WAYPOINTS #203
17/03/23
"CHASING A LIGHT IN THE GOLDEN CIRCLE"
FEATURING: AMY MAY ELLIS, THE GN BAND, FELL, HAIRBAND, FREE LOVE, MISSES NEFF + MORE
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GO WILD WITH AMY MAY ELLIS
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COME AND HAVE A GANDER at the extremely wholseome new video by Amy May Ellis, for her wonderful single 'Wild Geese'. Geddit, "gander"?!! A type of goose!! A male goose. The goose Amy's holding is female (Misses Neff), and thus technically the pun doesn't work, but who's splitting hairs? Or feathers. Or whatever. Hoooooooooonnnkkkkkkkk. That was a goose impression FYI.
'Wild Geese' is a song with circling guitar patterns and soaring vocals gazing skyward at the allegorical magic of flocking birds in flight (no honks). It's released this month as part of Lost Map's PostMap Club subscription service, and it's featured on Amy's upcoming debut album Over Ling and Bell, which you can pre-order now on attractive vinyl format (released May 19). Raised in a remote dale in the middle of the North York Moors, now based in Bristol, Amy’s warm and delicate folk-leaning songs are steeped in the culture, scenery, folklore and wildlife of the countryside that surrounded and shaped her as a child. You can almost smell the cowsh*t.
Come see Amy live on tour in May, together with a band. Full list of dates below – as you see, she'll be hitting up venues everywhere from London to Newcastle and even Farndale, with something extra special planned for Glasgow, full details TBA. Doesn't involve farm animals, sorry.
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MARANTA'S MICROSTERIA: A SYMBIOTIC CIRCUS
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What the f*ck is a symbiotic circus, we hear you ask, and fair question. A symbiotic circus is of course (*checks notes*) an "illusory world" where "the micro is made massive", AKA a brand new night of live electronically mutated music combining visuals, costume and performance, AAKA Microsteria, AAAKA the new club night by our favourite Embra synth-pop duo and yours Maranta. It's that simple, really. The first installment is happening this Friday, March 17 – AKA TONIGHT – at Summerhall in that Edinburgh, and you can consider yourself bloody well invited. If you've experienced any of the amazing immersive live stuff Maranta have done in the past, e.g. their special opening performance for last year's Hidden Door Festival, then you ought to know what to expect (trippin' balls).
Playing live at this symbiotic circus slash illusory world slash club night slash whatever will be Maranta, plus a variety of special guests including Catgut, which is a project by Pictish Trail drummer Ian Stewart plus guest vocalists, doing some seriously heavy techno sh*t with live drumming (v.v good). Sets too from Mermaid Chunky, Jock Fox and Muto Major, plus visual collaborations with Chell Young, Kiera Saunders, Miriam Craddock, Michaela McManus, Suzi Cunningham, Noraa and Lorenzo Rangoni Robertson. "Why not immerse yourself fully in the world of Microsteria," Maranta ask, "and come dressed as your favourite amoeba?" Seriously, why not? Give us one good reason not to dress up as an amoeba. Can't think of one can you. |
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THE MARCH LOST MAP PODCAST
1) Hey do you like rubbish impressions of elephants? Hey do you like rubbish impressions of geese?
2) Hey you'll enjoy the March Lost Map Podcast w/ PT + LD.
3) Feat. Free Love taking us inside their new album INSIDE.
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HEY SPEAKING OF FREE LOVE
1) Free Love's blistering and blissful new album INSIDE is free at last.
2) But not for free, just to be clear. Costs £23.
3) Still available on lovely pink limited-edition vinyl, direct from the Lost Map webshop.
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FEBRUARY POSTMAP CLUB FEAT.
THE GN BAND + FELL
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What's the unlikely missing link between James Joyce, Leo Delibes and Talking Heads, we hear you wonder? The answer is of course huskie-lovin' Welshman George 'GN' Nicholls. Specificially George's new song 'The Bell Song', a laid-back two-chord power pop jam by his eponymous band The GN Band, a supergroup led by multi-instrumentalist and Welsh Music Prize winner George (“tall” – The Guardian), and featuring members of Joanna Gruesome, Porridge Radio, SUEP and Sniffany and The Nits. It's available to stream and share now, as well as released as part of Lost Map’s PostMap Club subscription service in the month of March. It's the latest in a string of exciting new material which The GN Band is releasing with Lost Map, following previous single ‘It’s Nuts’ and ‘I Don’t Know Why I Try’. A compilation cassette release, gathering all of these songs and more, is planned for later in the year. The GN Band will be announcing a London headline show soon.
Also in the PostMap Club bag this month: melodic psych-pop waltz 'Elephants' by Fell – AKA London-based artist, illustrator, guitarist, singer and songwriter Nicolas Burrows, together with bassist Jon Rulton (Bear Driver, Dream Giant), drummer Dav Shiel (Beth Jeans-Houghton & The Hooves of Destiny) and keys player Matt Giraudeau (Dogtanion). Backed with a studio recording of fan-favourite 'Sense Of Time', it's taken from their latest album Mallows Marsh, an ambitious, patchwork record full of mood shifts, flicking about lyrically through Anglo-Saxon healing charms, pastoral horror, horticultural murder-ballads, mid-Brexit snapshots and ruminations on personal myth-making, and full of wobbly guitars and woozy organs, with chamber-pop arrangements giving way to krautrock, raga and drone-inspired passages. Imagine 70s west coast psychedelia woven into eccentric English pastoral pop. Buy it now. No not later, now.
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Also included in this month's PostMap Club:
Amy May Ellis: 'Wild Geese' – Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!! (goose impression)
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A round-up of the three PostMap Club membership tiers and their respective prices and benefits is as follows below – new members note that you will receive a bumper double pack of postcards in your first installment, also including NEXT MONTH'S postcards.
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 sh*te.
- 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.
CLUB BISCUIT
£10 + postage, per month
- All of the above except with an EVEN BIGGER badge.
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COMING SOON: UNDER THE PLOW
BY HAIRBAND
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A hypnotic, looping alt-pop song about "feeling lost and confused, and searching for meaning in oneself, in the world, and in dreams," ‘Surfacing’ is the latest new track by Glasgow and Berlin based five-piece Hairband. Released as part of the PostMap Club last month, as a double A-side together with ‘Unconcious Rivals’, it’s another taster of Hairband’s forthcoming debut album, Under the Plow, which is due for release on limited-edition cassette and on digital services on April 21, 2023. Pre-order now!
Formed in 2016, Hairband are a Glasgow underground supergroup, featuring members of previous/current much-loved bands including Spinning Coin, Breakfast Muff, The Yawns, Lush Purr, Rocky Lorelei, Kaputt and Tarantula. Sephi and Rachel are from Toronto, Canada, while Simone, Rowan and Emma are from Glasgow, Dundee and Stirlingshire respectively. Following a relocation by Rachel to Berlin, the band has been operating long distance since 2019.
Hairband’s debut self-titled five-song EP was the first ever release by renowned Glasgow record shop Monorail Music in October 2018; live they band have shared bills with the likes of Sleaford Mods (who they opened for at Glasgow Barrowlands), The Raincoats, Brix and the Extricated, Terry and The Yummy Fur. In March 2020, just before lockdown, Hairband recorded their debut album, Under the Plow at Green Door Studios in Glasgow. Its 10 songs "reflect a period the band will forever appreciate and be proud of,” writes Emma. "You can hear the fun and joy in equal measure, alongside more complex, darker aspects that we hope speak to some of the wider experiences of women.”
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THE LOST MAP GIGS'N'TOURS MEGAMIX
ALABASTER DEPLUME LIVE:
FRI, MAY 12 @ XJAZZ! FESTIVAL, BERLIN, GER
FRI, JUL 7 @ NORTH SEA JAZZ FESTIVAL, ROTTERDAM, NED
AUG 10-14 @ WE OUT HERE FESTIVAL, WIMBORNE ST GILES, DORSET
AMY MAY ELLIS LIVE:
THU, MAY 18 @ THE GREENBANK, BRISTOL (w/ MOLLY LINEN)
MON, MAY 22 @ GREEN NOTE, LONDON (w/ WANDERLAND)
WED, MAY 24 @ THE TIN, COVENTRY
FRI, MAY 26 @ MILL HILL CHAPEL, LEEDS (w/ WANDERLAND)
SAT, MAY 27 @ THE BANDROOM, FARNDALE (w/ WANDERLAND)
SUN, MAY 28 @ THE CRESCENT, YORK (w/ WANDERLAND)
TUE, MAY 30 @ CUMBERLAND ARMS, NEWCASTLE
WED, MAY 31 @ VENUE TBA, GLASGOW
CLEMENTINE MARCH LIVE:
FRI, MAR 17 @ THE LOST ARC, RHAYADER*
SAT, MAR 18 @ CHAPTER, CARDIFF (x2 SHOWS, 2PM + 7PM)*
WED, MAR 22 @ THE FIREBUG, LEICESTER*
FRI, MAR 24 @ SUNFLOWER LOUNGE, BIRMINGHAM*
SAT, MAR 25 @ JT SOARS, NOTTINGHAM*
* = supporting Sweet Baboo
FREE LOVE LIVE:
JULY 28-31 @ DEER SHED FESTIVAL, TOPCLIFFE
MARANTA LIVE:
FRI, MAR 17 @ MARANTA PRESENTS: MICROSTERIA @ SUMMERHALL, EDINBURGH (CLUB NIGHT w/ SPECIAL GUESTS; MUSIC, VISUALS, COSTUME AND PERFORMANCE)
PICTISH TRAIL LIVE:
JULY 20-23 @ BLUEDOT FESTIVAL, JODRELL BANK OBSERVATORY, CHESHIRE
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