Field Music Meltdown at the Star and Shadow

Urban and Eastern, in partnership with the Star and Shadow Cinema, are delighted to announce that they will be promoting a weekend of film, music and visual art curated by Field Music on November 14 and 15 2008 at the Star and Shadow Cinema.

Field Music: Peter, David and Andrew

Field Music are Sunderland brothers David and Peter Brewis, with their friend Andrew Moore. Uncut called them ‘the garage Beach Boys’ and Mojo made Peter’s The Week That Was debut their album of the month. In short, Field Music are the most vital pop artists in Britain in 2008. More details will follow soon, but following the success of the Cinema’s St. Etienne festival in February, and with The Pastels to come next year, this promises to be another great crossover between the worlds of pop, film and art.

Field Music

School of Language

The Week That Was

Star and Shadow Cinema

Alasdair Roberts at the Star & Shadow

New Wired Folk at the Star + Shadow
Alasdair Roberts / Nathalie Stern / Bridie Jackson / Emily Portman
Star + Shadow Cinema
Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Saturday, September 6 at 7:30pm

Inspired by the Carter Family, Moondog, Harry Partch and the Elliotts of Birtley, New Wired Folk is our fourth evening of challenging roots and folk musics.

Featuring Drag City recording artist and Will Oldham collaborator Alasdair Roberts, Emily Portman (back by overwhelming demand), Swedish electro-folk rounds from Nathalie Stern and Bridie Jackson.

Alasdair Roberts
“While there are echoes of Incredible String Band’s motley eclecticism, the pained isolation of Nick Drake, and British traditional music, this music is original in every way” – BBC

Rubus featuring Emily Portman
“Songs of the English tradition with invigorating energy and grace” – Martin Carthy

Nathalie Stern
“Traditional Swedish folk songs chopped up, glued back together and stashed in a loop pedal” – NARC

Bridie Jackson
“A voice as raw and beautiful as the young Karen Dalton” – CP Quarterly

Alasdair Roberts: alasdairroberts.com
Emily Portman: myspace.com/121645002
Nathalie Stern: myspace.com/nathaliestern
Bridie Jackson: myspace.com/bridiejackson

Tickets: £6 in advance from alt.vinyl / £6.50 on the night

An evening with Momus

An Evening with Momus
Star + Shadow Cinema
Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Saturday, September 20 at 8:00pm

There are few cult figures more disturbing than Momus. With songs about abuse of sexual power, adultery and necrophilia, Momus has been unsettling audiences for nearly twenty years, and counts the Pet Shop Boys, David Bowie and Marilyn Manson as acolytes. In Japan he is followed by screaming teenage girls and now lives full-time in Berlin.

No stranger to physical dysfunction, the ‘tender Scottish pervert’ has not only written a song wherein Clockwork Orange composer and sex-change musician Wendy Carlos travels back in time to meet and marry his pre-operation self, but now wears an eye-patch due to losing an eye after contracting acanthamoeba keratitis from a contact lens case washed with Greek tap water.

His performance at the Star + Shadow will be a one-off date, and a rare trip to the UK. This two-hour “chronological cruise of never-before-performed songs” will be a highlight of the Newcastle gigging year.

Tickets £10 in advance from Alt.vinyl (or on the night if there are any left)

http://imomus.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momus_(artist)
http://imomus.livejournal.com/

New Weird Folk at the Star + Shadow

New Weird Folk at the Star + Shadow Cinema

New Weird Folk at the Star + Shadow Cinema
Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Friday, July 11 at 7:30pm

Inspired by the Carter Family, Moondog, Harry Partch and the Elliotts of Birtley, New Weird Folk is our third evening in a series of successful and challenging roots evenings.

Headlining will be Cath + Phil Tyler, who, said Amazon, are “a very welcome antidote to much of the current tide of fey/faux folk”.

Support is from Sheffield’s Winter North Atlantic, disturbing electro-folk with hints of movie soundtracks and who Wire magazine praised for ” duvet-snug melodies … sculpted as a space for reminiscing, the beats and layers a comfortable bed of memories”. Reference points have been Boards of Canada and Prefuse 73.

Emily Portman also returns to the Star and Shadow, and by popular demand after her star turn at the Murder Ballads evening, Emily is gaining plaudits with every performance and is set to be a major talent.

For those who can get there early, a special bonus will be a screening of Dust to Digital’s documentary on Joe Bussard and Fonotone Records, Desperate Man Blues (2003).

This documentary chronicles the amazing life in music of legendary record collector, Joe Bussard (founder of Fonotone Records). Blues. Gospel. Jazz. Hillbilly. The late 1920s was the big bang of the music industry. King of record collectors Bussard tells the story of “America’s real music” with passionate enthusiasm in his own inimitable style.

The film has an outstanding soundtrack featuring artists Charley Patton, Son House, The Carter Family, Uncle Dave Macon, Blind Willie McTell and a roster of other roots musicians.

Cath and Phil Tyler
Winter North Atlantic
Emily Portman

Desperate Man Blues

And all this for a fiver! You just have to be there!