Chicago experimental duo reminiscent of Stars of the Lid, Fennesz and
Brian Eno, Mountains come to Cardiff to play material from their new
album Air Museum.  Labelmates with Tortoise, OOIOO and The Boredoms,
Mountains live up to the experimental ethos of the Thrill Jockey.

For their new live set, Mountains has created a patch that will enable their electronics to sync up at various times, so while the musicians react to one another musically, given the right parameters, the machines can react to one another as well.
“Holtkamp and Anderegg deliver a kind of 21st century folk music – one
that’s immersed in the aesthetics of modern technology yet retains a
very natural, very approachable sound. Absolutely gorgeous music”

Support comes from Simon Scott (ex Slowdive) & K Matthew Jones

The Wire Magazine say: “Scott is particularly adept at layering coolly shimmering guitars and dark churning currents of noise into something vast. A haunting aspect of ‘Navigare’ is how it seems to contain traces of tunes that stand out like half-forgotten relics of the past”.K. Matthew Jones is a guitarist from Cardiff who will be playing a brief live set in which he attempts to emulate his spiritual heroes, the Leeds nu-rave quartet Hadouken!

 http://www.allmusic.com/artist/mountains-p1106296.

 THURSDAY 26th MAY 2011

Lineup: Mountains (Support from Simon Scott & K Matthew Jones)

Times: Doors – 7.30pm
Cost; £5 adv/ £7 door :

TICKETS HERE:  http://www.wegottickets.com/event/115830

Another ‘Live Music’ special from the the Institute. Another FREE offering and a rare chance to see She Keeps Bees duo, Jessica Larrabee and Andy LaPlant in an intimate setting. She Keeps Bees are future stars with Larrabee’s voice brings some stellar vintages to mind (Nina Simone, Cat Power, Patti Smith, even Janis Joplin) but the music has wonderfully bad-ass sounds, down-at-heel woozy blues, gritty explosions and sexy yearning hooks. Its first come, first served  – so our advice is :get in early.The band are supported by Cardiff’s very own,King Alexander

doors 8pm

Free b4 10pm

http://www.myspace.com/shekeepsbees

“If you are expecting consolation, I will become outrageous. If you expect me to be outrageous, I will become extra outrageous.” Xiu Xiu, Gray Death
In fish terms, Xiu Xiu are like salmon. We all get a little mesmerised by a band you can’t pin down, those cheeky morsels that swim left when you expect them to go right, but Xiu Xiu have turned twisting and turning against the tide of expected superlatives into their own fascinating and beautiful art. Some artists may think it’s enough to swim against the respected current but Xiu Xiu find creating and subverting their own tide far more interesting – swimming against their own downstream, jumping their own mischeviously-placed waterfalls. Funny how, like salmon, they make it look so effortless and graceful.
A disparate pool of temptuous folk, abrasive percussion, dissonant classical and electro, the enjoyment of Xiu Xiu stems from their unflinching ability to suck you from place to place; from meditative tranquilly to grinding generators, from murky electronica to wistful folk and swaying abandon
Just take one song from their new record, Dear God, I Hate Myself, as an example. Impossible Feeling is a four minute climb of clashing cello and piano, set against Jamie Stewart’s breathless vocals, sounding somewhere between Steve Reich’s Different Trains and a detuned Arcade Fire. It obliterates any essence of pop, yet is as wondrous and addictive as anything by Xenomania. 
Dear God, I Hate Myself, is out on 22 February..

words: Kai Jones (http://ilostifound.wordpress.com/)

THREE SYLLABLES present XIU XIU/STARS NO STARS

25th FEB 2010

doors 8pm

FREE ENTRY b4 9.30pm

http://www.myspace.com/xiuxiuband