Le Guess Who?’s Who 2017: Ex-Easter Island Head

03 October 2017

There’s just over a month to go before Le Guess Who? takes over Utrecht. With over 150 artists set to perform, how do we make sense of such a monumental line-up? We asked the bands we’re most excited to see for their recommendations.

Ex-Easter Island Head

Official Website

Performing Saturday 11th November, curated by James Holden

First up is Liverpool based experimental trio Ex-Easter Island Head, who create mesmeric minimalistic and rhythmic compositions using mallets and guitars. When we asked them they told us they are looking forward to seeing Roy Montgomery, John Maus, Gas, the Sai Anantam Ashram Singers, Flohio and “more or less everything on the lineup”. But the three below topped their list:

Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares

Official Website

Performing Thursday 9th November, curated by Perfume Genius

 

James Holden & The Animal Spirits

Official Website

Performing Saturday 11th November

 

Visible Cloaks

Official Website

Performing Sunday 12th November

 

Le Guess Who? will take place 9-12 November. For tickets and more info visit leguesswho.com. And stay tuned for more artists we’re excited about picking their own Le Guess Who?’s Who.

Watch Liars’s new video for ‘Staring at Zero’

29 September 2017

Liars‘ eighth album TFCF came out last month and we’re all over it. ‘Staring At Zero’ is just one of the eleven killer tracks on the album and it’s now being offered with an eerie video directed by Clemens Habicht.

Liars have an ongoing mammoth tour with several dates spilling into the end of the year, and are one of our Le Guess Who? 2017 highlights, with a show on November 9th.

TFCF is out now through Mute.

Tom Rogerson collaborates with Brian Eno on debut album Finding Shore

28 September 2017

Incredibly talented British composer and pianist Tom Rogerson has dazzled us time and again behind the keys and also singing in long time favourite band Three Trapped Tigers, which he founded over a decade ago. A prolific classically trained musician with numerous other projects under his belt, the first album release under his name, Finding Shore, arrives later this year. The album saw Rogerson collaborating with Brian Eno, after the two met outside the toilets after a gig. Both Suffolk natives, they bonded over their shared roots, which plays an influence on the album. “I do totally hear it, I’ll listen and think ‘oh that sounds like the bells at Woodbridge, that’s the birds, the wind rustling in the reeds'”, explained Rogerson. “I think it permeates my music, and Brian’s ambient records. That ‘is it organic or is it electronic thing’ is so interesting”.

Freshly signed to Dead Oceans, his debut album will see the light of day on December 8th. Luckily, we can already hear the utterly beautiful and delicate ‘Motion in Field’, serving as a spellbinding first taste of what’s to come.


In other related news, Tom Rogerson has announced a few live dates, including a show at London’s Mirrors Festival on 28 October and Le Guess Who? 2017 on November 10th.

Listen to Grandbrothers’ new single ‘Long Forgotten Future’ off forthcoming album

27 September 2017

German duo Grandbrothers have a new album on the way, entitled Open, following their 2015 divine debut album Dilation. They had already enticed us with the sublime and ravishing first single ‘Bloodflow’ and with less than a month to go until the album drops, the pair have shared another marvellous track called ‘Long Forgotten Future’.

With an exploratory and open approach to their compositions, Erol Sarp and Lukas Vogel, who make up Grandbrothers, put again the grand piano as the album’s one and only centrepiece. “Just because we use the same instrument doesn’t mean that it’s the same music,” explained Sarp, adding:

“We always think about what physical impact the songs can have on the audience, for instance whether they can dance to them. We don’t only make music for listening to, after all. As much as we enjoy playing concert halls with the audience seated we also love to play at sweaty clubs where people are standing and dancing around us.”

Listen to ‘Long Forgotten Future’ below and grab Open when it’s out on October 20th via City Slang.

The Weather Station shares ‘You and I (on the Other Side of the World)’ ahead of album release

26 September 2017

Photo: Rui Oliviera

Following ‘Thirty‘ and ‘Kept It All to Myself’, The Weather Station is sharing another jewel from her much-anticipated self-titled album. The Weather Station is out on October 6th via Paradise of Bachelors. Until then, listen to the marvellous new single ‘You and I (on the Other Side of the World)’ below.

Listen to Rone’s first single from forthcoming album Mirapolis

25 September 2017

French electronic musician Rone is back with his fourth full-length album, Mirapolis, due out on November 3rd via InFiné. Erwan Castex, the man behind Rone, invited a slew of stellar artists to collaborate on the new record, including Saul Williams, The National’s Bryce Dessner and Kazu Makino of Blonde Redhead, amongst others. The album’s cover art and art direction comes courtesy of Michel Gondry.

Alluding to Rone’s childhood and development, and the 1927 film Metropolis, Mirapolis is “a juxtaposition of early memories of amusement parks & circuses,” describes a press release. “The LP is a 12-track psychedelic kaleidoscope of Rone’s musical depths, a journey from wonderment and bliss all the way to tearful melancholy.”

The delicate and fierce ‘Brest’, co-written and featuring John Stanier (Battles, Tomahawk, Cologne Tape) on drums, is the first glorious taste to emerge from Mirapolis. Listen to it. Again and again.