downdime are a noisy, psychedelic indiepop band formed in Leeds in 2004. Taking inspiration from the C86/indiepop bands of the 1980s and 90s such as Rocketship, My Bloody Valentine and The Wedding Present, they have so far released two 7 inch singles: Seeds of Hopelessness (Squirrel Records, 2005) and Hate the Morning/Joanne (Squirrel Records, 2006), and their debut album Knowing Too Much is out now, also on Squirrel Records.
Camped out somewhere in deepest, iciest Iceland, Sketches for Albinos (a.k.a. Matthew Collings) makes music from the ends of the earth. Utterly unique, SfA has all the musical adventure of John Mcentire, Tortoise or Kevin Shields without sounding a bit like any of them. Mr. Collings makes a sound that manages to be both truly heartfelt and organic, but also encompassing the majestic glacial soundscapes that would make the likes of Tim Hecker or Christian Fennesz proud.
This hard (Prog)rocking 4 piece have been tearing shit up since 2001 with roots born in Wakefield but now based in Leeds. As well as official approval by the 70s Italian Horror / Progmeisters GOBLIN, the band have flexed the boards with such greats as, Acid Mothers Temple, Big Business, Coughs, Dalek, Melvins, Oxes, The Pump, Sunburned, Wolf eyes Etc.. Have been known to emit a certain presence and sex appeal in the live situation with an underlying aroma of mystique. Currently working on new full length album set for release in 09
Kenji Suzuki (鈴木健二, Suzuki Kenji, born January 16, 1950, in Japan), popularly nicknamed Damo Suzuki (ダモ鈴木), is a singer probably best known for his membership in German krautrock group Can. Suzuki spent the late 1960s wandering around Europe, often busking, during which time he would only have been a teenager. When Malcolm Mooney left Can after recording their first album Monster Movie, Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit encountered Suzuki singing on a street in Munich, Germany whilst the two were sitting outside at a street café.
There are six bands called Dirge : 1. Dirge is a French band formed in 1994 in Paris, France. From the industrial metal genre that exploded in the first part of the 90s, the band slowly evolved toward a more atmospheric and progressive form of metal, related to post-metal bands such as Neurosis, Isis, and Cult of Luna. The original band members were Marc T. (guitars, programming) and Laurent P. (vocals, programming). In the industrial genre of bands like Godflesh and Pitchshifter, the duo's music was a hybrid of corrosive guitars, robotic hammerings, and scratching samples.
I Concur formed in Leeds at the tail end of 2006 thanks to a shared love of American indie, slowcore and post rock - bands such as The National, Low, Wilco and Mogwai feature high on their list of influences. Comprised of Tim Hann (vocals/guitar), James Brunger (drums/vocals), Toby Page (bass) and Chris Woolford (guitar), the band’s first practices created a set of songs based on Hann’s abstract style of story telling.