Stargaze Records Presents……
GALAXIANS
(Dither Down / Stargaze)
G_P
(Stargaze)
VIDE0
Brudenell Social Club
19.10.17
8pm
FREE ENTRY
We would like to invite you to party with us as we celebrate the release of our first long player, Let The Rhythm In. The record is our first as a trio and our third release on Brooklyn New York imprint Dither Down.
GALAXIANS
Within the music of Galaxians – the trio of Emma Mason, Matt Woodward and Jed Skinner – lies a powerfully hedonistic strain that does much to loop a thread through the party lineage of their adopted hometown of Leeds. Coupled with the first impressions of what the pair loosely term their “pre-digital dance music”, you might not raise an eyebrow to find out that their cues are taken in-part from classic disco and house labels such as Sleeping Bag or Chicago’s TRAX, nor that their early EPs found homes across the Atlantic on the similarly-minded Dither Down in Brooklyn, and Atlanta’s Rotating Souls Records.
However, it’s the beating pulse of Northern England club life, married with the thriving independence of much of the region’s best venues and spaces that forces its way through on the duo’s debut LP Let The Rhythm In. Recorded at Leeds Ghost Town studio with Ross Halden, the eight tracks come steeped in the Yorkshire city’s less-trumpeted but enduring house heritage – with inspiration drawn from the all-day parties of the late 70s and early 80s, the disco that emerged from the fading Northern Soul movement of the early 80s and the resonant acid house era that boomed across both sides of the Pennines.
Previous 12”’s Galaxians and Personal Disco Component captured much of the lo-fi scuzziness that Galaxians have long-surrounded themselves with – as likely to pop up playing more punk-associated DIY spots like their hometown’s Wharf Chambers as they are in front of the heads at Beat-Herder or late-night with the likes of Horse Meat Disco and Auntie Flo. That raw playfulness in their sound still bubbles beneath the surface, but there’s a whole new fluidity to proceedings, a seamless flow between the rattle and strut of their analogue funk.
If Skinner and Woodward have deftly refined things however, then what’s altered the soundscape unequivocally is the addition of long-time friend and vocalist Emma Mason. Though not a constant, her presence is felt immediately on the opening track Street Level, a powerful, soulful vocal that commands the track in a way that resonates far beyond the relatively brief time she actually appears. On Subway Dancers, meanwhile, the heat and hustle of its bassy propulsion melts beneath the shimmer and sway of the melody.
https://soundcloud.com/
October tour dates:
19.10 LEEDS Brudenell Social Club
20.10 BRISTOL Crofters Rights
21.10 AMSTERDAM Doka (ADE)
22.10 JEUMONT Jardin de l’espérance
24.10 COLOGNE Buhmann & Sohn
25.10 BRUSSELS Bonnefooi
26.10 LILLE Gare Saint Sauveur
28.10 LONDON Total Refreshment Centre
G_P
The artist formerly known as Game_Program, aka multi-instrumentalist and member of Hookworms, Cowtown, and Nope, Jon Nash.
Recent performances have shown a tasteful refining of ideas incorporating lo-fi, lo-slung house grooves, arpeggiated synth lines designed to hypnotise, and classic drum machine sounds. Altogether it’s a sound not dissimilar to artists such as Warp’s Clark and Argentinian DJ / producer Leonel Castillo, though it’s an arguably more soulful listening experience.
VIDE0
Back to basics pop duo VIDE0 comprises song writing partners Alex Brown and Emily Garner, previously of bands Bathymetry and Prowles. Operating in Salford, the pair’s direct, uptempo, fun pop music may come as a surprise given the more whimsical guitar-focused sound of their previous band. However, in reality it’s a logical progression to a more immediate, fully formed sound, expressed for the most part through sparkling synths and riff-heavy bass, accompanied by machine programmed beats and dual vocal melodies. Comparisons to New Order may appear lazy, but there’s a definite link here to the city’s lineage of bass-driven synth pop and post-punk.
