Pioneering Oxford based independent label, Shifty Disco is set to have some fun this summer as its artists embark on a Come Play With Me Tour!

The artists taking part are critically acclaimed indie-rockers The Race, post-punkers My Device and indie-folk storytellers King of Spain with the cult hero’s cult hero Anton Barbeau stringing the evenings together in his loose compère / troubadour style.  The tour, that takes its name and format idea from the popular TV show ‘Come Dine With Me’ comes with a bit of a twist.

The bands will take it in turns to host a show whilst the others grade them out of 10, from the pre-show promotion to the rider and of course the crowd on the night, the bands will be doing their utmost to impress each other.   The whole tour will be filmed in a tongue-in-cheek, reality-show documentary style and the end result will be streamed on the Shifty Disco website at the end of the week.

The tour is the brainchild of Shifty Disco label boss Dave Newton, who celebrated 10 years in business in 2007 and is still cooking up fresh and interesting ways to shake up what are often predictable formats. Since the 10 year anniversary the label has released albums by all the artists on the Come Play With Me tour and continues to use the Download Singles Club as its source of discovery of all things shiny and new.

The Race released the album ‘In My Head It Works’ earlier this year to critical acclaim. Interestingly the album was completely funded by a stakeholder fund that raised £25,000 to record and release the record. Here’s what the press have said about it: 

‘Sonic Youth dischord... prowling dub-rock... Endearingly awkward’ - NME 

 ‘Floor-tom heavy with a rolling bass, the guitars are alternatively choppy then floating on a Chameleons-like tide of echoing, chiming, glassy effects’ - Q

‘twinkling, mesmerising with enough grunge sensibility to give this band the edge’ - Rock Sound

‘Get into them now, before everyone else does’- Clash

Following the release of the album ‘Jumbo Fiasco’ at the end of 2007, My Device have spent the last 18 months dividing their time between the studio and trips to New York, where they are building themselves quite a fan base.  Here’s what the press said about ‘Jumbo Fiasco’:

'Their second album hurtles through 14 relentlessly intricate songs in 35 minutes, evoking classic art-pop from early Eno, The Fall and XTC through to current post-punkers The Futureheads and The Young Knives, dispatched with the intensity of hardcore punk' - Q

'My Device offer 14 tracks of completely insane and extremely fun post punk... they'll definitely be a hit on the dance floor of every indie disco' - Drowned In sound

'Sounds a bit like Modest Mouse and Les Savy Fav having a penknife fight whiles Wires On Fire watch on. This is obviously brilliant' - Artrocker

‘A must-see act’ - Notion

King of Spain released their debut album ‘Battleships and Aeroplanes’ earlier this year. The band run a monthly night at the 12 Bar Club in London called flux=rad which is aimed at showcasing the best in alternative music.  The album, which is full of gloriously catch indie-folk tunes, sea shanties and lullabies has received the following praise:

‘Welcome King of Spain with open arms.  Reeking of Hefner and The Go-Betweens, this album stands as a homage to a great school of underground indie… awesome’ – NME

"It is King of Spain whose star burns the brightest" – Gigwise

‘These four blokes from South London have captured that raw Britishness of a Libertines record better than twenty other bands who were trying harder could do’ - Bearded

In recent years Anton Barbeau has been quietly but quickly building a global fan base with his esoteric and highly-original brand of psychedelic power-pop, his “mind-bending” stage show and his auto-neurotic humour.  His 5th album ‘The Automatic Door’ was released in the Summer of 2007, here’s what the press had to say about it:

‘Anton Barbeau represents the Sacramento chapter of that nameless coterie of enduringly reliable, acid-tinged singer-songwriters’ – The Sunday Times

"Barbeau's beaming, carefree melodies belie a compendium of fears and diseases - wherein suffragettes, lepers and beauty queens co-exist in balmy, barmy harmony with billy goats, big business and psychic twins." - Plan B

"This man sure arrived in the wrong decade and has been showing the world this since the late '80s, but his dedicated followers are happy he's here now, myself  included" - Kruger Magazine

"this album gives the impression that with the right exposure, single, and perhaps if he particularly wanted to, Barbeau could easily make much bigger commercial waves" Is This Music?

Catch the Come Play With Me Tour in the following cities:

Monday 29th June         Brixton Windmill (hosted by King Of Spain)

Tuesday 30th June        Reading Cotton Club (hosted by The Race)

Wednesday 1st July      Brighton Freebutt (hosted by My Device)

Thursday 2nd July         Cambridge Portland Arms (hosted by Anton Barbeau)

Friday 3rd July               Oxford The Winchester (hosted by Shifty Disco)

To purchase tickets go to: WeGotTickets.com

Hello Shifty Disco people

Those of you on The Race's own mailing list then will already be aware of what we've been cooking up to give their next album ("In My Head It Works") a fighting chance when it makes its way into the public domain later this year. [Thanks to those of you who have already taken the plunge].

But if not then we'd like to invite you to be part of our special plan.
Read on and, if you're so inclined, sign up.
Best wishes
dr disco

IN MY HEAD IT WORKS…. and now on paper too

the first bit…
 

The Race have just emerged from the studio having recorded their second album, "In My Head It Works", with famed producer Dave Eringa - www.daveeringa.com. Their debut album "Be Your Alibi" received enthusiastic critical acclaim on its release on Shifty Disco Records in September 2006:

"Forget Razorlight and their 'All my life/I've wanted to shift units in America' empty gestures, The Race are the real winners in the anthemic indie stakes" NME;

"Be Your Alibi spotlights a tight, confident band oozing a refreshingly different feeling to all those dull, Automatic-sounding bands out there" The Fly

The band toured incessantly to promote the album and its singles, When It Falls and Comfort Comfort, with headline shows mixed in with support slots to Supergrass, Babyshambles, Captain, Spinto Band, Seafood and more; plus a stage-opening appearance at Reading Festival. The album has also been released in Germany through Rough Trade Distribution, in France through Volvox Music and in Italy through Oyez.

 
the plan…

Shifty Disco is creating a five-year "Stakeholders Fund" of £25,000 to record, mix, master, manufacture and market this new album. The Fund will be made up of 1000 stakeholder units of £25 each and the units will be offered out to everyone who believes in the potential of the band. The £25,000 will then be drawn upon as needed to fund each stage of the campaign. Firstly the recording, mixing and mastering; then the manufacturing of promotional and retail CDs (including artwork design); then the press, radio and TV promotion of at least 2 singles from the album (including promotional video clips). The Fund will loan the money to Shifty Disco and the loan will be repaid as below.
 

the payback…

For every album sale in the first five years (both physical and full-album digital bundles) a fixed amount will be returned to the Fund. This will be structured as follows:

£1 for every direct UK sale (at gigs and through www.oxfordmusic.net)

75p for every UK retail sale (through Shifty Disco's distributor Absolute/Universal)

50p for every sale outside the UK (through either distribution or licensing arrangements)

Shifty Disco will account to the Fund in six-monthly sales periods (January-June and July-December) until the end of 2013 with payment to the Fund within 90 days from the end of each period. The Fund will then distribute the receipts to the stakeholders pro rata to the number of units held within 30 days of receiving the payment from Shifty Disco. No payment will be made to any stakeholder if they are due an amount less than £10 –any such amounts will be carried forward to the next accounting period. Please also note that any profit made by stakeholders on their initial investment will carry an individual income tax liability.
 

the perks…

Every stakeholder will receive a special CD edition of the album in advance of the UK retail release with artwork that will include the name of each and every stakeholder. This will be a special one-off pressing and will be mailed directly to each stakeholder. We are also planning an album launch event with every stakeholder invited. The Race will also provide free guest-list spaces at any of their gigs that stakeholders wish to attend (although this might have to be on a first-come-first-served basis on some shows). The promotional CD singles will also be mailed to each stakeholder free of charge. Moreover each stakeholder will receive a complimentary one-year subscription to the Shifty Disco Weekly Download Singles Club (worth £12). So you're already quids-in!
 

where do I sign up?...

Send an email with "In My Head It Works" in the subject line to inmyheaditworks@shiftydisco.co.uk stating your name, address, contact details (email and telephone) and how many stakeholder units you wish to buy before 30^th June 2008. We will then allocate the 1000 units as fairly as possible and then send you details of where to send your money. You will then receive a certificate confirming the number of units you hold.

 www.inmyheaditworks.com | www.myspace.com/raceuk | www.shiftydisco.co.uk

SEAGULL STRANGE
Out in the shops right now is the new single from Seagull Strange. "Love's Sick Disease" is enjoying the patronage of both Tom Robinson and Marc Riley at BBC 6music with the band recently recording a live session for Tom's show. The single (with three exclusive B-sides) and its parent album "Better Angels of Our Nature" are available in HMV and Virgin stores as well as through OxforMusic.Net.
www.oxfordmusic.net/product.php?link=new&id=1673
www.oxfordmusic.net/product.php?link=new&id=1232
They will be back at 6music later this year to record a session for Marc Riley's show. More details nearer the time….

THE RAID
We're also receiving a lot of exposure for a digital-only release that we slipped out into the shops this week. We featured "Show Me" from The Raid on our Weekly Download Singles Club a couple of weeks back (www.shiftydisco.co.uk/mp3/161.html) to give you a taster of what this band have up their sleeves and this week we've released "We Know Best" through all the UK digital platforms. "We Know Best" has already been featured heavily on MTV2 and on NME.com. Skip over to www.myspace.com/wearetheraid to stream both tracks and to watch the video clip. They have a number of live shows coming up in the next couple of weeks…. and we'll be sticking our head round the door at the Purple Turtle in Camden next Wednesday.

SHIFTY DISCO XMAS PARTY
We haven't had one of these for years but we wanted to round off our 10th Anniversary year in style and so we're going back to the Luminaire on Saturday 8th December to get a little festive. We'll be announcing the full line-up in due course but already confirmed are Seagull Strange and My Device with Team Race filling the gaps on the DJ decks. Advance tickets go on sale today at only £6. Come and join us: www.wegottickets.com/event/22699

MY DEVICE
Now there is loads and loads of My Device news – as you'd expect with the imminent release of their second album, "Jumbo Fiasco".
First up is tonight's hastily-arranged London show at The Fly Bar on New Oxford Street. The band will be on stage at 9pm and we're going to have to type like the clappers to finish this mailshot in time to get the bus in to the smoke from out here in Oxford. The band then play the following gigs in the coming weeks:
16th October     The Metro, London
22nd October     In The City @ Dry Bar, Manchester
31st October     Jumbo Fiasco launch @ The Hope, Brighton
6th November    Club Artrocker @ Buffalo Bar, London
They recently recorded their first ever Radio 1 session for Huw Stephens' show. This will be broadcast soon to coincide with the single release of "Super Tonio!" on October 29th and the subsequent album release on November 5th (remember, remember….).
The video clip for "Super Tonio!" has tickled the fancy of those MTV2 programmers and is up for you to view at www.myspace.com/mydevice. Sign up to the band's mailing list this month at www.my-device.co.uk and you'll receive a free download of album-opener "Uh!" (hear and watch "Uh!" at www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuiYpifxqZE).
Plus you'll be able to listen through to the whole of "Jumbo Fiasco" next week through the band's MySpace page as the album goes on rotation.
Finally give "Eat Lead" a vote on Dandelion Radio's Festive Fifty countdown. We thought we'd have a little campaign to recognise it as the best single of the year so far. If you agree then go here and vote: www.dandelionradio.com/pages/festive50_poll_form.html.
The band's debut album "Nervous System" is being re-promoted to coincide with the release of "Jumbo Fiasco" and you'll be able to find across all retail outlets from October 22nd.

ANTON BARBEAU with SU JORDAN
Before all of those Jumbo Fiasco shenanigans we have two other album releases to tell you all about. The new album from Sacrmentan cult-hero's cult hero Anton Barbeau is "The Automatic Door" and is a collaboration with Oxford vocalist Su Jordan. The result is an album of esoteric and highly-original psychedelic power-pop which delineates his mind-bending stage show and auto-neurotic humour into its grooves. The album will be in the shops come October 15th but right now you can get a copy at one of his many live shows (www.myspace.com/antonbarbeau) or online for only £7.99 - www.oxfordmusic.net/product.php?link=new&id=1620. The album-opener "Staring At The Sun" is featured on The Word's cover CD this month – on the news-stands from 11th October.

PAPERLUNG
Following a week after Anton's release is the debut album from Paperlung. "Balance" is the culmination of two years of writing and recording from former Boo Radleys vocalist Sice. He describes it as "unashamedly melodic; I can't write songs any other way." And he's bloody right. It features both the previous singles plus other 10 cuts of guitar-pop perfection. Album cut "Ashes Of Your Life" also features on this month's The Word CD and you can hear the rest of the tracks now on rotation at www.myspace.com/paperlung. In advance of the high-street release you can snaffle your copy now from www.oxfordmusic.net/product.php?link=new&id=1545.

SPECIAL OFFER
And because we know how much you'll love both of these records we've decided to offer them to you as a pair at a huge discount. For a limited period get them both for only £12: www.oxfordmusic.net/product.php?link=new&id=1725

THE RACE
Having recently played their first show in Germany at the recent Popkomm Festival in Berlin, The Race have been bitten by the Euro-touring bug and are heading back across La Manche for shows in Holland, France and Germany:
23rd Nov     MTC, Cologne
24th Nov     Lido, Berlin
26th Nov     Gruner Jager, Hamburg
27th Nov     Paradiso, Amsterdam
28th Nov     La Fleche D'Or, Paris
This Paris show will be our excuse to try out the new faster Eurostar link from Kings Cross. It all works out beautifully…
The band have had their heads down over the past few months as they've been writing and demoing a host of new songs, 4 of which you can hear now at www.myspace.com/raceuk.

OTHE IMMINENT SHIFTY-NESS
Our must-see gigs in the next few weeks:
My Device - 10th October The Fly Bar, London
Anton Barbeau - 11th October Jericho Tavern, Oxford
The Raid - 17th October Purple Turtle, Camden
Members Of The Public - 20th October Metro, London
Anton Barbeau - 24th October 12 Bar, London
Juno! - 1st November Dublin Castle, Camden
Cassette - 1st November Marquee, London
Senses - 3rd November Dublin Castle, Camden
Domes Of Silence - 9th November The Ex, Oxford
Einstellung - 10th November Audioscope, Oxford
Anton Barbeau - 16th November Dublin Castle, Camden
Wrathstonbury - 17th November Leeds
and if we're still standing …
King Of Spain, Shortwave Fade, Gilbert at RoTa @ Notting Hill Arts Centre on Saturday 24th November (4pm-8pm).

If you see us there, buy us a drink. We're knackered….