ASIWYFA Secret Show Coverage on Live4Ever

Live4Ever's Daniel Robinson has posted coverage, including the video below, of one of ASIWYFA's hatrick of Belfast gigs on December 17th.

LaFaro Officially Better Than Gorillaz

You're probably as sick as we are of year-end lists but this is one we like, AU's look back at the records of the year makes several good calls including LaFaro's debut at no. 13.

40. Solar Bears – She Was Coloured In (Planet Mu)
39. Not Squares – Yeah OK (Richter Collective)
38. Surfer Blood – Astro Coast (Kanine)
37. Field Music – Field Music (Measure) (Memphis Industries)
36. Yeasayer – Odd Blood (Mute)
35. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today (4AD)
34. No Age – Everything In Between (Sub Pop)
33. Mimas – Lifejackets (Big Scary Monsters)
32. Wavves – King Of The Beach (Bella Union)
31. Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms (Static Tongues)
30. Grinderman – Grinderman 2 (Mute)
29. Sleigh Bells – Treats (Columbia)
28. Deftones – Diamond Eyes (Reprise)
27. Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can (Virgin)
26. Four Tet – There Is Love In You (Domino)
25. The Cast Of Cheers – Chariot (Self-released)
24. The Continuous Battle of Order – PTTRN SKRS (Richter Collective)
23. Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me (City Slang)
22. Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma (Warp)
21. Pantha du Prince – Black Noise (Rough Trade)
20. Baths – Cerulean (Anticon.)
19. Vampire Weekend – Contra (XL)
18. The Gaslight Anthem – American Slang (SideOneDummy)
17. Liars – Sisterworld (Mute)
16. Two Door Cinema Club – Tourist History (Kitsuné)
15. Foals – Total Life Forever (Transgressive)
14. Gorillaz – Plastic Beach (EMI)
13. LaFaro – LaFaro (Smalltown America)
After waiting so many years for a full-length from one of the country’s best live acts, could it possibly fulfil expectations? Emphatically, yes. Fittingly self-titled, from the opening, stop-start blast of bona fide classic ‘Tuppenny Nudger’ to the nonchalant closing lope of ‘Party Hardy Marty!’, every sweaty, sinewy, sleazy second IS LaFaro, perfectly distilled onto one shiny disc. Not since The Jesus Lizard in their prime has rock been this primal, urgent and utterly essential. Lee Gorman
12. Gold Panda – Lucky Shiner (Notown)
11. Best Coast – Crazy For You (Wichita)
10. Villagers – Becoming A Jackal (Domino)
9. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest (4AD)
8. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs (Mercury)
7. LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening (DFA)
6. The National – High Violet (4AD)
5. Caribou – Swim (City Slang)
4. Janelle Monae – The ArchAndroid (Atlantic/Bad Boy)
3. Adebisi Shank – This Is The Second Album Of A Band Called Adebisi Shank (Richter Collective)
2. Beach House – Teen Dream (Bella Union)
1. Kanye West – My Beatiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Roc-A-Fella)

ASIWYFA: 3 Belfast Shows In 1 Day - Fri 17th Dec

So...to confirm. We are doing 3 shows on the one day THIS Friday in Belfast. The first one is at 3pm at Catalyst Arts Centre (GUESTLIST ONLY - emailed), the second one is from 5.30pm - 7pm, Barge on Lagan (GUESTLIST ONLY - emailed) and the third one is in Auntie Annies in the evening, doors at 10pm. Absolutely no guestlist for ANYONE for this last show, you gotta queue and pay your £6! Hope you enjoy the shows xxx

Illness Tipped on 6Music Introducing

Thanks to Sean from Derby's Grande Duke for selecting Illness as their choice in Tom Robinson's 6Music Introducing Thanks For Your Support feature this past Sunday night. You can hear the show again until this Sunday night here, with Sean and Illness at about 1hr 20 in, and you can also download Illness' Old Song along with songs by other bands featured on Tom's show (including Bright Spark Destroyer and Free Swim who are worth checking out) right here.

Find out who Illness will be thanking for their support when 6Music Introducing returns in January.

Vote STA in the Digital Socket Awards

Music bloggers from all over Ireland have clubbed together to launch The Digital Socket Awards, celebrating the best of Irish music in 14 categories. The awards (whose name is intended to reflect “the power and energy of digital music on the Internet”) will be voted for by the public, creating a longlist for each category, from which the panel of 22 bloggers will decide the winners. The awards will then be handed out at the ceremony at the Grand Social in Dublin on February 3.

The full list of categories is below. Voting is now open...

1. Best Design (Website, Artwork, Posters)
2. Best Independent Label
3. Best Video
4. Best Music Photography
5. Best Radio Show
6. Best Pop
7. Best Folk
8. Best Rock and Alternative
9. Best Electronic & Hip Hop
10. Best Indie
11. Best EP
12. Best Newcomer
13. Best Album
14. Song of the Year

Cargo Collective December 2010

Skibunny Christmas Shows

The snow seems to have stopped in Edinburgh, for now, we hear it’s gonna get worse again though, wrap up warm people! We had a fantastic week in Ireland last month, 7 shows in 6 days, thanks to EVERYONE who came along, it was awesome craic! On returning to Edinburgh we played our biggest headline Scottish show to date at Edinburgh’s Bongo Club, thanks so much to Devil Disco for having us! Then we had some new friends to stay, in the shape of California based band La Sera. After bonding at a Ratatat/Vampire Weekend aftershow party, the following 3 days snowed-in in Edinburgh resulted in Tanya joining La Sera on stage for a punk-rock version of ‘No Diggity’ at their sold-out Edinburgh gig opening for Jenny & Jonny. FUN!

And so we look forward to Christmas once again - a couple of events for your festive diaries:
Sat 18th Dec: EDINBURGH, DJ set, Wolf Party @ The Store (formerly GRV)

Thurs 23rd Dec: EDINBURGH, Annual Christmas Songwriters Club @ Leith Dockers Club, all proceeds go to charity, all performers playing original christmas songs!

News coming soon of new single, UK tour and Canadian/US dates!

Happy Christmas everyone! xxx

Fighting With Wire Homecoming Show 23rd December - Nerve Centre Derry

ASIWYFA Tour Screenprint Poster For Sale

A limited run of 100 A2 size screenprints of ASIWYFA's November/December tour poster on Cyclus Offset 300gsm, signed and numbered, are now on sale from the good people at Blood & Thunder. Snap 'em up!

Hear Exclusive Fickle Public Song On New Glasgow Podcart

To coinicide with next week's digital release of Fickle Public 'Greatest Hits' EP, 5 previously-unreleased tracks - now available for pre-order - this week's episode of the Glasgow Podcart podcast features an exclusive FP track, Henry Kelly For Countdown. This song is only available on this podcast so what are ye waiting for?

Rock Sound Highlights - FWW Live, LaFaro #41 Album Of 2010

The January issue of Rock Sound is about to hit newsagents wherein you'll find LaFaro appearing on the Top 75 Albums of 2010, Fighting With Wire (and friends) reviewed in Brighton and a mention of next week's Fickle Public download EP.

Thanks to Darren and the RS team for all their support in 2010.

December 2010 Newsletter

[0] STA Welcomes... Feldberg



Meet Reykjavik pop-rock duo Feldberg, the newest addition to Iceland’s enviable canon of internationally acclaimed acts and the latest additions to the Smalltown America family. Consisting of singer Rósa Birgitta Ísfeld and multi-instrumentalist Einar Tönsberg, Feldberg first came together in 2008. Einar had recently returned to Iceland from London and was looking for a vocalist to record ‘Running Around’, a song he had written for an advert for an Icelandic shopping mall. “It was a lovely accident”, explains Einar. “I needed a vocal, somebody to do a female vocal. I called up my friends and they all said ‘You have to call Rosa.’ She was at my studio ten minutes later and she hasn’t left.” Rósa adds: “It was really comfortable from the very beginning, like it was destiny. I felt like I should stay once I was there. It’s kind of like a relationship without the romance.”



Feldberg will be thawing our frosty, winter hearts with their gorgeous melodies from December 13th on debut single 'I'm Not Thinking Of You' available on iTunes, before then you can watch the video for the single right now on Vimeo. The debut album is out early next year - it's a delight - you'll love it!

[1] MPFree - Fickle Public



Free Download - Fickle Public - 'Adam Hocing'

At last! Issued in response to popular demand, we present previously-unreleased and dusted-down recordings by Elgin/Glasgow screamo/math outfit Fickle Public for the second album that never was. Fans of the four-piece - fondly remembered for their fusion of Dischord song structure and smart pop hooks - have been patiently awaiting these songs, cheekily bundled together as 'Greatest Hits', which are finally being made available as a digital release on December 13th accompanied by an artwork booklet designed by Christopher Rainbow from photography by Tim Smith.



1. Adam Hocing
2. Non Stop Hot
3. San Diego Hair (Fickle Public Know The Score Version)
4. Revel Revel
5. Winning


Fickle Public were Alan Ferguson (vocals/guitar), Jim Butterly (guitar), James Cameron (bass), Lewis Gale (drums)



In Their Own Words: We recorded these songs back in 2005/2006 with the expectation that they would end up being part of our follow-up album to ‘Bucko’. Unfortunately, we never got as far as making the album and the band ended up splitting up toward the end of 2006. Winning and Revel Revel came from the original session in 2005. Non Stop Hot, Adam Hocing and San Diego Hair were recorded later for a split EP with Distophia – again this never materialised. 
 
However, here we are five years later and the tracks are finally going to see the light of day. I’m sure if the band had stayed together then these tracks would sound markedly different. We’re just glad that people can finally have the chance to hear what our second album may have sounded like.

[2] LaFaro - Ripping Up Europe



Our very own eight legged riff machine LaFaro are still on tour - supporting postHC heroes Helmet across Europe and loving every second of it. The LaFaro Van blew up earlier in the week and is still in a Berlin workshop, see them in rented accomodation in the following cities:

DEC 5 Glace Annecy w/ Helmet - Le Brise, FRANCE
DEC 6 La Laiterie w/ Helmet - Strasbourg, FRANCE
DEC 8 Roehre w/ Helmet - Stuttgart, GERMANY
DEC 9 Werkstatt w/ Helmet - Cologne, GERMANY
DEC 10 Elysee Montmarte w/ Helmet - Paris, FRANCE
DEC 11 Astro Lab w/ Helmet - Orleans, FRANCE
DEC 12 Le Grand Mix w/ Helmet - Tourcoing, FRANCE
DEC 14 Vooruit w/ Helmet - Ghent, BELGIUM
DEC 15 SCALA w/ Helmet & Fighting With Wire - LONDON
DEC 16 Club Academy w/ Helmet & Fighting With Wire - MANCHESTER

[2] ASIWYFA: European Tour, Xmas Shows and VERY Special Announcement



*Tune in to ASIWYFA's Twitter/Facebook at 21:00 GMT this evening to find out some very special Christmas news for ASI-uber-fans. REPEAT - 21:00 06/12/2010*

The first issue of our ASIWYFA vinyl disappeared in picoseconds, we've just put the last batch up on pre-order, these will ship w/c 13th December. The band are on overdrive right now so, if you're in the following cities you really should get along to:

DEC 9 De kreun - Courtrai, Belgium

DEC 10 Effenaar - Eindhoven, NETHERLANDS

DEC 11 Club Bitterzoet - Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS

DEC 12 Kleine Freiheit - Osnabrück, GERMANY

DEC 13 Comet - Berlin, GERMANY

DEC 14 Hafenklang - Hamburg, GERMANY

DEC 15 Tower - Bremen, GERMANY

DEC 23 The Hideout - Warrenpoint, IE, IRELAND

[3] FWW - Lil' Xmas Treats



With the second album wrapped up last week in Nashville - our intrepid explorers square up to label buddies LaFaro in London, Manchester and Glasgow - followed by some home grown riffology for Christmas.

DEC 15 Scala w/ HELMET - LONDON
DEC 16 Club Academy w/ HELMET - MANCHESTER
DEC 17 Cathouse w/ HELMET - GLASGOW
DEC 22 Stiff Kitten - BELFAST
DEC 23 Nerve Centre - Derry/City Of Culture 2013

[4] More Than Conquerors Get Busy...



Wired from a sell out support slot with Jimmy Eat World show in Belfast the lads have finished work on their second EP and are delighted to be sharing the stage with labelmates ASIWYFA in Warrenpoint 23rd December, that particular show is going to be messy people.

[5] CMCS & Illness Play Nice...



Label buddies join forces for an awesome Weather for Airstrikes Christmas Show in Brighton.

[5] Calling All Public Service Broadcastees



As Smalltown America Records marks it's 10th birthday next year we're looking for any bands that had a song on the Public Service Broadcast compilation series to provide a sentence or two of where they are and what they are doing for inclusion in a forthcoming project. For more details get in touch with ash@smalltownamerica.co.uk - if you know anyone that was in one of these bands and can give them a holla on our behalf - please do!

All that remains to say is thanks so much for all your support this year - we all really appreciate it, thanks as always for reading and we'll see you in 2011.

Team STA