FINALLY RELEASED: Souvaris Souvaris Souvaris Souvaris Souvaris Souvaris Souvaris...

Hey ho chaps and chapettes,

Some obligatory HUGE THANKS to Emma and the lovely blokes from Dear Thief/Gung Ho and Doig and the dudes at Power Lunches for having us at a super-special, super-sweaty London gig the other weekend. We had a hugely enjoyable time playing and seeing lots of faces old and new. If you came out; we salute you.

But now, to business, for this week finally marks the official release of SOUVARIS - SOUVARIS SOUVARIS. Some of these songs took literally months to write, and we first started working on recording the whole thing over 2 years ago and only just managed to finish it this summer, so it's extremely gratifying to have it released by our great friends and still hugely vital Nottingham-loving label Gringo Records. Similarly, in these times of massive cutbacks, record labels and distros dying on their arses and shops going tits-up, it's extremely kind of Cargo to take on a record as uncommercial as ours and stick a few copies in local record shops... if you're lucky enough to live near any that still exist, we implore you to go out and support it by buying AS MANY COPIES AS YOU CAN.

You mean you haven't heard it yet? Well my dear, here are some thingummies from Bandcamp and Soundcloud:

Latest tracks by souvaris

And if that sonic onslaught didn't persuade you, we received one of the most well-considered and thoughtful of our venerable 11 years courtesy of the generous Tommy Dski at Pocket Jury:

"Somewhere between [NEU!75 and Can's "Landed"] is the wonderful Souvaris, an amalgamation of the inventiveness of early krautrock with western pop music, creating something of a unique art-rock sound. The surging crescendos favoured by many post-rock bands are still there but the sense of dynamics is far more varied, with many moods covered over the forty minute duration... one of the great British treasures at the absolute peak of their considerable power."

I think we all genuinely blushed when we read this review - so many thanks to Tommy.

Now what are you waiting for? It's the perfect Christmas present! Buy one for yourself! Buy one for your other half! Heck, buy our Gringo's entire stock so we can stop owing Matt so much money as well as all the good karma he's passed our way over the last few years! BUY! BUY! BUY!

EUROPEAN TOUR 2010

Hi all,

Thanks to everyone who came out for our tenth birthday! We had an excellent time and really, really enjoyed ourselves. Thanks too to Ed Wood Jr and Fresh Eyes for the Dead Guy, both of whom threatened to blow us off the stage, and to all of you who indulged in munching cake, stomping on balloons and letting off pathetically weak party poppers. Left Lion have written a very kind review of the night here.

But now! We are about to depart these shores for some excitement (and 2,000-odd miles) in the continent, visiting France, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany:

SOUVARIS EUROPEAN JAUNT NO.4

Friday 22 October | Liege, BE | La Zone
Saturday 23 October | Nancy, FR | Le Coup De Monocle
Sunday 24 October | Freiburg, DE | White Rabbit Club
Monday 25 October | Zurich, CH | Boschbar
Tuesday 26 October | Day off
Wednesday 27 October | Lyon, FR | Le Sonic
Thursday 28 October | Bordeaux, FR | Le Nouveau Locale
Friday 29 October | Day off

Saturday 30 October | Le Havre, FR | McDaid's
Sunday 31 October | Arrive home for for a nice cup of tea

As you can see, we have a couple of days off due to impending shows having to be cancelled. If you live anywhere near where we're likely to be (between Zurich and Lyon, and Bordeaux and Le Havre), and fancy having a sweaty sextet of young Englishmen take you out for a beer/play your front porch/crash on your sofa, please get in touch! Currently we're planning on investigating vinyards and avoiding getting caught up in riots. Fun! Email: ichbinsimmo@gmail.com.

To soundtrack this momentous occasion, our fourth (and most ambitious) European tour, we have prepared a load of mixtapes to soundtrack our glorious travels/counter terminal boredom encountered by spending 50% of each day in a smelly van. Here's a random slice of goodness for you - it's not very representative of our collective tastes (we argue about music all the time - it's one of the reasons we've stayed together), but more of what my (David's) aural receptors have been getting off on in recent weeks. Named in honour of a random pronouncement by Nick of Chameleon infamy, we present you with...

"Just Get Me A... Mermaid" - A Souvaris Mixtape
1. Leftfield feat. Afrika Bambaataa - Africa Shox
2. Sir Lord Baltimore - Master Heartache
3. Disco Inferno - It's a Kid's World
4. The Para-monts - I Don't Want To Lose You
5. Grouper - Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping
6. W. John Ondolo - Tumshukuru Mungu
7. Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou - Mother's Love
8. Gavin Bryars - Raising the Titanic (Big Drum Mix)
9. PJ Harvey - The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore
10. Harvey Milk - I Do No Know How To Live My Life
11. Speed, Glue & Shinki - Mr Walking Drugstore Man
12. Shorty - Coopie and Me
13. Daft Punk - Around the World
14. The Jesus Lizard - Boilermaker
15. Pumice - Pumiceraft
16. Mike Hanapi's Ilima Islanders - Hilo Hula

Enjoy!

Reviews of "Clown Jazz"

Reviews of our new split release with Sincabeza (out on Monday 22nd February) are beginning to trickle through. Here are the first couple:

Drowned In Sound
"A masterclass in self-expression without a single spoken word being uttered throughout."

Subba Cultcha
"A warped, fractured take on jazz fed through a distorted blender of guitars and electronics [...] which showcases a creatively diverse band at the peak of their powers."

Pennyblackmusic
"A must for any math rock head"

Rock-A-Rolla
"It's all good."

God Is In The TV
"A Wish You Were Here-style snapshot of a paradise island you will never visit."

Die Shellsuit Die
"Souvaris’ raid on Tortoise fairly leaps from the speakers... pleasing and surprising"

Culture Deluxe
"An impressive new groove-driven direction [...] rather wonderful".

Echoes and Dust
"Off-beat math funk, tightly grooved and interspersed with quirky melodies and a charming exuberancy [...] a great listen."

The Silent Ballet
"The stamina these guys have is amazing; from start to finish, the album is nine-tenths bounce-around-the-room hyperactivity, with the remainder providing just enough breather to remind the listener just how energetic the rest is."

Liability (in French)
"Clown Jazz est comme un révélateur de la bonne santé du math-rock actuel et montre même que l'on peut parvenir à surpasser l'étiquette de genre dans laquelle on les affuble généralement. Un must."

Benzine (in French)
"Un grand cru, indéniablement."

Mille Feuille (in French)
"Rien que pulsation, puissance, vitesse et vie."

Muzzart (in French)
"Force et finesse cohabitent merveilleusement et la rupture voulue et mise en place par Souvaris s'avère juste et débouche sur un horizon différent mais parfaitement en phase avec ce qui précède, preuve de l'adresse affichée dans l'addition d'atmosphères et dans l'élaboration de celles-ci."

DMute (in French)
"Certains parlent de claque, je préfère parler de caresse, l'une plus appuyée que l'autre."

Perte Et Fracas (in French)
"Contrairement à une majorité de groupes du même acabit qui finissent toujours par s'en/vous endormir, Souvaris ne joue pas sur le contraste montée/descente mais sur la richesse des sons et contre toute attente, fini par séduire."

More to follow soon!