WAYPOINTS #163
31/07/20
"I WANNA TRY"
FEAT: ALEXIA AVINA, RACHEL AGGS, MARTHA FFION, CALLUM EASTER, ALABASTER DEPLUME, V I S I T ▲ T I O N S, FELL, GOOD DOG, BARBARA STREISAND + MORE
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INTRODUCING: ALEXIA AVINA
Based approximately 3005.73 miles from the isle of Eigg across the Atlantic in rural Massachusetts – which is in the U.S.A, AKA "America" – Lost Map's officially furthest-flung signing Alexia Avina might seem very, very distant indeed. And yet our research shows that there are at least 13 outlets of Subway ™ within a six mile radius of her nearest town, and as such, we are comforted by the knowledge that through the unifying power of delicious foot-long "build-your-own" sub sandwiches ™, she need never feel too far away.
But enough about breakfast and more about Alexia Avina. Previously based in Montreal, Alexia's heavenly music is rooted in ambient, folk and dreampop traditions and her new single ‘ Fit Into’ (b/w ‘Swampy’) is released as part of the July installment of our PostMap Club subscription service. It captures much about what makes her so special: minimal, arrhythmic and tempo-based looping, ethereal melodic hooks, beauty, spaciousness and restraint. We'll be releasing Alexia's dreamy, dreamy good new album Unearth on CDR, cassette and digital platforms on October 9, 2020, jointly with American label Topshelf Records.
“‘Fit Into’ is about the wish to shapeshift oneself into the mould of another person’s desires,” Alexia explains of the story behind the song . “At the time of writing, I knew that this was an unworthy aspiration to hold myself to, but I wanted to write a song that tapped into that space of inner longing to be someone else, rather than from an angle of self-judgment.”
The incredible clay stop-motion video for 'Fit Into' – think Morph on jellies – was premiered yesterday by GoldFlakePaint who call Alexia a "distinct talent" and reckon the song is a "captivating foundation to launch her brand new chapter". Paste magazine say "breathtaking", while Gorilla vs. Bear have previously described Alexia's music as "warm and dreamlike," and Stereogum have called it "exceedingly lush", which is funny because we were just thinking exactly the same things about Subway's™ Meatball Marinara.
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THE DEBUT SOLO ALBUM BY RACHEL AGGS
One need look no further than movie classics such as Jaws: The Revenge, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps for proof that sequels can top seemingly unsurpassable originals, and indeed, much the same thing is true of part two of our Lost Map Podcast interview with Rachel Aggs. In which Rachel discusses her trip to Eigg and the challenges of making her V I S I T ▲ T I O N S record in splendid isolation on our beautiful island idyll, all the while avoiding the distractions of our clearly excellent DVD collection.
The second artist to be featured as part of V I S I T ▲ T I O N S S02, Rachel Aggs is an exceptionally prolific virtuoso of euphoric post-punk who has achieved international acclaim with her collaborative projects Trash Kit, Shopping and Scottish Album of the Year Award Winners Sacred Paws. Creating zines and co-coordinating workshops that encourage women, non-binary people, and people of colour to form bands, she has galvanised the DIY scene in London, and her current home of Glasgow. Arriving on Eigg during the final week of August 2019, armed with her guitar, violin, laptop and a drum machine, Rachel set about creating a diary of songs and instrumental pieces – a flurry of activity so fruitful that she ended up coming away with what is effectively her debut solo album. The intimate recordings showcase Rachel's distinctive guitar and vocal style, mixed a with lo-fi pop sensibility, capturing a snapshot of isolation inside and outside of the bothy; where field recordings of the sea crashing wildly against the rocks meet the sound of a kettle whistling. "Sing to the sky, sing to the waves."
The album is available now, exclusively as part of a subscription service which you can sign up to for just £25 for a digital sub and £45 for a physical sub. You'll also straight away receive the first installment in V I S I T ▲ T I O N S S02, an EP by Arthur King (starring Grandaddy's Jason Lytle), and later in the year you'll get the third installment, featuring music from a new project by Rozi Plain. Speaking of third installments – probably Nutty Professor III: The New Batch does risk stretching out the franchise just a little too far should it ever be made, but then we said that about Little Fockers and HOW WRONG WE WERE.
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JULY POSTMAP CLUB QUADRUPLE BANGER FEAT. FELL, GOOD DOG, ALEXIA AVINA AND ALABASTER DEPLUME
From the seasons of the year to the Horsemen of the Apocalypse and tax-evading man band Take That after Robbie left (the b*stard), all the best things come in fours and the July edition of Lost Map's PostMap Club only proves it. Thank us 4 the music and don't u 4 get about us, because we would die 4 u and we'll be there 4 u this month with 4 of the best (postcards). They include:
1) A brand new live EP called Creature at Home by Good Dog AKA the lush lo-fi pop solo alias of cruisin' Susan Bear. "When I’m recording I like to add a millions layers of instruments and vocals to songs," says Suse, "but I thought it would be fun to do a REALLY stripped down version of a few things from Creature."
2) 'Fit Into' (bw/ 'Swampy') by our latest signing Alexia Avina (more on her above).
3) The 'Visit Croatia' EP by jazz'n'vibes master extraordinaire Alabaster dePlume, who was sampled by Bon Iver thus putting us only two degrees of separation away from yer actual Taylor Swift = Tay Tay x Lost Map 4 eva
4) Continuing his epic quest to release approximately ALL OF THE MUSIC in a single year, the latest EP in the Sides project by lean mean songwriting machine Nic Burrows, AKA Fell.
All 4 u!
Better yet, like one of those little pencils you get at IKEA our body after three pints of snakebite, we're practically giving the goods away. Here's reminder of the price plans + full benefits of joining the PostMap Club.
REGULAR BREW
£3 + postage, per month
- Postcards! At least two collectible PostMap postcards sent to your door at the end of every month – each containing download codes for a mixture of brand new music on Lost Map, alongside a random selection from our archives. When you sign up you'll also receive the previous month's postcards, completely free
- Badge! Plus a new badge for every year of your subscription
- Monthly newsletter! Containing hot goss / farmyard shite
- Discounts! On other Lost Map releases, merchandise, gigs
- Feelgood glow! Help support an independent record label
GOLD BLEND
£5 + postage, per month
- All of the above except with a bigger badge
- Meet'n greet w/ Tay Tay (once she returns our calls)
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PICTISH TRAIL'S THUMB WORLD NOW IN STOCK
- Vinyl copies of Pictish Trail's hawt new album are fresh in from Fire Records and on sale now
- Limited edition hawt pink and standard versions available
GET YR THUMB OUT!
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PRE-ORDER MARTHA FFION'S NEW ALBUM NOW
It's only 14 more sleeps now until the release of Martha Ffion's excellent, superb and also amazing new album Nights to Forget and in spite of all the problems we've been having lately with stress dreams – including a recurring one where we're all alone in the big Tesco naked but for a facemask around the genitals – we can't wait to get our PJs on, take a nice soothing mug of Super Noodles ™ to bed and sweat profusely through the dark, lonely hours in order to hasten the arrival of this really extremely fine record.
It's available to pre-order now and comes endorsed by all from Uncut magazine ("wry bedroom pop") to BBC 6 Music's Lauren Laverne ("so gorgeous"), For the Rabbits blog ("one of our favourite artists in recent years") and an ancient mummy which from beyond the dead can somehow make a noise like Eddie Grant at the start of 'Electric Avenue'. Choices of colour for the limited-edition vinyl (300 copies only) include blue, blue and also blue, because what other colour could better sum up these bluest of bluesy times than BLUE? Such a lovely pastelly shade of blue too, like a summer evening's sky or a Balearic sea or a disposable facemask as it gently cups our balls in the Tesco meat aisle and wait sh*t are we dreaming again?!
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GET IN THE LOST MAP LOOP
1) Facebook is a social media website that periodically flags up "memories" of your various fat phases
2) Join the Lost Map Loop Facegroup for chat / nonsense / recipes
3) You will always be beautiful to us
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LISTEN TO THE WAYPOINTS PLAYLIST
1) ♫ Meeeeeemories,
light the corners of my miiiiiind ♫
2) ♫ Misty water-colour meeeeemories ♫
3) ♫ Of the Waaaay-points Plaaaay-list ♫
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