Monday 12 December
Whip, Stafrænn Hákon (solo), Last of the Real Hardmen & more tbc
Port Mahon, 82 St Clements, Oxford OX4 1AW

advance tickets available soon

Whip
The solo project of Timesbold's Jason Merritt whose second LP, Atheist Lovesongs To God is the result of a prolonged period of solitude towards the end of 2003 when, having just returned from a tour with Timesbold, Merritt simply shut himself into his home in Brooklyn, New York, and stayed there. The recurring theme throughout the album is alluded to in its title. Whip's self-confessed inability to allow any sort of God into his life, while harbouring an overwhelming need for the sense of solace and security that it may provide. This results in a collection of songs that Jason claims are the ‘closest thing I have found to divinity.’

Whip’s love songs encompass a wide range of familiar touchpoints whilst retaining their creator’s sense of freedom and individuality.

‘Being an American atheist today feels like I'd imagine a pagan felt a few centuries ago’.

Atheist Lovesongs To God is loaded with musical and literary reference points. While the vocals are perhaps instantly reminiscent of Will Oldham, Whip himself has been variously filed under the auspices of anti-folk, new weird America and alt-country, without ever satisfying straightforward labels nor categorisation. The warm attention to detail in his work speaks louder than simple adjectives could ever hope.

‘I believe in writing songs that don't need to be sung by me, a good song can be sung by anyone. As Leadbelly said introducing his classic song Irene Goodnight, ‘this is a real song, not one that was written by anybody’"

Whip has been releasing records on small independent labels for the last five years, steadily accruing a modest but dedicated following which stretched from Japan to Croatia, Moscow to Yisplanti and back again. His live CV is just as varied, having played or toured with the likes of Mercury Rev, Iron And Wine, Garth Hudson of The Band, South San Gabriel, Blonde Redhead, legendary psych-folk mavericks the Tower Recordings, Alan Sparhawk of Low, and others far too numerous to mention.

'Bare-wire folk songs delivered in a tremulous voice that runs a close second to Will Oldham's in it's ability to evoke both desolation and resigned world-weariness'. - The Wire

'A rich, personal vision of Americana folk that is as intimate as if it were recorded in your living room'. - Comes With A Smile

www.timesbold.net/whip
www.myspace.com/timesbold
www.resonantlabel.com

Stafrænn Hákon
The musical project of Olafur Josephsson, a young Icelandic experimental musician. Since early 1999, he's been experimenting with guitars, drum loops and various instruments in his basement using a 4-track recorder. The concept of music has always been in it's basic form for Stafrænn Hákon, mostly played on distorted guitars and an acoustic guitar along with drum loops and melodica. Based on simple guitar melodies, his glacial take on ambient music gently drifts from acoustic guitar to delicate drone pieces. His music will appeal to all those with a love of drifting, ethereal soundscapes ala Labradford, Sigur Ros, Tarentel, Aerial M, etc.

"...the faint siren call of his guitar echoes the ethereal music of fellow Icelanders Sigur Ros, but on a more intimate level." - The Wire

www.shakon.com
www.myspace.com/shakon
www.resonantlabel.com

Last of the Real Hardmen
Last of the Real Hardmen is Nottingham based Chris Summerlin, guitarist with such fine bands as Reynolds, Wolves of Greece and Lords. Showing a much gentler side from the bands, Chris plays instrumental guitar music akin to John Fahey or Dave Pajo. His debut album will be released shortly on Birdwar Records.

"One man and an amazingly multi-tongued semi-acoustic guitar. Metal slidery, fiddly niggle lines, country twangery, thematic chords with twinkling undercurrents, wolf-whistles and birdcalls, jazz-jerky playfulness and wayward picking, and a final power-down to steely tickling. A couple of covers in the set, including a John Coltrane piece, but the Hardman's bizarrely-titled compositions dominate - "All of this shit I'm eating is leaving a bad taste in my mouth"; "I can see it coming and it looks bad"; and a dedication to the guitar, "Song for Honey". The classicism of Steve Hackett, the beauty of Nick Drake, the desertscape loneliness of Ry Cooder. The Last of the Real Hardmen has a tenderness to his touch that makes the strings sing like a choir, sparkle like spring Sun on a mountain lake. Sounds that he tells us are miserable are actually full of wistfulness and memories of past pleasures, there's not a dreary moment in the set. Sublime ethereal grace" www.oppositiont.co.uk

www.honeyisfunny.com/lastoftherealhardmen
www.myspace.com/lastoftherealhardmen

vacuous pop proudly presents a very special show for Christmas

Friday 16 December
alias (anticon. records), Christ. (Benbecular Recordings / ex Boards of Canada) & foals
The Wheatsheaf, 129 High Street, Oxford
Doors 8pm / £6 adv / £7 door / 18+

advance tickets available

alias
From deep within the realm of experimental hip hop, comes Anticon.'s Alias . With a love for the absurd and poetic, Alias fuses disenfranchised instrumentals with the spirit of gritty hip hop.

Brendon Whitney AKA alias, born in Portland, Maine to a jazz drummer and a church organist, grew up in a suburb called Hollis and played drums in his high school band. Isolated in a small town, alias found no music that captivated him until at age thirteen, when he saw Yo MTV Raps. Alone in his interest in hip hop, alias sought to immerse himself in this foreign counter-culture. He bought The Source monthly at the one shop in Maine that carried it and by age fourteen he was writing his own raps.

In support of his new found passion, his parents bought him a drum machine for Christmas, and alias rapped over his own beats in the privacy of his bedroom, too shy to share his rhymes with anyone. However, in 1993, upon meeting sole, who was already recording and doing shows, alias began rapping in ciphers at parties. He moved his "studio" from his bedroom to a friend’s basement where he taught himself to use an MPC 3000 and an ADAT machine. In '96 he started doing shows with The Live Poets (sole's group) around New England. In '98 during the deep puddle dynamics sessions in Minneapolis with Slug, dose one and sole, alias realized that music would be his life's work.

Now taking himself seriously as a rapper and producer, he moved with the first wave of the anticon West Coast migration into a warehouse in East Oakland with his wife Jen and sole. Within a year he had recorded the other side of the looking glass, his first solo release, a rap-heavy introspective opus. alias found himself drawn more towards production while working on tracks for sole's selling live water album, and in 2002-03 he recorded his first instrumental project, the eyes closed EP, before releasing muted, his second full-length, in Autumn 2003.

alias has collaborated with every member of the Anticon. roster, Sage Francis, Will Oldham, Saul Williams, DJ Krush, Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie/The Postal Service), Styrofoam, and members of the Notwist. He has done remixes for Lali Puna, Lunz, JD Walker, Lucky Pierre, Deep Thinkers, Sixtoo, Giardini di Miro, Boy in Static, Christ., and The One AM Radio.

He has toured the world, sharing a stage with such acts as The Roots, Dalëk, Freestyle Fellowship, Kid 606, Xiu Xiu, Lali Puna, American Analog Set, Grand Buffet, Damo Suzuki, The Notwist, B. Fleischmann/Duo 505, Non-Phixion, DJ Krush, and Fog.

Composing music from his deepest shades, alias is a jack of all trades wringing out his heart in song.

www.myspace.com/alias
www.myspace.com/anticon
www.anticon.com
www.southern.net

Christ.
Renowned for being the mysterious third member from Boards of Canada’s early days (contributing to their Twoism and Boc Maxima releases) naturally, there are a few stylistic similarities between christ. and Boards of Canada. Since his first solo release proper in 2002, he has proved to be as individual and creative as the next guy, forging a unique path of musical beauty that escapes derivation.

After releasing the highly successful, "Metamorphic Reproduction Miracle" album, Christ. immediately cemented his place as one of the most respected electronica artists of the decade. After appearing live at Sonar 2003 in Barcelona he embarked on a UK tour with Schneider TM. A live Peel session was organised to coincide with the uk tour and toward the end of the tour in December 2003 the pair played a live session on the John Peel Show, which has gone down as one of the best live sessions ever. It was only when talking to various BBC staff after the event that this was no chance slot - John had already made up his mind that christ would do a show. His gratitude was more than evident when, after an absolutely superb live performance, John asked for an encore - which has rarely, if ever, happened before.

2004 saw Christ continue to promote his album and some fresh material across Europe including Spain, France and Finland. In October the same year he played alongside Robin Guthrie and Reverbaphon at the Benbecula Records Showcase in Glasgow.

Along the way Christ.’s style has matured and by creating a world of sound all his own, he has broken ties from his former brethren, assimilating all manner of psychedelia in the process of mapping out fresh terrain in an otherwise crowded genre. Christ.'s expert layers of melody, broken beats and textures say pretty much everything, and along with his popularity as a formidable live act, he is a rare breed indeed.

"Anyone wondering where all the good underground electronic music has gone (which isn't just a mash of clicks and cuts) might want to get off at this stop and check it out" – Future Music (September 2003)

"With this reincarnation of Christ, substitute the fish and bread with synth and samplers. Both are the stuff of equal myth and magic." Ian Fletcher, Careless Talk Costs Lives

www.benbecula.com

foals
A new band featuring some familiar faces from bands past and present Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies, The Edmund Fitzgerald & Face Meets Grill. This is their hometown debut. Combining bubbling polyrhythmic guitars, aching vocal melodies and dance oriented drumlines; they create upbeat (albeit off-kilter) pop songs with a real Jekyll and Hyde complex.

www.myspace.com/foals
www.myspace.com/tryharderrecords

unless stated otherwise, all gigs take place at the wheatsheaf, 129 high street, oxford - situated towards the top of high street, along the alley between $tarfucks and Adecco, the venue is upstairs.

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