit painfully.  ‘Stonechild’ ventures further into fresh territory with other voices joining the narrative, with Kate Stables (aka This is the Kit) Rozi Plain and Lucius singing the choruses and expanding the sensual depth of the sonic bloom.

These rich and curious songs derived from themes of our troubled times speak Hoop’s heart and mind from her empathetic yet tough loving centre point. With writing so fluid, so natural the result is an album where everything is truly meant.  

Jesca is touring throughout 2019 as follows:

06 Jul - Swadlincote, Timber Festival 
14 Jul – San Francisco, Shinefest @ Bottom of the Hill 
17 Jul – Los Angeles, Bootleg Theatre
22 Jul – Brooklyn, Rough Trade 
15-18 Aug – Brecon Beacons, Green Man Festival
01 Oct – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
02 Oct – Bristol, Fiddlers
03 Oct – Manchester, HOME
04 Oct – London, Barbican
05 Oct – Cambridge, Storey's Field Centre
07 Oct – Gateshead, Sage
08 Oct – Liverpool, Leaf
09 Oct – Dublin, Soundhouse
11 Oct – Glasgow, Oran Mor
12 Oct – Edinburgh, Pleasance Theatre
13 Oct – Birmingham, Hare & Hounds
15 Oct – Paris, Petit Bain
16 Oct – Brussels, Botanique Rotonde
17 Oct – Luxembourg, Brandbau
19 Oct – Hamburg, Hakken
20 Oct – Copenhagen, Vega
22 Oct – Berlin, Privatclub
24 Oct – Prague, Café V Lese
25 Oct – Vienna, Haus Der Musik
26 Oct – Zurich, El Lokal
29 Oct – Utrecht, TivoliVredenburg, Cloud Nine
31 Oct – Oxford, The Bullingdon

Stonechild

Jesca Hoop - Red White And Black

sir Was - The Sun Will Shine

Deployed is the new single from Joel Wästberg a.k.a sir Was and features a vocal from Little Dragon's Yukimi.  It's taken from upcoming new album "Holding On To A Dream" out 20 September. 

"Holding on To a Dream”, is a mesmerising twisting of genres - from classic soul and old-school hip-hop, to beautifully fresh pop structures. The new record is dense with ideas and adventurous, a sonic-leap forth. “I was interested in having a lusher sound, more rich,” Wästberg says. “With the first record I had this idea that I wanted it to sound like an old vinyl record. I wanted this lo-fi, old-school sound. When I realized that I was actually making another album, I felt a bit scared of the whole thing, but it didn’t take me that long to realise that the only thing I could do was to make something that felt really right in my body and soul. I’ve realised that there’s nothing to be afraid of. I’m ready to explore so much more.”

The sense of exploration resonates throughout the record and can be defined by its start and end points. Opening track ‘Fly Away’ begins the expedition, a gleaming reflection of past insecurities as a jump-off point for the next chapter, all subtle beats and stark bursts of guitars that leap out of the mix.  Elsewhere, ‘No Giving Up’ is a tender recollection of a past relationship, set to an equally affectionate composition, a glowing example of Wästberg’s growing songwriting skills, while ‘The Sun Will Shine’ showcases another side of Joel’s skillset, a playful production full of inspired ideas and nuances; a Les Fleurseque mellow breeze in the heat of the summer.

The record’s boldest moment is reserved for ‘Deployed’, a collaboration with Little Dragon’s Yukimi Nagano. “Me and Little Dragon go way back. I’ve been hanging out with them for many years, and they were very supportive with my first album,” Wästberg explains. “I remember that Yukimi was always asking me if I was making my own music. One day I was working in my small studio room, and Little Dragon were one floor up. Yukimi knocked on the door and asked if she could listen. I played her some of my songs and she said, “This is great, go out and talk to the world!”. That was before my first album. So having Little Dragon as a feature here makes so much sense.”  Beautifully bright and sincere, ’Deployed’ is a perhaps the most vivid pop song that sir Was has released to-date.

A heartfelt accounting of relationships, of knowing when to let go and when to fight for them, ‘Holding On To A Dream’, is a dreamy, groovy treat of a record.

Holding On To A Dream

Deployed (feat Little Dragon)

sir Was - Deployed (feat Little Dragon)

No Giving Up is taken from sir Was' new album "Holding On To A Dream" (out 20 September 2019), available to stream now: smarturl.it/sirwas

Pre-order "Holding On To A Dream" on limited edition transparent orange LP, black LP and CD: smarturl.it/sirwas

Upcoming tour dates:

19 November - Picture House Social, Sheffield
20 November - Headrow House, Leeds
21 November - YES, Manchester
22 November - Broadcast, Glasgow
23 November - Cluny2, Newcastle
24 November - Hare & Hounds, Birmingham
25 November - Hy Brasil, Bristol
27 November – Scala, London
28 November - Pillar, Brussels

Tickets available: sirwas.com/

No Giving Up

sir Was - No Giving Up

Artist: Barbarossa
Track: The Load

Download from: www.barbarossamusic.com
Buy 7"  from : http://www.memphis-industries.com/release/the-load-7/


(p) Memphis Industries Ltd 2013
www.memphis-industries.com

Barbarossa - The Load

From the Letter EP

sir Was playing live in 2020 as follows:

27, 28 February, Oslo, by:Larm Festival
18 March, Gothenburg, Oceanen
19 March, Aarhus, Atlas
20 March, Copenhagen, CPH:DOX @ VEGA Ideal Bar
03 May, Glasgow, Stag & Dagger Festival

Follow sir Was on Facebook, Instagram and more https://sirWas.lnk.to/Follow

sir Was - Letter

Sky Swimming

Buy the debut album.

Elephant - Skyscraper

My new single Pure Luxury is out now on Memphis Industries. It's a song about luxury, status, and pursuing material wealth in the face of environmental catastrophe. ENJOY!

Pure Luxury

NZCA LINES - Pure Luxury

Download for free at www.barbarossamusic.com

Artist: Barbarossa
From the forthcoming album: Bloodlines
Label: Memphis Industries

(p) and (c) Memphis Industries Ltd 2013
www.memphis-industries.com

All tracks written by James Mathé
www.barbarossamusic.com

Tracklisting:

Bloodline
Turbine
Butterfly Plague
Pagliaccio
S.I.H.F.F.Y
Battles
The Load
Saviour self
The Endgame
Seeds

Barbarossa - Turbine

Indie label based in North London…
The home of many fine bands indeed.  Currently home to
POLIÇA, The Go! Team, Field Music, Blue States, The Phoenix Foundation, Haley, Dutch Uncles, Stats, Warm Digits, Weaves, NZCA LINES, Malihini, Menace Beach, Rozi Plain, You Tell Me, Odetta Hartman

Memphis Industries

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