Monday 22 February 2016

 

RELEASES TEN FOR TEN ALBUM
 OUT NOW ON XTRA MILE RECORDINGS


Xtra Mile Recordings and Frank Turner are excited to announce the CD release of Ten For Ten. This set of ten tracks, handpicked by Frank, was originally released on vinyl as part of The First Ten Years boxed set released late 2015. A 7LP set, it included The First, Second and Third Three Years compilations.

Now on CD for the first time, Ten For Ten spans the last ten years of Frank’s career. It boasts a host of demos, live and alternative tracks including the original demo of long-term live favourite ‘The Ballad of Me and My Friends’, live versions of ‘I Am Disappeared’, ‘Substitute’ and ‘Isabel’, and previously unreleased / non-album tracks ‘Old Flames’ (featuring Billy the Kid) and ‘Atlanta Curse’.

It’s an intriguing addition to any FT collection, and a completist's dream, as it showcases the origins and development of some of his most-loved songs, along with some newer gems that are sure to become back catalogue classics. It nicely rounds off the decade covered by the Three Years compilations, leaving a clean slate for the next ten years.

Frank is currently touring Canada, both solo and full band shows with support from Canadian labelmate Northcote, having started the year with a European tour. He will return to Europe in March, including his longest run of dates in Spain so far. Festival dates are filling up for Frank, and he's currently slated to appear at Groezrock in Belgium and Southside and Hurricane festivals in Germany this summer. He will also be on the second Flogging Molly Salty Dog Cruise in March.

It's been a long road form when he was carrying just a rucksack and an acoustic guitar, playing dive bars, pubs, squats, house parties and anywhere else that would have him, and slinging homemade demo CDs at the shows. In 2015 , Frank released his sixth studio album, Positive Songs For Negative People, which entered the Official Album Chart at number 2, only beaten to the top spot by Dr. Dre’s Straight Outta Compton soundtrack (the ex-NWA hip hop artist's first album in 16 years).

Ten For Ten tracklisting:
01. Old Flames (Feat. Billy The Kid)
02. The Next Storm (Original Demo)
03. Hits & Mrs (Full Band Demo)
04. I Am Disappeared (Live)
05. Wessex Boy (Original Demo)
06. Atlanta Curse
07. Redemption (Matt Nasir Mix)
08. Isabel (Live)
09. Substitute (Live At The BBC)
10. The Ballad Of Me and My Friends (Original Demo)

Tuesday 9 February 2016

MULL HISTORICAL SOCIETY
NEW ALBUM 'DEAR SATELLITE' OUT 8 APRIL 2016
Mull Historical Society (Colin MacIntyre) will celebrate his birthday this year, on 8th April 2016, by releasing his seventh album Dear Satellite through Xtra Mile Recordings. The album was produced by Grammy award-winning Dom Morley, known for his work on Amy Winehouse's Back To Black, as well as working with Adele, Grinderman and Sting. He also produced Colin's first album on Xtra Mile Recordings, City Awakenings released in 2012.

Listen to the first taste of the album here - ‘The Ballad Of Ivor Punch’. The song’s central character is also the main protagonist in Colin’s debut novel, The Letters of Ivor Punch, published in hardback last year. It won the Edinburgh International Book Festival's First Book award and will be released in paperback edition the day before his birthday and the release of Dear Satellite.

The album is ten tracks of floating, positive, textually diverse pop songs. The spring morning brightness spread across 'Sleepy Hollow' and 'This Little Sister' may leap you into optimistic, slightly cheerful abandon but 'Why Do They Go So Soon' wrings a little melancholy into the warmth. The odd off-key whistling underpinning the rhyming acoustic pop of 'Bones' meshes the weird elements you'd have expected from MHS of old, while the chiming synth-drive of 'The Ballad of Ivor Punch' reaches into Arcade Fire-esque indie rock. 'All the Love Remains' and 'Each Other' captures the sweet and serious strumming that MHS has made his own, while the album closes with the reflective, sky-and-soul-searching 'Farewell to Finisterre', continuing the seeming interest of Xtra Mile Recordings bands in space and star gazing.

Colin says:I couldn’t be happier with the album. It is 10 songs, 36 minutes, and it feels like a perfect distillation of what I can do, and my best work. I’ve really pushed myself as a songwriter and tried to challenge myself to evolve sonically and capture a unique atmosphere within the album. There is a lot of space in it, lushness, but also it feels punchy and melodically pop. It is about home, getting home, leaving home, finding home, whatever planet or street or field you live on. Whatever home means to you. I think having a new music publishing deal with BMG/Xtra Mile Music has also made me reach for higher. I’m so excited to see it enter the world. It looks bloody good too!

Tracklisting:

01 Build Another Brick
02 Sleepy Hollow
03 This Little Sister
04 Why Do They Go So Soon
05 Bones
06 The Ballad of Ivor Punch
07 All the Love Remains
08 Each Other
09 Try To Be You
10 Farewell to Finisterre

This news follows a mammoth 2015 for Colin which saw him celebrate 15 years since the release of his first single 'Barcode Bypass' as well as his first 'Best of' collection on double vinyl for Record Store Day which was celebrated with a sold-out tour performing his Gold-selling MHS debut album ‘Loss’. With a tour in the Spring supporting the album release still to be announced, 2016 is shaping up to be another exciting year in Mull Historical Society’s extraordinary career.

Pre-order the album now here:

Twitter - @mullhistorical

Thursday 4 February 2016

DUCKING PUNCHES
NEW ALBUM ‘FIZZY BRAIN’ RELEASED ON 4th March 2016

Xtra Mile Recordings can now happily announce that forthcoming album by Ducking Punches, entitled ‘Fizzy Brain’ will be released on 4th March 2016. It’s available for preorder now, and early birds who pre-order the album digitally will receive two new tracks ‘Greedy Bones’ and ‘God Damn Coward’, instantly. You can listen to the tracks here - ‘Greedy Bones’ and ‘God Damn Coward’.

A full band, headline tour of the UK is taking shape for March – but before that though they’re out on the road supporting Lucero in the UK throughout February and then join Frank Turner on a far-reaching jaunt across Europe in April. Full dates are:

SUPPORTING LUCERO:
FEBRUARY
4 Newcastle, The Cluny
5 Glasgow, Audio
6 Bristol, Exchange
7 Bristol, Exchange
9 Manchester, Ruby Lounge
10 Manchester, Ruby Lounge
11 Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
12 London, The Garage
13 Southampton, The Joiners
HEADLINE TOUR:
MARCH
3 LONDON, The Monarch 
4 Kingston, Banquet Records instore 
5 SOUTHSEA, the birdcage 
6 BRIGHTON, The Pav Tav
7 BRISTOL, The Stag and Hounds
8 SOUTHAMPTON, Joiners 
9 CAMBRIDGE, The Portland Arms 
11 NORWICH, Arts Centre. 
SUPPORTING FRANK TURNER:
APRIL
07 Italy Milan  Circolo Magnolia
08 Italy Treviso New Age Club
09 Slovenia Liubljana Kino Siska
10 Slovakia Bratislava Majestic Music Club
12 Serbia Belgrade Magacin Depo
13 Hungary Budapest A38 Ship
14 Czech Republic Prague 1   Lucerna Music Bar
15 Poland Wroclaw Firlej
16 Poland Warsaw Klub Proxima
18 Denmark Aarhus Atlas
19 Denmark Copenhagen Lille Vega
21 Norway Bergen USF Rokeriet
22 Norway Oslo Rockefeller Music Hall
23 Finland Helsinki Tavastia Club
24 Sweden Stockholm Debaser Medis
25 Sweden Gothenburg Pustervik
27 Denmark Aalborg 1000Fryd

‘Fizzy Brain’, the band’s third album, was produced by Owen Turner (Bearsuit, Magoo, The Broken Family Band) at Sickroom Studios in Norfolk. Following on from their previous two, the self-titled debut from 2010 and Dance Before You Sleep from 2014, they've collectively cranked the vitality and volume while building melody, texture and drama with violins, gang vocals and amplification. Whilst all the while retaining the pace and dynamics that brought Ducking Punches to such live acclaim.

Speaking of the album, frontman Dan Allen says: “We are so proud of this record, it was written much more collaboratively than previous releases and I think this has made for far stronger songs. It carries similar themes to Dance Before You Sleep in that it touches on loss, mental health, death and love. However, it is a far more hopeful record. This one was so cathartic albeit it often heartbreaking to write and I really hope everyone digs it.

With a soaring sound that seems only to get larger with each album, these songs are as stirring as they are a call-to-arms, as blaring and exhilarating as they can be heart-rending and tender.

Originally the solo acoustic songs of vocalist and guitarist Dan Allen, Ducking Punches are now a punk/rock quintet. Hailing from Norwich, the band has nearly 1,000 shows under their belt, including a European tour in 2014 with Frank Turner and Andrew Jackson Jihad, as well as festival sets at Reading and Leeds, Download, Groezrock, FEST and support slots alongside The Hold Steady, The Menzingers, Teenage Bottlerocket, Franz Nicolay and Leatherface.

‘Fizzy Brain’ will be released on CD, LP and download at the following places:
Amazon: http://smarturl.it/FizzyBrain_Amazon
iTunes: http://smarturl.it/FizzyBrain_iTunes
Banquet Records: http://smarturl.it/FizzyBrain_Banquet

Xtra Mile Recordings: http://smarturl.it/FizzyBrain_XMR

Previous praise for Ducking Punches:
…infectious folk punkAlready Heard

Ducking Punches are best witnessed live – there can’t be many bands that threaten to blow The Hold Steady off stage as they did.” Outline Magazine
This record exudes the spirit, and true meaning of punk from the core of the band. This is not a folk punk record that’s full of jigs about drinking, or even filled with protest songs. ‘Dance Before You Sleep’ is nine tracks of well-written, cohesive songs that are straight from the heart, which is exactly the place that punk should come from.” Punktastic on Dance Before You Sleep.

Ducking Punches … delivered a frankly majestic set of emotion-soaked punk rock. Not only were the songs the band played hugely passionate and real, but it was clear that they absolutely poured their hearts into their on-stage performance too.” - The Punk Archive.