ALBUM LAUNCH - VÄLVĒ + URSA MAJOR MOVING GROUP - 30 NOV 2023

 


TICKET LINK
https://www.wegottickets.com/event/595668?fbclid=IwAR3BVmQs9keXhRAAgfNnG8gVssDoXKlkfvqGtAWsxEtEk_gnjjQWGLJMm90

VÄLVĒ [album Launch]
+ URSA MAJOR MOVING GROUP

Servants Jazz Quarters, London
£11/9adv

VÄLVĒ
To celebrate the release of their second LP, ‘Tiny Pilots’ on Slowfoot Records coming out on Nov 17th 2023, VÄLVĒ will be touring with an expanded band, adding Craig Fortnam (NSRO, Arch Garrison) on Phillichorda and guitars and Frank Byng (Snorkel, This Is Not This Heat) on drums/percussion.

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What is VÄLVĒ? Folk lullabies re-imagined by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Found-sound collages interrupted by Welsh language orations and sudden outbursts of fuzz bass. Gleaming synthpop workouts that collapse into swirling dreamscapes of sax and harp. Tiny sounds opening out onto the epic. Hi-tech and no-tech, deployed with equal measures of discipline and abandon. Carefully sculpted disorder. Uncanny geometries of noise and melody. Dizzy and gleeful and drawn in notebooks. That is VÄLVĒ.

//
VÄLVĒ started out as the outlet for composer/performer Chlöe Herington’s compositional work using text and image as the starting point for scores. She collects sounds and diagrams, composing predominantly for bassoon, saxes, electronics and found sounds to explore synaesthetic memory and collective experience.

The band morphed - from what originated as a solo project, performing mainly in art galleries, it grew to include Elen Evans on harp. After moving from galleries back into music venues, they were been joined by Chlöe's Chrome Hoof comrade, Emma Sullivan on bass, microkorg and vocals. Live, the music traverses the realms of noise and improv into songs, punctuated with found sounds and eases into spacey soundscapes. They are currently performing in solo and duo (with Emma) form with the occasional guest performer.

Press:
“These sounds aren't designed to sit on top of memories or prop them up but rather they are precisely shaped to weave through the mind like blood through a capillary.” – The Quietus

“…Reich for reception classes…” – The Sunday Experience

“If Brian Eno invented a time machine and took Steve Reich on a tour of 17th century olde England and recorded their trip on a handheld radio, this would be the result. And yes, that is a good thing.” – Brighton Source

“The performance is mesmeric and improvisational, ranging from Aphex Twin abstractions to childlike songs with arresting lyrics, in the vein of Brian Eno’s vocal works” – Prog

“{da}FEM is the most spectral of the pieces, its translucent drones and ominous background chatter recalling Kristen Gallerneaux’s Strung Figures or the Folklore Tapes collection Calendular Customes. However, with the muscular bass and angular shards of clatter and clang that are sprinkled around the edges, this is a more brutish type of mysticism, as though the trio are attempting to crack open the concealed mystery of Klint’s pieces with something for muscular and dense” – The Wire

“Absolutely beautiful.” – John Doran, The Quietus


URSA MAJOR MOVING GROUP

Ursa Major Moving Group is the debut project of multi-instrumentalist, composer and writer Ursula Russell. Her debut album is an intense and dynamic musical journal of a process of individuation, wherein songs are offered as myths for a new world filled with eros. Tracing a constellation of various entangled characters as they perpetually transform and seek to integrate separate parts of self within the context of an increasingly mechanised society, Ursula's stories are a celebration of sensitivity as a vital technology for self-governance. On-stage, these stories are animated with a percussive approach to playing. Ursula accompanies her voice with electric guitar and is joined by drummer and producer Ann Bukla for their all-new Ursa Major Moving Group duo performance.

https://linktr.ee/ummg
https://ursamajormovinggroup.bandcamp.com

VÄLVĒ - GERTRUDE'S LIST SINGLE - OUT NOW!

 


VÄLVĒ - ‘Gertrude’s List’. 
Single released today on all digital platforms. Tune in!

"Gertrude’s List’, meanwhile, with its mini-maelstroms of electric keyboard arpeggios, supportive trumpet phrases and cosmic blasts of synth, imagines the prose of Gertrude Stein torn up and floating in space."

VÄLVË - 'GERTRUDE'S LIST' VIDEO


VÄLVĒ release new video 'Gertrude's List'.
Taken from the forthcoming album 'Tiny Pilots' - out on 17th November 2023
Video directed by Chlöe Herington'.

Credits: 
Chlöe Herington - lead vocals, keyboards, percussion, sounds 
Emma Sullivan - bass guitar, microkorg, trumpet, vocals 

with: 
Craig Fortnam - nylon string guitar, drums 
Frank Byng - tambourine 

Composed by Chlöe Herington 
Mixed by Frank Byng 
Mastered by James Larcombe


VÄLVĒ TOUR DATES - 2023

VÄLVĒ ON TOUR

Catch VÄLVĒ live performing material from their forthcoming LP. 
Album launch at Servant Jazz Quarters in Nov 30th


VÄLVE SUPPORTING MEMORIALS - LEWES CON CLUB 10/12/23

 


TICKET LINK
https://www.songkick.com/concerts/41418113-memorials-at-lewes-con-club

Welcoming back MEMORIALS after their sold out show for a MV Christmas special.
This is the new band of Verity Susman (Electrelane) and Matthew Simms (Wire, Better Corners, It Hugs Back, UUUU). As a duo these multi-instrumentalists cover plenty of ground on stage, juggling instruments in a set up resembling that of a 5-piece band. Theirsound touches on the many points for which they are known, veering from melodicsongwriting to psychedelic noise, free jazz freakouts, tape loops and drones, and then backagain. Their debut double album – Music For Film: Tramps! & Women Against The Bomb was out on 12 May 2023 via The state51 Conspiracy label.

VÄLVĒ – Folk lullabies re-imagined by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Found-sound collages interrupted by Welsh language orations and sudden outbursts of fuzz bass. Gleaming synthpop workouts that collapse into swirling dreamscapes of sax and harp. Tiny sounds opening out onto the epic. Hi-tech and no-tech, deployed with equal measures of discipline and abandon. Carefully sculpted disorder. Uncanny geometries of noise and melody. Dizzy and gleeful and drawn in notebooks. That is VÄLVĒ.


NEW SIGNING - VÄLVĒ

Slow by name, slow by nature! It has been a while since we released a record but we are excited to announce a new signing to our small but perfectly formed roster. Having previously released a series of EPs and an album (Geography) on State51, VÄLVĒ return with a beautiful second album which will be released on Slowfoot in November. It’s a gem and we are proud to be putting this out into the world. Keep your ears and eyes peeled…


VÄLVĒ - TINY PILOTS [12" LP/DL]



SOCCER96 - NEW SINGLE - I WAS GONNA FIGHT FASCISM


We are delighted to see the return of Soccer96, with the wonderful new single 'I Was Gonna Fight Fascism [featuring Alabaster Deplume]. Have a listen now and stay tuned for their next release on Moshi Moshi.

NEW RELEASE - SYD NUKULUK - DATA X CHANGE

Data X Change [SLOCA038] is out today - the debut release from experimental songwriter and producer Syd Nukuluk. 


The EP explores what it is to be a songwriter in a digital, image based age - guitar is abstracted as a medium throughout the release, sometimes providing the dominant melody, sometimes just fragments and textures. Different genres are explored, the music lurching from trip-hop to ambient, folk to lo-fi, all tied together with a distinct sonic melancholia. The distinct voice of French-British rapper Monika features on two of the stand-out tracks, as well as features from South London up and comers such as Wazoo, Sienna Bordello and Patrick Fitzgerald.

There is a limited edition cassette release of 100, available on Bandcamp and in select record stores.

https://sydnukuluk.bandcamp.com/

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“…debut five-track Data X Change EP, a lo-fi quintet of synapse-firing electronica pushing indie, R&B and hip-hop to a shadowy left…” [Monolith Cocktail]

"...“Data X Change presents us with an immersive, complex soundscape... For an album that is so reflective and aware of its influences and surroundings, it builds , unique, sonic domain of its own.” [Ryme Press]

“the five tracks featured on this EP run through abstract glitch elements, field recordings, trip-hop, and instrumental strings tethered throughout, find a welcomed retreat from the norm. Each piece a bustling amalgam of thought provoking beats and wide open spaces, voices, and lyrical raps carefully spliced between low-end tones and harmonies. A warm, crunchy, chilled, and exploratory extended player that brings back memories of Tobias Lilja's musical dynamics.”[Igloo Mag]

"The project features French-British rapper Monika who captivates each time he laces a track. Across the new record, he effortlessly combines his influences from trip-hop to ambient, folk to lo-fi, all tied together with distinct sonic melancholia. The EP is shrouded in moody lo-fi atmospherics which seems to sink deeper and deeper over its 18-minute duration" [Twisted Soul]

LAUNCH PARTY - DATA X CHANGE - HIDDEN SOUNDS X NETIL RADIO X SLOWFOOT RECORDS



We will be launching our latest release Data X Change in style later this week at Hidden Sounds in Bethnal Green. Syd Nukuluk and Monika will be hosting a listening party, followed by a short live performance. Either side of this there will be DJ sets from Slowfoot head honcho Frank Byng and Rhythm Section producer Z Lovecraft. BYOB, will be a top evening!

NEW MUSIC VIDEO - SYD NUKULUK - PLASTICENE [FEAT MONIKA]



New Slowfoot signing Syd Nukuluk has released a music video ahead of his debut EP 'Data X Change', out 24th January on cassette and digital platforms.

A noir, nightmarish journey of rapper Monika portraying a turkey escaping a supermarket freezer, the video is a dark rumination on what it is to be consumed. Merry Christmas!

RADIO - SLOWFOOT SPECIAL WITH THREE WHEEL DRIVE



We were invited by the organisers of independent festival Three Wheel Drive to do a radio show together - Slowfoot deputy Luke Kulukundis joined Tom Bacon for 2 hours showcasing the range of our back-catalogue, complimented by a blend of nu-wave, ambient and electronica.

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST - SLOWFOOT REMIXED, REWORKED














We have put together a playlist of remixes done by and for Slowfoot artists over the years - an eclectic blend of genre and interpretation; a fine representation of the ethos of our label's output. Enjoy.


SLOWFOOT - RECORD FAIR - PECKHAM SPRINGS





















Slowfoot will at the Peckham Springs Record Fair on June 22nd. Come down and pick up some records, listen to some music and hang out in the sun!

SLOWFOOT LIVE - SNORKEL / 3PEACE / MERLIN NOVA - SET DALSTON












Slowfoot co-hosted their first live night in sometime at SET Dalston on the 6th June 2019. It was brilliant evening, with top notch performances from the label house band Snorkel, as well as from Still Moving FKA 3Peace and Merlin Nova.

RECORD STORE DAY - CONTAINER RECORDS - POP BRIXTON





This Saturday, April 13th, we will be at Container Records in Pop Brixton celebrating Record Store Day, alongside a series of great independent labels. Come down for deals, test pressing and excellent chat....

PAULA RAE GIBSON & KIT DOWNES - EMOTION MACHINE - ALL VIDEOS NOW AVAILABLE

Following up on their beautiful record Emotion Machine, Paula Rae Gibson and Kit Downes have made videos available for 6 of the 8 tracks on the record, all made by Paula herself. You can view all of them on the Slowfoot Website

http://www.slowfoot.co.uk/paula-rae-gibson-kit-downes.html

PAULA RAE GIBSON & KIT DOWNES - EMOTION MACHINE - LOVE ON TIME VIDEO

Paula Rae Gibson has created a series of videos alongside her and Kit Downes' new record, Emotion Machine. You can now view the video for one of the standout tracks from the album, Love On Time. More videos to come.



Paula Rae Gibson/Kit Downes Love On Time from paularaegibson on Vimeo.

PAULA RAE GIBSON & KIT DOWNES - EMOTION MACHINE - ALBUM ANNOUNCEMENT

We are delighted to announce the release of ​'Emotion Machine', the first collaboration between Paula Rae Gibson, a prolific artist renowned for her photography, lyricism and ethereal vocal work, and highly acclaimed composer and pianist Kit Downes. Downes’ minimal, abstract arrangements of sombre piano meditations and Arthur Russell-esque cello experimentation blend with Gibson’s idiosyncratic vocals to create a sense of emotional urgency - a raw, distressing honesty is prevalent throughout the album. Drawing inspiration from Delta Blues, Icelandic Art Rock and Early Music, the sonic world created is both inviting and menacing, giving the perfect template for Gibson’s lyrics of love, loss and the various fuels of the Emotion Machine. 






















This is the fifth album from Paula Rae Gibson; having previously collaborated with Will Gregory of Goldfrapp, and well known figures in the jazz world such as Ivo Neame and Martyn Baker. Paula has approached music with the bold expressiveness that her photography is known for, ranging from bossa-inspired jazz pieces to free form experimentation. On Emotion Machine a new level of sonic abstraction is achieved; casting aside the more traditional jazz structure her earlier work had been based around, dissonant drones and ominous sound design cast a spectre over this album. Space is left for expressions to linger, in what is clearly Gibson’s most abstract work to date.

Most of the instrumentation on the album is the work of Kit Downes; a London based composer, pianist and organist who has worked with the likes of Squarepusher, Seb Rochford and Aidan O’Rourke. A BBC Jazz Award winning, Mercury Music Award nominated solo recording artist for ECM Records, Downes’ reputation speaks for itself - this recording marks his first journey into production, and a return to his childhood instruments; the piano and cello. The blending of his instrumentation with the abstracted arrangement of Gibson’s vocals is a testament to his skill as a composer, the broad sonic spectrum of the record underlining his talent as a producer.

Further contributions come from Tom Challenger (saxophone), Ruth Goller (double bass) and James Maddren (drums). Each piece of music will be accompanied by a video produced by Gibson, moving the concepts of the work beyond the sonic realm.

The album will be available on vinyl and all digital platforms on November 2nd. 

SNACK FAMILY TOUR - AUTUMN 2018

Snack Family will be heading off on a UK tour to celebrate the coming release of their amazing debut album ‘Bunny’. Catch their awesome live show somewhere near you! 

“An unlikely middle ground between Battles and The Birthday Party." [The Quietus]


SNACK FAMILY - AUTOMATED LOVER VIDEO

Check out the new SNACK FAMILY video for 'Automated Lover'. The video is directed by Jordan Copeland of Tentacle Films.

SNACK FAMILY - BUNNY - ALBUM ANNOUNCEMENT

We are thrilled to announce that Bunny, the new record from avant-rock group Snack Family, is now available for pre-order on Bandcamp. 





















The album will be released on October 5th, on 12 inch vinyl and on all digital platforms.

“Snack Family’s music oozes… An unlikely middle ground between Battles and The Birthday Party.” The Quietus


“low-frequency avant-rock music that joyously defies genre” Anon 


“Sleazier than Waits out on the pull with the Fat White clan, somewhere between The Amazing Snakeheads and Lurie’s art-jazzers The Lounge Lizards.” - [NME] 


"…a shedload of weirdness, genre hybridity, off-kilter grove and infinite rock ‘n’ roll swagger… …‘Bunny’ continues the trajectory of their work to date, grinding out low-slung backstreet dirt that throws the best bits of Foetus, PIG, Nick Cave, and Gallon Drunk into the blender. And what a belting job they do of it." [Whisperin and Hollerin]

SOCCER96 - NEW VIDEO - 'HARMONIOUS MONK'

On the eve of dropping their new album 'REWIND' the synth and drums duo SOCCER96 have a new video, a very trippy and brilliant video animation by Simon Eden... kind of a choreographed cyber-boogie on moving geometric parts!

The video has been kindly premiered by The Ransome Note - HERE

SOCCER96 - REWIND ASSEMBLY LINE VIDEO

Soccer96's new 12" vinyl release 'Rewind' is due on 18th May. The band have been busy lovingly hand-stamping and stencilling the covers in black as standard, with super limited colour versions available - gold, orange, blue, green. Here they are spraying the magic!