Hello and welcome to your weekly news for all things German Shepherd Records

This week

– The Pukes of a Hot Cloister re-released
– New Scissors live album coming soon
– Adventures of Salvador new album trailed
– Umbrella Assassins T Shirts now available
– More Gigs announced

MORE MOFF SKELLINGTON

As we continue our programme of re-releasing Moff Skellington’s huge back catalogue we have reached the landmark “The Pukes of a Hot Cloister” which will be re-released digitally on May 3rd.

The dark days of January 2012 were brightened somewhat by the arrival of The Pukes Of A Hot Cloister album. As usual there was a feast of lyrical athleticism, Moff plucks words out of the ether and re-arranges them in a completely unique and totally compelling way. This album is particularly full of memorable “Moffism’s”, too many to mention and all rather special, there is some degree of continuity from prior releases in parts, with several references to molecules, and the usual bovine references that are scattered across the albums, and the opening instrumental “House of New Bricks” is quoted in the words/music of the penultimate track “Four Peg Wooden Unit”. Two of the tracks “Time for Nervous Questions In The Pub” and “Confident of Pending Treats” formed part of the six song set Moff recorded for Bob Osborne’s “Reformation” radio show on Salford City Radio, the other four appearing on the previous years Embers from the Rapid Eye album, so there is some specific continuity between those two albums. As is usual with Moff you know what you are going to get – the difference with each album though is how he has progressed his art and which particular parts of his “dreamscape” he is addressing in this instance.

The opening “House of New Bricks” sets the scene with a stately waltz around the accordion with bluesy harp wailing – this soon transforms into the strange and somehow beautiful “Crap and Ugly Toys” which is Eddodi in its purest sense. From there on we are gently led through a journey of fascinating words and unique music. A contemporary “manifesto” of Moff’s work, whether it be his art or his music, described a reality comprising three interacting factors – octoberness, perfection and slapstick. Simply put these three elements , anticipation, entropy, and the essentially comedic nature of existence, intertwine to allow innovation, expression and interpretation. We are resisting the urge to release spoilers about the content of this album as we believe that the listener should absorb this marvellous work and draw their own conclusions from the text/sound. All we will say is that the other-worldliness of Moff’s output is never more apparent as it is here. He has always been unique. no one else is doing music like this – it just seems he has built on his work to date to create something rather special. Variety is the watchword here and it is all good. Comparisons, bench-marks, yardsticks etc are impossible so the listener needs to approach it from his/her perspective.

Moff has a major exhibition of his art at the Canwood Gallery and Sculpture Park during May. Exhibition will run from 11am to 4pm each week Tuesday to Sunday. 30 canvasses and 40 prints will be on show at the exhibition.

LIVE SCISSORS

We are pleased to announce the return of Cambridge band the Scissors with a live album recorded at The Smokehouse in Ipswich earlier this year. The raw sound of the live Scissors experience is captured perfectly and demonstrates the pure energy of the band on stage. Release date is planned for 10th May.

ADVENTURES OF SALVADOR ALBUM TRAILED

The much anticipated new album from Adventures of Salvador “Welcome to our Village” is coming in June. Pending that the band play The Peer Hat, Manchester this Thursday (25th) and Ramsbottom Cricket Club on May 10th, Liverpool Fringe on June 6th with the album launch scheduled for June 28th at The Castle, Oldham Street, Manchester. Watch this space for more details.

UMBRELLA ASSASSINS T’S

Haverhill’s finest are hard at work on new material with an album promised later in the year pending that you can increase your sartorial eloquence by acquiring one of their rather fine T-Shirts at this LOCATION. The trio play The Smokehouse, Ipswich on July 13th.

GIGS

The Spring Summer gig list is hotting up with extra gigs for Inferior Complex, Keltrix and Four Candles emerging…..the full list is below

April
25th – Adventures of Salvador play the Peer Hat, Manchester
26th – Mark Corrin plays The Railway, Didsbury
May
1st to 31st – Moff Skellington has an art exhibition at Canwood Gallery and Sculpture Park, Checkley, Hertfordshire
3rd – Inferior Complex play Winchester Gate, Salisbury
3rd – The Scissors play The Blue Moon, Cambridge
4th – Positronik and Pearl Divers play Music on the Market Place, Buxton
4th – The Mind Sweepers play The Frunge Festival, The Elmerglen Hotel, Thornhill
5th – Keltrix play The Green Man Brew Ballyhoo, Granchester
7th – Ian Moss performs in Unseasonal Beasts project with Simon “Ding” Archer at the Castle Hotel, Manchester as part of the MASS assembly event. This is a free event but you must reserve a ticket
10th – Adventures of Salvador play Ramsbottom Cricket Club
11th – Keltrix play The Haymakers, Cambridge (Acoustic Set)
18th -Weimar play the Eagle, Salford supporting St Lucifer
20th – Stewart Harris from Scissors on Dave Hammonds Smellypot Show on Cambridge 105 talking about the new live album
24th – Four Candles play Strummercamp at Oldham Rugby Club
25th – Sam Smith plays Strummercamp at Oldham Rugby Club
June
1st – Keltrix play Strawberry Fair, Midsummer Common, Cambridge
2nd – Inferior Complex play Bandstand, Eastleigh
5th – The Junta plays West Street Live, Sheffield
6th – Adventures of Salvador and Matthew Hopkins play Liverpool Fringe Festival
7th – The Parish Church Fire and Four Candles are playing The Eagle, Salford

7th – Inferior Complex play The Alexandra, Southampton
8th – Keltrix play Pride!, Jesus Green, Cambridge
8th – Inferior Complex play The Red House, Yeovil
15th – The Mind Sweepers and Paul Winter (solo set) supporting JD Meatyard at Leith Depot Edinburgh tickets are £5 with £1 going to local homeless charity.

20th – Inferior Complex play The King Charles, Poole
21st – Weimar play The Eagle, Salford
24th – The Junta plays The Peer Hat, Manchester with Lucky + Love.
26th – Dominic Carlton Jones plays Cuckoo Calling (Featured Artist) Bury New Road, Prestwich
28th – Adventures of Salvador play The Castle, Oldham Street, Manchester – ALBUM RELEASE SHOW
July
5th – Mark Corrin’s Elastikbande play The Railway, Didsbury
5th – Inferior Complex play The Shooting Star, Southampton
6th – The Mind Sweepers play Electric Fields Festival, SWG3, Glasgow
13th – Umbrella Assassins play The Smokehouse, Ipswich
13th – Electric Cheese play Indiefest 2019 at The Boulevard, Wigan
19th – The Scissors with Ember Rev at Blue Moon Cambridge
20th – Keltrix play Whoosh Festival, The Missing Sock, Sto-Cum-Quy
28th – Monkeys In Love celebrate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing at The Klondyke Club, Levenshulme – afternoon show between 1pm and 5pm
31st – The Junta plays The Peer Hat
August
9th – Mark Corrin’s Elastikbande play The Railway, Didsbury
10th – Weimar play Scarborough Apollo
16th – Keltrix play The Green Man, Granchester
25th – Toska Wilde plays It Came From The Sea II at The Centre, Margate