It’s Great Escape time again and Create Spark has no less than 8 bands playing this year including Phosphorescent (pictured top), Susanne Sundfør and TRAAMS, plus a wealth of Finnish talent Phantom (pictured 3rd), Black Lizard, Big Wave Riders, HK119 and Husky Rescue.
Click here for more details on the acts, clips, mp3s and stage timings. We’ll be around at the festival as ever to warn people about eating fish and chips on the seafront and take a few of you to our favourite local haunts.
Create Spark Acts @ SXSW 2013: Show Info For Japandroids, Suuns, Phosphorescent, Gold & Youth, Poolside, Young Dreams + More
For those fortunate enough to be at SXSW right now, here’s our handy guide to all the shows our acts are playing at the music convention this week
View high resolution
Watch the fantastic Andrew Woodhead-directed video for ‘Bassline’, exclusively on Nowness. The clip witnesses electronic legend Miss Kittin sashaying around a sunset-lit Ballardian landscape flanked by glamourous dances. The ‘Bassline’ EP is out on wSphere 25th March.
Seems like there’s no better time than on New Year’s Eve to have a look back on 2012. It’s been another thoroughly enjoyable year for Create Spark in the ever-diverting world of online music pr.
Highlights have been witnessing the rightful ascent of Tame Impala, with the overwhelming success of ‘Lonerism’ providing many firsts for us, like having a band headline a sold-out Brixton Academy and performing on ’Later with Jools Holland’.
Jens Lekman provided much idiosyncratic pleasure both on record and live, whether it was at his Hackney Empire show or playing acoustically to a select few in his Gothenburg garden during Way Out West. Japandroids never failed to amaze with their high octane celebration of bro-hood during their numerous live shows, it was especially great watching the audience destroy itself during ‘The House That Heaven Built’ at a sold-out Heaven. Earlier on in the year, Pond proved to be a surprise delight and made The Great Escape very hectic yet loads of fun, playing their first UK show in the tiniest pub’s upstairs room. Watching of Montreal headline Koko in April was incredible as ever plus we’ll never forget the first time we saw the spellbinding Susanne Sundfør perform, at a support show for M83 at Somerset House no less. Also Outfit’s spectral creations were a continual joy, seeing them play at Royal Albert Hall, Field Day and working with them on their wonderous ‘Another Night’s Dreams Reach Earth Again’ EP all being enjoyable high points.
And finally a mention must go to the weird and wonderful moment when Debbie Create Spark won Best Independent Online PR at the Record of the Day awards in November. This is something she’s utterly thrilled about now that it’s finally sunk in.
There’s about 20 albums Create Spark’s worked on over 2012, which unfortunately we don’t have enough time to mention in detail here for fear you’ll close your browser (!) Instead, do while away the remainder of 2012 with a playlist of our favourite tracks off the majority of those albums.
Listen to Create Spark’s Greatest Hits of 2012 here:
Music Finland is proud to announce that no less than 17 bands from Finland will be performing at influential live music event Eurosonic 2013, with the Nordic nation being the focus country for next year’s festival. Happening in Gronigen, Netherlands between the 9th - 12th January 2013, here’s a rundown of all the Finnish acts performing at Eurosonic including LCMDF, European Border Breakers Award winners French Films, Sin Cos Tan, Michael Monroe, Siinai and several more.
Watch and embed the You Tube playlist to find out more on each act:
Seems like the UK music world have been going nuts about Tame Impala’s new album, with the band gracing the cover of Guardian Guide this weekend, being awarded 5 stars lead album review in Film & Music and streaming exclusively on Guardian Music all week.
And rightly so, have a listen to ‘Lonerism’ in all it’s kaleidoscopic glory here. It’s also the first time we’ve had an album stream feature on The Guardian.
Read Guardian Guide’s interview with Tame mainman Kevin Parker here.
Read the raft of ecstatic album reviews across print and online, placing ‘Lonerism’ at no 1 in the Any Decent Music chart!
Watch the latest Tame Impala webisode:
London-via-Leeds’ Grass House launch their single tonight at White Heat @ Madame Jojo’s. The dusky bar room rumble of ‘The Boredom Rose’ is out 17th Sept as the debut release for brand new independent label Dancing Coins, watch the video below:
Dancing Coins was founded earlier this year by a collective including producer Jim Anderson (Cold Specks, The Twilight Sad, 2:54) and Al Spx of Cold Specks. Order it here.
View high resolution
In the week of the release of his dazzling new album ‘I Know What Love Isn’t’, Jens Lekman has announced a new run of UK/EU tour dates for late November. These will follow fairly closely after the imminent European September dates, full details of Jens’ complete Autumn shows are here.
‘I Know What Love Isn’t’ is out now worldwide on Secretly Canadian and Service in Scandinavia. Lekman’s first album in 5 years is currently running the gauntlet of international critical acclaim, with the latest feature being a thoughtful and entertaining clip of Jens being interviewed on Pitchfork.
Watch the erudite Swede talking about the album amidst expounding his theories on the apocalypse, also featuring an intimate acoustic performance of the title track.
Read today’s interview on The Quietus with Jens musing about the themes of love and songwriting.
Watch ‘Become Someone Else’s’ as filmed by The Line of Best Fit.
Read Jens’ witty RCRDLBL feature.
View high resolution
Jens Lekman’s sumptious new album ‘I Know What Love Isn’t’ is out today on Secretly Canadian. Here’s one of many glowing reviews pouring in, Sunday Times’ CD of the Week no less.
View high resolution
It’s less than a week til Jens Lekman releases his dazzling new album ‘I Know What Love Isn’t’ on Secretly Canadian. Hear the album streamed in full and exclusively on The Quietus, the ten-track record is an eloquent exploration of the greyer areas of love no less.
Keep an eye out for a full interview with Jens on The Quietus later this week.
