Last chance for the mega-deal – and are 4 or 5 Magicians THAT band…?

The croc has crowed..! This is a quick final blog call to let you know that the mega-deal will be seeing its last possible purchase date as of today, so if you want a goFASTER>> EP (loved today by one of our favourite blogs – Come Pick Me Up), My First Tooth EP and limited edition T-Shirt for 16 sheets, do order within the next 14 hours or so, as come midnight (ish) the deal will be finishing.

This is partly because the EPs have now been released, and also the fact that we only have a few Tees left. You will look lovely in them I guarantee

Incidentally – former Alcopop favourites (and by former favourites I mean they’re still favourite, but were formerly with us at Alcopop) 4 or 5 Magicians have been getting a whole lotta’ love from the NME, which is always nice.

“It feels like ages since a British guitar group came up that came from a proper independent background, really knew their indie and not only seemed to have a vision for where they wanted to go, but had the songs and style to take them onto the nether echelons of posters on walls and platinum plaques.

I dunno if 4 Or 5 Magicians are that band, but their album certainly brightened up my week. A band that you look forward to putting your headphones on for their song’s ebola-scale infectiousness, but don’t feel like you’re contributing to the walnut dashboard detail of some head A&R chump’s Hybrid Lexus by purchasing a copy of their record.”

Nice one Dan!

Alcopop sign hot new indie-pop talent…

You may have seen it in our recent update, hand delivered so lovingly to your mailboxes (ah come on now – we don’t spam you that often) – but just in case you didn’t, it is my proud duty to inform you all that Alcopop have recently added to our roster – with none other than Brighton-based happening indie kids – Stars & Sons.

Already firm favourites amongst some of the coolest kids amongst the blogosphere… MP3hugger advise you to “forget about all the music you’ve ever heard, just clear your head and start from scratch again like an 8 year old in the company of Sgt. Peppers for the first time”, while A New Band a Day holler from the rooftops “Good work, Stars and Sons”. Well indeed…

And they make quite an effort with their presentation too!

All opinions aside though, I confidently predict that this band will melt your heart, and make you reassess EXACTLY what it is you love about indie-pop! For Alcopop archivists (and I know there are plenty out there ) Mike – who fronts the band (look at him jigging around below there)- used to be in the original 4 or 5 Magicians line-up, and was instrumental in the ‘Forever on the Edge’ single that came out on Alcopop Records a good year ago.

Listing their influences as Monkey Island, Sam and Max, Grim Fandango and Day of the Tentacle – not to mention Wham… Stars and Sons are quite simply awesome! Go and check them out at their MySpace page, and look out for the single ‘In the Ocean’ coming out in November on very limited 7″ vinyl….

Woop!

Alcopopalooza updates, and fun in the sun at Truck Festival

And as the next of our summer festivals passed by with plenty of incident, and delight… I can heartily suggest that Truck was THE weekend of the Summer this far. Dodgy were back to their brilliant best (albeit looking a good 60 years old in the process), Rolo Tomassi ripped me limb from limb with their explosive performance, and only the Lemonheads really disappointed – Evan looking washed up, and appearing about as exciting as a night in with nothing but an 8 pack of Carling C2 and Series 1 of Murder She Wrote on VHS.

Meanwhile, I was delighted earlier to note the new Cut the Blue Wire tour poster on their MySpace which looks really cool, and you would be wise to take a peek at, and attend forthwith. Of most note – Saturday’s show at Alcopopalooza, which is coming together a right old treat, with loads of awesome bands, free BBQ, booze and DJs till late – so if you have any requests drop us an email with them.

Tickets can be purchased here for just six quid, and while it is with regret we have to announce the withdrawal of Secondsmile, we can happily let you know they have been replaced not only with Mike (ex 4 or 5 Magicians) from Stars and Sons (about your favourite band you’ve never heard – trust me), but also Paul Steel – who will be treating all to a 20 minute solo piano-led acoustic set.

If you haven’t heard his name before… Check out Honkin’ on my Crack Pipe… And see you Saturday!

Good radio again – 4 or 5 Magicians are Lamacq’s favourite band

And talking of good radio, super Steve Lamacq has once again shown his impeccable taste by picking up former Alcopop labelites, and 5-a-side-football veterans, 4 or 5 Magicians as his weekly “New Favourite Band”, and has invited singer Dan along to do an interview for his 6music show on Wednesday. “Cool huh?” says aforementioned vocalist… Yes Dan, it sure is!

Apparently the interview goes out live, so there will “probably be a number of pauses for thought and mumbled sentences that tail off. Anything could happen” – so in hope of catching an obnoxious demonic rant, or embarrasing uneditable secrets, you really ought to tune in if you’re about. Oh, and if you haven’t bought the extraordinarily limited edition single released on Alcopop to just 500 copies, shame on you… Make up for it now, and get a free 50 track BSM MP3 sampler into the bargain.

But where can I hear such an extravaganza you may be asking – well, you can listen online at www.bbc.co.uk/6music or on digital radio or TV…. Or by standing on tiptoes outside the BBC offices, and telling everyone to shhhh.

Oh – and in other magician related news, it won’t surprise any followers of the band that Dan is looking for some more new members (or rather a collective of sorcerers)… Check out the MySpace if you wanna sign up.

A final word from Dan “I will be on sometime between 5:30 and 7:00. I can’t really be any more specific than that I’m afraid! It’s a good show anyway, so just listen to it. Sometimes he plays Mansun and Kenickie!”

God – isn’t Lauren Laverne just the perfect woman, and (reffing a totally unrelated story) well worthy of a National Gallery portrait… Here’s a photo of the princess of lovable lo-fi indie pop from the north…*love*

Handsome poppers, let me feed you scraps!

So it’s Monday (6th best day of the week in my general league table of days), the new goFASTER>> single is out TODAY which is great news – not least because they’re promoting it with a tour alongside Elle S’apelle, the first show of which ended in a big old stage invasion and much fun all round. Also, Martin from a Stockport radio station has been in touch to proclaim his love for the aforementioned scouse quartet and an update re: Johnny Dean suggests he settled down with a ‘phwoar – hot’ blonde, which is very good news… Because last i heard was a bruising mate of a mate of mine claim that he’d smacked him in the face during a London gig years ago – which is particularly unpleasant.

Other than that, caught Anathallo and Manchester Orchestra in Bristol over the weekend (great gig – and in a boat – boomers) and for anyone looking to get involved with the next big thing, pop over to 4 or 5 Magicians blog and check out all the opportunities they have for appearing in videos and such. Their new stuff is truly awesome (coming out on ‘This is Fake DIY Records‘ soon) and well worth getting involved in. Coupled with that, those lovely folks at artsWOM have featured my post about books an that – and, jesus there are a lot of links in this blog!

Now I’m off to eat some Chicken Kievs before getting a little bit fruity with some Jager – absolutely the drink of choice for anyone concerned that many more alcopops after last week may just take the enamel off’ve their teeth. But before i go, may i just proclaim my love for Chris Coleman – he has made me a very happy man today!

Family Machine reviews, Magician’s tour and Sam Isaac is everywhere!

So I realised that I’d been getting rather wide in my chatter over the last couple of days, reffing Menswe@r, Last FM and a load of other crap – but fear not good Alcopopper, because it’s firmly back in camp today with good news all round….

Bang – a couple of real nice reviews for the free downloadable Family Machine EP that was out to much cheering and happiness late 2007, with BBC Oxford describing it as “a great prelude to their album which is due for release in early 2008” – and Clickmusic.com conjures up all sorts of lovely images by suggesting “Glittery synths interweave with classic guitar riffs and a bass that connotes a smokey, bluesy bar and a sweaty dance-floor” – damn right!

Bash – Exciting news for the handsome lads from 4 or 5 Magicians, who are not only working hard in the studio with Ian Button penning seven glorious tracks, but have been confirmed for 3 dates on the Los Campesinos/Johnny Foreigner February tour in Reading (20th), Kingston (21st) and Portsmouth (23rd).

Bong – goFaster>> soon to release their next single (11^th Feb) are currently being ‘reet loved up by John Kennedy on XFM – he’s cool, they’re cool – hey, we’re all cool – go and check em out…

And Bosh, Beng, Bing, Kapow! – Sam Isaac continues to cater for you magnificently by seeming to be playing every city, town and village in the whole of the UK – Cambridge tonight, Bournemouth tomorrow and the bus rolls on – go check him out if you have a soul!

Don’t you just love days like that! and so, I shall celebrate by putting up this absolutely awesome picture!

Do you have any drum chums?

Everyone loves 4 or 5 Magicians (who released stand out single Forever on the Edge on Alcopop), or at least everyone who’s heard 4 or 5 Magicians does, as the never ending list of glowing quotes, accolades and love across their MySpace page shows…. Lamacq has made them demo of the week, Huw Stephens has said enough lovely things about them to inject joy into even the heart of Billy Corgan, and Music Week have claimed that they are “a believable British retort to the drawling rambles of Stephen Malkmus. Think Hefner’s Darren Hayman fronting Guided By Voices. Ace.”

High praise indeed…. And now, it’s your chance to be a part of them, and their inevitable meteoric rise to the top!

Sadly, great drummer and lovely chap Mike Lord has stepped down as full time drummer, and Dan is looking for a live sticksman to take his place at the majority of shows. So if you play drums, want to join 4 or 5 Magicians, and are happy with, and able to fulfil more or less all the following criteria on the MySpace, then get in contact with them, or us, and we’ll pass on your details!

 

4 or 5 Magicians loved by Lamacq

Great news last night again on Radio 1 as Steve Lamacq picked 4 or 5 Magicians, the latest and last release of our ‘singles club 06/07′ as ‘demo of the week’ on last nights show.

Describing the Brighton based 4 piece as “Clattering pop noise” – he fair raved about the tracks, no doubt impressed by the off kilter indie-pop lovliness which harks in the direction of Pavement, Guided by Voices and Dinosaur Jr, yet managed to sound altogether different.

In my humble opinion, Forever on the Edge could be a modern-day British indie-pop anthem! Need convincing? Then listen to it here, then buy it here for but 3 quid. Quickly though, as the CD is limited to 500 copies, hand made, numbered and 3″. Plus you’ll get another of our releases free as part of our christmas promotion.

Not bad eh…

Let 4 or 5 Magician’s Dan Orms ‘be’ Praised

As many of you will doubtless already know, the latest (and last) in the Alcopop! Singes club range, limited to a staggeringly rare 500 copies all in hand-numbered, cardboard sleeves, was the rather super Forever on the Edge debut by 4 or 5 Magicians – a well honed homage to seeking fame on a Tesco Value budget. The band, fronted by the irrepressible Dan Ormsby, has been described by industry insiders (or Jack and Kev as we’re better known) as “Brilliant Weezer meets Pavement style pop from Brighton”… It’s been widely praised by proper people too.

Thought I’d share just some of the press quotes so far with you, and if you fancy a listen, head over to their MySpace page – You can buy it here too, but hurry cos’ they won’t be hanging around for too long…

SINGLE OF THE MONTH Oct 2007 – “a monumentally fuzz drenched summer anthem for the slacker generation missing the greats!” – subba-cultcha.com

SINGLE OF THE WEEK Oct 18th 2007 – “A fine fine debut slice of English alt.rock … we want everyone to form an orderly queue and pin all your hopes on these four or five fine magicians” – Organart

“Really, really exciting” + “brilliant” + various other synonyms – Huw Stephens, Radio 1 (who invited the boys in for a session)

“At last a believeable British retort to the drawling rambles of Stephen Malkmus. Think Hefner’s Darren Hayman fronting Guided By Voices. Ace.” Music Week

“the sort of lo-fi attack jam that Kurt Cobain would have creamed over” – Rocksound

“recalls the brilliant early 90′s” – The Fly

Can’t argue with those really!

Huw Stephens – A man of taste

How we love the bearded welsh wonder! An ideal accompaniment for the last year to making a lot of cardboard sleeves for our singles club, myself and Kev have spent many an enthused Wednesday night/Thursday morning folding, cutting and sticking, whilst the welsh wizard of the (air) waves fills our lug’oles with often glorious (and occasionally awful) cuts of the freshest in unsigned, and barely signed, talent.

And in the past he’s been more than kind, christening both BSM and Alcopop! ‘DIY label of the week’, offering sessions to incumbents Data.Select.Party, 4 or 5 Magicians, and playing everything from spoken word Lucy and the Caterpillar tracks, to Nathaniel Green b-sides.

And it is with some pleasure I note that last night he played not 1, but 2 Alcopop! tracks – Firstly Sam Isaac playing new single Sideways live at the BBC electric proms, and also Forever on the Edge by Orsmby and the boys AKA – 4 or 5 Magicians. He knows good music when he hears it!

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