RETROSPECTIVE SOUNDTRACK PLAYERS NEW ALBUM 'IT'S A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS CAROL' OUT 24 NOVEMBER // CD, DOWNLOAD & LIMITED RED VINYL

It’s a Wonderful Christmas Carol is a brand new bundle of seasonal songs from the UK’s foremost (or only) purveyors of concept-folk-pop, The Retrospective Soundtrack Players. Good boys and girls who preorder will be gifted the early Christmas present of 'Every Time a Bell Rings an Angel Gets its Wings'.

Preorder the album on CD, vinyl and download from Xtra Mile Recordings, on CD or vinyl from Amazon or Banquet Records, and - finally - download straight from iTunes. Phew! You're being spoiled this Christmas!

The veritable shopping list of tracks for RSP's festive third album is below, including the live choir-like favourite 'No Man Is Poor Who Has Friends'. But you can listen to the suitably cynical 'Bah Hambug' right now here: 

Taken from the forthcoming album 'It's A Wonderful Christmas Carol' out 24th November 2014 on CD, download and limited edition vinyl. Pre-order: http://smarturl.it/RSPsXmas-XMR http://smarturl.it/RSPsXmas-Banquet http://smarturl.it/RSPsXmas-AmazonLP http://smarturl.it/RSPsXmas-AmazonCD http://smarturl.it/RSPsXmas-iTunes

It’s A Wonderful Christmas Carol features guest appearances from several artists from the Xtra Mile stable – namely Frank Turner, Ben Marwood and Chris T-T.

Tracklisting:
1. Theme from ‘It’s a Wonderful Christmas Carol’
2. I’m Sleeping this Christmas
3. It’s a Wonderful Life
4. Bah Humbug! Instant Grat for preordering
5. The Guardian Angel
6. The Ghost of Christmas Past (I’m a Coward) featuring Chris T-T
7. The Ghost of Christmas Present (No Ego) featuring Frank Turner
8. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (I Can’t Be Anybody Else) featuring Ben Marwood
9. Christmas Day
10. Every Time a Bell Rings an Angel Gets its Wings
11. No Man is Poor Who Has Friends

It’s A Wonderful Christmas Carol borrows themes of loneliness, greed, poverty and eventual redemption from the classic works of Dickens and Capra, weaving them into a new compendium of joyous and memorable songs that showcase the band’s unique voice and storytelling skill.

The band will be playing a few shows around the release: 

NOVEMBER

14 Southampton @ Joiners *
21 London @ Camden Monarch **

DECEMBER
07 Portsmouth @ Square Tower ***
12 Manchester @ Star & Garter ***
14 Swindon @ Victoria ***
18 Brighton @ The Brunswick ***
* with Solemn Sun / ** with Elliott Kozlik / *** with Chris T-T and the Hoodrats

Some words about RSP’s previous work:

‘Nihilistic and hopelessly romantic, Kyle Evans imitates Holden Caulfield perfectly...'  ROCK SOUND
'Less of a band and more of an art project... thoroughly enjoyable'  PUNKTASTIC
‘authentic, original and innovative gems… irresistibly catchy’  STEREOBOARD

www.therspuk.com / @theRSPuk / www.facebook.com/therspuk

'TRUE TRANS WITH LAURA JANE GRACE' SERIES DEBUTS ON AOL ORIGINALS ON NATIONAL COMING OUT DAY 11 OCTOBER 2014 // MORE EPISODES 4 AND 25 NOVEMBER

In celebration of National Coming Out Day (11 October), the first four episodes of the highly anticipated series True Trans with Laura Jane Grace can now be viewed via AOL On Originals. Additional episodes of True Trans will be released on 4 and 25 November 2014.

The 10 episode series follows transgender lead singer of the punk band Against Me!, Laura Jane Grace, who came out at the height of her music career in 2012. Her latest album, Transgender Dysphoria Blues deals with this in brutal and honest detail, and is recognised as one of the best albums of this year.

True Trans shares the remarkably real journey of Laura, the most well-known transgender person in music, and other transgender individuals across the country. This unscripted docu-series explores poignant moments from Laura’s life and the overall transition experience.   Each short-form episode will dive deeper into the lives and emotions of this community, revealing the strength in finding who they really are. 

In the first 4 episodes, viewers and fans will get an up close and personal look at people whose stories are only just beginning to be told - from recounting memories of childhood and recognizing moments of gender dysphoria, to finding acceptance and support in the transgender community.

on.aol.com/truetrans / #TrueTrans / @LauraJaneGrace / @AOLoriginals

BEANS ON TOAST NEW ALBUM 'THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS' OUT 1 DECEMBER // NOVEMBER & DECEMBER UK TOUR

Drunk-folk singer, barefoot troubadour and cult acoustic hero Beans on Toast will release his 6th studio album, The Grand Scheme of Things, on  1 December (his 34th birthday) through Xtra Mile Recordings.

Keen to get it as soon as you can? Well, you can preorder the CD or digital album from Xtra Mile, download from iTunes if you prefer, grab the physical disc from physical shop Banquet Records or order it from Amazon. Also, you can also listen to instant grat preorder track 'Lizzy's Cooking' from the album right now to whet the appetite.

This is taken from Beans On Toast's sixth studio album 'The Grand Scheme Of Things' released on 1st December 2014. Pre-order the album here: XMR: http://smarturl.it/BeansOnToast-XMR Amazon: http://smarturl.it/BoT-TGSOT-Amazon iTunes: http://smarturl.it/BoT-TGSOT-iTunes Banquet Records: http://smarturl.it/BoT-TGSOT-Banquet

He will also take on a 15 date headline tour - with support from the wonderful Will Varley - including Beans’ largest London show to date, at Electric Ballroom on 11 December.

Tracklisting and tour dates are below:

1. Folk Singer
2. The War on War
3. Fuck You Nashville
4. The Chicken Song
5. Stinging Nettles
6. Lizzy’s Cooking
7. A Whole Lot of Loving
8. Flying Clothes Line
9. All I see is Wagamama
10. NOLA Honeymoon
11. NYE

With his biggest year to date behind him, including an engagement, Beans on Toast is turning his usually irreverent mind to the more valuable things in life. The album moves into more wholesome topics of home cooking, an upcoming honeymoon and a whole lot of loving; a marked change in the man who once was a poster boy for the triumvirate of sex, drugs and politics.

What hasn’t changed is Beans on Toast’s unrivaled ability to tell a tale, his no-holds-barred social commentary and his ability to tackle difficult subjects from an everyday point of view. Here, his thoughts from the last year are honestly regaled through 11 life-affirming and frequently humorous tracks.

In the 12 months that have seen him tour the world, open arenas for Frank Turner and play a jam packed summer of festivals, material has come from his experiences, with American tour dates (‘Fuck You Nashville’ and love song ‘New Orleans Honeymoon’), memories of his Camp Bestival main stage performance (‘Stinging Nettles’), a song he wrote for children about the great outdoors, and topics like gentrification, chicken farming and world peace all get the Beans musical treatment.

Recorded at London’s Soup Studios, The Grand Scheme of Things features and was fittingly produced by Sam Beer, an old family friend who taught Beans on Toast his first song on the guitar over 18 years ago on a camping holiday in Spain, and who was reunited with Beans on the London music circle 10 years later. Together, with the help of friends Bobby Banjo and contributors Will Varley and Brooke Sharkey, this is an album that marks a change, but not a complete makeover, for everyone’s favourite modern one-man band.

UK tour dates - get tickets from Beans' website here

NOVEMBER
20 Aberdeen @ The Lemon Tree
21 Glasgow @ Nice N Sleazy
22 Edinburgh @ Voodoo Rooms
24 Newcastle @ The Cluny
25 Hull @ Fruit
26 Leeds @ Brudenell Social Club
27 Manchester @ Ruby Lounge
28 Liverpool @ The Shipping Forecast
29 Nottingham @ Rescue Rooms

DECEMBER
03 Birmingham @ Hare & Hounds
04 Cambridge @ Junction
05 Bristol @ The Fleece
06 Exeter @ The Phoenix
09 Portsmouth @ Wedgewood Rooms
10 Brighton @ The Haunt
11 London @ Electric Ballroom

 www.beansontoastmusic.com / @beanstoast / facebook.com/beansontoastmusic

AGAINST ME! NEW SINGLE 'TRUE TRANS SOUL REBEL' OUT 24 NOVEMBER 2014 // AOL ORIGINALS SERIES "TRUE TRANS WITH LAURA JANE GRACE" STARTS 10 OCTOBER

Against Me! release their furious new single 'True Trans Soul Rebel' - taken from the highly-acclaimed album Transgender Dysphoria Blues - on 24 November. Listen to it below. This is preceded by a UK tour on 13th - 19th November, which includes hard-working, folk-rock Canadian Billy the Kid supporting. Tickets are on sale here.

This is the new single from Against Me! Taken from their incredible album 'Transgender Dysphoria Blues' out now on Xtra Mile Recordings You can buy the album from: Xtra Mile Recordings - http://www.xtramilerecordings.com/Shop/DownloadDetails?rid=XMR_RE_142 Amazon - amzn.to/1fLIg5b Banquet Records - bit.ly/1caem7h

Photo by Ryan Russell

In addition to the musical success of 2014 for the band, frontwoman Laura Jane Grace has become the most visible transgender woman in music today. But that doesn’t mean the Against Me! frontwoman has it all figured out. In her upcoming AOL Originals series, 'True Trans With Laura Jane Grace', the rocker travels around the US and meets with a number of transgender men and women to talk about their hardships, coming out, transitioning and just how messy the idea of gender can be.

“The opportunity I had while shooting this show was nothing short of tremendous,” Grace says of the show “Getting the chance to listen to other people tell their stories of how life shaped their identities and views on gender couldn’t help but further inform my own understanding of just how complicated and also how simple all of it really is.”

The 10-part documentary series, which kicks off with four episodes on 10 October in honor of National Coming Out Day (11 Oct), also takes a look at Grace’s life as a mother, wife and rock star since she came out as transgender at age 31 in a 2012 Rolling Stone profile. 

Against Me! bring their punk rock anthems to the UK this November with label mate Billy the Kid as main support. Catch this incredible band at one of the following venues.
 
NOVEMBER
13 Bristol @ Bierkeller
14 Birmingham @ O2 Academy 2
15 Glasgow @ King Tuts
16 Leeds @ Beckett Students Union
17 Portsmouth @ Wedgewood Rooms
18 Manchester @ Academy 2
19 London @ Electric Ballroom
 
As we head toward the end of the year, plaudits for Transgender Dysphoria Blues just keep on coming.  Don’t just take our word on how great this record is...
 
The New York Times  - “Crisp, distinct and vibrant”
Rolling Stone Magazine – "45 Best Albums of 2014 So Far"
TIME Magazine – "25 Best Songs of 2014 So Far" ("Transgender Dysphoria Blues")
SPIN – "50 Best Albums of 2014 So Far"
Alternative Press Magazine – "Best Albums of 2014 So Far"
Sound Opinions – “The Best Albums of 2014…So Far”
Consequence of Sound – "Best Albums of 2014 So Far"
Stereogum – "50 Best Albums of 2014 So Far"
Flavorwire – "25 Best Albums of 2014 So Far"
Mashable – Laura Jane Grace named one of 10 LGBT-Rights Activists to Follow on Twitter.

Transgender Dysphoria Blues is the intense follow-up to the band’s previous full-length album, ‘White Crosses’ (reissued with bonus disc Black Crosses on Xtra Mile Recordings in 2011) and stands as another major benchmark for the band and its career spanning 10+ years.

www.againstme.net

FRANK TURNER ANNOUNCES 'THE THIRD THREE YEARS'

Ten years since his first solo gig and nine years since his first solo recordings, it's a fitting time to unveil the next instalment of Frank Turner's compilation of non-album rarities, The Third Three Years. Released on 24 November 2014 through Xtra Mile Recordings, it will be available on CD and digital at all shops and online retailers.

You can preorder the digital album at iTunes and Xtra Mile Recordings and instantly receive the exceptional alternative version of ‘The Way I Tend To Be’ for free.

You can also preorder the physical album from Amazon and Banquet now. Xtra Mile Recordings will be offering a bundle of the album with an exclusive t-shirt very soon - more details on that to come.

You can sample a snippet of The Third Three Years here with a stream of a beautiful piano version of 'The Way I Tend To Be'. Full tracklisting of the album at the bottom of the page.

Frank Turner releases The Third Three Years on 24th November through Xtra Mile Recordings. Featuring 21 tracks of live versions, demos, covers, collaborations and previously unreleased gems. Pre-order now: Xtra Mile Recordings - http://www.xtramilerecordings.com/Shop/DownloadDetails?rid=XMR_RE_175 Amazon - http://smarturl.it/FT-TTTY-Amazon iTunes - http://smarturl.it/3rd-Three-Years-iT Banquet - http://smarturl.it/FT-TTTY-Banquet GooglePlay - http://smarturl.it/3rd-Three-Years-GP

The past three years have been astonishing for Frank Turner. It has seen his album Tape Deck Heart enter the UK Charts at Number 2; previous albums England Keep My Bones and Love Ire & Song being certified gold and silver respectively, selling out Wembley Arena, playing the London Olympics Opening Ceremony and headlining his own UK arena tour. And, (probably) most importantly, winning Celebrity Mastermind. It’s testament to his relentless work ethic that he’s also managed to amass a variety of non-album recordings that makes up this 20+ track selection. Comprised of original songs, live takes, covers, digital only tracks and songs from tribute albums, iTunes sessions, guest spots and collaborations, unreleased or unheard demos and radio sessions – this is a must have for any Frank fans and collectors alike.

Photo by Gregory Nolan

Kicking off with a studio version of live favourite 'Somebody To Love' by Queen, Frank dips into a lively rambling trip around our fair isle with EP track 'Sweet Albion Blues', strips back for a rousing yet level-headed take on the 2011 London riots on 'Riot Song' (naturally) and reveals a hidden gem from the Tape Deck Heart demos, ‘Something of Freedom’.

The next slab of music is Frank’s more recent covers and collaborations ranging from the sublime (Emily Barker’s ‘Fields of June’, contributing vocals) and the affecting ('Big Foot' by The Weakerthans, previously unheard) to the raucous (‘Happy New Year’ with Jon Snodgrass), and the unexpected (a Noel Coward cover). Throw in some true American classics in ‘American Girl’ by Tom Petty and ‘Pancho & Lefty’ by Townes Van Zandt and you have an intriguing glimpse into Frank’s diverse musical leanings.

The compilation concludes with a number of live and alternative versions of Frank’s songs, and one Springsteen cover, the timeless ‘Born To Run’. Matt Nasir from The Sleeping Souls accompanies Frank on incredible new, rawer versions of ‘Plain Sailing Weather’, ‘Tell Tale Signs’ and ‘The Way I Tend To Be’, while the rest of the Souls get an outing on the full-band live performance of 'Dan’s Song'.

Full tracklisting is below:

1 Somebody To Love (Queen cover – RSD '12 7”)    
2 Hits & Mrs (Losing Days EP)    
3 Sweet Albion Blues (Polaroid Picture EP)    
4 Riot Song (Fuck the Fire EP)    
5 Something of Freedom (demo)    
6 Fields of June (w/ Emily Barker/Red Clay Halo)    
7 Happy New Year (w/ Jon Snodgrass)    
8 American Girl (Tom Petty cover – home demo)    
9 There Are Bad Times Just Around the Corner (Noel Coward cover – Franz Nicolay split EP)    
10 Pancho & Lefty (Townes Van Zandt cover – Spotify Session EP w/ Jim Eno)    
11 Big Foot (The Weakerthans cover – home demo)
12 Live and Let Die (Paul McCartney/Wings cover – iTunes session)
13 The Corner (Cory Branan cover)
14 Keira (Tony Sly cover – 'The Song of Tony Sly' tribute album)
15 Plain Sailing Weather (w/Matt Nasir – The Cutting Room sessions)
16 Tell Tale Signs (w/Matt Nasir – iTunes sessions)
17 The Way I Tend To Be (w/Matt Nasir – iTunes sessions)
18 The Ballad of Me and My Friends (live from Twin Cities, Minnesota)
19 Broken Piano (home demo)
20 Born To Run (Bruce Springsteen cover – The Cutting Room sessions)
21 Dan's Song (full band - live)

www.frank-turner.com / www.facebook.com/frankturner / @FrankTurner

CHEAP GIRLS RELEASE NEW SINGLE 'AMAZING GRACE' ON 17 NOVEMBER 2014 // UK TOUR DATES

Taken from their fantastic album 'Famous Graves' released in May 2014 Buy album here: Xtra Mile Recordings - bit.ly/1hGOhiY Amazon - smarturl.it/FamousGravesAmazonCD iTunes - smarturl.it/FamousGravesiTunes

‘Amazing Grace’ is the new single from Cheap Girls - taken from their latest album Famous Graves - and is released on 17 November on Xtra Mile Recordings. A double a-side, it’s backed by their brilliant cover of The Lemonheads track ‘Style’ and features additional vocals from Craig Finn of The Hold Steady. 

After a summer of packed touring in North America, supporting Against Me! and The Hold Steady, the band come to the UK in November to play their first dates since early 2013. It’s the earliest chance fans will have to see the band perform songs from their recently released album Famous Graves. 

UK LIVE DATES (w/Joyce Manor)

NOVEMBER
11  Leeds @ The Key Club www.lunatickets.co.uk
12 Glasgow @ 13th Note www.tickets-scotland.com
13 Manchester @ Star & Garter www.seetickets.com
14 London @ The Dome (Tufnell Park) https://billetto.co.uk/en/users/pink-mist
15 Southampton @ Joiners www.wwrpunk.bigcartel.com
16 Kingston @ Fighting Cocks http://bnqt.co/shows
17 Bristol @ The Exchange http://www.exchangebristol.com