KASMs: BONE YOU video

The video for KASMs' upcoming single 'Bone You', directed by Roman Rappak, has been set loose on an unsuspecting world in a fury of strobelit stop-motion. Download it from here.

'Bone You'/'Ode To Millers' is out as an iTunes download on 9th February, and on 7" on 23rd.

1/1 Chapter Two CANCELLED.

We're sorry to hear that the ESG/A Certain Ratio concert promoted by Bonnie Carr's 1/1 at the Barbican on 3rd March has been cancelled, due to ESG calling off their European tour. We're assured that refunds will be available, and that a new Chapter Two, Take Two should be organised soon.

Spider and the Flies album / show.

2nd February sees the release of the much-anticipated extended debut from Spider and the Flies, the project of Tom Cowan and Rhys Webb of The Horrors. Fans of the Silver Apples, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and all manner of analogue sounds from outer space are encouraged to latch their ears onto 'Something Clockwork This Way Comes', which is out on CD and limited 12" vinyl on the Mute Irregulars label and includes sold-out debut single 'Metallurge'. Rumour has it that a special live show is in the pipeline to support the album as well. Ears peeled.

Hatcham Social single & album dates.

To confirm the worst-kept secret in London: Hatcham Social will release their next single 'Murder in the Dark' on March 2nd, a week before their debut album You Dig The Tunnel, I'll Hide The Soil hits the shelves. Both are on the Fierce Panda label, and highly anticipated.

Ipso Facto tour & EP.

Exciting news for Ipso Facto fans, but only those in the UK and Japan. For those on British soil, the black and white psychedelic quartet will be dropping into a town near you on the following dates:

24 Feb: 100 CLUB, London
26 Feb: The Cooler, Bristol
27 Feb: PlugnPlay, Reading
28 Feb: Lennons, Southampton
2 Mar: Clwb ifor Bach, Cardiff
3 Mar: Oxford Academy, Oxford
4 Mar: The Rainbow Warehouse, Birmingham
5 Mar: Fuzz Club, Sheffield
8 Mar: Fibbers, York
9 Mar: The Bodega Social, Nottingham
10 Mar: Korova, Liverpool
12 Mar: The Faversham, Leeds
13 Mar: Inside Out, Darlington
14 Mar: Captain’s Rest, Glasgow

The band can also be seen as the main support for Magazine at their upcoming dates between 12th and 17th February.

Those in Japan will welcome the news that the group are about to release a CD EP called ‘if…’ containing their first three singles, a demo of ‘Balderdash’, and ‘Five Golden Stars’. Exciting stuff.

O Children single - first news.

Baritone post-punk quartet O Children are gearing up to release their first single. Two pieces of information have come to light thus far: 1. it'll be 'Dead Eye Lover', with 'Dead Disco Dancer' as the b-side; 2. it'll be out in February or March. More to follow.

EIOH single details - FINALLY

After cries and whispers of a new Electricity In Our Homes single, here it is: 'Silver Medal In Gymnastics' / 'Motorbike' will be released by 4AD as AD2828 on 16th February, and is available for preorder from Rough Trade, HMV, and the label. Only 500 7" copies are available, so grab one while they last.

Ulterior - album preparation & new demos.

As a taster of their debut album, currently being demoed with producer Zlaya Hadzich, Ulterior have uploaded two new tracks to their MySpace - and there's some evidence of a changing sound. The first, 'Sister Speed', is an all-out stadium rock number, full of Primal Scream swagger and lines like 'I gave my life to rock and roll' - the Suicide synths have been cast aside and Ulterior are now engaging with full-on guitar onslaught. 'Weapons' is a new version of their debut single, and the buzzing electronics are still there, but the whole thing's taken on a more powerful tone - a new drum pattern and some nice synth innovatins make it less of an underground dance track and more the kind of song that wants to take over the world and eat your children. More tracks are promised in the next few weeks, so keep your ears plugged in for more from Ulterior.

REVIEW. Hatcham Social, 8.1.09

The first London outing for Hatcham Social since October 2008 saw the indie pop trio take to the underground stage of the Borderline, off the Charing Cross Road, to perform their forthcoming album You Dig The Tunnel, I’ll Hide The Soil as part of the Fierce Panda ‘Pandamonium’ series. Proceedings began with some formidable support slots from Sunderbans – scuffling uplifting indie, vigorously delivered – and KASMs – showcasing some new material, updating the old, and finishing with a hauntingly subdued bass and vocal coda – but for the waiting crowd, a dose of Hatcham’s unique style was what was necessary, and what was duly delivered.

With an extra pair of hands by the name of Jerome Watson assisting on keyboards and guitar (but not at the same time), the band played their first chord fifteen minutes late and then immersed us totally in their world for just over half an hour. I don’t know if the whole album did get played, but if what was heard is what’s released, it’s certainly, to understate it, an achievement. Veering track by track from dreamily melodic to purposeful and aggressive, and reaching everywhere in between on the way, the melancholy keyboards offset Toby Kidd’s spiky guitar to bring in a hint of shoegazing texture, and Dave Fineberg keeps the whole thing grounded in post-punk roots with a series of intricate but solid bass parts.

No tracks are introduced, but details stand out to mark the new ones: here’s a chorus of ‘I’ll hide under the pillow’; here’s a perfect marriage of New Order keys with Orange Juice vocals; here’s Toby (replete with moustache and kiss-curl) muttering ‘tick tock’ to introduce a return to a sharper sound. Last year’s single ‘So So Happy Making’ gets thrown into the mixture mid-set. If it’s an albatross – there’s a certain sense that Hatcham would rather be playing newer material, and Toby abandons the microphone halfway through the second chorus – it’s a golden one, which any band would kill to have hanging around their necks: the chord changes, the harmonies, and the instrumentation (listen to the keys chime around the guitar!) are still sheer pop genius, and the title is as relevant as ever.

As if to prove that the band have got more, though, Finn Kidd launches into a breakneck rhythm as soon as the last chords have died, and a shredding guitar weaves in and out of a breathless ‘what’s mine is mine’ chorus – a confrontational follow-up to the obligatory hit single. The set takes a turn for the darker from there on in: ‘Jabberwocky’ broods and threatens, and Lewis Carroll’s nonsense rhymes and a maniacal laugh get wrapped rhythmically around the instrumental to make the recitation more nightmare than dream. ‘In My Opinion’ adopts a similar intensity, with Toby Kidd staring menacingly across the audience while Dave Fineberg wrestles the bassline into submission, and, at the conclusion of ‘Give Me The Gift’ - already a standout track with its intimately epic builds and peaks – there’s a muttered thanks and the indie pop crusaders disappear, leaving the audience bewitched, bothered, and bewildered, but certainly not begrudging the entrance fee – a paltry six pounds for the first truly great concert of the year.

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You Dig The Tunnel, I'll Hide The Soil is out on 9th March on Fierce Panda.

Hatcham gig on Thursday: album to be performed in full.

Hatcham Social are playing London's Borderline this Thursday (8th), and have promised to perform their forthcoming LP You Dig The Tunnel, I'll Hide The Soil (out on 9th March or thereabouts) in full. It's Hatcham's first London gig since October, support is from KASMs and Sunderbans, and the age limit is 14+, so it's a must go for younger fans as well. Tickets are available here.

Happy New Year to everyone who read TNT in 2008, and wishing you a prosperous 2009.