Thrilling to see this review of the Stylophone Orchestra's recent Live to Tape at Visconti Studio release on Spun Out of Control records. Big thanks to Bob Fischer for always getting what the group is about. <3

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Back in March, the Kingston University Stylophone Orchestra performed a short gig in Visconti Studio that was recorded live to tape. We didn't plan for it to be released officially, but here we are! Thanks to Gavin at Spun Out of Control records, who was in attendance on the day (and took the above photo), we have this lovely document of the event! Available now on limited edition cassette, and digitally via Bandcamp. [SOS cat number 061]




Image: Gavin Stoker-----

It’s here - part 2 of the rambling AlbumToAlbum pod chat about David Bowie's dense 2013 opus The Next Day!
Making this was such a laugh - many thanks to Arsalan for asking me to do it! (Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and the other usual places)


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The Kingston Uni Stylophone Orchestra has a new music video! Our very own sci-fi odyssey 'Akoustiki', filmed in the dangerous galactic realms of Visconti Studio.



Directed by Kasia Kaczmarek
Cinematography by Hsien Yu Niu
Production Design by Lola Flemming
Costume Design by Cristiano Casimiro
Edited by April Mitchell-White
VFX Supervisor Javi Sanchéz-Blanco
VFX Artist Pablo Miranda
Colourist Karolina Matela

Featuring members of the Stylo Orch 2022 cohort. Starring Zuzanna Wężyk.
'Akoustiki' was written by Zuzanna Wężyk, arranged by me, lead voice by Arte Spyropoulou. It's from our debut album STYLOPHONIKA.

And as a bonus, Mari Dangerfield created a behind the scenes video blog about the shooting of the music video. Thanks so much for doing this Mari, you're a star!

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I'm feeling chuffed to have been asked to take part in the David Bowie World Fan Convention in Liverpool next year. Look at that lineup! Ava Cherry! George Murray! Also excited at the prospect of finally meeting one of my writer heroes David Buckley!

The plan for my involvement is to help out as a moderator, and maybe host some side discussions and musical dissections of Bowie's groundbreaking 1974 album Diamond Dogs. Looking forward to seeing and hanging out with my people x

It's happening July 26 – 28, 2024, spread across a number of venues around Liverpool (UK).

Tickets available here

Check out my playlist for Sound and Music's The Sampler Mixtape #53, as heard on Resonance FM on Friday 9 June 2023 at noon (it will be repeated on Monday 12 June 2023 at 9am).

Featuring tracks by Andrew Poppy, Mica Levi, Kai Whiston, Fire-Toolz, Zubin Kanga, Fragile Self, Mira Calix, Ben Carey, Gunnar Gunnsteinsson, Neil Gaiman + FourPlay and more.

Looking forward to chatting with author Simon Goddard about the latest edition of his BOWIE ODYSSEY series, looking at Bowie's life and career in 1973 - a year jam packed with drama, debauchery, triumph, confusion, exhaustion and much more.
The event is hosted by the Walthamstow Rock n Roll Book Club, and will be happening on Tues 23 May at Walthamstow Trades Hall, E17 4RQ.

After the talk there'll be a book signing, and then a "proper Bowie/Roxy disco" with DJ Steve Proctor. Tickets are available here.


UPDATE: What fun! Top quality Bowie chats were had. Big thanks to Omnibus and the Walthamstow Rock n Roll Book Club for inviting me (I nicked the below photo from the E17 rock book club's Facebook - cheers Mark).

I felt very lucky to be asked to contribute some voice-based sound design for Elizabeth Price's new video installation Underfoot. This version of the work (which had previously been shown in Glasgow in a different iteration) will be premiered at Kunsthalle Schirn in Frankfurt (23 March–29 May) alongside other large-scale video installations by the Turner prize-winning artist.

Information about the show can be found here: https://www.schirn.de/en/exhibitions/2023/elizabeth_price/
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Really happy to share that my proposal to write a 33 1/3 book about Kate Bush's Hounds of Love was accepted in the publisher's most recent open call.

Kate Bush is one of my favourite artists and Hounds of Love is a dream record to write about. I'm so excited to begin!

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A post shared by Leah Kardos (@leah.kardos)

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