The New LP - Out 24th August

15/05/2018

Some musical partnerships are so strong, intuitive and natural that they almost can’t be separated due to the natural magnetism present in the relationship. One such tight knit songwriting family are Tunng, and their new album Songs You Make At Night reunites founding members Sam Genders and Mike Lindsay (fresh from his LUMP side project with Laura Marling) and the rest of the Tunng gang for the first time since 2007’s Good Arrows.

“We really wanted to do a Tunng record going back to the original line up,” Lindsay says. “there was a real magic in the early records that we all wanted to capture again in this one.”

Since forming in 2003 and over the course of five albums, Tunng are a group that have explored the boundaries between acoustic and electronic music, becoming synonymous with the folktronica genre before moving into territory that managed to both evade that label and continue to redefine it. Songs You Make At Night finds a group of people reconnecting with a previous collective state to bring out something new and forward-looking. “We're all so different but each bring something essential, something Tunng to the party.  Be that to the studio, to the stage, to the van, or to the pub. I think that the new songs Mike and Sam have crafted between them have brought out the best in all of us.” confirms singer Becky Jacobs.

Songs You Make At Night is also Tunng's most electronic-leaning to date. Take lead single ABOP which brings the Moog right to your face, with a heavily swung frazzled 808 pigeon beat that builds into a magical folk pop feast. Watch the animated video by Kijek / Adamski:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovVOUeKjaNU

Songs You Make At Night’s tone, theme, lyrics, mood and characters exist in a fluctuating state between night and day ("I got very much into the idea of a dark underwater world suffused with pockets of light and beauty and some of the songs grew out of that." says Sam Genders), the conscious and unconscious. Crepuscular in its nature, Lindsay explains the all-encompassing title. "I think it’s also important to stress the songs you make at night not, we make at night. Then the word “songs” can mean a multitude of things. It can mean songs, or dreams, pillow talk or actions and decisions, moves, and can be very personal... the thoughts that keep you awake at night."

“Songs You Make At Night” is available to pre-order now, including a deluxe vinyl version which includes a bonus 7” with two exclusive tracks.

​

Pre-order over at the band's site!

New album out 3rd August, European tour planned for September

01/05/2018

"Some Twist", Michael's previous stunner, only came out last June, but already he's followed it up with what can only be described as "a jangling opus." Not our words, Lynn, those are the words of The Line of Best Fit. 
Read all about it HERE

​

The sprawling new album was recorded in guitarist Benny Yurco’s one-bedroom apartment in downtown Burlington, Vermont. Nau and his collaborators had a cool little set up going in Yurco’s spot — drums and bass took over the bedroom, the guitar amp in the bathroom, Nau’s vocals and piano in the living room, and a vibraphone in the kitchen. It’s the first time one of Nau’s records happened all in one place, and “it feels most like a band record than ever before”. Nau and this particular group of musicians held it down together as a true team, which is why Nau named the record in their honour.

The songs on this layered record sound sunny and familiar, like sharing stories and worries with a close friend on a late summer day. In a gorgeous and natural way, he contemplates his own process, those feelings of uncertainty. “Making it too hard just comes easier,” Nau croons on ‘Funny In Real Life,’ an exquisite meditation on creation and self. “Truth is such a beautiful force/And every time we find the chorus/There’s no second-guessing the real/I don’t ever know how I feel.”

Nau shines when he’s nestled in that medium between melancholy and carefree. He seems to be thinking about the past, present, and future, all at the same time, and his songs move between pain and joy, fires and rivers, faraway stars, icy Saturdays, clouds of smoke, between shelter and flowers in the rain. “And it just keeps going, if it’s done it’s done/Still flow in the flowing, all around the sun,” he sings on ‘Smudge,’ the record’s finale, which is about love, and memories, and loneliness, and apprehension — “Something coming around some bend/Waiting for something to never end” — all at once. It’s all just part of the waves of life; sometimes you get stuck, or things move slower, and sometimes the pace steps up. And that seems to be the gist of Michael Nau & The Mighty Thread — that there are “different movements” in the self, that constantly figuring yourself out is all part of the journey. “As long as love is the motion,” Nau says, “it might get there.” Wherever ‘there’ is.

​

Michael will head out on tour with The Mighty Thread in September. Tickets on sale from May 4th: 

​

September 2018

17th     Amsterdam, Paradiso Noord

18th     Berlin, Kantine am Berghain

19th     Copenhagen, Loppen

21st     Utrecht, Ekko

24th     Bristol, The Louisiana
25th     Manchester, Gullivers
26th     London, Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen

27th     Paris, Le Pop Up du Label

29th     Maastricht, Muziekgieterij

​

Pre-order the new album here, including a deluxe version bundled with a 7".

New song and tour dates announced.

26/03/2018

Good news everybody!

​

After four years away, much-loved pastoral pop band Tunng make their return to the stage later this year including London’s Islington Assembly Hall on 25th October.

The band has also shared a new piece of music and “Flatland” is classic Tunng.  Inspired by Edwin Abbott Abbott's 1884 book of the same name about a two dimensional world, it blends the groups love of experimental electronics with acoustic instrumentation, with "the hookiest rolling finger pick of all time, inserted through a controversial three dimensional effects loop” says producer Mike Lindsay, with promises of more music on the horizon.

​

Check out the dates and buy tickets HERE

Listen to "Flatland" HERE

Glad To Be Here is out May 4th on 7" - Stream Title Track Now!

13/03/2018

Good times abound! Katie Von Schleicher has announced a brand new 7" entitled "Glad To Be Here" / "Party Dawn", for release on 4th May 2018. The 7" is the first material the Brooklyn-based songwriter has shared since her critically acclaimed debut album, Shitty Hits, last year. Katie said the following about the tracks:

"On a break from touring this winter I went alone to Maryland, where I am originally from, and made these two songs, taking the gear I’ve very happily accrued since making my album Shitty Hits. I built a fire, I set up my gold drum kit, I saw a ton of stars and felt smushed by silence, and it was lonely, so I made these songs. “Glad to Be Here" is where I find myself right now. “Party Dawn” is tied to Maryland, to my friend and our adolescence. Both are a bridge toward the subject matter of my next record. Back in New York, my collaborator Adam Brisbin (Sam Evian, Jolie Holland, Buck Meek) contributed guitar and bass, and Julian Fader (Ava Luna, Frankie Cosmos, Nadine, Palehound) mixed it."

​

Pre-order the limited edition 7" from HERE! 

Katie hits the road in the UK & Europe in April & May - head HERE for full tour dates & ticket links. Cya there. 

The debut album - out June 1st 2018.

02/03/2018

“The most important factor when choosing bandmates is love,” says the Saxophones’ Alexi Erenkov. “Do you love the people you’re playing with? If so, everyone is going to be feeling relaxed and confident.” This approach is a useful one to have when your wife, Alison Alderdice, is in your band.

Following the success of two EPs (If You’re On The Water & Aloha) The Saxophones have announced that their debut full length is due for release on 1st June 2018.

​

Whilst the Saxophones began as the solo project of Erenkov - a project that was loosely started over a decade ago but gained full momentum and dedication in recent years - he wanted to bring in some primitive drum and percussion playing and couldn’t think of anyone more suited than his wife. “I wanted to share the band with her,” he says. “Plus, I would be devastated if I had to leave for weeks at a time to tour without her.”

​

The songs which make up the debut album were formed and written during a period in which the pair were living on a boat during a very wet winter in the San Francisco Bay Area. “Much of the music was written over rainy mornings on acoustic guitar inside the cabin of our boat and outside of the city in a little guesthouse in Pt. Reyes,” he reflects. It was then recorded in Portland over 10 days, the recording was an intense and occasionally tense process.

​

Taking inspiration from 1950s exotica and Hawaiian albums (Edhen Abhez, Buddy Fo, and Martin Denny), 1970s outsider Italian songwriter Vittorio Impiglia, and a host of third-stream and West coast jazz records, the result is a unique offering.

“I wrote it a few weeks after Chuck Berry died” Alexi says of lead single ‘Picture’ “To my ears, and I suspect mine alone, the opening verse sounds like a post-modern “Riding Around in My Automobile.” At times, I’m singing it from the perspective of a young, entitled California surfer who is on the verge of questioning his taken-for-granted beliefs. At other moments, I’m reflecting on the way my search for meaning manifests in urges to consume and create.”

​

 The album will be available on limited edition white vinyl, as well as CD & digital download from June 1st. The band has also produced a very limited number of books containing the sheet music to the entire album so that you can play along at home on your guitar!

All versions are available to pre-order HERE

Taken from "Aloha" 7" out 2nd Feb

23/01/2018

Ahead of the release of their second EP on Feb 2nd, The Saxophones have shared its B-side “Just You.”

​

Fans of David Lynch and Mark Frost’s masterpiece Twin Peaks will pick up on this being a cover of one of the show’s most iconic songs, written by Lynch & Angelo Badalamenti back in the early 90s whilst on set.

Alexi Erenkov explained a bit more about the original’s influence on the band –

"The first time I heard the song “Just You,” Alison (my wife and bandmate) was watching Twin Peaks in our living room as I puttered around the house, I had still never watched more than an episode, I heard this song come on and immediately ran into the room. At the time, I had just begun playing electric guitar instead of acoustic and was experimenting with some new sounds; this was everything I wanted our band to sound like! The beautifully minimalistic instrumental and lyrical approach is still one I strive to attain in our music today.

When I started recording this cover, I had just purchased a Teac 2340 reel-to-reel and I used it to record the saxophone parts you hear here. As anyone who has played with a tape machine knows, great joy comes from speeding up and slowing down your recordings. By cutting the tape speed in half, I was able to drop my alto saxophone recordings down to the range of a baritone and create a very big saxophone sound. At the end of the track, if you listen closely, you can hear a duplicate version of the alto saxophone solo being played an octave down at half-speed.

While we added a few bells and whistles to this song, we really don’t intend our version to be in competition with the original, we see this as pure tribute."

​

Aloha / Just You is out 2nd Feb – pre-order here

Out 30th March 2018

18/01/2018

Following hot on the heels of 2017’s double concept album “Presents The Holy Strangers”, Micah P. Hinson is set to release a collection of tracks recorded for Marc Riley at the BBC over the last 14 years.

Re-mastered at Bent Leaf Studios in Texas, overseen by Micah himself at the end of last year, these 11 tracks were picked from a wealth of cuts from Micah’s visits to Marc Riley over the course of nine albums.

Micah offered some insight into the personal importance of these sessions:

"I owe Sir Marc a deep gratitude that spans back years now. In this life, champions are needed- yet they are rare. As if I was deep in the amazon, I had found a flower not yet known to the world and people would congratulate me on what had found and what I had brought to the world- and Marc was the first one in line, hand outstretched; a grin on his face."

Marc also spoke about his experience of having Micah in to play for him over the years:

​

"I remember the first time Micah came in to do a session for us. 18th September 2004. It was at the time of his debut ‘…And The Gospel Of Progress’ LP which I absolutely loved. He was backed by The Earlies (as he was on the record) and the session was mind-blowing.  The songs were fantastic, Micah’s voice made Johnny Cash sound like Aled Jones. He told tales of being thrown in jail.. of suffering great  dramatic losses in his  life. I remember asking him to clarify how old he was on air and he replied “23 Sir”. 

I believe his eventful life  will one day be made into a bio-pic…but until  that day this document of his radio sessions will serve to document the path of this great singer-songwriter from Abilene Texas."

​

Pre-order the album, including a vinyl version limited to 1000 for the world. 

​

Listen to Beneath The Rose recorded back in 2012.

​

[press photo by Francesca Sara Cauli]

Dates with Big Thief as well as debut Euro headline shows

22/10/2017

Shitty Hits came out in July of this year to high praise throughout the world. Now, in support of that record, Katie's coming over to Europe to play with the magnificent Big Thief, as well as some headline shows. 

​

A lot of these have sold out, and where there are still tickets available, those will soon go too. Make sure you get down to one of these, they promise to be the gig of the night, every night. 

​

Full dates over HERE

And watch the ridiculous new video fro Midsummer HERE (seriously, do it)

Listen to a new track, 7" up for pre-order now.

21/09/2017

“Aloha,” is a lush and melancholy new single from husband and wife duo The Saxophones, that follows on from the sold out debut 7” EP “If You’re On The Water” released earlier this year, which garnered plays on BBC 6 Music from Cerys Matthews, Jarvis Cocker, Tom Ravenscroft amongst others.

 As with “If You’re On The Water,” “Aloha” was engineered and produced by Cameron Spies (Radiation City) over two summer weeks in Portland, Oregon and largely recorded on an Otari MX-70 one-inch tape machine. The song features Alexi Erenkov on guitar, vocals, saxophone, and Crumar synthesizer; his wife, Alison Alderdice, on percussion and vocals; and his long-time friend and collaborator, Richard Laws, on bass and vibraphone.

​

Listen to Aloha & pre-order the 7" HERE

​

Stream the track on Spotify

​

The band are in the UK from tomorrow to play their first ever European shows! Full dates over on their Facebook

New 7-track EP out now.

17/09/2017

Michael Nau has followed up his Some Twist album with a 7-track EP of bonus cuts, including two tracks with Natalie Prass (Big Wind No Sail, Diamond Anyway). 

​

Michael said of the new tracks: 

​

"These songs come from the same pool as the songs from "Some Twist." 
For whatever reason, they felt like outliers at the time, and weren't included in the mixing sessions. You can hear some pieces.. a few lines here and there that worked their way into that record in a different form. I see this as an extension of those songs, and that process. It's not easy to separate myself from that process - the time and place spent recording these things - I've stopped trying to hear it any other way. For the most part, this is a band playing together in a room... well, a different band, in different rooms, at various points in the trip. 

It brings me a great deal of joy to be a part of those moments, and I walk away feeling energized and wonderfully confused - I've learned to let that period linger best I can, before it passes... I hope that same joy is what carries on with these songs. I've been making records for a good while and still feel at a beginning - and, that finally feels like a good place to be."

​

The Load EP is out now, just before Michael begins his UK & European tour. 

​

You can buy the digital-only release from our Bandcamp

​

Or listen to it on Spotify

​

Full tour dates on Songkick

29/08/2017

With Micah P. Hinson's new album out in just over a week, we asked him to send over some tracks which were an inspiration to him in the process of writing this wonderful piece of work. 

​

Accompanying the tracks is a bit of background from Micah:

​

"I give to you a list of songs that "influenced" me while recording The Holy Strangers, though with saying that, I am already lying to you - misleading you. For some records, a musician might want to immerse himself with songs and bands-musicians and creations- that will somehow 'speak' to them - show them a way through the darkness of creating music out of thin air, as that is what, at the basis of it all, a musician does - they create something never before born into the world of reality and sound. I have found myself doing this. The saying goes, 'if you don't know what to write, go to your bookshelf'. Yet with The Holy Strangers, the story was not what I wanted to tell - it was a story I needed to tell, and even more so, a story I had to tell. I felt pulled away from any and all things that would help guide me. It was weaving and praying in the dark - not knowing the floor from the ceiling, nor up from down. There was no map. I, many times while making The Holy Strangers, sank into very dark places - felt things I thought I had forever rid myself of - old demons and new, testing me on whether I could accomplish this almost impossible task. I might sound melodramatic - self consumed - or self important with these words - this explanation, but it something I feel I must share with you. A truth you should consider while listening and consuming this record. So, back to my "influences"- being that I never went to a "bookshelf" meant I had to depend on my life - everything I had heard, felt, and gathered - to create The Holy Strangers. This list is that - a list of songs that are sketched on my soul. Songs worth the world."

​

You can stream the playlist HERE

​

1. John Denver - Matthew (from Back Home Again)

2. Bedhead - The Present (from Transaction de Novo)

3. Barry Black - I Can't Breathe (from Barry Black)

4. Pedro The Lion - Be Thou My Vision (from The Only Reason I Feel Secure)

5. Leadbelly - Rock Island Line (from Negro Sinful Songs)

6. Headphones - Slow Car Crash (from Self-Titled)

7. John Hartford - Indian War Whoop ( from Oh Brother Where Art Thou OST)

8. Antonio Sanchez - The Anxious Battle For Sanity (from Birdman OST)

9. Hugo Montenegro & His Orchestra - The Story of a Soldier (from The Good The Bad The Ugly OST)

​

Further listening - 

​

Albinoni - Adagio (from The Greatest Hits of 1720 LP) * this specific version

Ronin - Twin Peaks Theme (from Twin Peaks 7")

Lift To Experience - With The World Behind (from the S/T EP)

The Ink Spots - I Never Had A Dream Come True (78rpm single)

The Carter Family - Bonnie Blue Eyes (from The Carter Family on Border Radio LP)

Iris Dement - Near The Cross (from Lifeline LP)

Micah P. Hinson Presents The Holy Strangers is out 8th September on CD / 2xLP / Digital Download. Pre-order HERE.
 

Listen to the 7+ minute centrepiece of the new album "The Holy Strangers"

22/08/2017

Ahead of the new album "The Holy Strangers" being released on 8th September, we've decided to share the uniquely brilliant 7+ minute centrepiece from the new record - "Micah Book One."

​

Scottish site Gold Flake Paint were kind enough to premier the track last week and wrote some wonderful words about the piece. Read them HERE, but to give you a taster, here's a choice quote: 

​

"I don’t know enough about religion, or the books that Micah P. Hinson pulls these words from, to place them correctly, to embolden them with context. I know enough about the world to fear loss, to despise men, to crave power and cower from it too. I’ve heard enough music to know I’ve rarely heard anything like “Micah Book One” or the new record from where it comes; a stirring document of a life lived, and others imagined, that rises and falls, shrinks and explodes across an hour of heaving words and wisdoms."

​

As of the time of writing, we have less than 30 copies of The Holy Strangers book bundles left. Snag one HERE.

​

Full tour dates announced now too. Italian shows go on sale in mid-September. 

Available on CD / LP / Digital

27/07/2017

Finally, the Shitty Hits of Katie Von Schleicher can be released into the world. 

Shitty they ain't, but don't take our word for it...

​

'Von Schleicher’s vocal is a mix of Aimee Mann’s drop-dead monotone irony and Liz Phair’s self-defeating nihilism.. claustrophobic and deeply magnetic.'
(Mojo)

​

'Comparisons could be drawn to the cinematic scope of Angel Olsen, Caitlin Rose’s soulful post-war throwbacks, or even Lana Del Rey, but truthfully Katie Von Schleicher’s first full length outing is more than the sum of its parts. [her] debut tackles feelings of mediocrity, and turns them into something grand instead.'
(Loud & Quiet, 8/10)

​

'brilliant debut from wry US writer"

(Uncut, 8/10)

​

Buy Shitty Hits from any decent independent record store, or listen to it via Apple Music & Spotify. 
 

Listen / Buy Shitty Hits

Listen to a new cut from The Holy Strangers

16/07/2017

Micah P. Hinson has shared new track 'Oh, Spaceman', taken from his new album 'Presents The Holy Strangers', out on Full Time Hobby on 8 September.

About the song, Micah said "It was the first song I wrote for my boy, Wiley Tex, after he was born, and the only song I played for about half a year after his birth. It is the only song where the melody and words came before sitting behind a guitar. Which is not a way I've ever written."

​

Listen to the track at the following spots: 

​

Spotify

Soundcloud 

​

Pre-order the new album from FTH with a bonus book written by Micah. We've read it, it's an incredible addition to the story of The Holy Strangers. 

​

FTH Store

Resident

Rough Trade

Rest of World

Taken from forthcoming LP Shitty Hits

26/06/2017

Praise be, NPR. Wonderful words and high praise from the holy grail of press gains in North America. 

​

Listen to "Sell It Back" on NPR's "All Songs Considered", the show which has people talking about music like they don't really do anymore - with genuine passion and...consideration. Thanks to Robin Hilton & Bob Boilen for the great talk up of Katie's new track, and here's to more of this kind of thing. 

Listen to the show HERE

​

Just in - Gold Flake Paint have shared their kind words on the track as well. Very much worth a visit. 

Gold Flake Paint. 

​

Shitty Hits arrives on 28th July. Pre-order via the Bandcamp.
 

15/06/2017

Michael Nau’s second solo album “Some Twist” is out today!

And boy, what a record it is. Chilled, spaced-out, fuzzy. Like a patch of shade on a hot day. The ice cube in the Coca-Cola.

You can buy the record HERE

'Nau’s ragbag approach has purposely been continued for the making of his second solo album, the brilliant Some Twist, which pushes him further into dreamy-headed and soulful sonic territory.'
(Mojo)

'Soft and vaporous, Nau’s songs recall Fred Neil, Nilsson and early Richard Hawley, spinning fugs of melodious sound via echo, distortion and tremolo.'
(Q)

​

'(…) his (Nau’s) second solo release is a stylistic leap forward, establishing him as a master of melodic understatement'
(Uncut)

​

Thanks as always for the support. 

Stream & Watch "Life's A Lie"

01/06/2017

Straight off the back of supporting Aldous Harding on her UK & European tour, Katie Von Schleicher has released a lyric video for the second cut from "Shitty Hits." 
 

Watch the video for "Life's A Lie" HERE

Stream the track on Spotify HERE

If you like what you hear, pre-order Shitty HIts whydontya - FTH STORE​

​

More KVS news very soon...

Micah P. Hinson Presents The Holy Strangers is out 8th September 2017

23/05/2017

We’re very excited to be able to finally announce that we’ll be working with Micah P. Hinson once more. Full Time Hobby have released three of Micah’s previous albums, but this is the first release on Full Time Hobby for 6 years.

Micah P. Hinson’s new album “Presents The Holy Strangers” is described by the artist as being a “modern folk opera.” Telling the story of a war time family, going from birth to love, to marriage and children, to war and betrayal, murder to suicide – spanning all of the strange and glorious places life can lead. We follow their story, we see their decisions, we see their faults and their beauty. We live with them, we die with them.

Two years in the making, Micah wrote and recorded The Holy Strangers in Denison, Texas, incorporating ancient reel to reels, analogue keyboards, old Tascam and Yamaha desks. The recording only entered the digital realm once pre-mastering took place.

​

Listen to two tracks; "Lover's Lane" and "The Years Tire On" at the following spots: 

​

Spotify

YouTube

Soundcloud

​

Split across two pieces of vinyl, the 14 tracks which make up The Holy Strangers are at times sparse and haunting; at other times luscious, maybe even euphoric. From the Johnny Cash-style country single “Lover’s Lane,” to the album’s broad, spoken-word centrepiece “Micah Book One”, The Holy Strangers covers a lot of ground over the course of its hour long running time, appealing to both long-time fans and new ones alike.

The Holy Strangers is released 8th September 2017 on Full Time Hobby. Pre-order the album from our webshop on CD, 2xLP and digital download. We’re also offering an exclusive companion pamphlet featuring a more in-depth look at the story surrounding The Holy Strangers and is limited to 250 copies. This is available as part of a bundle with the album on all formats, or as a separate item.

Pre-order CD / 2xLP / Bundles HERE

​

Micah has also announced an extensive UK & European tour, with more dates to be added over the following weeks. Tickets are on sale Friday 26th May. 

Full tour listings and ticket links HERE

 

Listen to the third cut from "Some Twist"

11/05/2017

​

The new king of lounge-folk Michael Nau has graced us with a third track from his forthcoming album "Some Twist." And it's a stunner. 

Listen to "I Root", the track which will help you to ascend to a "pastoral heaven" (not our words Lynn, the words of Noisey) via the following platforms - 

​

Spotify

YouTube

​

Not long to go now until Some Twist is released. If you're looking to pre-order it so that it arrives on release day, you might as well do it from our webshop as you get a free marketing poster if you order the LP. But if you don't care about the poster, we urge you to support your local independent record store and pop in a pre-order with them. Most of the main shops across Europe will carry this album, just ask. If they're independent, they'll be carrying the orange vinyl. 

​

Full Time Hobby

Norman Records

Drift

Resident

​

Listen to the previous tracks "Good Thing" & "Light That Ever" OVER HERE

Listen to first single "Paranoia"

20/04/2017

Friday is the new Monday, so here's a new release for ya. 

​

We've very pleased to announce that we'll be releasing Katie Von Schleicher's debut full-length "Shitty Hits." 

If you like what you hear, pre-order the album on limited edition orange vinyl, CD or digital download. We're only pressing 500 of the orange vinyl for Europe so get 'em before they all go!

Pre-order HERE

​

Katie Von Schleicher’s previous release Bleaksploitation was an accident, years in the making. While interning at Ba Da Bing Records, owner Ben Goldberg offered that she make a cassette for the label to release. It could be anything, demos or a live performance, but she took it a bit more seriously than Goldberg intended. The result was her first self-produced and engineered effort, a strange, hazy, pop-laden tape. Doing her own press under a pseudonym and referring to it as an “album,” Von Schleicher garnered enough attention for Bleaksploitation to see it released on vinyl in the Spring of 2016.

On her debut full-length, Von Schleicher strikes again on the magic that comes from her warped and uncompromising sound. Shitty Hits channels the bright, sunny radio burners of the 1970’s, songs you drive to, carefree, and songs you can cry to.

From start to finish, Shitty Hits confronts feelings of isolation and powerlessness. Opener ‘The Image’ (named for Daniel Boorstein’s The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-events in America) finds Von Schleicher at rock bottom, struggling for perspective: “The image runs and runs together / I’m glancing at it on a screen / I can’t tell you how I feel / It runs and runs together / I’m standing beneath it.” Overheated vocals, distorted drums and unwieldy guitars push back, unrelenting. Von Schleicher fights to get out of her head the way Springsteen tries beating it out of town. Shitty Hits doesn’t tackle grandiosity, but mediocrity; the struggle of being deeply flawed and unmistakably human.

Conjuring the home recorded sound of Paul McCartney's McCartney or Jeff Buckley’s Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk, Shitty Hits was created on a tape machine at Von Schleicher's childhood home in Maryland. Where Bleaksploitation courted a kind of sonic nihilism, Shitty Hits shows confidence and growth. It ends in unflinching self-realisation, as Von Schleicher sings “Where is everything I hold to be true? / When you feel like you’re a door they’re knocking on / Or worse, that no one passes through / Do I hold my life? / No one’s gonna sell it back / Over my head.” Words form the questions, answers are given in sound.

​

Watch the video for "Paranoia" 

​

Katie will be on tour in May with Aldous Harding, tickets on sale NOW

"Light That Ever" is taken from the forthcoming album "Some Twist"

06/04/2017

Michael Nau has released a second track from Some Twist. 

Listen to "Light That Ever" which premiered via The Line Of Best Fit. 

​

"I had some of the synths recorded for a demo version, that ended up fitting pretty well into the tempo of this take," Nau says of the new track. "The playing went on well beyond the fade out. Benny (Yurco) was on-the-fly dubbing the drums through the space echo. Pretty pleased with the way this one came out."

​

Pre-order the album on limited orange vinyl from the Full Time Hobby store. 

​

Michael will tour the UK & Europe in September / October 2017. 

New Album Out Now

24/03/2017

"You Had Me At Goodbye is an artist stretching out and eagerly grasping a whole new world, one that she should easily conquer." - MOJO, 4****

​

Samantha's new album is out now, available on ltd Pink LP, CD & high-quality digital download. You can also stream the album on Spotify. 

​

FTH Store

Spotify

Amazon

Norman Records

​

Debut 7" out now, watch "New Tradition" video

17/03/2017

Alexi Erenkov’s duo, The Saxophones, create beautiful and personal music. Accompanied by his wife, Alison Alderdice, on percussion and samplers, they blend the darkness and melancholy of 1950s balladry with minimalistic woodwind arrangements, creating a hypnotic sound that hearkens to the past while affirming its place in the present.
Alexi and his father were traveling 70 miles per hour in a fishing boat on Lake Shasta when they hit a swell and were both ejected. Neither were wearing life jackets. Alexi broke his femur upon impact with the water, his father was badly bruised. They managed to tread water until they were rescued by a passing ski boat. A week later, while coping with guilt for his role as the driver in the accident and preoccupied with caring for his son post-surgery, Alexi’s father was struck another blow: his best friend committed suicide. The next week, Alison moved back to California to begin graduate school while Alexi finished a year of teaching in Portland. These three events shaped the life of both band members and the title track of The Saxophones' new EP, If You’re on the Water. Now, Alexi and Alison are married, done with school, ready to share this music that pays tribute to the currents of beauty, sorrow, and regret that run through our lives.

The If You’re on the Water EP is the band’s first studio recording. It was recorded and mixed on an analog Toft console by Cameron Spies of Radiation City over the course of a spring week in Portland, Oregon. 2017 will find The Saxophones touring the West Coast and continuing to play throughout the San Francisco Bay Area with some European shows coming later in the year. 

​

Buy the limited 7" HERE - initial copies come with a signed Polaroid-style postcard of the cover image.

​

Watch the beautifully serene video for "New Tradition" HERE

​

More Saxophones news soon...

​

Ltd Orange Vinyl Available For Pre-order Now

08/03/2017

Michael Nau returns with his new album, Some Twist, out 16th June on Full Time Hobby. Some Twist is the follow up to 2016’s Mowing and its announcement comes amidst a flurry of recent activity. Two weeks ago, Nau debuted songs from Some Twist on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic and headlined two sold out shows on back-to-back nights in Los Angeles. He has received extensive BBC radio play and been selected as a “6 Music Recommends” pick. One-off single “Love Survive” cracked the top 50 on Spotify's Global Viral Chart and Elton John has played Nau on his Beats1 show.

The first single from Some Twist, “Good Thing,” debuted via The FADER on Monday 6th March. Bright piano and fingerpicked guitar weave together throughout the song with a chorus that swells with feedback fuzz and crashing percussion. Nau’s ever-present sense of humor, one of the hallmarks of his songwriting, gives the song a wry sense of purpose amidst its reflection.

​

Listen to "Good Thing" on YouTube or Spotify

​

Pre-order Some Twist via the Full Time Hobby store.

Available on CD, limited edition orange vinyl & digital download.

​

​

Some Twist tracklist:

1. Good Thing

2. I Root

3. Wonder

4. How You’re So For Real

5. Scumways

6. Oh, You Wanna Bet?

7. Waiting, Too

8. Scatter

9. Twelve

10. The Load

11. Done Wonder

12. Light That Ever

​

Michael Nau tour dates:

Mon. March 27 – Brighton, UK @ Komedia

Tue. March 28 – Nottingham, UK @ Bodega

Wed. March 29 – Manchester, UK @ Night & Day

Sat. April 1 – Liverpool, UK @ Central Library

Mon. April 3 – Newcastle, UK @ The Cluny

Tue. April 4 – Norwich, UK @ Norwich Arts Centre

Wed. April 5 – Bristol, UK @ Thekla

Thu. April 6 – London, UK @ The Dome

22/02/2017

 VENN have released another track from their forthcoming debut "Runes."
Stream "Waxen Palm" below. 
Ben from the band had this to say about the album closer - 

As is often the process with Venn, parts of songs are created, forgotten, re-imagined and re-combined at a later date. The catalyst for Waxen Palm came from the three of us experimenting in a rehearsal room in London. It sat around on a hard drive for a while, and I moved from London to Berlin. When Stuart flew over for a weekend we decided to continue working on it and that’s when we really started to flesh out the track.

Lyrics touch on themes of interplay between wealth, submission and dominance. I liked the idea that someone would owe something to someone else, maybe financial, and take pleasure in being indebted. Having written them some time ago, they seem to have taken on a slightly new depth and feel eerily relevant.

​

Sonically, the track sits in the same world as 154-era Wire and Cryptograms by Deerhunter. 
Starting off as an off-kilter piece of post-punk, the track morphs a the full-on multi-layered guitar beast by the time it hits its crescendo. 

​

Listen to Waxen Palm HERE

​

Runes is out next week, 3rd March, pre-order HERE

Michael will tour with Haley Bonar in March & April

16/02/2017

After a successful run of dates at the end of last year around the release of his debut album "Mowing", Michael Nau will return to the UK to play some shows with Haley Bonar. 

Tickets are on sale now, available HERE

​

If you want an idea of what to expect, Michael plus band were guests for KCRW last week and they were kind enough to film the entire session, including...some new songs! More news on those later...

​

Watch Michael in session HERE

"You Had Me At Goodbye" is out 24th March 2017

17/01/2017

It gives us great pleasure to announce that Samantha Crain's new album "You Had Me At Goodbye" will be released on 24th March 2017, plus Samantha will be over to tour the record at the end of March. 

​

Listen to "Oh Dear Louis" here

​

Written over 4 months at the back end of winter whilst at home in Norman, Oklahoma, You Had Me At Goodbye was penned whilst Samantha was working shifts at a pizza place to save up money for touring, recording, paying bills, and as a self-confessed ‘film nerd,’ binge watching movies. “Oklahoma is beautiful but my relationship with it is complicated. There are mountains, plains, prairies, rolling hills, high deserts and plateaus, with an amazing creative community of people making beautiful visual art, interesting films and loud music. But it’s extremely Christian, conservative, and whilst people say it’s ‘friendly,’ really, people are only friendly if you’re white and aren’t dressed unconventionally. I feel welcome and alienated all at once.”

Where many songwriters will drown their sorrows at the bar, Samantha’s music provides instant relief. A playful and lively balance of sweet balladry and taught experimental art-punk spirit, You Had Me at Goodbye talks from the head and heart whilst punching from the gut. Ever the storyteller (her first EP was created from tales she had concocted in her journal), Samantha wrote ‘Betty’s Eulogy’ from the perspective of the wife of legendary Cherokee-Indian cowboy and vaudeville performer, Will Rogers whilst ‘Smile When You Call’ is an ode to the imagined lover in Jimmy Webb’s ‘Wichita Lineman’. “Usually I have a theme in mind when I start writing for an album but for this record, I just started writing. Turning 30, aging in general, has helped tremendously in freeing myself in the creative process,” she says.

Bolstered by the visionary production of John Vanderslice (Spoon, the Mountain Goats, Strand of Oaks), mixed and engineered by Jacob Winik (The Magnetic Fields, Hot Buttered Rum), Samantha returned to the Bay Area in California to, once again, record the album in analog at Tiny Telephone Studio. But her music finds equal influence through those kindred spirits who have shared her struggle to be heard – whether it’s good friend Dora, Patti Smith, Cyndi Lauper or many, many others as Samantha explains;

“This album is dedicated to and inspired by the independent, strong, focused women who somehow continue to explode through the dark clouds of the weirdly oppressive art/music world. Every woman with a vision who didn’t veer from it amongst dissension. Every woman who was vulgar and loud and smart and ugly, in addition to the other aspects of their person - everything in opposition of what was expected of them.”

​

Available to pre-order on CD, pink vinyl and digital download. Every physical order of the album comes with a free copy of "Kinda" - the whole of the new album recorded acoustically. This disc is only available from our webshop and UK / Ireland record stores. 

​

Pre-order the new album from the Full Time Hobby store.

​

​

Directed by Ft. Langley

07/12/2016

The first music video filmed on a genuine Canadian Navy submarine? The first music video to feature two submarines colliding in a kaleidoscopic trip? The first music video we've put out in December 2016? All these statements may or may not be true but who cares either way; Ft.Langley, the guys who made the incredible All Clear video from last year (whereby they answered the question on everyone's lips - "what would Lawnmower Man look like if it was directed by Wes Anderson?") have done it again with this wonderfully weird and humorous video for "Each Other" cut "What Light (Never Goes Dim)." This time taking inspiration from The Hunt For Red October, Das Boot and Primer in equal portions, What Light is a real treat. 

​

Watch the video HERE

​

And if you like it, check out the album HERE

Debut album out 3rd March 2017

25/11/2016

Ben Leverock and Stuart Gardham met in 2013 whilst auditioning for a band they were involved in for six months, and subsequently sacked from, with no musical output of consequence. This time together did, however, nurture a friendship and musical affinity (in that order), that serves as the basis for the initial sessions that would become VENN.

They then spent a year holed up in Ben’s studio in Hackney writing and recording what would become their self-produced demo ‘Echoes From Foreign Spaces’ - hand made CDR copies of which were left, with a note encouraging the finders to make contact, in, amongst other places, HMV Oxford Street, the toilets of Soho House, and on the grave of Jack Kerouac in Lowell Massechusetts. Concurrently, a number of personnel additions were made that, while they did colour the sound the project was evolving, ultimately didn’t stick. The line-up was finalised in late 2014 when they found a perfect fit in John Petrie via a well timed Gumtree ad.

This trio then began to perform live, and the resultant cohesion and sense of momentum provided the stimulus for VENN to form their own label and begin to release music. 2016 saw the band put out two 12” records to some great press reactions and radio play from, amongst others, Noisey, The Guardian, BBC 6Music, and BBC Radio 1.

All the while, the pressures faced by anyone looking to live and build a family in London led to less and less time being available to write and record together, and ultimately to Ben’s relocation to Berlin. While this geographical dispersal may have been an obstacle, for this band, in the age of the internet and budget airlines, it was the stimulus for a new form and process of creativity; with members able to work on and communicate ideas at home and via the internet, before finding time to converge in London or Berlin and run them through the mill that is VENN. The clarity of communication that this economy of time demanded has also refined the band’s dynamic and identity into something much clearer and precise.

Musically, an affinity exists for early influences like Wire and Liars; bands that are not limited to one sound, yet have clear aesthetics and continue to challenge an audience’s perceptions. In other words, an outright refusal of inertia. As VENN have progressed past their early post-punk-krautrock template, a new constellation of sounds and musicality has emerged, more clear and truthful to themselves.

A motorik repetition remains but with keener attention to harmony and melody that, outwardly, perhaps has more in common with pop music than some of the band’s more experimental and opaque tastes. Each song is designed to an effect - often emerging from visual and drawn cues and blueprints - with every note, and each sound, having a purpose within each piece. Always striving for momentum in all its wonderful forms.

Now signed to Full Time Hobby, the band’s debut album ‘Runes’ will be released on 3rd March 2017. The first single ‘Real Blood’ will be out on 20th January 2017, with UK & European shows in support of the record.

The album was recorded at the Total Refreshment Centre in London, by Kristian Craig Robinson (AKA Capitol K) of The Archie Bronson Outfit and Loose Meat.

Lyrically, each song occupies its own territory, while contributing to the wider thematic arc of the record. Themes of the individual existing within a moment we all share, the incredible flux of culture, the search for nodes of meaning and love, and the confrontation of ones’ own vanity and narcissism amid all this crisis.

​

The accompanying video for ‘Real Blood’ was directed by photographer, Emma Gibney, and shot by editor, Mark Norgate. It is described by the band as “a visual representation of the song’s deeper meaning – of the struggle to feel real in an increasingly cold, closed culture, to remain human even when you are confronted with inhumanity”, while exploring tangential themes of mutual and reciprocal domination, if indeed such a thing exists.

​

Watch the video for Real Blood here

​

Pre-order Runes from the Full Time Hobby store, available on CD, LP & digital download

21/11/2016

Michael Nau's debut album "Mowing" is out now.

​

All vinyl orders come with a digital download card.

​

Available to buy HERE

​

And listen to new track "Winter Beat" here.

Stream "Samson" now

20/09/2016

Previously only available in his native Canada, Earning Keep displays another side to Christopher Smith’s song-writing ability – gone are the luscious synths and Jah Wobble-style bass lines; in are CS’s stark, stunning voice backed by low slung and loose swing drums, piano and bass.

​

Recorded in Vancouver's legendary Mushroom Studios by the late Todd Simko, with the help of long term collaborators Shaunn Watt and Will Kendrick, with Will continuing his role into Dralms.

​

Songs on Earning Keep were written years before its recording, as well as closer to. Musically the songs were hashed out live and in rehearsals over a three to four year period before finding their place in Earning Keep. Even then some of the songs evolved and found their way in to Dralms’ record Shook (2015).  Utilizing the studio’s beautiful live room and reverb chambers, Earning Keep darkly shimmers and glistens.

Earning Keep’s resonance lies in its ability to combine the physical essence of the phrase with the many human parallels that run throughout it.

​

It is a work of contrast and ubiquity, where roles subvert, and the structure of class and ones pursuit of love and identity there-in fold each other. It is a means to an end, as the work defines the finished product; they are one in the same, the process honouring the outcome, the journey longing for destination.

Reference points for this collection of songs would be Angelo Badalamenti’s “Fire Walk With Me” score, Mark Hollis’ solo album, through to the layered guitar pieces of Rhys Chatham (“New West").

​

Stream "Samson" HERE

​

Pre-order "Earning Keep" HERE

​

Listen to a new track from Michael Nau

20/09/2016

"His masterful instinct for arrangement, along with his reedy voice, earns Nau a place in the rock’n’roll underdogs’ Hall of Fame” - Pitchfork

​

Michael Nau today shares a new cut from his forthcoming debut album ‘Mowing’, which will be released on 18th November 2016.. The hushed, shuffling ‘Maralou’ is available to stream now via Loud & Quiet. Listen to it HERE

​

Pre-order the new album "Mowing" here.

​

Michael Nau will be touring the Europe for the first time this November & December, including a run of UK dates as a special guest to Okkervil River.

​

Tickets for all are available HERE

​

Full live dates are as follows:

November

10th      UK      London, Islington Assembly Hall*

11th      UK      Bristol, Thekla*

12th      UK      Manchester, Gorilla*

13th      UK      Glasgow, Stereo*

​

December

5th        UK        London, The Sebright Arms

7th        FR        Bordeaux, I-Boat (Wintercamp Festvial)

8th        FR        Paris, Point Ephemere (Wintercamp Festival)

9th        FR        Tours, Temps Machine (Wintercamp Festival)

10th      NL       Tilburg, Incubate Festival

11th      BE       Brussels, Botanique (Witloof Bar)

13th      DE       Jena, Glashaus

14th      DE       Berlin, Auster Club

15th      DE       Hamburg, Aalhaus

16th      DE       Cologne, King Georg

17th      NL       Amsterdam, Paradiso (Upstairs)

19th      NL       Rotterdam, Stille Nacht Festival          

* with Okkervil River

Taken from "Mowing", out November 18th

24/08/2016

The sumptuous, Lee Hazlewood-esque track (which is out now) features backing-vocals from Michael’s wife and bandmate Whitney McGraw and is taken from the Appalachian singer-songwriter’s debut album ‘Mowing’, which will be released on 18th November 2016.

​

Watch it HERE

The accompanying animated video was created by Robert Wallace who said the following:

"Love Survive is a light-hearted summery track, filled with personality and quirks. The video captures this mood, jumping between animated loops that move in time with the music. Set on a fictional island, the video explores the different aspects of nature there. Instead of a story-based narrative, the video expresses the feeling of the song, it’s rhythms and moods. To capture the organic sound, all of the animations were kept loose. The process used a mixture of real and digital brushes as well as hand painted texture loops to give the whole thing a handcrafted aesthetic."

​

Michael Nau will be touring the UK for the first time this November as a special guest to Okkervil River, with a London date at Islington Assembly Hall on November 10th. Full UK live dates are as follows:

10th      UK      London, Islington Assembly Hall*

11th      UK      Bristol, Thekla*

12th      UK      Manchester, Gorilla*

13th      UK      Glasgow, Stereo*

* with Okkervil River

With words from Bill Drummond

15/08/2016

VICE have premiered the beautiful short film from The Magnetic North "The Ballad Of Skelmersdale" to accompany a written piece by Bill Drummond.

The text was originally handed out as a pamphlet at the band's show at RIBA last week as an edition of 200.

Read "The Quiet Beauty Of New Towns" and watch the film here.

Shows at RIBA & Liverpool Library

12/07/2016

The Magnetic North are heading out to play a few special shows over the next few months. 

On August 9th, the band will play RIBA, along with some special guests (to be announced!). This will be a one-off performance, with a premier screening of the mini-documentary about Skelmersdale filmed around the time the band played in the town to celebrate the release of their new album "Prospect of Skelmersdale."

​

Click here for more details and for tickets

​

The band will also head up to Livepool to play the Library on 16th October - tickets available HERE

​

​

Stream lead track "Love Survive"

06/07/2016

"His masterful instinct for arrangement, along with his reedy voice, earns Nau a place in the rock’n’roll underdogs’ Hall of Fame” - Pitchfork

​

We're pleased to announce the signing of the Appalachian singer-songwriter Michael Nau, whose debut album ‘Mowing’, will be released on 18th November 2016.

Released in the US earlier this year to critical acclaim, the album will now be made available in the UK & Europe for the first time complete with new artwork, its 12 tracks augmented by a brand new single, ‘Love Survive’. The sumptuous, Lee Hazlewood-esque ‘Love Survive’ features backing-vocals from Michael’s wife and bandmate Whitney McGraw and is premiering now via The Line Of Best Fit, HERE.

​

Michael said of the track:

"I had the chords and the piano riff. It was slow but the band made it move. We moved through a lot of songs in a short time, that day. I think it comes from a place of love… of gratitude - a brief pick-me-up." 

Summoning the bygone sounds of AM radio - golden oldies, antiquated Nashville country, ‘70s chamber pop and dusty folk songs - ‘Mowing’ was written whilst on the road, with tracks penned from Burlington, Vermont to Connecticut, to a back porch in Nashville, and others back in the tiny Appalachian city of Cumberland, Maryland, USA, which Michael Nau currently calls home.

With little more than a delicate acoustic guitar line and a modestly hummed chorus, album opener “While You Stand” creates the inviting aura of sunlight coming through the kitchen window on an early Saturday morning. “Your Jewel”, “So, So Long”, and “Unwound” conjure the sounds that linger on lonely stretches of the radio dial, where Cat Stevens, Harry Chapin, and Randy Vanwarmer crackle on with their infinite humble appeal. Elsewhere on ‘Mowing’, you can hear Nau’s beguiling experiments—the bossa nova cadence of “Smooth Aisles”, the woozy chaise lounge instrumental “Mow”, the baroque pop of “Winter Beat.”

‘Mowing’ seems to be hanging in the clouds above time, just out of reach but ever so calmingly familiar.” – The Fader

​

Pre-order "Mowing" from our store, available on CD / LP / Digital Download. 

04/07/2016

Rough Trade have been kind enough to feature our label logo in their latest issue of their monthly magazine. You can pick up a copy in-store for free when spending over £15, and we strongly recommend you do so - that's about the price of a Full Time Hobby vinyl album...

Throws - Out 10/06/2016

09/06/2016

throwsmusic.com

10/05/2016

premiered on Les Inrocks

19/04/2016

28/03/2016

Pre order now on iTunes

03/04/2016

After weeks of speculation, we can reveal that Throws is the partnership of Mike Lindsay (Tunng, Cheek Mountain Thief) & Sam Genders (ex-Tunng, Diagrams, The Accidental). The keen-eared amongst you have already guessed it, top marks to you.   

Nearly ten years since the release of Tunng’s third album Good Arrows and the last time the partnership’s imagination was let loose together – comes Throws; the sound of two old friends and collaborators reconnecting, catching up on each other’s lives and creating ideas on an enchanting island. During their time apart Mike had been living in Reykjavik and Sam had moved to Sheffield; it became apparent the two friends had taken dramatically different paths in love, location, and life. Curious what they could produce second time around; with no preconceived agenda Sam packed his suitcase and joined Mike in his Reykjavik studio, in the town’s industrial old fishing harbour, with no more intentions than catching up with his old buddy.

23/03/2016

Additionally Knight continues to be the hardest working man in Americana, with the announcement of a headline UK and European tour throughout May and June. These follow on from a full North American tour in April, the May/June dates taking in four UK shows including Bristol, Leeds, Manchester and calling at London’s Sebright Arms on the 2nd June. Details of the full UK/EU run are below.

‘The Arp’ starts off as an idyllic family narrative set within a lush landscape, morphing into a Spielberg-esque fantasy. Watch the video from Joe Schweers and Josh Huculiak of Amazing Factory at the link above.

“We wanted to experiment with the idea of experiencing a profound event with two characters and then seeing how that event has stuck with them for their whole lives,” says Schweers about the making of the video. “The concept was partially formed in the house where it was shot, and then, fittingly enough, completed in the deserts of Nevada. We listened to the song over and over as we drove through Nevada, and by the end we had a sci-fi music video in our notebook.”

“‘Stereo phase all guitars’ – that’s in my notes for writing this song,” claims Knight of ‘The Arp’. “I kept a chart of all the songs for Each Other complete with how the song should make you feel. Aside from things phasing away from themselves throughout this track, there’s also a great French horn arrangement by Olivier that we said should be like a BBC horn section from 1966 on Ketamine. When Joe and Josh came up with the sci fi angle for the video, I thought that’s somewhere our friends in the horn section might head to after their session at BBC studios. Up into space. Up into the mothership. Also, for the record let me state my undying love for Independence Day.”

Prospect Of Skelmersdale - Out 18/03/2016

18/03/2016

02/03/2016

29/02/2016

SVIIB - Out 26/02/2016

26/02/2016

SVIIB is a memorial, yes, but it’s a glorious one…a final act that draws beauty from tragedy” Q – 4/5

“The group’s most technically accomplished work, their perfect swan song.” Pitchfork, 8.1

“Their boldest effort yet…an album that will stand as the perfect goodbye” DIY – 4/5

SVIIB - Out 26/02/2016

18/02/2016

SVIIB is a memorial, yes, but it’s a glorious one…a final act that draws beauty from tragedy” Q – 4/5

“The group’s most technically accomplished work, their perfect swan song.” Pitchfork, 8.1

“Their boldest effort yet…an album that will stand as the perfect goodbye” DIY – 4/5

Each Other - Out 22/01/2016

22/01/2016

Breathtaking… Aidan Knight has been called the Canadian Sufjan Stevens due to the melancholy of his music. On his third LP he sounds closer to Bill Callahan, his forlorn baritone suffused with a world-weariness that suggests a singer twice his age and experience.” Uncut – 8/10

“He’s no stranger to playing unaccompanied, and St Christina and Black Dream nuzzle into Tobias Jesso Jr territory. Yet when he stretches himself musically and brings a band in, he’s another scion of Canada’s alt-royalty… Aidan Knight is hitting his stride.” Q Magazine – 4 Stars ****

“In just eight tracks he packs together the bittersweet melancholia of Sufjan Stevens, the lush arrangements of Andrew Bird and the wistful vocals of Jeff Buckley.” Loud & Quiet – 8/10

Out 18/03/2016

13/01/2016

The Magnetic North – the occasional musical partnership of Erland Cooper, Simon Tong & Hannah Peel – release their second album on March 18th 2016 on Full Time Hobby.

Skelmersdale in West Lancashire was designated a new town in 1961. Part of the UK’s second wave of post-war population redistribution, it was failing within twenty years. In the early ’80s, the town became the official UK home of the Transcendental Meditation movement. Geographically placed somewhere near the centre of the country, the town was deemed the perfect site for the movement to build their ‘ideal maharishi village complete with gold meditation dome’ (the Guardian). The local community was soon augmented by families from across the country looking to live peaceful, peace-promoting lives with an overriding ambition to spread goodwill to the town and beyond.

Inspired by the town and the lives of its inhabitants, the Magnetic North’s Prospect of Skelmersdale sits somewhere between finely tuned kitchen sink drama and urban psychogeography. Inspired as much by the greys and greens of Kes as the soothing, cyclical patterns of meditative ragas, Prospect of Skelmersdale is a collection of musical snapshots of a uniquely British town. Drawing on childhood memories, the urban landscape and the lives of its inhabitants, the album perfectly uncovers the beauty, magic and mythology that can be found in the most unexpected places.

Gathering together archived news stories, dim-lit memories, directions from road signs, local graffiti and tales from the town’s dual modern histories, the Magnetic North beautifully detail a dozen tales of hope and hopelessness.

Ajoutez plus d'infos sur cet élément

11/12/2015

Happy to announce Aidan will be heading out on tour in support of Villagers & Half Moon Run over the coming months

01/12/2015

NPR Music premieres Smoke Fairies new video “Christmas Without A Kiss” from their holiday-themed collection Wild Winter. The album is out now on Full Time Hobby. NPR Music says the song “beautifully captures unfulfilled holiday wishes with moody vocals and distorted guitar. The song sounds like a Christmas carol stretched and warped like a half-melted string of lights.”

25/11/2015

Diagrams, the artistic moniker of Sheffield-based Sam Genders, will release a new song, which follows up this year’s critically acclaimed album Chromatics.

The stand-alone track will be released digitally on 25th November; no arbitrary date, but one which marks the 100th year anniversary of the last of Albert Einstein’s lectures in which he put forward his revolutionary theory of general relativity.

To commemorate the event, Genders has worked closely on the track with Sheffield based producer and multi-instrumentalist Martin Gregory Smith and “long-time collaborator of Diagrams” designer/animator James Bates, on a video.

He says of the inspiration behind the track, “I’m fascinated by science and had been reading Einstein’s biography on the last European tour. When I read that the centenary of the theory was approaching I was inspired to write a song to commemorate it.”

Swirling atmospherics reflect the cosmic subject matter, which inspired the track as synthesizers hum and whirl; yet these textures are juxtaposed with Genders’ rich, subtle vocal delivery and pastoral horn arrangements. The overall effect is wistful, but cautiously optimistic, drawing parallels between the incomprehensibility of universal matters, and, as Genders puts it, “the cosmos that we each have inside our heads.”

The imagery included in Bates’ animation alludes to these parallel themes, as two figures seek to be reunited as they float through the void. They drift past intricate, intertwining concentric patterns while Genders sings of dancing “like two electrons held in the orbit of a radium ion”.

Wild Winter - Out 20/11/2016

20/11/2015

Following on from the release of their self-titled album last year, Smoke Fairies release ‘Wild Winter’ an album of songs about Christmas and the darkness of the winter months. It is released on 20th of November on Full Time Hobby as a CD, digital download and on limited edition white vinyl.

“We have a love/hate relationship with winter and the Christmas holiday, When it was suggested Smoke Fairies make a Christmas album, the last thing we wanted to do was make a classic, jolly, celebratory album that can only be played once a year. Sometimes winter provides us with a sense of togetherness and love, and sometimes it leaves us feeling alienated, cold and playing a glockenspiel alone in a darkened room. It’s part of the year that will always be bittersweet and wild. This was the inspiration behind the record.”

Wild Winter is out Friday 20th Nov from your local independent retailer, as well as our shop and multiple digital services.

30/10/2015

School of Seven Bells have announced the band’s fourth and final studio album, entitled SVIIB, will be released on February 12 via Full Time Hobby. In a note to fans, Alejandra Deheza explains the story behind the record and shares a snippet of new music. Find both the letter and music below.

Friends,

Benjamin and I wrote this record during a tour break in the summer of 2012. I can easily say that it was one of the most creative and inspired summers of our lives. What followed was the most tragic, soul shaking tidal wave that life could deliver, but even that wouldn’t stop the vision for this record from being realized. This is a love letter from start to finish. It’s the story of us starting from that first day we met in 2004, and that’s the story of School of Seven Bells. So much love to all of you. Thank you for being a constant light in our lives. This record is for you <3

More info soon…

Directed by Irrum

12/10/2015

“Warriors” is taken from Farao’s debut LP Till It’s All Forgotten, out now.

Shook - Out 2/10/2015

01/10/2015

Buy his debut album "Shook" from iTunes

Directed by Ft Langley

22/09/2015

Pre order "Each Other" on iTunes

23/08/2015

We’re happy to announce to you all that we’ll be releasing Aidan Knight’s new album “Each Other” in January 2016.

In a few week’s time Aidan begins a European tour on 12th September which includes an intimate show at London’s The Islington on the 1st October, as well as select support dates with good friend and fellow countryman Dan Mangan.

‘Each Other’ was recorded at the Bathouse Studio, just outside of Kingston and home to Millhaven Maximum Security Prison. The band sequestered themselves in the studio for over 2 weeks with producer Marcus Paquin (The National, Local Natives, Stars). The band and Paquin were meticulous with each song, piecing together the raw energy of the live show along with the layered textures that could only be captured in the studio. An exhaustive process to say the least which Knight reflects on in saying, “Marcus, guided an unruly collection of ideas and a sometimes impulsive person (me) with remarkable patience (Marcus is also a new father).” Each Other was mixed over a very cold winter by Mathieu Parisian, known for his work with Patrick Watson and Karkwa, and very familiar with intricately elaborate recordings.

Lyrically, Knight’s penchant for astute observations and personal reflections remains a compelling component of his songwriting, as previously witnessed on 2012’s acclaimed album ‘Small Reveal’. Aidan muses that“It’s nice to keep a journal. I’ve never done it myself, but I get the appeal. You document time and memory; it allows for a kind of time travel. And I am interested in time travel, but also letting my embarrassments and history go quiet when it suits me”. ‘

All Clear’ acutely demonstrates Knight’s evolving musical depth, highlighting both the band’s sonic exploration and Aidan’s ability with a subtle melody. The emotional weight running throughout the record should satisfy the most discerning listener and bring Knight’s work to a newfound prominence.

Pre-order now

02/08/2015

26/07/2015

Simply put, “Killer” is a protest song that breaks open the reality of police brutality in the African-American community. “Every day we are told that progress is being made toward equality and fairness but it seems there are still widening gaps between classes, sexes, races and creeds,” Crain explains. “This song is a call for awareness…” With lyrics like, “The killer of girls, the killer of self / Turned the Garden of Eden into a fiery hell / Struck the rock too many times now no water comes out,” it’s obvious Crain pours her heart and soul into the thought-provoking track — and the accompanying visuals help paint the picture she’s created with the song.

Out 2/10/2016

20/07/2015

We’ve been wanting to get this one out for a while – a truly unique album, the debut from Canada’s DRALMS. “Shook” falls into a world of it’s own – it’s reminiscent of what’s gone before whilst simultaneously sounding like nothing else. Part Antlers, part Air, part “Spirit Of Eden”-era Talk Talk, part “OK Computer”-era Radiohead. Those are the pointers we’re using, but you kinda just have to listen to it.

10/07/2015

We previously shared “Hunter,” shimmering with starry electronics that churn against an inexorable underbelly of rhythm.

Directed by Nina Knag and Ina Lerner Grevstad and with cinematography and editing by Karl Erik Brøndbo, the “Bodies” video touches upon the song’s introspective message, sharing the human ability to find strength in learning from ones weaknesses. Farao explains, “Like the song itself, the video is about surrendering to bad decisions and going down the wrong path, where it’s likely you’ll end up hurting someone. It’s exploring impulsive physical contact and dominance, and seeing this take control of your rationality.”

Out 11/09/2016

03/01/2023

Farao is the musical alter ego of adventurous pop songbird & multi-instrumentalist Kari Jahnsen, who will release her debut album Till It’s All Forgotten on September 11th through Full Time Hobby. Today she reveals a new single ‘Bodies’, a song about giving in to bad decisions and described by The Fader as “A tense, trombone-laced march led by Jahnsen’s gentle urging.”

Jahnsen composed and performed all instruments (except brass and drums) on Till It’s All Forgotten’s ten songs. Shimmering with depths of determination and sorrow, the album combines celestial pop, R&B and haunting brass melodies.

Farao’s varied and evocative musical artillery – guitars, synths, organs, glockenspiel, sitar – dances at her fingertips, dazzlingly interwoven with her ethereal vocals to create a suite of music that is otherworldly and entirely her own. “Hunter” shimmers with starry electronics churning against an inexorable underbelly of rhythm. The brooding “Bodies” (premiered yesterday on The Fader), thunders over rugged terrain, its knotted path smoothed by Farao’s angelic, but stoic, voice.

Produced by Mike Lindsay (of Tunng) and mixed by Grammy Award winner Andrew Scheps (Hozier, Lana Del Rey, Cass McCombs), Farao’s sublime debut is a unique composite of sonic elements perfectly reflecting and enlarging upon its emotional themes and dramatic range.

21/06/2015

Samantha Crain will return to the UK at the end of July to promote her new album “Under Branch & Thorn & Tree.”

Premiered by I-D

07/06/2015

Shot in Snowdonia in Wales, ‘Hunter’ was directed by Berlin-based visual artist Irrum.

“We wanted to use the wild and majestic nature in Wales as a way of reinforcing the dramatic soundscape of the song, combined with unsettling elements like reptiles, naked bodies on the ground, blood and people staring at you,” Jahnsen says of the video, “The song is about conquering and oppression, and we wanted to reflect that by making a video that leaves the viewer feeling intimidated and hopefully a little anxious.” The first single to follow her 2014 self-titled EP, ‘Hunter’ shimmers with starry electronics churning against an inexorable underbelly of rhythm, while Farao’s crystalline voice soars over intoning a tale of retribution and personal liberation with cathartic poise: “If I have to, I will haunt you like a phantom in the night… I can’t deny, I’ll track you down and shoot you like a hunter.” As interweaving synth lines lift the song’s mournful harmonium intro over a bed of rolling drums and funereal brass, ‘Hunter’ snakes like an aurora borealis casting its ever-shifting illumination over the scene of an unnerving adult fairy tale, vibrant surface beauty deftly revealing the depths within. “Hunter” is available to buy now: