Mount Kimbie’s debut ‘Crooks and Lovers’ crossed more than a few boundaries, when it was released two months ago receiving plays all over. Infact, for me personally, this is the album that finally made dubstep click. Although It hardly seems fair to tag this as a dubstep album, infact the term future bass that’s been thrown around is more fitting, but the album itself takes in everything from Cinematic soundscapes, jazz, detroit techno and post rocky atmospherics.

To give you a peak inside the fella’s heads, here’s a mix they did for resident advisor featuring the likes of  James Blake, Singha and Wolverhampton’s Actress…

Mount Kimbie mix

The band play their first live show in Birmingham on Wednesday October 6th for Bigger Than Barry and Leftfoot at The Hare and Hounds, with This is Tmrw DJ’s coming along for the ride.

This night also marks the end for Scarlet Harlots, a band who’ve done a lot for Birmingham over recent years and who’ve been the live sound of the cities Indie – Grime crossover for a few years now.

Tickets available here

This is Tmrw

For one night only (10/09/10) VIVID will be hosting an art party inspired by the colourful club nights of Birmingham’s underground scenes in the 1980s. VIVID’s project space will be taken over by DJs and visual artists who’ll conspire to create an excitingly strange evening of camp disco

DJs include 80s original ‘Gay Jon’, the brains behind Bradford Street’s outrageously lewd and notorious Cum Club; and Brian Duffy, award winning sound artist and creator of The Modified Toy Orchestra. Also at VIVID, John Napier (Jugend Klub), Greg Haines (THISISTMRW/Tropical Hotdog) and Richard A. Spears (Ducks Bath) will each be bringing you a special playlist crafted in response to The Cum Club.

“Attendees are encouraged to dress up for what I hope will be remembered as a rare, ambitiously OTT and seriously camp warehouse rave/cabaret mash-up, and I urge anyone with a camera to bring it along to help document and share their own experience of the night. If people need a theme, try something along the lines of; ‘your inner pervert’ ”
- Greg

Cum Clubbing is presented as part of Sleeve Notes, an ongoing project conceived by artist-curator Trevor Pitt (POD projects) during his residency at VIVID in 2009. Sleeve Notes examines the spaces where popular culture fraternizes with the canonical world of art and the individuals who played a significant, often underground role in shaping the music, fashion, and club scenes in Birmingham during the late 70s and 1980s.

Follow the Facebook group HERE

Tickets £5 | Available from The Ticket Sellers

VIVID | 140 Heath Mill Lane | Birmingham | B9 4AR
T: 0121 766 7876 | E: info@vivid.org.uk | http://www.vivid.org.uk/

Artist: The Shalfonts
Album: Mjuk Nation
Label: Giant Manilow Records
Released: OUT NOW

THE SHALFONTS are a recording-only project comprising of various musicians, mainly splintered off from one of my all time favourite Birmingham bands SHOCKED ELEVATOR FAMILY

With singer Bryn Bowen now permanently residing in Scandinavia, jams have been recorded in Birmingham (I even threw up some bass for ‘Twizzler’), beats brewed in London (courtesy of Davis Morris, aka GENTLE FRIENDLY), and the fruits of these labours have been sent back and forth across a string of emails to be finally pinned down by Bryn’s voice (and other sounds).

And for many, including myself, it’s Bryn’s unique voice – and more so his words – that make THE SHALFONTS such an underrated beast of a machine. Picking out an odd line like “First, play with Dad’s taser” amidst the proto-emotional hardcore (dis)chords of ‘Triumphant, Wet or Sad’, you are always invited to take your own ideas away from Bryn’s lyrics, never really ‘getting’ the full picture, but always sensing this bittersweet celebration of childhood innocence and a general running theme of nostalgia.

Musically, the styles you’ll hear on Mjuk Nation are so brilliantly varied – from the straighter (subjectively speaking) punk tracks like album closer ‘I See Flames’, to melancholy jams like ‘Precinct’, to the shimmering, blissful steel guitars of ‘Bicycle Diary’ and ‘Orelude’, to the frankly nightmarish electronica of ‘Midtown to Rural Turbine’ – you just don’t get as full a musical palette from your typical studio album, and for me this is where THE SHALFONTS’ approach to making their music pays off the most – There’s no over-production; no streamlining, no sorry looking sawdust from a once brilliant idea on the floor – just free musical adventure, with the listener’s enjoyment always a top priority.

So if the sound of early Modest Mouse, but with much bigger songs and a subtly heavy, f’d up folktronica presence sounds like your bag (and it should), then give Mjuk Nation a spin… If you find the shifts in tone jarring, stop and ask yourself why it does, and why it even matters?

Mjuk Nation is their second full-length album, self released through their DIY label GIANT MANILOW, and as with their first offering (‘Sturt Logic’) it’s totally FREE for anyone to download – So no excuses, click on the link http://www.mediafire.com/?x5130ow6rq1a1ga then come back and tell us what you think

Greg