Islington Mill Studios

Alan Courtis & Aaron Moore, and No Deposit No Return Blues - A documentary of Sandy Bull by his daughter KC Bull

Wed 10th Feb

8pm

£3 Tickets available from wegottickets.com

Following their appearance in The Wire's and other 2009 end-of-year polls for their 'Brokebox Juke' lp, Courtis/Moore return to the UK to perform live improvised soundtracks to this Argentine found-film collage.

The film compiles a selection of Argentine home movies mainly from the 1970’s. The footage was originally recorded in Super-8 and now transferred to digital to be screened in public. The compilation shows diverse aspects of daily life in diverse Argentine cities and rural scenes, bringing a portrait of Argentinian collective memory from those years, to the sound of the drone, abstract psychedelia and free rock improvisation of Alan Courtis and Aaron Moore.

Moore has also of late been touring in his band with NoNeck Blues Band's Dave Nuss, Amolvacy, and has just completed 4 performances in New York as part of Boredoms for their Boadrum9 shows. And of course, he's an integral member of the increasingly seminal Volcano The Bear, who have, in the words of The Wire, "produced some of the finest, wildest British music of the last 10 years on record and on stage…”. Or, as Losing Today puts it, “No one sounds, has sounded or will ever sound quite like Volcano the Bear.”
http://www.myspace.com/aaronmooretheaccidental

We're also gonna be giving people a second chance to see the incredible film by KC Bull about her father, the late, great, still (insanely) largely undiscovered guitar/oud player Sandy Bull - No Deposit, No Return Blues. KC came to Salford to show the film last July and it was a beautiful, intimate portrait of a clearly dearly loved Dad as well as one of the world's most respected "guitar players' guitar players". Sandy pioneered the use of eastern instruments within the 'rock' framework as well as being one of the earliest exponents of guitar ragas. If you dig the playing of John Fahey, the very recently departed Jack Rose, Matt Valentine, Robbie Basho or Richard Bishop, you'll have your mind blown by Sandy Bull. As rare as original footage of Sandy is, KC has managed to source it and it's a total treat to see, whether you already know and love his work or are being exposed to it for the first time.

Lawrence Arabia

Thurs 11th Feb

£9

 Tickets available from seetickets.com , wegottickets.com and ticketline.co.uk

Beach House: Alex Scally (guitar/keyboards) and Victoria Legrand (vocals/keyboards), the latter of whom is the niece of french composer Michel Legrand, create the dreamy lo-fi sounds of Beach House. The Baltimore duo formed in 2005 with Legrand's Nico-like vocal hush and Scally's delicate instrumentation. Within a year, Beach House charmed indie music enthusiasts across the blogosphere with their languid songcraft, while the eerie warmth of "Apple Orchard" landed on Pitchfork's Infinite Mixtape MP3 series in August 2006. Two months later, Beach House issued their eponymous debut album for Carpark.

New Zealander James Milne is Lawrence Arabia, and likes singing in rooms full of bouncing bald men in their underpants and masks.  His tunes are catchy and perfect for a summer afternoon (which it is in New Zealand).  You may have heard him on Marc Riley's Radio 6 slot (i assume he wasn't bouncing around in his underpants) Uplifting pop music to take us all to a sunnier place (minus the men in their underpants).

listen to beach house here

listen to lawrence arabia and watch the video here

The Doozer + A Wake + more tbc

Fri 12th Feb, 

£6 adv, £8 door

MV & EE continue their singular cosmic orbit with this Springtime tour of Europe in support of new album Barn Nova, out on Ecstatic Peace this October after a year of releases on LP, CD and cassette. Their vision Is unique and totally inspiring. Last time they played Europe was a double drum experience at 2008's Primavera Festival. Now they return in music-bending duo (free)form, looking to set up in theatres, churches, cinemas and other such intimate spaces.

This tour goes up close and personal with the pair, with Matt on vocals, guitar and 'bantar' (his self-designed guitar/banjo hybrid) and Erika on vocals, lap steel and 'mini' firebird (a four stringed single humbucking pickup mandolin). Together they could explore lunar blues, fingerstyle noise/space, or lonesome frontier folk. Their live shows can go so many ways but that skewed, in-the-zone MV & EE sound is always in tune with their environment.

As ever they have reams of private press, limited LPs, CD-R, tape and tour only releases on the go.

Ecstatic Peace site: http://www.ecstaticpeace.com/mvee
Press Kit: http://www.ecstaticpeace.com/kits/barnnova_kit.html
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/mveebummerroad

A Sumptuous 5 course meal brought to you by the Engine House

Sat 13th Feb

7.00pm

The Gallery Space.

 A five course extravaganza of high-end vegetarian fayre is available now for booking.

 This is going to be a night not to be missed....a dinner party like no other....

 For further details and reservations (pre-booking is essential) and all other info please contact.... kim@islingtonmill.com

expect the unexpected....this is a night not to be missed.

Maria and the Gay, DJ Matt Rothery

Valentines Day- Sun 14th Feb

3pm

£3

An Afternoon Valentines Prom

Valentines Prom featuring a new set from the mighty Hotpants Romance and Maria and the Gay play their already classic set of badass noisy pop hits! Also special surprise guest will be coming all the way from 'Vegas to try out a new set especially for you!
Matt Rothery fresh from the 'Welcome to Twin Peaks' night will be playing creepy pop hits to dance to! From Roy Orbison to 60's girl groups! Formal prom wear is encouraged but not mandatory! So get those prom dresses out, or don't! 3pm 'til you stop dancing! All for a measly 3 pounds. Come down and get as romantic as you want, or drown your valentines sorrows!
 

Sun 21st Feb

7:30pm 

£7

tickets available from www.wegottickets.com

God Is an Astronaut are an instrumental three piece hailing from the Glen of the Downs, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. They formed in 2002 and released their debut album The End of the Beginning the same year on their own Revive Records label. Their two music videos for PlayThe End of the Beginning and PlayFrom Dust to the Beyond, received airplay on MTV UK and on other MTV European networks.
 

listen here

In the Engine House

Sun 21st Feb

1pm - 5pm

Sunday social starts 21st Feb in the Engine House cafe at Islington Mill.
 Delicious homemade veggie pies served with mash, gravy and seasonal vegetables will be available from 1pm till 5pm.  Sit back and relax with the Sunday papers, play a variety of board games and soak up some chilled Sunday sounds.....only in The Engine House!!

Tues 23rd Feb

7:30pm

£8 available from ticketline.co.uk wegottickets.com and seetickets.com

Oakland, CA based Xiu Xiu (pronounced “shoe-shoe”) is a brainchild of California native Jamie Stewart, who is exploring all kinds of morbid subjects such as AIDS and suicide through his music. Stewart started out in music business by playing in “cinematic death mambo” band IBOPA and later, in Ten In The Swear Jar, the latter of which eventually morphed into Xiu Xiu (both bands also included future members of Xiu Xiu).

Jamie Stewart and Cory McCulloh started Xiu Xiu in 2000 and this year also marked their first tour. 2002 brought Chapel Of The Chimes EP, their debut album “Knife Play” and a personal tragedy – Jamie’s father Mike (who was a member of 60s folk band We Five and produced Billy Joel’s hit “Piano Man”) commited suicide in 2002.

2003 “A Promise” was influenced by Stewart’s losses, and it includes a cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” as well as songs named “Ian Curtis Wishlist” and “”20,000 Deaths for Eidelyn Gonzales, 20,000 Deaths for Jamie Peterson”. In their review of the album, Pitchfork Media noted that “Xiu Xiu are unique in their enjoyment of linear mutilation, and their ability to fuse it with musical experimentation, rather than making it their raison d’etre. Jamie Stewart’s level of self-obsession is either laughable or erotically voyeuristic; it’s a question of how far you’re willing to go.”

listen to xiu xiu here

Fri 26th Feb

8pm

£8 tickets available from seetickets

Lead by core members, brothers Peter and David Brewis, and aided and abetted by Andrew Moore, Sunderland's Field Music confused everyone by going on hiatus pretty much the week their last album Tones of Town come out.

Field Music released two records of quirky, smart, pop music, and a sound that separated them from friends like the Futureheads. And that was a problem. Brothers Peter and David Brewis resented having to write songs that fit the Field Music sound, though this constraint was self imposed: "It wasn't like there was any pressure from outside to conform to what we'd already done. The plus side to not selling any records is that the pressure's not there," David says. "But it was enough to think, 'I don't want to write songs imagining how the three of us are going to play it. I want to write whatever I need to write right now.'" He couldn't write on tour either. So in 2007 Field Music announced that they were finished. David released his first record as School Of Language, and Peter released his as The Week That Was in 2008. But David played drums on Peter's tour, and he says they still worked or recorded together often. Even David's month-long US tour wasn't the break he thought it would be. "I was thinking, thank God, a whole month away from Peter. But then I got home and wanted to give him a big hug and talk about music," David admits.
- Jessica Suarez's Progress Report

Returns Tuesday 12th January

Tuesdays

6pm - 7:30pm

£5 - £4 associates and concessions

Every Tuesday our Ashtanga Yoga teacher Jo will be bending and flexing bodies of all shapes into different shapes.  No booking necessary, just wear something comfortable.

The practice centres around Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga - a dynamic and invigorating practice of Hatha Yoga where the coordination of breath and movement helps to balance the body and mind, whilst helping to realign the spine, detoxify the body and build strength, flexibility and stamina. More details can be found here