Author: HalfEdgeMedia

Regular writing and podcasting about music

Latest news – Inferior Complex and Filed Fangs, plus more

Here we are again with some more new music for you….we have one new release for February 14th plus one pre-release……. and some other news

INFERIOR COMPLEX – LIVE ON SHEPPEY FM

Southampton’s post punk trio are back with another release.

This time a recording from a radio session for Phil Crowder’s End of the Week Show on Sheppey FM. Phil has been steadfast supporter of our label and has had sessions with our more southern based acts.

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This six track mini-album, recorded in October 2019,  covers music from all of the band’s releases and the stripped back feel of these recordings is a fine example of their live sound. The release was engineered by Jamie Ryan at Sheppey FM an edited & mastered by Matt at Untapped Talent in Southampton.

The band have gigs coming up in Southampton (7th February) Guildford (13th March) London – Dublin Castle (26th March) Ipswich (29th March) and Southampton (10th April). Please see the gig list page right for more details.

FILED FANGS – WHEN IS A SINGLE NOT A SINGLE?

As trailed last week on 14th February we  pre-release the first offering from new Manchester based duo Filed Fangs.

To remind you what we said last week.

Time for something new?
It is “Calcify” – a track NOT a single.

A hint. An introduction. The first of many tracks from a staggered album – a collection of songs that will track by track / drip by drip / bite by bite reveal a body of work

Distressed sounds, walls of guitars (bass and lead), layers of keyboards

Snatches of vocals, needle hitting red, music from a broken radio just off the dial through a splintered culture, motes of sound breaking through.

Calcification – hardening, insoluble deposits, disruption of systems and functions

They are Filed Fangs – Paul (Slum Turkeys) and Boz (Flea) collaborating – echoes of sound from Manchester 30 years back brought up to date. Time flowing back and forward, echoes and future memories.

Grunge, dub, electronica, noise.
Hypnotic.
Epic and enigmatic.

When everything else these days sounds like somebody else’s stuff  (recycled post punk brit pop blah blah blah) this sounds unique, special. compelling. Something to get your teeth into?

Hyperbole? You decide……full release will be on February 28th and CD versions will be available. The track has already been featured on “Standing In The Shadows of Lev” show on ALL FM, Manchester

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SUBSCRIBER SPECIAL – IAN MOSS AND SPACE MUSEUM

We are releasing today the second volume of Ian Moss’s Spoken Word series to our subscribers – with 14 brand new pieces, supplemented by the sonic tinkerings of Space Museum, Moss covers a wide range of topics close to his heart including aging, the climate crisis, politics, relationships and tribute bands. This release is exclusively for our subscribers and will not be available anywhere else.

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Subscriptions to the label are £40 a year. With that you get everything we release in the next twelve months, a series of subscriber only specials, 10% of all merch and over 230 previously released albums, singles and EPs which you can stream or download. To subscribe please follow this LINK

MORE MELTDOWN – CRAVATS TICKETS SELLING FAST

The next edition of Manchester Meltdown has been expanded to a two night affair. Good Friday (April 10th) sees Four Candles and Adventures of Salvador (currently back in the studio) plus ex Notsensible Stephen John Hartley (Sage) at The Peer Hat, Faraday Street – there a no pre-tickets for this event and the entrance fee is a mere £5.

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The following day sees a bumper bill of bands from across the north west – Unseasonal Beasts, Factory Acts, Matthew Hopkins, Andy T Band and Horsemeat – plus headliners The Cravats back in Manchester after a two year absence with a new album to promote.
Tickets are £8.50 in advance and are selling fast so we recommend people get on board as soon as possible. Tickets are available HERE. Entry will be £10 on the day early purchase saves you loads!

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What’s Coming In February?

This time around we are looking forward to what’s happening during February with German Shepherd Records…..

FEBRUARY RELEASES

7th -Positronik  – Work

We kick off the month with a new four track EP from Manchester soul-pop trio Positronik. With songs from both instrumentalist  Jeff “Captain” Black and singer Nathalie Haley there’s a certainly a lot of variety in the mix. Kicking off with Jeff Black’s Aretha inspired soul stomper, and EP lead track, W-O-R-K the stage is set for a set of dance floor classics. Nathalie’s dream-pop epic “Good So Bad” follows changing the mood, and next the soulful “Easy Money” again shifts gears highlighting her strong vocals. The set is completed with the hyper active  pop drenched “When You Call Me ‘Sweetheart'”.

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14th –  Inferior Complex  – Live on Sheppey FM

The ever busy Inferior Complex bring their post-punk sounds to the fore again with a live radio session album recorded live with Phil Crowder at Sheppey FM on his End of the Week show. This great collection reveals the trio’s great live sound. More information on this release next week. The band have a new single ready for release in May.

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21st  – Auster Boys – Lost In The Former East

The Austers are back with a new album of music from a flâneur perspective which this time focuses on a trip to Berlin and three jazz concerts in London. Iain Sinclair’s “The Last London” provides a literary back-drop to a psycho-geographical journey which slips between dreams and waking and where time  and meaning/intent are blurred.

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28th – Moff Skellington The Pukes of a Hot Cloister

We begin the monumental task of redistributing the bulk of Moff Skellington’s back catalogue this month. Moff will be providing brand new cover art for some editions. We begin with the memorable “Pukes of a Hot Cloister” a large portion of which was originally launched as a session of Bob’s Reformation Show on Salford City Radio some years back. New material from Moff is due in a few months time.

28th –  Crab Dance GIs – I’m Sorry(But You’ve Got To Go) / Cover Aversion

Manchester pop terrorists Crab Dance GIs return with a brand new single. Featuring KIT Bs Danny Cusick and former Hidden Gem Band Mates Craig Bodell and Paul Smith. This is their third single with us
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28th –  The Scissors –  Look Good In Cheap Clothes, and  Smokehouse and Mirrors

We redistribute the last two releases from Cambridge freakbeat/punkpop/new wave quartet – they return to Spotify/Apple/Google/Amazon etc

28th – Filed Fangs – Calcify (pre-released 14th)

Time for something new?

It is “Calcify” – a track NOT a single.

A hint. An introduction. The first of many tracks from a staggered album – a collection of songs that will track by track / drip by drip / bite by bite reveal a body of work

Distressed sounds, walls of guitars (bass and lead), layers of keyboards

Snatches of vocals, needle hitting red, music from a broken radio just off the dial through a splintered culture, motes of sound breaking through.

Calcification – hardening, insoluble deposits, disruption of systems and functions

They are Filed Fangs – Paul (Slum Turkeys) and Boz (Flea) collaborating – echoes of sound from Manchester 30 years back brought up to date. Time flowing back and forward, echoes and future memories.

Grunge, dub, electronica, noise.
Hypnotic.
Epic and enigmatic.

When everything else these days sounds like somebody else’s stuff  (recycled post punk brit pop black blah blah) this sounds unique, special. compelling. Something to get your teeth into?

A preview….

FEBRUARY GIGS

A busy month ahead ……

  • 1st –
    • The Harveys – Jimmy’s, Liverpool L7 6HE, UK
    • The Mind Sweepers – Big Burns Supper, Eskdale House, Crichton Business Park, Dumfries DG1 4UQ, UK
  • 2nd
    • Bouquet of Dead Crows – The Fiddler’s Elbow – Music Venue, 1 Malden Rd, Belsize Park, London NW5 3HS, UK
  • 7th
    • Inferior Complex – The Alexandra, 6 Bellevue Rd, Southampton SO15 2AY, UK
  • 8th
    • Four Candles & The Ombudsmen – Fuel Cafe Bar, 448 Wilmslow Rd, Manchester M20 3BW, UK
    • Weimar – Hoylake Social Club, 11 Trinity Rd, Hoylake, Wirral CH47 2BR, UK
  • 15th
    • The Mind Sweepers – The Vaults Arts Centre, Newton Stewart
  • 21st
    • Umbrella Assassins – Bury Sound, Bury St Edmonds
  • 28th
    • Elastikbande – The Whip & Kitten, 8, 12 Burnley Rd, Rawtenstall, Rossendale BB4 8EW, UK
  • 29th
    • Bouquet of Dead Crows – The Blue Moon, 2 Norfolk St, Cambridge CB1 2LF, UK
    • The Junta with Section 25 Industrial Unit – Aatma, 1st Floor, 14-16 Faraday St, Manchester M1 1BE, UK

Next up – new single from Inferior Complex! – and other news

31st January sees the release of a brand new single from Inferior Complex called “Dome” plus the re-release Drink and Drive’s “This Is What Happens When A Fly Lands On Your Food” album. There’s also the return of The Harveys to the live stage in Liverpool.

INFERIOR COMPLEX

Led by brothers Andrew and Ray Missons, Inferior Complex was originally formed in 1979 .  Andrew plays guitar and keyboards and Ray plays bass and is the vocalist. Original drummer Jimmy Faye left the band late 1980 but the band continued with another drummer and later on with a drum machine until the band split in 1983.

The brothers then  played in various other bands together until they reformed the group in January 2011 using an online drum machine.  In 2015 they added Paul Jenman on drums to complete the current line up.

Their influences are  early Factory Records bands including  Section 25,  A Certain Ratio, The Wake, Joy Division and New Order.

They self released their album “In Your Life” in June 2017 on Bandcamp and hooked up with German Shepherd in July 2017 for wider distribution.  A series of singles and EPs followed.

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new single called “Dome”. An instrumental, this epic track brings a cinematic feel to the bands trademark post punk sound.

Here’s a version of the release captured live at The Joiners in Southampton

A radio session by the band at Sheppey FM on Phil Crowder’s End of the Week Show will be released in a few weeks, and recordings with fellow German Shepherd artist Dominic Carlton Jones are planned for later in the year.

As usual the trio are gigging regularly with the following dates already in the diary….

  • 1 Feb 2020 – The Red Lion, 44 Fore St, St Columb Major, Saint Columb TR9 6AL, UK
  • 7 Feb 2020 – The Alexandra, 6 Bellevue Rd, Southampton SO15 2AY, UK
  • 13 Mar 2020 – HOLROYD ARMS, 36 Aldershot Rd, Guildford GU2 8AF, UK
  • 29 Mar 2020 – The Smokehouse, South Street Studios 6 South Street, Ipswich IP1 3NU, UK
  • 10 Apr 2020 – with  Bouquet of Dead Crows,  and The Get  – The Hobbit, 134 Bevois Valley Rd, Southampton SO14 0JZ, UK

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DRINK AND DRIVE

We are pleased to announce the availability of Drink and Drive’s stunning album “This Is What Happens When A Fly Lands On Your Food”. Due to technical/administrative issues the album has not been available on digital sites for the last few months but now it is back and can be streamed from January 31st onwards.

THE HARVEYS PLAY LIVERPOOL

The Harveys are back on stage with the first gig of the year at Jimmy’s , Liverpool on February 1st, they are supporting The Monochrome Set. Liverpool based DJs and Bloggers are invited to contact the band for pre-gig promo opportunities. Drop us a line at German Shepherd Records we will hook you up with the band.

Easter Saturday Meltdown

We are pleased to return to our spiritual home The Peer Hat on Saturday 11th April with another edition of Manchester Meltdown.

Commencing at 4:30pm and with advance tickets at only £8.50 we offer a stunning line up of great music. We expect this one to sell out so get your advance tickets now from HERE.

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Headlining are The Cravats.

Anyone who has had even a vague love of punk music over the last 35 years will know The Cravats or, at least, be aware of their existence. Championed by John Peel with four sessions, releases on Small Wonder and Crass; the sax-riddled, bass-laden weirdness, the humour, the love of Dada and the infamous Redditch ‘Dustbin of Sound’.

Never mainstream, never hugely popular but always utterly unique they ploughed their own musical furrow in the peripheral vision of the music biz since forming in 1977. They stopped in the mid-eighties for a cup of tea and it wasn’t until the 2006 release of ‘The Land of The Giants’ double CD compilation on Overground Records that many folk realised what they’d missed.

Co-founder The Shend and original sax-riddler Svor Naan, along with fellow Redditcharian Rampton Garstang on drums, resurrected a live version of the band in 2009 at the bequest of admirers old and new. Steve Albini’s curated ATP, the final Feeding of The 5000 Crass show, a host of European festivals including 4 years at Rebellion Festival, a Marc Riley BBC6 session and a bunch of selective UK gigs followed to much critical acclaim.

Only with the addition, of Viscount Biscuits on guitar and Joe 91 on bass they finally decided the ingredients were right for new material  and a couple of singles in 2016 and a stunning album “Dustbin of Sound”  in 2017 saw the band reaching new heights including a debut Manchester gig at The Star and Garter.

We thought it was time they came back!

Still drenched in sax, obliquely angry, raucous and sounding like no other band in existence they have remained faithful to the sound that made them unique. Eccentrically frantic on stage, odd but on the ball on record and definitely not normal, the world needs bands like The Cravats.

With a new album due and a new single out there it’s a good time to come and see this excellent band.

 

In support we have:

Unseasonal Beasts – the electronic dance punk of Simon “Ding” Archer and Ian “Moet” Moss has already been seen in full flow via a couple of EPs and a handful of gigs. With two more EPs in the pipeline the duo present an intense barrage of sounds and rhythm capped off with Moss’s trade-mark polemic and vision.

 

Andy T Band – Andy Thorley’s relentless gigging and impressive output is legendary. With precise and evocative spoken word he recounts tales of injustice and political chicanery with an eye to the truth and the pricking of bombastic bubbles. He combines exciting music with a unique and compelling vocal style.

Factory Acts – A Salford-based post-punk dark-electro duo, Factory Acts exist at the edge of the analogue-digital divide, sometimes dreaming, always dancing. Matt the bass delivers the grinding pulsating backbone, SOS’s impressive array of keyboards and stunning vocals create a sound that makes you dance,  but also makes you think.

Matthew Hopkins – the punk via folk trio of Anne, Julia and Max delivers memorable harmonies, great rhythms and catchy tunes concerning politics, the environment and injustice. Pain and joy are covered in equal measure.

Horsemeat – Horsemeat is a band. Horsemeat can be simple. Horsemeat can be tough. Horsemeat can be tender. Horsemeat can be complex and rich. Horsemeat just is. A trio featuring ex Bobbie Peru, and current member of The E-Fits, Bert Genovese. This will be their debut gig.