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Hi there

This blog has moved to

http://www.thesoundoftheladies.com

see you there!

Podcast ep 2!

Podcast episode 2 is now out! It features the song D-E-A-D and can be gotted either via iTunes or by going to the Sound of The Ladies homepage! Enjoy...

The Sound of the Ladies podcast Episode 1!

The first ever episode of The Sound of the Ladies podcast is out! It features all the news for February 2008, and "The Clouds at the Top of the Sky". You can listen to it

here

or I would recommend subscribing via iTunes





so it pops into your iBox every frikkin' month!

If you have any suggestions about what you'd like to hear in the podcast, mail me at thesoundoftheladies@gmail.com, and I will 100% read your email!

The Sound of The Ladies podcast

Hey all

The sound of the ladies will shortly have a podcast available via iTunes - more news soon, but until then, here is a snippet of the trailer...

God is in the TV Review of Rosebud EP

The Excellent God is in the TV zine

http://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/

have given Rosebud a really lovely review. They say

"Becoming somewhat of a superhero in the underground acoustic scene... The Sound of the Ladies has been the object of many an affection since the release of his fabulous "Tissue of Lies" EP. And now on the verge of releasing his latest slab of melancholic genius, [they] will no doubt be putting smiles on faces faster than an abolition of government.

"...there is a sense of broken innocence haunting the tracks; their smooth, sweeping melodies and unfolding drama a perfect elixir..."

"..truly...a brilliant voice... the vocal lines soar above the tenebrous melancholy...tracks like the apologetic "How You Could Have Been in Love with Me" and the seriously uncluttered effortlessness of "One of Those Girls" leave a distinct impression; taking you through the emotions of a man with so much pain to share, and certainly enough to go around."

Anyone calling me an underground superhero (MoleMan?) and a melancholic genius is cool in my book. Off to swim in Lake Me...

Unwanted visitor

The Sound of the Ladies got a visit from an unwanted guest whilst working at their job in London.

During the course of a normal working day, Martin Austwick was visited by an fly in his office.

"It was in the insect family, and it moved fast. I was almost asleep and I saw a mark on the wall that I didn't think was there before, and I just was staring at it for like a minute," the guitarist told his friends.

"And then it ran around the room. You know, it just took off. These flies are quick. And I couldn't deal with that, so I left and got a coffee for half an hour."

The band are set to release their new EP 'Rosebud' on May 1st.

As previously reported by thesoundoftheladies.co.uk, the band are working on new video 'The clouds at the top of the sky' with acclaimed director Nathan Snyder.

******

Now, if you think that sounds like a non-story, read this.

The Sound of The Ladies

The Ladies are now "The Sound of The Ladies". Excited? You oughtta be.

Rosebud EP out next month...

The Private Press

Thanks to the lovely Miss Josie Long (never met her before in my life, gov...) The Ladies' Valentines gig got an honourable mention in the Sunday Times (first page of the Culture section, no less). The gig is at the Slaughtered Lamb in Clerkenwell, as part of Will Rees' infamous Electroacoustic Club. Get today's Sunday Times to see it in all its one inch glory.

In more news, the as-yet untitled follow up EP to "Tissue of Lies" is pretty much complete, sat on my hard drive waiting to be mixed into shape. It will feature acoustic versions of "One of those girls", "D-E-A-D", "How you could have been in love with me" and "Swimming Skills". Hopefully it'll be ready in time for the next gig.

Updates, news, etc

I've put the EP on the back-burner in order to write some new songs (sorry Ladiesfans), which is long overdue. Abandoning one's muse for any period of time is not to be advised or taken lightly. Currently in the pipeline are "Deep dish", feels like it will turn out to be pretty minimal; I'm going for a cross between "I want a little sugar in my bowl" and "Your flesh is so nice", but it will most likely not sound like either. "Something beautiful" is probably going to sound like something Billy Corgan never got round to writing.

The gigs are pretty interesting, I've been alternating between playing with the superbass, the telecaster and my new spanish (classical) guitar, all of which lends a slightly different vibe to the evening. The classical has a real warmth that you don't get with a steel-strung guitar; the superbass has a mellow fullness because of its awesome low end; and the telecaster, to paraphrase Bob Dylan, "sounds great played in a room with a corrugated iron roof and a concrete floor". It is one zingy motherfucker.

Ladies in the house

Hello everyone

No Ladies news for ages, hence no bloggage. There have been a few gigs, some of which have been wonderful and others which haven't. The rich tapestry of life etc etc. We're currently working on a new recording which will probably be an EP. At the moment there's a new guitar instrumental called "Not New York" which was recorded in a relentless rainstorm, and the guitar and uke parts for "The Clouds at the Top of the Sky" are roughly complete. The other songs slated for inclusion are "One of those Girls", "How you could have been in love with me" and a new acoustic recording of "D-E-A-D". So I just to need to record the mofo.

No other news, more as it breaks...

God is in the TV Review Review

The fabbo God is in the TV zine have just reviewed Tissue of Lies, dudes what they are... it says the usual stuff "promising debut of musical genius in waiting" type thing. Ok, don't believe me; it says

"...the affecting, bittersweet 'I Promised Myself I Wouldn't Cry' ... perfectly evokes waking up to a beautiful sunny morning and half an empty bed..."

and that The Ladies' music

"...shows a refreshing understanding of music outside the rock spectrum whilst retaining direct songwriting and a good sense of melody...points for getting the word 'inauspicious' in there, but it matters little when the tender, thoughtful 'Spider' and aforementioned 'I Promised.' have been knocking around your head for several days, the most obvious and natural accolade for a record that there is..."

Read it in its entirity here:

http://giittv.hypnotisingsilence.net/reviews/theladiestol.htm

and check out the rest of the zine while you're there.

Reviews

The Ladies have a couple of new reviews, the first one is here:

http://www.vanityproject.co.uk/

and the best bits go

Light bossa nova "Worse" opens the 7 track EP with a gentle tap on the shoulder, "Nightmare #6" continuing the hushed pace, the ghostly backing vocal leading it stealthily into a more rabid strum. This is a soft, considerate record of mild melancholic music that brings to mind Black and the Blue Nile...

which is nice. I always enjoy being compared to bands I've never heard (of).

The Ladies combine John Zorn's careening sense of space with Whitehouse's attention to detail and their hushed vocal is reminiscent of Faust and Dogbox

Hey, I'm not complaining! I expect reviewers only compare to what they know. They do better than I do - all the reviews I wrote mentioned the Pixies or Tori Amos...

And Backlash Magazine is out, which has a lovely review. You'll have to buy it to find out what it says. Visit them here

http://www.backlashmagazine.com

because it is really rather good...

Newsflash

Newsflash!

**drops donut**

Who am I kidding, no one reads this for news. Do you even know how to set up a feed? I thought not. Sometimes I wonder why I bother. Shall I just send you an email? Ok, I'll do that.

The news is, I'm playing a short set at the Electroacoustic Club's Easter Egg! Don't come for me, I'm only doing a few songs, come for all of the other acts. It should be a good one.

Big Note at the Red Room, Picadilly

My first gig at the Red Room, really nice space. Unfortunately I ducked out for Chinese after my set because I was absolutely ravenous. My hunger made me go all blurry.



Man, that salt and pepper squid/salt and pepper spare ribs/spring roll/char sui noodles in soup went down well. I wanted duck but they didn't have any! We laughed. tI've got a quiet couple of weeks before my next gig on the 25th so I might put my feet up and eat some donuts*. I've realised it coincides with Songs in The Dark, which I've been meaning to get to for about four months but some minor catastrophe (forgetting, depression, dinner date) always intervenes. I feel like a massive loser. Everyone should probably go to SITD rather than my gig. Unless you live in Greenwich.


*God, that's a romanticized version of my life! 30% of my time will be spent working in an office, 10% travelling, 20% eating, 20% passing through turbulent vistas of acute anxiety in the search for a decent song, 10% swearing, 9% misc (washing, thinking about climate change, etc) and about 1% writing, recording, practicing and being vaguely happy with any material. Oh, that's not including sleep time

Another review

I found this one by accident! They also seem to quite like me/The Ladies.

"...a collection of subtle semi-acoustic tracks set against his sombre, gently-swooping voice. ‘Worse’ almost recalls the uncluttered sonic distance to some of Jose Gonzales' self-penned work, with a bossanova twitchiness and a lilt to his voice a tiny bit reminiscent of Rufus Wainwright in places. Standout ‘Nightmare #6’ works best though, casually shifting up an understated gear into something fierier and more poised halfway through, before falling into unsettled drones of feedback..."

You can read the full review here.

Oh, here is the gist of the Russell review.

"...the music itself falls into two categories, jazzy sounding loveliness and wailing oddities. In the former section we have 'Worse', all Thom Yorke mumbled vocals and tropicalia rhythms and the Lambchop like 'Spider'. 'Nightmare no 6' and 'I Promised Myself I Wouldn't Cry' fall into the latter..."

Weirdly, he hates the tracks the other dude liked the bestest. Critics, eh? And mumbled? H' shol hi ma spik...

My first review

The first review of the Tissue of Lies EP is up here. He doesn't unequivocally love all the songs, but at the same time I get compared to Thom Yorke and Lambchop in the same paragraph, so you won't hear me complaining...

Some good news, some bad news

Sadly, the Backlash launch night scheduled tomorrow has been postponed until June. The bassist of headliners The Pistolas received some bass-related injury and had to pull out.

The good news is I'll be playing at their launch when it does take place! And the "Tissue of Lies" EP receives a (possibly complimentary) review this month, and their cover CD features "Worse". Visit their website here.



Also, I had a fun night at the Carling Islington Academy last night (I know, hard to believe) watching celebrity pals The Known Unknowns rock da nn0+h3rfvc|<1ng house! Rock da leet! Yeah!






Don't they look pretty?

Backlash Magazine launch

The Ladies's Tissue of Lies EP is reviewed in this month's Backlash Magazine* (http://www.backlashmagazine.com/home.asp), released on March 23rd. To celebrate the new issue, Backlash are organising a party at the Luminaire, London's favourite venue, featuring live sets, goodie bags, free CDs and hopefully ice cream and jelly. But they're much cooler than me, so probably not the latter. Anyway, come down cos the Ladies aren't playing again this month so you'll have to get your kicks elsewhere. It should be fun. I'm leaving the house to go to it and you know how rarely that happens.

*don't ask me what they say, the issue isn't out yet!

The Electroacoustic Club, The Slaughtered Lamb

Classic venue/night, this one. I had my friends from Leicester, The Fabulous Foxes, down, they seem to be taking Dirty Three elements into their alt.country/sea shanty vibe, and anyone reading that sentence must know that to be a Good Thing. Here they are rocking out.





I had an honourary Lady onstage with me for the gig, we opened with a ukulele version of "Oh What a World" by Rufus Wainwright. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Here I am. A straight man. On a fast train. Travelling. But not arriving. Don't I look a hottie in me cardy?

The cover of the night was "Cherub Rock" by Smashing Pumpkins, which won an EP, and also "She don't use Jelly" by Flaming Lips. What a cover-filled evening. More than 50% and I can no longer call myself a singer-songwriter. Hopefully I will never describe myself as that.

The very talented Samantha Whates (no website - just check out her live shows, you net-losers) disgraced herself by asking me to play my song about my favourite T-shirt. A song I have never written, never performed and WILL NEVER WRITE.

Although if you write it, I may well cover it...

The Betsey Trotwood, Farringdon

Quite a quiet night, but some good bands playing. No photos as The Betsey is too small to accommodate cameras. More blogs to come as the gigs come

Big Note at the Hope and Anchor, Islington

A real outing of hardcore Ladies fans for this one. Mr Hugo Hutchison of 5, Landmine Terrace, Clapton, won a demo CD when I accepted his suggestion that I play "a Guns 'n' Roses song". Sweet Child O' Mine has never sounded so good. Especially when I tried to play the guitar solo with my feet.

Electroacoustic club, Slaughtered Lamb, Clerkenwell

Fine night in Clerkenwell with some fantastic acts on the bill. Samantha Whates headlines with her stunning voice. Jess Bryant is doing something all her own. Andy Raeburn is another great singer, a really expressive voice, and it's worth checking out. One of the best nights I've played at.

Twist acoustic night, Oliver's bar, Greenwich.

My first ever set at this established Greenwich night held in a cellar. Smallish crowd, but a nice bunch. For my request spot, I sang "Creep" by Radiohead and encored with "Hallelujah" (the Buckley version). And I thought my music influences were becoming less transparent?

Electroacoustic club, Lark in The Park, Islington

These nights are great, I do recommend your getting down to one asap. This one was no exception. Except I had to bugger off early because the girlfriend was ill

Simple Needs, Bar Nova, Leicester

Lots of fun. We raised a decent wodge of money for the international red cross. Over ONE HUNDRED POUNDS!