Blow Up 2013 Review

BLOWUP.CO.UK This year saw the  Blow Up Club   launch a brand new residency at The Bussey Building in Peckham, London and in October the club reached it’s 20th Anniversary ( read more ) – we’ll be celebrating officially on  Saturday 15th February 2014 . Over at  Blow Up Records , 2013 saw  Baltic Fleet   win this year’s Liverpool GIT Award, be nominated for Liverpool Music Awards Album of The Year (along side Miles Kane and Ian Skelly) and perform at Yoko Ono’s Meltdown.  more / listen… After a long haitus  Alfa 9  returned with the stripped back West-Coast influenced second album Gone To Ground and swung back into live action.  more / listen… 2013 also saw two debut releases for new signings  Daiquiri Fantomas  and  David Woodcock . Sicilian experimental duo  Daiquiri Fantomas  released their debut album ‘MHz Invasion’ this August, including the fantastic ‘Moogchile’ described as ‘ Air meets John Barry ‘.  more / listen…  Essex-based singer-songwriter  David Woodcock  released his debut single ‘Same Things’, and the ltd. 7″ ‘Tease’  more / listen… Whilst  Fay Hallam  continued her UK & European tour dates in support of last year’s ‘Lost In Sound’  more / listen… Meanwhile both Big Boss Man and The Bongolian have been touring around Europe, whilst The Bongolian returned for two storming sets at  Blow Up  this October and December. BLOW UP 2013 TRACK HIGHLIGHTS ON YOUTUBE “Immense” ROUGH TRADE SHOPS ALBUM OF THE WEEK & AN ALBUM OF THE MONTH “Exceptional motorik beats”   NME “A sublimely cinematic blend of kosmische musik, dream pop” 9/10 SUBBA-CULTCHA “Something very special indeed” CRACK MAGAZINE “One of the finest records from Liverpool in years” LIVERPOOL ECHO AN ALBUM OF THE YEAR: LOUDER THAN WAR, VIVE LE ROCK, CRACK MAGAZINE, LIVERPOOL ECHO, RESIDENT RECORDS & MORE. .. BALTIC FLEET   Following on from the critical success of the second album  ‘ Towers ‘ , this April  Baltic Fleet won Liverpool’s GIT Award  (other nominees included Clinic, Dan Croll, Stealing Sheep and Wave Machines), and was invited to play the opening night of  Yoko Ono’s Meltdown this June  at London’s Southbank Centre: “The judges believe that Towers captured the sprawling vitality of contemporary music and married this to a sonic landscape which is indicative of its birth. Flawless electronic melodies, breezeblock beats and an effortless futuristic edge” Although  Baltic Fleet  is essentially the solo recording project of Paul Fleming, his live band have since played around the UK and Europe, shows including  Liverpool International Festival Of Psychedelia ,  Soundcity ,  Sheffield Sensoria , Norwich S&V. This year they’ve played with  Public Service Broadcasting  (caught in action performing ‘ The Wilds ‘ and ‘ Toire De ‘),  Hookworms  and The Portico Quartet   more … OUR TOP TRACKS:  Headless Heroes ,  Frosklia LISTEN: Towers  – 2nd album ( YouTube  |  Download/Buy )  Baltic Fleet  – debut album ( YouTube  |  Download/Buy )  Read more “A fascinating combination of sounds, drawing from the last half-century of electronic music” Shindig! “Like John Barry who’s just taken delivery of a new Moog. Very filmic”  RADCLIFFE & MACONIE, BBC 6MUSIC “You wouldn’t blink if someone told you it was from the Sheffield-era Warp label. Or Air”  The Guardian New Band Of The Day DAIQUIRI FANTOMAS   This August  Daiquiri Fantomas  released ‘ MHz Invasion ‘, the debut album from the Sicilian experimental Avant-Pop duo Marco Barrano and Dario Sanguedolce. A mainly instrumental cocktail of ideas with a Retro-Futuristic flavour, encompassing Prog, Sci-Fi movie soundtracks & Kosmische ( youtube album sampler ). Single ‘Moogchile’ described as ‘Air meets John Barry’ receiving spot plays on BBC 6 Music from Don Letts, Gideon Coe, Radcliffe and Maconie and Chris Hawkins and Huey Morgan on BBC Radio 2.  more … OUR FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Moogchile ,  Logarhythm LISTEN: MHz Invasion  – debut album ( YouTube  |  Download/Buy )  Read more “A pillow of jangly guitars and sweet harmonies. A beautiful record”  Shindig! “A sublime mix of 12-string led summer-breeze pop, an outstanding melodic soundtrack of skilfully crafted songs”  8 Out of 10  – Vive Le Rock “The Stoke songsmiths are back, and it’s been well worth the wait”   CLASSIC ROCK AN ALBUM OF THE YEAR: VIVE LE ROCK, PODROPHENIA, ACTIVE LISTENER, POP JUNKIE ALFA 9   After a long haitus  Alfa 9  followed their highly acclaimed debut with ‘ Gone To Ground ’ a much more stripped back affair, the most recent single from which ‘El Morocco’ was playlisted for 4 weeks on  BBC 6 Music  (1.9 million listeners UK & Worldwide) (other singles receiving numerous spot plays). They now have BBC Radio sessions  under their belt for  6 Music ,  BBC Stoke  and BBC Liverpool . The band have swung back into live action with dates up and down the UK including the  Annual Liverpool Psych Fest  and a support for  Poltergeist  in December  more … OUR FAVOURITE TRACKS:  El Morocco ,  Seedless LISTEN: Gone To Ground  – 2nd album ( YouTube  |  Download/Buy )  Then We Begin  – debut album ( YouTube  |  Download/Buy )  Read more ” [A] match made in heaven hark back to when pop music had a whole heap of soul and backbone! Addictive stuff ”  4 STARS – BLUES & SOUL “An immediate pleasure, and wonderfully seductive”  SHINDIG! “Time-defying soul”   9/10 VIVE LE ROCK AN ALBUM OF THE YEAR: VIVE LE ROCK & PODROPHENIA FAY HALLAM & THE BONGOLIAN   Fay Hallam and Nasser Bouzida  AKA ‘ The Bongolian ‘ met when both playing a live show at Blow Up, and they soon discovered that they both shared a serious passion for 60’s Hammond Beat and Soul. On ‘ Lost In Sound ‘, their first collaboration, they immersed themselves in the music they both love, from Bossa Nova, heavier 70’s grooves, Latin and Northern Soul, with a choice of classic instruments including old Rhodes, Wurlitzer and Hammond C3 keyboards and other vintage equipment, mixing in some analogue synths. The album was released to critcal acclaim and Fay Hallam continues to tour the album in both the UK and Europe with more dates lined up for 2014 more … OUR FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Dancing ,  Freefall LISTEN: Lost In Sound  – debut album ( YouTube  |  Download/Buy )  Read more “A great little pop record”  STEVE LAMACQ, BBC 6MUSIC “Essex has a bit of form when it comes to delivering maverick pop geniuses with a gift for mixing a smidgeon of music hall with a dash of 60s pop and creating inspired, but intelligent tunes” BRANDISH.TV DAVID WOODCOCK   David Woodcock  is a singer song writer based in his hometown of Southend-on Sea, who recently signed to Blow Up in 2012 and he has just finished recording his debut album, due for release early 2014 A pianist and prolific writer, with a strong local following around the pubs and clubs of Southend, he has been building up a solid songbook of sharp lyrics and great melodies that are have been distilled into his debut  more … OUR FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Same Things LISTEN: Same Things  – debut single (Y ouTube  |  Download/Buy )  Beggars Can’t Be Choosers / Tease  – 2nd single (Y ouTube  | Download/Buy )  Read more October 16th  this year marked exactly 20 years to the day when doors opened to the Blow Up club for the first time. Since then it has become a bona-fide legendary club night, being at the centre of the early to mid Nineties Brit Pop explosion, cited as the catalyst and birth place of the Brit Pop scene and influencing the style and sound of a generation. Blow Up was voted as  No.4 in Time Out’s Top Ten Clubs of the 90s , one of ‘ 5 Classic Clubs of Out Time ‘ by Vox Magazine (alongside The Blitz Club and Shoom) and as ‘The club that changed the world’ by Melody Maker. More recently Blow Up appeared in  Time Out’s London Calling  which described the club as “the breeding gournd of the Brit Pop sound” and in NME’s Original’s  Top Ten Britpop Moments . From its origins at The Laurel Tree, Camden Town (1993-1996), to Soho venues the Wag Club (1996-2001) the Metro Club (2002-2009), and through various London venues since (2009-2013), Blow Up is one of London’s longest running club nights. We’ve hosted events in Europe, and further afield, with events in USA, Russia and Japan, whilst the Blow Up club compilations (‘Blow Up A-Go-Go!’ and ‘Blow Up presents Exclusive Blend’) have proved popular worldwide. See more:  Blow Up press here  and flyers in the  Blow Up scrapbook here There is nowhere else quite like Blow Up, and in many ways it’s still unique. ‘Blow Up may be inspired by the ’60s,’ wrote Time Out years ago, ‘but their night could run and run.’ It looks set to do just that. Time Out London, January 2009  “Year after year, Blow Up just seems to get better”   The Evening Standard  No.4: Time Out’s Top Ten Club’s of The 90s  “The club that changed the world”   Melody Maker   “This is the night which spawned a thousand bands, inspiring fashion designers and stylists to recreate the look for the mainstream”   The Guest List  “Legendary”   Time Out, Evening Standard, NME  The Roxy, Blitz Club, Shoom, Syndrome & Blow Up: Vox Magazine’s 5 Classic Clubs of our Time  “The London clubland institution”   The Guardian Guide