Category: Blog

This June Blow Up teamed up with Leisure (San Francisco) , Club Underground (LA) and Lipstick! (Sacramento) – thanks to everyone in California for making this trip the most memorable yet! more photos on our new USA facebook page: facebook.com/blowupusa Blow Up USA Poster by Galine MoDemoiselle Photos clockwise from top left: RO (Raoul Ortega), CA (Claudia Arnold), RO, Galine MoDemoiselle, RO RO, CA, CA. Centre: RO. With special thanks to Raoul Ortega Photography

Blow Up at Latitude Festival 2011 Blow Up will be seeing out the last night at Latitude Festival on July 17th in the Comedy Arena… “A wild celebration from the other side of Pop where the Kinks, Bowie, Blur share the dancefloor with current newcomers Pete & The Pirates, British Sea Power and Metronomy, all alongside Blow Up’s trademark mix of Swinging Soundtracks & TV Themes (The Italian Job to Barbarella), 60s Exotica & Electronica (Jean-Jacques Perry), 60s Club Soul (Motown, Stax etc.), Northern Soul, Beat, Mod Jazz, French Pop (Jacques Dutronc, Bridget Bardot) and New Wave (XTC, Wire). Club founder & DJ Paul Tunkin will be joined by long-time co-resident DJ Mr. Ian Jackson who both guarantee to keep you dancing ’til dawn (well 2am!)” Stay tuned for Blow Up’s 18th Birthday later this year. More info & tickets:  latitudefestival.co.uk * blowupclub.com * facebook event

The Blow Up club returns to the USA this June 2011 vs. Club Leisure (SF), Club Underground (LA) & Club Lipstick (SAC). In under 3 mins here’s a brief history of Blow Up in images 1993-2011 : Press, Flyers & Blow Up label Releases: Blow Up 1993-2011 (Music from the new Bongolian album ‘Bongos For Beatniks’ – out now on Blow Up Records). More about the Blow Up club / press quotes here and press clippings here Blow Up USA 2011 Poster by Galine Join the new US facebook page for more event info: http://www.facebook.com/blowupusa – More Blow Up connections…

The Bongolian ‘Bongos For Beatniks’ Sampler I love this new album. I’ve be playing this quite a bit and I’m going to play it to death, its absolutely brilliant. …Its official. The bongolian. My new favourite band. You heard it here first Craig Charles Funk Soul Show AVAILABLE NOW from BLOW UP on CD:   & VINYL:  & all good stores including: Cargo Collective store around the UK / JBs / Dusty Groove (USA) / Norman / Phonica / Piccadilly / Rough Trade / Sister Ray / Sounds Of The Universe / amazon.co.uk / hmv & more… BUY/DOWNLOAD all 4 Bongolian albums from:

Voleurz’ winning submission for the 2011 Intersection filmmaking contest – music by Blow Up Records’ very own The Bongolian and Neon Plastix. Look out for the skiing cat 🙂

‘Bongos For Beatniks’ The Bongolian THE BONGOLIAN releases his long-awaited 4th album ‘Bongos For Beatniks’ this May. The album continues the musical journey where 2007’s Outer Bongolia left off, bringing us back down to Earth possibly via France circa 1967 via 2011, in a wildly eclectic rare groove fusion of Funk Soul Hammond Beat Jazz and a Sci-Fi Boogaloo. PRE-ORDER on CD : or on lovely Vinyl LP : The first single from the album ‘The Riviera Affair’ was recently featured on BBC 6music Nemone’s Lunchtime Loves (alongside plays from Gideon Coe and Craig Charles) and was also Sky Sports Soccer AM’s track of the week. “A bakers dozen of gems. Bongo powered grooves at their very best. Preston Epps eat your heart out” Scootering ‘Recommended Listening’ CONNECT:

Neon Plastix ‘Gentlemen’s Gold’ ‘Gentlemen’s Gold’ from Doncaster’s finest Neon Plastix has been used in a new US TV ad for ASICS new ’33’ range entitled ‘Gravity, Meet Your Archenemy’. Click the image to view on youTUBE or connect / listen below… / Connect with Neon Plastix:

Baltic Fleet @ Sensoria 2011 Rough Trade Shops will be curating a night at this years Sensoria with a live performance from Baltic Fleet and Rough Trade Shops DJS – FREE ENTRY. Baltic Fleet’s eponymous debut was a Rough Trade East Album of the year back in 2008, and they’ll also be showcasing new material from the forthcoming 2nd album: “A faultless piece of instumental music that captures the spirit of Eno, NEU! all the way through to modern post rock and chamber music. The album swerves from haunting piano pieces ala donnie darko full of melancholy to driving upbeat kraut inspired propulsive grooves” ROUGH TRADE “BUNNYMAN HAS FUN ON THE AUTOBAHN – Sombre, Sigur Ros-like post-rock, fuzzy bass grooves [and] energising NEU!-style motorik” UNCUT Read more:  http://blowup.co/BalticFleetSensoria11 / Connect with Baltic Fleet:

Blow Up Easter Special 2011 Following February’s sell-out HMV Next Big Thing night, Blow Up returns to its one-off events with an Easter Special at Madame JoJo’s on Thursday 21st April . This will be the first of several larger club events for 2011 in the UK and abroad featuring special live guests. Playing live: THE BONGOLIAN who will be releasing his 4th album ‘Bongos For Beatniks’ in May and SILVERY who’s recent single ‘Two Halves Of The Same Boy’ has been going down a storm on 6music. Plus, just addeded SPECIAL NEEDS return after a five year hiatus and will be joining the bill for the Easter Special. Plus resident Blow Up DJs Paul Tunkin & Ian Jackson will also be spinning their trademark mix of Orgasmic Pop / 60s Mod & Soul / New Wave. Expect to hear a selection of British Pop from Beatles to Bowie to Blur alongside 60s Soul, Garage, Ska, Beat, Latin Soul, Swinging Soundtracks, YeYe and Psychedelic Pop Electronique. Event info: BLOWUPCLUB.COM • FACEBOOK.COM/BLOWUP • FACEBOOK EVENT • Madame JoJo’s Advance Tickets: stargreen.com • gigantic.com • wegottickets.com • seetickets.com • ticketweb.co.uk • hmvtickets In person: Stargreen Box Office 20/21A Argyll Street London W1F 7TT (Oxford Circus) Sister Ray 34-35 Berwick Street, London W1F 8RP (Oxford Circus / Piccadilly Circus) The Bongolian ‘Bongos For Beatniks’ THE BONGOLIAN blends elements of Funk, Soul and Jazz with grinding percussion and heavy Bongo rhythms, resulting in dirty percussive bongo driven Funk and Spaced-out Latin Soul. His releases have become recordbox essentials for DJs, finding a wide appeal from Dance and Hip-Hop to rare groove and funky 45s fans, and to date The Bongolian and his band have toured USA, UK and Europe. The Bongolian releases his 4th album ‘Bongos For Beatniks’ on May 9th, and the first single ‘The Riviera Affair’ was a recent Lunchtime Love on Nemone’s BBC 6music show. “Nasser Bouzida is a man with talent to spare. A Latin-flavoured jazz-funk odyssey” Q Magazine “Forget your preconceptions, this is the REAL incredible bongo band” CLASH “Mightily funky. Part mod, part Sergio Mendes, very swingin” TIME OUT Special Needs Just added to bill! SPECIAL NEEDS . Special Needs return after a five year hiatus and will be joining the bill for the Blow Up Easter Special. On January 1st 2011, the band announced via Facebook that they had reformed with Nicholas Bukowski (formerly of The Rocks) replacing Neil Allan on drums, and after playing several London shows this year they will now be playing at Blow Up’s Easter Special. The band played Blow up promoted shows at The Metro Club back in 2002, and during the mid-noughties recorded for Alan McGee’s Poptones label and signed to Mercury Records. “Pure-bred pop class” ★ ★ ★ ★ NME “Very special indeed” What’s On in London ‘Album Of The Week’ – 4 out of 4 “Mixing shambolic indie-rock with dashes of doo-wop harmonies and girl-group backchat, they sound alternately like wide-eyed and legless dreamers, and impassioned, vainglorious self-believers” The Independent On Sunday “Full of punk self-belief, angular guitars and most remarkably, a perfect pop sensibility” The Sun 3.5 out of 5 Silvery ‘Railway Architecture’ SILVERY are an eccentric London four-piece whose music has been described as anything from Artrock, to Glam to Britpop. Lead singer and songwriter James Orman immerses us in a unmistakeably English world of Victoriana and wit. This show follows a headline spot at Club NME @ Koko in January, and comes just before the release of their new single ‘Two Halves Of The Same Boy’. Playlisted on BBC 6Music (15/1/2011) the third from their critically acclaimed second album ‘RailwayArchitecture’. SILVERYTHEBAND.COM “Exhilarating art-pop from band bordering on greatness” ★ ★ ★ ★ UNCUT “Hunt down this album” ★ ★ ★ ★ Artrocker “Genius twisted pop. A truly original pop masterpiece” ★ ★ ★ ★ BIG CHEESE “Stylish, literate and witty but properly hook-aware” TIME OUT

The Bongolian ‘Bongos For Beatniks’ The sleeve for the Bongolian’s 4th album is finally revealed! ‘ Bongos For Beatniks ‘ will be released on Monday 9th May , but if you can’t wait that long you can download the first single ‘ The Riviera Affair ‘ which was recently featured on Nemone’s Lunchtime Loves on BBC 6music (she also interviewed Nasser before his BlowUp/HMV show in February), alongside support plays by Gideon Coe and Craig Charles. The track is also Sky Sports Soccer AM ‘s track of the week. The album is also featured in Scootering Magazine’s ‘Recommended Listening’ this month alongside an early review of the album, an interview with The Bongolian and a live review of February’s Blow Up/HMV show. Stay tuned as from next week the album will be available to pre-order, with some limited edition bundles. DOWNLOAD THE RIVIERA AFFAIR:   CONNECT: