Chaffinch Records

Ghostwriter - Dimensions. Pennyblackmagazine review.

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 11:49:00 -0700

"This is an excellent record, and one can only hope that it isn’t too long a wait for a full length album." - Benjamin Howarth, Pennyblackmagazine. Read the full review here.

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Ghostwriter NTS Radio interview - Sunday, 24 March 2013. 17:00

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 03:53:01 -0700

Ghostwriter will be interviewed tonight at 17:00 on NTS Radio's Alien Jams. They'll be playing some Ghostwriter material alongside some music he's personally chosen. The show starts at 17:00. Pop along to their website here.

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Stuart Maconie's Freakier Zone - 6Music. 16 March 2013

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 10:29:18 -0700

Stuart Maconie featured Ghostwriter's Dimensions Chapter I and Chapter II in his latest playlist. Listen to the full show here. There are 6 days from today to listen.

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Ghostwriter - Dimensions. Review by Delusions of Adequacy

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:29:48 -0700

"the Dimensions EP packs in layers of enigmas whilst sustaining an enthralling overall moodscape. Moreover, it proves that there’s still plenty of musical life left to explore in the seemingly infinite realms of English eccentricity. More please, when you’re ready Mr. Brend…"

Wonderfully written review of Ghostwriter's EP can be found at Delusions Of Adequacy.

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Ghostwriter - Dimensions. Write-up in God Is In The TV

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:04:58 -0700

"And staying with strange sounds we’ve just eyed something rather tasty from ex-farina man Mark Brend. Under the guise of Ghostwriter Mr Brend has been working on some sonic mosaics with a collective of friends that include ex-farina partners Matt Gale and Tim Conway along with guest collaborations with belbury poly’s Jim Jupp and Suzy Mangion of george fame. A seven inch is imminent via the chaffinch imprint, which according to the label blurb is a ‘walk in the 1930’s in the company of Charles Williams’, who for those previously unaware was a much lauded author admired by Auden and Eliot who described his novels as ‘supernatural thrillers’ and is thought to be the inspiration behind Lewis’s ‘that hideous strength’. There are very brief sound sample of the tracks on the label’s website – ‘dimensions’ we are assuming being the full on 11 minute suite here revealed as being touched by the stilled atmospherics of a rustic flavouring, which later manifests into a decidedly demurred though tear stained lunar lullaby. Elsewhere you’ll find elements of sweetly ached piano braids dissipating into haunting sepia skinned sound spectres, much recalling it should be said the latter work of dream of tall buildings and a beautifully airy crystal tipped pop purred pretty. As to the single itself, it’s strictly limited to just 200 copies. On a related note we here are still eyeing Mr Brend’s latest tome ’the sound of tomorrow’ published by Bloomsbury – we’ve been on its case for weeks now having been somewhat blown out by Waterstones, which might mean us having to sup with the devil and visit Amazon."

Mark Barton - God Is In The TV

GodIsTheTVzine

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Ghostwriter - Dimensions. Released 4 March 2013.

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 07:26:08 -0800

Ghostwriter's Dimensions EP is available from today! It can be purchased from the Chaffinch shop, Avalanche in Edinburgh, Love Music in Glasgow, Monorail in Glasgow and Norman Records in Leeds.

Available on 7" vinyl and limited to 200 copies. It's accompanied by a digital download which features an exclusive track.

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Ghostwriter - Dimensions. Review in Record Collector

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:24:55 -0800

There is a review of Dimensions in this month's Record Collector:

'These quasi-supernatural concerns, dedicated in part to Christian mystic author Charles Williams, operate along similar lines to Susan Hiller’s art installations, raising questions located at the peripheries of the temporal and otherworldly. Tuning into Radio Raudive, by way of Ghost
Box transmissions (Belbury Poly’s Jim Jupp pops in for a cameo), the four pieces here evoke a forgotten and enchanted Albion, one presided over by gnostic outriders John Dee, Arthur
Machen and Austin Osman Spare.'

Spencer Grady - Record Collector

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The Belbury Parish Magazine

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 13:21:18 -0800

Visit Jim Jupp's blog site here to read what he has to say about the Ghostwriter Dimensions release.

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Ghostwriter's Dimensions - Norman Records' Single Of The Week

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 09:59:00 -0800

Those lovely people at Norman Records have given Ghostwriter's Dimensions their Single Of The Week! Sample quote - "It’s really quite brilliant." Read the full review here.

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Ghostwriter - Dimensions EP. 7" vinyl with download. 4 March 2013.

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 01:59:23 -0800

Chaffinch are thrilled to announce that our next release will be from Ghostwriter.

Following the acclaimed 2010 release on Second Language, The Continuing Adventures Of The Strange Sound Association, Ghostwriter (aka Devon-based musician and writer Mark Brend) returns with the Dimensions EP.

Where The Continuing Adventures... parlayed literary ghost recordings and psycho-geographic notes into oblique vignettes, Dimensions offers sonic collage as a distillation of memory, place and recondite spirituality.

The title track finds Brend joined by Belbury Poly/Ghost Box’s Jim Jupp for an imagined walk through 1930s London alongside Christian mystic writer Charles Williams. This 11 minute rumination is bookended with two short pieces, Autobiographical Sketch no. 1, and With Stringed Instruments, A Song, featuring Brend’s former Fariña bandmates Matt Gale and Tim Conway. A fourth download-only track, Bidding Bell, finds Brend drawing regular Ghostwriter collaborator Suzy Mangion and new recruit Adrian Ramsey into a pastoral/choral conversation with God.

This is available on 7" vinyl with accompanying digital download and is limited to 200 copies. The release date is 4 March 2013.

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Mark Brend - The Sound Of Tomorrow

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 14:06:53 -0800

Chaffinch will soon be announcing details regarding it's forthcoming release from Ghostwriter (aka Devon-based musician and writer Mark Brend). In the meantime, seek out his recent book titled The Sound Of Tomorrow: How Electronic Music Was Smuggled into the Mainstream. You can purchase it at Amazon.

Here's a little of what to expect:

Monterey pop festival, 1967. Bernie Krause and Paul Beaver demonstrated a Moog synthesizer to the assembled rock aristocracy, plugging into a surge of interest that would see synthesizers and
electronic sound become commonplace in rock and pop early the following decade.

And yet in 1967 electronic music had already seeped into mainstream culture. For years, composers and technicians had been making electronic music for film and TV. Hitchcock had commissioned a theremin soundtrack for Spellbound (1945); The Forbidden Planet (1956)
featured an entirely electronic score; Delia Derbyshire had created the Dr Who theme in 1963; and by the early 1960s, all you had to do was watch commercial TV for a few hours to hear the
weird and wonderful sounds of the new world.

The Sound of Tomorrow tells the compelling story of the sonic adventurers who first introduced electronic music to the masses. A network of composers, producers, technicians and inventors, they took emerging technology and with it made sound and music that was bracingly new.

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Immigrant - Nation Of Immigrants. New album.

Sat, 12 Jan 2013 09:37:21 -0800

Immigrant has added another classic to his bulging discography. Titled Nation Of Immigrants, it can be purchased from Avalanche (Edinburgh), Love Music (Glasgow) , Monorail (Glasgow), Norman Records (Leeds) and Vox Box (Edinburgh).

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Anthony Reynolds - Loneliness Is The Engine Of The World EP

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 11:51:00 -0800

Anthony's follow-up to the fantastic Kingdom Of Me EP is out now. Titled Loneliness Is The Engine Of The World EP, it is available for digital download from Amazon and iTunes. It's a five track belter - purchase it immediately.

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Scottish Music Independent Music Fair - 8/12/2012

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 06:20:45 -0800

Local Scottish labels including Chaffinch team up to offer Xmas shoppers a taste of the Scottish and UK music scene. Also participating are Chemikal Underground, Song By Toad Records, Olive Grove, Rock Action, Gerry Loves Records, Armellodie, Overlook Records, Love Music, Rub A Dub and more. We'll all be manning stalls with lovingly crafted slices of music joy.

This takes place on Saturday, 8th December 2012 at Chambre 69 in Glasgow. Doors open at 1pm and entry is FREE. Hope you can make it along.

http://www.smia.org.uk/

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Lucky Luke - Travelling For A Living. Review.

Sat, 18 Aug 2012 04:12:00 -0700

Online magazine Pennyblackmusic have a lovely review of the album - "the band's name and the grim cover do absolutely no justice to their brightly jangling songs, which are of sometimes epic momentum. Let alone the exquisite vocals which remind of many great names of yesteryear and today." Read the full review here.

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Anthony Reynolds - A World Of Colin Wilson. New album.

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 11:46:00 -0700

The Rocket Girl label release Anthony's album 'A World Of Colin Wilson' on 20 August 2012. The album can be pre-ordered via Rocket Girl's website.

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Lucky Luke - Travelling For A Living. Review in The List.

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 13:39:15 -0700

"Lucky Luke may be no more but this ‘lost’ second album is a welcome reminder of their barren, grainy beauty." 4/5 Read Stewart Smith's full review at The List.

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Lucky Luke - Travelling For A Living. On sale now.

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 05:52:00 -0700

Lucky Luke's Travelling For A Living album is finally available. It can be purchased from Avalanche in Edinburgh, LoveMUSIC in Glasgow, Monorail in Glasgow and Norman Records in Leeds. It's also available from Amazon and direct from the Chaffinch shop.

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Touch Sensitive - Burnt Island and La Muñeca de Sal

Mon, 28 May 2012 13:28:00 -0700

Touch Sensitive is a project created to promote music from Scotland and Spain. On Friday the 8th June they release their first of three compilations. Titled '2x6' it features Chaffinch associates Burnt Island and La Muñeca de Sal.

There is an album launch at The Old Hairdressers, Renfield Lane, Glasgow. For further info on the album release and launch night, visit Touch Sensitive's website.

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Lucky Luke album - release date and first review!

Thu, 10 May 2012 10:53:00 -0700

Chaffinch are pleased to announce that Luke Luke's Travelling For A Living CD album will be released on 21st June 2012.

We're also thrilled with the first review to appear. A glowing one at that, in The Word:

'With age, expectations sink. How could they not? You get used to things. You’re harder to surprise. You can’t remember the last time you underwent a full-blown epiphany. It’s a realisation brought into sharp relief by the experience of going to see gigs. If you see enough workmanlike performances on the trot, you even start to wonder what it would take to hear music so wonderful that you’d be moved to do something really stupid in order to get more of it. At the 2004 Green Man, I found my answer in Glasgow’s Lucky Luke. In a hot marquee, three skinny blokes in floral shirts and two women in patterned dresses – the bastard progeny of The Pastels in ’86 and Fairport in ’69 – brought their clattering uplift to bear upon a mixture of trad arrs and original songs. I cornered Morag Wilson (harmonium, vocals) and Lucy Sweet (vocals, autoharp) and and asked when her band might play London. They had no plans. I put them on myself. Barely anyone came. I lost £500. The band stayed at my house. Next day, as I waved them goodbye, they left me demos of their second album Travelling For A Living. One hour later, I didn’t care about the £500. In my head, I rationalised it thus: when Lucky Luke’s second album comes out to rave reviews, I’ll be boasting about this.

But, of course, plans don’t always go according to themselves. And in the case of Lucky Luke, there were deals that fell through; there were newborn babies and there were “real” jobs – all of these factors now conspiring to make Travelling For A Living a posthumous release. There’ll be no more epiphanies in marquees, but here’s a document of a band at the precise point of vertical take-off, where they leave the sum of their constituent parts far behind them. You can hear it in on Mud In The Milk, where Sweet launches into a narrative about “a wild-hearted girl who cannot be contained by any man” with a gusto that calls to mind the young Kirsty MacColl. There’s Jackie too, which refracts the ramshackle humanity of old Big Star records through late nights with early Steeleye Span albums. Wherever you alight on Travelling For A Living, the collision of melody and execution is life-affirming, and no more so than on Morag Wilson and guitarist Simon Shaw’s title track, a lament for the human debris left behind when people throughout history have been forced get on their proverbial bikes in search of work.' Pete Paphides.

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