August Stars News, 24th December 2011

Firstly, MMM070 Vox Pop a compilation and final Make Mine Music release. It features 13 unreleased tracks by several of the label's artists including the August Stars track "Almost in Separate Stars". The compilation is currently streaming on the Make Mine Music bandcamp page (see link below) and will be officially released in mid-January 2012. The CDr version can be pre-ordered from Norman Records: http://www.normanrecords.com/cd/130840-various-vox-pop

More details:

http://www.makeminemusic.co.uk/viewRelease.php?id=81

http://makeminemusic.bandcamp.com/

I've begun to upload some oddities as I find them to my soundcloud page, the latest is a quiet version of "Flaemmchen" http://soundcloud.com/august-stars

A reminder that my Make Mine Music back catalogue is available digitally on my bandcamp pages.

http://auguststars.bandcamp.com/

http://stillcrescent.bandcamp.com/

Lastly, I still have a few physical copies of Invisible in the Dusk left. They're are £4 (including postage to the UK) and can be brought from me directly - sebastienstars (at) gmail.com.

Details here: http://starrystillness.blogspot.com/2011/11/august-stars-invisible-in-dusk-release.html

Season's Greetings!

August Stars News, 21st November 2011

Firstly the new August Stars EP Invisible in the Dusk is released today. The EP contains eight tracks and runs for nearly an hour. I often feel rather odd using the term "EP" to refer to these releases given that they are usually longer than most albums; but equally they don't feel like albums either, although by definition they are; I suppose Long Form EP is perhaps the most appropriate term. Anyway I digress. There will also be a free companion download available from the August Stars bandcamp page. Details below.

Secondly, I've made my Make Mine Music discography available for download via bandcamp. Details below.

August Stars Invisible in the Dusk (MMM028)

As the CDR copies are limited to 25, all copies will be available from me directly. If you'd like one please contact me here: sebastienstars (at) gmail.com. They're £4 each including postage to the UK. If you live outside of the UK there will be a shipping charge, but I'll only charge what I pay.

The digital download is £2 and available here: http://auguststars.bandcamp.com/album/invisible-in-the-dusk

More information about the release here: http://starrystillness.blogspot.com/2011/11/august-stars-invisible-in-dusk-release.html

August Stars In and Out of the Grey or Silvery Dissolution

A companion digital download to Invisible in the Dusk featuring omitted tracks, demos, alternative versions and three tracks salvaged from the abandoned Drawn Away EP. It is available free here: http://auguststars.bandcamp.com/album/in-and-out-of-a-grey-or-silvery-dissolution

August Stars Music for Twilight (MMM019)

Pay what you like. Available here: http://auguststars.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-twilight

August Stars Midwinter (MMM030)

Pay what you like. Available here: http://auguststars.bandcamp.com/album/midwinter

Still Crescent The Railway Terminus, The October Twilight, The Circulatory System EP (MMM043)

Pay what you like. Available here: http://stillcrescent.bandcamp.com/album/the-railway-terminus-the-october-twilight-the-circulatory-system

Still Crescent Along the Fringe of Starlit Frost EP (MMM044)

Pay what you like. Available here: http://stillcrescent.bandcamp.com/album/along-the-fringe-of-starlit-frost

Lastly, I'd like to say it has been a privilege to have been part of Make Mine Music for the last six years. I'd like to thank everyone at the label for their support. I'd also like to thank everyone who has supported me by buying, selling, reviewing etc. etc. my recordings.

August Stars - In and Out of a Grey or Silvery Dissolution

August Stars In and Out of a Grey or Silvery Dissolution is a companion download to Invisible in the Dusk. Both releases take their titles from lines, or perhaps more appropriately, fragmented lines in the Ted Hughes poem "Rain". The cover art is a black and white detail of an in progress painting by Sean Madner. Sean was originally creating the artwork for the abandoned EP Drawn Away.

In and Out of a Grey or Silvery Dissolution includes the recordings omitted from Invisible in the Dusk, demos recorded during the same period, alternative versions and three tracks salvaged from the Drawn Away EP.

It will be available for free download from Monday 21st November 2011.

1. Distant Hills (1)

2. Lighthouse (Dusk)

3. Grantchester Meadows

4. Sunlit Autumn

5. Bleak December (Quiet Version)

6. Forest (2005 Version)

7. Steel Bank

8. Cambridge Street

9. On Leaving Sheffield Station

10. Low Frequency Test

11. In the Hour Before Dawn

12. The Landscape of North East Derbyshire and South Yorkshire (Alternative Version)

1 and 7 omitted from Invisible in the Dusk; 2, 3, 4 from the Drawn Away EP recorded between 2002 and 2004; 5 and 12 alternative versions of tracks on Invisible in the Dusk; 8, 9, 10, 11 demos recorded between autumn 2005 and spring 2006; 6 a re-recording of a pre-August Stars track written in the late 1990s.

August Stars - Invisible in the Dusk, Release Date.

MMM028 August Stars Invisible in the Dusk

1. Landscape of North East Derbyshire and South Yorkshire

2. Bleak December

3. Masts Against a Lowering Sky

4. Window Frost

5. Swifts in a Darkening Summer Sky

6. Crooked Spire of St Mary and All Saints

7. Sodium-Vapour Midnight

8. Distant Hills (2)

August Stars, one of many projects of musician and sound explorer Sebastien Wright, was one of the first artists to debut material on Make Mine Music. With nods to works of Brian Eno, Zoviet France and pre-Man Machine Kraftwerk, and finding kinship and inspiration in the writings of Derek Jarman, Paul Auster and J.G. Ballard, August Stars' series of long-form EPs explored a rich seam of dark ambient music long before their current vogue.

Taking its title from a line in the Ted Hughes poem "Rain", August Stars' new EP Invisible in the Dusk will be released on Monday 21st November 2011. Unlike previous releases the literary influence ends here, and nostalgia, usually a large component in the music of August Stars, only has a minor role on this EP. The recordings are, like Sebastien's earlier releases, highly autobiographical, capturing November journeys across the desolate Pennines, train rides through rainswept northern towns and the loneliness and social isolation which comes with moving to a new city. Invisible in the Dusk is very much a recording set in winter - occasionally cold, often dark in tone, and texturally oblique.

Invisible in the Dusk will be released in a strictly limited edition of 25 CDR copies with artwork by Daniel Fogarty, and digital download. The EP will be the penultimate release on Make Mine Music, the pioneering and artist-led co-operative label, which will close its doors for the final time at the end of the year after ten years of releasing music by the likes of Library Tapes, July Skies, Epic45 and Piano Magic.

starrystillness.blogspot.com

auguststars.bandcamp.com

soundcloud.com/august-stars

makeminemusic.co.uk

danielfogarty.co.uk

As stated above the EP will be available from Monday 21st November. Physical copies will be £4 each including postage to the UK. Copies sold outside of the UK will be subject to a shipping charge, however I'll only charge what I pay. I should add that the CDR copies are limited to just 25 and will be sold on a first come basis. If you'd like a copy please contact me at sebastienstars (at) gmail.com.

Digital Downloads will be available from the August Stars bandcamp page at £2 each. This will include the complete EP plus an high quality copy of the sleeve, featuring cover art by Daniel Fogarty. I designed the sleeve as a tribute of sorts to the DIY ethic. It is printer friendly and photocopiable.

There will also be a free companion download featuring tracks omitted from Invisible in the Dusk, three tracks salvaged from the abandoned Drawn Away EP, alternative versions and demos. More details about this release here and it will be available from the August Stars bandcamp page.

(August Stars News) MMM028 Invisible in the Dusk, Release Date

August Stars Invisible in the Dusk will be released on Monday 29^th August 2011 on Make Mine Music. Since I posted news of the release back in February, the track listing has been revised, as well as a change of artwork. The new cover art is by Daniel Fogarty who designed the cover for my Still Crescent EP. More of Daniel's projects can be found on his website. http://www.danielfogarty.co.uk

To accompany the album, a free download will be made available on the day of release. It will feature several outtakes and alternative versions and the tracks left off following the revisions.

Invisible in the Dusk itself will be a highly limited edition CDr and download; physical copies will only be available through Norman Records.

Over the next month there will be more news and information about the release.

N. B. THIS RELEASE HAS BEEN DELAYED UNTIL LATE AUTUMN.

MMM028 August Stars Invisible in the Dusk

1. The Landscape of South Yorkshire and North East Derbyshire
2. Bleak December
3. Masts Against a Lowering Sky
4. Window Frost
5. Swifts in a Darkening Summer Sky
6. The Crooked Spire of St. Mary's and All Saints
7. Sodium-Vapour Midnight
8. Distant Hills (2)

Further Hallam Tower Hotel pictures

As my Hallam Tower blog is receiving a lot of visits, here are some images which are scattered across my tumblr all in one place.

John Worsley's impression of the hotel c. 1964.

c. 1965

Advertisement for the Ford Galaxie 500 outside the Hallam Tower Hotel c. April 1965.

c. 1967

c. 1970

Screencaps from the 1971 promotional film Sheffield… City on the move. This scene features the Hallam Tower Hotel and two Swedish tourists “…following, in modern manner, the path of their viking ancestors”.

c. 1974

Hallam Tower Post House Hotel c. 1986

April 2011

Let's Halt Awhile, Hallam Tower and Grosvenor House Hotels

The following photograph and text are taken from Ashley Courtenay's Let's Halt Awhile (34th Edition, 1967).

Sheffield, Yorkshire—Grosvenor House Hotel and Hallam Tower. These two imposing blocks occupy magnificent sites; the former in the city centre, the other high up on the outskirts of Sheffield. Both complement each other in that they provide accommodation with different characteristics: for example, Grosvenor House has several suites with fine views over the city and larger facilities for banqueting, while Hallam Towers has the advantage of an open situation on the way out to Dovedale.

Both hotels, however, offer a wide choice for the businessman who wishes to stay in Sheffield and for organisers of local functions and conferences. There are banqueting suites in both, with full conference facilities, and, in addition, Grosvenor House has smaller rooms available for private lunch and dinner parties.

Apart from the business aspect, though, these hotels are ideal centres for the weekend motorist: the Peak District and the Yorkshire Moors are easily reached on daily excursions. Many of these visitors will appreciate the Sheffield Plate—a quick-service buttery—at the Hallam Tower and the £1 a day tariff reduction at weekends.

Whatever your tastes or your pocket, either Grosvenor House or the Hallam Tower will provide you with accommodation, food and service to suit. (See Map X.) (See illustration p. 103.)

GROSVENOR HOUSE: F.Lic. Apartments: 99/6. Bk. 61— to 10/6. L. from 23/—. A.T. 51— D. from 28/6. 10 %S. Rms: 62 dbl. 42 sgl. (c.h.). Priv. Bath: 104. Lt. G. T.V. Tel. (OSH2) 20041.

HALLAM TOWER: F.Lic. Apartments 84/—. Bk. 51— to 8/6. L. from 15/6. D. from 18/6. 10%S. Rms: 68 dbl. 68 sgl. (c.h.). Priv. Bath: 136. Lt. T.V. Tel. (OSH2) 66031.

London 160. Chesterfield 12. Doncaster 18. Leeds 33. Manchester 38.

Hallam Tower Hotel, Sheffield

The five diamond Hallam Tower Hotel was constructed between 1963 and 1965 costing one million pound. It opened officially on 24th March 1965 and was the first luxury hotel to be built in the north of England since the Second World War. The chief architect was Nelson Foley of Trust House Architectural Department.

The exterior was designed to complement Sheffield’s post-war modernist developments; the interior by Colefax and Fowler of Mayfair offered “warm, gay colours” to contrast with “the black and grey tones of the city” and the first-class conference facilities supported the city’s bid to become a conference centre.

The following snippets of text are taken from the original Press Release (16th March 1965).

Entrance Lounge 'Sunny yellow stairwell. Bright green carpet'

Vulcan Room Restaurant 'Tones of orange, yellow, pale wrapping paper brown and sour green, the walls yellow the carpet green.'

Downstairs Bar 'A dark intimate room with a club-like atmosphere enlivened by turquoise blue upholstery. Dark lincrusta walls. 18th century Horgarth engravings. Silver Trimmings.'

Sheffield Plate Grill 'Here the open plan ends and a completely contrasting colour rendering is achieved by use of pink, red, black and white. The wall decorations consist of a series of Sheffield trade signs, none of them later than 1910 and most of them mid-19th century.'

(All paintings by John Worsley c. 1964.)

August Stars - Decline of the Industrial North (Free Download)

Next up from the August Stars' archives is Decline of the Industrial North. Link below.

http://auguststars.bandcamp.com/album/decline-of-the-industrial-north

August Stars - The Night Sky (Free Download)

Over the next few weeks I plan to upload a few shelved August Stars releases to Bandcamp for free download.
The first is The Night Sky.

Here is the link: http://auguststars.bandcamp.com/album/the-night-sky

Some August Stars News

There will be a new August Stars release on Make Mine Music very soon. Invisible in the Dusk will be an highly limited edition ten track CDr. I will post more information about it later this week, but for now here is the cover art and tracklisting.

1. Distant Hills (1)

2. Steel Bank

3. Bleak December

4. Hollow Meadows

5. Masts Against a Lowering Sky

6. Window Frost

7. Swifts in a Darkening Summer Sky

8. Crooked Spire of St Marys and All Saints

9. Sodium-Vapour Midnight

10. Distant Hills (2)

Still Crescent EP on Bandcamp

I've finally got around to uploading the Still Crescent EP to bandcamp.

Follow this link to download (it's free): stillcrescent.bandcamp.com/album/still-crescent-ep

More details can be found about the release on the bandcamp page or by clicking here.