Monkey Love Records News

Tuesday, 03 August 2010

The brain of Phil Corbett has been working overtime and the outcome is 'Scary Mary's Hairy Beary Fairy Tales', a fabulously unique exhibition of his work where you are invited to meet some of the more unusual characters you probably don’t remember from your childhood fairy tales.

Come and see this funny and slightly disturbing collection of prints and paintings displayed at Odder Bar, 14 Oxford Road, Manchester from August 19th to September 16th 2010. The collection is free of charge to view.



This show is part of this year’s Manchester Pride Fringe, Jackie Crozier, festival director for Manchester Pride, said:
“We all grew up getting told about characters in fairy tales and they became so deeply embedded into our conscious that most people never think about questioning their stories. This show opens up the opportunities within the world of fairy tales and offers us all a chance to revisit our childhood.”

Phil Corbett said:
“It's great to be involved in Manchester Pride, I was hankering for doing a mascot for the event but this will have to do. Maybe they'll let me do it next year! My characters fit firmly into the fun vibe of the event and as a Lancastrian myself; it's good to be working up north again.”

Monkey Love x

Thursday, 01 July 2010

sonofsam had the pleasure of supporting Plaid at Norwich Arts Centre as a part of the increasingly brilliant Spectro nights.

Needless to say, Plaid were quite brilliant showing their full audio/visual skills to a packed NAC.

Here are some shots of sonofsam in action.





Check out Spectro's MySpace page for more ace electronic acts coming to NAC.

Monkey Love x

Friday, 05 March 2010

Out of nowhere sonofsam has acquired a competitive streak and entered 2 remixes competitions this week.

The first is for Victoria and Jacob’s ‘With No Certainty’ which is planned for release by Voga Parochia next month on 7" Vinyl record. You can pre-order this single (there are only 200 available so be quick) via Victoria and Jacob’s website.

This competition will be running until the beginning of April so if any of you out there in webland fancy flexing your remix skillz then pop over to www.victoriaandjacob.net where you will find more details.

Below is sonofsam's submission which you can compare with the original at www.myspace.com/victoriaandjacob

With No Certainty (sonofsam remix)  by  MonkeyLoveRecords

The second remix is for Weezer’s ‘Love Is The Answer’ and the competition is being run through musician website IndabaMusic.

The submission date for this comp is 9th March 2010 so you may need to pull up your remixing socks and get cracking if you fancy getting involved with this one! All the info you need can be found here and the prizes are pretty good too!

The winner will decided by a voting system so check out sonofsam’s track below and do him a favour and give him a vote! You can click on the magic box to hear the remix, the original and place your vote.



Enjoy,

Monkey Love x

Tuesday, 09 February 2010

Phil Corbett shows that his writing skills are just as good as his drawing skills with this fabulously dark and twisted illustrated poetry book about the various parasites that target kittens!

Each of these kitty-characters is blessed with their very own abominable prose to make you smile and giggle while you take in the brazenly gruesome imagery. This book is the perfect alternative bed-time story book to give you sweet dreams and pleasant thoughts!



This item is available in the Monkey Love Shop and can be purchased by following this link of clicking the image above, and remember kids this is an actual book, you don't need an eReader of a fancy iPad to view this, you hold it and turn the real paper pages with your fingers.

For more info on Phil Corbett visit his artist page where you will find more links to his current projects.

Monkey Love x

Tuesday, 05 January 2010

Happy New Year Monkey Lovers!

So starts another year of Monkey magic and we thought we would get off to a flying start with the release of Andy Spragg and sonofsam's word/audio project; 'NumbrStations'.

To those unfamiliar with a Number Station (which we imagine would be just about everyone) here's what Wiki says;

“Numbers stations … are shortwave radio stations of uncertain origin. They generally broadcast artificially generated voices reading streams of numbers, words, letters (sometimes using a spelling alphabet), tunes or Morse code.”

Then, utilising archival recordings of the ‘Number Stations’ broadcasts as a starting point, these two artists worked in collaboration to produce a piece of work that navigates the distance between broad swathes of radio static and sacred text.

So, if you want to know more or are curious to read and hear to what has been produced from such an unusual source then click the image below to visit sonofsam's artist page where you will find this project to download for free under the 'Releases' section.



Also for your consideration;

Blog - www.numberstation.tumblr.com

Twitter - www.twitter.com/numbrstation

Monkey Love x

Monday, 23 November 2009

Below is the press release from an upcoming project featuring Andy Spragg and sonofsam, more details to follow...

“For every sensible line of straightforward statement, there are leagues of senseless cacophonies, verbal jumbles and incoherences” –Jorge Luis Borges ‘The Library of Babel’

“Numbers stations … are shortwave radio stations of uncertain origin. They generally broadcast artificially generated voices reading streams of numbers, words, letters (sometimes using a spelling alphabet), tunes or Morse code.” – Wikipedia entry for ‘Number Stations’

NumbrStations is an innovative new project commissioned by Future Radio in conjunction with Soapbox and the Arts Council. Featuring the talents of writer Andy Spragg (Norwich Poetry Choir, PlacetoNonPlace) and musician Sam Holman (sonofsam, Monkey Love Records), NumbrStations sets out to explore the way in which we apply systems of meaning to the curiosities and ephemera that fringes our everyday experience.

Utilising archival recordings of the ‘Number Stations’ broadcasts as a starting point, these two artists have worked in collaboration to produce a piece of work that navigates the distance between broad swathes of radio static and sacred text. Using a wide variety of experimental methods and a broad spectrum of media, NumbrStations promises to be flawed, babbling and inconcise – but it also promises to be insightful and humane, a meditation in the love of creative process, the necessity to play.

Blog - www.numberstation.tumblr.com

Twitter - www.twitter.com/numbrstation

Monkey Love x

Monday, 02 November 2009

Some footage has been posted by the lovely people at Get on the Soapbox from sonofsam's live set at 'Aural Delights'.

Click the image below to see him in full loop music mode!



Super big thanks to Amy and Jim from Soapbox for putting on the event and filming the acts! Also, check out beat-box supremo Dus-T in full flow. Click here see highlights of his set.

Monkey Love x

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

sonofsam is being let out of his cage for a full live set at 'Aural Delights' at St Gregory's Centre for the Arts, Norwich on Friday 9th October 2009 from around 19:00! Other artists include;

Carmina Louisa Masoliver Marlow
Honest and rhythmic poetry from the heart, delivered with passion from this exceptionally talented UEA student.

Jake Whitbread
Beat poetry engaged with contemporary politics and current affairs, passionate and compelling.

Dus-T
One of the top 10 beatbox artists in the country. Enough said.

For more info click the image below;



Monkey Love x

Wednesday, 05 August 2009

Monkey Love Records are pleased to announce the addition of Tristan Burfield to their wonderful roster.

To introduce himself and celebrate joining our little collective he has a brand new EP that he has agreed to release with us! Composed using sounds from vintage Commodore 64 chips (no sampling, emulation or overdubs), '6 Sid Songs' is exactly what it says it is, sit back and embrace the rich and powerful sounds of discarded consumer hardware!



Click the image above to visit Tristan Burfield's artist page where you will find this album to download for free under the 'Releases' section.

Monkey Love x

Thursday, 02 July 2009

On the back of his recent documentary 'Broadcasting @ Norwich Fringe Festival', Joseph Davison returns with a music video for the sonofsam track 'old people can still do it'.

He says;

'This is the story of a common occurrence told on a psychedelic magic carpet ride! I wanted to take an intangible sonic construct, something that's not typically thought of as mainstream, and give it a graspable visual representation.'

sonofsam is very happy with the outcome, click the image below to watch!



This film is also available to purchase on DVD format, with artwork by Lindsey Crush, in the Monkey Love Shop. Click here for more info.

All the cash from sales will go back into making more underground films,

Monkey Love x

Tuesday, 09 June 2009

Joseph Davison's documentary about 5 musicians that played at this years Norwich Fringe Festival is now ready for your viewing pleasure!

When asked why he made this film he said;

'I wanted to make a documentary that promotes artists who make really good music. I hope to give more exposure to these artists and show people how good they are live, how good they are in reality.'

Well, we think he has done exactly that, click the image below to view this film.



You can find out more about the artists featured in this documentary by clicking the links below;

sonofsam

Floorboy

Girl In A Thunderbolt

Robberriff

Cakes and Ale

Enjoy,

Monkey Love x

Monday, 01 June 2009

The formidable force of Monkey Love Records and Beatbrew were back last month as they brought home another installment of 'Broadcasting...', this time in association with the Norwich Fringe Festival.

Thanks to our wonderful hosts at The Birdcage, whose chilled atmosphere made sure the event went off in style.

Click the image of the artist below for more info;

sonofsam



Floorboy



Girl In A Thunderbolt



Robberriff



Cakes and Ale



There is also a mini-documentary (made by Joseph Davison) about these artists using live footage shot at this event coming soon. We will keep you all posted!

Monkey Love x

Monday, 25 May 2009

Multi-media maestro Joseph Davison has picked up sonofsam's track 'old people can still do it' and made a video for it!

All that we know is that they have been out and about filming for the last couple of weeks and we have these still from one of the shoots to prove it;







They have also told us that a finished version has been cut and it should be out for release soon, we will keep you posted here or you can join the Monkey Love mailing list to be one banana ahead of the bunch!

The track 'old people can still do it' originally appeared on the EP 'And it came from the skies...' and can still be purchased from the Monkey Love Shop.

Visualise!

Monkey Love x

Thursday, 21 May 2009

'Necklace' is the latest EP from Brighton based wunderkind Figit and his debut release on Monkey Love Records.

Bargain for chilled, beautifully produced folk-tronic beats and compelling experimental layered harmonies made over one weekend and inspired by his surroundings and the people he loves.



Click the image above to visit Figit's artist page where you will find this album to download for free under the 'Releases' section.

Beep,

Monkey Love x

Thursday, 21 May 2009

Gumbo, star of previous MLR podcasts seemed to have disappeared for a while. Where did he go the chimps cried, was he never to return? Well, after a three week World Tour which included, Singapore, Austraila and Japan, that mofo is back and ready for action!

Friday, 06 March 2009

Robberriff slides into 2009 with 'Chillerriff', an album jam packed full of playful vibes and sunny tunes guaranteed to put a smile on your face!

This album is a release of material spanning 3 years of experimental shenanigans with electrical musings and is just the beginning of a planned series of albums coming to your ears.



Click the image above to visit Robberriff's artist page where you will find this album to download for free under the 'Releases' section.

Yes! We said FREEEEE!

Enjoy,

Monkey Love x

Tuesday, 10 February 2009

'Broadcasting...' is back as Monkey Love Records artists and Beatbrew djs hook up again for an afternoon of live music from all angles, with very special guests Cakes and Ale AND free entry! What more could you possible ask for?!

The date for this extravaganza of noise is 28th February 2009 and the event will run from around 11.30 am to 4.30 pm @ Norwich Arts Centre. More info can be found by clicking the image below.



Enjoy,

Monkey Love x

Sunday, 01 February 2009

Chip-monster Jellica marks his return from playing Blipfest 2008 with a fab new release entitled 'Cat Deaths and Other Woes'.

Expect more Game Boy 8-bit action than you can shake a chip at as this 7-track EP comprises of 5 original songs and 2 wonderful remixes by Gakona and Steve.



This release is available for free download on Jellica's artist page under, funnily enough, the 'Releases' section, or just click the image above.

Also, still available to download is a recording of Jellica's live set from New York's Blipfest 2008! Get it here.

Finally, make sure you go and check out Jellica's net-label Kittenrock, which has a sexy new layout and hosts loads of AMAZING music from artists all over the world available to download for freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Massive thanks go out to Jellica and the Kittenrock Kru for hooking up with us on this release and meows to Jellica the cat with no ears who died recently.

Monkey Love x

Wednesday, 07 January 2009

Happy New Year Monkey-faces!!! Well it's 2009 and we have only just recovered from the onslaught of live music on offer last month.

First up, Jellica, hopped on a plane State-side to play his Game-Boy at Blipfest 2008. His only report was that it was 'fucking crazy' but you can decide for yourself by downloading Jellica's set from Blipfest here.



Photo taken by minusbaby, you can check out more his stuff here.

Next up, Robberriff played a live bass/laptop set @ Norwich Arts Centre, watch a snippet of him rocking out below.

Robberriff live @ NAC


Thanks also goes out to Beatbrew for providing live visual accompaniment.

Finally, Red Cassette and sonofsam double-teamed a secret Mushroom Party hosted by those fabulous people over at Faceparty, and what a party it was! This is the most coherent picture we could find!



You can hear Red Cassette performing live from this event here (listen past Bloc Party yeah!) and check the lovely words from Faceparty Admin that introduce it, thanks so much for everything!

Monkey Love x

Tuesday, 18 November 2008

The end of November sees two of our favourite artists playing live in two very different places.

First, on Friday 21st, Girl In A Thunderbolt will be supporting Sargasso Trio @ Take 5 in Norwich.

Both acts on the bill are fantastic live and make sure you get there early, as this event takes place in a cellar so expect an intimate atmosphere with a big sound!

A map to this venue can be found here.

Then on Saturday 22nd hop on a plane and shoot over to Belgium (unless you already happen to be there) where Jellica will be playing as a part of 'More Bits' in Alken.

We don't really know much about this event, but if you can read Belgian then click here where you can find out more info about directions, transport and the other acts on the bill.

Or just click the image below.



Live music! YEAH!

Monkey Love x

Sunday, 19 October 2008

Our friend Jellica has his latest release, 'With Love From Grandma' out now on individualist sound label, Retinascan.

This EP is available as a 3" CD-R with some fantastic artwork by Alanna Hauser, get your copy by clicking the image below or check out his MySpace to hear what it sounds like!



Keep it lo-fi,

Monkey Love x

Thursday, 25 September 2008

This weekend's Clutter City Market @ Norwich Arts Centre is hosting two of our lovely artists, along with the marvellous array of stalls selling all manner of hand-made goodies, artwork, clothes and music from independent vendors.



sonofsam will be playing a full live looping set from 12pm followed by Girl In A Thunderbolt @ 1pm, click the poster for more details!

Keep it cluttered,

Monkey Love x

Monday, 08 September 2008

Brighten up your September as this month sees two of our lovely artists playing live!

Girl In A Thunderbolt will be playing on Wednesday 10th @ Norwich Arts Centre as a part of 'The Broken Piano Show'. This event is "an eclectic cabaret of music and words featuring the fierce and beautiful music of Girl in a Thunderbolt, guileless Essex-based poet Jo Overfield, Domestic Goddess Yanny Mac and the musical talents of Dic York." Sounds fab! More info can be found here.

Then, on Thursday 11th @ The Flea Pit, 'Club Moist' brings you Yout [Franck Hopkins]. Expect "laptop jazz-tinged soundscaping" and "a maturity and sensitivity that the usual beats and bleeps crowd would give their right mouse buttons for." Joining our young whipper-snapper on the line-up are Fazzini and O Yuki Conjugate.

Go and enjoy,

Monkey Love x

Tuesday, 05 August 2008

sonofsam's shiny new EP, 'And it came from the skies...' is now available in CD and digital download formats.

This EP is a 4-track trip inspired by lo-fi 8-bit sounds and live instruments including guitars, keyboards, drum programming, Gameboy, vinyl scratching and various other percussion noises.

This release also includes a re-hash of the track 'i got essays to write' which recently featured on the

Tuesday, 15 July 2008

sonofsam was shocked when someone asked if they could play one of his tracks on the radio. He was even more shocked when the request was from the BBC!

The request was for the track 'but i got essays to write' and the request was from Radio 6 Music's 'Introducing with Tom Robinson' show.

A massive thanks to Tom for playing the track and much love to Peter for the great intro!

You can listen again to the full show on the BBC iplayer here.

For full listings of the show click here, or just click the image below and find it for yourselves.

Monkey Love x

Sunday, 13 July 2008

Wow! It's been soooooo long since our last news update, how time flies! You turn your back for a minute and 2 months passes you by.

A mixture of some behind the scenes tweaks and a well needed holiday or two have lead to a massive gap where the news used to be! But fear not young Monkey-news readers, we're back and have many tales to tell!

Since we've been gone we have had word from both Robberriff and sonofsam to say they have completed new releases that will be coming very shortly.

Robberriff will be releasing a 10-track official bootleg album entitled 'Chillerriff' and sonofsam has a 4-track EP entitled 'And it came from the skies...' ready for your listening pleasure.

So, keep your eyes peeled 'cos we've heard them and they sound great!

Finally, a massive congratulations to Kellie The Eagle for poppin' out a brand new bouncing baby boy! Whoop whoop!

Much love,

Monkey Love x

Wednesday, 07 May 2008

Part 3 of the living room tour of America is here!!! Along the way Red Cassette and The Challenge of Feral Green have made many friends and played music in random people's homes.

Here's a little taster of what's been happening...



To see some more of these performances head over to Youtube or click this link to find audio/visual joy.

Now for Part 3...

Penn station, New York. Subway is easy again. Apart from heavy bags make turnstiles fucking awkward. Another problem, but a solution is found. We buy tickets for train and go get pizza. It's fine. A man sits to our left who seems to have nothing but distaste for the world. His expression is a mix between 'when did I get here?', 'who are you?' and 'I have discovered chewing live wasps hurts'. We get the train, we sit in the quiet carraige by accident. Narurally we are not quiet. Angry looks ensue. For some reason my normal articulation expires and it would seem my control of volume is also lost. I talk loud and swear for 45 mins. Sorry. We talk about the music business. Bas teaches me it's best not to insult or start fights with people who want to help you. As alien as this concept appears to me, I take it on board. Lesson to learn.

We get picked up in Pennsylvania by Bill & Peg, Bas' girlfriend's parents. They are friendly and help us with their luggage...The drive is a pleasant one. Peg, who recently completed a bus tour of monuments clues us in on the local area, some history and some society background all delivered in an informed manner. Bill drives and has a dry wit, often adding to Peg's tour guide his own foot notes.

We get to their house around 11. It's large. I am told that it was built in the 1700s and that it's possible that George Washington stayed here. I wish for his room.We have lentil soup (finally something which has grown from the earth and not a factory floor!) Bill offers a beer. I cannot refuse. It's cold. It's Yeungling. He asks if I like it....I do. He tells me it's froms the oldest brewery in the US. 'They've had time to get it right' I say. He smiles. I pass the Yeungling test.

The next day we are introduced to the car. It's questionable. It's fairly old. It has a dent in the bonnet where a tree once was. The clutch is extremely dodgy. But it has chraracter.

The next day we get up around 9. We have breakfast load the car and leave around 11. We hit the road listening to Crosby, Stills and Nash. It's a good feeling, we get slushees and Doritos for the road too. After many wrong turns and missed exits, I still consider my navigational skills as second to none. We get on the 611 route pretty much all the way to Stroudsburg PA. We stop for lunch at a roadside bar. It has real bikers, tattoos, beer battered fries, very large club sandwiches and more 'warm' shrimp than you can shake a stick at.

The view of the mountains and the river are incredible. I see two eagles flying together.

We arrive in Stroudsburg PA late afternoon. The car gets royaly screwed by the hills around there. We kind of make it up their driveway. We are greeted at the door by a bare chested man. He tells us he is working on his bathroom. Hence the nipple exposure. He introduces himself...he is Chris. He offers us cigarettes and beer. I cant refuse, Neither can Bas. We sit and chat for a bit and wait for Diane to come home.There's a moment of, 'Oh my God I am in a complete stranger's house in the middle of nowhere. But I am sure on Chris' part there was 'Oh my God I have two random strangers in my house' so it works out. Balance bubba!..Diane gets in around 9. We sit and chat and watch TV. Chris is a big NY Yankees fan, the Yankees have their own channel....you do the math.

Both Diane and Chris are really nice and make us feel very very welcome. The next day we play disc golf......

Next time in part 4: Bas in a river in his underwear.

Sunday, 20 April 2008

Howdy folks! I know it's been a while coming but here we go...part two. It carries on straight from the last one cos that's how it's written in my diary:
After much more than my pain threshold of tack and witless comedy we pay up and leave.

Two bottles of water, one coffee, NO plastic bag and two paper bags then a walk. We sit in central park on a rock. I begin this diary. Bas relaxes but makes me aware of his inability to live in the moment, bless him. We talk a bout things we left at home. We slowly begin to understand the complexities and subtleties in our differences, our situations and our loves. We go silent, I think about Donna (my girlfriend)...I miss her, but I am safe in the thought of an embrace when I see her next. I cradle myself in that thought for a while. My comfort.

Plan of action: Back to guest house => get bags => taxi to east village => beer => do a radio show.

The first two parts of the plan go swimmingly. The taxi was the first hurdle. We flag one, he pulls over, stops, waves at us confusingly which apparently translates into 'I am not picking you up, I will however stop in the way of where you want a taxi to stop, that WILL take you where you want to go'. Fuck he was helpful. We move. Another driver! Some luck! He asks where we wanna go, we tell him. His answer is some sort of wave. Luckily we are familiar with the New York cabbie 'I cant be arsed to do my job' hand gesture. Another driver emerges from the same...BAR!...He too asks our destination, he says ok, he tells our previous destination enquiror "lets go". I am confused and perplexed. The subtlety and nuance of the cabby is a precious things it seems. An uneasy balance that's easily toppled. We have managed to keep this 'bone china' equilibrium and keep New York transport safe for another day.

We arrive in the east village. We can see the radio station. We head to a bar. Bas is attracted to purple. It's a kind of siren to him, if he was a ship he would be sunken now. What he thought was a bar was infact a closed restaurant. We go back over the street to an actual bar. We sit and have two Brooklyn Lagers. It seems they have managed to tap the 'Tommy-gun essence' and served it in Fl Oz. A marvel of fruity tang.

We head over the road. The radio station. It's in a shop front. I couldn't help but think of Northern Exposure. We have a couple of glasses of Red Wine. It's nice...this surprised me as I don't normally drink wine, but I was in a 'yes' to free drink no matter what it is mood. I play three songs with the traffic and crowds passing by. I enjoy playing, it's a good atmosphere. I play '3 Plays', 'Washed Ashore' and 'Thin King Twice'. The radio station is East Village Radio, the show is Two for Tennis with Tim 'Love' Lee and Mike...sorry can t remember his surname.

So, the first show was a success, the guys at the station were super nice and very welcoming. Thanks for having us guys!!!

More tomorrow people...x

Monday, 14 April 2008

Ok this is part one of my tour diary...I have only been here two days and I have already written like 7 pages in my diary. Here's the lowdown:

A friend of mine, Bas planned to do a liviing room tour of the US. This means asking anyone he knows on myspace or whatever and asking them if they want him to play in their houses. People said yes. He asked me to come too. I said yes. Here is the first few moments...

7th April

Disorganised morning. My usual. Panicked blank mind, do i need this?, have i got those? Just leave...what I haven't got I will have to do without.

Check in. Made simple and sweetened with sugar, helps when dealing with powder faced adolescent girls. All of which are slightly sexual. Our guitars will have to go the luggage separately, I kiss her (guitar) and wave goodbye. ’See you on the other side’. Departure lounge...

Both sandwiches toasted please. Table 21. Bas’ phone glued to his ear, spreading some love before he leaves. Boarded for boredom. 7 hours of nothing ensues... 3 films all become one fanciful flair of fickle falses. One flight lady makes us smile and thanks us for ’being awesome’, truly this is an American experience. Have we arrived? 7 hours in a long room. Did we really go anywhere?

Immigration was simple after they raped my DNA and gene pool via my virgin fingertips.

First taxi ride through New York. Lights, cars, tolls. Very much home from home so far. Driver hardly talks apart from requesting the fair and singing to his CD. The guest house is great...my ’mezzanine bunk’ bed is comfortable and elevated.

We ask for directions to ’places’, we get brilliant noodle soup, which I apologise for not finishing, and our first beer. I manage to make sense of the subway trains, which makes me feel cosmopolitan and ready for the world.

23:30: Enter McGee’s. Pseudo Irish man serves us 2 Samuel Adams. Our second beer in the US. Tasty. Always thirsty for more. Loud sports on a millions screens of verying sizes and success’. An interview with a losing manager of basketball team last a lifetime. His expression says it all. No questions you can ask will be answered more articulately than the look on his face. Another beer. More conversation, home to bed, read. Dark Now.

9th April (time is lost by time zone)

Early morning. The ’Bas machine’ requires constant fuel so I am informed...I join him for ’second breakfast’. Back at hotel we work on rehearsing songs together. My ability to learn vocal parts are questionable. After some ’me time’ in the loo I emerge victorious and capable, zooming through the song. We stay long after check out time in our room playing and singing at the behest of our inn keeper: a friendly somewhat ’old school’ bohemian. His lifestyle includes ’sex art books’, new age woodern masks mounted on walls and elderly couples practising ballroom dancing in his living room. All this is achieved with the addition of a bluetooth headset. But a very welcoming and sweet guy.

Being in New York made my stomach hurt... this was mostly due to the added meat and fat content that is ten fold my normal amount of both or either. With this in mind we go for lunch. I spy a diner with my ’hustle & bustle’ radar. Unfortunately it was clearly malfunctioning, it took us to the ’Stardust’. Essentially a hive of villainous performing arts students who all wanted to be Shirley Temple or Doris Day, as staff. Bas is very excited by all this and as far asI can see can't contain his excitement, it is shown to me in the form of ’yipping’, ’woos’ and even the evil deed of flirting somewhat with ’miss Shuki’, a tree trunk legged harlet waitress with the grace of my inner thigh after an intense rash. Smooth. We both eat what is basically choleserol arranged on a plate, served to us by ’Mr Showtunes Capital of the World’. With root beer too.

I have to go as I am being thrown out of the library...they are at capacity...will contact again soon! bye bye.

Sunday, 13 April 2008

Last week Norwich Arts Centre hosted a Monkey Love Records label showcase.

We're not gonna harp on about how successful this event was or how amazing all the music was over the course of the evening or how you missed out if you didn't make it along.

We're just gonna post some pictures from the night and thanks all those who came, the Norwich Arts Centre for letting us play and Ryan for helping us sound great.

In the aftermath there were a couple of reviews from the evening for sonofsam and Four Annas, which can be found in the image section on their artist pages, many thanks to Simon Parkin for his wonderful words.

Finally, well done to Judith for answering our special Monkey related question correctly and bagging herself a couple of free tickets.

Monkey Love x

sonofsam



Four Annas



Kellie The Eagle



Red Cassette



Robberriff

Sunday, 23 March 2008

The day is Saturday, the date is the 29th March 2008 and the event is Broadcasting...Monkey Love Records @ the Norwich Arts Centre.

This event showcases sets by Red Cassette, Kellie The Eagle (formerly Joy Tourette), Robberriff, Four Annas / Mia and the Lawless (formerly Little Red Box) and sonofsam! Live sets will run from 20:00 until 23:00 with Beatbrew DJs and VJs in the bar 'til 01:00.

With a late bar and a great variety of music, this show will guarantee something for everyone!

We have 2 pairs of tickets to give away for this fantastic gig, all you need to do is answer this simple question;

What is the collective noun for a group of monkeys?

When you have your answer send it over to Sam with your name and contact details and if you are one of the lucky ones we will let you know.

Good luck banana-faces!

Monkey Love x

Sunday, 16 March 2008

Some of the more observant of you out there may have noticed the almost unmentioned name change of the artist formerly known as Joy Tourette.

Well, we thought we would wait until we had all her upgrades fully installed before we announced the arrival of the one and only queen of the skies, Kellie The Eagle!

Many of you out there have asked me; "Why the name change?", and to be honest, I don't really know. All I do know is that since the name change she has been played on BBC Radio 6 twice and made Outline Magazine's 'Track of the Month', which is a pretty good return on a name change, maybe we should all try one!

Joy Tourette maybe gone, but she is certainly not forgotten and will remain with us until the end of time in the form of the 'Cassiopeia' EP, which is available as Limited Edition CD and digital download from the Monkey Love Shop.

You can also see Kellie The Eagle playing live at the end of month @ the Norwich Art Centre, more info can be found here.

Monkey Love x

Friday, 14 March 2008

Kellie The Eagle's 'Cassiopeia' is 'Track of the Month' in this month's Outline magazine.

This track appears on the 'Cassiopeia' EP that Kellie The Eagle recorded under the guise of Joy Tourette and is available as a Limited Edition CD in the Monkey Love Shop.

Outline also gave a preview of our upcoming show by announcing;

"Monkey Love Records aurally say "Ta-dah, this is our tuneful armoury" when they present a showcase of their label favourites at the NAC on the 29th, including Red Cassette, Kellie The Eagle, Four Annas, Robberriff and sonofsam, all acts being of hugely high calibre...I like the way they la, la, la."

Many thanks to Emma for her wonderful words. More info on this event can be found by clicking the image below.

Stay tuned banana fans,

Monkey Love x

Wednesday, 12 March 2008

Norwich Arts Centre was the place to be last weekend as it hosted the debut Clutter City Market, a new, alternative market selling one-of-a-kind goods from clothes and jewellery to music and art. We were there with the fab products from our shop.

There was an impressive turn out by the people of Norwich and the vendors showed a high degree of quality in the work they were selling. There was also great tasting food and live music all day!

If you fancy coming down to the next one or have some cool stuff you want to sell visit the Clutter City website for more details,

Monkey Love x

Tuesday, 19 February 2008

Clothing company, Mathematics, have joined the Monkey Love revolution with the introduction of a brand new and exclusive t-shirt in two fantastic colours. Mathematics say,

'some people will tell you that Mathematics is the science of numbers, enlighten these people, and look totally cool, with this t-shirt.'

Best just do what they say, you can find these t's in the Monkey Love shop or by clicking on one of the images below.

Monkey Love x

 

Saturday, 09 February 2008

Norwich Arts Centre kicks off February with a 2-month "celebration of the D.I.Y. ethic."

"D.I.Y. is an exhibition of designs, text and artwork from record labels, art collectives and publishers involved in D.I.Y. production, exploring the contemporary infrastructure for self-promotion, the platform for cultural specialisms, and the appeal of the hand-made object."

Sounds pretty good!

The event is running from Monday 4th February to Saturday 22nd March and includes work from the following D.I.Y. collectives; ilyaandemilia projects, Arcadian Collective, Harvest Time, MV & EE, Stop/Sharpening/Your/Knives,Undereducated, Motive Sounds, 2+++, Touch and Cabanon Press.

This jamboree of all things 'hand-made' has a diverse line-up of music, visual arts, spoken word and written word artists that culminates on the 29th March 2008 @ Norwich Arts Centre with all Monkey Love Records' artists playing live! We'll tell you more about that later.

For full event listings and links to all collectives taking part in D.I.Y. visit the Norwich Arts Centre website

Monkey Love x

Friday, 08 February 2008

Mark Radcliff and Stuart Maconie have chosen the Sargasso Trio's 'She's a Women' to be a part of this week's "Pick 'n' Mix" selection on their show.

For those of you who don't know,

"each week, Mark and Stuart will pick four new tracks and it's down to you to vote for your favourite. The winning track will be played every day the following week."

This means that if you click over to their BBC webpage you can vote for Sargasso and give them the opportunity to be played all week on Radio 2! Now, wouldn't that be nice...

Support independent music, your vote counts.

Monkey Love x

Sunday, 27 January 2008

Kellie The Eagle got her first taste of BBC radio with the airing of the track 'Metal Bird' on Tom Robinson's 'Introducing...' show.

Big thanks to Tom for playing the track, although he did get the name of the track wrong, don't worry Tom, we forgive you!!!

You can listen again to the full show on the BBC player or you can download an edited podcast version (which still includes 'Metal Bird') here.

For full listings of the show, which includes tracks from Rich Davey, Teeth! and Speed Hearse, click here, where you can also vote for your favourite [Kellie The Eagle] track [Kellie The Eagle]...*cough*.

Or just click the image below and find it for yourselves.

Get VOTING,

Monkey Love x

Saturday, 12 January 2008

Paintings and prints from the brain of the magnificent Phil Corbett will be exhibited @ the Bodhi Gallery from the 25th-30th January.

It looks like this event will be a fantastic showcase mixing East London's brand new cultural centre with Phil's twisted-cartoon-creature-style illustrations. What a perfect combination!

Also, you might want to check out Bodhi's Manga Library while you are there, sounds like it might be fun.

Monkey Love x

Saturday, 12 January 2008

The very nice people over @ Future Radio have kindly sent us a copy of Joy Tourette's interview from the 20th November 2007.

It was her first radio appearance ever, which is one more than me, and she dealt with it impeccably, even remembering to plug her latest release, Cassiopeia. Plus you'll get to listen to some her tracks in-between her wonderful articulations.

Click this link or the image below to experience Joy, quite literally.

Monkey Love x

Friday, 04 January 2008

Red Cassette has exploded onto the MySpace homepage with a live video performance of his quirky little number 'Thin King Twice'. He says,

"OK so, i am on the uk myspace homepage under cool new videos! The bribes have finally paid off (cool new videos...lets hope noone notices it was added a year ago! ha ha) Thanks to you all for your kind words about my hair and music..the hair has changed now i am afraid tho. But carry on discussing its fun."

To know more about Red's hair or to continue reading this blog click here.

To check out the video click here.

Cheers Jana and Will,

Monkey Love x

Sunday, 16 December 2007

We are pleased to announce that graphic designer and illustrator, Will Pointer, has seen the light and joined our little tree-top collective.

With four fantastic Limited Edition prints Will has shown he has the skill and imagination to roll with the big boys at Monkey Love HQ.

You can find these fantastic prints and more info in the 'Art' section of the Monkey Love Shop.

Will Pointer's artist page should be following shortly, but if you can wait 'til then swing over to www.willpointer.co.uk for visual enlightenment and a taste of what's to come...

Do your wall a favour, dress it in something sexy,

Monkey Love x

Wednesday, 12 December 2007

The mighty BeatBrew celebrated 12 months of residency last week with a shin-dig to remember.

Special guest headliner, the one, the only, DJ Vadim, currently in the middle of his World Tour, came to make sure the party went off with a BANG! And it did.

With cracking live visuals and the usual diverse eclectic sounds you can associate with those vinyl-junkie BeatBrew DJs the vibe was set to maximum-fun-setting. Alongside the DJs were superb live sets from Innasekt and Monkey Love's very own beat-maestro; Robberriff, who was laying down some particularly awesome tunes.

Thanks to DJ Vadim and to all who were involved in the night, we all had a blast!

Current BeatBrew live dates and other info can be found on their MySpace,

Feel the fun,

Monkey Love x

Sunday, 02 December 2007

Due to the unfortunate closure of the Fake Science Music Store we've got two fantastic past releases back in the Monkey Love Shop!

Exclusive EP's from Red Cassette and Robberriff that were previously only available on Fake Science have found their way home to the treetop HQ.

Both classic EP's are available to buy as digital download by clicking this link or one of the images below.

Feel the power of the past!

Monkey Love x

 

Sunday, 21 October 2007

Joy Tourette's highly anticipated debut EP entitled 'Cassiopeia' is now available to buy as a Limited Edition CD or as a digital download from the Monkey Love Shop.

This 3 track EP demonstrates perfectly the balance she creates of powerful rhythms and layered harmonic vocals. Be prepared for a unique blend of hypnotic electronica, dark attitude, caustic rhythms and beguiling harmonies with an electro-folk-pop twist.

What a woman!

You can find more info, gigs (next month supporting the sensational Sargasso Trio) and music by Joy Tourette on her artist page. Or she is often seen hanging around, causing mischief on MySpace.

The CD is hotter than a barbequed banana and limited to 200 individually numbered copies. The download is sent out @ 320kbps mp3s with both formats available for purchase by visiting the Monkey Love Shop or by clicking the image below.

Finally, a massive thanks must go to David Pye for mixing this wonderful debut recording, fantastic job all round.

Now go and buy it!

Monkey Love x

Saturday, 20 October 2007

Long-term Monkey Love friends, Fake Science, will be closing their online digital music store from November 1st 2007. This is very sad news.

Fake Science say;

"It is with a heavy heart that we must inform you that on November 1st, 2007 we will be closing the Fake Science Music Store. Fake Science was originally started as a labor of love by four friends who had an idea to help share music with people like you and has since grown into the online music resource it is today. However, we evaluated the amount of investment that it would take to keep the store running, as well as making necessary upgrades to keep the Fake Science standards high. We came to the realization that none of us could realistically keep the commitment due to the weight other important things in our lives, such as families, day jobs, and even other side projects. With this knowledge, we wanted to provide you with an opportunity to get back into to the store and purchase music that may interest you."

Everyone at Monkey Love HQ would like to say a massive thank you to all at Fake Science for everything they have done for us in the past and releasing our music. Undoubtedly, they will continue to be an excellent resource for digital music.

There is still time available to go over to the store and stock up on all that lovely independent music you should have bought ages ago. An EP from Red Cassette or Robberriff wouldn't be a bad place to start, only $2, what a bargain!

GO AND BUY!

Monkey Love x

Tuesday, 16 October 2007

This weekend Norwich hosts the first ever Dumduckerdumb Music Festival.

Running from October 19th - 21st, the festival has arranged an eclectic batch of musical talent for you to feast your hungry ears on. The line up includes "post-folk sonic overlords" Gravenhurst, "acoustic synth-folk" wonders Sargasso Trio and "self-styled freaks and Hip-Hop heads" Def Tex.

As if that wasn't enough to make you jump up and shout 'Whoop!' then the news that Beat Brew will be playing at the Norwich Arts Centre bar just might! The whole gang will be out in force, including our very own sonofsam, so expect pumpin' music and slammin' visuals.

The doors open @ 20:00 and it costs £8 to get in, or you can buy a Weekend Festival Wristband for £30, more info can be gathered by calling 01603 660352.

Do it!

Monkey Love x

Sunday, 07 October 2007

Monkey got a fantastic surprise this week when he found himself between the sheets, page 68 infact, of this month's The Fly magazine.

The wonderful Karen D'Ache wrote these lovely words about us;

"Genre-defying Monkey Love Records has grown from an idea pitched to The Princes Trust a few years back into a collective whose aim is to showcase quality and diverse artists from the Norfolk area. Among its roster is majestic hip-hop producer Robberriff, indie/alt.country maestro Red Cassette, electro-folk meanderer Sonofsam and harmonic songstress Joy Tourette. With plans to branch out into animation, storytelling and club nights Monkey Love is definitely something to watch."

Everyone @ Monkey Love HQ would like to thank Karen very much for her kind and encouraging words.

Plus, she's right, we rock!

Monkey Love x

Saturday, 06 October 2007

We here at Monkey Love HQ have a fondness for giving stuff away.

On our Goodies page not only will you find our banana-busting monthly calendars, IM icons, desktop wallpapers and the wonderful Rupert, but now we have added a stack of free music from all our artists.
This means that you lucky people can just go and help yourselves to the bounty of great music we have on offer.

There are 2 tracks from Red Cassette, one of which appears on his 'Thin King Twice' EP, a live mix and the 'Drifting in Dreams' EP from Robberriff, the 'special days' EP from sonofsam and 2 tracks from Joy Tourette. We will be updating and adding new music from these and other artists in the coming months, until then...

Listen and enjoy,

Monkey Love x

Monday, 01 October 2007

Chip-rockers KittenRock have released "16 tracks, 50 minutes of chippy porno silliness, misogyny, weirdness, bad noises and big fuck injections" in the form of their new Porno-Chip Compilation.

sonofsam appears with the track 'old people can still do it' on a compilation which includes tracks by Goto80, Bit Shifter, Jellica, Josstintimberlake, Mark DeNardo, Ikuma and load of others.

It's another freebee and the artwork looks great! Click this link or the image below to get your own copy.

Naughty,

Monkey Love x

Monday, 01 October 2007

The fantastic Jon Kennedy will be appearing at this month's Beat Brew.

It should be an awesome night which will also feature our very own sonofsam on the wheels of steel!

Get there early to avoid disappointment. Here are the details;

Date: 19th July 2007
Time: 2100-0200
Place: The Mustard Lounge, Westlegate, Norwich, NR1 3NA
Cost: £5

Fun-tastic!

Monkey Love x

Monday, 27 August 2007

sonofsam's brand-spanking-new EP entitled 'special days' is now available. It comprises of 7 tracks that were inspired by birthdays.

Apparently, these tracks were written as gifts as he is "too cheap" to buy actual birthday presents. We don't think this is anything to be ashamed of, in fact we would much prefer a lovely song rather than the useless tat we usually get.

This release has a little bit of everything and shows sonofsam's eclectic lo-fi organic mentality, tracks include a variety of instrumentals and vocal based songs, smashing genres from ambient to hip-hop to lullabies.

You can download a copy for free from his artists page or by clicking on the image below.

Killer,

Monkey Love x

Monday, 13 August 2007

Joy Tourette has appeared in this month's The Fly magazine, buzzing headlong into the Norwich section as a featured artist. It reads;

"Electro-swamp-folk artist Joy Tourette (no relation to that twat from Towers of London) is a one-woman project quite different from the majority of stuff floating around Norwich and beyond. Tourette's music couples harmonic layered vocals with caustic rhythms, plucking snippets from PJ Harvey, Missy Elliot and Tom Waits and mixing it all up to bringing something new and fresh to the arena."

Monkey says, "I agree!" Thanks to Karen D'Ache for her intuitive views on our wonderful songstress. You can find more about Joy Tourette here.

Believe,

Monkey Love x

Wednesday, 08 August 2007

One day, while foraging around the cybernet-world-web of underground music, Jellica found a posting from the ingenius people @ Tone Wars requesting tracks for a compilation they were putting together.

The rules were simple;

"Create a song using the Casio VL Tone as the only source material. Sample it, multi-track, what-ever. The only catch was you can't use outside sounds (i.e. drum machines, synthesizers, acoustic instruments, etc). You can use external sequencers or DAW's to organize the song. Audio FX (distortion, chorus, reverb, pitch shift, etc etc) can also be used to manipulate the VL-Tone, and Vocals could be used as well to allow for some added creativity from the artist."

When Jellica read this he knew exactly what he had to do! He picked up the Monkey Love Hotline and we sent sonofsam swinging over, armed with his VL-Tone, to start working on the latest collaboration from these two super-dudes.

After toying with sounds, melodies, bass lines and enough ADSR to kill a cat, they had a brainwave! Why not use the allowance of vocals to full effect? So an onslaught of beatbox, bom boms, la las and an interesting take on using vocals as drums ensued mixed up in a big pot with lyrics collected from error messages given to them by their computers.

The outcome of this meeting of musically unbalanced minds is titled 'Shared Memory Realm Does Not Exist' and appears along with 19 other tracks from artists all over the globe. You can download the compilation by clicking the image below or by going here.



And it's FREE! That's right, FREE NEW MUSIC! Go get it.

Proxy server!

Monkey Love x

Wednesday, 08 August 2007

To coincide with the new sampler 'Thrifty, Brave and Clean Vol 1', from Boy Scout Recordings, the Betsy Trotwood hosted three of the artists who appeared on this great release.

Belkis, Red Cassette and Sargasso Trio showed how alternative acoustic folk (with a touch of electro) should be done. Look at Red Cassette go! A night of quality music indeed.



If you fancy getting your paws on this sampler, its really good, really cheap, there are loads of artists on it and you can buy it here.

Top banana!,

Monkey Love x

Saturday, 04 August 2007

So it's taken over a week to recover, but the first Monkey Love Records Label Showcase went off without a hitch!

Big thanks to all who came along, Lavar for sorting out the sound, Beat Brew for hosting our troop of artists, Maria and Pete for taking photos and Gumbo's Mum for making some awesome foam versions of Monkey, he was very pleased.

The evening began with Red Cassette showing what a seasoned pro he has become with a barrage of fantastic tracks and sideways humour. His skillful improvisation was clear to see, it's like he has some kind of crazy internal metronome that allows him to change seamlessly between a variety of styles within tracks and not drop a beat. What a guy!



Joy Tourette then made her live debut with four songs that rocked the crowd. Her powerfully emotive voice was intoxicating and her electro beats were perfectly accompanied by Ben from the Sargasso Trio on drums. She sounded fantastic, even grabbing the attention of those noisy people at the back!



sonofsam's unconventional minimal-pop-punk-electronica style took most people by surprise, even himself when he realised he had to sing into a microphone for the first time. He just managed to keep it together with the help of partner in electro, Jellica.



Robberriff, also making his live debut, showed what happens when man and machine merge together in perfect harmony. He ripped out a set with no less that 26 tracks that were so pumping even the break-dancer got tired! Down-tempo, electronic, acid, bass lines, melodies, harmonies, this set HAD IT ALL!



Finally, Jellica took the evening bpm to another level with an 8-bit extravaganza of tunes made on Commodore Amigas and synchronised Game Boys, finishing up with a microcore mega-mix that got all the hardcore ravers dancing! He also did a little bit of singing too.



What a night! We WILL be doing this again, so if you missed out keep an eye on the site or sign up to our mailing list to keep one banana ahead of the bunch,

Monkey Love x

Friday, 13 July 2007

Imagine yourself 7 days from now. You have a smile on your face and you are doing a slightly drunk version of the 'robot dance'. You spill a little bit of your pint on your shoes, but you don't care, you just carry on letting your arm pivot effortlessly left and right at the elbow. You are having fun.

Yes people! The event of the summer is a mere week away and there will be plenty of opportunities to 'robot dance' (or any other dance) your socks off.

Not only are we giving you 6 resident Beat Brew DJ's, who will play you everything from Calypso to Electronica, but we are also giving you ALL the Monkey Love artists playing LIVE, and special 8-bit guest Jellica from underground dance label KittenRock.

'Where is all this happening?' I hear you say. Well, here's all the info;

Date: 19th July 2007
Time: 2130-0300 (live music starts from 2200, so don't be late)
Place: The Mustard Lounge, Westlegate, Norwich, NR1 3NA
Cost: £3

More information about this event can be found on the Beat Brew MySpace or the Monkey Love MySpace.

This event promises to be extremely eclectic and will appeal to the broadest of musical tastes, so if you like music then this is the place to come.

To listen to tracks and get more info on all Monkey Love artists, follow these links;

Red Cassette . sonofsam . Robberriff . Joy Tourette

Finally, in conjunction with this event, Beat Brew head honcho Joe has appeared on Episode 8 of the Monkey Love Podcast with a bundle of dazzling tracks from 'Dave Boakes', 'Jon Kennedy', 'Concrete Breaks Live', 'Robberriff', 'DJ Vadim' (exclusive remix!!!), and 'Funky Wormhole'. It's beat-tastic!

See you Thursday banana-faces,

Monkey Love x

Tuesday, 10 July 2007

Folk-wizard Red Cassette has appeared on a marvellous sampler, released by Boy Scout Recordings, with the track 'Thin King Twice'.

Rough Trade says

'...boy scout recordings provides a home for the worlds best urban pastoralists, or nu pholk artists, or anti folkists... or something like that.'

Nice! Simon Hawkins says

'Talk about a hidden gem. Expecting nothing more than some droll, twee folk, this compilation of singers on the Boy Scout Recordings label is a fantastic introduction to what appears to be a label jammed full of low-fi talent. Run by Tim Love Lee, from his Brooklyn base, TB&C highlights artists from both sides of the Atlantic. Dawn Landes, Turner Cody and Red Cassette are the stand outs, each providing their own off-kilter folk-rock. In a never-ending land of dull and dreary identikit singer-songwriters, it's very uplifting to find a batch of artists who bring something different to the genre. A total and utter surprise. The perfect summer evening album.'

Double nice!

You can get the sampler in CD format from Rough Trade or Selectadisc and in download format from Tune Tribe.

Well done Red!

Monkey Love x

Monday, 09 July 2007

Big news coming, hold onto your tails people...

The Monkey Love Records Shop is now open for business!

Thanks to everybody for all your emails concerning the availability of our products. You can rest assured that 'Shop Monkey' Gregory has been working his little hairy knuckles to the bone gathering together a great selection of them.
These products currently include our very special hand-printed t-shirts, 4-pack badges and 2-pack stickers. We also have a fantastic Monkey Love sampler which includes 10 tracks from all of our artists, a great starter if you are new to our music.

We will be continuing to update the shop with new and exciting products, so keep your eyes peeled.

Not literally peeled though...obviously,

Monkey Love x

Wednesday, 06 June 2007

Our friends are very special to us and most of them are doing some very cool things. We thought it was about time we told you about them and the joy they bring to the world.

First up we have Free Wheels East. These boys are a couple of complete madmen who set off on their bikes on a journey which will take them to over 50 countries and to every one of the worlds great continents, all without the use of an aeroplane. Hell yeah!!!! Now that's what I call cycling! They are about 2 years into their trip and, after a few near death experiences, are currently in South America somewhere.
As I said...madmen, but madmen with a purpose as this trip is all in aid of the charity Practical Action, which 'helps people to use technology in the fight against poverty'.
You can keep up to date with their escapades by visiting their website and if you're feeling flush you can even donate some cash to this great cause.

Moving away from trying to make you part with your money, our record label chums over @ Kitten Rock have a load of FREE music from all their artists available for you to download @ your pleasure. There you will find Grandtheftandrew's NES-style power-pop cover of Queens of the Stone Age's, 'Go with the Flow', Jellica's 'Microparty Megamix', a 22 mix crammed with 60 chipcoremicrorave tracks, Josstintimberlake's 'Amiga Noise Rave EP' and a link to the 8-bit chip music show they hosted on London's Resonance FM, which is pretty cool. Jellica also swung into Monkey Love HQ as a guest on the latest Monkey Love Podcast, you can find more details, track-listings and you can even have a listen here.

Next we have more great music for you from independent digital distributors Fake Science. These lovely people sell digital music from independent musicians and record labels as well as having their own podcast to keep you up-to-date with their new releases. We ran a remix competition with them last year and they are going from strength to strength and now have a eclectic catalogue of fine music. If you ever fancy trying something different, then this is a great place to start...plus you can buy EP's from our very own Red Cassette and Robberriff there so they must have some taste!

Make friends, not war,

Monkey Love x

Saturday, 02 June 2007

Ok, here's how it goes...
Step 1: Get a pen.
Step 2: Open up your diary.
Step 3: Go to the page marked Thursday 19th July 2007.
Step 4: In the space next to that date please write;

"Dear [your name],
Monkey has been asked to remind you that tonight is very special. You must make your way to the Mustard Lounge, Norwich as tonight's the night that Monkey Love Records' artists will be showing what they're made of by playing live all under one roof. It's a bit like 'Toys 'R' Us' but with more live music and more fun."

That's right people! The time has come to let our music do the talking.
Those eclectic people over @ BeatBrew have given us the opportunity to flex our musical muscles by handing us a whole floor of the Mustard Lounge to play our songs.
We do realise that this event is still a while away but we cant keep it a secret any longer...we just HAD to tell someone!

Whoop!

Monkey Love x

Monday, 30 April 2007

Read Conflict Error, the project combining the lo-fi charms of sonofsam and the Nintendo Gameboy skills of Jellica, have made it onto the latest Microdisco compilation.

A big thankyou to Manou for adding them to this eclectic release which includes such 8-bit forerunners as Goto80 and STU.

You can download the compilation here completely free! YES, that's right, FREE!
What more could you possibly ask for?
Ok, maybe a yacht, but who gets a yacht for free?
Not monkey, that's for sure!

Happy Sailing,

Monkey Love x

Tuesday, 17 April 2007

We know a lot of you out there work in those horrible offices, wearing ties and getting headaches from those nasty strip lights.We also realise this is nothing compared to the day-to-day grind and the constant threat of R.S.I., so we have decided to help out by making your time infront of your computer as aesthetically pleasing as possible.

We have a new calendar to brighten up your desktop and if you're super-sneaky (or your I.T. department haven't blocked it) and you can get away with using an Instant Messenger program (MSN, Yahoo, AIM, etc.) we have a set of IM icons you can download and use.
They are way better than that stupid butterfly!
If you don't have access to IM @ work, no fear, the icons will still be there when you get home.

We have also redesigned the home page with lots of pictures so now if you see something you like all you have to do is click on it. It's easy, give it a try.

Thanks to everyone @ Beat Brew for an absolutely fantastic night last week. I was there and because of them Easter officially rocked! If you don't believe me pictures of the night can be found on the Beat Brew MySpace Even sonofsam had a good time, and he played well too, you can read a review of his thoughts on his MySpace.

Party on,

Monkey Love x

Wednesday, 07 March 2007

The Monkey Love shop is entering it's final stages of development and stock has been compiled to fill it's virtual shelves with all kinds of lovely goodies.

Currently we have hand-stencilled t-shirts, some stickers, and badges ready to go. They all look good, especially the t-shirts, we're pretty proud of our stencil skillz yo!

Our lovely artists are working flat out to get their new material finished and put our stencilling to shame.

Red Cassette has finished an EP entitled 'The Club Of The Sons' which is just waiting to be mastered. We've heard it, it sounds amazing, you can listen to a couple of tracks included on the EP @ his MySpace page.

Robberriff is in a very similar position. He's been locked up in a room with a couple of cats pushing limitless boundries around a cosmic void and creating some amazing cuts.

Joy Tourette has a 3 track EP ready to be mastered. We're not sure what the title will be but you can find rough mixes of the tracks on her MySpace.

Unfortunately, lazy sonofsam is letting the side down. He has reliably informed us that he "is working on stuff". This "stuff" can be found here. He also let us know that he's started working with 8-Bit Gameboy guru Jellica on a new project called Read Conflict Error.

March's calendar is up and features the beautiful Maiko. All of us have a little crush on her to be honest. Make your desktop look as sexy as she does by clicking on the little one to get a bigger one. Ooh la la!

Monkey Love x

Friday, 09 February 2007

Now we are firmly in 2007, and the cold days and nights are still with us, we want to help you through those dark times by bringing a little bit of colour and functionality to your life. That's right! Colour AND functionality, we aren't just a bunch of pretty faces you know. Every month you will find a brand-spanking-new calendar here. They are great fun and can be downloaded to brighten up your desktop or printed out to stick in you tree-house. Now you will always have an answer to that age-old question "What's the date today?".

Thanks to all those who came out to gigs recently. Red Cassette showed his skills @ the Arts Centre in Norwich with the Sargasso Trio and @ the Camden Barfly supporting Richard Swift, two fabulous nights of music. You can read a review of the Arts Centre gig here.

Then at the beginning of the month sonofsam helped rip it up @ Beat Brew. Unfortunately there are no reviews for this event but I was there so let me see if I can remember...dancing, scratching, reggae, smiles and free badges. What more could you possibly want? There will be another installment on the 1st March 2007. More badges are promised!

Finally, thanks to Leon and Matt for their wit and wisdom as guests on the latest podcast. You can subscribe in itunes or download the mp3 here

Whoop!

Monkey Love x

Sunday, 07 January 2007

This month's gigs seem to be all about Red Cassette.

On 18th January 2007 he will be playing @ the Camden Rock Cafe, which was formally The Caernarvon Castle, here's a map!

Then on the 27th January 2007 he is @ the Norwich Arts Centre playing on a fantastic bill which is headlined by the Sargasso Trio. You can book tickets online here or you can call Norwich Arts Centre Box Office on (01603) 660352.

Finally, Rough Trade and Pom Pom Promotions presents Richard Swift supported by Red Cassette @ the Camden Barfly on the 30th January 2007. You can get tickets for this incredible event here through TicketWeb.

Full details (including maps) for all these gigs can be found on @ Red Cassette's artist page, where you can also find some of his music if you want to learn the words and sing along when you come and see him.

Wink,

Monkey Love x

Sunday, 17 December 2006

It's that time of year again and sleigh bells will soon be ringing out for all you good boys and girls. It's also the time of year that sonofsam shifts out of his usual 'bah humbug!' mood and the festive love starts to warm his cold soul.

This year he has called out to all that would listen and compiled an ensemble of musicians so fine that even Bob Geldof would weep.

Huge thanks go out to all the artists that gave their time and effort to help make this track possible and special thanks to Dr. Dru for his beautiful programming.

We are proud to present a sonofsam slant on 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'
Here is the full list of artists in the order they appear on the track;
Dave B
Ben [AT]
Becx Whyte
Red Cassette
Peter [AT]
Joy Tourette
Jellica
Dr. Dru
Grand Theft Andrew
and sonofsam

You can download the track here. We hope you enjoy it.

Have a wonderful holiday everyone,

Monkey Love x

sonofsam would like to dedicate this track to Skywalker AKA Piggie Smalls, AKA Notorious P.I.G. Rest In Peace.

Sunday, 17 December 2006

The first ever Beat Brew night did it's job fantastically well and convinced everyone who came that a Tuesday was a Saturday!

A massive thanks to Joe and James @ Beat Brew for letting sonofsam play a couple of DJ sets and to all those people who braved the cold and danced their socks off!

The good news is that the boys now have a couple more dates booked in for early next year.
We will keep you updated.

Monkey Love x

Sunday, 03 December 2006

News! The Monkey Love Records Podcast is now available.

Whoop!

Bringing to you some of the eclectic styles of music that passes through Monkey Love HQ, with a dash of news and a twist of lime.

There are two ways of listening, so pay attention.

You can either subscribe to the podcast by adding the feed below to your iTunes media player. You can do this by going to 'Advaced' in the menu and clicking 'Subscribe to Podcast', then just add the .xml feed.

http://www.monkeyloverecords.com/podcast.xml

Or, you can just download it directly here

Bring the noise!

Monkey Love x

Friday, 01 December 2006

The Monkey Love Records podcast will be swinging it's way to you all very shortly.

YAY!

Episodes 1, 2 and 3 are in the bag and Episode 4 is set-up and ready to rock!

If you want to submit any tracks for us to listen to and play then you can send them to podcast@monkeyloverecords.com, we don't mind who you are, if we like the track, you'll get a play.

Also, we want to use these podcasts for live and interview slots, so if you fancy appearing on one then get in contact.

Nice,

Monkey Love x

Thursday, 02 November 2006

Red Cassette showed what he was made of on Wednesday night supporting C/O/R/D @ 100 Club on Oxford Street.

Thanks to C/O/R/D for letting him play, it was a great night, also with support from The Fourers who played a great set.

Tracks from our man included '3 Plays', 'In My Catastrophe' and 'Raise a Glass...' which all can be found in Red Cassette's Rupert music player, so you can hear what you might have missed out on by copying the code into your MySpace account.

Feel the power!

Monkey Love x

Tuesday, 24 October 2006

The time has come to welcome a fantastic new member of the Tree-Top Troop!

His name is Rupert, he is a robot, and he is here to attend to all your media needs.

You can find him in the scrolling picture window on the homepage (then just click on his lovely image) or you can open him here.

If you are a member of MySpace then you can even have your very own Rupert! Just copy the code below, paste it into your profile, save it, sit back and enjoy.

<param name="movie" value="http://www.monkeyloverecords.com/rupert/mlr_rupert_robot.swf"><param name="quality" value="high"><embed allowScriptAccess="never" allowNetworking="internal" enableJavaScript="false" src="http://www.monkeyloverecords.com/rupert/mlr_rupert_robot.swf" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="375" width="425"><br/> Check more Monkey stuff at <a href="http://www.monkeyloverecords.com" target=_blank>Monkey Love Records</a>

At present he has a full track from each of our artists stored in him for your listening pleasure, just click on the track to give it a listen! They're all FANTASTIC!!!

You can even talk to Rupert if you sign up to the Monkey Love Mailing List. He's a bit strange but hey, who isn't?!

There is plenty more to come from this metallic wonder, so keep your eyes on him!

ERRKKK!!!

Monkey Love x

Monday, 02 October 2006

The voting has finished and the results are in!

Congratulations to Peter Bokor (aka Boka) who has a brand-spanking new iPod Nano swinging it's way over to him.

Thanks again to all the other artists who took the time and effort to enter, your contribution is much appreciated.

If you want to hear the winning entry, or any of the other remixes, go over to Fake Science and listen. You can ALSO download all the remixes free of charge on the same page.

Well, go on then...

Monkey Love x

Tuesday, 29 August 2006

The Monkey Love Records and Fake Science Robberriff remix competition has come to a close and NOW it's time for YOU to VOTE!!!

If you're not already a member, then just sign-up here, it's easy and free.

When you have done that (or if you are already a member) all you have to do is:
1. Login into Fake Science
2. Go to the Robberriff remix page and the vote links will be displayed
3. Choose the remix you feel is best
4. Confirm your vote
5. Done!!
It's as simple as that!

You can listen to or download the remixes here.

I am very happy with the quality of these remixes so I suggest you all get over to Fake Science, listen to the tracks and have a vote. Someone has got to win that darn iPod, just think how happy you could make them feel!

Finally, many thanks to Fake Science for staging this competition and thanks to all those who have taken the time to enter.

Good Luck!

Monkey Love x

Wednesday, 26 July 2006

Our resident beat-maker Robberriff has an exclusive (and free) mix of down-tempo hip-hop, dub and electronica on his Monkey Love artist's page. This 'Perspective' mix is made-up of all his own material and blended by his own fair hand...what a guy! You can also find some of these tracks (unmixed) playing on his myspace page.

Next up, Chevy Chevy Golf has hit the big time by appearing on MySpace as a featured blog!!! YAY! I love this blog and I recommend it to anyone! (especially those of you who are fans of '80's movies, fast cars and a par 3)To follow the adventures of Gordon Lapwing simply sign up @ his myspace page and enjoy...

Ok, back to the music... Red Cassette has some live dates coming up;

3rd August 2006 @ The Mustard Lounge (with Alex Hill),
Westlegate, Norwich NR1 3NA.

4th August 2006 @ Horsford Brickmaker's Arms (with The Ida Mae Band),
218 Holt Rd, Norwich NR10 3ER.

29th September 2006 @ Norwich Arts Center (with Coma-Toes),
St.Benedict's Street, Norwich NR2 4PG.

If you get the chance, go to these gigs!!! You will not be disappointed! He is AWESOME live.

and last, but by-no-means least, is the news that we have added something to our 'Goodies' section! Our first desktop images are ready for you to download and make your screen look super sexy!!! We have three designs available, all of which look fantastic! Take a peek here

Monkey Love x

Sunday, 11 June 2006

For your interest, the clever boys over @ Anti-Theatre have crafted a splendid mailing list so you monkey-loving people can keep up-to-date with all the latest happenings from Monkey Love HQ.

All you need to do is follow this link and fill in the boxes. Easy.

OR, you can sign up on any of our artist's myspace pages;
Red Cassette
Robberriff
Joy Tourette
sonofsam

You'll also get to meet Rupert if you sign up...

You lucky people!

Monkey Love x

Wednesday, 07 June 2006

The fantastic Joy Tourette has joined the Monkey Love ranks and we are really pleased to have her here.
Keep an eye on the site for upcoming gigs, news, and tracks from her marvelous self.
AND you can be her myspace friend here, go on...we all need friends.

Next up, we have a new artists format on the site, with extra artists pages full of stuff thats really cool!
Hmm, you dont believe me? Ok, we're giving a Red Cassette video here and a sonofsam video here, we're giving you the chance to win an iPod nano by remixing a Robberriff track here and we've also given you some musical scores written by Red Cassette for you to interpret here!

WOW! You have to admit...thats pretty good!

PLUS, loads of free downloads featuring all our artists!

Then, for dessert head over to Chevy Chevy Golf for some funny stuff involving Gordon Lapwing and his dream of miniature cars, film stars and ball swinging!

Until next time,

Monkey Love x

Tuesday, 16 May 2006

Those amazing boys over @ Fake Science are running a very interesting competition where YOU can win a 2 gigabyte iPod nano just by simply being good!

They have taken 'Stringing Away Revisited', a track from Robberriff’s latest release, Lifebreath EP, and have made it available for you talented bunch to cut, splice, chop, rinse, sample and REWIND!

Ok, maybe not the 'rewind', but this is your chance to have a go @ a re-mix and maybe win an iPod. Pretty good eh?

If you fancy giving it a shot then shoot over here for more details...

Good luck,

Monkey Love x

Wednesday, 03 May 2006

Monkey Love Records first release, Lifebreath EP, is now available exclusively @ Fake Science online music store. Obviously we are all very happy about this and would like to take the opportunity to say thanks to the boys from sunny California for apprechiating good music and making this EP available on their store!

Robberriff’s Lifebreath EP is a five-track collection of down-tempo, hip-hop and electronica. Buy or listen here.

It's available in mp3 download form only and costs $2 (about £1.20, which is less than a couple of bunches of bananas!)

Also, Robberriff's Drifting In Dreams EP is available on his artists page for free download. Go and get it! Well go on...it's free!

Please support independent artists,

many thanks,

Monkey Love x

Tuesday, 02 May 2006

These are the words of a Mr. Gordon Lapwing, creator of a new kind of 'concept golf'. If you like film stars, cars and golf...then we have something right up your fairway!

Chevy Chevy Golf is a dream Gordon wants to see come true from conception to creation. He is living proof that all you need is a good idea, a lot of hard work, a redundancy and a famous 80's comedy film star to make a beautiful new and exciting game. It involves most aspects of MY daily life...fast cars...film stars...golf!

Of course I'm joking...I hate golf, but I love Gordon. Visit his myspace and read his blog, become his friend, do what he asks of us and HELP him in any way you can!

Monkey Love x

Saturday, 22 April 2006

What a week for Red Cassette! Podcasts, cancelled gigs and NOW...front page of myspace music!

You can see him in all his glory here, just scroll past Gnarls Barkley to 'featured arists' and there he is!

Go on...go be his friend.

Monkey Love x

Thursday, 20 April 2006

Unfortunately for you and I and him, Red Cassette's last TWO gigs have been cancelled! Last Monday @ The Dogstar in Brixton and tomorrow @ The Caernarvon Castle in Camden.

To say we are a little miffed would be an understatement, but HEY, these things happen and we can only apologise and keep you updated on the re-scheduled dates! Can't say fairer than that now can you? Also, keep an eye on Red Cassette's myspace for more details.

BUT now for the good news...

Red Cassette WILL be playing @ Beyond Retro Vintage Clothes Store this Saturday (the 22nd). He will be on about 15:00, so go down there, have a listen and maybe a little bit of shopping...pick up a nice pair of retro levis or a jacket!

For more information visit his artist page or click here for a map!

Monkey Love x

Saturday, 15 April 2006

Notes Underground continues it's Interview Series with a live set and interview from our very own Red Cassette.

It features a host of our favourite Red Cassette tracks, including 'Thin King Twice' and 'His Moniker Was An Alias' which are both available to download (for free!!) from the Red Cassette artist page.

A really great show, in a long line of really great shows that you all should subscibe to!

Listen here for indie folk fun and a mention of me! YAY!

Monkey Love x

Friday, 14 April 2006

Firstly I’d like to say a massive ‘thank you’ to Anti-Theatre for all the work they have done so far in designing and creating this beautiful website and, more importantly, for putting up with my constant stream of silly questions.