Exciting news from Micachu & The Shapes’ camp! The trio have collaborated with London Sinfonietta, one of the world’s leading contemporary orchestras, to create the album ‘Chopped & Screwed’. Recorded live in front of an audience at Kings Place, London in May 2010 the album will be released by Rough Trade, Rhythmethod in NZ on 28th March 2011.

This will be both Rough Trade and Micachu’s first ever classical release.

The concept behind the album was inspired by the popular “chopping and screwing” technique in American hip-hop which was developed in Houston in the 1990s. The technique involves halving tempo, skipping beats and affecting portions of the original music. The approach was thought to have been developed by DJ Screw and largely influenced by Purple Drank, a codeine-based cough syrup which creates the effect of slowing down the brain, giving mellow music its appeal.

For this exciting, innovative project Mica Levi and David Sylvester handmade the instruments played by Micachu & The Shapes on this recording. Mica explains: “Our own instruments sound a bit percussive, a bit like samples, a bit different. When I write songs on a guitar I find my hands falling into the same bar chords all the time, but if you have something new in front of you there are no rules. No one else has ever played one before so you can approach music differently just make it up as you go along.” She adds, “Doing a project with the London Sinfonietta is an amazing opportunity for us.”

The first track to be taken from Micachu & the Shapes and The London Sinfonietta’s classical crunk album ‘Chopped & Screwed’ has arrived! Download ‘Everything’, which also features in this week’s NME‘On Repeat’, below.

So Adele’s album is being released this week in the U.S and she’s kicked that off with a stunning performance Live On Letterman – should screen on NZ TV’s shortly…

The album is at no.3 this week in NZ after 4 weeks so there’s clearly a lot of you loving Adele… it’s a beautiful thing. The UK have just tipped TRIPLE PLATINUM sales this week – unbelievable – that’s enormous… and not only that but with Adele  number one in both the album and singles chart, and amazing enough achievement in itself, but…..in fact – she’s the first living artist to have 2 singles and 2 albums in the top 5 since the Beatles in 1964!!! A star is born is probably safe to say…

But take a wee peek of the Letterman performance here: -

ADELE – 21 IN STORES NOW ON CD and LP on XL Recordings via Rhythmethod in NZ

I met Thom Yorke once… well… kinda…

About 1000 years ago at the good ol’  Warners Hotel in Christchurch …sticky carpets and all… I mean REALLY sticky!, leaning against the bar, as one was prone to do, and left-in-charge to distract my friend’s friend who was trying to keep herself off the smack or crack or H or something… and through my own G&T haze spied an elfin blonde man approaching the bar to order himself a drink… coooaaar… there was clearly something special standing right beside me all of a sudden. Typically Kiwi shy, I couldn’t possibly utter anything…. and drink in hand, off he wandered …

Then I was told he was the lead singer of the band we were about to watch…

“Probably a dick then” I thought to myself…

Nope. Not a dick. Just pretty bloody special….

Radiohead – Lotus Flower

Radiohead have brought forward the digital release of their new album “The King Of Limbs” by 24 hours with the album now being sent to those who pre-ordered it earlier this week. It is also available for new orders through www.radiohead.com <http://www.radiohead.com> at a fixed price of £6. A special edition is also available.

With everything ready on their website, the band decided to bring forward the release by a day rather than wait until the planned date of Saturday, Feb 19 to deliver the music.

Orders for the download or the special edition, which is packaged in Radiohead’s version of a newspaper, can still be placed at radiohead.com

XL Recordings will be releasing the album on CD and vinyl on March 28.

We may  mention this 1 or 2 more times before then….

++ DEBUT NZ SHOWS ANNOUNCEMENT ++

“A riot of futuristic R&B augmented with glam stomp and cheeky ‘Doctor Who’ sample” – Time Out, London

“Genre-wise, we’ve been called techno-rock-rap-soul, which really is just naming four disparate genres, and kind of lazy,” sighs Candice. “So we came up with a far better description of our own:  ‘A robot android in search of the perfect beat + hip-hop diva biatch venting on the mic = METALS. That is all.’

METALS is Christopher Coe and Candice Butler.

Chris is a Melbourne based producer/writer/DJ who has been composing, performing and releasing recordings under the Digital Primate moniker for several years now. His most recent release “Keep Calm and Carry On” was mixed by The Mad Professor.

Finding her heart in hip-hop and neo- soul, Candice performed with local musicians and by chance came to the attention of Professor Griff of Public Enemy and was invited to perform live with them during their Australian tour. This led to an invitation to record her first demo in Atlanta, produced by Professor Griff himself. Candice jumped at the chance, fully immersing herself in the ALT hip-hop and soul scenes and travelling with Griff and Public Enemy in the US.

Musically, METALS’ politically astute debut recalls the electro beats and worldwide sass of artists such as Peaches and MIA, with echoes of Missy Elliot, Santigold and maybe even Lady Gaga in there too. It’s future pop music that oozes sex and attitude – filthy but never apologetic; trashy but never disposable. Political but always partying.

For Candice, METALS is the perfect outlet to come out snarling; a chance to explore her ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ personality that in the flesh is sweetness personified but icily ferocious with a mic in her hand. For Chris it offers a chance to create something beyond “the restrictive false-happiness of dance music – but mainly to play live bass like Peter Hook. Low slung all the way.”

“We’re very serious about what we do – and politics plays a part in this band -  but don’t want to be too self-conscious,” says Christopher. “There’s a lot of cheekiness involved in the live show. The perfection lies in the imperfection.”

METALS utilise modern technology then, but know that it is ultimately meaningless without those distinctly human qualities to drive it along: anger, passion, rage, desire. Peel back the chrome plating of Metal’s exterior and you’ll find a big beating heart. They are an utterly 21st century band in all respects.

METALS

– LIVE IN NEW ZEALAND-

Fri Feb 25^th – MUM night @ Cassette Nine, Vulcan Lane, Auckland

with Space Creeps* and Architect DJS

*PLEASE NOTE LINE UP CHANGE www.myspace.com/spacecreeps

DOOR SALES ONLY

Sat Feb 26^th – Town Hall @ O Week, Otago University, Dunedin

METALS ON STAGE 8.00PM

TICKETS ON SALE NOW: http://www.dashtickets.co.nz/event/9r0p7c6y4

DROP YOUR GUARD

&

GET YOURSELF A GUN

AVAILABLE ON ITUNES – OUT ON ILLUSIVE SOUNDS

Metals http://metalsmusic.com/

http://www.myspace.com/metals

Woooaaaahhh….

You’ll be hearing more o’ this… get your hip hop mind set on folks! Meanage!

Coming soon on XL / Rhythmethod….

Eye Contact is the new album from Brooklyn’s Gang Gang Dance and the bands first for 4AD. Released on May 9th, the albums release is bookended by three festival appearances, as listed below.

More details regarding artwork, tracklisting and further shows to follow in the near future….

9th April Dazed Live @ Village Underground, London

13-15th May – ATP curated by Animal Collective, Minehead

26-28th May Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona

April 18th in NZ marks the release of the second album from Merrill Garbus’ tUnE-yArDs. Entitled w h o k i l l, the album was recorded shortly after Garbus transplanted herself from Montreal to sunny Oakland, California having extensively toured debut album BiRd-BrAiNs through 2009 and 2010. Produced by Garbus herself and working with engineer Eli Crews, they show theres no substitute for a good microphone, and the sonic nuances that can only be achieved through masterful recording techniques can be heard in each drumbeat and vocal line.

Preceding the release of the album, the track Bizness has been made available as a free MP3. Download from 4AD.com here.

Tuneyards – Who Kill out April 18th on 4AD / Rhythmethod on CD & LP

Not much more to say really.. ‘cept maybe grab a box of tissues before you press play…

Adele – 21 no.1 album in New Zealand – out on XL / Rhythmethod
Marketing & Promo – The Label

RADIOHEAD RELEASE THEIR EIGHTH STUDIO ALBUM “THE KING OF LIMBS”

Radiohead announce the imminent release of their eighth studio album ‘The King Of Limbs’.

The band have begun taking pre-orders for ‘The King Of Limbs’ exclusively from their website, www.radiohead.com ; fans will be able to digitally download the album from as early as the end of this week, Saturday Feb 19^th.

For the next few weeks the ‘The King Of Limbs’ will be exclusively available from the band’s site in two versions – digital download (either MP3 or WAV) and a made to order, ‘deluxe edition’ which comprises 2 clear 10” vinyl records, a CD, a digital download and exclusive artwork all in a special “newspaper” format.

The album will, however, be on general release on CD and 12” vinyl in all music stores and digital retailers from March 28^th. As with their previous album ‘In Rainbows’ the band will partner with XL Recordings (Rhythmethod Distribution & The Label in New Zealand ).

“The King Of Limbs” was produced by long-time collaborator Nigel Godrich.

Philadelphia singer/songwriter KURT VILE returns with his second proper album (2008’s Childish Prodigy was a compendium of sorts). Smoke Ring For My Halo is a gorgeously layered record. Ranging from the tender breezy folk in “Jesus Fever” to the tuff urban guitar riff of “Puppet To The Man,” Vile’s distinctive Philly-accented vocal ties together a sweeping & evocative project – a true American psychedelic folk album.
This is no pastoral listening experience however – when Vile sings, “society is my friend: he makes me lie down in a cool bloodbath” he sounds both exhausted and distanced from the ringing harmonics of his guitar and Mike Zanghi’s pounding drums. Even the gentler songs, such as “On Tour” and “Baby’s Arms” have a distinctly dark lyrical tone. The closest that Vile gets to some kind of acceptance is in the central track, the rueful “In My Time” “I know when we get older, I’m dying, but I got everything I need here now, and that’s fine, now… that’s fine.
Recorded at the Magic Shop by John Agnello, the album is a massive step forward for one of the country’s most beloved (not least by other musicians) rock songwriters.

Released in NZ March 7th , 2011 on Matador / Rhythmethod