Woods blew us away when they played for us as part of the Shred Yr Face tour in 2009. Stunningly crafted songs take on a whole new direction live, with unexpected tangents, twists and turns.

I’ve been hearing this Spectrals track pretty much on repeat on 6music, so looking forward to hearing it live. He makes blissed out, disjointed guitar pop – a perfect support for Woods.

Disjointed psych experimentation comes from The Doozer (Slitbreeze), who is gaining much comparison to Syd Barrett for his vocal style.

Tickets for this show are available here, or in person at Swordfish Records and Polar Bear.

1. Blood Ceremony – I’m Coming With You (4:45)
2. Epic45 – England Fallen Over (4:26)
3. Health & Efficiency – Red drapes from my dream (7:13)
4. Matmos – Polychords (3:30)
5. Dead Fader – JBE Zorg (4:07)
6. Spectrals – Chip A Tooth (Spoil A Smile) (2:22)
7. a.P.A.t.T. – Fukin Hostile (1:33)
8. Seefeel – Folds (4:21)
9. Ghost – Stand By Him (3:56)
10. Woods – Suffering Season (3:06)
11. Bilbao Syndrome – vi (3:15)
12. Arbouretum – Another Hiding Place (5:16)
13. Kayo Dot – Right Hand is the One I Want (6:53)
14. Earth – Engine of Ruin (6:28)

We’ve hooked up with the super talent that is, Chris Brumcast to bring you a taster of forthcoming Capsule shows. It’s a real treat and hopefully will get you all excited about our amazing program of shows, kicking off with Brooklyn based mavericks KAYO DOT on Wednesday 16th Feb at the Hare & Hounds. Followed shortly by a combo of lo-fi rock and spook campfire folk in the form of WOODS, with support from SPECTRALS + DOOZER on the 14th March. A real delight on the 22nd with SEEFEEL feat. by Shigeru Ishihara (DJ Scotch Egg) and former Boredoms drummer Iida Kazuhisa (E-Da) with support from DEAD FADER + EPIC 45 (be warned tickets are flying out for this show).
The very next day on the 23rd we have a Supersonic favourite ARBOURETUM for fans of Earth and Lungfish, not to be missed with support from multi-instrumentalists HEALTH & EFFICIENCY.

In April we welcome back the godfather of drone EARTH with support from LORI GOLDSTON who has played with Nirvana, David Byrne & Cat Power to name but a few. On Saturday 30th April BLOOD CEREMONY who play a distinctive brand of flute-tinged musical sorcery with support from Swedish prog band  GHOST will be playing at the Hare & Hounds.

Tickets for all shows can be found at www.theticketsellers.co.uk
Polar Bear on York Rd in Kings Heath or Swordfish on Temple Street in Birmingham city centre

We look forward to seeing you at one or all of the above shows, and a huge thanks to Chris for putting this fantastic podcast together for us, a perfect soundtrack for a day in the office!

Next month sees Kayo Dot making their Birmingham debut alongside avant metallers Bilbao Syndrome. It’s the first Capsule gig of the year – look forward to seeing you there!

Kayo Dot

Bilbao Syndrome

Tickets are available here, or in person at Swordfish Tickets and Polar Bear Records.

Shocking news this morning that Trish Keenan of Broadcast has died after contracting swine flu. Our thoughts are with her friends and family. This brilliant artist will be sadly missed.

Happy New Year, and Capsule have tons of gigs planned for the forthcoming months:

16th Feb – Kayo Dot + Bilbao Syndrome @ Hare & Hounds: Heavy, experimental music from the Hydra Head label; this is Kayo Dot’s first appearance in Birmingham and they’re bringing extreme metal/jazz outfit Bilbao Syndrome along with them.

14th March- Woods + Mr Underwood @ Hare & Hounds: We at Capsule fell in love with Woods when they played with Espers back in 2009; trippy psych and lo-fi rock frame noise freak outs. Support comes from peddler of curiosities Mr Underwood AKA Glatze.

22nd March – Seefeel + Dead Fader + Epic45 @ Hare & Hounds: The influential electronic indie band have reformed and have a new LP. Also on the bill are noise dubstep outfit Dead Fader, whom some of you may have caught at Supersonic and the Midlands’ own Epic45.

23rd March – Arbouretum + Hush Arbors + Health & Efficiency@ Hare & Hounds: Heavy psychedelic folk in the form of Thrill Jockey’s Arbouretum. Support comes from the gorgeous country psych of Hush Arbors as well as Health & Efficiency.

3rd April – Earth + Sabbath Assembly @ Hare & Hounds: Firm Capsule favourites Earth, the godfathers of doom, are back in Brum with the majestic apocalyptic folk of Sabbath Assembly

30th April – Blood Ceremony + Ghost @ Hare & Hounds: 70s occult rock, massive riffage and flute solos, Blood Ceremony are a must see live act, support comes from Sweden’s Ghost.

Unfortunately the scheduled Secret Chiefs 3 gig will no longer be going ahead due to personal reasons within the band. We hope to get them back soon.

Tickets for all the above gigs can be bought from theticketsellers or in person at Swordfish Records and Polar Bear Records.

The lovely posters are designed by Tom J Hughes

Marketing and Audience Development Assistant, Capsule + Home of Metal

F/T to August 2011 (Mid Jan start required)
£5.80 p/hour (£11,310.00 pro rata)

This is an exciting Future Jobs Fund Opportunity for anyone aged 18-25 who has been unemployed for a minimum of 6 months and is looking to forge a career in the arts.

You will work closely with the Programme Directors at Capsule on all aspects of Capsule’s day-to-day activities with a particular focus on ‘Home Of Metal’ – an exhibition across the West Midlands.

Duties will include general administration, research, copywriting, artist and artwork logistics.  You must be able to work unsupervised, have a good understanding of how to use social networking tools, copywriting skills, basic photoshop, passion for music and the arts, an eye for detail and excellent communication skills. Degree level or equivalent is preferred.

To apply for this position please send your CV and a covering letter / statement outlining your interest and experience to:
Lisa Meyer, [email protected] using ‘Marketing and Audience Development Assistant’ in the subject.

Deadline for receipt of CV and covering letter              – 5th Jan
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend an interview on     – 7th Jan
Initial briefing with successful candidate                – 14th Jan

For more information please contact:
Lisa Meyer, [email protected] or 0121 248 2252

This post is offered through the Future Jobs Fund. To be eligible to apply you must be aged 18-24 and be claiming job seekers allowance. The post is offered for 6 months from January 2011. 30 hrs per week at minimum wage rates.

Last day in the office for the Capsule layyyyydies – looking back on an exhausting year, here are some of the highlights…

January

The ever popular Baroness played along with Bristol sludge trio Taint. Lots of hair and lots of fist pumping

February

In the wonderful setting of the Town Hall, we brought kraut gods Cluster to Birmingham – and what charming gentlemen they were too

March

Home of Metal had its official launch at SXSW in Austin, Texas, with Lemmy of Motorhead doing a Q&A as part of the event. March also saw the launch of We Are Eastside, the beginnings of a fruitful relationship between various creatives around the Eastside area of the city.

April

Firm Capsule favourites Eyehategod played to a well pumped up crowd at The Asylum. This was utter filth.

May

Wolves in the Throne Room and Tweak Bird made for a perfect line up for a Saturday night – with some impromptu Hula Hooping afterwards

June

We welcomed summer with a beautiful show at mac; a collaboration between Warp’s Plaid and the Southbank Gamalan Players. Home of Metal also held a series of open days in an empty shop in Wolverhampton where we met this Sabbath fan and his killer Henry tattoo

July

Supersonic was already well on its way at this point as well as Kaye Winwood coming on board as Operations Manager we appointed three interns – Ben, Tom and Aaron – thanks again for your hard work boys!

August

The legendary Silver Apples performed an intimate show at Hare & Hounds with amazing visuals from Film Ficciones

September

Capsule celebrated the release of Modified Toy Orchestra’s new record Plastic Planet by hosting a show for them at Town Hall, and later at the manificent Bridgewater Hall in Manchester.

October

Well, it was only Supersonic. Hard work but probably our best festival yet – thank you to al who came along and witnessed incredible performances from Swans, Godflesh, King Midas Sound, Hallogallo, Tweak Bird, Napalm Death, Master Musicians of Bukkake, the list goes on…plus an appearance from Frank the pup.

November

A crazy fun last show of the year featured Torche, Part Chimp and Stinky Wizzleteat. We also appointed our Home of Metal project manager, the lovely Ms Phoebe Jeebe

December

We appointed the exhibition designers for the Home of Metal show that will take place June-Sep 2011 in Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery,  exciting times.

And our overall highlight must be the arrival of  Ms Mabel Javens – a new lady in the Capsule world she was born on 30th November 2010.

Lots of gigs planned for next year already and we’ve just announced gigs for Earth and Woods! We’re always after feedback so do get in touch and let us know what artists you’d like to see in Birmingham next year…

Merry Christmas

Capsule HQ

x

Great review of Supersonic Festival in the latest issue of The Wire, especially good to note that Birmingham and the Black Country are starting to be branded as the ‘Home Of Metal’ in the music press. This comes just as we have appointed a designer for the BMAG show which is happening next summer, Studio Myerscough who were responsible for the Matthew Boulton show and were the design curators for Vintage at Goodwood start work on the exhibition in January. We’re delighted to be working with both Morag & Luke , who have a very innovative approach to exhibition design and are sure will help us make ‘Home Of Metal‘ a real landmark show for the city.

The Wire review also made reference to the creative community around the Custard Factory, again encouraging to see that there is such a buzz around the ‘We Are Eastside‘ group.

The West Midlands and Birmingham in particular are ‘the Home Of Metal‘ – where founding fathers like Black sabbath and Judas Priest played their first shows and a second wave, including Napalm Death and Godflesh, spawned numerous subgenres…We get a sense of the diverse musical and artistic interest that fed into the Birmingham scene. It’s clear that the city’s current music community, or at least the one centred around the Custard Factory, is equally openminded – something which the organisers Capsule both cater to and take inspiration from.

Supersonic confirms that there’s certainly something in the air in Birmingham, or, as one of the organisers suggests, in the city’s architecture, that makes even the older artists come across as fresh. That’s because you’re not observing them on display in a ‘zoo’, but working in their natural habitat: a post-industrial space. So many other music festivals offer what you expect to hear, merely affirming your good taste in music, Supersonic is a place to be educated and surprised: new, experimental and intellectually nourishing material is cleverly smuggled in under a black cloak of fist-pumping riffs and cathartic noise.
David Moats – The Wire