Ute better believe it… Old Grinding Young (free download)

Former stablemates, ever brothers, Ute were a classy bunch. Oxfordian gents by day, wretched drunkards by night – they co-existed in a magnificent haze, half melody, half tumultuous swathes of dark post rock terror… All fucking handsome! So it’s rather nice that 2/3 of the band (Ollie and Michael) have whipped us O-Towners into something of a frenzy by getting something new on. Old Grinding Young is the project name, and a track for free is their only output.

It’s definitely worth a listen… You can check it out over here – and the good news is that amongst deliciously crafted melodic ditties about incest, crumbling boats and tyranny – there’s a big, Innocent Tailor style murder ballad in the offing right now.

God I miss them, but this is hot new delicacy… Listen (and download free) right away!

New Gunning for Tamar EP – AND IT’S A WRISTWATCH

Wow – so this has all come round rather quickly, but it feels like a good time to announce. Ladies and Gentleman, may I present to you Gunning for Tamar’s first ever Alcopop! Release… The Time Trophies EP! Yes it’s packed with 5 fantastic songs, 2 of which are remixes by the epic maybeshewill and Jr JoFo, but what’s more – it’s truly one for the fans of alternative formats… Cos this baby comes on a gorgeous looking, tangerine, silver faced wristwatch… I’m sure you will have heard this by now, but to experience a bit of the tumultuous, rock drive, tender melody meets smash anthems of Tamar – try Chocolate Hooves below the pic…

Keeping real good time (I’ve been wearing one since Christmas), each watch comes with a QR/download code on the back of the timepiece to download the full EP (320kpbs), and in honour of the title track can be worn as your very own ‘Time Trophy’. Or you can buy it in a +CD format for an extra £1 (no fancy packaging on the CD though), or with a gig ticket to GFT’s launch show in Oxford with Jumping Ships on March 24^th for a tenner. Strictly limited, we only have 300 of these bad boys up for sale, for the reasonably reasonable price of £7…. Pah, enough talking from me… You probably just want to see the things right…? Done! Ohhhhh yes!

Oh, and ought to say – if you’re one of the chaps who have already bought the Freeze the Atlantic CDs this week and fancy this, please don’t pay postage again. Just set P&P to an MP3 and we’ll send them out together

New Freeze the Atlantic single up for presale!

Oh those lovely lads. 1 part Reuben, 1 part Hundred Reasons, and 3 parts other insanely talented rock and roll moguls – Freeze the Atlantic are back, and to use a Liverpoolism – ‘bosser than ever’. It’s been a while coming since the last EP dropped almost a year ago, but with the odd line up change, and much work being done on the album – one can forgive them. So with a tour of Ireland with those strong lads in Fighting with Wire on the cards, we thought we better drop an enhanced CD single (2 tracks and 1 video) of new song Volcanoes.

Oh and by gum it’s good… You know what to expect when you take a look at the FTA heritage, and you get it in spades. Don’t get me wrong, this is no Reuben meets Hundred Reasons derivitive but it is a huge rock anthem. Don’t believe me? I’m offended, but have yourself a look at the video beneath you…

And then, should you feel the need, we’ve got the lovely digipack singles up for sale for just £2.50 in the shop. All limited to just 250 copies, the first 50 come fully signed by the band… Be reasonably quick though.

Gunning for Tamar tour with Jumping Ships in March!

Exactly what it says on the tin. Two of our lovely lots of champs are out on tour together. And while Gunning for Tamar have been touted as one of the bands set to slay 2012 by Rocksound who brandished there new track ‘a phenomenal statement of intent from a very promising band’… Jumping Ships were featured across the board at the tail end of last year, Katie at Kerrang calling them ‘An addictive blend of danceable, jangly rock songs topped with British punk attitude’, whilst Rocksound suggested ‘Standard Bearer is a launching platform for these guys to do some serious commercial damage’….

Ahhhh no more talk, lets just you and me decide which of these shows we’re gonna go to – and rock the f**k out! In?

Rocksound this month was a blast then…!

One of our favourite print mags, Rocksound is always a very strong read. This month no different, as no less than 7 good PoP segments occurred. Oh yes we cried as The Social Club EP got 8/10, oh how we danced to find aforementioned TSC and new signings Gunning for Tamar on the covermount CD and wow we shouted as 3 of our bands (GFT, TSC and one as yet unrevealed new signing) were included in the ‘new bands to slay 2012′ section.

They’re right of course. Alcopop is poised to give 2012 a damn good slaying!

But perhaps the funnest bit of all was this crazy cool quarter page ad that we placed, featuring magnificent faces from across the world, sourced from this very blog, who genuinely buy our records (along with yours truly, Alcokitten and a few other strong faces from the pop roster). For those who got involved thanks so much – I mean… It’s all very well advertising the label, but why do it with a standard ad when we can fit so many strong faces on the hallowed pages of Rocksound instead.

Fuckin’ indie since 2006 – with quite clearly the best looking audience too. Tasty!

New My First Tooth video

So it has been a slow old week on the blog… For this I blame two things. One of which has been a genuine swathe of preparation on several new releases, potential new signings and various other grand PoP business (including getting in more stickers and glostarz to go out with every order)… The second has been the immense BDO darts. An incredible tournament…

However, lets get right back on it with this, an awesome new video from a cracking champ, named Lizzie Campbell – who has put together this charming stop motion film to the ace ‘The Factory’ by My First Tooth. It’s awesome… A gorgeous rollercoaster of a story of failing industry pitched against the saving graces of pure creative minds. I’m a big big fan!

Check it below – and enjoy a little slice of stopmotion magic…