Right, okay...

Sotones Music Co-op, 2010-03-07T22:48:00.002Z

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Right, despite what it looks like, I have done a blog in these past two months. So don't feel neglected! But for some reason, the other blogging sight (podbean) the bastards, seemed to have locked me out of our account for some reason. So Im redirecting my blogging efforts to this reliable site!So, whats been happening the past month and a bit? I inevitably hear you ask...To tell you the truth,

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Last Night...

Sotones Music Co-op, 2010-01-17T19:22:00.001Z

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Last night I went to the Haunted Stereo curates the Hamptons, my first proper Sotones event, and was pretty impressed! I wondered how a place that, lets be fair, is as small as the Hamptons could hold such events, but I was wrong to doubt it! It wasn?t cramped, but there were plenty of people there.My favorite band of the evening (no offense to the others) had to be the Little Philistines. Having

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Here we are again...

Sotones Music Co-op, 2010-01-09T17:14:00.001Z

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decided today would be a good time to come into the office. Its been so long I thought I would offer my services once again, which today included uploading 134 photos and name each one of the separately. It was quite mind numbing really?Ive only been here like, two hours today, but already Joe has dismantled a computer, which was interesting to watch. Especially when he came back from a battery

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My Contribution for the week...

Sotones Music Co-op, 2010-01-02T19:09:00.000Z

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Hi! I haven?t been to the office for over a week now, so I thought I would input some kind of contribution so they don?t think I?ve forgotten them. This being it?So christmas is over, which sucks. New year festivities is also over, which also sucks. What a depressing way to start a new decade. But ah well, I hope everyone had a very merry festive season.2010 is looking to be a good year for not

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More Coffee Please...

Sotones Music Co-op, 2009-12-23T17:02:00.000Z

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In my entire day today, I have gotten through around 5 cups of coffee. I woke up far too early this morning (the wee hours of 10 o clock) all because my family were panic-ing that it was too icy to go into town, so I downed a brief cup of coffee to wake me up, followed by another one, and decided to go into the office.But, during my travels, I was rained on, which is basically God?s way of saying

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Another day at the Office

Sotones Music Co-op, 2009-12-22T16:32:00.000Z

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Hi, its me (sam) again, just here for a quicky.Popped into the office today to finish off some of the ever growing pile of spreadsheeting and such. But it wasn?t to bad. Campbell was here to keep me company and guide me through it, and I was also kept nourished with a not too shabby cup of coffee and plate of scrambled egg. These two seem to be regulars in my visit to the Sotones office, but I

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Day one with the Sotones label...

Sotones Music Co-op, 2009-12-19T17:00:00.000Z

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Hi, Im Sam (as just said) and I started with Sotones today. I showed up at around 2pm, to be directed into the office, which if Im honest, was a little dirtier than I expected. But none the less, it was cosy, and it seems to do the job.After quick introductions, and a brief discussion about Hash Brown and scrambled eggs (?) I was shown how much fun could be squeezed out of Admin work and

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Sam's Stuff - Introducing Sam

Sotones Music Co-op, 2009-12-19T15:15:00.000Z

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Hi Everyone,It?s been a really busy year (thanks as ever for all your support) and so there?s more jobs than ever to do - how the hell does anyone ever find time to do all this stuff?Enter Sam, a (currently) very nice young man who for reasons best known only to himself has decided to join us as an intern. Over the next few months he?s going to be keeping a diary of his adventures in the music

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those green shoots

Sotones Music Co-op, 2009-05-16T11:59:00.003+01:00

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hey peeps,i think i've been motivated by a really interesting, inspiring and reflective blog by Broken Social Scene (check our topPages). Or maybe just cos it's quite a nice morning. Or maybe because I'm coming down with swine flu and so am at death's door.Anyway, here's a few things we've been up to, are up to, and are gonna be up to. cos a) i'm lazy and b)we don't have our RSS together, i'm

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Rumblings from the belly of the digital beast

Sotones Music Co-op, 2009-04-17T21:29:00.015+01:00

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Hey everyone (did we mention we've got a Twitter feed now?),Now for a bit of real news...So, we spent the last months negotiating it and have now appointed a digital distributor. As from this month, our digital releases will be handled worldwide by Believe Digital; they service music retailers around the world, including iTunes, eMusic, Napster and Amazon, as well as a bucketload of niche

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Friday night, a nice bottle of Bordeaux and some catching up to do

Sotones Music Co-op, 2009-03-07T00:16:00.005Z

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So...we set up this blog with the intention of updating it at least weekly but as these things always pan out, that didn't quite turn out to plan.Things have to get done; release schedules have to be made, budgets have to be created, bills need to be paid, websites have to be designed and programmed, e-mails have to be sent and replied to, social networking sights have to be tended, videos need

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Chin Music Call It A Day

Sotones Music Co-op, 2008-07-02T13:40:00.009+01:00

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It's always a sad time when a band you think is pretty damn good and has the potential to do really well calls it a day.It's even sadder when the band is made up of friends of yours, and sadder still when you were really hoping to sell loads of their records.But some people don't want to do the Rolling Stones thing and be playing badly remembered versions of songs you wrote 30 years ago whilst

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First Proper Post

Sotones Music Co-op, 2008-06-18T01:45:00.001+01:00

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Ok, so it's 1.45 in the morning. I've just got home from work at one of Southampton's staple venues The Talking Heads, a little bit tipsy because it's the Soundman Martin's birthday today (easily one of the best soundmen in Southampton) so we had a couple of beverages and a bit of Tom Waits before heading home.Despite not having a proper banner up yet and a distinct lack of links and interesting

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Introduction

Sotones Music Co-op, 2008-06-13T16:01:00.001+01:00

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This is the official blog for Sotones Music Co-op,As we haven't quite figured out how to use Blogger, there's not gonna be a lot up here, nor will it look nice for a little while.Please bear with us.When we've got our head around this stuff you can expect, news reviews, pictures, videos and mp3's about all our artists and everything and anything we're loving at the time.In the mean time, check

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Our Spring Chickens!

sotones, 2008-03-12 13:42:40

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Well, spring is here, flowers are blooming, homebrew's-a-bubbling... and so we proudly present to you our newest and rudest members:

• The Moulettes have worked with Modernaire and been in exile in, variously, Manchester, Brighton and London for the last year or so - where their !2 Bar Club night was voted 'Most Trendy' by Time Out (oo-er)! Don't let that put you off though - their blend of perfect raucous folk melodies and Bad Seeds sensibilities are a treat to the ears.
• Jackie Paper, better known as Dave Miatt (Thomas Tantrum, or, if you're from Southampton, 'force of sodden debauchery'.) Long before he ever wielded an electric at Maida Vale, however, Dave was busking up and down the pubs and bars of Bevois Valley (notorious Southampton sleaze-ridden club strip) with an anti-folk set of delicacy and intensity, recalling Jeffery Lewis-meets-Michael Jackson
• Young Peter Lyons already has three albums under his belt, including one on MC for Tape Club Records - now sold out. His music sounds like Arcade Fire produced by Beck meeting Japanese ace Cornelius, which would be somewhere over the Pacific presumably. Apt, because his prolific work is also infused with genuine sunny tropical optimism, but sea-lorne longing too.
• Southampton's newest band The Dress Up Room have only had a handful of gigs to date but we begged them to work with us having heard them rehearse week in, week out through the door at Planet Sounds. They just keep getting better and better, refining their Placebo-meets-The Strokes-meets-Television noise towards perfection.. stay tuned..

Keep checking back to Sotones.co.uk, visit their myspaces, and look out for them in a record store / toilet venue / shopping centre opening near you soon!

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Rough Trade / All change

joe, 2008-02-10 09:01:37

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It's been about nine months since we started hardcoring it on the Sotones front. It's been mental. We made a few stupid mistakes (glue gun anyone?) and a few smart decisions. We got a bit lucky. We got a bit shafted. We met lots of people, pretty much all were ace, and we got hella smashed.

It's all starting to pay off. Apparently we get about 20,000 hits a month here - which is amazing - but more importantly we're getting lots of nice emails from you, cheers for that. On the boring-schmoring music biz front, the exciting news this month is that we've joined AIM. They're the trade body for indie labels - bit like the BPI - and that means we're now keeping company with labels like Fierce Panda, Domino, XL etc. What this means for you lot is we should soon be offering more and better ways for you to get music and some swe-e-eeet videos down the line.

As well as this, we've now got copies of 'Vol.11' in Rough Trade record stores in London. This is wicked news so get down there and grab them! We've also made a few changes to the site you may have noticed and we're planning a few more...

The timing's great, because from the end of this month my loose grip on the Sotones reins will well and truly slip - need to go off and make-a di dosh-o - and Jimmy Ray will take over day-to-day running. He'll have help from Emma Richardson and Dave Miatt, who'll handle bookings/press and admin respectively.

So... laters, thanks for all the times, here's to the summer and festival season!!

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the night before (the night before) xmas!

joe, 2007-12-20 03:15:25

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to round off the year and generally get a chance to say 'thanks bub' we're having a cristmas party. it's a bit short notice but then we only got the booking cos someone else cancelled, so mustn't grumble its SUNDAY 23rd DECEMBER at the TALKING HEADS and its gonna be FREE!!! as well as some decks (whaddya wanna play - evil dj battle) and some sort of singing schizzle, we're gonna try and lay hold of some mince pies or something. whoop!

we'll also have all our musical wares out for purchase in case you haven't done that last-minute shopping yet and don't fancy a trip to the service station after closing time on christmas eve plus we're starting off in the afternoon at the german beer tent with some mulled wine for anyone who wants to join us before. mmmm....

so - hope you can make it, see you sunday, bring your pals and christmas cheer!!

Jimmy, Joe, Emma, Dave & Izzak
xxxxxxxxxxx

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December! mince pies n high fives!

sotones, 2007-12-03 13:14:17

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Ello all,

how you been doin then?*

Long time no speak, but a damn busy october rolled into a spectacularly mental november. we've spruced up the website with a NEW ONLINE STORE, we saw bob dave and nathan off to spain with a sold-out show at the talking heads with all the usual supects, and it was so good we're putting on another one: 18th January 2008 (!) at the 'heads again... this one features Blakfish and Chin Music and Caesura AND the almighty MEET ME IN ST LOUIS.... set to be an awesome gig, make it if you can.

Whooo hoo:
before that there's all kindsa gigs gwan from all our amazing bands as well as some really exciting new material on the way that pushes the boat right out musically... but more of that later, check em out: www.sotones.co.uk/artists.php

XMAS PRESSIES:
is a-coming like the glorified capitalist puke-fest we all know it to be. if you want to support a starving artist (and trust us, it aint no cliche, the front door's double-locked at the moment to keep the legbreakers out) and give Da Gift Of Mew-zik to a loved one / enemy why not pay a visit to our great revamped new store. theres some great cheapo deals for crimbo including fixed postage. every penny we make goes back into new releases so its worthwhile if you want to help us get another great sampler out: www.sotones.co.uk/shop.php

ALSO:
we're gonna have a big xmas party, venue tbc but sunday 23rd looks likely. for mistletoe-abusing arse-photocopying, brandy-swilling wrongness with the ST crew watch this space!!

ACCESS FESTIVAL 2008:
we were well pleased that the peeps behind access - the yearly FREE festival in southampton in aid of local homeless charity Society Of St James - asked a bunch of our acts to play (to 4500 people!!!) this year. next year's do is going to be even bigger and we've been asked to help. so keep your eyes n ears peeled (eh?) for an announcement and fundraising gig series early next year!!! in the meantime, take a mo RIGHT NOW to have a look at what SSJ do to help people having a much shitter xmas than you: www.ssj.org.uk

spesh:
we better say a quick word about our buddies Ejector Seat - they've got an AMAZING lineup this week, visit their myspace to find out more and why it's possibly the only gig this year to be free of crap drummer gags: www.myspace.com/ejectorseat

WORK IT:
we've got some interesting new jobs cooked up, theres some grrrreat stuff there so if you wanna get involved, get involved: www.sotones.co.uk/jobs.php

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espana bonanza!

joe, 2007-11-11 13:09:44

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It's bye bye to the Beaux Hardts (plus Nath and Freya) who are leaving today on a (carbon offset) jetplane. They're flocking south to Barcelona so they can party, bring the noise to Spain and watch all the Saints' european matches at Barca at a fraction of the price.

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Thanks - beaux hardts' leaving do rocked!!

sotones, 2007-11-10 13:08:53

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Moneytree kicked the night off with a stripped down, ferocious set as a three-piece. The new shizz from 'The Great Indoors Pt2' sounded amazing, can't wait for the release!!!
Then the Beaux Hardts stepped up to fucking well lay down the law with a rocking set that was suprisingly tight for two wee lads who'd been drinking since 4. The encores! Bob n Davo were joined onstage by Joe Parker and the rest of the Power, brought to you today by Jimi Ray and Cambell Austin. What might turn out to be the last ever Power set featuring that line-up proved to be equal parts comedy, rock and opera with frying amps, singing crowds and flying Austins. Both sets got recorded so a release may be on the way.
Brighton visitors Everyone To The Anderson impressed with steely-sharp shards of angular rock not a million miles away from any number of Dischord acts and we hope they come again.
Fleeingnewyork were thus unlucky to take to the stage considerably later - and better lubricated - than they might have been had everything else run on time, but then, so were the rabble. Forty minutes of glorious bluesy stomping later no-one really cared. Shapes were thrown.
Those same shapes were twisted, mangled and tortured by the electro-sleaze-a capella that one Edward J. Hicks somehow managed to smuggle into the party and to be honest we were about as scared as entertained... it.. ain't natural...
Chin Music sadly couldn't play on Friday due to illness, but we caught them back at top notch at the Old Fat Cat on Tuesday, all back in the UK at last (oh the irony) and ready to rock 'Temper Temper' which we're decided here and now to think of as a new release.

DJs Jimi Ray and Joe Allen did plenty sexy dance.....

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'Temper Temper' on iTunes

sotones, 2007-10-12 13:10:42

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We're dead excited about this as it means anyone can now get their hands on some top-quality Chin Music... music. (oh, the puns)

Seriously, it's an awesome record (our faves have to be the sucker punch into of Compression/Right Where We Started/Contours) and we all wish Neil and the gang best of luck!

Link to:

Kruger Magazine - review

joe, 2007-10-10 13:02:28

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Here's a quickie...

Wow.

Kruger Magazine is this well ace music mag based in Cardiff... they're pretty damn awesome, they do a free full-colour A5 mag in landscape that changes ALL the design templates every month (no mean feat, took us most of the year to get the site looking like this...) n schizz like that

N E WAY why are we raving about them? well they gave us a great review. it's double good cos we didn't even have to pay them jewels or semen or other bodily fluids. read it but one

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sad n happy

joe, 2007-10-01 19:06:22

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sad news today.. bob n dave a.k.a. the beaux hardts, one of our hardest-rocking bands (dare ya..) and heart n soul of sotones confirmed that they're leaving in november for SPAIN - we're seen the tickets, and they're one-way

it's a mega bum bum bum - they've just finished debut EP leisure and it's ace - but got to respect their decision and with the weather this shit, who can blame them..

so good luck peeps! we'll have to have a goodbye party of some kind. pineapple on sticks.. jammy dodgers..

Link to:

I know what we did last summer..

sotones, 2007-09-21 14:57:16

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Hey everybody! Sorry it's been a while since we've sent out any mail, it's been a busy few months!

Anyway, you will be happy to hear that we've got some great things going on at the moment: Our first sampler is now available for the stupidly cheap price of £3! You can get it either from the online shop - www.sotones.co.uk/shop, from any of the artists on Sotones (check the myspace or this website) and soon to be available from Beatnik Emporium, Oxfam Music and Cloud Wine in Southampton. For a preview listen go to www.sotones.co.uk.

Our first launch party at The Talking Heads back in August went great (Dead! Dead! Dead!, Loose Caboose, Edward J Hicks and Lonely Joe Parker seriously rocked the house and did us proud) and we're now very much excited about our second (I know it's a bit greedy to have two but hey, why not!). It's TOMORROW NIGHT (SATURDAY 22nd) @ UNIT22 IN SOUTHAMPTON, BLAKFISH and MONEYTREE ARE PLAYING LIVE and keeping the dancefloor going till 4 in the morning are DJ duo THE PISSED OFF BASTARDS (Jimi Ray - Sotones, and Dontcallmebuddy - Kench - www.myspace.com/kenchkenchkench). Gonna be the best night ever ever ever ever ever ever ever so don't miss it.

Also on the gig front, Sotones founders and general legends THE BEAUX HARDTS (who have actually just finished their new record, go to www.myspace.com/thebeauxhardts for a listen, please do it's properly sic, very excited about this one!) are buggering off to Barcelona in November so are having a big giant fatty boom batty send off gig at THE TALKING HEADS on the 9TH NOVEMBER, so stick that in your diary! More details to come about that one but be sure, it's gonna have a crazily amazing line up!

Other news:
***Moneytree are recording the second part of their e.p. trilogy as we speak, they've got a little unmastered preview on their myspace, check it out it great! www.myspace.com/treesmadeofmoney.
***We're doin a stall at Southamptons 'indie' freshers fair on Tuesday (25th) and will be trying to flog our CDs and generally brain washing the fresh new students into thinking were the best thing since the 'happy hour' was invented, gonna be live music and free stuff and shizzle so even if your not a student it's worth missioning it down just to check out whats happening in Southampton.
***'Vol.11' has been getting well loads of attention, look out for reviews soon in Kruger Magazine and Drowned In Sound.com apparently!

Right. Thats about it for now, sorry if we waffled on a bit. Don't forget to check out the website and the myspace, and if you're on facebook, come find our facebook group, it's just called Sotones, nice and easy!

Cheers, see you soon, love you lots etc etc!
Sotones x

Link to:

Here we are!

sotones, 2007-08-02 12:51:19

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Wow... launch night...!

It takes longer than you think, getting a record together. First you've got to work out who's gonna be on it, then find out what tracks they got, then ask them, then get the tracks off them... none of it's easy when you're working from internet cafes, believe me.

After that you've got to get cash together to master and press it... to try and save money we're doing assembly ourselves. we've got an awesome sleeve designd by bob and jimmy with artwork by edward j. hicks that looks awesome!

Because the main pressing couldn't get to us in time for tonight, we've got a rush job of 100 made up by SquareMonkey, which is local notable Neil from D!x3's project. So far only made about 10 up (been mega busy with posters banners n stuff) so we'll take the glue-gun down and do them on the door, DIY as fuck!!

See you at the Whitehouse, Above Bar, from 9pm!!

Link to:

The Sotones Blog

A blog where we rabbit on about trying to run a co-operative indie label in a ramshackle way, in a well... ramshackle way.
(with some promo guff thrown in...)

• Right, okay... - 2010-03-07T22:48:00.002Z
• Last Night... - 2010-01-17T19:22:00.001Z
• Here we are again... - 2010-01-09T17:14:00.001Z
• My Contribution for the week... - 2010-01-02T19:09:00.000Z
• More Coffee Please... - 2009-12-23T17:02:00.000Z
• Another day at the Office - 2009-12-22T16:32:00.000Z
• Day one with the Sotones label... - 2009-12-19T17:00:00.000Z
• Sam's Stuff - Introducing Sam - 2009-12-19T15:15:00.000Z
• those green shoots - 2009-05-16T11:59:00.003+01:00
• Rumblings from the belly of the digital beast - 2009-04-17T21:29:00.015+01:00
• Friday night, a nice bottle of Bordeaux and some catching up to do - 2009-03-07T00:16:00.005Z
• Chin Music Call It A Day - 2008-07-02T13:40:00.009+01:00
• First Proper Post - 2008-06-18T01:45:00.001+01:00
• Introduction - 2008-06-13T16:01:00.001+01:00
• Our Spring Chickens! - 2008-03-12 13:42:40
• Rough Trade / All change - 2008-02-10 09:01:37
• the night before (the night before) xmas! - 2007-12-20 03:15:25
• December! mince pies n high fives! - 2007-12-03 13:14:17
• espana bonanza! - 2007-11-11 13:09:44
• Thanks - beaux hardts' leaving do rocked!! - 2007-11-10 13:08:53
• 'Temper Temper' on iTunes - 2007-10-12 13:10:42
• Kruger Magazine - review - 2007-10-10 13:02:28
• sad n happy - 2007-10-01 19:06:22
• I know what we did last summer.. - 2007-09-21 14:57:16
• Here we are! - 2007-08-02 12:51:19