Pickled Egg Records are pleased to announce the release of ‘The Absence of Birds’, a four song EP by Oddfellows Casino , combined with a short film by Brighton-based film maker Toby Amies, which features an original soundtrack by Oddfellows Casino. ‘The Absence of Birds’ showcases four new David Bramwell compositions, exhibiting lush orchestral arrangements with a nod towards late-period Talk Talk, and featuring Oddfellows’ usual eclectic array of guests, including Stereolab's Simon Johns on bass, Giant Leap guitarist and composer Andrew Philips on guitar and percussion, Clearlake's Jason Pegg on organ, and Bevis Frond guitarist Paul Simmons on bass and guitar.
The CD comes complete with a twenty minute film 'The Ballad of Oddfellow', which stars Drako Oho Zarhazar - former Salvador Dali model, actor in films by Andy Warhol and Derek Jarman, and the recent subject of a Radio 4 documentary, ‘The Man Whose Mind Exploded.' This sepia-tinted curio follows the demise of legendary Victorian freakshow host, Ambrose Oddfellow, as drink, tragedy and the advent of picture-houses force him to host phoney seances for the gullible aristocracy of Brighton. But who knows what can happen when dabbling with the forces of darkness... The cast also includes Michael Attree (former world moustache championship holder), Dave Mounfield (portly comedian and nice chap) and the legendary Heidi Heels. The film features an original soundtrack of Oddfellows Casino songs, and was directed by filmmaker and MTV/ Lonely Planet host Toby Amies.
Chandeliers are a Chicago-based quartet that represent a phenomenon of unclassifiable modern music. Comprised of multi-instumentalists from Chicago's blossoming young avant-rock scene - group members Chris Kalis, Dan Jugle, Harry Brenner, and Scott McGaughey are also active members of Chicago groups Bronze, Michael Columbia, Icy Demons, Mandate and Killer Whales - they have created a unique, and live, electronic sound. Adopting the collective spirit of krautrock bands like Can and Faust, the Chandeliers function as a unified whole, with no dominant members. This approach gives the band a more intuitive and unpredictable approach to composing.
The sessions for The Thrush were overseen by Bablicon's Diminisher and Blue Hawaii at the Shape Shoppe and at Mahjongg's west-side studio in Chicago. Its nine songs feature guest musicians from Bablicon, Icy Demons, and Mahjongg, and includes 3 videos by filmmaker TJ Hellmuth. Believing that colour can exist in harmony with timbre, the Chandeliers pride themselves on their synaesthetic live performances: a non-stop high-energy show, augmented with dual projections of Brakhage-esqe visual rhythm.
Chandeliers bring the energy of a super-live party to their cerebral synth interplay. An obvious reference is Kraftwerk, but with influences ranging from Burmese and Arabic melody, to the sonically dirty rhythmic propulsion of Konono no.1, and the crunked-out psychedelic hip-hop of J-Dilla, Chandeliers always keep the listener on their toes. An album with the flow of a mix-tape, the Thrush is at home bangin' in your trunk or hypnotizing on your headphones.
The Doozer builds. He has previously built stone houses and wooden ships. He is currently building music. Raised around the Fenlands of Cambridgeshire, in the arse end of nowhere, the city drew closer and closer, the lights brighter and the time shorter. The city informs his music. His music informs the city. Songs evolve around watching and talking, buying and borrowing. Characters pass by, situations are imagined, colours are added and the resultant is a forming song.
His debut album, ‘Sheet Music’, was recorded mainly on Saturday mornings, bright and early. The songs weren’t complete until the recordings were complete. The spaces always changed. Instruments and voices were layered. Pop music was the aim; pop music isn’t quite the result. Pop music is The Doozer’s music, only filtered through all of the colours and sounds you’ve imagined when walking through the street or down your lane or when your batteries died.
Exploring similar landscapes to Frank Zappa - minus the virtuoso elements - Liverpool-based a.P.A.t.T. are a bewildering and completely original two to seven piece band, utilising all available genres to create a daft and beautiful music. 'Black and White Mass' sets a new standard in home entertainment, featuring some of a.P.A.t.T.'s most accessible compositions to date, whilst still retaining an element of surprise.
Some bands are just damned impossible to classify: a.P.A.t.T. are a (usually) 6-peice amalgamation of all that has come before & all that will slowly catch up in the end. Beyond genre defying: every instrument and style you can think of, mashed up together in jaw-dropping live performances. The experimental and chaotic beeps, buzzes and blips of a.P.A.t.T. , (described on the BBC Merseyside website as sounding like Frank Zappa having a fist fight with Mighty Mouse) have steadily built up a growing army of admirers. They were featured on the promotional video for Liverpool's Capital of Culture bid, and have recently staged a multi-media installation called 'Quartet', featuring four films projected whilst the band performed inside. As if this wasn't enough, they even found time to compose the incidental music for the BBC Radio Merseyside alternative music show, PMS.
Starting from a cupboard with a piano & a drumkit in it, Durham City, England, Suzy Mangion began her public music-making as one half of school boy-girl band George , in 1994. George released a number of acclaimed secret pop records on vinyl collector labels Earworm & Bad Jazz in the late 90s, and eventually released their debut album 'The Magic Lantern' on Pickled Egg Records in 2003. An EP, 'All Good Things', was released in Spain on Lejos Discos, and the 2005 George album, 'A Week of Kindness', was jointly released on both labels.
Suzy also appeared on the Piano Magic album 'Writers Without Homes' (4AD) – contributing vocals on two tracks, which have been described by many as the album's highlights - and has recorded two albums with Arbol - an eponymous debut (Indus Sonica), and 'Dreams Made of Paper' (Lejos Discos). Last year she made a guest appearance on the Big Eyes Family Players's album, 'Do The Musiking'. Suzy is also one half of The Winter Journey.
'The Other Side of the Mountain' is Suzy's first solo album, and was recorded between January and July 2006. Musically, it follows on very much from where George left off, hardly surprising, given that Suzy was responsible for writing and performing about 90% of their material.
Purchase these and all other releases from Pickled Egg
Leicester-based Pickled Egg Records is one of the most sharp-eyed, adventurous independent labels around, releasing some of the best music of any label, anywhere. Eclectic to a fault, and firmly out of step with current trends, since it's inception in 1998, it has dedicated itself to redressing the world’s musical balance in favour of quirky genius, bent tunefulness, noisy playfulness, jazz turmoil, inventive retro-futurism and downright emotional heart-on-sleeve belief, hope and passion. In a world in which the musical balance is already, irretrievably, weighted down on the side of corporate flatulence, labels like Pickled Egg are so a priori unnecessary, and yet so a posteriori essential.
The label's roster is genuine quality. Artists like Philadelphia's Need New Body, Chicago-based Bablicon, Pop-Off Tuesday from Osaka, and Leicester’s very own Volcano the Bear, have tapped rich musical mines, mixing jazz, avant rock surrealism, and a punk rock approach.
Selected releases...
Scatter 'Surprising Sing Stupendous Love' CD
Nalle 'By Chance Upon Waking' CD
Fulborn Teversham 'Count Herbert II' CD
aPAtT 'Black and White Mass' CD
Mass Shivers 'Ecstatic Eyes Glow Glossy' CD
Chandeliers 'The Thrush' CD
Need New Body 'Where's Black Ben?' LP
Need New Body 'UFO' CD/LP
Need New Body 'Need New Body' CD/2xLP
Now 'Frisbee Hot Pot' CD
The Doozer 'Sheet Music' CD/LP
Dragon or Emperor 'Dragon or Emperor' CD
Suzy Mangion 'The Other Side of the Mountain' CD
George 'The Magic Lantern' CD
George 'A Week of Kindness' CD
Bablicon 'In a Different City' CD/LP
Bablicon 'Orange Tapered Moon' CD/LP
Bablicon 'A Flat Inside a Fog' CD/2xLP
A Hawk and a Hacksaw 7" (coming soon!)
Big Eyes Family Players 'Do the Musiking' CD
Big Eyes 'Love is Gone Mad' CD/LP
Big Eyes 'Clumsy Music' CD/LP
Big Eyes 'We Have No Need for Voices' CD
Big Eyes 'Big Eyes Songs' CD/10"
Pop-Off Tuesday 'Pop-Off Tuesday' CD/LP
Pop-Off Tuesday 'See My Ghost' CD/10"
Pop-Off Tuesday 'Pop Ahoy!' CD/LP
Butchy Fuego 'Butchy Fuego' CD
Zukanican 'E5number' 10"
Zukanican 'Horse Republic' CD
Volcano the Bear 'Yak Folks Y'Are' LP
Marshmallow Coast 'Seniors & Juniors' CD/LP
Marshmallow Coast 'Ride the Lightning' CD
100 Pets 'Easter Songs' LP
Oddfellows Casino 'Yellow Bellied Wonderland' CD/LP
Oddfellows 'Casino Winter Creatures' CD
Farina 'Three People' CD/LP
Farina 'Allotments' CD
Daniel Johnston 'Rejected Unknown' CD
Hassle Hound 'Scaring the Grass in the Garden' 10"
The Go! Team 'Get it Together!' 7" EP