In Her Palace........

A big thank you to Mr CP Mandrake for posting his footage of Douglas E Powell's song 'In Her Palace' on Youtube. Filmed at Pilton Village Hall, 11th June 2011.

BBC Radio Devon, Introducing Session, Aug 10th

Douglas E Powell will play another BBC Introducing session on the 10th August at 18.30 (gmt) on BBC Radio Devon. He will be playing songs from his forth coming album The Black and Twisted Highway. You can listen to the session live on line or on digital here.

Test Transmission Archive Reel No1; Keith Seatman

Fellow musical archivist and all round specialist in the sonically odd, Keith Seatman, has pieced together a collection of musical curiosities as part of series of transmissions entitled Test Transmission Archive Reel No1. This gold mine of strange can be found at mixcloud. Keith tells us that he is already working on his next transmission which is due to be aired in early March. I encourage you to take listen.

Central Casting on Soundcloud

You can now listen to 2 new demo versions of In Her Palace and England's Great Waterways by alt-folk band Central Casting at Soundcloud. The band are busy in the studio recording their first album which is due for release on TVR in the summer of 2011 (we hope).
Central Casting's first live show of 2011 will be on the 26th February at the Pilton Hall, Barnstaple supporting Peter Bruntnell also on the evenings billing; Owls, Small Town Jones and Job on Robot.

EX33 on The Music of Douglas E Powell

It has been a busy couple of years since EX33 last caught up with songwriter Douglas E Powell. In 2009 Douglas got married to his wife Tamsin. In 2010 they bought a house together in Devon and soon followed the birth of their first child Joshua. “It’s has been a whirlwind year for us all and it’s amazing I have found the time to fit in the music”, says Douglas, but somehow he does. “It has all been made a lot easier with the piecing together of a home studio to record my latest musical project with new band Central Casting. I wanted to put a band together to record my third album after the success of my last two albums The Still and West in 2006 and The Iron Coast in 2008. Both albums were mostly recorded with vocals and acoustic guitars. I wanted to experiment with percussion, strings and electric guitars on this new project but still stay true to my folk music roots. Fiddle player Jason Pratt and I had been talking about a musical collaboration for ages but we just didn’t seem to get around to putting anything into action. I gave Jay some acoustic demos of the new songs I had been working on and he started writing fiddle parts. Once Jay and I had the basis of songs worked out I sort the talents of other local musicians. Life long friend and bass player Andrew “Tizz’ Tizzard was more used to playing distorted electric guitar in front of a stack of vintage valve amps in grunge bands back in the 90’s rather than a bass player and backing vocalist in a folk band but he gladly rose to the challenge. Percussionist Will Greeves was borrowed from fellow songwriter Jim Jones’s band”. Line up complete, in March 2010 they stared rehearsals as the band Central Casting, “a name usually associated with the casting agencies in the American film industry but it seemed to fit with the concept of a musical collaboration between like minded local musicians”, says Douglas.
Douglas had already been booked to perform solo sets at various folk festivals and shows around the country over the summer of 2010 so Central Casting was billed to perform along side Douglas. For the record the first ever Central Casting gig was at the Holmfirth Folk Festival, Yorkshire in May 2010. “It was a bit of a baptism of fire for us in front of a tough northern crowd who had never heard of us, but we survived unscathed and played a second set the following day at the beautiful Victorian Picturedrome Theatre to a sell out audience”. Other standout shows over the summer included headline slots at the Goldcoast Oceanfest, The Hatherleigh Folk Festival, The Tobacco Factory, Bristol, Lilicos, Barnstaple, The White Lion, Braunton, Pilton Village Hall playing support to American songsmith Forest Sun and a live session on BBC radio Devon, Central Casting described by the BBC Introducing Session as “classic English folk with a hint of Americana”. Once their busy schedule of gigs over the summer had been completed the band set their sites on recording an album in Douglas’ home studio in Knowle. “We hope to have the recording process completed by early 2011, and once all the tracks are mixed and mastered and the cover artwork is sorted we can release the album on my label Twister Valley Records in the spring/summer of 2011”. Central Casting are booking shows around the UK for 2011 and I am sure that they will be performing live at the usual local venues in the not to distant future. Douglas is also working on the score for the long awaited surf film One Day directed by filmmaker Richard Gregory.

For more information on the music of Douglas E Powell, Central Casting and Twister Valley Records visit their web sites at www.douglasepowell.co.uk, www.myspace.com/centralcasting and www.myspace.com/twistervalleyrecords.
To win a CD copy of Douglas’ last album The Iron Coast simply add your name and the word WIN to the mailing list at www.douglasepowell.co.uk and we will randomly pick a winner before the end of the year.

SHNDG5 - The Loft, Portsmouth, Dec 3rd

Line Up:

The Magic Horns (live Av remix)- Jez Stevens has been asked to re/deconstruct the drone rock track "The Morning Haze". Originally recorded by a mysterious duo from Devon. The remix will serve as a soundtrack to found footage of Hilsea Lines Ramparts and environs...

Dangerous/Poindexter (live soundtrack)- Dangerous (Tom Day) / Poindexter (Jez Stevens) will be improvising a set comprising live electronics, guitar and effects. Heavily influenced by motorik/kraut beats and swirling psych P/D will provide a soundtrack to highlights taken from Peter Sykes The Committee(1968). (starring Paul Jones).

Black Powdr Engine (live AV set)- A shndg stalwart, Black Powdr Engine continues to develop his post-breakbeat, psyche dub. The only real AV/VJ in town - imagine Meat Beat Manifesto playing live with mangatronic visuals by a VJ out of a William Gibson novel...

The Random Scarves (DJ set)- Shndg bumped into these trilby wearing, scarf flinging nut jobs at Hospitality - funkalectic dubstep...in their words: "The Random Scarves – purveyors of the finest weirdno and circus of sounds around. These creatures can be heard, here & there, sticking some indiscriminate beats and funky bass to various congregations of the electronic way."

Simon Heartfield (live AV set)- Will be previewing new material from the as yet untitled forthcoming album of music based on the extraordinary 1970 novel Bomber by Len Deighton, which was nominated this year for the Lost Booker prize. The album is due for release 2Q 2011 and this will be an exclusive glimpse at work in progress.

Geodesic (DJ set) - Keith Seatman playing kraut rock oddities.

Dr. Lighthouse (VJ)- A figurative blend of mashed up films and incandescent images.

Shed Dweller (VJ)- Offers a geometric onslaught of monochrome patterning.

Location:
The Loft
Above the Kings, Albert Rd
Southsea, United Kingdom

£4 on the door

The Iron Coast re-issued on itunes

It's not only the Beatles who are issuing their back catalogue on itunes. The Iron Coast by Douglas E Powell has now been re-issued on itunes. So get your copy before the Christmas rush.