News from 2010

We’re pleased to announce that Blow Up will be hosting a night at Upstairs @ The Garage as part of the second year of HMV’s Next Big Thing festival . Spread over 6 London venues (plus one in Birmingham and Edinburgh) and running between 4th – 13th February 2011, the festival’s aim is to showcase and celebrate the very best new and emerging talent drawn from all genres of music tipped to breakthrough in 2011.  The Blow Up night is the first date of the festival on Friday 4th February , and Blow Up Records ‘ artists Baltic Fleet , Silvery and The Bongolian will be playing live, following by the Blow Up club at 11pm until 3am with DJs Paul Tunkin & Ian Jackson bringing you the classic Blow Up mix of Orgasmic Pop, Psych, 60s Mod Soul and New Wave Glam action. Expect to hear a  selection ranging from The Beatles to Bowie to Blur mixed with 60s moves and grooves (Soul, Boogaloo, Garage, Ska, Beat and Swinging Soundtracks). Entry to all events for the festival will be for the bargain price of a flat £10 (incl. b/f), whoever the artist and whichever the venue. Tix here 14/1/2011 UPDATE – BIG BOSS MAN ADDED TO THE BILL – playing a late night show as part of the Blow Up clubnight that follows. Baltic FleetPhoto: Adam Banister BALTIC FLEET is the work of Warrington based artist Paul Fleming. Influenced by artists such as Eno, The Doves, NEU!, Sigur Ros and DJ Shadow, his 2008 eponymous debut (written and recorded whilst on a World Tour playing keyboards for Echo & the Bunnymen), was picked by Rough Trade Shop for their monthly Record Club, and went on to be placed in their Top 50 Albums of 2008 (and also in Piccadilly Records’ Albums of 2008). His first show since 2008 , Paul will showcasing material from his second album, due for release mid-2011. “BUNNYMAN HAS FUN ON THE AUTOBAHN – Sombre, Sigur Ros-like post-rock, fuzzy bass grooves [and] energising NEU!-style motorik” UNCUT “A faultless piece of instumental music that captures the spirit of Eno, NEU! all the way through to modern post rock and chamber music” ROUGH TRADE “A thirteen-track industrial drive along roads of ambient melodies . Skin pricklingly authentic” CLASH SILVERY are an eccentric London four-piece whose music has been described as anything from Artrock, to Glam to Britpop.  Lead singer and songwriter James Orman immerses us in a unmistakeably  English world of Victoriana and wit.  This show follows a headline spot at Club NME @ Koko in January, and comes just before the release of their new single ‘Two Halves Of The Same Boy’. Playlisted on BBC 6Music (15/1/2011) the third from their critically acclaimed second album ‘RailwayArchitecture’: “Exhilarating art-pop from band bordering on greatness” ★ ★ ★ ★ UNCUT “Hunt down this album” ★ ★ ★ ★ Artrocker “Genius twisted pop. A truly original pop masterpiece” ★ ★ ★ ★ BIG CHEESE “Stylish, literate and witty but properly hook-aware” TIME OUT SILVERYTHEBAND.COM THE BONGOLIAN is the alter-ego of Big Boss Man’s main man Nasser Bouzida – a multi-instrumentalist who blends elements of Funk, Soul and Jazz with grinding percussion and heavy Bongo rhythms, resulting in dirty percussive bongo driven Funk and Spaced-out Latin Soul. His releases have become recordbox essentials for DJs, finding a wide appeal from Dance and Hip-Hop to rare groove and funky 45s fans, and to date The Bongolian and his band have toured USA, UK and Europe. Following his 2008′s ‘Outer Bongolia’, The Bongolian will release his 4th album ‘Bongos For Beatniks’ in early 2011. “Nasser Bouzida is a man with talent to spare. A Latin-flavoured jazz-funk odyssey” Q Magazine “Forget your preconceptions, this is the REAL incredible bongo band” CLASH “Mightily funky. Part mod, part Sergio Mendes, very swingin” TIME OUT THE BONGOLIAN: BIG BOSS MAN just added to the bill for tonight. They’ll be playing a late night show as part of the Blow Up club. “Excellent” Mark Lamarr, BBC Radio 2 “The Sgt Pepper of boogaloo – and you can’t go without breakfast, can you?” music 4/5, sonic 4/5 Hi-Fi Choice “Effortlessly hip” 4 stars – Echoes

The Bongolian live at Blow Up, December 2010 Following his show in France, The Bongolian (aka Big Boss Man’s Nasser Bouzida) and his band drop into London for a rare Christmas show at  Blow Up . They will be previewing tracks from his forthcoming 4th album (early 2011) alongside tracks from 2008′s critically acclaimed ‘Outer Bongolia’ and early classics such as Bongohead. Funk and Spaced-out Latin Soul – 100% Heavy Bongo Vibes guaranteed! Followed by resident Blow Up DJs Paul Tunkin & Ian Jackson bringing you a mix of Orgasmic Pop 60s Mod Soul New Wave action. Since his 2001 eponymous debut, THE BONGOLIAN’s albums have become recordbox essentials for DJs, finding a wide appeal from Dance and Hip-Hop to rare groove and funky 45s fans, and to date The Bongolian and his band have toured USA, UK and Europe: Nasser Bouzida is a man with talent to spare. A Latin-flavoured jazz-funk odyssey Q Totally mind-blowing WHAT’S ON Mightily funky, Hammond driven bongo rhythms… part mod, part Sergio Mendes TIME OUT Event Links:  Facebook Event / THE BONGOLIAN:

Long-time supporter of the band Steve Lamacq has reviewed Silvery’s new album ‘Railway Architecture’ on his official blog this week. Silvery also played last week at the first night of his new club night at the Bull & Gate ( Lamacq’s write up here ): “SILVERY whose debut album was a minor work of crazed genius, are back with a second LP which really ups the maverick ante” Steve Lamacq on his Blog (read full review here) SILVERYTHEBAND.COM

Following the release of their critically acclaimed 2nd album ‘Railway Architecture’ this August, London artrockers Silvery play two intimate shows at Blow Up on Saturday 21st August and Saturday 11th September . Silvery founder and singer-songwriter James Orman is still immersed in Bowie, Blur, XTC and all things eccentrically English, The Silvery sound is based around an amalgamation of non fiction, childhood memories, love of historic machinery, 70′s TV detective-isms and a musical philosophy of ‘anything goes’. From the glam rock assault of previous single ‘Devil In The Detail’, New Wave blast of debut ‘Horrors’, neo Bond theme drama of ‘Will Self’, through brief snatches of ska to music hall and spoken word, there is very little left untouched in between.

Silvery ‘Railway Architecture’ (Blow Up) – Out Now Silvery release the follow up to their 2008 debut Thunderer & Excelsior with their 2nd album Railway Architecture – out today and available from Rough Trade, Fopp, Norman, Piccadilly, Townsend, Juno, Amazon, Play.com, iTunes, eMusic, Napster, Amazon Digital and more Railway Architecture sees Silvery to continue their creative brainstorming, and Railway Architecture which sees bands singer/songwriter James Orman continuing his journey into the very English and eccentric world of the mad, bizarre and absurd. With a doff of a stove-pipe hat to Blur, Bowie, XTC and Sparks, their sound is an eclectic but commercial proposition. The album expertly blends post-punk, Britpop (for want of a better word), music hall and 60′s pop into this year’s most exciting release yet, and recently described as: “Exhilarating art-pop from band bordering on greatness” 4 STARS – UNCUT ” Hunt down this album ” 4 STARS – Artrocker ” Delicious and daringly at odds with almost everything else out there ” 4 STARS – Clash ” Genius twisted pop ” 4 STARS – Big Cheese SILVERYTHEBAND.COM

Silvery will be doing an exclusive live in-store at Rough Trade East next Friday 6th August – get down early to buy a copy of their new album ‘Railway Architecture’.

SILVERY have been invited to open up for long time supporter STEVE LAMACQ’s new monthly club night ‘GOING DEAF FOR A LIVING’ at The Bull & Gate (London) this Thursday ahead of the release of 2nd album ‘RAILWAY ARCHITECTURE’.  Facebook Event

Just confirmed for Saturday 7th August at Blow Up are The Sound Of Pop Art (acoustic set) and an opportunity to hear some genuine Beatnik Pop / Acoustic Soul of the finest order. Think, Odessey & Oracle The Zombies, Syd Barrett, Up The Junction Manfred Man, John Barry. TSOPA features Chris Free who previously wrote/played sonic guitar for one of the UK’s first & finest beat punk groups The Users, and was asked to join Paul Weller’s Respond label as songwriting duo A Craze, penning the 1983 UK summer soul hit for Tracie Young Give It Some Emotion: “English to the hilt, Cambridge’s T.S.O.P.A.  update Mod riffs and attitudes and pour sunny harmonies over them. Influenced by The Who, The Kinks and The Jam [and] infectiously enthusiastic, this is classic boho pop” **** Chris Roberts – Uncut

Silvery are recording a session for Mark Riley on BBC 6music to be broadcast live tonight from 7pm. Expect to hear previews of tracks from their forthcoming 2nd album Railway Architecture which will be released on August 9th, and is preceded by the single The Naked & The Dead on July 26th which was recently up for 6music’s Rebel Playlist. If you’re not in the UK or don’t have digital radio you can listen online here .  Here’s what they’ve said so far about Railway Architecture: ” One of the most distinctive sounds you’re currently likely to hear. Irrepressible and exhilarating ” NUDE Look out for Artrocker’s Summer Special issue out now – the covermount CD features the Silvery track ‘Identity’ taken from the new album. Check out the video for The Naked & The Dead, directed by Alastair Brotherton and Jock Mooney, and produced by Rich Barnett/Trunk, the same team behind Silvery’s video for ‘Horrors’, which was awarded Best Music Video at the London Short Film Festival in 2009;