The release is a digipack, and is being co-released by the lovely people from Happy Prince in Japan.

The sad part of this news, is that eaststrikewest are no more. To use the bands words: In the highly combustible studio environment, eaststrikewest imploded before the album was mixed.

Full details on the release can be found here.

30/03/12 – D Zittau, Emil /// link

31/03/12 – CZ Orlavá, TBA

01/03/12 – NEED HELP!!!

02/04/12 – A Vienna, Aparat /// link

03/04/12 – A Graz, Forum Stadtpark /// link

04/04/12 – CH Zürich, TBA

05/04/12 – D Karlsruhe, Carambolage /// link

06/04/12 – D Offenbach, Hafen 2 /// link

07/04/12 – D Solingen, Waldmeister /// link

08/04/12 – D Berlin, S23 /// link

Pre-orders for the new album are now open:

US/CA customers can get it here

All other customers here



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Baby Blau: “…schaffen es die Berliner, bei allen Einflüssen der alten Helden eigene Akzente zu setzen. Liebhaber der oben genannten Bands werden zufrieden sein. Schönes Teil!”

Alternative Matter: “You Are Genius contains eight stirring pieces that are not only of high calibre musicianship and stirring composition but come soaked in passion and emotion to induce feelings and thoughts in the listener rather than imagery”

Gezeitenstrom: “Condre Scr reifen zu einer festen Größe nicht nur regional heran”

Schallgrenzen: “”Shimmering walls of guitars without end, shouting for joy, drop, tension and relaxation, ambient post-rock and shoegaze”

Indie 30: “What has emerged is a tight and impressive collection of eight tracks that will nicely transport you to that place instrumental post rock does so well. And Condre Scr do it very well.”

The first track is already available as a stream and free download:

Customers from Canada and the USA, your link is here
Europeans and “rest of world” customers, you can get yours here

Downloads will be available from both stores on the release date (Feb 24th)

And make sure you follow the bands facebook page, as tour dates will be announced soon!

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Rather than do a standard remix album or a CD full of covers, the concept is to create a closed circle of remixes. Artist A reinterprets Artist B, Artist B does Artist C, and Artist C does Artist A, thus creating a circle. The tracks are selected by the label rather than the bands, solely with the intention of creating a full concept of an album or EP, rather than a random set of tracks.

The bands/artists are given their tracks and the only boundary they have to remain in is that the reinterpreted track is recognisable as the original. Apart from that, they have a completely free hand to excercise their creativity as they see fit.

The releases are special. They are not intended to be a mass market product. The releases will always be a “name your price” download, and individual EPs or albums may be available as a limited edition CD. The aim is to satisfy music fans, and not to storm the charts. Music that an Artist or Band (and the label) loves, reinterpreted by another similarly minded artist or band.

Apta (Cardiff, UK) is the newest on the musical scene. Just starting out, he is a friend of experimentation, and willing to take musical risks. Not yet having a large discography, most of the available tracks can be found on BandCamp as free downloads. Expect to hear more from him in the near future! On this release, “The Child” (The Eternal Twilight) is given the once over.

The Eternal Twilight (the world) is comprised of 4 people, in 4 countries. Hailing from the US, Germany, Pakistan and India, they are the living proof that music knows no boundaries. They have already released an album, Everything Resembles You, and have since done remixes, EPs, and collaborations with other ambient artists. On this EP they have covered What Makes Us So Uncommon by The Echelon Effect.

The Circle Project – Section1: elektronik is available immediately as a “name your price” download with a minimum of €0.00. A limited amount of CDs will be made available within the next weeks.

The Circle Project has it’s own website here.

Enjoy and spread the music!

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While it is obviously impossible for Oxide Tones to influence the shipping costs themselves, together with a friend, we have found a way around the costs. Effective immediately, all releases on the Oxide Tones label will also be available from a new online store that we have opened, http://postrock-store.com.

This isn’t a distro agreement or a drop-shipper handling things, all of the Oxide Tones CDs are in safe hands in Austin, Texas, and will be shipped from there. I believe this is an important step for Oxide Tones in an ever changing music business, where it is near to impossible to get distribution deals, as it will allow us to make our music available to our friends and customers on the other side of the Atlantic.

What is available there?

Basically all of the OXIDE releases except “More Hope for Japan”. While the idea is to keep shipping costs low for North American customers, we decided to make the digital releases available too, for the sake of completeness. Albums that we releases with free give aways, such as the Canyons of Static album, Farewell Shadows, will also be available without the free give aways, as we do not stock these items in both locations.

Albums, EPs, singles that we stock and sell, but are not on the label, will not be made available at http://postrock-store.com as they are only stocked in Germany.

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5 Christmas tracks, rewritten in a pure Post Rock style!

Tracklist:

• My Favourite Things
• Silent Night
• Do You hear What I Hear
• O Holy Night
• Ukrainian Bell Carol

So imagine my utmost joy when I get to hear a preview of an album that, on the second listen, gives me the exact same feeling, even though I have just received the album. I have immediately connected to the album, each track is a jewel in itself, and the album as a whole reminds me of good times from the past. It has basically become a very personal album to me, within 1 hour of listening.



So what is the album? Its called “We’re important and we keep the city running. We’re important, we’re important, we’re important…” by a band from London called eaststrikewest (Facebook | Twitter | Big Cartel | MySpace). The guys have been together for a while, and their debut album, Wolvves, was critically acclaimed. They are not your standard Post Rock set up, nor is their music easily definable. There are definitely Post Rock elements, as there are Indie, Alt and Prog elements. They use vocals very intensely (yes, I do listen to music with vocals). There is no definitive release date yet planned, nor are they on a label, but mark my words, if you have a similar music taste to me, then you are really going to enjoy this album.

Here’s a blow by blow run down:

Bless! What starts atmospherically, is changed after 30 seconds to a monotonous drum beat and a typical eaststrikewest guitar sound. Tones adapt swiftly and the drum beat turns into a thunderous metronome forcing you to listen. The melody stays in the background until the chugging guitars begin to lead the way forward. This is a foot tapping monster of a track, and I can’t think of a single band that I could compare it to, and the only word that explains it is “Anthem”. Watch out for the first public airing of this track next week on Fade to Yellow. The atmospherics return towards the end of the track, leading into track 2.
Twisting Muscles begins as an easily recognisable ESW track, light guitars and the vocals that fans have learnt to love. That lasts for approximately 40 seconds until the full band joins in in a monumental fashion. The build up is effective, but the track is full of surprises and as rapidly as the build up appeared, so it disappears again. This song is probably one of my favourites as it perfectly shows the vocal skills of the band in combination with epicness, strings, and a somehow happy feeling. It is also the most reminiscent of Wolvves.
The Outsider is a fast track, with a strong pounding beat, a Post Rock sounding guitar and a focus on vocals. The track reminds me of early 90s indie from the UK, and while it’s not a song that will make airplay, it is a great lead into the rest of the album where the band gets comfortable musically.
Must Not Sleep, Must Warn Others starts again with drums and percussion, and a somehow dark sounding guitar picking out the melody. The vocal strengths are used again, the lyrics taking over from the music, while at the same time not being too overpowering. The “chorus” is cut short after 2 chants, and the listener gets the feeling that the tempo is picking up, although it’s actually not. A break towards the end pulls me in before chaos breaks loose, strings, vocals, guitars, bass and drums all over the place in a perfect cacophony that leads the song out.
Waking From Comas is the first of two slower track on the album, almost ballad like. A single guitar leads in with vocals joining, overlaying a simple melody. Bass, percussions and drums join in later, however you can hear the emotions dripping from the vocals and lyrics, and that’s what makes this track stand out.
Marionettes stays in the eaststrikewest ballad style, vocal acrobatics included. The higher tones towards the end of each line make this tune catchy and emotional at the same time, and the strings which come in about half way through to take the track to another epic height only underline the fact that eaststrikewest have their own definitive style.
Red Sun is my second contender for favourite track. It’s one of those tracks that makes you feel like jumping up and down and screaching. A bar of strings leads the way for a fast beat, a fat bass line and a feeling of pure energy. Shortly later the rest of the band joins in, and a smile is on your face immediately. By the time the vocals join, your pulse is faster, your mood is better, and you are standing on top of the world. The one word to define this track is FUN, which isn’t exactly a standrad for the genre. I can imagine this track getting airplay on the radio, as it is catchy, memorable and easily hummable, down to the christmassy bell-like melody at the end
With One Last Breath is the third contender for best track. A return to a Wolvves-like track, this one is another upbeat track that will improve your mood when listening. Also another contender for airplay, Last Breath is a strings-loaded, extremely catchy track. A chanting vocal line is joined once again by a Post Rock guitar, and takes the listener on a winding road. The emphasis in the vocals increases, strings join back in, and the guitars take a back row. Standrad Post Rock terms (epic, monumental etc) spring to mind, and a rapid decrease in rhythm and volume leads the track and album out.


Summary: I’m not going to give this marks out of ten, but there isn’t much to say beyond what I have already written really, eaststrikewest have created a fantastic second album. If you like your music to be non-commercial and interesting, then this needs to be in your collection. To describe the album in three words: Epic, Joyous, Thunderous.