YASMINE HAMDAN's London debut turning heads

"The modern face of Arabic music" (The Guardian) is taking England by storm.
 
From radio to print, England has responded with a flurry of interviews and reviews of her "Ya Nass" album. A featured artist on BBC2's "Later with Jools Holland" (May 21 and 24), her "deliciously smoky voice, mingling old Arabic song with her own compositions, and embracing unexpected musical experimentation" (The Guardian) has set alight the English press, including a full page story in the Daily Telegraph, entitled "If you can feel the emotion, then it's for you"

Yasmine's storm of England continues:

24 MAY - BBC TWO TV  "Later... with Jools Holland" 

30 MAY - CONCERT @ THE ISLINGTON, LONDON N1 0XT

1 JUNE - BBC RADIO 4 "LOOSE ENDS" (6.20 pm)

2 JUNE - BBC RADIO 3 "WORLD ON 3" (10 pm) 

And we proudly announce Yasmine's return to the UK in October:
 
17 OCT - CONCERT @ BUSH HALL, LONDON W12  

SKIP&DIE pursue their irresistible ascent

and bring their wild (political) party spirit to festival stages all across Europe

After their superb shows at Bourges, Brussels (Botanique) & Berlin, the mighty combo fronted by South African vocalist/visual artist Cata.Pirata is embarking on a new leg of their tour, which includes dates at major festivals such as The Great Escape (GB), Art Rock, Musiques Metisses and Europavox (FR), Sonar (ES), Solidays and Vieilles Charrues (FR), Parkpop (NL), Paleo (CH), Pohoda (SK), Esperanzah (BE), Sziget (HU) and more.

More details on the shows here

A special edition of the band's album "Riots in the Jungle" will be coming out in June. It will include two tracks from their deleted 1st single ("Muti Murder" and "Get Your Braai On", which originally came out digitally in 2011, on Dutch electronic music label Bmkltsch, and are still two highlights of their live set), and well as a previously- unreleased track, "Zumzuma". This edition will be available on vinyl (limited 2LP edition) and as a CD with a bonus DVD also including the three SKIP&DIE videos.

Meanwhile, the glowing review of the band's show at Nuits Botanique (BE) in French daily Libération can be found here (and the band's videos are also accessible from that page).

Crammed takes over the Nuits Botanique Festival…

SKIP&DIE, La Chiva Gantiva, Maïa Vidal, Yasmine Hamdan all appear on May 4 & 5. Watch the video invitation by the artists!




Our favorite Brussels Town Spring festival, the ever-exciting Nuits Botanique, starts on May 3. Come see Maïa Vidal on the opening night (at La Rotonde), and don't miss the exciting Crammed triple bill on May 4, with Yasmine Hamdan (feat. Marc Collin from Nouvelle Vague), Skip&Die and La Chiva Gantiva (Orangerie).
 
details here:
May 3: Maïa Vidal ‪
May 4: Yasmine Hamdan, SKIP&DIE & La Chiva Gantiva

 

Join AMATORSKI's new interactive project

Deleting Borders enables the public to create a unique version of their new song online, and will also spawn 2 special performances in April.

Deleting Borders from We Work We Play on Vimeo.

Don't miss out on this unique experience !

CHICHA LIBRE : On tour + New EP !

Peruvian psychedelic pop warriors CHICHA LIBRE will perform their "intoxicating mix" of exotic sounds in Europe this coming week ! And they're bringing along with them the new, digital only, "Cuatro Tigres" EP!

Here's what the French press has to say:

"Chicha Libre, the tropical phenomenon of psychedelic cumbia" 20MN
"A submersion in to the steamy amazon jungle" LIBÉRATION
"Playful and explosive... deliciously retro. A bit of sweet craziness, highly recommended." FIP
"Cumbia & pop from the '70s. An intoxicating cocktail!." LES INROCKS
"A hallucinogenic substance distilled from Cumbia, we relish it" VIBRATIONS
"With the force of surf guitars, electrovox wah-wah and synthesizers, they joyfully gather latin rhythms, rock sounds and Bollywood style curiosities with a good dose of irony,.. a tasty mix" TELERAMA

& the new EP ?

You can listen now on SoundCloud!
CHICHA LIBRE – Cuatro Tigres

SKIP&DIE unveil new video and single: “ANTI-CAPITALISTA”

Conceptualised and directed by frontwoman Cata.Pirata, it was shot during gaps in the band's relentless touring schedule




Speaking previously about the track and the video, Cata.Pirata said "The Universe is our muse. We explore it, we soak it all up, we form our own opinions, we shape our own journeys.  And we hope to stimulate the same cognitive shift in consciousness within our audience. Touching on poignant (social) matters is a way for us to destroy certain taboos  and thereby their repressive powers."

Asked how they're obviously not afraid to touch on politics in their songs, Cata.Pirata replied, "There are numerous paths to enlightenment, to each their own. But to make it clear, we don’t choose to share only our views on 'politics', we choose to share our 'views',  which so happen to contain notions of social struggle as well as personal poetics. The personal is political."

The band has been on an ongoing tour since the record was released in October. The live line-up consists of Cata.Pirata (vocals), Gino Bombrini (percussion, guitar), Nique Quentin (percussion),  Daniel Rose (guitar, sitar, saz) and René Kuhlmann (electronics).

Here are their March dates. For their full tour schedule, see HERE.

March 6    5 Days Off, Amsterdam, NL

March 6    Sugarfactory, NL

March 7    Paard van Troje, Den Haag, NL

March 8    EKKO, Utrecht, NL

March 9    Where The Wild Things Are, Zeewolde, NL

March 12  Treibhaus, Innsbruck, AT

March 13  B72, Vienna, AT

March 14  ARGEkultur Salzburg, Salzburg, AT

March 15  Selig Chur, CH

March 16  Rocking Chair, Vevey, CH

March 17  Bee-flat Bern, CH

March 20  Club Bahnhof Ehrenfeld, Koln, DE

March 21  Gleis 22, Munster, DE

March 22  Palác Akropolis, Prague, CZ

March 23  Club Stereo, Nuernberg, DE

March 26  Laiterie, Strasbourg, FR

March 27  La Vapeur, Dijon, FR

March 28  La Lune des Pirates, Amiens, FR

March 29  La Machine du Moulin Rouge, Paris, FR

March 30  La Bobine, Grenoble, FR

March 31  Paaspop, Schijndel, NL

Amatorski album, tour, film soundtrack and advert

"TBC" double-pack CD now out in Germany & the Benelux

The mesmerizing young Belgian band have just completed a successful first tour in Germany, where the press has warmly welcomed the release of their TBC album ("One of the most important albums of the week" in this week's Der Spiegel). 

The album (which includes their "Same Stars We Shared EP" as a bonus CD) will soon be out in the UK, France and the rest of Europe.

TBC is a beautifully arranged suite of songs which weaves electronic & acoustic ingredients with delicate orchestrations. it was created in the band's studio in Ghent, and mixed in London by Darren Allison (known for his work with Belle & Sebastian, Efterklang and The Divine Comedy).

The song Come Home (off the EP) is getting airplay on several radio stations in Germany, and is the soundtrack for an ongoing ad campaign for the Spa table water, currently on heavy rotation on radio & TV in Belgium & the Netherlands.

Amatorski are now completing an original soundtrack for Dutch feature film "In Your Name", and will resume touring around Europe from March on.

From the press:

"The best Belgian act around at the moment" (The Guardian, UK)

"Perfection on all fronts" (OOR, NL)

"Extremely classy... refined, delicate, melodic, subtle: the most beautiful concert of the evening" (Les Inrockuptibles, France, about the band's show at the Reeperbahn Festival).

The French magazine went on to compare the band's "absolutely delicious atmospheric pop" to the music of Sufjan Stevens, Portishead and Sparklehorse, while other writers have evoked Sigur Ros or The Cocteau Twins.

Maïa Vidal soon to release entrancing new album

The first video is out now!





2012 has been a wild year for Maïa Vidal: following the great reception of her debut album God Is My Bike (which came out at the tail end of 2011), she played scores of shows around Europe, as well as in Japan, the US, Argentina and Brazil. The album was nominated for Pan-European indie album of the year, her video for "Follow Me" competed against Lana del Rey's and Justice's for Best Pop Video at the UK Music Video Awards.

Maïa Vidal is now about to release Spaces  ✩, an entrancing new album, full of soaring melodies, arresting lyrics, innovative compositions & production.

Wander is the first video off the album.

Staff Benda Bilili Tour Cancelled

We have been informed that the upcoming March/April tour by Staff Benda Bilili has sadly been cancelled.
Due to differences of opinion, two of the members have just left the band. Staff Benda Bilili's management and European agent felt that, under the circumstances, they couldn't guarantee that the tour would run smoothly, and have taken the decision to cancel. We will certainly keep you updated on the next developments.

Nous venons d'apprendre que la prochaine tournée de Staff Benda Bilili (qui devait se dérouler en mars/avril) vient d'être annulée. Nous en sommes désolés. En raison de divergences diverses, deux des membres du groupe ont décidé de le quitter. Le management et l'agent de Staff Benda Bilili ont dès lors estimé qu'ils ne pouvaient pas garantir le bon déroulement de la tournée prévue, et ont pris la décision d'annuler. Nous ne manquerons pas de vous tenir informés de la suite des événements.