RICHARD JAMES
The Seven Sleepers Den
VÖ: 23.11.2007
Label: My Kung Fu
Vertrieb: rough trade

My Kung Fu Recordings proudly announces the forthcoming release of Richard James’ debut album, The Seven Sleepers Den, on vinyl, digipack CD and download.

Bookended by snippets of cathedral ambience, The Seven Sleepers Den is a reverential listen the whole way through. Tir  Mor sets the tone sweetly, with James’ folky finger-picking, reverberating background harmonies and spacey zither. My Hearts On Fire’s poppy stroll, Wanna See You Die’s burnt-out stomp and Headlong’s melancholy chant round out an astonishing, handsome listen . Then the cathedral kicks in and it’s all over – like waking up in a daze.

In the UK, Uncut gave The Seven Sleepers Den 4 stars and Mojo said it was “a record that shines brilliantly”.

Richard James will be known to you as the guitarist in psychedelic Welsh wizards Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci which he co-founded with Euros Childs and other friends.

After achieving worldwide success over 8 albums of whim and wonder, Richard James decided to go solo. The stunning result, The Seven Sleepers Den, is a gorgeous mix of pastoral folk, frazzled hoe-downs and tender ballads that is winning him legions of new fans across the world.

Richard James is currently performing selected dates with his band around Europe.

www.richardjamesmusic.com www.my-kung-fu.com www.roughtrade.de

Bitte schickt mir die Belegexemplare zu. Vielen Dank!
MELODYCAT
Denise Newsham, Schieferstr. 16, 65388 Bärstadt, 0174/1774147, denise@melodycat.de, www,melodycat.de

MICECARS
I’m the Creature
VÖ: 16.11.2007
Label: Homesleep Music – Distributor: CARGO

MiceCars started out in 2003 as a duo composed of guitarist/singers Little P and Peter T, with a mission to write torch songs for inveterate clubbers and dance anthems for reclusive loners.
In September that same year they released their first demo, “Gewgaw Tunes”, which attracted the attention of the Italian music press and first made MiceCars known on the indie music scene. In 2004 they expanded their line-up to become a proper band. In the wake of “Gewgaw Tunes”’s success, they took part in and won the Progetto Demo contest, which brought them to the international FiberFib Music Festival in Benicassim, where they shared the stage, dressing room and – most importantly – chemical toilets with acts such as Franz Ferdinand, Lou Reed, Primal Scream and many others.
Back in Italy, the band won the Best Demo award at M.E.I., the annual meeting of the Italian indie scene. The category did not actually exist before: it was created especially for them, and it has since remained in the M.E.I. canon.
They signed with Bologna label Homesleep Music, and embarked in the recording of their début album. The sessions lasted from April 2005 to October 2006: in the meantime, Italy went through one Papal death, one Papal election, one change of government and the national football team’s triumph in the World Cup.
“I’m the Creature”, as the album was christened after several changes of heart (discarded titles included “Japanese Dictatorship”, “Para Los Rumberos”, “Bruce Dickinson’s Revenge” and “Official Satanic Surfers”) was produced entirely by the band, with the help of Francesco Donadello (Giardini di Mirò), and was released in Italy in November 2006, where it went on to gather a lot of good press. Among others, it was named Record of the Month by monthly magazine Rumore, was among the top 25 records of the year for Il Mucchio, and it was favourably reviewed in the Italian edition of Rolling Stone and in XL Magazine.
Pixies, Pavement, Dinosaur Jr, Broken Social Scene, Television Personalities and dEUS were among the references used to describe their sound. They actually only write songs with chords, tunes, verses and choruses, not necessarily in that order.
After the record was released, MiceCars started a promotional tour that saw them play several venues all over the country, and also quite a few summer festivals. Their live shows are played with an extended line-up of a total of four guitarists, adding the necessary punch to the performance of a complex and nuanced record.
Around the same time, one of their songs (Americans) was featured in the soundtrack of film “L’aria salata”, the début picture by Alessandro Angelini, which won several awards at Italian and international festivals. The song was used to score an argument between two characters: MiceCars had rather it be used for a sex scene, but they were happy anyway.
Somebody said about them that, had they begun making music at the beginning of the nineties, they would have become a cult band. As things are, they are just the perfect band for glossy magazine covers.
They don’t give it much thought at all. MiceCars believe in detuned guitars, Camilla Parker-Bowles and SuperMario Bros.
At the same time “I’m the Creature” is released all over Europe, MiceCars are planning a digital release-only remix album, in collaboration with some of the most interesting acts on the European independent scene (Domotic, NQ, Port Royal).
They’re Italian, by the way. In spite of that, none of them play the mandolin.

Bitte schickt mir die Belegexemplare zu. Vielen Dank! Bei Fragen stehe ich Euch gerne zur Verfügung: MELODYCAT, Denise Newsham, Schieferstr. 16, 65388 Bärstadt , Germany 0049(0)174/1774147, denise@melodycat.de
www.homesleepmusic.com – www.cargo-records.de