Hey Rosetta! - Yer Spring

Pour It Out Into The Night

When I Got You

Sun Without the Heat

a bad dream from an old life

Crisper

Darker Light

A very merry christmas everywhere



Astronauts
End Codes album
Lo Recordings
6th May 2016

Dan Carney is a songwriter based in east London who releases music under the name Astronauts. He also enjoys spending time with his daughter and his partner, going for long walks, reading, writing, looking out of the nearest window, and making overly ambitious travel plans.

After the single ‘Skydive’ went viral in June 2014, the debut Astronauts album ‘Hollow Ponds’ was met with critical acclaim. This led to live performances far and wide, with Dan visiting Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, France, and Switzerland in 2015 alone, as well as – equally thrillingly - having a song used on the BBC’s darts coverage in his native country.

Radio support also came from all over, with Radio 2 (Huey Morgan) and 6 Music (Lauren Laverne, Cerys Matthews, Radcliffe & Maconie, Steve Lamacq, Tom Ravenscroft, Gideon Coe) in the UK, to US stations such as KCRU in Los Angeles, all queuing up to broadcast Dan’s efforts to the public.

In between all of this, Dan has found the time to write and record his second full-length, ‘End Codes’. It channels the melancholic intensity and rich arrangements first encountered on ‘Hollow Ponds’ into eleven beautiful new songs, while also managing to sound more coherent and focused than its predecessor.

Lyrically, it’s Dan’s trademark intriguing blend of resignation and defiance, all delivered with a world-weary estuary twang which combines the colloquial fragility of Robert Wyatt with the eerie double-tracked smoothness of Elliott Smith. Cuts such as opener ‘Recondition’, ‘Split Screen’, and ‘Breakout’ are propelled along by a familiar sprawling, motorik intensity, simultaneously fraught and uplifting, and just repetitive enough to lodge themselves firmly in your consciousness without becoming labored or tedious.

Elsewhere, however, there’s variation and versatility in abundance. The woozy, pastoral otherness of ‘When It’s Gone’ – inspired by the cautionary paean to faded youth which adorns the grave of the Black Prince at Canterbury Cathedral - cements Dan’s status as the nearest thing Essex has got to Jonathan Wilson, while ‘Dead Snare’ mines an ominous trench of paranoia and dreamlike malevolence, dark acoustic guitar lines intertwining with creaking cello and a nagging lyric which sets out a bleak, recriminatory inner monologue.

There’s also the steady, cyclical lead single ‘Civil Engineer’, possibly the finest folk-pop song yet written about the vagaries of a career in civic planning, and the triumphant Laurel Canyon-via-Romford CSNY-style harmonies of ‘You Can Turn It Off’. Closer ‘Skeleton’, with its defiant drone-gospel coda, triumphant and boisterous over a yawning chasm of electronic sadness, channels the likes of Fugazi, Tortoise, and The War On Drugs, proving that Dan’s horizons extend significantly further than many of his supposed “indie folk” contemporaries.

Dan hopes that ‘End Codes’ will appeal to his existing small-but-probably-dedicated fan-base, while also attracting new listeners, as it’s the best thing he’s ever done. We like ‘End Codes’ very much, and we hope you do too. Dan is, as ever, available for interviews, lovingly curated playlists, and questionable sports science product endorsements.

ARTIST LINKS
www.lorecordings.com/artist/astronauts/
www.facebook.com/pages/Astronauts…71?ref=bookmarks
twitter.com/AstronautHeart

LABEL LINKS
www.lorecordings.com
www.facebook.com/pages/Lo-Recordi…/448401545307474
twitter.com/lorecordings

CONTACT
Press – John Power – john@thebestinshow.net
Radio – Sean Newsham - sean@mutante-inc.demon.co.uk
Label/licensing - Gavin O’Shea - gavin@hub100.com


End Codes

Buy on Bandcamp

Recondition

Written and Produced by Jack Symes
Recorded by Gregory Ackerman
Mixed by Sean O'Brien
Mastered by Will Radin

Jack Symes - Vocals, Acoustic and Electric Guitar
Gregory Ackerman - Bass, Backup VOX
Keenan Mcdaniels - Drums
Theo Fedronic - Trumpet
Marc Fedronic - Trombone
Eva B Ross - Backup VOX

Baby, My Baby

Badala

Born and raised in Sandpoint Idaho, Shook Twins are an Indie folk-pop band now hailing from coniferous forested Portland, Oregon. Identical twins, Katelyn and Laurie Shook, Kyle Volkman and Niko Daoussis form the core quartet. Central elements of the Shook Twins' sound are a wide range of instrumentation, including banjo, guitar, electric and upright bass, mandolin, electric guitar, electronic drums, face drum (beatbox), glockenspiel, ukulele, banjo drumming  and their signature golden EGG. Beautiful twin harmonies, layered upon acoustic and electric instrumentation coupled with Laurie’s inventive use of percussive and ambient vocal loops, and Katelyn’s repurposed telephone microphone, set their sound apart, creating a unique and eccentric blend of folk, roots, groove and soul.   

Each Shook Twins song tells a story, distinctive, sharp, genuine, and well – sometimes quirky. Drawing from their life experience, select subjects include, being potters’ daughters, imagined superpowers and a chicken named ‘Rose’ they befriended. Shook Twins also pull out unexpected takes on classic hits, retellings of their musician friends’ songs, heartfelt ballads and rhythm driven dance numbers.   

After releasing their first album "You Can Have the Rest," the twin sisters moved to Portland in December of 2009, conceptualizing their 2011 release "Window" (featuring Bonnie Paine and Bridget Law of Elephant Revival). Both albums were recorded and produced in Santa Cruz, California, at InDigital Studios. Favorable reviews, extensive radio airplay and a busy tour schedule have created an ever growing fan base & kudos from many major musicians. Shook Twins and their full band, including Niko Daoussis (mandolin, electric guitar, vocals), Kyle Volkman (bass), Anna Tivel (violin, vocals), and Russ Kleiner (drum kit, percussion), recently finished recording their third album “What We Do” (releasing 4/8/14) with Grammy nominated producer Ryan Hadlock at Bear Creek Studios as well as partnering and recording an album, with fellow Portland musician Ben Darwish on his epic concept piece, "The Clear Blue Pearl."  

National and regional press accolades have poured in since the April 8th, 2014 release of "What We Do," including USA Today touting, "The Portland, Ore., folk group is ready to rattle the music world with its 'What We Do' album." Acoustic Guitar Magazine says, "'What We Do' is a nearly flawless album that pushes the band into unexplored sonic territory…this is a band that packs a tremendous amount of artistry and talent into their compositions." Indie-music mecca Portland, OR's weekly newspaper Portland Mercury states, "'What We Do' is the sound of two preternaturally talented siblings making the music they want to make with a wide-eyed sense of wonder and the good sense to absorb whatever the world puts in their path."  

Shook Twins have shared the stage with artists including: Gregory Alan Isakov, Elephant Revival, Langhorne Slim, Laura Veirs, Indigo Girls, Mason Jennings, Ryan Adams, Blitzen Trapper and many more!

Eclectic, amusing and whimsical, Shook Twins' laid-back and fun stage presence draws the listener in, allowing them to take the audience away on the adventure that is their live show.


Crisper

shook Twins

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