…for all the kind words and complementary reviews for “Shits & Giggles” – was hoping it would find you all in the spirit it was intended :-D

Thanks also again again again to everyone that’s been out to see us this Summer – Shame the weather hasn’t been as good as the shows!

Also, as a thank you to all the peeps who came out to the Playgroup Festival in August, the organizers are throwing a free celebratory bash this Friday (3rd) at The Concorde 2 in Brighton – Eric will be spinning up his hard drive for a surprise set, so get yourself down if you’re around!

Couple of mentions for some reading matter – Eric recently did an interview with Hiram from the rather fine Harvey Girls for the Circle Into Square blog – you can have a read here!

Also, amongst many other producers and DJs, Eric was interviewed for Aram Sinnreich’s recently released book “Mashed Up: Music, Technology, and the Rise of Configurable Culture” – You can read an excerpt from the book here!

And finally, a certain instrumental found it’s way into our nest this afternoon and in a little flurry of keyboard-and-mouse activity, we thought we’d flip it on it’s head – hope you like ;)

The Kleptones – Do You? (Direct download)

Next stop Bootie Rio! See you there on the 17th September :-D x

(Yes, I know it’s a mis-quote – watch the first vid and you’ll get it, mm’kay?)

Okay, time for a round-up of what’s new and happening here in K-land. Do I sound enthusiastic? That’s because I am!

First up, here’s a little video reminder / souvenir of our first Glastonbury set of this year, lovingly cut together by my erstwhile video collegue Pete Wallace of Butch Auntie. Props also go to Simon Risbridger for capturing the crowd mayhem and sorting the credits!

Next up is a new instalment to The Videotones project, which, as a whole, has already clocked up over 110,000 views on Vimeo alone (a large chunk of which is due to Crumbs Chief’s spectacular vid for “Come Again” being bounced around Twitter, Facebook and the blogs quite a bit over the past couple of weeks – thanks to all who reposted it!).

The latest instalment is a Downtime tune for a change, with Reborn Identity back (quite literally) in the saddle, discovering the western tension in “Exit”:

What’s more, if you’re in Oakland in the good ol’ USA this Friday (6th) you’ll be able to see the aforementioned Crumbs Chief video for “Come Again” shown large on The Great Wall Of Oakland, sometime between 6pm and 11pm! They’re taking some photos for us, so we’ll be able to show you how it looks!

Finally, we’re delighted to announce that we’ll be spreading our wings again, this time to Brazil, to play Bootie Rio on the 17th September! Full details and flyers as soon as we have them!

Ciao ciao!

Okay, a bit of big news that we’ve been keeping very quiet about over the last six months, is that we’ve contributed a remix to the new XBox 360 game Crackdown 2 – So whilst steaming your way around the (frankly rather awesome) gameworld, you’ll be hit by versions of tunes by Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Public Enemy, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Damned and Blue Oyster Cult, remixed by The Bug, Mistabishi, Dan The Automator, King Cannibal, El-B and Sientific American.

Honoured to be in such excellent company, we’re proud to add to that list our own remix of REM’s “Ignoreland”.

As is the way in such cases, we can’t let you hear the track here – you’ll have to get hold of a copy if you want the full Kleptones-enhanced experience, but believe me it’s worth it – developers Ruffian Games have done a mighty fine job, and pretty much all of the reviews seem to agree…

Quick bit of gig news to add – on 24th July Eric will be heading over to the Czech Republic to headline “Pure Fest”, a one day outdoor event in Mladá Boleslav (about 50km outside Prague). Looks like a seriously diverse range of music on offer, so we’re delighted to be invited to the party – if you’re in the vicinity, get yourself along – It’s our first time in the Czech Republic so it’s sure to be a good one!

The Kleptones @ Glastonbury Festival Dance Village 24th June 2010 – a few quick dirty screengrabs! (Video bites and second set to follow as soon as it’s all converted and edited!)

Meanwhile, what everyone else got up to while we were away… THREE new Videotones from the legends that are Crumbs Chief, Mashup-Germany and Instamatic!

All we can say is a breathless thanks to the three awesome videopeeps above for their excellent work, and all of you that came and got crazy with us at Glastonbury! As u should all know by now, it really is one of our favourite places to play, and this year’s shows were genuinely THE best ever, for which we’re very grateful to the organizers and the excellent stage crews for making it happen so good! Me (Eric) of course must also extend the hugest of thanks to Pete Wallace, Simon Risbridger and all the Videotones contributors (especially the project helmsman Instamatic) for making it shine out so brightly – What a crew! :)

Here’s hoping we get a chance to try and top it next year! Wooop!!!

We’re just leaving to head over to Heerlen in the Netherlands, to open the i_beta festival tonight – if you’re in the vicinity, come along!

Wanted to post the Glastonbury set times before we went though:

Thursday 24th June – 11.30pm : East Dance Tent, Dance Village (Silent Disco – 2hr AV set)

Sunday 27th June – 11pm : Rabbit Hole Stage, The Park (Noisy Disco! – 90m AV set)

There’s a considerable possibility that Eric will be popping up somewhere to do a DJ set or two in between the above shows – details may appear here, or more likely on the Twitter and Facebook pages – watch the skies!

As a sign off, here’s a little piece of role reversal for any fans of “24 Hours”:

Unwanted Whisper (direct download)

Link removed – Track is available on the Shits & Giggles Download page!

Hello folks, hope youre all doing fine. It’s been a while, but, as always with us, that means we’ve got tons of stuff to tell you about, so buckle in, it’s a long one!

First up is some gig information, which we’ll attempt in an orderly fashion:

Thursday 10th June : i_beta festival, Niewe Nor, Heerlen, Netherlands (Venue and ticket details here)

The event descripes itself as “…all about being in development, learning, adapting and evolving. At the i_beta/festival 2010 we present new trends from e-culture, e-conomy and the challenges for the international region of Limburg. A varied programme offers new experiences and ideas for creatives and entrepreneurs alike.” A great concept and one that we’re delighted to be a part of. We’ll be opening the event at the ace Niewe Nor venue, playing a full AV set. Tickets are available just for our show, or for the full event!

24th-27th June : Glastonbury Festival, UK

Well it wouldn’t be summer without a customary visit to the finest music and arts festival on the planet would it? This year we’re delighted to be playing in three different locations (and there may be more to come…) including another legendary Silent Disco set. We’ll have days and times for you very, very soon, so watch this space.

27-29th August : Festinho, Hinwick House, Northamptonshire (NOT Bedfordshire, but near!)

Given the excellent reception and generally awesome time we had here last year, it’s going to be an absolute pleasure to return to Festinho and their new (gorgeous) site at Hinwick House. With Hexstatic and AGT Rave Cru on the bill too it’s going to be quite a cut’n’paste fest! Highly recommended that you come along!

More summer shows to be announced soon, and a couple of extra-special shows in planning for September and October that are really going to knock your socks!

Okay… while this is all very well and good, you’ll be wanting some more music won’t you, insatiable ones?

Well, in the preparations for the above we have indeed been creating some new bits and pieces (as well as remixing and twisting some oldies, but you’ll have to come to the shows to hear them!) and also doing some general clearing out of the hard drives, and yes there’s a lot of stuff on them that you haven’t heard (over two CDs worth!) – part of the problem of doing “concept” works is that things that don’t fit the concept get left out, which is often a shame!

So in the time-honoured tradition of stop-gap albums, we’re putting together a collection of our favourite unreleased tracks. There’ll be a few new ones too, a couple of previously-blog-only favourites and maybe even the oft-whispered-about “Night At The Hip-Hopera” missing tracks, that were left off the final running order so it would fit on a single CD.

Having surveyed the possible inclusions, we’ve decided to entitle the collection “Shits And Giggles”, as that was indeed what many of the tunes were created for.

It’ll be out sometime towards the end of June, but in the meantime we’d like to ask you a favour… It has come to our notice that more than a few of you are of a visually artistic bent, so we’d like to invite you to make the cover for the album themed around the title. (“Shits And Giggles”, innit?). Doesn’t matter whether it’s photography, hand-drawn, photoshopped, whatever, if you think you’d like to have a go, do so, and email us the results by 15th June at the latest, preferably sooner! Whoever does the one we like the best can negotiate a prize with us :)

As a bit of a taster, here’s a couple of new tracks from the album to get you in the mood.

Lazy Dancer (Direct download)

Flik Flok (Direct download)

(Links removed – Tracks are now available on Shits & Giggles!)

And as an additional bonus, amongst many other awesome producers we were asked by the fine folks at Bootie Rio to contribute a track towards Brazillian national newspaper O Globo’s style guide to the last decade, using only tunes from that decade. We just happened to be working on a tune that fit the bill so we gave it to them! Have a listen here:

Heydrum (Direct download)

(Link removed – Track is now available on Shits & Giggles!)

We’ll be posting more tunes to Soundcloud as they near completion, so keep your eyes peeled there, or join up and follow us – you never know what might appear…

Phew. So much going on and more to come – hope you like the tunes and looking forward to seeing you at a festival for a drink in the sun!

Greetings from San Francisco! Despite the fine drizzle outside today, we’re having a mighty fine time entertaining the Californian Bootie troops out here – already two highly memorable shows in Portland and SF, and one more to go this Saturday 3rd April in LA! (although don’t forget we’ll be zooming home for Bootie London on Friday 9th April)

In the meantime, if you want to hear it straight from the animal’s oral cavity, tomorrow Eric will be the special guest on The Evolution Control Committee‘s “The Sound Of Plaid” radio show.

If you’re unfamiliar with ECC’s work (and shame on you if so!), check out the many fine tracks on their download page, or to hear an example of their influence on the K-Sound, Eric recommends checking the classic “Rocked By Rape”.

The show airs tomorrow live 8-10pm PST, and there’s also several repeats on Thursday including ones at more Euro-friendly times. If you can’t catch those though fret not, as the show will also be archived on the ECC site. Full details of all the times and locations can be found here!

So tune in or miss out!

Happy early days of spring in the north-western quadrasphere (or something) to you. More gigs and Videotones news for you – read in!

Straight in with the gigs – frist up, a rather overdue hometown show here in Brighton on Friday 19th March, as part of the Synthetiquette night at The Hope – also playing are Neon Highwire and Officer 82. It’ll be a great way to blow off the cobwebs before we head off to the USA, but get down early as it’s not a huge room!

Second up, speaking of the USA, we’re delighted to be extending our existing Californian excursion into the fine county of Oregon – That’s right, we’ll be touching down in Portland on Friday 26th March for Bootie Portland! Really looking forward to this one as we’ve made some fine contacts in Portland over the years, so it’ll be good to finally hook up!

Not in Portland or Brighton? Whimper not, for here is the next installment of the Videotones project – The director is Brad Mackey of Crappy Logo Productions, who adds a splendidly psychedelic edge to “MKY Da HVN”:

Probably the most obvious pun I’ve ever used as a post header, but I’m sure you’ll forgive me as there is big news to impart!

Yup, that’s right, for the first time in quite a while, we’re off to the USA for a couple of shows in jolly California, by invitation of the good Bootie folks! Dates are:

Sat 27th March : Bootie SF @ The DNA Lounge, San Francisco
Fri 3rd April : Bootie LA @ The Echoplex, Los Angeles

Unfortunately Bootie residents A+D won’t be at the LA show (although fellow resident and all round man-of-awesomeness Paul V will be cloning himself especially), because they’ll be zooming their way about on their European Tour, but the upside of all that is finally there’s going to be a one-off Bootie London, featuring not only A+D, London host DJ Payroll and The Bootie Berlin Crew, but also Our Very Good Selves as special guests. Friday 9th April is the date for that one – remember it now, because it will end up in your grandkid’s history homework.

As if that wasn’t enough, assuming everything goes according to plan (get out clause ahoy!), at Cargo we’ll be debuting/previewing the Audio/Visual show that we’re currently putting together with the rather talented chaps at Butch Auntie. You lucky, lucky people!

If you’re within reach, there’s really no excuse – if you’re not, go find a convenient scout hut and drop us an email to let us know where it is – we’ll be there.

photography by Sam Javanrouh, made available under a Creative Commons licence.

Okay, here’s the long-awaited news – “Uptime / Downtime” is pretty much ready, and we have a release date! (Damn, it feels good to type that!) What’s more, as we didn’t get it finished in time for release for the end of this decade, we thought it highly appropriate that we release it at MIDNIGHT Greenwich Mean Time on 01/01/10, making it the first album released in the NEW decade (well, in the UK anyways – damn time zones!). That means that sometime around your New Year’s festivities, there’ll be a present for you waiting online, helping you to ease into 2010 in the manner to which you have become accustomed!

To celebrate the release (and by jove, do we ever want to celebrate it!), Eric will be playing at not one, but two events in MANCHESTER over the New Year’s celebrations, cunningly fashioned into an Uptime event and a Downtime event to tie in with the theme of the album. You see what we did there? Good.

First off, as you may already know, we’ll be at The Ruby Lounge on New Year’s Eve for what is being described as “the best house party in the world” – Yup, that’s right, the club will be transformed into the most perfect house party, complete with a booze stashes, bedrooms to sneak off into (complete with megadrives and bunkbeds!), a garden with a shed, and the best stereo in the world in the living room. Joining Eric on the stereo will be soundsmiths from The Whip, May68, Lost & Found, Same Teens, The Answering Machine and some very special guests that we’re not allowed to announce. It’s going to be a pretty special night, to say the least!

Tickets for NYE are £10 (+ booking fee) from either Ticketline or See Tickets online, or the esteemed Piccadilly Records in Manchester, but be sharp, as this is going to be a sell-out event.

On the flipside, the next day (New Year’s Day, keep up!), we’ll be heading for another Lounge, this time across town at Hatter’s Hostel, where, after grabbing a few winks (and there’s beds available from £18 too – only fair we give our fine hosts a plug!), we’ll be hosting a Downtime themed afternoon session, with free brunch and bloody marys for all to help the recovery and get into the swing of 2010. Coming along for the session will be some of our friends from Murkage Cartel (who will be following up their own NYE extravaganza at Sankeys), to swap stories and tunes, and compare hangovers. And being New Years, who knows who else may end up with us?… you’ll have to come along and find out!

Entry for NYD is strictly by invite only, so if you want to come along email us – again be sharp, as the list will fill up pretty quickly!

So… all sounds rather good, yes? Well, in true not-only-but-also style, we’re even having a COMPETITION to win tickets! Not only tickets for the winners and a mate each for the two events, but also accommodation for the night at Hatter’s (I know, there probably won’t be much sleeping done, but it’s good to have somewhere to dump your stuff and chill if you need it, without having to get an expensive taxi home, no? Also there’ll be breakfast waiting for you when you rise!). That’s your New Year’s sorted then!

To enter the competition, just email nyecomp@kleptones.com, giving us your contact info and telling us who, in an perfect world, would headline YOUR ideal “Uptime” night out and “Downtime” recovery session (apart from us, obviously, hemhem). The THREE best answers picked will win tickets to both events & accommodation for themselves and a friend!

Closing date for the competition will be Midnight on Xmas Eve, and we’ll email the winners on Xmas Day, which should make for a pretty decent bonus Xmas present! (Sorry we won’t be able to gift wrap it ;).

If you’re not lucky enough to win the comp, you can still pick up tickets for NYE (details above) and Guest List for NYD (email us!) if you’re quick…

Phew! It’s going to be a pretty crazy couple of days, and a fine way to celebrate the album and New Year’s in one fell swoop. Don’t be glum if you’re not near Manchester though, as we’ll be hosting more Uptime and Downtime events all over the place in 2010, so watch this space!

Okay! Album – New Year’s – Competition – Win. I think that’s it – better get back to work.