Label owners
Luke Drozd &
Drew Millward
Current signings:
David Thomas Broughton
Last of the Real Hardmen
Sam Amidon
7 Hertz
I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4
Sounds Like
BIRDWAR RELEASES
ALL AVAILABLE FROM WWW.BOOMKAT.COM
DAVID THOMAS BROUGHTON
A Complete Guide To Insufficiency - CD album
It's In There Somewhere - CD Album
LAST OF THE REAL HARDMEN
10'000 Miles - Cd album (+bonus ep)
SAMAMIDON
But This Chicken Proved Falsehearted - CD album
NEW RELEASE! OUT NOW!
7 HERTZ
Tender Almost Vulgar - CD album
Well, as you probably guessed, we are a label, and not a band, but hey, who cares....
Birdwar was started in late 2004 in Leeds by Luke Drozd and Drew Millward, two long term friends with a passion for, among other things, good music. With too much money and time on their hands they decided to pool their recourses and set up a small label to release music by bands and artists they really love..... these things don't come along that often, so please bear with our slow progress.
Now with no time or money on their hands, they survive as soldiers of fortune, keeping the label running and lining up future releases, which all promise to be some of the finest music you are ever likely to hear.
Current Roster:
David Thomas Broughton
David Thomas Broughton has been a fixture on the Leeds music scene for a few years with his own unique blend of off-kilter folk. Using looped guitars and vocals and with the addition of a drum machine, he creates, as The Guardian put it, 'layer upon layer of musical quality'. The effect is bold, beautiful and honest and to quote Leeds Music Scene 'there really are no comparisons'.
http://www.myspace.com/davidthomasbroughton
Last of the Real Hardmen
LOTRHM creates Instrumental Fahey-esque musings that will chill your bones and warm your cockles. Based in Nottingham, England, Summerlin has been creating noise and beauty in equal measure in a variety of bands for many years now (including Reynolds and Wolves of Greece) and currently makes fine rock music with Lords.
http://www.myspace.com/lastoftherealhardmen
Samamidon
SAM was born in Brattleboro, Vermont, June 3, 1981. His parents are Peter and Mary Alice Amidon. His little brother is the great Stefan Amidon, who is a drummer. Sam currently lives in Dumbo, New York City.
"The most interesting folk album of 2007." -Stylus
http://www.myspace.com/samamidon
7 Hertz
Fluid and engaging, 7 Hertz fluctuate and mutate live
before your very ears. incorporating all or none of
the following instruments - basson, violin, voice,
doube bass, french horn, glockenspiel, clarinet,
mandolin, trumpet - they improvise glorious pieces
with total, beautiful spontaniety. With imaginations
that rival those of Tom Waits and Stravinsky this is
modern "classical" music that writhes and soothes
http://www.myspace.com/the7hertzband
Viking Moses
Info coming soon...
xNoBBQx Skewer 10" LP (Ltd to 300 copies) - Out May 12th
We first came across xNoBBQx (just call them No Barbeque, I guess) in Piccadilly Records last year when the Siltbreeze vinyl reissue of their first CD-r appeared on its shelves. The Siltbreeze label being a bastion of all that is great in terms of dirgy, lo-fi, transcendental unmusicality, we were thus intrigued to hear this slab. And, we have to say, it was one of the greatest shop-listening experiences of all time. Here was a duo, probably of fully grown men, bashing away at their instruments in a manner that suggested they had never really learned any 'proper' technique. We later read a review, in fact, that put it thus:
"So what exactly is the difference between an xNoBBQx recording and a couple of 14 year olds bashing instruments in the garage with record pressed down on one of their mum’s old tape recorders? Probably not a whole lot, actually, but I get the feeling that’s precisely the point. " (Cyclic Defrost)
Well, yes, that does largely seem to be the point. But it's a helluva point. The Australian duo, in spite of their unabashed simplicity, manage to create sounds that are warm as an old-fashioned blanket, each piece having the ability to induce a state of complete, dribbling mental stasis. It's disjointed, scratchy and 'difficult', yes. But it also manages to be completely absorbing. If you like your rock deconstructed to the nth degree, we highly recommend you dig this.
xNoBBQx will be touring the UK from 10th May 2009. We'll be putting them on in Manchester on 12th May (venue TBC), so keep yr eyes on this page.
We've never been able to quite pin down exactly how the The Hunter Gracchus are going to play on any given occasion, which is a wonderful thing. A shifting unit with Syed Kamran Ali, Fiona Marshall and Jon Marshall at the core, they have recently settled into a fairly stable unit of six, but it's hard to know how long that'll last. Still, while it does, it's producing all manner of magical and highly unexpected performances. The one captured here was recorded at the band's practice room cum gig space, Fagin's Hideout/The Furniture Makers and is a less blistering freakout than some of their recent output, preferring to quietly explore every nook of tonal space. It simmers rather than erupts and, the longer you become immersed in it, the less aware you become of the passage of time. It's a recording that feels like it should go on forever and, when it does come to a close, the silence is shocking. In a time when it's all too easy for a group of improvisers to just go full-tilt in some euphoric pursuit, the Hunter Gracchus provides us with a glowing alternative that draws us slowly in and drowns our senses. This is truly awesome.
Peeesseye I Woke Up and Drank a Bottle of Cheap Kojak CDR
Peeesseye made the scene at Dylan Nyoukis's Colour Out of Space festival last summer and hopped over to Manchester to play a show at the Town Hall Tavern, the recording of which forms the content of this incredible slab of dense droning harmonium, scraping, buzzing, subtly soloing guitar and pulse-free, scatter-drumming. We can't recommend this enough.
This beautiful super-heavyweight LP, which comes packaged in a sweet full-colour sleeve reunites the UK's premier free drummer Alex Neilson, who's played, amongst others, with Motor Ghost, Directing Hand, Trembling Bells, Tight Meat Duo, Josephine Foster, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Jandek, MV&EE, Richard Youngs, Baby Dee and Alastair Galbraith, with Nmperign member Greg Kelley, whose reinvention of the trumpet is as crucial now as Anthony Braxton's reinvention of the sax was 30 years ago. A screeching, soaring, scattergun array of noises come maniacally out of Greg's horn, unlike anything we've ever heard and, with the addition of random stabs of electronics, he successfully straddles no wave, concrete and free jazz in a way that makes those genres seem like trite pigeonholes.
The World in Winter label release their latest split 7", featuring a slice of experimental folk-drone from Chapters and the debut release from the superb psych folk solo guitarist Dean McPhee. ....................
Wavves Straight outta California on their first ever tour. You’ll feel like a frisky 19 year at some awesome beach party as their blown-out, catchy as hell pop washes into your ears. Touring as a duo, but really the brainchild of some 22 year old, you’ll find Wavves records out on De Stijl, Tic Tac Totally and Woodsist. There’s some Doo Wop, JAMC, No Age stuff going on here. Pens Three young girls outta London, who have a real knack for writing total tunes. On tour with Wavves, they also have an LP coming out the on De Stijl in the US following a sold out tape and 7″. Easily one of the best new UK bands. Mazes So the new crop of UK bands are here, fitting with all the killer stuff coming out of America right now and these kids have gone and written some of the best songs of the whole bunch. As well as all that stuff and some Pavement, they’ve also got an ear open to the likes of Swell Maps and Television Personalities. From Manchester, this will be their first show. Hipshakes Fastest, trashest band you’ll ever see. From their chaotic live show, you’ll just make out some real snappy pop gems under their tinnitus triggering wall of guitar noise. Just out of their teens and have already released an LP - with a 2nd on the way and 8 7″ singles, one on the Black Lips own label, another on an Oblivians Goner imprint - yeah they’re a Garage Punk band!
SAT 28TH FEB. AT THE FENTON, LEEDS. DOORS 7.30PM. ENTRY IS FIVE POUNDS
Online Now!
