A Cardboard Record Player..
From over the way at the Friends of the Stars site:
Made by the clever folks at GGRP, this cardboard record player would probably destroy your vinyl collection, but it’s rather sweet and, obviously, I want one really bad.
Commercially Inviable in Bristol!
Commercially Inviable artists Richard Burke, World of Fox and Friends of the Stars will be sharing the bill in Bristol on Friday 5th Febuary at the Grain Barge.
FRIDAY 5TH FEBRUARY // GRAIN BARGE - HOLD BAR // 8PM // £3
COMMERCIALLY INVIABLE RECORDS SHOWCASE featuring:
★FRIENDS OF THE STARS
★WORLD OF FOX
★RICHARD BURKE
Prepare for a full evening of music from the innovative label that is so commercially inviable! See below for a summary of what each act tends to get up to… Check out the music online and see you down in our intimate Hold Bar.
★FRIENDS OF THE STARS★
http://friendsofthestars.co.uk/
FRIENDS OF THE STARS are a Country/Folk collective from Birmingham, UK that has never done things the easy way. Nor have they often gone the right way; at least, not before a couple of ambitious, ill-conceived or simply stubborn blind alleys have been ventured down first.
— Not known for their work-ethic or good fortune, the band have nevertheless chalked up several achievements since forming (as Buick 6) in the summer of 2000. Their debut 7″ single, “Drunk on My Porch”, was well received in alt-country circles and lead to airplay and two live sessions with the late John Peel. An ill-advised deal with Sanctuary Music followed, as did a lengthy courtship with major label BMG, before the band imploded briefly amidst accusations of them being ‘too Country’.
— Regrouping, the band recorded “The Gun Quarter Tapes” at their own studio, before abandoning release plans for reasons unknown. Starting once again afresh they then recorded their debut album, “Lighting & Electrical”, which endured a tortured gestation before finally seeing the light of day in September 2007. Released on the Commercially Inviable label the record garnered many fine and complimentary reviews.
— They are currently recording their second album, “Faith’s Meat Kiosk”, and claim to be making significant progress. As with their debut album, this release will also be handled by Commerically Inviable Records.
★WORLD OF FOX★
http://www.worldoffox.com/
http://www.myspace.com/worldoffox
“Everything is for the Best”, is the debut album by WORLD OF FOX and was released on Commercially Inviable Records in October 2009.
— A prolific and committed independent musician, Simon Fox was formerly leader of Birmingham’s post-rock pioneers, Grover. Between 1993 and 2003 Grover released a host of albums, singles and split releases on independent labels around the world. Broadcasts on BBC Radio1 (including a Peel Session in 2001), plus airtime on a variety of independent stations in Europe and the USA, helped Grover build a dedicated international fan-base and influence the UK post-rock scene.
— Since then, Simon has quietened down, trading sweeping guitar theatrics for more intimate, acoustic-led song-writing. The new songs, performed under the moniker WORLD OF FOX, show a more personal, reflective side, with deceptively rich arrangements, a disarming wit and a flair for creating intimate moods. Recordings feature Simon playing a wide variety of instruments, including guitars, banjo, percussion, keyboards, Theremin, mandolin, even occasional brass and woodwind.
— As well as performing solo, Simon can often be seen/heard collaborating with other artists. Most notably, he was one half of electronica duo Krafla, was a founder member of the Experimental Music Collective, recorded and gigged an album with Clair Horton, is currently working with James Summerfield and is a regular guest DJ for the Grumpy Man DJs.
★RICHARD BURKE★
http://www.myspace.com/richardburke
RICHARD BURKE is a 31-year-old singer from Birmingham, UK and the latest signing to Commercially Inviable Records.
— He previously screamed his way through seven years of Indie rock mayhem with the wonderfully shambolic Starries before deciding that his delicate, lusty vocal chords were much better suited to the comparatively quieter world of off-kilter folk.
— Burke’s forthcoming debut album, “An Ocean Full Of Broken Stars”, clocks in at just under 30 minutes and is simply a magical, mesmerising collection of songs. Listeners to the album will immediately be drawn to future single, “Brown Eyes, Dark Hair” and his stunning, highly personal take on Yazoo’s “Only You”.
— Throughout the record and at his live shows, Burke consistently wraps his words and melodies around musical arrangements that would fall flat in the hands of less dextrous vocalists.
— Whilst Indie Rock mourns his loss, then, Off-Kilter Folk can rejoice as he melds the fluent guitar style of Jose Gonzalez to the tunefulness of Teenage Fanclub, all the while incorporating his wonderfully quirky and often heart-wrenching lyrics.
— To paraphrase the shy, often self-deprecating man himself, some people just think he’s shit. A more generous, objective observer would suggest that such people merely fail to see his worth. For the record, we think the naysayers are misguided fools.
— “An Ocean Full Of Broken Stars”, will be released on Commercially Inviable in early 2010.
Friends of the Stars at Meadowlands 2010
Friends of the Stars are late additions to the bill at the 2010 Meadowlands Festival in Lewes (which we believe is in Sussex), and takes place over the May Bank Holiday weekend of 29th and 30th. We’re not sure at the moment whether the band will play on Saturday or Sunday, or indeed where on the bill, but we’ll post more details as and when we have them. In the meantime, here’s the festival poster.
New Year Podcast from Friends of the Stars
This just in from FRIENDS OF THE STARS…
Happy New Year from Friends of the Stars. Here’s wishing you a safe, happy and prosperous 2010.
As for us, we hope to have a new record to tell you about shortly..watch this space. In the meantime, it’s time for another installment of our ever-popular Podcast. Somewhat amazingly, we’re now clocking in with Episode 21.
FOTS-POD#21 - “A Robson in Winter” - DOWNLOAD MP3
Episode 21 finds Campbell and Craig tucking into a couple of afternoon beers during the recent post-Christmas lull. The boys discuss Craig’s recent fatherhood following the birth of his son, Mac Charlie, and also the joys of accompanying Executive Producer Robson on a fraught trip to IKEA. The podcast once again features swearing and also music from Kris Kristofferson, The La’s, Randy Newman, Bobbie Gentry and more.
Enjoy
x
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TRACKLISTING
Feelin’ - The La’s
Closer To The Bone - Kris Kristofferson
Trains to Brazil - The Guillemots
Fancy - Bobbie Gentry
Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel
Who You Gonna Call on Judgment Day - Prince Far I
Lyla - Oasis
Raspberry Beret - Hindu Love Gods
Everyday - Slade
Here I Go Again - Whitesnake
Baltimore - Randy Newman
Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll) - George Harrison
LINER NOTES: (Now with Spotify links, where available)
Way too long for one of the best British bands ever (with obvious caveats, natch) to make an appearance on a FOTS Pod
Kris Kristofferson - Closer To The Bone
Bob Dylan is on this recent high watermark from the former Oxford Don and chicken murderer. A sanguine ode to getting old - makes songwriting sound effortless, right?
The Guillemots - Trains to Brazil
Pretty amazing songwriting chops on display again. We kind of knew Fyfe a while ago when he was part of marvellous Brummie oddballs The Courtesy Group, a band fronted then and now by Fyfe’s brother and good pal of FOTS Al Hutchins, who performed at our album launch party for Lighting & Electrical.
Bobbie Gentry is a bit of an unsung songwriting heroine - probably unsung because she was a looker too. But, in her own words, “”Fancy” is my strongest statement for women’s lib, if you really listen to it. I agree wholeheartedly with that movement and all the serious issues that they stand for — equality, equal pay, day care centers, and abortion rights.”
Man, Genesis and Peter Gabriel take a lot of liking but you can’t deny this tune. Amazing.
Prince Far I - Who You Gonna Call on Judgment Day
Scary Dub. The former Studio One bouncer’s first album “Psalm’s for I” features the Lord’s Prayer and various Psalms and was dedicated to the illiterate who could not read the Bible for themselves.
Oasis - Lyla
By a mile the best thing they have done in the last 15 years - great tune and confirms what all the cool people knew already, that they coulda been AMAZING (without the dough, the drugs, the genes)
Hindu Love Gods - Raspberry Beret
Warren Zevon and guys from REM give this classic Prince tune a nice Paisley (Park) Underground vibe
Slade - Everyday
Lovely ballad but if you was a burd, you wouldn’t want Noddy bellowing at you, wouldya? After a bottle of Mateus Rose, it would feel like the gates of hell were in fact mutton chops flecked with Banks’ bitter foam and pork scratchings.
When Whitesnake were pioneers of British heavy metal (which, at its best, was just great rock music made by Wilfred Owen and Beano fans), they made this awesome tune. Then David Coverdale nobbed off to America and remade it, with a supermodel and spandex. The first one was better
Randy Newman - Baltimore
Randy Newman is becoming a bit of an obsession, as was The Wire when I finally got around to it last year. This is a FOTS tribute to both.
George Harrison - Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)
All Things Must Past was the best thing any ex-Beatle ever made
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Friends of the Stars with Beth Jeans Houghton - 6th November
Just a gentle reminder that tomorrow, 6th November, Commercially Inviable’s own Friends of the Stars will be treading the boards once again, playing as a full band for the first time in a wee while in support of rising folk star Beth Jeans Houghton.
Details…
Beth Jeans Houghton with support from Friends of the Stars and Banksa
Friday 6th November
The Hare And Hounds
106 High Street
Kings Heath
Birmingham
B14 7JZ
Doors Open 8pm
Admission £5.00
Here’s the blurb from the promoters, Lunar Society:
This month once again we bring you 3 fine acts. Beth Jeans Haughton, Friends of The Stars and Banksa.
Beth Jeans Houghton was born in Transylvania to a pack of albino wolves who raised her on chewing tobacco and stuffed clams. Beth is also Observer Music Monthly rising star for July.
Her very limited edition first release sold out almost instantly and second release Golden has further proved her to be a talented songwriter. She’s played alongside a diverse collection of artists including Fiona Regan, Imogen Heap, and Scott Matthews and what more endorsement could she need than when Devendra Banhart interrupted his Greenman Festival set halfway through and invited her to play her own song.
Friends of the Stars emerged earlier this century from the fated ashes of John Peel favourites The Toques.
Principal members Anna Russell (vocals, keyboards), Craig Hamilton (vocals, guitars), Cam Docherty (guitars, vocals) and Phil Robinson (drums) hail from Birmingham, UK via Brighton, Northampton and Kilmarnock. Friends of the Stars share out song-writing and vocal duties, with Anna’s soaring voice on its own or complimenting Craig or Cam’s more weather-beaten tones.
Banska is singer /song writer Rowena Knight. She is based in Birmingham and proves that creativity and originality are still alive in contemporary acoustic music. This is Folk music with a unique atmospheric sound and driving rhythms with a rocky edge.
Come and help us launch “Everything Is For The Best”…
Next Thurday 15th October in association with the lovely people from Colour, we’re launching World of Fox’s “Everything is For the Best” album with a special Commercially Inviable evening at The Victoria in Birmingham. It should be a great night and it would be fantastic to see you there.
When you start a record label you are warned by lots of people about the unfortunate litany of independent record labels who start, with good intentions, and then fold after just a few releases. World of Fox’s “Everything Is For The Best” is the 5th release on our label, and the 3rd full length album by a Brummie artist, and we’re naturally very proud to have gotten this far. It’s a long, hard process hawking independent music in the 21st century and whilst we might not necessarily be pulling up any trees just yet, we’re still kicking and looking forward to a huge 5 (FIVE!) releases in 2010.
The following info is from the Colour website.
We’ve teamed up with Birmingham’s own Commercially Inviable Records to celebrate the recent launch of Simon Fox’s new album, Everything Is For The Best. Simon will be supported by label mates and good friends James Summerfield, Friends of the Stars and Richard Burke.
Expect a night of luminous, contemporary takes on folk tradition, with collaborations between the musicians and Colour DJs playing some of the best leftfield folk, indie and Americana. We’ll be projecting vintage slides and there will be homemade cakes.
About the Artists
Simon Fox is one of the region’s most talented folk musicians and he’s just released a new album via Birmingham label Commercially Inviable. Featuring gentle fingerpicking laid over swirling, mesmeric backgrounds, it’s a captivating record that reveals itself slowly, unfurling a great range and depth beneath it’s beguiling exterior.
For the best part of a decade Simon was the leader of post-rock outfit Grover, which is evident on Everything Is For The Best in the immersive atmospherics that add a twist to the pastoral folk guitar that eddies above. This makes the extended instrumental passages coursing through the album a beautiful place to lose yourself a little. Lyrically, Fox playfully adapts tried-and-true verse and rhyme structures to tell modern tales of lost loves, existential malaise and drunken belligerence.
Stream: Everything is for the Best in full.
MP3s: Leaves Me Blind / Yarlington Mill / Idiocracy / Witness (.zip)
James Summerfield
Last year’s Count To 10 and Start Again (one of our favourite albums of 2008) saw James Summerfield working through the fallout and self doubt caused by divorce, but with a lightness of touch, dark and strange humour and his finely-honed, fantastic ear for melody to tell sweet tales of the biggest blows. Live, James is a revelation: delicate, hushed Americana and folk songs full of beautiful sadness. James has recently supported fellow Midlander Scott Matthews on his UK tour and has previously opened for Josh Ritter and Richmond Fontaine.
MP3s: Films / Another Day With You Is Like Torture / Once / Films (.zip)
Friends of the Stars
Entering their seventh year together and soon to release their second album, Friends of the Stars aren’t a band who like to rush things – nothing about their songs feels forced or unnatural, which is why their country and folk debut Lighting and Electrical took two years to come out, as the band selected songs from hundreds they’d stepped into over the years. On stage, Anna Russell’s vocals take the centre, often with the rougher-edged harmonies of Craig and Cam in accompaniment.
Richard Burke
In a similar way to Simon, Richard initially liked things a little louder – his previous band The Starries played melodic indie rock and toured with Idlewild, before splitting in 2003. Since then, Richard has focused on weaving the melodic surge of indie music with more traditional folk music, influenced by Elliott Smith, Jason Molina and Will Oldham
Friends of the Stars to support Beth Jeans Houghton
Commercially Inviable artistes Friends of the Stars will be supporting rising folk star Beth Jeans Houghton at the Hare & Hounds, Birmingham on Friday November 6th. The line-up is completed by Banksa, and doors open at 8pm.
From the Lunar Society site….
Come November we’re back once again at The Hare And Hounds after our brief diversion in October.
This month once again we bring you 3 fine acts. Beth Jeans Haughton, Friends of The Stars and Banksa.
Beth Jeans Houghton was born in Transylvania to a pack of albino wolves who raised her on chewing tobacco and stuffed clams. Beth is also Observer Music Monthly rising star for July.
Her very limited edition first release sold out almost instantly and second release Golden has further proved her to be a talented songwriter.
She’s played alongside a diverse collection of artists including Fiona Regan, Imogen Heap, and Scott Matthews – and what more endorsement could she need than when Devendra Banhart interrupted his Greenman Festival set halfway through and invited her to play her own song.
Friends of the Stars emerged earlier this century from the fated ashes of John Peel favourites The Toques.
Principal members Anna Russell (vocals, keyboards), Craig Hamilton (vocals, guitars), Cam Docherty (guitars, vocals) and Phil Robinson (drums) hail from Birmingham, UK via Brighton, Northampton and Kilmarnock.
Friends of the Stars share out song-writing and vocal duties, with Anna’s soaring voice on its own or complimenting Craig or Cam’s more weather-beaten tones.
Banska is singer /song writer Rowena Knight. She is based in Birmingham and proves that creativity and originality are still alive in contemporary acoustic music.
This is Folk music with a unique atmospheric sound and driving rhythms with a rocky edge.
Friday 6th November
The Hare And Hounds
106 High Street
Kings Heath
Birmingham
B14 7JZ
Doors Open 8pm
Admission £5.00
Moseley Folk Festival Bundle
The celebrate the appearance of 3 Commercially Inviable artists at the 2009 Moseley Folk Festival we’ve put together a package for you…
James Summerfield, World of Fox and Friends of the Stars will all tread the boards at various points this weekend at the sold-out, 4th annual festival and for a limited time only, you can purchase each of their albums for a bargain total price of £15 (including postage).
Friends of the Stars - Lighting & Electrical (COMIN003)
James Summerfield - Count To 10 & Start Again (COMIN004)
World of Fox - Everything is for the Best (COMIN005)
Hope to see you at the festival!
TEAM INVIABLE
The Million Dollar Rematch…This Time, It’s Personable
In the late 1990s in California Dorian Wood decided to track down his worldwide namesakes using the interweb and eventually got in touch with Birmingham-based Dorian Wood. Finding someone who shares your slightly out-of-the-ordinary name on the other side of the globe would be one thing, but to find out that you are both involved in the creation of strange and beautiful music is something quite altogether different.
On Friday 8th May 2009 we are bringing together these two unique talents to play on the same bill for the second time… It’s the Million Dollar Rematch.
Here’s what happened last March, when we did this for the first time and when Anna sang with Dorian Wood USA:
(FEED Readers can see the video here)
Friends of the Stars and Commercially Inviable cordially invite you to kick off your weekend with a night of music, dancing and collaboration.
If your name is also Dorian Wood then you’ll receive FREE entry but proof of identity will be required.
Boringly-named individuals will need £3 to gain access.
We hope to see you there.
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DORIAN WOOD (USA)
His recently-released Bolka album is without doubt one of the best things we’ve all heard in a long time and really, really deserves to be heard by a much wider audience. Dorian has a voice that is really beautiful and he writes songs that call to mind Rufus Wainwright, The Blind Boys of Alabama and Anthony Hegarty - all rolled into one.
THEY SAY: “Wry, wistful and deliciously eerie, BOLKA is a valentine to the brokenhearted”
DORIAN WOOD (UK)
One half of the marvellous and frightening TeaTowel, the Friends of the Stars remixer of choice and the man behind the world’s only and best Happy Hardcore covers band, Pete_Prescription. Dorian will be playing brand new compositions freshly minted in his Kings Heath studio so expect Krautrock, Melody, Noise or something else entirely.
THEY SAY: “Elevator Music for people descending into hell”
FRIENDS OF THE STARS
Commercially Inviable Since 2000, this alt-country outdfit have harmonies, tunes and hooks in abundance and after surviving over 7 years of mild success and self-inflicted disappointment they bring you songs from ”Lighting and Electrical”, their first full-length album.
THEY SAY: “Their new disc is packed with the kind of authentically sad, lovely, and whiskey-drenched tunes that are tragically absent from the modern country FM dial.”
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INFORMATION:
Email info@friendsofthestars.co.uk
Call 
+44 (0) 7740 358 162
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USEFUL LINKS:
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DIRECTIONS:
LOCATION ON MULTIMAP.COM FOR DIRECTIONS
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Commercially In Bandcamp
Commercially Inviable artists Friends of the Stars, James Summerfield and World of Fox now have pages on Bandcamp.
You can listen to entire albums, download selected tracks and share with friends, all within the individual Bandcamp windows.
It’s what all the cool kids are doing, you know.
