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Fortuna POP!

  • Pete Astor 'Spilt Milk' - Cargo Records UK

    Fortuna POP!

    Pete Astor 'Spilt Milk'

    £9.99

    v

    Fortuna POP!

    Pete Astor 'Spilt Milk'

    £9.99

    Spilt Milk is the brand new album from indie auteur Pete Astor, previously of The Loft, The Weather Prophets, and other esteemed acts. It was recorded onto ½ inch tape at the home studio of James Hoare of Ultimate Painting, The Proper Ornaments and Veronica Falls, with James playing guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and singing backing vocals. 'He was', says Astor, 'an amazing band.' Other contributions came from members of Astor's live band, with Pam Berry (Black Tambourine, Withered Hand) supplying vocals, Jack Hayter (Hefner) on pedal steel, Alison Cotton (The Left Outsides) on viola, and Robin Christian (Male Bonding) and Susan Milanovic (Feathers) on drums.

    The album has all the hallmarks of a future Pete Astor classic, drawing together key strands and tributaries of his work over the years, blending intuitive songwriting, acute lyrics and incisive melodies. After many years making more experimental, electronic music Astor has come full circle to the sound that made his name. He explains, 'I'm back to being myself, bringing together sounds that I've used over time to make a record that sounds more like me than me!'

    From the opening track 'Really Something' to the recent single 'Mr Music' (a favourite of Marc Riley and Gideon Coe on BBC 6 music) the album's re-connects Astor's bespoke guitar pop with his long-standing embrace of The Velvet Underground's musical DNA. Other standout tracks include 'My Right Hand', a hymn to everyone's best friend, with guest appearances from Tony Hancock, Marvin Gaye, Philip Larkin and a host of ex-girlfriends; the slow burning drama of 'The Getting There' recalling the atmospheres of Astor's 80s kindred spirits, The Go-Betweens. Also, there is the wry drive of 'Very Good Lock', summed up by Astor as 'a description of an injurious medical condition that often affects the male of the species'. Elsewhere there are the gorgeous harmonies of the grown up country lament 'Good Enough', which wouldn't be out of place on one of George Jones'most heartbroken albums.

    Spilt Milk is part of a continuum: from Astor's beginnings with The Loft and The Weather Prophets on Creation Records in the 1980s, via his solo work through the 1990s and his more left field albums with The Wisdom of Harry and Ellis Island Sound on Matador Records, Heavenly and Peacefrog, through to his return to solo work with the Songbox album in 2012. As well as this ongoing musical activity, Astor is also Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster, where he teaches, researches and writes about music; 2014 saw the publication of his study of Richard Hell and the Voidoids' Blank Generation as part of Bloomsbury's 33 1/3 Series.

    Astor remains in touch, engaged and vital in a way that is rare with someone with such longevity.  The album continues the story of one of one of England's most respected and significant songwriters. As Astor says, 'time passes, shit happens; some losses, some gains. Don't cry - but I did!'

    This is Spilt Milk.

    "Quintessentially English yet Cohenesque pastoral folk-pop songs bent the way of French chanson. Lovely, every one - and a striking reminder of Astor's influence on artists from Belle & Sebastian to Luke Haines" - Uncut

    Tracklisting:
    1. Really Something
    2. Mr. Music
    3. My Right Hand
    4. Perfect Life
    5. The Getting There
    6. Very Good Lock
    7. Good Enough
    8. There It Goes
    9. Sleeping Tiger
    10. Oh You
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  • Pete Astor 'Mr. Music' - Cargo Records UK

    Fortuna POP!

    Pete Astor 'Mr. Music'

    £4.99

    v

    Fortuna POP!

    Pete Astor 'Mr. Music'

    £4.99

    Pete Astor writes, sings songs and teaches music. He was singer songwriter in early Creation Records trailblazers The Loft, releasing two singles, Why Does the Rain and Up the Hill and Down the Slope that helped define the sound of the label and the emerging Indie genre. He subsequently formed The Weather Prophets, and launching a solo career with the albums Submarine and Zoo in the early 1990s.

    Continuing to perform extensively in France and mainland Europe, his next two solo albums, Paradise and God and Other Stories were on the Danceteria label. Following a two year stint as A&R manager at the publishing arm of the Beggars Group, working with acts such as Hefner, Cornershop and Republica, Astor returned to music in the late 1990s with his Ellis Island Sound and Wisdom of Harry projects, both releasing music on 7', 12' and 10' for a variety of emerging independent labels such as Static Caravan, Wurlitzer Jukebox and Astor's own label, Faux Lux.

    The Wisdom of Harry eventually signed to Matador, releasing three albums. Astor's collaboration with David Sheppard, Ellis Island Sound, signed with Heavenly Records, also releasing a compilation of their early releases. The solo album, Songbox came out on Second Language in 2011, featuring an extra disc of cover versions of the albums'songs by Let's Wrestle, The Raincoats, Darren Hayman, Comet Gain, The Proper Ornaments and Mathew Sawyer, among others. 2013 saw the publication of Astor's study of Richard Hell and the Voidoids'Blank Generation as part of Bloomsbury's 33 and a Third Series, along with scholarly articles with Keith Negus on songwriting practice for the Cambridge Journal of Popular Music and Ashgate books.

    Astor is Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster, and currently working on new material for the Fortuna POP! Label with Veronica Falls/ Proper Ornaments/ Ultimate Painting's James Hoare, the first fruits of which is the single Mr. Music.

    Tracklisting:

    Side A:
    Mr. Music

    Side B:
    Armitage Shanks
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