Listen: New Conveyor Single – “Mane”

Ahh Conveyor, one of many reasons we yearn for a return visit to NYC and the surrounding area. This Brooklyn combo have been delighting us for a while now after we fell in love with their Sun Ray EP which came out last year. Since then they have brightened our January blues with the release of “Mukraker”, the lead single from their forthcoming debut album, tantalised us with this live performance of album track “Right Sleep” and now, made us all giddy with the release “Mane”.

While entirely identifiable as a Conveyor track, this second single from their not-going-to-be-released-soon-enough-as-far-as-we-are-concerned album showcases yet another strand of the sonic variety the band seems to be reveling in. The effervescent, folksy guitars dance, featherlite, gently leading us along the road towards summer.

Yes summer, it is not that far way and already we can hear the bright and twinkly “Mane” as we contemplate the soft haze of the late summer evening drawing in and the barbecue, its job long since complete, flickering out quietly. Loved ones sit, sated by the sumptuous feast presented for them. A few stragglers pick at the debris while children run and play, dragging sun-weary uncles and grandparents into their imagination, desperate to prolong the day and put off the inevitability of slumber.

You can scroll down for the releases details but in the meantime, take a listen for yourself and tell us what you think in the comments.

A white vinyl 7″ of “Mane” is released on the wonderful Gold Robot Records on 15 May and can be pre-ordered here. Alternatively you can download it now from their Bandcamp site. It’s available for free but it would be great if you could drop them a little cash to help keep the funds ticking over. Hopefully they will soon have enough for a UK tour…

Watch/Listen: Conveyor – “Right Sleep”

During the recent SXSW extravaganza, Alphabet Bands’ favourite Conveyor performed a previously unreleased track, “Right Sleep”, as part of a UTOPiA Session.

No words are necessary. We love it, we love the band and we can’t wait for the album.

Enjoy “Right Sleep” and go tell the band how awesome it is on their Twitter account

Via We Listen For You

Give Conveyor a Kickstart

We love Conveyor, you know that already, and as well as making great music, they are really good people as well. So, with a clear conscience and a warm fuzzy feeling in our collective heart, we would like to draw your attention to their latest project; a Kickstarter campaign to help fund a US tour this year. Or, as they have called it, Tourveyor (clever, like it).

The band are hoping to raise $6,000 to help them buy a bus in which they can drive around the US and play lovely gigs to lovely people. You may wonder why we, a UK based site, are promoting this US based campaign. Well, there are three reasons really.

1. We really dig Conveyor and would love to see them break out big style.
2. Getting donations from fans for this tour will help them to continue to make their music available for free.
3. We figure once this tour is over, it’s only a matter of time before they buy a plane and fly over here as well.

Ok, there is a fourth reason too, the goodies they are offering in return for donations are pretty darn sweet.
We mulled it over and, as tempting as it was to pay $500 to have them write a song about anything we wanted, we instead went for the vinyl package (shocker there).

Check out their page and see if there is anything that takes your fancy, and if you need reminding of how brilliant a band they are, here is their fabulous Sun Ray EP to stream and enjoy.

Competition: Win a test pressing of the new Conveyor / Illuminator split 7″ single

Competition Closed

It’s our first ever competition here at Alphabet Bands, and we wanted to do something special to mark the occasion. Thanks to the wonderful Conveyor, we think we’ve done just that.

The band has very kindly donated a test pressing of their forthcoming single, “Mukraker”, which is on a split 7” with fellow Brooklyn band, Illuminator and their track, “Gulf Hymn”.

There are only 15 of these test pressings in existence, so this will be a much sort after item for fans of either band or vinyl junkies alike.

To be in with a chance of winning this exclusive prize, just answer this simple question:

What is the name of the Conveyor EP that featured in our best EPs of 2011 list?

Send your answer to alphabetbands@gmail.com with the subject line Conveyor Competition.

The competition closes at 23:59 GMT, Tuesday 21 February. The winner will be drawn at random and announced here on 23 February and notified by email.

One entry only per person allowed.

UPDATE: The correct answer was Sun Ray

Congratulations to Julie Bremner who wins the test pressing.

Keep your eyes open for more contests in the future!

Listen: New ILLUMINATOR Single – “Gulf Hymn”

Last week, we wrote about the new single from one of our favourite new bands, Conveyor. As we noted at the time, the single (“Mukraker”) is to be released on a split 7”, and we are pleased that we can now share with you the flip side.

“Gulf Hymn” is the new track from fellow Brooklynites, ILLUMINATOR, who will also be appearing live tonight on the same bill as Conveyor at the Glasslands Gallery, Brooklyn. These guys describe their music as being, electronic experimental progressive psychedelic gospel indie. Now you might be forgiven for thinking, ‘damn, sounds to me like there is a hell of a lot going on there’ and to be honest, you’d be right. But not in a bad way.

This is undoubtedly a song that is crammed full of ideas and thoughts. It bustle and busies its way across a number of styles, and even embraces different forms of metre from verse to verse. Like the musical personification of a molecular gastronomist, ILLUMINATOR has combined numerous disparate elements to create a remarkable whole. Sparse organ sounds and near a cappella vocals give way to a wave of psychedelic electronic and, incredibly, what sounds like very R Kelly inspired gospel harmonies. From then on in you are hit with wave after wave of sound, to the extent that it almost feels as though your senses are under attack. It’s really quite fun.

The band plan to release another full album later in the year, in the meantime you can stream “Gulf Hymn” here and check out more of their music via the links below.

Connect with ILLUMINATOR.

Website
Twitter
Facebook