All Releases

advance copies of the album are available for £10 plus postage

the Vatican Cellars - the Same Crooked Worm

incl UK and Europe P&P £11.00 incl US P&P £13.00 incl Rest of World P&P £15.00

Formed by five friends in Brighton back in 2004, Shrag have come a long way from their DIY roots to flourish into a proper indie pop band to be reckoned with. Their second full-length Life! Death! Prizes! is released on the Where It’s At Is Where You Are label on 4 October 2010.

With an exhilarating blend of dirty, distorted post-punk guitars, shouty boy/girl vocals and fantastic pop songs, Shrag bring us a distinctively British experience, drawing inspiration from the likes of The Au Pairs, B-52s and Prolapse. Whilst their songs have a certain melodic bounce, this belies a darker underbelly, with a wry intelligence, and references to surrealist film, literature and pop culture.

Shrag have built an exciting live reputation and a devoted following, previewing the new songs from the forthcoming album for a number of months and building huge anticipation for Life! Death! Prizes! amongst their loyal fans. Songs such as Ghosts Before Breakfast and The Habit Creep are amongst the live highlights.

The band have toured the UK twice with The Cribs, and last year with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. They also toured Europe in December 2009 and played London Popfest in February 2010. Further festival appearances will precede a headline UK tour later in the year.

Their self-titled debut album was released in 2009, a compilation of the five 7" singles they had so far released. Fresh from his success with Love Is All and Comet Gain, legendary producer (and Morrissey drummer) Woodie Taylor, offered to mix the bands recordings. The album, released in the UK and licensed to Japanese label Knew Noise Recordings, was met with critical acclaim from, amongst others, Uncut, Pitchfork, the Sunday Times, and Artrocker, who asserted the album demonstrated that "their fiery intelligence is uniquely threatening in a world dominated by dullsville NME bands; there's more of a sense of danger when Shrag go to the bathroom than there is in the entire mephitic stench of indie’s decaying corpse."

The second album Life! Death! Prizes!, once again mixed by Woodie Taylor, is considered by the band to be their first album proper, with a progression both musically and lyrically that will bring their unconventional sounds to new receptive ears. The first single to be released from it, Rabbit Kids, received numerous plays on BBC 6Music, where the band have also played multiple live sessions with Marc Riley. The song was chosen by Stuart Maconie and Mark Radcliffe to compete as a Single of the Week on their BBC Radio 2 show, and also caught the attention of hugely influential US site Pitchfork, who described Shrag as “one of those bands whose tunes and natural charisma could easily endear them to a wider audience, but whom the vagaries of record release dates, hype cycles, and airline prices have so far conspired to keep a well-loved secret”.

This won’t be the case for too much longer, as Shrag have now been invited to play New York’s 2010 CMJ Music Marathon.

SHRAG - Life! Death! Prizes!

incl UK and Europe P&P £11.00 incl US P&P £13.00 incl Rest of World P&P £15.00

DAVID TATTERSALL, the lead singer, guitarist and main songwriter from the WAVE PICTURES, releases his debut solo album “HAPPY FOR A WHILE” on wiaiwya records. It will be a limited edition vinyl only release, including a digital download of all the tracks. The album includes the first UK single release of 2010 “Happy For A While”, and the new single "Between My Ear And The Cradle"

The album features guest appearances from long time Wave Pictures collaborator Stanley Brinks (AKA Andre Herman Dune), and Clemence Freschard, and was written and recorded last Spring in Berlin.

Typically understated and downbeat - or what Nick Lowe described as the sound of “a man who has opted to plough a righteous but lonely furrow” – the title track’s signature lyric, “lonely but not alone”, sets up an album of outsider art, skewed views and bittersweet bedsit pop.

Tattersall channels the disaffected spirit of Morrissey, the whip-smart pen of Edwyn Collins and the dusty outback of The Go-Betweens’ Before Hollywood. In a parallel universe, the bookies would already have stopped taking bets on HAPPY FOR A WHILE topping the end of year album polls.

"the Wave Pictures are all about guitarist and singer David Tattersall, a waspish naif who wears his heart on his ragged sleeve. They owe a certain debt to the Smiths, and Tattersall has Morrissey's knack of marrying the ridiculous and the sublime in an exquisite, tautly turned phrase" - the Guardian

"essential listening for miserablists everywhere" - thecmuwebsite.com

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Shrag release their 6th single for WIAIWYA on December 14th. Mixed by Woodie Taylor (Comet Gain/Love Is All), ‘Rabbit Kids’ is the first offering from their upcoming album.

The new single has already been previewed in Pitchfork (28/10/2009): “…

“Brighton, UK-based quintet Shrag, like many of their 1970s indie-punk forebears, are one of those bands whose tunes and natural charisma could easily endear them to a wider audience, but whom the vagaries of record release dates, hype cycles, and airline prices have so far conspired to keep a well-loved secret...(Rabbit Kids) is bright, scrappy, and exuberantly melodic enough to rank alongside tracks by Love is All, the Long Blondes, or early Los Campesinos!. A few more like this, and Shrag might break through yet…”

Shrag have played shows with Love Is all, Art Brut, Comet Gain, The Television personalities, The Thermals, Adam Green, and The 1990s amongst others. In 2009 Shrag were invited by The Pains of Being Pure At Heart to support them on their UK tour, and played at this years Offset festival. In October they joined The Cribs for a second UK tour, having supported them on two previous tours in 2007.

The band have recently finished recording their second album, ‘LIFE! DEATH! PRIZES!’ which will be released in early 2010

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Gregory first emerged during the mid-80s UK C86 scene with Razorcuts, who hit on a sound somewhere between the 12 string heavy folk-rock sound of mid-60s LA and the characterful pop sensibilities of the UK post-punk scene. The Carousel soon followed, a gorgeously out-of-time Psyche-Folk duo formed with Talulah Gosh founder member Elizabeth Price. After the acoustic simplicity of his first solo LP "My Wicked Wicked Ways" in 1995, Gregory put together perhaps his most prolific (and noisy) outfit, Sportique, with ex-TV Personality Mark Flunder and Heavenly's Amelia Fletcher & Rob Pursey.

Promised Land sees Gregory returning to matters of the heart, utilizing the acoustic 12 string based sound familiar to those who have seen his regular PopFest performances in recent years. Although never foolish enough to adopt the mannerisms of another culture for his own, Gregory's love of American folk and country greats such as Willie Nelson and Hank Williams clearly shines through. In fact the b- side is a radically different interpretation of Hank Williams' lesser known classic "Won't You Sometimes Think of Me?". Simplicity rules throughout, complementing the naked honestly of the songwriting.

Gregory's signature 12 string sound is augmented by haunting harmonium accompaniment from The Birthday Girl (Vatican Cellars) and beautifully uplifting vocal flourishes provided by Pam Berry of the legendary Black Tambourine.

As Gregory dreams of love away from the glare of city lights, take a ride out to the country with him on this beautifully packaged return to vinyl.

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The uniform elegance of Rose Melberg’s past work with Tiger Trap and The Softies is present on her new solo venture Homemade Ship . This album transcends her work with her previous groups – never has her voice sounded so full and refined as it does here. Her songs belong to her voice. Always tender and hushed, Homemade Ship is enchanting; its stark stillness is as hauntingly playful and familiar as the first days of Autumn.

Homemade Ship was recorded in the winter time in Vancouver. A small masterpiece, Melberg uses just a guitar and vocals (with occasional harmony vocal and piano work provided by Larissa Loyva of The Choir Practice and P:ano), offering helpful and insightfully delicate lyrics to perfectly ease out of sorrow and into contentment. At the forefront, her voice holds a warmth and generosity that adds strength and hopefulness to her aching lyrics. Set a table for two.

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EUX AUTRES, the pronounciationally challenging, Omaha born, New York and San Francisco based three piece release their UK debut "STRANGLED DAYS" on the magnificent WHERE IT'S AT IS WHERE YOU ARE label.

EUX AUTRES (pronounced errs-or-tra) means "those others", and have already released two albums and a number of singles of infectious SLEATER KINNEY meets the VASELINES POP! over the pond.

EUX AUTRES originally consisted of brother and sister HEATHER and NICOLAS LARIMER. Heather played drums, Nicholas played guitar, and they both sang. Practices frequently disolved into shoving matches. In an effort to quell these outbursts (and expand their sound), Eux Autres added drummer YOSHI NAKAMOTO (The Aislers Set, Still Flyin’) in 2008.

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a global pop tribute to BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

The songs of Bruce Springsteen have been re-born in the able hands of 38 indie, folk and underground acts, including the Wave Pictures, Darren Hayman (ex-Hefner), Glam Chops (with Eddie Argos from Art Brut) and even a fiddle solo from the Velvet Underground's Doug Yule. The double album is named "Play Some Pool, Skip Some School, Act Real Cool" (a line from the classic "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"), and is brought to you from the ever reliable where it's at is where you are label (www.wiaiwya.com).

These acts have been inspired by Springsteen’s woodsman folk, tender ballads, fist-pumping anthems and emotional rock; their interpretations of Springsteen’s back catalogue – from the classics to the rarely visited side roads – reveal the breadth of The Boss’s influence and the inspiration his rich career gives to many bands from different strands of today’s underground.

Manchester based six piece HELP STAMP OUT LONELINESS release their second 7" single in August - PACIFIC TRASH VORTEX c/w CELLOPHANE - on beautiful baby blue vinyl.

Named after the NANCY SINATRA hit, these 3 boys and 3 girls formed HELP STAMP OUT LONELINESS in order to travel to Sweden and be more popular amongst their peers.

They are yet to get to Sweden, but fans in Munich, Berlin, Manchester and London have all been treated to incredible live shows. Crowds justifiably go wild to their 80's POP sensibilities, D. Lucille's stunning teutonic cool, and the elegant indie chaos that surrounds them. This is the sound of Morrissey and Marr writing songs for Nico, fronting Stereolab... only about 17 times better... REALLY...

HELP STAMP OUT LONELINESS have recently been joined by 5th SMITH, and former AZTEC CAMERA and EDWYN COLLINS guitarist, CRAIG GANNON, who is currently recording and producing their debut long player.

It's probably not worth looking too much further, I think you've just found your new favourite band...