Spillers Records is the oldest record shop in the country, and it's also one of the best. Operating next to a giant Borders in the centre of Cardiff, it's a shining bastion of independence in amongst the giant TV screens, shopping centres and high street chains.As these new developments changed the shape of Cardiff city centre, things started to look pretty bad for Spillers , but the combinati...
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Store Profile: Spillers Records
Label Profile: The Caspian
The Caspian label has been in creation since autumn 2005, when founder, Jane Abernethy, was touring the west coast of America with Viking Moses. From playing gigs with like-minded individuals, she discovered currents of music which were untapped, and certainly in the UK had little to no label interest. The Caspian label is a means of releasing some of these artists to a wider audience. Each Ca...
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Mr. Oizo - Lambs Anger
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The concept of the Long Player just doesn't seem to suit club music. Mixing is too tied up with newness and a rapid turnover of songs and ideas to contemplate such a notion. Perhaps because of this, great dance albums are hardly in abundance. Notable releases from Digitalism, Simian Mobile Disco and Cut Copy aside, not since Daft Punk's prime has there been a breakthrough electro act producing...
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My tour in lists: ten reasons why F^cked Up love the UK
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Imagine, if you will, 10,000 Marbles coming at you all at once. What would you do? Run away? It'd almost certainly be futile. Imagine the coverage! The Fucked Up live experience is similarly inescapable, and the band are over here again at the end of the month for Shred Yr Face 2 , also featuring Rolo Tomassi and The Bronx. Here, the aforementioned Mr Marbles (guitarist in the band, Mike Halie...
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My tour in lists: ten reasons why Fucked Up love the UK
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Imagine, if you will, 1000 Marbles coming at you all at once. What would you do? Run away? It'd almost certainly be futile. Imagine the coverage! The Fucked Up live experience is similarly inescapable, and the band are over here again at the end of the month for Shred Yr Face 2 , also featuring Rolo Tomassi and The Bronx. Here, the aforementioned Mr Marbles (guitarist in the band, Mike Haliech...
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Emmy meets Sleeping States
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The thing about hobbies is that they will eventually come to mean more to you than your job. It's something about the lack of deadline, the pleasure of spending borrowed time, that turns something from an idea into a lifelong labour of love. That's why the old policeman from the Wire is so good at carving, and that's why the music of Sleeping States is as beautiful, detailed and finely crafted...
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Emmy meets Beach House
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Once I was falling asleep to Beach House and I started lucid dreaming that I was running towards each of my past lives. I could control where I went, and what I wanted to say, and I could hear Devotion (Reviewed ) playing in the background. I felt like nothing in life could be so bad that you won't survive it again and again. This experience lasted about two songs, and it was one of the more m...
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Going for Golden: Sky Larkin talk debut album
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Artist:Sky Larkin
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Album:The Golden Spike
Following on from our recent New Music Week track-by-track DiSection of Sky Larkin's eagerly awaited debut album The Golden Spike , here's a quickfire Q&A with the band's singer/guitarist Katie Harkin - as well as some pretty pictures of the 'Larkin three. Expect a full review of The Golden Spike on DiS soon - it's out this week on Wichita . One line verdict: it's good, buy it. --- We've been ...
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DiS meets Simon Neil in his Marmaduke Duke guise
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Take one Scottish alt.rock icon (AKA The Atmosphere - owner of some of the tightest jeans in rock) and add in an impeccably obscure sidekick (AKA The Dragon). Throw in three obscure unpublished books and the end result, by way of a healthy dose of electronica and a smattering of post hardcore, is Marmaduke Duke . The Duke (as they shall henceforth be known to save my typing fingers) is the lon...
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DiScover Column #1: The Deer Tracks, Still Flyin' and Urgent Talk
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Welcome to our first fortnightly DiScover column, where from now on we'll be introducing you to the new sounds that have been filling our contributors' ears and eyes with joy on a regular basis. This slot is intended to fill the void left by the DiScontinuation of individual feature articles on up-and-coming bands (aka 'DiScover pieces'). A lot of you have said you miss them, and we hear you, ...
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In Photos: Of Montreal @ Manchester Club Academy
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DiS caught Of Montreal in Manchester last night, and if there's a more fun live band currently doing the circuit then we're certainly yet to witness them. As you'll see, colourful doesn't even begin to cover it. The crucial thing, though, is that Barnes and co. have tunes good enough to match the ridiculously over-the-top stage show. It's, like, The Beatles vs Queen vs performance art - or so ...
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A Month (or two) in Records: December 2008/January 2009
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Album:Merriweather Post Pavillion
Missed our Month In Records round-ups? Us too. Oops. But after an enforced Christmas absence (turkeys to eat, mulled wine to drink), we're back with a round-up of what's been pleasing the ears of DiS writers these past two months. This is - of course - traditionally the slowest, quietest period of the musical calendar, so we should think ourselves lucky that records of the quality of Merriweat...
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Animal Collective DiScuss Merriweather Post Pavilion
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Merriweather Post Pavilion , then: pretty amazing, right? The band are in the UK at the moment demonstrating its blissed-out magic in a live setting, so DiS thought it high time we had a word. Here speaks Geologist - aka Brian Weitz - about the new record, absent friends and - with refreshing honesty - the thorny issue of the day/month/decade: downloading... --- The response to Merriweather P...
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Röyksopp unveil Junior album sleeve via DiS
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DiS is pleased to exclusively reveal the cover for the new album from Röyksopp ... Last week, Norwegian duo Röyksopp, Svein Berge & Torbjørn Brundtland, announced the release of a new album, Junior , on 23rd March 2009. It's their third album, following their million selling debut Melody A.M. released in October 2001 and 2005's much-loved The Understanding .Notably Junior features guest vocals
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Astoria's last hurrah: Mansun's Paul Draper to join Get Cape, My Vitriol and more
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Historic London music venue The Astoria is to close its doors on January 15th but before the developers move in, a host of musicians are giving it a proper send off... DiS can exclusively reveal that Mansun 's Paul Draper will be performing with My Vitriol , taking the stage for the first time in seven years since the demise of Mansun.Sam Duckworth, aka Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. has helped org...
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Newsround #4: Since we've been gone...
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In case you hadn't noticed, DiS has been on holiday for a few weeks. Well, now we're back and raring to go... at least, we would be if we didn't have the sodding 'flu. Anyway, here's our pick of the music news (and some sad goodbyes) from our time away. - - - 4ADThe venerable indie label have made a compilation of some of their best stuff from last year available for free. What else do you ne...
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Q: What do you want for Xmas? A: From lots of our favourite musicians
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DiS asked some of the makers of some of our albums of the year, as well as some of our tips for next year, what they want for Christmas. As we expected time off seems to be top of a lot of non-stop touring bands lists... Scott Hutchison from Frightened Rabbit : Loads of meat, loads of booze, and a cardigan.Randy from No Age : A guitar that isn't brokenHowling Bells : A good holiday back to Aus...
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My Vitriol talk about album two, the music biz and more...
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As a little Christmas gift from us to you, we thought we'd catch up with one of DiS' most beloved bands. Despite a seven year gap since their debut album and people calling it the Chinese Democracy of Brit-rock, My Vitriol confirm they have a new album and it's very likely to be released in 2009... --- You released 'Finelines' back in 2001 which must seem forever ago, you then toured it and w...
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Trans Musicales 2008: the DiS review
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We're listening to thumping French techno surrounded by 20,000 students and farm workers drunk on cider in a giant shed somewhere - we've no idea yet where - in the middle of Brittany. Sounds weird? It is, but in the best tradition of eccentric foreign festivals. On the same weekend that ATP's Nightmare Before Christmas went metal, a handful of brave Brits skipped over the Channel to go mental...
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Lost 8 of '08 - #1: The Week That Was
Some records slip beneath nearly every radar. These brilliant albums end up not only missing out on end of year plaudits but throughout the year these records failed to procure the reams of verbiage they deserved. These are the outsiders; the records which people weren't brave enough to crank out on their airwaves, nor to fill a page or two of their publications with. These are the records so ...
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