Alter the Press Lead the Way in streaming albums

Try before you buy, take a good long ‘listen’ at the merchandise and give your ears a treat is what we all say (actually we don’t, it would probably make us sound like c**ts).

Nonetheless, that’s exactly what you can do at Alter the Press right now with Wolf Am I’s new album ‘Lead the Way’… Yup, the best music blog this side of Nottingham has decided to stream the entire album track by track. It’ll only be up till Monday though! To hear it, pop on over to their lovely site and, if you like it, you can come back and buy it from our shop, iTunes – or all those boring e-tailers who won’t send you a badge or sticker or two with your purchases…

Also, for a little more WAI goodness, why not check out their review over on the Music Magazine, and a super piece that our pals at Come Pick Me Up blog have lovingly put together (they’re SO ace). The sun is shining, summer booze is flowing – it’s time for WAI!

Tis the season of [their] awesome compilation

We heart Alter the Press – because not only are they a great music blog, bringing *SO* up to the minute news on bands and labels you actually care about, but also because they create compilations that are not unlike exploding planets – in that they’re very big, and very fuckin’ loud!

The compilation ‘Autumn/Winter 2009’ (alright – so it’s not very imaginatively titled but one can forgive that) includes tracks from first and foremost Alcopop’s very own Wolf Am I and Stagecoach – but also Epitaph Records’ Set Your Goals and Every Time I Die, breakthrough UK pop-punk band, You Me At Six, Welsh rockers Attack! Attack! and Brooklyn’s Kevin Devine.

On top of that, the compilation has tracks from many up and coming bands such as O’Brother, Kill Casino, Francesqa, Kyoto Drive and many more. And is well worth downloading – for listening to on the bus perhaps, or maybe on a dull cruise with your gran. What I’m saying is, it’s very versatile.

Download chaps, download…

Alcopop @Pure Groove this Wednesday w/ Stagecoach, Stars & Sons and Paul Steel

*Excitement*

It’s the first Alcopop Pure Groove instore (I was so excited to see us on the listings ), and coincides with the stocking of Alcopopular 3 ‘map and bottle compilation’ by said emporium… Great times, free entry and 7pm (ish) start to see:

Stars and Sons (full band) play “Big brash intelligent indie pop” – Huw Stephens
New Alcopop signings Stagecoach (acoustic) rock out “a sumptuous slice of Wilco-esque alt.country” (The Fly)
- with Paul Steel provideing a melodic piano ballad interlude with his “veritable masterwork of pop brilliance” – Under the Radar

And we can all get boozed too in London’s finest record shop – winner? Winner! See you there…

My First Tooth 8/10 with Noize Makes Enemies

Ow what a weekend. Glorious it has been, and with karaoke booth highlights last night, some magnificent Alcopop saleswork in Videosyncratic, it is with delight I can tell you that we have a swathe of Twitter reviewers up for delivering their compilation opinions, and Noize Makes Enemies have been good enough to review My First Tooth and The Rubies EP – giving it 8/10.

Referencing Sleet and Snow as a track befitting discussion about the “interplay of Witt’s and Galpin’s vocals, which go together like milk and honey” reviewer Mattias Scherer goes on… “Add some handclaps and a lovely little mandolin riff, and you’re as close to a folk “hit” as you will get.”

And it’s not just the opener receiving great praise, “On ‘Honesty, Honestly’ Witt sings “If I could be more like him/Would it change a thing?” and, honestly, (sorry) if that song doesn’t make you swallow that little bit harder, then a doctor’s appointment might be in order – your heartlessness will have reached potentially lethal levels.” Agreed.

Incidentally, I just thought – in case you haven’t heard My First Tooth before – do pop over to our pals at Cougar Microbes and you can download said track from the EP for free. Capiche? Let me know if you need a quack?

Alcopop Records show at RoTa, Notting Hill on 9th May – FREE ENTRY!

As you may know good poppers, Alcopop Records are releasing a lovely new compilation –in the next couple of weeks all detailed on an ancient looking scroll crafted by Captain Kev and charred in Alcopop Ovens – containing a URL and password shipped out in a hearty bottle. But more of that in the next few days…

Therefore – we decided to have a party to celebrate, and after speaking to the fine chaps at RoTa in London Town, Notting Hill Arts Club, Saturday May 9^th (put it in your diary) – we decided to hold it there, not just because we can let everyone in for free, but also because they have their gigs between 4 and 8pm – and Alcopop is ALL about afternoon boozing… Two of the bands are on the compilation, one you’ll know all about and the other may hint at animal cruelty – but are in fact a darkly joyous bunch from Oxford you really should see.

The poster is below, come join the facebook event here – and well – we’ll see you there… Band details b’yere…

The October Game: “Magnificent – A Joy From Start To Finish” – Cool Noise Fanzine

Stagecoach: “Smart songwriting and memorable hooks. Like the lighter, classic side of emo meets Teenage Fanclub” – Rocksound

Cat Matador: – “weave together mightily fine, intricate guitar-work draped in a Joy-Divisionesque kind of darkness” – BBC Oxford

My First Tooth: – “EP makes you wish for a front porch, a sunset and a song of your own to sing, that could match Honesty Honestly for it’s beauty.” – Artrocker

Alcopop DJs and wheels of steel troubador – Nath T Pyle

Can you kickers? – yes I can!

Ah… Kickers! As I mentioned before, champion boot of my youth (good for stomping along with indie classics too) have been in touch again, sending me a rather bad-ass pair of red leather Kick Hi’s, as featured in their recent film with Modern Toss – an online comic which is pretty ace, but not quite as undeniably hilarious as Cyanide and Happiness to be honest…

Still, this is heap good news as I go through shoes like a Blue Whale hammers through plankton, and allows me to mix em up a bit with my last pair, leaving me with a far more adaptable shoe wardrobe (as it were). They’re dead comfy too actually, and are already rivalling my magnificent Monopoly Reebok’s Reverse Jam for top rack space.

Look here they are – expect me to be Alcopoppin’ about in these till ‘de morning come. Oh, it’s already arrived? Shit…

My First Tooth and the Rubies – Out and officially on sale…

So it’s out – kids across the country have delighted smiles upon their faces, postmen are groaning in anticipation of the extra packages to be delivered – and My First Tooth continue to do what they do very best… Touring relentlessly across the country (York tonight) promoting their new EP – ‘My First Tooth and the Rubies’. Woop!

Six tracks of indie-folk infused harmonious loveliness (well – 8 tracks actually if you manage to pick up one of the last few copies with a free spray-painted bonus CD limited to just 100 copies) and all yours for just 6 sheets from the Alcopop shop. Whatsmore, who can argue with artwork that features 3 handsome bald eagles sitting atop a gramophone. No one – that’s who!

Tracklisting is as follows, and you can hear a number of the songs on My First Tooth’s MySpace. Have a listen, buy – and boom! Your world will be a lush, much prettier, place.

1.Sleet & Snow
2. Judge & Jury
3. Honesty Honestly
4. Typewriters
5. Red Carpet Rides
6. Take the Airship

Super stuff! Here’s a picture of Ross from My First Tooth

goFASTER>> EP making the summer start early…!

Now currently landing on digital music platforms galore, on the shiny shelves of your favourite indie store – and of course fresh from the Alcopop shop (with a free 4 track EP if you’re very quick… Literally we’re down to the last 10 or so of these) – goFASTER>>’s magnificent debut EP ‘A Modern Education’ is out today, and already making it feel a lot like summer in Alcopop HQ.

The tracklisting for the EP is:
1. A Modern Education
2. Magazine Addiction
3. Good Times
4. You Better Watch Out
5. When the Last Note Sounds

And I guarantee you will love it! Not Ed described the musical treat thusly as “A delectable indie pop four piece from Liverpool who make music in the same lunch-box as Good Shoes and Look See Proof. The EP also has a Hot Club De Paris aura to it, in how the songs all entwine together like they have a big shoelace tied around them” – and I think he’s just about on the nail…. Take a listen to the scouse champs here, and get yourself a piece….

Oh – and don’t forget this EP is available as part of a ‘binge’ style mega-deal package with the My First Tooth EP and one of our rapidly dwindling red white crocodile on skateboard tees too… Ace! Get yourself truly alcopopped

A Modern Education on the way – and Jack PoP on radio

Man – it’s been an absolute whirl since Alcopop descended upon Cheltenham last Friday – so apologies for lack of blog updates, and hearty congratulations to those of you who won a little something in the Alcopop shop. Obviously I’m gutted there were no big winners (a nose away from a 20/1 shot) to see the Alcopop shop emptying rather rapidly.. But everyone seemed to enjoy it – so all good fun.

Meanwhile, goFASTER>> are just days away from releasing their super hotly anticipated debut ‘A Modern Education’, and there are still a few of the first 100 left with bonus discs in the shop available to purchase… Pretty sure they’ll be gone by Monday though so get in quickly if you want the bonus disc – which includes 3 bonus tracks and two awesome remixes, one of which I may be posting on the blog soon (because it’s really rather epic).

Oh incidentally, as massive advocates of the black stuff (aka vinyl releases) – Stu from a radio station way down south recently did a phone interview with me about releasing records, and has posted it to be heard by all here. Don’t let my contribution put you off though as he talks to people from the likes of the Fly and TANOU too – and it’s really worth a listen. Ace!

Meanwhile Kevs gone to SXSW – lucky bastard – here’s an artists impression of his probable actions so far…

OMFG – Alcopop have stickers and they’re fuckin’ indie!

God knows why we haven’t got round to ordering any in the past, but the good news for those who enjoy a nice bit of colour here and there without resorting to the spray cans – is that now you can belt a little bit of Alcopop onto every flat surface that isn’t coated in water (and even then you can try) courtesy of these here stickers…

Already starting to show their handsomely coloured faces in and around Oxfordshire, note this one (which I saw with some delight last night) so elegantly stuck to a bus timetable board. Ace.

If you want to get your hands on a few, they’ll be included free with every single online order made in the shop as of now – but if you’re penniless, recently ordered, manage a F1 racing team and want to make your helmets look good etc. feel free to drop us an email at info@ilovealcopop.co.uk and I’ll send you some out.

Similarly, if you think your town would look good plastered in 100s of the things, and want a big wadge to splash liberally around, we’d much appreciate it. Just drop us a line on the same email.