WORK IT MEDIA

Next week Neon Indian release new single ‘Hex Girlfriend’ ahead of their return to the UK at the beginning of June! Alan Palomo & co. are set to play a sold out show at London’s Village Underground on June 6th and a special show at the Manchester leg of Dot To Dot on June 4th. The single has also been remixed by South London producer Becoming Real, and this will be available alongside the original version on May 28th.

Listen to Becoming Real’s remix of ‘Hex Girlfriend’ here:

Becoming Real – real name Toby Ridler – already has some credible support slots for Salem, Mount Kimbie and SBTRKT under his belt alongside remixes for Jamie Woon and TEETH, and now he’s turned his attentions to Neon Indian and blended his ethereal and disjointed style with Palomo’s huge electro-pop soundscapes.

‘Hex Girlfriend’ is taken from the album ‘Era Extrana’ which is out now on Transgressive Records. The single will be available to buy on Monday alongside the Becoming Real remix and the Twin Shadow remix which was originally made available on the special Record Store Day vinyl earlier this year.

Neon Indian will be playing the following UK shows:

JUNE:

4th: MANCHESTER, Dot to Dot

6th: LONDON, Village Underground (Sold Out)

With possibly the finest artwork since Crocodiles unleashed that naked man on us all, This Many Boyfriends‘ new single ‘(I Should Be A) Communist‘ is coming out on Monday through Angular, and yesterday they put up a stream of the single’s B-side ‘How Is This Even A Job?’ along with some great snaps from the video shoot for ‘Communist‘ that you can see over on The 405 here.

If you haven’t seen the video for ‘(I Should Be A) Communist‘ then you should. (It’ll help explain the bear picture too…)

The Leeds gang’ll be playing two FREE shows this weekend to launch the single too. Should be good fun and lets face it, who doesn’t like a party?

MAY

19th: LONDON, The Waiting Room  - INFO

20th: LEEDS, Oporto  - INFO

It’s been a busy few weeks for us here, with Laura Gibson, Dan Mangan, The Futureheads and Portasound amongst others doing shows and This Many Boyfriends, Doldrums, Crocodiles, Scissor Sisters and Cloud Nothings putting out tracks and videos, so to bring you up to speed we thought we’d pop them all in a big catch-up post.

Firstly, Dan Mangan is in the middle of a killer UK tour at the moment, and is playing a sold out show at London’s Bush Hall tonight, before heading off to Oxford and Leeds before coming back for some Camden Crawl fun. Here’s the new video for ‘About As Helpful…’ taken from ‘Oh Fortune’.

He also did this amazing sesh for Ben Sherman and Clash at SXSW this year:

NEXT UP:

Cloud Nothings unveiled a super-cool video for ‘Stay Useless’ taken from their album ‘Attack on Memory‘. There’s an action figure with wizard-like powers and a magical school bus. Oh, and some angry apes too.

They play Cargo in London next Wednesday, May 9th before heading down to The Great Escape on Thursday for a show at Above Audio.

Blood & Biscuits‘ wonky, synthy group Portasound also sent us this karate-kicking new video for ‘Messerschmitt‘, taken from their debut EP, ‘The Second Renaissance’ which is out on May 14th.

At the opposite end of the spectrum we have Scissor Sisters, who will not only be playing Shepherd’s Bush Empire on May 16th and 17th, but will be releasing their hotly-anticipated new album ‘Magic Hour‘ on May 28th.  ’Only The Horses‘ – their new single – is out on May 13th. The video is below and guess what, it features lots of horses. And paint.

Oh, and also, French powerhouse Brodinski has put his own spin on ‘Only The Horses‘. You can hear that here:

Laura Gibson filmed a beautiful acoustic set with Virgin Red Room in London last month, and you can see it here:

Brooklyn’s Devin is here this weekend for the Camden Crawl and Live at Leeds before hitting Manchester on Tuesday and The Great Escape on Thursday. His debut album ‘Romancing‘ is out now through No Evil, and you can watch some glossy studio footage and hear ‘I Don’t Think I’ from the album below:

Always able to put a smile on our collective Work It face is This Many Boyfriends. New single ‘(I Should Be A) Communist’ is out on May 21st and was produced by none 0ther than Cribs frontman Ryan Jarman. The new video features a bear, some beers and some books. They’ll be playing single launch parties on May 19th and 20th in London and Leeds respectively.

Speaking of The Cribs, Crocodiles – the coolest Californian band in a long time (well, as far as we’re concerned) – will be joining them on the road next week around the UK, calling in at London’s Troxy on May 8th. TWO WORDS: DO IT. Here’s their stylish version of the crucifixion – ‘Sunday‘:

Aaand their new single ‘Endless Flowers‘ from the album of the same name. The album is out on June 4th, and the single is out a week later on June 11th through Souterrain Transmissions. We love it, it’s definitely in with a chance of being our Summer Album of the Year. They’re also throwing a party on a boat on the Thames on June 7th. TOO EXCITED.

Last but certainly not least we have DOLDRUMS. We’re super excited to welcome Montreal’s Airick Woodhead to our roster via Souterrain Transmissions, and you can download ‘Egypt’ for free from the soundcloud link below. He’ll be releasing a 3 track EP on June 4th. It’s colourful, exciting and totally unique, and we can’t wait to hear more. More importantly, it makes your limbs move in weird ways.

Following a year that saw them put a modern stamp on ‘The Brilliant & the Dark‘, tour and bring it back home to the Royal Albert Hall, Gaggle have announced that their debut album, ‘From the Mouth of the Cave’ will be released on June 4th through Transgressive Records!

Featuring new single ‘Army of Birds’ (which you can see a teaser trailer for below) it’ll completely turn your opinion of what it is to be a ‘choir’ on its head. Featuring 21 women, Gaggle isn’t just a choir, they have attitude, bags of energy and take choral singing to a new place, and now they want it to go mainstream.

Combined with the striking vocals, ‘From the Mouth of the Cave’  conjures up images of a futuristic carnival or celebration as the album artwork suggests. It tells us their stories: about trying to be powerful in a group (on forthcoming single ‘Army of Birds’), about being alienated (‘Lullaby’), about economics (‘The Power of Money’), about leaving things that aren’t good for you (‘From the Mouth of the Cave’).

Gaggle is not an act of positive discrimination nor simply a feminist collective. It’s not even a cohesive unit – except in that moment of performance, where it’s an army in uniform.

What Gaggle is however, is something different, something exciting and completely now.

Watch the teaser for ‘Army of Birds‘ below. The single is out on May 21st.

For more information, contact natasha@workitmedia.net

He’s blown the roof off MOMA in New York, filmed scenes with Terrence Malick at SXSW and has a lime-green vinyl ready to hit the shops for Record Store Day. Alan Palomo is one busy chap.

He’ll be releasing ‘Hex Girlfriend‘ through Transgressive Records on May 28th, and this version along with the Twin Shadow remix will be available as a lime-green vinyl on Record Store Day (April 21st). You can hear the track below!

Neon Indian have also booked in a date at London’s Village Underground! They’ll be playing on June 6th and  tickets go on sale tomorrow (Friday 23rd) and you can nab them from www.rockfeedbackconcerts.com and www.seetickets.com

To give you an idea of what you can expect, watch Pitchfork’s ‘+1′ feature with Neon Indian, filmed at MOMA recently:

Fresh from his storming stint at SXSW last week, New York’s Devin is on a roll. Having played his first few shows in the UK at the end of last the month (the first being at the Roundhouse in London supporting The Drums – there are worse places to start!) he’s announced the release of his debut album ‘Romancing‘, and also unveiled the video for his new single ‘Masochist‘.

Set for release on April 23rd, ‘Masochist’ is unstoppable force of a song. With pounding drums, driving guitars and punk-tinged vocals this is Devin giving it his all, merging pop melodies and his rock & roll values. The album follows suit, twelve songs of pure unadulterated rock & roll infused with elements of rhythm & blues, soul and punk that hark back to the classic sounds of Iggy Pop and the New York Dolls. ‘Romancing‘ is out on April 30th.

Basically, when’s he’s on stage you can’t help but pay attention, and dance a bit. Or as we found, quite a lot.

Like the idea of it? Well Devin will be back in the UK in May, playing Live At Leeds and Camden Crawl before shooting over to Europe. Watch the video for ‘Masochist’ below, directed by Ian West.

‘Romancing’ is out on April 30th, and the tracklist is as follows:

Scissor Sisters return with their new single ‘Only The Horses’ on 20^th May. The New York band will release their fourth album ‘Magic Hour’ on 28^th May.

“It’s a sweet joyful mélange of beat-driven future-pop,” says Jake Shears of ‘Magic Hour’. “It style-hops all over the place unabashedly.”

For the new album, the band have been working a diverse list of new collaborators, such as Calvin Harris, Pharrell Williams, Diplo, Alex Ridha [BoysNoize] and Azealia Banks.

The album was recorded over the past year in New York and London.  ‘Only The Horses’ was co-produced with Calvin Harris. The band’s relationship with Calvin started when Jake Shears was working with him on material for Kylie Minogue’s Aphrodite album. “When we wrote ‘Horses’, I immediately knew that he’d help knock it out of the park,’ says Jake.

Scissor Sisters will perform at Shepherds Bush Empire on 16^th and 17^th May. The London dates will go on sale on 16^thMarch here:

http://www.gigsandtours.com/tour/scissor-sisters

You can see the video for the recent online promo track by Scissor Sisters vs Krystal Pepsy, ‘Shady Love’ here:

Think you know ‘acoustic’? Think you know ‘a cappella’?

THINK AGAIN.

Well aware that these two terms conjure up very specific ideas, The Futureheads are out to change opinion, and have unveiled a video that condenses their upcoming acoustic and a cappella tour into two minutes and will no doubt surprise some people. Don’t think of breezy folk songs and drippy ballads. Oh no, this is much more. This is frantic, this could verge on mayhem. This is everything you wouldn’t expect from four guys doing an unplugged tour.

I’ve said enough – here’s Ian West‘s wonderfully energetic preview of The Futureheads tour. Barry Hyde can have the final word:

“Just because this is an a cappella album doesn’t mean to say that the songs are slow or passive, They’re still in-your-face, slightly mad, aggressive. They’re still The Futureheads.”

The Futureheads will play the following shows:

APRIL
2nd: BRIGHTON, Komedia
3rd: BRISTOL, Colston Hall
4th: LONDON, Union Chapel
5th: LEEDS, Wardrobe
6th: STOCKTON, Georgian Theatre
8th: GATESHEAD, Sage
9th: GLASGOW, Oran Mor
10th: BIRMINGHAM, Glee Club
12th: NOTTINGHAM, Glee Club
13th: MANCHESTER, Royal Northern College of Music

First of all, apologies to all of you who aren’t going to SXSW and are sick of hearing about it, but for those of you who are, we have SIXTEEN excellent bands playing you should definitely try and check out during the course of the week.

To make it easier we’ve put together a schedule of all their shows, or as many as I could get details for anyway! The list below features artists from both our online & print schedule, including Blitzen Trapper, Boy Friend, Cloud Nothings, Crocodiles, Dan Mangan, Devin, Doldrums, Eleanor Friedberger, Ganglians, Laura Gibson, Love Inks, Nada Surf, The Coathangers, The Drums, WATERS and Zola Jesus.

For more information on any of these bands or to meet up out there email kate@workitmedia.net.

Tues March 13th
8pm – Love Inks – KXRX Official SXSW Showcase@ Trinity Hall
8pm – Boy Friend – Yours Truly @ Swan Dive
10pm – Love Inks – Day Party @ Cheer Up Charlie’s

Weds March 14th
12pm – Love Inks (acoustic) – SXSW Next Stage
1:30pm – The Coathangers – Brooklyn Vegan @ Hotel Vegas
1:30pm – Dan Mangan – IODA showcase @ Red Eye Fly
1:30pm – Nada Surf’s Matthew Caws – Creating Your 2nd Act panel @ Austin Convention Center, Room 16AB
2pm – Devin – C3 @ C3 House
4pm – Doldrums – Slip & Slide
4pm – The Coathangers – Escapes Party @ Club 1808 (unofficial)
4:30pm – Love Inks – Virgin Mobile Stage @ 508 House
4:45pm – Cloud Nothings – Consequence of Sound party @ Beauty Bar
5pm – The Drums – Under The Radar showcase @ The Flamingo Cantina (unofficial)
5:30pm – WATERS – Satellite LA & Antipop showcase @ Brew Exchange
7:15pm – Laura Gibson – The Portland Party @ Grackle
9:20pm – WATERS – Sony Electronics/RED showcase @ Red 7
10pm – Doldrums – French Embassy Showcase @ Mohawk
10:45pm – Devin – French Kiss showcase @ Stage on 6th St
11pm – Nada Surf – Barsuk showcase @ Red Eye Fly
11pm – Zola Jesus – Sacred Bones showcase @ Elysium
11:30pm – Doldrums – Escapes Party @ Club 1808 (unofficial)
12am – Crocodiles – French Kiss Party @ Stage on 6th St
12am – The Coathangers – Suicide Squeeze Showcase @ Swan Dive
1am– The Drums – French Kiss showcase @ Stage on 6th St
TBA – Blitzen Trapper – Hype Machine/My Old Kentucky Blog @ Hype Hotel, 1316 S Congress
TBA – Ganglians – Lefse Day Party @ Cheer Up Charlie’s

Thurs March 15th
12:15pm – Love Inks – Brooklyn Vegan Party @ Hotel Vegas
12pm – Blitzen Trapper – Waterloo Instore @ Waterloo Records
2pm – Dan Mangan – South by San Jose @ San Jose Hotel
2:25pm – WATERS – Sweetwater presents SXSWeetland @ Beauty Bar
2:30pm – The Coathangers – Check Yo Ponytail / U Weekly Party @ Emo’s East
3pm – Cloud Nothings – Pitchfork showcase @ Mowhawk
3pm – Crocodiles – Urban Outfitters showcase @ Blacklot
4pm – Blitzen Trapper – Paste Magazine Party @ TBA
4:40pm – Doldrums – Pop Montreal Showcase @ The Spill
5pm – Love Inks– Psych Fest @ 29th Street Ballroom
5pm – The Coathangers – Pretty Ambitious Records Party @ Shangri-La
5:45pm – WATERS – The Treehouse Diddly @ Cheers Shot Bar
7:30pm – Zola Jesus – Fader showcase @ Fort
9pm – Love Inks – Style X showcase @ The Driskell Hotel
10:15pm – Laura Gibson – Barsuk showcase @ The Red Eyed Fly
10:30pm – Love Inks– Sexbeat Party @ Cheer Up Charlie’s
11pm – Crocodiles – Psych Fest @ 29th Street Ballroom
1am – Cloud Nothings – Carpark Showcase @ 512 Bar
TBA – Ganglians – Sexbeat Party @ Cheer Up Charlie’s
TBA – The Drums – Brooklyn Vegan Party @ Hotel Vegas

Fri March 16th
2pm – WATERS – My Old Kentucky Blog party @ Peckerheads
3pm – Cloud Nothings – Mess With Texas Party @ Lot at 10001 E. 5th Street
3:30pm – Zola Jesus – Rhapsody Party @ Club Deville
5:20pm – WATERS – Nylon Magazine Party @ W Hotel Austin
6pm – Dan Mangan – Home Slice showcase @ Home Slice South Congress
9pm – WATERS – HGIV Official Showcase @ HGIV Warehouse
10pm – Crocodiles – Art Fag/Impose @ Longbranch
11:40am – Devin – Paradigm @ Stubbs’
1am – Cloud Nothings – SXSW events @ Windish Showcase
1am – Doldrums – SXSMess – 21st Street Co Op (Unofficial)
1am – Dan Mangan – Arts & Crafts showcase @ 512 Bar
1am – Blitzen Trapper – Sub Pop showcase @ Red 7
TBA – The Coathangers – Girls Rock Austin Party @ Cherrywood Coffee House
TBA – Eleanor Friedberger – Merge Showcase @ Frank
TBA – Doldrums – Death in Taxes showcase @ Cheer Up Charlie’s
TBA – Ganglians – Terroreyes’ Austin Day Party @ Music Makers’
TBA – The Drums – Filter Day Party
TBA – The Drums – Time out/Paradigm showcase @ Stubbs’

Sat March 17th
1pm – Nada Surf – Waterloo instore @ Waterloo Records
1pm – Devin – Rolling Stone Party @ La Zona Rosa
1:45pm – Love Inks– Denver Post Party @ Dirty Dog Bar
2pm – Cloud Nothings – CMOG Party @ Club Deville
2:30pm – The Coathangers – Spider House @ Burger Mania
4:30pm – Laura Gibson – Kevchino Party @ @ Maison d’Etoile
5pm – WATERS – Baeble Party @ Peckerheads
6pm – Love Inks– Waterloo Records parking lot show
9pm – Dan Mangan– Beatroute/WinnieCooper showcase @ Maggie Maes
11pm – Doldrums – M for Montreal showcase @ The Spill
12:30pm – Love Inks – Chairlift afterparty @ Mohawk
TBA – The Drums – Check Yo Ponytail