In pictures - Thought Forms + SJ Esau + WEM - Birthdays - 27/03/14

Our last night was pretty special: the bands were kick-ass and we tried out Birthdays for the first time - which turned out the be a good decision: sound was great, staff were great. Everything was just GREAT- ok?! And you know what else is great? These:

Photos by Rebecca Hughes: http://hughesthatgirl.tumblr.com

Thought Forms, SJ Esau & WEM - 27 March 2014 - Birthdays Dalston

We are super excited to announce our next show with one of our strongest lineups we've ever put together. Thought Forms will take a day break from their UK tour with 65daysofstatic to headline our show at Birthdays Dalston on 27th March. Bristol based intergalactic pop maestro SJ Esau joins the bill, and WEM play their debut show.  Limited £4 tickets available here.

Since their initial formation in 2006, the three members of Thought Forms have together explored an ever-changing sonic terrain; harbouring a shared love of guitar abuse and pedal worship, they’ve developed a deep connection and transformed into one of the most exciting guitar bands in the UK.

Finding themselves at home on the acclaimed Bristol-based Invada Records, the band’s sound veers between two opposites; from brisk, scuzzy American garage-rock to brutal, anguished noise constructions of ethereal doom. With a psychedelic slant and vocals likened to a ritualistic call to on high, the scope of Thought Forms sonic arsenal is vast.

The group’s familial bond has aided them in making their mark live; tour support slots with Portishead, Esben and the Witch, Beak>, 65daysofstatic, and Chelsea Light Moving (Thurston Moore), and were hand-picked to take part in Adrian Utley’s Guitar Orchestra to perform Terry Riley’s minimalist masterpiece “In C”.

Seeing 2013 out with sets at both ATP “End Of An Era” Festival and Sonic City in Belgium, 2014 looks like it will be a busy year for Thought Forms, with European shows with 65daysofstatic and a third release for Invada on the way in the early part of the year.

Bristol-based, SJ Esau - otherwise known as Sam Wisternoff - makes experimental, inter-galactic pop. With jazz.

He has released two albums on Anticon Records (Wrong Faced Cat Feed Collapse in 2007 and Small Vessel in 2008) and various other recordings. These include two collections of remixes and cover versions of SJ Esau songs by various artists (Stop Touching My Cat and More Touching) on his own Enormous Corpse label and elsewhere.

If you like Architecture in Helsinki; Dirty Projectors; The Go! Team and Buttonhead, you might dig this.

WEM are four men from the Medway estuary towns in Kent. Their music ranges from the brutal to the beautiful. The sound palate is dark and uncompromising: at times a pounding dirge, at others ambient, spacious and meditative. It highjacks elements of blues, krautrock and noise.

WEM are an overpowering live act, with a new set of songs about death and open water. Listen to WEM if you like Nick Cave, Swans and Einstuerzende Neubauten.



Tickets are £4 in advance from http://billetto.co.uk/thought-forms
Birthdays Dalston,
33-35 Stoke Newington Road, 
N16 8BJ London

New Band of the Week - 15/07/2013 - Thought Forms

Every now and then you do find something extra special, and Thought Forms are extra special. The glassy vocals of Blonde Redhead, the intricate guitar interplay and dynamics of Mogwai (or even Metallica) and mathematical drumming of Battles (although the drummer can switch to stoner drumming ala True Widow in a flash and with the utmost grace). Yes, this sounds too good to be true, but they're indeed a real band that exist and are busy plying their trade up and down the UK converting gig goers lucky enough to catch them. Geoff Barrow of Portishead fame has signed them up to his Invada label and he's onto a winner we reckon.