Ziggurat Creative Presents (#7) Preview

Now I'm done retrospectively updating this blog to cover our summer exploits, I can start detailing what we plan to do over the winter. First up is we're hosting the Stabbing a Dead Horse tour on November 1st, at the B2 in Norwich.

Tickets are £5 in advance (£7 on the door), and on offer are the talents of Knifeworld; The Fierce & The Dead; Trojan Horse and our lovely locals - Collider.

Tour details : www.stabbingadeadhorse.com
Ticket link : http://www.wegottickets.com/event/187866
Facebook event : http://www.facebook.com/events/491852050833905/

It looks set to be an awesome night, so I'd recommend you buy a ticket and come. But I would, as I'm selling it to you. Don't let my vested interest deter you though.

More details :

All three bands have been championed by Prog Magazine, and have received support from Rock-A-Rolla magazine. These bands are on the cutting edge of current UK progressive rock.

Knifeworld

psychedelic prog-rock eight-piece from London
http://soundcloud.com/knifeworld

“Knifeworld have mined the hairline crack between genius and madness and found sonic gold.” [Louder Than War]

The Fierce & The Dead

instrumental prog guitar wizardry from London
http://thefierceandthedead.bandcamp.com/

“Slow burn melodies and widespread guitar ingenuity are the order of the day here”. [Rock-A-Rolla]

Trojan Horse

prog-infused psych-pop from Manchester
http://trojanhorse.bandcamp.com/

“Taking genres and cutting them up with a musical talent that seems to be making them into a post punk prog enigma that has a flavour all of its own.” [GoldFlakePaint]

+ support from
Collider

experimental post-rock from Norwich
https://soundcloud.com/collidertheband

"COLLIDER sound a bit like the end of this world, or the start of the next one- subtle mixes of low-fi and incredible electronic wizardry." [Socialicious]

Ziggurat Creative Presents (#6)

Back at Rumsey Wells again for our sixth gig, one year on from the first one we held in Leicester. Things in common with previous gigs : we hosted Alright the Captain again (they were also on the Leicester bill), and we had Liam Roberts as the local act. Black International joined us for the first time, on tour from Scotland. Decent turnout and we even had baked goods on offer again. (The brownies were lush).

Ziggurat Creative Presents (#5)

We hosted Haiku Salut again, this time at Rumsey Wells. It was supposed to be their album tour but the album has been shelved till next year. Good music all around, with Liam Roberts and Tom Aggett (both Norwich, from opposite ends of our musical spectrum) also playing.

ZIG004 : Treehouse (Collider)

 "Like a rainy holiday at a beach resort. Screw this weather, listen to this." The Sloucher

"It’s one of those rare treats, those delicious morsels that comes along once in a while." Echoes and Dust

"they are able to up the tension so effectively with smooth peaks and troughs that effortlessly carry you through all seven minutes and 13 seconds of track without dragging" Beat the Static

This came out on CD yesterday. You can buy it on bandcamp or bigcartel.

Collider also launched at the Norwich Arts Centre, supporting Yeti Lane. It was pretty good.

Lines Video

The other day we received the video that Norwich film-maker Sam Holland made for The Shadow Committee's new single, Lines. Considering the only brief that Josh gave Sam was 'make video', I think it came out very well.

The video presents us with an ambiguous and non-chronological love story from which different people see different things - when we watched it, we all saw the story in different ways, with our own unique conclusions after watching it.


The video is also exciting as it is the first time someone other than Josh has made a video for one of his songs.

Josh hopes to work with Sam again in the future in producing more videos for his songs.

DOWNLOAD :


iTunes : http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/lines-ep-single/id523115236
Bandcamp : http://theshadowcommittee.bandcamp.com/album/lines-3cd
Spotify : http://open.spotify.com/album/7tVH50NQGfHkAy2fM1zKNL

Amazon : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lines/dp/B007YOWIV4

Or download it free for an email address here.

ZIG003: A New Release

Ok. First blog post in quite a while actually. Lets hope I haven't forgotten how. (Not that they were any good to begin with).

Lets start with the bad. I haven't been amazingly active recently, mostly due to my grandfather having died. Luckily Josh picked up some of the slack, and things in the Ziggurat camp have been ticking over much as usual.

Luckily there is more good news!

On a personal level, I went to Kortrijk in Belgium for the weekend where I was kept busy.

I was filmed interviewing some bands at a pop-music festival called Novarock (I know. Me and pop music) for an internet TV channel called SeaMedia. I was ridiculously tired at the time of making the video, having been travelling since 5am that morning, and the festival not finishing until about 1am.

I was also interviewed on a belgian student radio station called Quindo, primarily about my experience at Novarock.

Back in Norwich, the good news kept piling on.

Matt Stevens played for us on March 31st at Olives in Norwich, and while not as many people as we had hoped turned up, the quality of the audience was high, and all the acts had the audience enthralled. Matt Stevens was an absolute master, and the support sets by The Shadow Committee and Sam James Hill were both excellent, as always.

Finishing off the run of news, The Shadow Committee released their new single, Lines, on April 1st.

I was half expecting it to be a joke, but he actually did release a triple miniCD single. (Using the term 'single' loosely, as it clocks in at nearly an hour).

The triple miniCD release of Lines is strictly limited to 10 copies, so get yours as soon as possible. There are also copies available of a single miniCD version that contains some of the songs.

Some very kind people also contributed remixes to the release, and as well as these being on the triple miniCD version, they can also be downloaded for free.

Here is the single, Lines, to wet your apetite.

Make sure to like our facebook page and to follow us on twitter.

James

Olympians - Book Club 1 // The Great Gatsby (Review)

At the moment Olympians are probably one of Norwich's top exports, and so their new single was greatly anticipated. This new single is the first in a series which Olympians are calling the Book Club; seemingly because the packaging for them will be books, and also perhaps (if the title of the first single is anything to go by) that they will be named after or inspired by books. (Who says people aren't reading anymore!)
Putting the unique packaging aside - mainly because I haven't got it yet - I endeavour to briefly discuss the music.

The title track, The Great Gatsby, is a less upbeat offering than some of their previous (except perhaps Wake Up Old) but has some Olympians hallmarks; some drone and mathy guitars (which at one point sound surprisingly like part of the vocal line from Wake Up Old).

The b-side to the single, Tidy House, Tiny Mind, showcases Olympians seeming desire to reinvent the barbershop quartet, much like the b-side to Wake Up Old did. The soft but anthemic vocals are cushioned over some lovely drone, synths, and drums. It all comes together and works really well. I'm going to put it out there right now - I think I prefer the b-side.

The single ends with a remix - a pretty good remix - of one of the tracks off their previous EP.

After the 10 minutes of the single (all 3 tracks) I am left thinking that this probably isn't as good as some of their previous singles, but Olympians' music has an undeniable charm to it that still shines through; particularly in the b-side Tidy House, Tiny Mind.

Perhaps most importantly, this first entry into the Book Club leaves me excited about what the next will be.

I'd definitely recommend having a listen (which is why I have embedded it below for you, like the nice guy I am).
Also, the video is pretty cool.

James