Games For May – An afternoon & evening of music at The Half Moon, Putney, Sunday 24th May

Bank holiday Sunday! Five live bands, a free five-track 7” single + goodie bag! Be there or wish you were! 


As if releasing consistently high standard vinyl releases wasn't enough, Fruits De Mer Records have teamed up with similarly reputable label, Mega Dodo, to curate an afternoon and evening of music at Putney's Half Moon venue. This takes place on Sunday 24^th of May. For those who don't like going out on a school night, fear not, it's a Bank Holiday the following day! The advance ticket price of £15 gets you a five band billing along with a whole bunch of freebies including -

* the Games For May 7", with tracks by all five bands - exclusive to the gig
* an exclusive CD featuring a previously-unreleased album by PIPE (the predecessors of The Past Tense)
* Cary Grace's 'Where You Go' CD album
* a compilation CD from Headspin Records
* a compilation CD from Mega Dodo
* a compilation from Stylus Records
* a compilation CD from DJ Marrs Bonfire
* a CD by ZX+
* a CD by The Portraits
* a CD by the Blue Giant Zeta Puppies
- that's a 7" EP + NINE CDs!
plus...
* an A3 gig poster
* an 'artifact' featuring Todd Dillingham
* a sticker from Claudio Cataldi
* and a very silly game from Fruits de Mer & Mega Dodo

 

The fun starts at 4pm and goes on till closing time. Along with the live bands there'll be rare vinyl DJ sets from Marrs Bonfire and Cranium Pie's Julian Smith. The event is almost certain to sell out so don't hang about buying your tickets. The five acts playing live (and who feature on the free 7” single) are - 

Tir na nOg 

Legdendary psych-folk duo formed by Leo O'Kelly and Sonny Cordell in 1970. They'll also be launching The Dark Dance, their first studio album in 40 years at the gig - and there'll be an exclusive 50-run individually lathe-cut 7" available for £10 a time to the first 50 people to buy the album.

Schnauser 

Favourites here at Harmonic Distortion are Bristol's quirk-prog supremists. Read our review of their Where Business Meets Fashion album here. 

The Past Tense 

Three-piece band from Worcester Park/Kingston. Their sound is a fusion of mod, '60s beat, garage, psych and punk. Their track “Vision (from Another World” was recorded especially for the event's free 7”.

Crystal Jacqueline and The Honey Pot 

Crystal Jacqueline will be familiar to Fruits De Mer aficionados. A founding member of the Honey Pot she'll also be launching latest album Rainflower (Mega Dodo Records) at this gig. We've heard it and it's pretty special, review coming soon! 

Mark and The Clouds 

London based band that evolved from Instant Flight. Purveyors of '60s tinged power pop though their offering on the 7” has a more folky vibe, all 12-string acoustic and harmonies. Entitled “Any Part Of Town” it's only available on the free 7”.

Click here to purchase tickets online. 
Click here for the Fruits De Mer Records website. 
Click here for the Mega Dodo website.

Schnauser - Where Business Meets Fashion

Bristolian Prog-poppers' third album!

Prog-influenced music gets a raw deal. Not aided by the fact that in the mid '70s the genre became overblown and bloated, characterised by extended solos, costume changes, money-losing stage designs and even an ice-rink! However its main crime was that it took itself too seriously.

Thirty years on, here's Schnauser, a Bristolian quartet whose music claws back some credibility for all things Prog, as well injecting it with a welcome sense of humour and fun. Though they might have passed under your radar before, this is actually the band's third album, their first since 2010's The Sound Of Meat.

With witty and knowing songwriting which covers such subjects as the hapless love-life of early computer gamers (Good Looking Boy, which comes complete with the sound of a Spetrum ZX81 loading from a cassette), tedious and predictable conversations (Dinner Party), and uncomfortable social situations (Large Groups Of Men), the band mine a reach seam of modern suburban anxiety. It's like Abigail's Party re-imagined as a concept album and performed by Kevin Ayers.

The Prog tag actually does Schnauser a dis-service. This is Pop music! Pop in the best possible sense, in that it's equally indebted to melodic masters as Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson as it is to Prog virtuoso musicians. Catchy, purposeful, subversive and fun. For each prog-rock twist, turn and trapping there's an equally attuned ear for melody. And despite the album's title it's neither business-like or slavishly fashionable and is all the better for that.

www.schnauser.co.uk