Acting as a bridge between No-Man’s elegiac 2008 return Schoolyard Ghosts and the forthcoming live concert DVD Mixtaped, Wherever There Is Light is a strictly limited edition release.

From Schoolyard Ghosts, the poignant title track features guest performances from US pedal steel legend Bruce Kaphan (American Music Club/Red House Painters) and Theo Travis.

The alt-country tinged Death Was California and the atmospheric Counting are two new songs especially written for the EP, while Carolina Skeletons and All The Blue Changes are the first recordings released from No-Man’s Autumn 2008 mini-tour.

Also containing Grant Wakefied’s poetic video for the title track, a powerful preview from the Mixtaped DVD, and striking Carl Glover designed artwork, the enhanced Wherever There Is Light EP is a rare and beautiful thing from the band Uncut memorably described as ‘Britain’s most underrated sorrowful sonic architects’.

Wherever There Is Light is already available from the Kscope store but will available in stores from August 24th.

Click here for the web page for the Wherever There Is Light, which features audio samples from the ep, as well as live footage of title track Wherever There Is Light, taken from the Mixtaped DVD.

Mixtaped is a double DVD set and will be available from 5th October. The set comprises the band’s sell-out performance at London’s Bush Hall in 2008, a comprehensive career-spanning documentary, and numerous extras (including newly commissioned and archive video footage), and provides a fascinating insight into one of British music’s most unusual cult heroes.

Mixtaped Disc One:

No-Man’s complete Bush Hall live performance with 5.1 and stereo options (90 mins).

Live photo gallery – Including photos from all three of No-Man’s first live concerts in 15 years, with an exclusive soundtrack of the song Housekeeping (recorded live in Dusseldorf).

Mixtaped Disc Two:

Returning – A 90 minute career-spanning documentary including previously unseen footage, photos and images, and in-depth interviews with every member of No-Man past and present (including Tim Bowness, Steven Wilson, Ben Coleman and Chris Maitland).

Extras – Complete videos for several No-Man songs spanning 1990-2008.
Rare live footage.
No-Man ‘live timeline’.
Easter eggs.

Kscope is pleased to announce that the Danse Macabre mix is the winner of the recent Steven Wilson remix competition.

The remix of Abandoner created by Łukasz Langa (www.DailyImprov.net) topped the poll on the Insurgentes mini-site which offered fans the chance to vote for their favourite mix from the eight finalists selected by Steven. This mix will now feature on the CD and download versions of the NSRGNTS RMXS mini-album, alongside mixes from David A. Sitek (TV On The Radio), Dälek, Engineers, Pat Mastelotto and Fear Falls Burning.

We received over 200 entries to the competition, each of which were listened to personally by Steven. He was so impressed by the response and the quality and diversity of the entries that we have decided to launch a new competition to coincide with the release of NSRGNTS RMXS. For this competition rather than asking for people to remix a track, we are instead inviting people to create a video for one of the tracks.

Full details will follow shortly so make sure to check back to the site regularly or sign up to the mailing list, Twitter or RSS feeds.

New release featuring remixes of tracks from Steven Wilson’s Insurgentes album

REMIXES BY DAVID A. SITEK (TV ON THE RADIO) , Dälek, ENGINEERS, PAT MASTELOTTO (KING CRIMSON) AND FEAR FALLS BURNING

Insurgentes, the debut album from Steven Wilson, was released earlier this year on Kscope. The album immediately received a rapturous reception from not just fans and critics but also from fellow artists. Several of these artists have remixed tracks from the album and NSRGNTS RMXS is a collection of some of these remixes.

The CD edition features a mix of the albums opening track Harmony Korine by David A. Sitek, currently enjoying massive critical acclaim for the new TV On The Radio album. Underground hip-hop pioneers Dälek have created a dark, brooding mix of Get All You Deserve (think Massive Attack meets UNKLE). Engineers, who return on July 6th with their new album Three Fact Fader, have brought their widescreen sound to Abandoner while Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson, XTC) has created a sprawling mix of Salvaging and drone act Fear Falls Burning have also reworked Get All You Deserve.

The 12”vinyl edition of NSRGNTS RMXS will only available from the Kscope store. It also features the David A. Sitek mix along with two mixes of Only Child by Pat Mastelotto.

The full tracklist for the vinyl is:
A1. Harmony Korine (David A Sitek mix) 5.14
B1. Only Child (Pat Mastelotto mix 3) 4.32
B3. Only Child (Pat Mastelotto mix 1) 5.56

The mini-album is completed by the winner of the remix competition. The competition offered fans the chance to remix the Insurgentes track Abandoner. With the competition now closed Steven has listened to all the entries and whittled them down to a final eight mixes. The eight mixes are now up on the insurgentes mini-site giving fans the chance to vote for their favourite. Voting ends on Friday May 29th.

The full tracklist for the CD is:
1. Harmony Korine (Magnetized Nebula remix by David A Sitek)
2. Get All You Deserve (Dälek mix)
3. Abandoner (Engineers mix)
4. Salvaging (Pat Mastelotto mix)
5. Get All You Deserve (Fear Falls Burning mix)
6. Abandoner (Remix Competition winner)

A digital edition will also be available which will collects all six tracks available on the CD and 12”.

NSRGNTS RMXS is available now from the Kscope store.

Engineers are back. Four years after the release of their landmark debut, the band return with their epic second album, Three Fact Fader.

The 13-track album was produced by the band along with Ken Thomas (Sigur Rós, M83, Maps) over a period of two years, with the final tracks being completed earlier this year. It comes packaged in stunning artwork by legendary music photographer Tom Sheehan.

Engineers are not like any other band. Onstage Simon Phipps is the singer, Dan Macbean is the guitarist, Mark Peters is the bassist and Sweeney is the drummer, but the real clue is in their name: they approach their music like engineers, carefully constructing wonderful walls of sound.

Following the rapturous reception that greeted their mini-album Folly in 2004 and debut Engineers the following year, it’s taken them a long time to build their epic second album, Three Fact Fader. After initial recording sessions, Engineers became unwitting victims of record company restructuring and the album was left in limbo, unfinished until the band reconvened earlier this year, largely motivated by public support.

The band have now found a home on Kscope and Three Fact Fader will be released on July 6th.

More information on Engineers and Three Fact Fader can be found at the new website at www.kscopemusic.com/engineers. The site also features a free mp3, remixes, videos, downloads, gallery and more.

You can also pre-order the album from the site. All orders placed through the Kscope store will come with an exclusive 2 track CD featuring the radio edit of the single Clean Coloured Wire and the Steven Wilson remix of Sometimes I Realise. This will be the only physical release of these tracks and will only be available from this site.

The band will be playing their first gig for over two years on July 10th at Bush Hall, London. For the gig they will be joined by Ulrich Schnauss and keyboard legend Richard Barbieri (Japan /Porcupine Tree) will also be performing a rare live set. Tickets are available from ticket web and we got tickets.

Insurgentes, the debut solo album from Steven Wilson, is released in the UK on March 9th and during the week of release Steven will be visiting key independent record shops in London, Cheltenham, Cardiff and Bristol to sign copies of the album. Details of exactly where and when are below.

A vinyl edition of the album is now available to pre-order from the Kscope store. The vinyl edition will be limited to 2000 copies and will come on double heavyweight (180g) vinyl in a gatefold sleeve. This edition shall only be available from this site. It also features 4 bonus tracks not available on the CD/DVD edition.
 
Harmony Korine, the first single to be taken from the album, is now available to pre-order from the Kscope store. The single is available on limited edition coloured vinyl (black, white or blood red – 1000 copies of each). 

Lasse Hoile, the acclaimed director and long-time collaborator with Steven, has made a promo video for the single. You can check it out on the Insurgentes mini-site.
 
The mini-site also features clips taken from the forthcoming Insurgentes documentary. In the film Steven tests various ways to destroy an iPod and every week leading up to the release of the album snippets of the film shall be posted on the site, showing a different method of destruction ranging from hammers to shotguns to woodchippers. Click here to view the iPod destruction.

We have received a large number of entries for the remix competition that is running on the website but some people have contacting us to ask if we can extend the deadline for entries so we have decided to move it back to March 27^th.
 
UK instore signing sessions;
 
Monday 9th March 5.30pm
Sister Ray
34-35 Berwick Street, London, WIV 8RP
 
Tuesday 10th March 5.30pm
Rise
Unit 19, Beechwood Centre, Cheltenham, GL50 1DQ
 
Wednesday 11th March 5.30pm
Spillers Records
36 The Hayes, Cardiff, CF10 1AJ
  
Thursday 12th March 6.00pm
Fopp Bristol
27-29 College Green, Bristol, BS1 5TD

A new mini-site for Insurgentes is now online at www.insurgentes.org. In addition to audio clips, a free mp3 and downloads, the site also features a remix competition. The remix that Steven judges to be best will be included on a future official Steven Wilson release. If you are looking for some inspiration, there are two new mixes from Engineers (Kscope’s newest act) and Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson) already available to stream on the site.

The first single to be taken from the album, Harmony Korine, is available to pre-order from the site. Harmony Korine will be issued as a limited edition 7 inch vinyl single in a choice of three different colours – black, white, and blood red, each limited to 1,000 copies. The single will only be available through the mini-site.

A video for Harmony Korine is currently being made by long time collaborator Lasse Hoile and will be streamed from the site as soon as it’s ready! Lasse is also putting the finishing touches to the Insurgentes documentary. Trailers for the film are also streaming on the mini-site.

The mini-site also includes;
• Free mp3 track download
• Remix competition – winner to be included on an official Steven Wilson release
• New mixes from Engineers  and Pat Mastelotto
• Pre-order links for ltd edition 7″ single Harmony Korine (only available from the mini-site)
• Audio streams
• Video for Harmony Korine coming soon
• Trailers from the forthcoming Insurgentes documentary, filmed by Lasse Hoile
• Web and mobile phone downloads
• Artwork Gallery
• IPod destruction videos coming soon

Acclaimed for his work with Porcupine Tree, Opeth and Anja Garbarek amongst others, Steven Wilson’s debut album Insurgentes will be released on Kscope on the 9th of March 2009 (24th February in the US and digitally from 16th February)

Comprising 10 new tracks that range from ballads and anthems to all-out industrial noise assaults, the dark, cinematic and richly textured album represents two years’ worth of creative output and numerous recording sessions worldwide in studios from Mexico City to Japan and Israel. 

While Wilson is a member of several bands including Blackfield, No-Man and Bass Communion, he explains that: “when I began writing these songs, I quickly realized that they would be best suited to an album under my own name.  It was an intuitive, almost unconscious writing process that resulted in a kind of ‘poetry of melancholy.”  The final product inhabits a similar experimental realm as recent albums by Thom Yorke, Portishead, and Nine Inch Nails.


Wilson recruited a stellar cast of guests to work on the album including bassist Tony Levin, drummer Gavin Harrison, and keyboardist Jordan Rudess, alongside Japanese Koto player Michiyo Yagi, British guitarist Sand Snowman, and jazz flautist and saxophonist Theo Travis.

The Kscope edition of Insurgentes, the solo album from Steven Wilson is now available to pre-order from the Kscope store.

Insurgentes will be ship from 24th February, but you if you pre-order it now you will receive a link to download the album in 256kb mp3 format to listen to while you wait for your physical copy to arrive. Orders placed through this website will also include a free exclusive postcard.

Acclaimed for his work with Porcupine Tree, Opeth and Anja Garbarek amongst others, Insurgentes is Steven Wilson’s debut solo album. Comprising 10 new tracks that range from ballads and anthems to all-out industrial noise assaults, the dark, cinematic and richly textured album represents two years worth of creative output and numerous recording sessions worldwide in studios from Mexico City to Japan and Israel. 

To watch a trailer set to the first song from the album, Harmony Korine and to hear more music from the album visit www.insurgentes.org 

While Wilson is a member of several bands including Blackfield, No-Man and Bass Communion, he explains that “when I began writing these songs, I quickly realized that they would be best suited to an album under my own name.  It was an intuitive, almost unconscious writing process that resulted in a kind of ‘poetry of melancholy.”  The final product inhabits a similar experimental realm as recent albums by Thom Yorke, Portishead, and Nine Inch Nails.

For the album, the first of a three album deal with Kscope, Wilson recruited a stellar cast of guests to work on the album including bassist Tony Levin, drummer Gavin Harrison, and keyboardist Jordan Rudess, alongside Japanese Koto player Michiyo Yagi, British guitarist Sand Snowman, and jazz flautist and saxophonist Theo Travis. 

This edition consists of a 2 disc set in a rigid hardback digibook with 36 page booklet. Disc one is the already acclaimed 10 track album on stereo CD, and disc two is a DVD-A containing the album in higher resolution 24 bit stereo and 5.1 surround sound (in high res DVD-A and DTS version compatible with any DVD player), an 18 minute extract from Insurgentes film, and 2 album trailers.

Tracklist:
Harmony Korine
Abandoner
Salvaging
Veneno Para Las Hadas
No Twilight
Significant Other
Only Child
Twilight Coda
Get All You Deserve
Insurgentes

New solo album from Japan and Porcupine Tree legend Richard Barbieri

Spanning four decades, Richard Barbieri’s eclectic musical career has encompassed innovative contributions to Japan in the 1980s and contemporary worldwide success with Porcupine Tree.

Following the artistic and critical success of his 2005 debut album Things Buried, Stranger Inside further develops Barbieri’s unique approach to texture, harmony and rhythm.

Writing and producing the album himself, the album includes contributions from long-term creative partners Steve Jansen (mixing/ 
co-arranging), Steven Wilson (mastering), Gavin Harrison (drums) and  
the legendary double bass player, Danny Thompson (currently enjoying  
renewed acclaim as part of the reformed Pentangle).

Although instrumental in nature, most tracks feature radical and atmospheric manipulations of the sampled voices of Tim Bowness and Suzanne Barbieri.

The CD comes in digipack artwork by Carl Glover and Luigi Colasanti.

Stranger Inside is in stores from September 15th and will be available digitally from September 8th.

To listen to a six minute sampler of the album, download desktops and more, go to www.kscopemusic.com/richardbarbieri/strangerinside

Tracklist:
Cave
All Fall Down
Hypnotek
Decay
Abyssn
Byzantium
Morphia
Retina Blur
Stranger Inside

July 2008, Issue 120.
Review reads:

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

In the five years since No-Man’s aptly titled Together We’re Stranger appeared, Steve Wilson has been busy conquering the world with Porcupine Tree. Thankfully he’s continued working with singer Tim Bowness to produce an album that sits half-way between The Blue Nile’s soul-searching melancholia and the edgy menace of Laughing Stock-era Talk Talk.

Bowness’ haunted, breathy croon narrates tales of late-night heartache, rain-swept affairs and bitter-sweet long-lost summer days. Accompanied by surges of orchestral strings, icy ripples of retro-sounding guitar, it’s a soundtrack where darkness lurks below the glacial beauty of the surface. Mixtaped’s pensive air is the hair-rising closer where loss, loneliness and regret have never sounded more appealing or inviting.

Truly sublime.
9/10

Sid Smith

No-Man will be performing their first full concert since 1993 at the Bush Hall, London, on August 29th (Doors open 8pm).

The gig will be filmed for possible DVD release and there are plans (as yet unconfirmed) for a European mini-tour to follow in December, 2008.

Tickets are available directly from the band, click here for details

Schoolyard Ghosts, the new album from No-Man, is released on Monday.

Written and recorded between Autumn 2007 and Spring 2008, Schoolyard Ghosts is a distinctive combination of beautifully detailed songwriting, haunting melodies and inventively cinematic production. The album sees No-Man’s core duo of Tim Bowness and Steven Wilson expanding the band’s sonic palette by collaborating with, amongst others Californian pedal steel ace Bruce Kaphan, saxophonist/flautist Theo Travis, drummers Pat Mastelotto and Gavin Harrison, and the London Session Orchestra (arranged by Dave Stewart).

Schoolyard Ghosts reveals the band taking its accessible and ambitious blend of Post-Rock and Singer-songwriter influences to an even more focused and personalised place than before.

The video for Wherever There Is Light is premiering on the Schoolyard Ghosts mini-site from today. Go to www.kscopemusic.com/no-man to watch the video.

‘Truly sublime’ 9/10 Classic Rock

Joining Lightbulb Sun on Kscope is the Porcupine Tree DVD, Arriving Somewhere. Filmed on October 11th and 12th 2005 at Park West, Chicago, on the Deadwing Tour, the DVD captures the band in
glorious 5.1 & stereo.

Alongside the Park West performance, the double DVD set also features a host of extras including Lasse Hoile’s films for Halo, The Start of Something Beautiful, and Mother and Child Divided, Lazarus promo clip, Futile and Radioactive Toy from German Rockpalast TV broadcast, Gavin Harrison’s Cymbal Song in 5.1 surround sound and a photo gallery.

Captures the Brit quartet at the peak of their powers ★★★★★
Record Collector

The DVD will be released on April 21st.

On April 21st Kscope will be releasing a new special 2 disc (CD & DVD-A) edition of the 2000 album Lightbulb Sun.
 
Described by Classic Rock as ‘an album of stunning songs and startling musicianship… breathtaking’, the album features the singles 4 Chords That Made A Million and Shesmovedon.
 
On this brand new edition, disc one is a CD containing a new Steven Wilson remix/re-master of the original stereo album, while disc two is a DVD-A containing the album remixed into 5.1 surround sound (in DVD-A and DTS versions), as well as a 24 bit high resolution version of the stereo mix.
 
Also included on the DVD are a gallery of images not used in the booklet, notes on the songs and the re-mastering/re-mixing process which has been undertaken for this new edition and 5.1 mixes of the bonus tracks Disappear, Buying New Soul and Cure For Optimism.
 
This is the definitive version of one of the essential albums in the Porcupine Tree catalogue.

Click here to order your copy

In advance of the release of the new albums Schoolyard Ghosts by No-Man and Tightly Unwound by The Pineapple Thief, Kscope have launched two new mini-sites.

www.kscopemusic.com/thepineapplethief
The Pineapple Thief site features audio clips, podcasts, a free mp3 download and your chance to re-mix a track from the album.

Click here to order your copy

www.kscopemusic.com/no-man
The No-Man site features the brand new video for the track Truenorth alongside downloadable banners, wallpapers and more. Tour dates will be announced shortly, so keep checking back for further details.

Click here to order your copy

New No-Man album Schoolyard Ghosts coming May 12th

Tim Bowness & Steven Wilson return with No-Man’s eagerly awaited sixth official album, and the band’s first since 2003’s atmospheric Together We’re Stranger.

Featuring the sweetly hypnotic Wherever There Is Light, the warped dynamics of Pigeon Drummer, the outsider lament of All Sweet Things, and the subtly evolving explorations of the uplifting semi-orchestral epic Truenorth, Schoolyard Ghosts reveals the band taking its accessible and ambitious blend of Post-Rock and Singer-songwriter influences to an even more focused and personalised place than before.

A distinctive combination of beautifully detailed songwriting, haunting melodies and inventively cinematic production.

Representing the band’s most consistent and mature work to date, the album looks set to build and improve upon the success of predecessors Returning Jesus and Together We’re Stranger.

Guest musicians include Porcupine Tree’s Colin Edwin and Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree/King Crimson), Bruce Kaphan (ex-American Music Club/Red House Painters), Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson), Dave Stewart (arranging The London Session Orchestra) & Theo Travis (David Sylvian/Nine Horses)

Click here for more info, to watch the video for Truenorth and to download desktops

Tracklisting:
All Sweet Things
Beautiful Songs You Should Know
Pigeon Drummer
Truenorth
Wherever There Is Light
Song Of The Surf
Streaming
Mixtaped

Following the release of Schoolyard Ghosts, the band will be embarking upon its first major tour since 1993 (line-up and dates tba).

Click here to order your copy