ALAN POWNALL – “CHASING TIME”

It’s not easy to put together a biography for South-West London singer-songwriter Alan Pownall. For starters, Pownall only picked up a guitar for the first time in 2004. Then, a few years later, having played only a handful of gigs, Pownall was hand-picked by Adele to be the support act on her first UK tour. Clearly this is not a man who wastes time. Still, whilst he might lack in singer-songwriter stereotypes – a childhood spent clutching a second-hand acoustic guitar, character-building teenage years playing open-mic nights in front of disinterested punters – Pownall makes up for it with a natural talent for, well… writing songs. We’re talking fully fleshed-out orchestral pop that swaggers along with the confidence of the likes of Roy Orbison, one of Pownall’s many inspirations.

Pownall releases his new single, “Chasing Time”, today. He’s already played gigs with Florence & the Machine, Jack Penate and Laura Marling, and with irresistible pop songs like this, it’s only a matter of time until Pownall is being mentioned alongside all of those acts. The video is an absolute delight too, filmed by up-and-coming director Orlando Cubitt whose graduation film won the NAHEMI-Kodak award in 2004. The sumptuous lighting and colouring harks back to decades past, just like Pownall’s own pop sensibilities.

Alan Pownall will be playing the Young and Lost Club stage at Stag & Dagger, London on Friday 21st May. You can order “Chasing Time” HERE.

SPENDING TIME WITH CLOCK OPERA

Let’s start with the name – why Clock Opera?
There was once a composer who wrote a symphony for pocket watches. Nobody played it, so when I heard about it I thought we should. Haven’t quite got around to it yet.

How would you describe your music to someone who’s never heard it before?
That is your job isn’t it? (Guilty. – Ed) Recently we’ve been described as harp-ridden, bleep-ridden and sample-ridden. It’s always ridden with something, which I always associated with disease. So maybe we sound like disease.

And how do others tend to describe it?
We tend to be labelled chop pop. Not sure how accurate it is, but seeing as I coined the term I can’t really complain.

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STAG & DAGGER CLOUDCAST #5

East meets West (London) today as we bring you a dancehall mix from Lixo, current DJ du jour in the London scene as well as one of the creative minds behind ‘counter-generic culture-mongers’ GETME! Past GETME! events have featured a who’s who of modern artists influenced by dancehall, from The XX and Warrior Queen to DJ Blaqstarr and Dre Skull. Similarly, Lixo’s mix covers both the new-school as well as the classics:  Major Lazer rubs shoulders with Buccaneer in what would surely be a gloriously bizarre sound clash were it ever to occur for real. It’s the perfect mix to usher in the summer sunshine – now we just need the British weather to follow suit.

THE PHENOMENAL HANDCLAP BAND ADDED TO LONDON LINE-UP!

Every now and then comes along a band so effortlessly cool that it really just doesn’t seem fair on everyone else. A couple of weeks ago we posted Clock Opera’s fantastic reworking of The Phenomenal Handclap Band’s “Baby”, and now we’re excited to announce that the band themselves will be making their way down from New York to play at Stag & Dagger on 21st May!

Breaking down their eponymous debut album, you’re left with a full-on kaleidoscope of influences that belies the multi-cultural melting pot of the band’s NYC origins. Psychadelia, disco, soul, reggae, jazz, hip-hop, rock… the sheer diversity of cultural and musical backgrounds on offer suggests that every single member of the eight-strong band has brought something unique and important to the creative table. It’s as a band that they thrive, though, with the huge success of dancefloor-certified tracks like “15 to 20” proving that they’re far more than just the sum of  their influences. We can’t wait to see The Phenomenal Handclap Band at Stag & Dagger. We just don’t envy the band that has to follow them.

CHAPEL CLUB INTERVIEW

Geographically, nascent five-piece Chapel Club have the perfect credentials to be playing at Stag & Dagger. They were formed in the summer of 2008 in East London’s Old Street, and they were signed after a series of memorable fortnightly events that took place in the area’s “acid Rasta” pubs and disused galleries. Rather than revisiting familiar surroundings, however, this year Chapel Club will be playing Stag & Dagger’s Glasgow date – after all, with an intense live show that has been unanimously highly-praised, London was never likely to keep Chapel Club all to itself. We caught up with the band as they took a few minutes out from their busy schedule to answer some of our questions.

Describe Chapel Club in 10 words or less.

Tall, small, young and highly-strung.

Much has been made of how few gigs you’d played before getting signed – what do you think made people take notice so quickly?
I think it was partly due to the fact we were putting on gigs at places that no-one else was playing – we started out with a residency at the Shacklewell Arms in Dalston, which was this crazy little acid-rasta pub with murals on the walls that looked like they were out of some perverse version of a Jehova’s Witness leaflet. And then you had old Jamaican guys sitting in the corner playing dominos whilst we played. We invited friends along for the first show and then word spread pretty quickly that something was going on. We’d spent 18 months writing and getting the live thing ready before we put any shows on, so I think the fact that we were well rehearsed before we started playing live helped a lot too.

Have you managed to adjust to your hectic live schedule?
I guess if you think about it it’s been pretty nuts really, but for the past few months we’ve just buried our heads in the rehearsal studio finishing writing the record. In-between we’ve played a few more shows, been out to New York to record and then recently we’ve been in South London recording the rest of the album with Paul Epworth, which has been a pretty amazing experience; there were glitter ball’s going, incense burning, playing along to smacked-out samples…

Read the full interview after the jump

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THE RADIO DEPT. CLING TO THEIR SCHEME

It wouldn’t be unfair to say that Swedish shoegazers The Radio Dept.’s third album, Clinging to a Scheme, has been a long time coming. Originally there were rumours that the band would release two albums simultaneously in May 2007, a year after the release of their second full-length Pet Grief. This then turned into just the one album (to the surprise of… absolutely no one), and was given a speculative release date of September 10th 2008. Promotional single “Freddie and the Trojan Horse” came out in May of that year, a supposed taster of the album-to-come – the only problem being that the album never came, and the song was even struck from the album’s tracklisting. Instead, it wasn’t until June 2009, when the track “David” was released as a free download, that we actually got a taste of the mythical third album. 10 months later and here we are. Even the press release cites a “19 April 2009” release date – either a perfect example of the confusion surrounding these recurring delays, or a darkly humorous acknowledgment of it.

So just when it looked as if Clinging to a Scheme was turning into The Radio Dept.’s very own indie-pop Chinese Democracy they go and give it an actual release. And just like Chinese Democracy, ultimately there’s just one question that we’re left with: was it worth the wait? The answer is very much a yes. The sound is vintage The Radio Dept. – treble-fueled, reverb-heavy guitars provide the fuzz-pop foundations over which the band layer everything from P-funk synth melodies to distorted spoken-word vocal samples. Pick up your copy on April 21st. Then again, that still leaves over a week for the band to decide they don’t like the artwork and delay the album another 4 years.

STAG & DAGGER CLOUDCAST #4

Feeding Time’s penchant for all things progressive doesn’t just end at rock and alternative – tomorrow they’ll be hosting an huge night down at Plan B in conjunction with cult electronic label Werk Discs. Acid house legend A Guy Called Gerald will be joined by Werk’s own Actress, Lone and Lukid on the line-up, as well as a live performance from Gyratory System, and finally the Deadly Rhythm lads and up-and-coming producer Pariah. It all kicks off at 9pm down at Plan B in Brixton tomorrow night – don’t miss out!

WIN S&D TICKETS WITH FACT MAGAZINE

The £12 earlybird tickets may have all sold out, but how about getting a pair of tickets to the festival absolutely free? S&D partners FACT magazine have three pairs of tickets to give away, and all you have to do for a chance to win is re-tweet one of their selected messages. Twitter users amongst you, the tickets are literally one click away – a radical departure from the days of slaving over paper-mâché to try and get a Blue Peter badge. Or was that just me? Those of you who aren’t yet on Twitter… well, you really should be. Here’s the reason to sign up that you’ve been waiting for. With over a week left until the competition closes, you’ve got no excuse not to get re-tweeting. FACT.

Check out the FACT magazine competition page HERE.

SECOND LINE UP ANNOUNCEMENT

Still feeling the effects of Easter and the four-day weekend? Fear not, we’ve got just the thing to perk you up, as we bring you the second line-up announcement for this year’s Stag & Dagger! Some of the many highlights this time round include These New Puritans, already strong contenders for album-of-the-year with their January release, as well as, breakout Brooklyn act Sleigh Bells,  Archie Bronson Outfit, The Radio Dept., and many more!

Highlights include:

These New Puritans

Archie Bronson Outfit

Sinden

Sleigh Bells

The Radio Dept.

Banjo Or Freakout

My Tiger My Timing

Check out the line up section for full listings.

STAG & DAGGER CLOUDCAST #3