Artist: islet

Despite how it can sometimes seems, UK bands don't always follow the same lazy tradition (The Beatles, Sex Pistols, The Cure, The Smiths or Oasis) of their contemporaries. It's a relief as conservatism has never inspired creativity, either in music or in politics. Cardiff quartet Islet are not into fancy jackets, romantic-drunk-loser lyrics, anthemic riffs or even cold skinny depressing tunes. Instead they are far out and seemingly used to running in poppy fields and summoning the great Valhalla for their own end of the world. More than psychedelic, Islet's music is primal and instinctive, [...]

Welsh noise pop band Islet will be touring the UK in late May into early June, right before festival time kicks into high gear. 'Illuminated People', their debut album, came out last week and my review of it can be read here. Friday 25th May 2012 - Liverpool Kazimier Saturday 26th May 2012 - Glasgow Captain's Rest Sunday 27th May 2012 - Newcastle Cluny 2 Monday 28th May 2012 - Leeds Brudenell Social Club [...]

To celebrate the release of their debut album Illuminated People, Islet are delighted to announce their first live tour for 2012, taking their incredible live show across the UK throughout May +... **Summary** Go to website for downloads, videos & more.

Though they've released two EPs previously 'Celebrate This Place' and 'Wimmy', this week sees Cardiff band Islet (Emma Daman and brothers John and Mark Freeman) releasing their proper debut album. As should be expected, most of the tracks on 'Illuminated People' take full advantage of what has been considered Islet's strength from the beginning: their ability to channel their talents into rhythmically eclectic tunes. What I found completely unexpected was that despite their reputation as being known as a "rhythmic" band, they can sound, scarily, like a loud rock band brandishing [...]

• shaperecords - Illuminated People

Islet - Illuminated People By Paul Faller Trying to review any release by Cardiff four-piece Islet is a difficult task, but it's fair to say that they put the 'mental' in experimental. I mean that in the best way possible, of course - watching their live show, you're never quite sure where they're going to go next, making for a chaotic but compelling spectacle. Following up from their two previous EPs Celebrate This Place and Wimmy , debut full-length Illuminated People certainly aims [...]

Artist : Islet Title : Illuminated People Release date : 23rd January 2012 Label : Shape Records (Turnstile) Words by Tomas Dickinson After two successful releases in 2010, Cardiff-based DIY enigmas Islet unleash their debut album ' Illuminated People ' this month. 2011 saw a summer of festival appearances, spreading their DIY approach to the masses with home made 'zines, self made record labels [...]

For a band so enthused, intrigued, and engrossed by mixed media collage it'd seem entirely appropriate that Islet's debut full-length and our first real glimpse into the Cardiff outfit's well-oiled inner workings, Illuminated People, should represent yet another mixed media collage, albeit in audio aesthetic. And in truth, this particular composition is as unmissable as any furore-inducing Hockney veneration. Portentous ebbs of abrasion are offset by the calming coos of Emma Daman on audaciously expansive opener Libra Man, providing an initiation that gives away little to nothing as to [...]

'Illuminated People' serves like a manual on how to make great experimental music delivered by the new masters of the craft, Islet.

PHEW! Thank fuck that's (more or less) over. This year has been a bit full-on, I have to confess, but the bulk of the hard work now seems more or less over. Our last release (Lil Daggers) came out last week, and our label Christmas Party is now done and dusted which leaves me a relatively comfortable run into the Christmas period from now on, which is some for which I am quite grateful. Nevertheless, The Leg album, the Jesus H. Foxx album and the second album by Yusuf Azak are all on the menu for early next [...]

• Toadcast #204 - The Phewcast » ToadcastNo204.mp3

British Sea Power once wasted elegiac stanzas on a rapport destined to be 'ended on an oily stage'. However, many wonderful musical happenings of a more positive nature have coincidentally occurred over the course of the past twelve months on stages small and large; sticky and pristine; smooth, sweaty, and indeed oily (for which see that of Tivoli de Helling above). Here's the deal: we'll run through our most enjoyable for reasons varied (and in some cases pretty well unknown), and you can reminisce or wish you'd been there in a more composed state of mind or rejoice in the [...]

After a brief pause in their recorded output of late, the glorious Islet are back on the road, showcasing an even wilder exaggeration of their frenzied, psychedelic compositions. The Cardiff four-piece are a band notorious for their luxuriant, frenetic live performances as they are for their more reclusive ways of dealing with press and all social media matters. Yet while their recordings remain wonderfully shambolic and, until very recently, wholly self-recorded, there is nothing remotely scruffy about their production - it's controlled chaos that outpours most visibly in their performances. The lore and [...]

Constellations 2011 By Russell Warfield November 12, 2011 This year's Constellations Festival was a double-decker treat for me. Not only was it a second straight year of excellent music at Leeds University Union (and only the second year in total, to boot), but it was also the first time that I managed to get back oop n'rth after graduating from the university earlier this year. Gorgeously decorated stages aside, it was a joy to roam around the place, enjoying performances, supping on pints which didn't require [...]

Cakecast? Yes, the Cakecast, because I turn thirty-six today, and in the absence of a real cake and in honour of the fact that I have a gig tonight at the Wee Red and will hence be working, I decided that at least a picture of some cake was in order. I don't worry about age particularly, but I have to confess that thirty-six sounds suspiciously more like 'nearly forty' than it does like 'thirty-something'. Curse you time and your unrelentingly linear nature! Anyhow, as I said, tonight we have Gummy Stumps , Weird Era [...]

• Toadcast #201 - The Cakecast » ToadcastNo201.mp3

Lana del Rey/Lizzy Grant/whoever she's choosing to be contemporarily, the artificial product of anti-inspiration, may well be shuffling about, spluttering, and muttering calculatedly and choreographically if awkwardly in front of regurgitated Tumblr GIFs a few hundred metres down the road, yet exceedingly more cataclysmic furore is to unravel tonight up towards the anything but heavenly Angel, à la upstairs at The Lexington. More twisted and crazed than the minds of del Rey's coldblooded label dictators are Gentle Friendly , who trash out an almost constant, unabating stream of [...]

Considering it's rich history and iconic heritage, it fills me with great pride to see my homeland's music scene thriving. Spanning the UK's many aural genres, there's a myriad of music to suit all tastes and dispositions. It's been a challenge to cull this list down to just ten artists, but those who are listed here have earned my vote as the top bands in Britain today. Coming straight from Tyneside, this eclectic act blends elements of electronica and krautrock, resulting in locomotive-like grooves, [...]

isletislet.com/ Welsh noise-makes Islet have treated us (you can listen below and download via the band at this link ) to a taster of their debut album 'Illuminated People', which is due early next year, "This Fortune" is everything I've come to expect from the Cardiff experimental act, unconventional and shambolic (in a good way) melodies, propulsive rhythms and frenetic drums. The drums really are amazing, for the all the chaos the band bring to their records (and even more so their live show) they are incredibly tight musicians, I love the vocals [...]

• Islet - This Fortune

Islet have announced their debut album, to be released early next year on Shape (Turnstile). Illuminated People follows 2010's rapturously received pair of EPs – Celebrate This Place & Wimmy.... **Summary** Go to website for downloads, videos & more.

• TheArtOf... - ISLET // This Fortune

It's been a long time coming, by Islet have finally confirmed the release of their debut album. Called Illuminated People , it'll come out through their own Shape Records and Turnstile on January 23rd. Luckily for us, the Cardiff four-piece are also giving away a track taken from it. 'This Fortune' is synth heavy and whirring noise - rallying between moments of loud panic and considered calm, much like their excellently loud and energetic live shows, backed by the 'tribal' that we've become familiar with. Needless to say it's good, and the full-length is likely to be [...]

• Islet - This Fortune

Constellations 2011 By Russell Warfield Single-day festivals are a real pleasure of mine: lots of great bands, all in one place, without guy-ropes. And my favourite incarnation of forefather event Dot to Dot was the Manchester version, where pretty much the whole affair was homed within the confines of the Student Union building, minimising both drinks prices and walking distances. How fabulous, then, to have Constellations Festival fall into my life in Leeds last year, fully formed, seemingly from nowhere, operating almost identically, but better . For [...]

photo by Al Harley Wimmy by Islet was one of our favourite LP's of 2010; all that clattering rhythmic, psychedelic woozy synths and tribe-like chants, get's us all hot hear at If There Is Hell Below HQ. Islet are very much a live band, there is something about their songs that just comes out at you, that seem spontaneous, chaotic, yet mathematically exact. They're playing at the [...]

• Islet - One Of These Worlds