[Last Update: 02-January-2007]

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MP3s /
videos / buying stuff / facts / photos / interviews / reviews / press / links

Full gig listings and more info available at www.myspace.com/chinchillatone

CHINCHILLAFEST 6 (May 16, 17, 18 - Leeds, 2008) information: www.chinchillaweb.co.uk/chinchillafest6
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a.P.A.t.T.

WEB : http://www.apatt.com
WEB : http://www.myspace.com/apatt
WEB : http://www.myspace.com/itsapatt
WEB : http://www.myspace.com/freepfromapatt
WEB : http://www.myspace.com/apehatrecordings

MP3 : a.P.A.t.T. - Avajibber
MP3 : a.P.A.t.T. - The Holy Toad

YOUTUBE : a.P.A.t.T. - The Stars Spell Out Your Name
YOUTUBE : a.P.A.t.T. - DVD Trailer
YOUTUBE : a.P.A.t.T. - Documentary
YOUTUBE : a.P.A.t.T. - The Blood
YOUTUBE : a.P.A.t.T. - And She Looked At The Swan

RELEASE : eP
(aPehAt, 2002)
RELEASE : Lp
(aPehAt, 2004)
RELEASE : FREe.P
(aPehAt, 2005) - FREE DOWNLOAD
RELEASE : Ch(e.a)P
(aPehAt, 2006)
RELEASE : Black And White Mass
(Pickled Egg, 2008)
BUY RELEASES : http://www.loosemusic.org/classaaudio/2007/shop_files/shop_apehat.htm

Witness the all-encompassing brilliance of Liverpool's "every-wave" obsessive compulsives, chewing up elements of every musical genre you ever heard (and a few you haven't), carefully and carelessly churning them into new, unrecognisable, magnificent shapes.

a.P.A.t.T. are very busy at the moment, oh yes very busy indeed! Full length 12" vinyl and CD album on CHINCHILLA-TONE out soon! Also available is a new full length CD release entitled 'Black And White Mass' on PICKLED EGG RECORDS (home to NEED NEW BODY, BABLICON, THE GO TEAM, DANIEL JOHNSTON, FULBORN TEVERSHAM, etc). A 3 track 12" vinyl split with STIGNOISE will be available on CLASS A AUDIO soon! a.P.A.t.T. have also nearly completed "a.P.A.t.T. The Movie", set for release sometime in 2008 on DVD and in selected Cinemas maybe near you.

"a.P.A.t.T. are currently an enticing, bewildering and daunting prospect. They can sweep through several genres in the space of an opening verse, rewriting musical histories with a collectively raised eyebrow. If you so much as dip your toes in to test the water, you find yourself dragged into a Wonka-esque tour of expertly-executed skits that take in Zappa, classical music both ancient and modern, punk, jazz, metal and a whole bundle of stuff that hasn't been invented yet. Dexterous, monstrous and mind-wideningly wondrous." Hayley Avron (PLAN B, October 2007)

"Oh I dont know, there are no words for this. a.P.A.t.T. are so easy to listen to when they really shouldn't be, it should just be a mess - right now its some kind of minimal organic synth and delicate singing of paradise and others coming to harm, or was it just a false alarm as it all builds up so so deliciously once more. Hey look, track one is called The Man Returns From Here After With A Future Flower - that really explains it all, a future flower. My CD player says theres 66 tracks, the CD cover says 8, I heard at least 103 (or maybe it was just one long piece?). They're a band, dont go thinking this is some wise-ass cut-up studio nerd gang of them in masks and anti-radiation suits or something like that. Hey look, if you want something challenging, something beautiful, something different, something violent, something soothing, something like you never heard before then this is where you need to go this week." Sean (ORGAN.com)

"a.P.A.t.T. are a motherfucking experience. Probably the only UK band i can think of to come up with their vision of the dark, vicious and fuck me, rather scary vision of the ACID PUNK dropped onto us from the visions of Gibby from the Butthole Surfers. We love them. You need to hear this. It's insane." Alan Mcgee (CREATION/POPTONES)


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CHOPS

WEB : http://www.chinchillaweb.co.uk/chops
WEB : http://www.myspace.com/mightychops

MP3 : CHOPS - Chop Of The Pops
(From Concentrate On The League Comp)
MP3 : CHOPS - Mind Shards In The Morning
(From Get Civilised Chinchilla Comp)
MP3 : CHOPS - Earth Humans Know How To Party
(From Free CDR)

RELEASE : Chop Of The Pops
(Concentrate On The League, ROOM 237 & POOR GIRL NOISE Compilation CD, 2007)
RELEASE : Mind Shards In The Morning
(Get Civilised CHINCHILLA-TONE Compilation CD, 2007)
RELEASE : CHOPS
(approx 400 varying free CDRs in envelopes/lo-fi/non-existent packages, Self Released, 2007)
RELEASE : CHOPS (November 2007 Tour CDR, Self Released, November 2007)

Split 12" with HELHESTON out early 2008 on UPSET! THE RHYHTM.
Split DVD with TALIBAM! out late 2008 on CHINCHILLA-TONE.

PRESS: THE GUARDIAN UNLIMITED - The UK's new sonic pioneers (05-11-2007)

Freewheeling dysfunctional big beat drums! Cosmic keys! Mind controlling tone generators! Lim shaking guitars! Shifted sax! Jazz lounge with uncomfortable sofas! Broken R'n'B! Calypso played naked in the fridge-freezer! Euphoric knees-up! Psychedelic forays into wonk pop music! Fresh faced fortune tellers! Tear jerkers! Motivational speakers! One Love Revivalists! We have no taste, but, ladies and gentlemen, we are your chefs tonight... "Ah, you sweet little rogue, you! alas, poor ape, how thou sweatest! Come, let me wipe thy face; come on, you whoreson chops: ah, rogue! i'faith, I love thee: thou art as valorous as Hector of Troy, worth five of Agamemnon, and ten times better than the Nine Worthies" (King Henry IV, part II: II, iv Shakespeare).

CHOPS has been invited into the bosom of UPSET! THE RHYHTM, as part of their on-going vinyl split series of UK bands. U!TR is one of the few groups of people we feel right at home and comfortable with; they are friendly faces, they have the right motivations and dedication, and they have mastered the delicate balance of DIY ethics and actually getting stuff done. CHOPS totally respects fellow risk-takers, and although this isn't a mutual kiss-ass exercise, we are naturally over the moon that they reciprocate the love. On Tuesday 10th July and Friday 3rd August, we recorded at NO RECORDING STUDIO with the very lovely John Hannon (who has previously recorded the likes of CHROME HOOF, TRENCHER, BIRDS OF DELAY, JAMES BLACKSHAW, MAN AUBERGINE, CLECKHUDDERSFAX, WOMAN, etc). Keep an eye out for details on who we will be sharing the vinyl with, and when it might appear for your consumption. In the mean time, we recommend that you take time to listen to other U!TR releases; BARR, DEATH SENTENCE: PANDA!, ESQUILAX, GOWNS, HANDS ON HEADS, KIT, LEOPARD LEG, JOHN MAUS, NO AGE, NUMBERS, THE STICKS, T.I.T.S., TRENCHER, YIKES.

Since conception in early 2007, CHOPS have toured with TALIBAM!, PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ and COWTOWN, and played gigs with bands such as
CLARK (Warp), MARNIE STERN (Kill Rock Stars), DEATH SENTENCE: PANDA! (Upset The Rhythm), OvO (Load), INDIAN JEWELRY (Monitor, Deleted Art, Skinny Wolves), GAY AGAINST YOU (ADDADAT), BILGE PUMP (Gringo, Run Of The Mill, etc), A.p.A.T.t. (Pickled Egg, Chinchilla-Tone), and RANDOM NUMBER (Rock Action, Irritant, Catmobile).

Members of CHOPS also play in QUACK QUACK, MASSIVE HERON, TWO MINUTE NOODLES, EYE HAI, SENSE OR THIS?, and INECTO SCHOOL.






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CLECKHUDDERSFAX

WEB : http://wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.cleckhuddersfax.co.uk
WEB : http://www.myspace.com/cleckhuddersfax

WEB : http://www.last.fm/music/cleckhuddersfax

YOUTUBE : Cleckhuddersfax - Live in Nottingham, 2006
YOUTUBE : Cleckhuddersfax - Battlegoine, Live 2007
YOUTUBE : Cleckhuddersfax - Kiss The Tide, Live 2007
YOUTUBE : Cleckhuddersfax - Great Fire Of The Greasyman, Live 2007

CD album out November/December 2007 on CHINCHILLA-TONE.

Clechuddersfax have a lot of good consoles...... According to some they sound like guitarless eighties prog (think Rush, Genesis & Queen), but with non-harmonious voice contortions. They got some radbad basslines, insane vocal sqawleage and a fine rack of rota-toms up top. Members can also be found spooking souls in POLTERGROOM, PLEASE, ISAMBARD KINGSTON BRUNEL and DESIGN A WAVE.

"Saw some God loving band called CLECKHUDDERSFAX at Harrods re-opening night. Both the opening and the band were shambolic in every way, which I think the organisers actually encourage in a vain attempt to appear anarchic and well, 'Knightsbridge'. Most of their set sounded like Ottowan's take outs (look, Ottowan have one friend and weirdly, or perhaps not so not weirdly, no cool beverages) and their singer was rude to my boss and had the cheek to do it while wearing a stupid orange Prada vest thing. BJDI Rating = SHIT" (some indie kid's blog)

"CLECKHUDDERSFAX were as barmy as their name sounds. Their vocalist was dressed in an orange leotard, with what looked like tights and possibly a posing pouch and a slightly deranged look in his eyes. Their style is one I’m still valiantly trying to work out. It was a bizarre mix of electronic noise, with danceable beats and a slight ‘circus music meets prog-rock’ bounce. Yeah, crap description I know, but I’ve never seen/heard anything quite like this before. One of the most enthusiastic and entertaining bands of the day, plus: great leotard". (Keep It Fast)


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COWTOWN

WEB : http://www.chinchillaweb.co.uk/cowtown
WEB : http://www.myspace.com/cowtownsuperstars

MP3 :
Pine Cone Express at Last FM!
MP3 : Cowtown - Kitty Runs Away From Garlic
(from the 'Real Civilised' compilation)

YOUTUBE : Cowtown - with Indica Ritual and Safetyword live in Liverpool
YOUTUBE : Cowtown - Zurich, Switzerland
YOUTUBE : Cowtown - Jumping Rabbit, Brudenell Social Club
YOUTUBE : Cowtown - Ghostwave (Surf Time II) (Susumi, Derby, 7/8/07)
YOUTUBE :
Cowtown - Kitty Runs Away From Garlic (Susumi, Derby, 7/8/07)
YOUTUBE : Cowtown - Slice of Ketchup (Susumi, Derby, 7/8/07)
YOUTUBE : Cowtown - Power Ballad (Susumi, Derby, 7/8/07)
YOUTUBE : Cowtown - I'm In Your House Part II (Susumi, Derby, 7/8/07)
YOUTUBE : Cowtown - Dog Hat (Susumi, Derby, 7/8/07)
YOUTUBE : Cowtown - Part Man, Part Machine (Susumi, Derby, 7/8/07)

RELEASE : COWTOWN/CORINTHIANS split 7" (BLOODLOSS, 2005)
RELEASE : SLICE OF KETCHUP 7" (GOLDEN LAB, 2005)
RELEASE : PINE-CONE EXPRESS (CHINCHILLA-TONE) = CD, GOLDEN LAB = 12", ON THE BONE = DOWNLOADS, out November 2007)

INTERVIEW : SANDMAN MAGAZINE
(January 2008) - details soon
INTERVIEW :
CONTACT MUSIC (October 2007)

The new COWTOWN album is it out now! 12 tracks of total party fun, mostly instrumental stuff, with a taster of the COWTOWN to come, with Steevsie vocalising a song. CHINCHILLA are releasing the CD, and teaming up with GOLDEN LAB who are releasing the vinyl version of the album, and ON THE BONE who are doing mp3 downloads (LAST FM, I-tunes, Digital 7, E-music, etc). Artwork from DAVE BAILEY: secret dogs with cocks, ostriches with ying yang eyes - y'know, s'nice.

A track from PINE CONE EXPRESS, I'm In Your House (Part Two), was played on HUW STEPHENS' BBC RADIO ONE show on 21st November, because ON THE BONE who have released the mp3 downloads of the ablum were chosen as his DIY Label Of The Week. It'll be online and listenable too for 7 days after broadcast. Huw also played the new single by our pals THAT FUCKING TANK on the same show.

"Over five years or so the COWTOWN name has been occasionally posted and sometimes pasted on the walls and windows of the Leeds DIY scene. The actual names of the actual members of the actual COWTOWN who grace this latest album (CD, vinyl and download - each managed by a different label) are not easy to track down. But Jon Nash, Dave Shields and "Hils" are definitely implicated. One or more of these might at one time have been influenced by admirable musicians from Chicago, whose cattle market is probably much larger than the one to be found in Otley.
The plan (it's as plain as a pikestaff) was to have as much of a party on one CD as certified hedonologists could install. And as a result, for those who crave reckless abandon with (or without) stimulants, strobe lights, fireworks and dancing with independent limbs, "Pine-Cone Express" sounds the very sort of thing to play when things are starting to look like they might not get out of control. In such right hands as those possessed by COWTOWN, a 1977 Korg Micro Preset, a 1986 Casio SK1, a drum kit and a guitar only need a tangential voice or two and it's all done. Although Jon Nash (a virtuoso bass player in former bands like THE DRAGON RAPIDE) is present there is, as far as I can tell, no bass as such. The band make do with chunky parts from guitar and Casio to pummel the diaphragm and shake the dangly parts. Drumming is on the nicely heavy side. There is a cunningly Cubist representation of the wonderful sound of George Harrison's opening chord from "A Hard Day's Night" on "Slice of Ketchup". And while I do love both tune and title for "Kitty Runs Away From Garlic" my favourite part is probably the guitar part in "Science". Being the party bore, I would probably want to sit and listen to that bit all night.
All in all, there are plenty of riffs, tunes, klangs and exclamations. More than enough to titillate even the most jaded of post-mathrock snorecore buffs. It's mostly instrumental, but when voice comes in the semantic balance still doesn't move any closer to the rational side. If anything it's the opposite, While an ancient Casio isn't normally called on to tell detailed stories of extreme dancing, the presence of a lyric does tend to raise expectations of meaningful words to pass on to the curious.
Fortunately, I can offer very little. I suspect that some of what is sung or shouted would fall a little short of the good advice that might be offered by The Department for Children, Schools and Families. What I can report is that the tracks are inventive, a bit crazy, surprisingly melodic and really very chirpy.
The outstanding DJ tracks would be "I'm In Your House 1 and 2", dropping somewhere between QUACK QUACK and BILGE PUMP (for those who know their Leeds DIY) or maybe between DEERHOOF and HELLA for those who are not so sure of their LS6 bearings. In its opening version the tune opens up in the riffland of (maybe) "Babylon in Burning". It's that gleeful happiness in mixing heaviness with the twee bleating of some of the Casio lines that gives the whole thing its characteristic (and very enjoyable) sound. A very distant cover of "Beat It" closes proceedings, as I suppose it should. (but I'm not sure if it appears in all formats - it's a CD secret track at least). 8/10" (Sam Saunders, WHISPERIN & HOLLERIN).

"26 minutes of the most energetic sonic splurge squeezed into 12 songs, fantastic! Continuing the theme of ridiculous band / album / song titles Leeds based COWTOWN will not only make you smile but they will riotously pace around your bedroom at the same time. Combining down tuned chords with acres of gargantuan razor sharp electronics their contagious spaz rock grips tight like a vice. Perfectly at home with extroverted spiky instrumentals as they are with outrageous punk vocals and Casio keyboards this four piece’s debut record is one to add to your buy-me-next-fucking-week list. On Part Man, Part Machine, All Cop - who could say no to a Robocop revival? - high end guitars strangle a vocoder and child’s keyboard like it’s as regular an occurrence as a traditional Sunday roast, and even though it doesn’t even breach the 2 minute barrier you come out the other end feeling well fed. Kitty Runs Away From Garlic has all the bravado and stomp of Mick Jagger in his youth, but without the arrogance and plus a dirty great bundle of grit and Power Ballad does exactly what you’d expect, but well. Eighties synths are applied to anthemic riffery, but not with the expected cheese ball outcome; somehow Cowtown manage to make this as tasty and poisonous as the rest of the album. Pine Cone Express reminds me of the first Liars album, They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument On Top - dance-punk at it’s non-stop best. A real breath of fresh air being pumped into the festering pit of rock, so inhale and hold it in; this doesn‘t happen all too often. There’s real promise within this 26 minutes and a few seconds, and apparently there is already another album on the tip of their tongue - personally I can’t fucking wait." (SUBBA CULTCHA)

"Deliciously catastrophic and shambolic, listening to 'Pine-cone Express' is like walking through a TV theme tune with Urusei Yatsura jamming along and Mark E Smith hurling abuse from the sidelines. If there was a competition for The Band Who Sounds Like They're Having The Most Fun Without Uttering A Word, COWTOWN would reign supreme. Or more, likely, they'd come second and still be laughing. Song-titles range from the 'hilarious' 'Curtis Tigers' (it's not really funny but it thinks it is and it is, really.) to the dubious 'Mr Pear Sandwich Man'. Regrettably the lyrics are all but incomprehensible. If we could only make them out, we could well be one step closer to enlightenment. I guess that can wait. One minute we are blasted with a lo-fi soundalike of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, the next, the earlobes take a battering with skronky keyboards. The real secret, though, is that underneath the matching knitwear and fuck-fi recording techniques, these skronky keyboards contain the catchiest, danceable-est 30-second anthems this side of Kraftwerk and that side of the Crazy Frog." (Hayley Avron, CONTACT MUSIC)

"COWTOWN are the soundtrack to your downfall, a haunting descent into a psychotic trench with four cretins rubbing salt on your wounds and breaking your already depleted spirits.
Slowly though, this plight gains a comfort, cider to numb the pain of the weeping sores and gallons of soft drink down your gullet to place you in a state of sugar-soaked derangement. As this idle bliss takes hold Pine Cone Express gains a compulsive quality as its frenetically spiralling waves of no-wave lap at your decaying mind. The most obvious points of comparison for the Leeds-based quartet’s debut record come from COWTOWN’s similarly ludicrous peers; ‘I’m In Your House Part 1’ opens events with Munch Munch’s toddler-baiting stomp, the curtailing sub-Deerhoof sprawl of Buttonhead as ‘Kitty Runs Away From Garlic’ runs rampant and the incessant diseased surf-punk of Agaskodo Teliverek on ‘Crab Pamphlet’. All unnecessary spiel - describing COWTOWN accurately is about as feasible as herding cats. Though ‘Slice Of Ketchup’ harps with Devo’s new-wave riot, occasionally it’s all taken a little too far as ‘Power Ballad’ pushes COWTOWN to sweep their hair back and make like Simon Le Bon. Half the point, but half a headache; never far from sounding like inept musak as ‘Mr Pear Sandwich Man’ runs round in circles as it tries to find a wall to claw itself out the pit its dug. Released on three different formats on three different labels, COWTOWN will confuse. ‘I’m In Your House Part 2’ flouts itself again, a contentedly numb-skulled close. You wouldn’t want them in your house: they’d leave their slow-jawed crisp mastication with crumbs in every corner, crayons on the floor and urinate on your sofa as they slept. But from the comfortable distance of the stereo, away from their spreading of germs, they’re a distant delight. Succinct: a relentlessly refreshing sugar-soaked high. 7/10" (Samuel Strang, DROWNED IN SOUND)

"What a debut! Super-fun synth-driven mayhem bringing to mind a more shouty Plastics or a crazier Hot Chip. This is excellent and catchy stuff. Recommended!" (JUMBO RECORDS - you can also buy Pine Cone Express from the online shop)

"The use of 80s Casio keyboards invariably guarantees a certain degree of ‘kookiness’ but it’s pleasing that Leeds three-piece COWTOWN are considerably more than twee existentialists. You’ve heard countless derivative bands denying that they fit, quite deservedly into the “shit Oasis type band” or the “wank nu-metal” or even possibly the “crap post-rock by numbers” category but COWTOWN are genuinely on a plain of their own. Of course this is all academic if it sounds like a tool shed during an earthquake but COWTOWN are enviously cohesive. Sometimes grungy, frequently noodley, and sometimes, as you’d imagine slightly kooky but always loud as hell they’re a compelling blend. At present it seems that ‘LS6’ (that’s a postcode) is producing one of the most important independent music scenes; somewhere where new freethinking possibilities are embraced rather than feared. COWTOWN are one such fine example of this." (MUSIC DASH)





Cowtown article in Flux Magazine Issue 57


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PIFCO

WEB : http://www.chinchillaweb.co.uk/pifco
WEB : http://www.myspace.com/pifco1
WEB : http://www.runofthemillrecords.co.uk/pifco.html
WEB : http://www.last.fm/music/Pifco

MP3 : Pifco - Jon German

MP3 : Pifco - Who Is Walker?

RELEASE: Bilge Pump/Pifco Jonathan Richman covers split 7" (RUN OF THE MILL, 2006)
RELEASE:
Tape album (CHINCHILLA-TONE, 2007)

Members of COWTOWN and D'ASTRO.

The slackest and most prolonged project of CHINCHILLA to date! PIFCO handed us two cassettes, containing no fewer than 47 songs, weighing in at just under 180 minutes of music! Together we picked out the best bits, and beat the odds after a year of delays! PIFCO recorded newer songs which were added to the release. Your ears will be excited! And so will your eyes, because Ste lovingly printed on 500 hand-made cardboard boxes! Email us or see us at gigs to buy one, £2.50 plus postage where necessary. Oh, and you can spot a review of the tape in the August 2007 issue of PLAN B. Thanks!

"Oozes with lo-fi, punk rock delight that its damned hard not to fall for." (TASTY)



PIFCO review from the August 2007 Issue of PLAN B:


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TIGERS!

WEB : http://tigers.chinchillaweb.co.uk
WEB : http://www.myspace.com/tigers3000

MP3 : TIGERS! - Sex Pest At The Sex Fest (from the 'Real Civilised' compilation)
MP3 : TIGERS! - 7" side A / TIGERS! - 7" side B
MP3 : TIGERS! - Cock Penetrates Skull
(from 7")
MP3 : TIGERS! - Mutton Dressed As Shit
(from 7")

WMV : TIGERS! Hash Und Thrash (Live at Ponce In The Park, Derby, 2005)
WMV : TIGERS! Chairman Mao (Live at Ponce In The Park, Derby, 2005)
MOV : TIGERS! unity day 1 / TIGERS! unity day 2 (Live at Unity Day, Leeds, 2004)
AVI : TIGERS! live at Slade Hall (avi)
(Manchester, 2004)


RELEASE : 7"
(CHINCHILLA-TONE, 2004)
RELEASE : SUPERBLACK 12" (HAIRY HAIRY FIST, (cover art by Liam Sparkes of TRENCHER, pink & pee pee color vinyl, 2006)

"Wild guitar heroics like a cross between Fugazi, 80's British underground bands like Bogshed, and the experimental hardcore of Gay For Johnny Depp or Mukilteo Fairies. Uncompromising underground punk rock! Skewed!" (JUMBO RECORDS)

"I got TIGERS! Superblack 12". TIGERS! will castrate a gnat and impregnate your mother" (some dude on a message board)

"
TIGERS!
take the stage in wrestlers' outfits, masks and cowboy hats. Men melt microphones with gutteral guitar-play and tiger-hide hot pants. A man in a gold-sequinned dinner jacket hits a cowbell with the demeanour of a somebody about to serve dinner. We get a glimpse inside the mind of an ADHD sufferer and come out smiling" Hayley Avron (PLAN B, April 2007).




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THE DRAGON RAPIDE (Split up in 2005)

WEB : http://www.chinchillaweb.co.uk/dragonrapide

MP3 : The Dragon Rapide - Interlude
(from II)
MP3
: The Dragon Rapide - Kissing The Shuttle
(from II)
MP3
: The Dragon Rapide - Interlude
(from Meetings With Remarkable Machines)
MP3
: The Dragon Rapide - Work For Apprentices
(from Meetings With Remarkable Machines)
MP3
: The Dragon Rapide - The Splendour Of Light
(from Meetings With Remarkable Machines)

RELEASE :
Meetings With Remarkable Machines
(CD, 5 Nach 3 - now CORAILLE)
RELEASE : II (CHINCHILLA-TONE = 12", CORAILLE/(CHINCHILLA-TONE = CD, 2006)

"
Leeds post-math perfectionists THE DRAGON RAPIDE have their lushly packaged 2nd studio collection now up for grabs. This is joyous & fizzy, uncompromising, optimistic, widdly, wobbly, kaleidoscopic & heart warming stuff. A great leap forward from the debut CD, musically, stylistically & in the production stakes too. There's elements of free jazz & world music here & there but all in all no threat of Andy Kershaw coming round your house to chew your ear off with that worthy accent. So think maybe a friskier, dizzier Tortoise jamming with small slices of Sea & Cake, Him, hints of Mice Parade & Five Style. Very intricate & clever stuff indeed. The sleeve art was done by their friend from Liverpool & blew me away". (NORMAN RECORDS)

Members of bands such as The Lapse, Kito, Brown Owl, COWTOWN, TIGERS!, etc.


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CHINCHILLAFEST 5 PLAN B APRIL 2007 REVIEW

______________________________________________________________________________

THE GUARDIAN UNLIMITED - The UK's new sonic pioneers (05-11-2007):

"When it comes to the experimental and the avant garde, US bands are beating us hands down. So where are our new sonic pioneers?

I'm going to put my hand up here and just come out with it: when it comes to music, these days, I'm a Yankophile. Yes, in terms of the "mainstream", things that fit happily into the broad genres of rock, pop, metal and dance, Britain is up there with the best of them and, post-Beatles, always has been. However, when it comes to music that falls through the cracks into the multifarious sub-genres (music that, for want of a better term, can be deemed "underground"), these days the US is way ahead of us.

It wasn't always thus: up until about a decade ago, there was no disparity. Through garage to punk, for every Sonics, Voidoids and Ramones we matched them with the Pretty Things, the Sex Pistols and the Clash. With alternative/indie rock, they had the holy quartet of Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Pixies and Pavement - but then we had bands of their equal such as the Fall, My Bloody Valentine, Jesus and Mary Chain and Stereolab. And, in the arena of the avant garde and experimental, they may have had Beefheart, Suicide and Pere Ubu, but from Henry Cow to Eno to Nurse with Wound - not to mention hugely influential musicians such as Derek Bailey and Keith Rowe - we had artists and groups to be extremely proud of.

Yes, you may argue the Fall and Stereolab are still going, but they are 31 and 17 years old respectively. Similarly, the still-going-strong Nurse with Wound were formed in 1978. Even Broadcast and Mogwai are no spring chickens, both having formed in 1995. And in the realm of electronica, the same can be said of Aphex Twin, Autechre and Boards of Canada.

In contrast, in the last 15 or so years, North America has continually produced countless exciting, risk-taking, vital bands and artists, the cream of which includes Tortoise, Blonde Redhead, Black Dice, Animal Collective (and all the off-shoot solo projects), Gang Gang Dance, Bardo Pond, Jimmy Edgar, Excepter, Lightning Bolt, Magik Markers ... but more than this, there is a whole new batch of artists who have come through in only the last few years and really are pushing the boundaries: Battles, Telepathé, Grouper, Eats Tapes, Marnie Stern, Dan Deacon, Effie Briest, Barr, No Age, Xiu Xiu, Dirty Projectors and Health to name just a few.

So what happened? Discussing the situation with friends in a pub the last week, two hugely profound conclusions were reached:
1) Who knows?
2) Talking about such an incendiary subject when alcohol is involved is a terrible idea, as it results in grown men embarrassingly reminiscing, teary-eyed, about the life-changing experience of seeing Chapterhouse in 1991.

While there may appear to be no adequate answers, then (and I'd like to hear your theories if you have any), there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Formed in 2003 by "a bunch of kids who were bored of the London music scene", London-based promoters UPSET! THE RHYTHM are one of the most important allies of underground music in the UK. While the majority of the acts they put on are US-based, for the reason I'm laying out here, they also are also fiercely supportive of UK acts, and, as they put it, are committed to "showcasing and supporting new, and often unheard of, local musicians". And UTR is certainly not alone in fighting the underground's corner, as promoters such as the Leeds-based CHINCHILLA Collective attest to.

The knock-on effect of this is palpable evidence of the UK underground rousing itself from a baffling hibernation, with bands such as LEOPARD LEG, THE POLLY SHANG KUAN BAND (who have released a seven-inch single on Ecstatic Peace, and toured with Magik Markers), QUACK QUACK, CHOPS, BIRDS OF DELAY and HEX OUT TAPES producing work of note.

It will be interesting to see how the scene develops over the next few years, then, and who knows, perhaps in the near future at All Tomorrow's Parties - that reliable barometer of who matters - we'll see just as many UK acts on the bill as those from across the pond". (James Wignall, GUARDIAN UNLIMITED).











Chinchilla Tone Records, Leeds.
Home of Cowtown, CHOPS, a.P.A.t.T., Cleckhuddersfax, TIGERS!, Dragon Rapide, etc