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Live Shows

Wednesday 2nd May - Cafe Oto, London

Doors 8pm, £8 adv - Get Tickets From WeGotTickets

First London show in a long while from 12 string guitarist James Blackshaw... He'll be joined on the evening with a set from Jozef Van Wissem - Blackshaw's partner in Brethren of the Free Spirit and most recently seen collaborating with underground/overground film maker Jim Jarmusch.

James Blackshaw

James Blackshaw performs celestial and spirit-lifting guitar-led compositions. Meditative in quality, cinematic in scope, his music spirals gracefully across complex patterns, motifs and harmonics. He made his name as a 12-string acoustic guitarist, and his relationship with the instrument is near perfect. With an extensive back catalogue to his name on labels like Young God Records, Tompkins Square and Important, he has developed a unique playing style that takes Takoma school finger-picking into an entirely new place. Swirling overtones, cascading notes and a thousand points of light cascade from his guitar and create ever-shifting textures that bear the influence of contemporary classical composition, post-rock dynamics and invisible soundtracks as much as the American folk guitar tradition.

Despite his transcendent state music he is a grounded and earthly fellow who has been written about with reverence and has played churches, festivals, folk clubs and large concert halls on his many travels in the US, Europe and Japan. These have included extensive touring with the reformed Swans, as well as collaborative performances with Hauschka and Nancy Elizabeth.

New album Love is The Plan, The Plan Is Death is released on Important Records in April 2012. Written at a time of great emotional disquiet, it's a beautiful and bittersweet new chamber work containing six original pieces whose titles are lovingly misappropriated from those of short stories by the great science fiction author James Tiptree Jr AKA Alice B. Sheldon. The instrumentation is more stripped back and integrated than on recent albums, allowing his impeccable nylon-string classical guitar playing to come to the fore, with small details like the scraping of his fingers on the strings and breathing patterns adding to the emotional honesty of the mix. Grand piano, vibraphone and B3 fill out the tracks, with Geneviève Beaulieu's stunning vocals featuring on the track ‘And I Have Come Upon This Place By Lost Ways’.

"...strong influences from outside the precincts of folk music: minimalist composers like Steve Reich and Terry Riley, and some of their precursors, like Erik Satie... [Blackshaw] fingerpicks his 12-string Guild with an immersive focus befitting such heady allusions... a stark and ancient feeling, like something handed down through the ages...." - NY Times

James Blackshaw Website

Jozef Van Wissem

Devoted to what he terms “The Liberation of the Lute,” his compositions for the instrument have involved a dynamic mix of conceptual, minimalist, classical and improvisational strategies. Over the last two decades, he has used cut-and-paste tactics, created palindromic compositions by playing pieces forwards and then backwards and used field recordings and free improvisation to create a sound world that is at once meditative and surprising, new and arcane. He composes mirror image melodies that step up and then back down seemingly without end Van Wissem is able to bridge the language of 17th century music with that of the 21st century without compromising the timbre and resonance of traditional lute playing techniques. An incessantly touring musician, van wissem's hypnotic live shows have taken him all over the world. He has records out on Important Records and his own Incunabulum label and has collaborated with James Blackshaw, Keiji Haino and Jim Jarmusch amongst others. Van Wissem studied lute in New york with Pat O'Brien.and released a classical lute CD " A Rose By Any Other Name" consisting of anonymous lute pieces. He lectures on 'the liberation of the lute' ( At Harvard, Wesleyan University, Mills College amongst others) He was commissioned by the National Gallery of London to compose a sound piece to Hans Holbein's painting "The Ambassadors". Van Wissem's work is featured more and more in documentaries and feature films, as well as in the upcoming Sims Medieval video game.

Jozef's latest release is a duo LP with Jim Jarmusch.

“In “The Mirror of Eternal Light,” the Dutch lutist Jozef van Wissem catches his own reflection in tender, minimalist picking and gold-spray overdubs.”- -David Fricke, senior editor, Rolling Stone Magazine

Jozef Van Wissem's Website

Chord - Gmaj7 and Trouble Books - Concatenating Fields

Two excellent new records coming out on MIE at the end of the month and the beginning of the next. Chord's Gmaj7 is a definitive statement from the drone collective who explore the minutiae of single chord compositions. And Trouble Books' Concatenating Fields is the the ambient pop duo's mesmerising follow up to last years stupendous Trouble Books & Mark McGuire Pre-order them both on our releases page here

Gate - The Dew Line

An unbelievably massive release coming up here. We're reissuing Gate's, Michael Morley from the Dead C, The Dew Line on 2LP. Remastered, extended by 5 tracks from the same era and completely resequenced. Released in a run of 500 2LPs in a gatefold sleeve. Out on May 7th, Pre-order it now on our releases page here

Listen to 'Ives' by Gate here

Talons' - Rustic Bullshit

A brief note before a more extensive update in a few weeks with news regarding our Gate reissue, the new Trouble Books LP and the forthcoming Chord 12"

In just over a week we should hopefully be receiving 30 copies of Talons' Rustic Bullshit LP. Its finally being pressed up by our friends over at Bark & Hiss and its un a ultra limited run of 100 copies only. This is one of the most stunningly beautiful albums by any songwriter out there and I can't tell you how excited I am to be able to do the EU distro for the record.

If you look on the our releases page you shall hopefully see a Pre-Order button and I'd advise you to get one quickly if you wanted it.

We're looking at a very busy year next year and those of you who read the Wire next issue will se that we've got loads of upcoming releases with somefrom Cian Nugent, Chord, Bong, Hallock Hill and hopefully some more Trouble Books, Talons' and Keith Freund releases

Richard Youngs & Birchall/Cheetham Duo

Now that we have moved back down to London we shall be focusing more on the label side of things and slowing down on the show front. So we're extremely excited about releasing Richard Youngs' 'Amaranthine' LP at the beginning of January, we'll be getting the test pressings next week and will hopefully have a pre-order link up before christmas, this one isn't going to be around for too long. We're also extremely happy to be starting our new CDr series with 'TIPPING POINT' by the Birchall/Cheetham Duo, an explosive improv-drone rock duo from Manchester, you can see more details about our CDr series in the new section of our site here.

We have removed our blog page, as I haven't updated that in years (see our twitter page for the most up to date news), and we've replaced it with our soundcloud page where you'll be able to stream nearly every release by MIE.

We're looking at a very busy year next year and those of you who read the Wire next issue will se that we've got loads of upcoming releases with somefrom Cian Nugent, Chord, Bong, Hallock Hill and hopefully some more Trouble Books, Talons' and Keith Freund releases

MIE 008 Part Wild Horses Mane On Both Sides - Poisson

One of the greatest things about being a promoter in Manchester was being able to work constantly with the huge range of amazing local artists and this release comes after MIE put PWHMOBS and various side projects on quite a few times in the last year and worked up a great relationship with the guys. We're hugely excited then to be releasing on heavyweight vinyl this excellent reissue of a early cassette by the band, its called 'Poisson' and is one amazing highlight of their exemplary back catalogue. Each copy will be customised by the band and some gold paint. Pre Orders will be taken now for shipping in early August

Pre-order links over on the left or on our releases page here

Trouble Books & Mark McGuire - Self titled LP

When we heard that our favourite band and good friends, Trouble Books, were starting to collaborate with Emeralds guitarist and fellow Ohioan, Mark McGuire, we were pretty excited about what they might come up with. This LP is the fruit of their labours and its amazing, it wonderfully brings togther the sublime sounds of Emeralds, Marks solo stuff and Trouble Books. The first pressing is only 250 LPs, I'll have 50 copies for distro in the UK and Europe from mid-June, these will go like hotcakes so get on them quick. We'll also have a Trouble Books Acquaintance Pack for all Emeralds/Mark McGuire fans not familiar with Trouble Books.

Pre-order links over on the left or on our releases page here

MIE 007 Daniel Menche & Anla Courtis - Yagua Ovy

Yet another stellar release on MIE, we're hugely proud to be releasing the brand new collaboration between Daniel Menche, Portland's sublime noise musician who strives for vehement natural beauty in his work, and Anla Courtis, the legendary Argentina guitarist and founder of Reynols. Yagua Ovy centres around the Argentinean mythology of the Werewolf and the duos work really hits hard and loud.

Available to order in our releases page.

MIE 006 Cath & Phil Tyler - Dumb Supper

We're hugely excited to announce that the next release on our label will be the rerelease of Cath & Phil Tyler's utterly gorgeous and spellbinding Dumb Supper. This shall be released on April 4th on 180 gram vinyl in lovely card inners and a heavyweight sleeve. Its going to be a record to cherish. Listen to them here, and I'll leave you with a quote about the LP: "Folk moves into a new era with Cath and Phil. Their combination of earthiness and grit, raw yet hearfelt and beautiful singing and immaculate playing makes this one of the most exciting and most moving albums I've heard in a long while." Fiona Talkington, BBC Radio 3’s ‘Late Junction’

The LP is now available to pre-order, head on over to the releases page to order your copy now.

Bags and Shows

Firstly thanks very much to everyone who came to our shows this year, we've had an excellent time and now need a deserved rest for a month. But we defintily aren't stopping planning for next year as you can see with our Oval show, the inaugration of our Wooden Guitar Series and then a much anticipated show from Our Love Will Destory The World. And theres so much more being planned at the moment. As the above picture suggests MIE's resident artist Bizzy Huthers has made two lovely designs on book bags, you can grab one of these highly limted, 25 of each design, bags over at her website here

Manchester Shows

After our Steffen Basho-Junghans and Cian Nugent show at Café Oto in London this July we decided we liked it so much that we’d book a load of shows when we moved up to Manchester. So we have a whole raft of shows for discerning Mancuians. 15th Sept – Trouble Books @ Trof NQ, 5th Oct – Josephine Foster & The Victor Herrero Band @ Sacred Trinity Church, 19th Oct – Demons and Sick Llama @ Islington Mill, 27th Oct – Lichens, Paul Metzger and Part Wild Horses Manes On Both Sides @ Sacred Trinity Church, 4th Nov – Grouper and Rafael Anton Irisarri @ Islington Mill, 14th Nov – Cath & Phil Tyler @ Trof NQ,. See you at some of them!

Trouble Books Uk Tour!

We’re hugely excited to announce that the band that made us start up our label and release their music is finally touring the UK! Trouble Books and their utterly unique type of experimental ambient pop are just too darn good to pass up so make your way down to one of their shows. Also if you want to put them on drop us a line now!

15/09/10 Manchester, Trof NQ

16/09/10 Newcastle, The Cumberland Arms

more dates to come soon

New Website

Welcome to the new MIE website. Brand new and super slick, we hope its easy to use and will be updated regularly. To kept up to date with everything we’re doing (we’re definitely going to be very busy in the next year) sign up to newsletter via the mailing list bit. Thanks for visiting! MIE