Category: Uncategorised

‘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:

Neon Plastix ‘On Fire’ Live at KOKO ‘Neon Invasion’ from Doncaster’s finest Neon Plastix features on the soundtrack for the new Ron Howard film The Dilemma featuring Vince Vaughn. It’s taken from their 2010 debut Awesome Moves. Here’s an old clip we found from back in 2006 live at Club NME @ KOKO. Connect with Neon Plastix:

Silvery ‘You Give A Little Love’ Legendary  songwriter Paul Williams has been in touch with Blow Up HQ after listening to the new Silvery album ‘Railway Architecture’ which features a cover of his song ‘You Give A Little Love’ from the film Bugsy Malone… Great rendition of “You Give a Little Love” ..    and wonderful music from first cut to last.   Adventurous, musical, edgy yet loving ..    Puhleeeze!   Spread the word that Paul Williams is a big fan! Connect with Silvery:

We’re pleased to announce that Blow Up will be hosting a night at Upstairs @ The Garage as part of the second year of HMV’s Next Big Thing festival . Spread over 6 London venues (plus one in Birmingham and Edinburgh) and running between 4th – 13th February 2011, the festival’s aim is to showcase and celebrate the very best new and emerging talent drawn from all genres of music tipped to breakthrough in 2011.  The Blow Up night is the first date of the festival on Friday 4th February , and Blow Up Records ‘ artists Baltic Fleet , Silvery and The Bongolian will be playing live, following by the Blow Up club at 11pm until 3am with DJs Paul Tunkin & Ian Jackson bringing you the classic Blow Up mix of Orgasmic Pop, Psych, 60s Mod Soul and New Wave Glam action. Expect to hear a  selection ranging from The Beatles to Bowie to Blur mixed with 60s moves and grooves (Soul, Boogaloo, Garage, Ska, Beat and Swinging Soundtracks). Entry to all events for the festival will be for the bargain price of a flat £10 (incl. b/f), whoever the artist and whichever the venue. Tix here 14/1/2011 UPDATE – BIG BOSS MAN ADDED TO THE BILL – playing a late night show as part of the Blow Up clubnight that follows. Baltic FleetPhoto: Adam Banister BALTIC FLEET is the work of Warrington based artist Paul Fleming. Influenced by artists such as Eno, The Doves, NEU!, Sigur Ros and DJ Shadow, his 2008 eponymous debut (written and recorded whilst on a World Tour playing keyboards for Echo & the Bunnymen), was picked by Rough Trade Shop for their monthly Record Club, and went on to be placed in their Top 50 Albums of 2008 (and also in Piccadilly Records’ Albums of 2008). His first show since 2008 , Paul will showcasing material from his second album, due for release mid-2011. “BUNNYMAN HAS FUN ON THE AUTOBAHN – Sombre, Sigur Ros-like post-rock, fuzzy bass grooves [and] energising NEU!-style motorik” UNCUT “A faultless piece of instumental music that captures the spirit of Eno, NEU! all the way through to modern post rock and chamber music” ROUGH TRADE “A thirteen-track industrial drive along roads of ambient melodies . Skin pricklingly authentic” CLASH 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’: “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 SILVERYTHEBAND.COM THE BONGOLIAN is the alter-ego of Big Boss Man’s main man Nasser Bouzida – a multi-instrumentalist who 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. Following his 2008′s ‘Outer Bongolia’, The Bongolian will release his 4th album ‘Bongos For Beatniks’ in early 2011. “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 THE BONGOLIAN: BIG BOSS MAN just added to the bill for tonight. They’ll be playing a late night show as part of the Blow Up club. “Excellent” Mark Lamarr, BBC Radio 2 “The Sgt Pepper of boogaloo – and you can’t go without breakfast, can you?” music 4/5, sonic 4/5 Hi-Fi Choice “Effortlessly hip” 4 stars – Echoes

The Bongolian live at Blow Up, December 2010 Following his show in France, The Bongolian (aka Big Boss Man’s Nasser Bouzida) and his band drop into London for a rare Christmas show at  Blow Up . They will be previewing tracks from his forthcoming 4th album (early 2011) alongside tracks from 2008′s critically acclaimed ‘Outer Bongolia’ and early classics such as Bongohead. Funk and Spaced-out Latin Soul – 100% Heavy Bongo Vibes guaranteed! Followed by resident Blow Up DJs Paul Tunkin & Ian Jackson bringing you a mix of Orgasmic Pop 60s Mod Soul New Wave action. Since his 2001 eponymous debut, THE BONGOLIAN’s albums 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: Nasser Bouzida is a man with talent to spare. A Latin-flavoured jazz-funk odyssey Q Totally mind-blowing WHAT’S ON Mightily funky, Hammond driven bongo rhythms… part mod, part Sergio Mendes TIME OUT Event Links:  Facebook Event / THE BONGOLIAN: