Having only signed with Apollo Records back in February this year, Nadine Shah certainly didn’t hang around in releasing a follow-up to her critically acclaimed 2012 EP ‘Aching Bones’, and not-surprisingly, her three-track, ‘Dreary Town’ EP is hotly tipped for success, too.
Opener, ‘Dreary Town’, begins with a somber piano riff before Shah’s distinctive, lip-quivering vocals swell and flourish beautifully. The most personal of the tracks, the song starts to take shape as agitated strings create an uneasy tension and Shah’s vocals grow more and more anguished. This was in fact the track that convinced producer, Ben Hillier (The Horrors, Blur, Depeche Mode), to work with her.
‘Bobby Heron’ is where Shah’s unique character as an artist really shines through. The husky tones of her North-Eastern accent, combined with menacing guitar chops and tales of death at sea make for a brilliantly dramatic track.
Closing the EP is an inventive cover of ‘Cry Me a River’; a song Nadine used to perform in her younger jazz-singer days. A spooky and sinister track, the piano and whirling soundscapes are relentless, whilst Nadine’s vocals are dripping with soul and emotion of someone far beyond her years. You can expect to hear a lot more from this songstress in the coming months.
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/87957099″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
Posted in Miloco Clients, Mixing Studios, New Albums, Record Producers, Recording Studio Engineers, Tracking Studios, UK Recording Studios | Tagged Ben Hillier, dreary town, Miloco, nadine shah |The third EP to be released by Manchester foursome, The 1975, ‘Music For Cars’ acts a tasty appetiser before fully satisfying us and delivering the goods with their highly anticipated debut album later this year.
The Manchester foursome’s five-track offering is a colourful mix of blissful pop anthems intertwined with hazy, atmospheric numbers conjuring both nostalgia and cutting-edge song-writing and production.
Opening the EP is ‘Anobrain’, a track that seems to be engulfed in a dream-like state with airy, echoed vocals and minimal instrumentation. Lasting only 1 minute 54 seconds long, the song’s somewhat abrupt fade-to-end plays out like a foggy end to a dream, waking up content and bleary-eyed.
Lead single, ‘Chocolate’, mixed, recorded and produced by Mike Crossey at Livingston Studio 1, is an upbeat pop track complete with catchy hook, perfect indie guitar riff and a super, solid-sounding beat. Having already seen huge success with this song and grabbing the highly-desired Radio One audience well and truly by their swoopy fringes, the Manchester boys are perhaps now keen to show a softer side with the rest of their EP. Take ‘HNSCC’, for example; another short track, but this time an ambient instrumental that swells in and out of consciousness almost hypnotically.
‘Heads.Cars.Bending’ is a decidedly electronic affair; neatly side stepping from the indie guitar formula to introduce a beat-heavy, syncopated track thick with layered vocals and harmonies for a real atmospheric sound. Dirty synths, claps and percussive clicks give the haziness a sense of structure, cautious not to veer too far from the Indie boundaries.
‘Me’ closes the EP with waves of ethereal vocals, isolated beats and whirring synth sounds. As the track progresses, it morphs into a kind of slow jam with smooth, jazzy saxophones and finger clicks introduced – perfect Sunday afternoon listening; unexpected and brilliant.
This is a truly diverse record from The 1975, proving these indie boys are more than just a one-trick pony.
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/75503064″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
Posted in London Recording Studios, Miloco Clients, Mixing Studios, New Albums, Record Producers, Recording Studio Engineers, SSL Recording Studios, Tracking Studios, UK Recording Studios | Tagged livingston studio 1, Mike Crossey, music for cars, the 1975 |
Last week we re-strung Assault and Battery 2‘s stunning Grotrian Steinweg Concert Grand Piano, further enhancing the quality of this world class instrument.
The piano is now back in its home sounding better than ever, in no small thanks to the efforts of our piano tuner who, realising we were slightly behind schedule with the job, flew his own personal helicopter to Dorset to pick up the bass strings direct from the string-maker! No, we are not joking, however we do now have solid proof that we are working in the wrong sector of the music industry.
Now this is what we call service…
You can read up everything you need to know on Assault and Battery 2, including full information on its incredible equipment spec here: www.miloco.co.uk/asaultandbattery2.
Posted in London Recording Studios, Mixing Studios, Neve Recording Studios, Recording Studio Equipment, Tracking Studios, UK Recording Studios | Tagged assault and battery 2, battery studios, concert grand piano, grotrian steinweg |This Spring we’ve been treated to the thirteenth Depeche Mode album, the third in a trilogy of records the legendary Basildon band have made with producer Ben Hillier (the previous two being 2005’s Playing The Angel and 2009’s Sounds of the Universe). ‘Delta Machine’ sees Gore, Gahan and Fletch progress further with the sound they do better than anyone, their signature blend of dark, gloomy and bluesy Synthpop, with various influences cited by the press including Nick Cave and early Roxy Music.
The album was recorded in Santa Monica and New York, and brought back to Assault & Battery 2 in London where it was mixed by Flood. Depeche Mode will set out on The Delta Machine Tour in May,with the first dates in Nice.
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/77311201″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
Posted in London Recording Studios, Miloco Clients, Mixing Studios, Neve Recording Studios, New Albums, Record Producers, Recording Studio Engineers, UK Recording Studios | Tagged assault and battery 2, Ben Hillier, delta machine, depeche mode, flood |The second album from Hurts, ‘Exile’, delivers the next offering of this Manchester-formed duo’s epic, theatrical pop that has seen them scale such high heights over the past couple of years, especially in continental Europe. ‘Exile’ has achieved top ten positions on release in a handful of European countries, including a UK number 9.
A few of the tracks were worked on in The Engine Room and The Square with Dan Grech on production and engineering duties.
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/73870052″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
Posted in London Recording Studios, Miloco Clients, Mixing Studios, New Albums, Record Producers, Recording Studio Engineers, SSL Recording Studios, Tracking Studios, UK Recording Studios | Tagged album, dan grech, engine room, exile, hurts, recording studio, square |The fourteenth studio album from legendary pop-experimentalist Scott Walker, Bish Bosch is released on 4AD. It is described as the third in a trilogy of records that started with 1995’s Tilt and continued with 2006’s The Drift. Bish Bosh, which was mixed by Peter Walsh in Miloco’s Sofa Sound Studio in West London, was received with huge praise on release – you can check out album track ‘Epizootics!’ and an album trailer on the following links.
Album Trailer – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfrVuhD8maE
Epizootics! – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ih7KzKLLWA
The fifteenth studio album by Aussie alternative rock icons Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Push The Sky Away, is the first without founding member Mick Harvey and the first with Barry Adamson since 1986’s Your Funeral… My Trial.
Featuring the singles ‘We No Who U R’ and ‘Jubilee Street’, Push The Sky Away is described by Cave as such; “if I were to use that threadbare metaphor of albums being like children, then Push The Sky Away is the ghost-baby in the incubator and Warren’s loops are its tiny, trembling heart-beat” – an indication of multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis’ ever increasing influence on the Bad Seeds dimensional sound.
The album was produced by Nick Launay and recorded at La Fabrique residential recording studio in South France.
www.nickcave.com/
www.miloco.co.uk/lafabrique
Produced and Mixed by Flood and Moulder and Recorded by Catherine Marks. Recorded in Assault & Battery 2, mixed in Assault & Battery 1.
The massive new album from Foals is finally being unleashed across the world, and has already shot to number 1 in the Australia and New Zealand iTunes charts, while debuting at Number 2 in the UK. It is an explosive third record from Foals, which sees them leave behind their artrocker roots for a sound that will surely propel them into the big leagues. Led by the brilliant single, ‘Inhaler’, Holy Fire is released on Transgressive Records.
Posted in London Recording Studios, Miloco Clients, Mixing Studios, Neve Recording Studios, New Albums, Record Producers, Recording Studio Engineers, SSL Recording Studios, Tracking Studios, UK Recording Studios | Tagged alan moulder, assault and battery, catherine marks, flood, Foals, holy fire, Miloco |
Last night leading figures from the British and International music industries gathered at the O2 Arena in London to celebrate the past year of popular music in the UK at the 2013 BRIT Awards, and what a night for Miloco’s clients it was…
We are proud to announce that four of our regular clients of the past year won coveted awards for work they did at our studios. Ben Howard, whose debut album ‘Every Kingdom’ was mixed by Mike Crossey in The Motor Museum, with parts engineered by Miloco’s Darren Lawson in Assault & Battery 2, won ‘British Male Solo Artist’ seeing off competition by Calvin Harris, Olly Murs, Plan B and Richard Hawley. Ben also surprised the crowds when he prevailed in the ‘British Breakthrough Act’ beating bookies’ favourite Rita Ora to the prize.
Producer Dan Grech has regularly worked in various Miloco studios with two Brit Winners over the past year. The first is Tom Odell who won the ‘Critic’s Choice’ award for his forthcoming debut album, which was produced and mixed by Dan last year. The record was recorded in The Bridge and The Square, and mixed in The Engine Room. Meanwhile, Lana Del Ray‘s international smash record ‘Born To Die, which was also mixed by Dan Grech in The Engine Room, won her the ‘International Female Solo Artist’ gong.
Lastly, following on from their glorious night at the Grammys, Mumford & Sons bagged the ‘British Group’ award. The Mumfords’ latest record, ‘Babel’ which was produced by Markus Dravs and engineered by Miloco’s Matt Lawrence, was partly recorded at Angelic Studios.
Miloco would like to offer their congratulations to all the winners and nominees at last night’s BRIT Awards, and wish all our clients the best of luck in the many other forthcoming 2013 music award ceremonies.
Posted in London Recording Studios, Miloco Clients, Mixing Studios, New Albums, Record Producers, Recording Studio Engineers, Residential Recording Studios, SSL Recording Studios, Tracking Studios, UK Recording Studios, Writing Studios |Selkirk’s Frightened Rabbit return for their fourth studio album, Pedestrian Verse. Released on Atlantic, this is the band’s major label debut and it shot to number nine in the album charts on entry. The album was co-produced by the band and Leo Abrahams before being mixed by Craig Silvey at the now closed Garden Studios (more news to follow).
Posted in London Recording Studios, Miloco Clients, Neve Recording Studios, New Albums, Record Producers, Recording Studio Engineers, Tracking Studios, UK Recording Studios | Tagged Craig Silvey, frightened rabbit, garden studios, pedestrian verse | ← Older posts Newer posts →
Stay in the loop
Follow @milocostudios
Subscribe to Miloco News