WINTER HOME DISCO, taken from the album ‘Secret Soundz Vol. 1’, is being released on 7” icy-clear vinyl, featuring two remixes of the song by The Pictish Trail’s favourite artists: HOT CHIP  & FOUND.

The original version, available only on the album, is a thumping lo-fi stomp – about a housewarming party gone wrong.   A heavy beat sits in the middle, eating all the crisps, surrounded by a bevy of gorgeous synths – while in the corner sits a lowly acoustic guitar, with only The Pictish Trail’s voice layered a gazillion times over the chorus for company …

“You’ve got the light of the sun in your eyes …”

Laid-back?  They’ll give you laid-back.  HOT CHIP have abandoned the drum machines, and have gone for a very chilled out take on the song with their remix.   The Pictish Trail’s vocal is pushed all the way to the front, swimming in synth, and in the distance you can hear them sighing “ooooh”, and clicking their fingers.  Dreamy.

Fence Record’s very own bleep-hop boy-band, FOUND,  are no strangers to remixing.  This year alone, they’ve done some stunning remixes for King Creosote, Attic Lights, Make Model, Au Revoir Simone, Free Blood, amongst others.  They put their trigger-fingers to work on Winter Home Disco on the B-side, and warm things up a bit with some sweaty 80’s calypso, that explodes into a gorgeous Tetris minefield.

The single was mastered for vinyl by Reuben Taylor (James Yorkston & The Athletes), and the amazing artwork was created by top-comic illustrator Christian Ward.

A ten song tug-of-war of longing, regret, guilt, lust and more regret – topped and tailed by plaintive instrumentals. Mournful accordions wallow in a bed of muddy synths, wineglass symphonies, plodding banjo and stirring piano chords.  Floating above it all are two beautifully distinct voices, each blessed/tainted with a knack for penning the most heart-breaking of lyrics.

‘You’re Really Quite The Catch’ is the latest single from our bleep-hop boyband, FOUND – and finds the band in fighting pop form.  Pinched from recent album This Mess We Keep Reshaping, the song has been tweaked a wee bit.  It’s coming out on gorgeous white vinyl, and is backed with a remix by King Creosote.

On the A-Side, frontman Ziggy Campbell’s drunken slur is raspier than ever, and there’s now a female foil to his flirtation.  These stunning backing vocals come courtesy of Lisa Lindley-Jones (British Sea Power, King Creosote, Jon Hopkins), and make for a match in heaven.

“I think me and you could last, cos you’re really quite the catch …”

The B-side, Admission Number 2 (King Creosote Admission Number 9 remix), gives a melancholy shuffle to the original (also taken from This Mess …).  Label boss, King Creosote, provides the mix for this – and, in true KC style, opera samples abound, with weird synth and accordion swaying in the background …

The single is the sixth release in our Secret 7‘s collection – and was given away FREE to all ticketholders of our Hallowe’en 2008 bash.

SECRET SOUNDZ Vol.1 is a diverse collection of ten lo-fi pieces that are, at times, a bit homeboy electronic, often a lil’ folky, and a wee bit pop too. Zippy instrumentals snuggle up next to stripped back acoustic ditties, which in turn tickle-the-fancy of proto-electro pop songs. Subject matter is similarly assorted – there’s the story of a psychopathic killer lighthouse-keeper (‘The Lighthouse’), a closed-curtain house-warming gone wrong (‘Winter Home Disco’) and, er, a track composed of snippets of a Reginald Perrin novel being read out aloud (‘Secret Sound #1’)!

What connects these disparate styles and themes are the manner in which they are produced – the focus very much on capturing an immediate performance as opposed to an over-rehearsed one. Most of the album was recorded by PT himself, on his 8-track recorder at his home in Cellardyke, Anstruther – using whatever came to hand … just a tambourine, a few guitars, bass, drum machine, keyboard and voice. Listen closely and you can hear the swoosh of the number 26 bus whizz past the window, muffled voices of people outside, and the creaking of household pipes.

Not all of the tracks are Fife-based creations, however. Three songs from the album were recorded with Manchester-based collective The Earlies (who collaborated with King Creosote on 2005’s KC Rules OK), over the course of a one day session at their studio in Chorlton. ‘I Don’t Know Where To Begin’, ‘Ribbon (The Twist)’, and ‘Into The Smoke’ are the fruits of this highly-productive day’s labour, and add flute, accordion, double bass, cello, drums, all kinds of percussion, piano, weird synth and the voices of Sara Lowes and King Creosote to the mix. As with the home recordings, emphasis was placed on spontaneity – with the first take more often than not being the final one.

The result is an immediate, playful and vibrant album – qualities that are reflected in the day-glo artwork, provided by Christian Ward (www.cwardillustration.com).

ULTRA-LIMITED 7″ ON SUNSHINE YELLOW VINYL

This is the fourth release as part of the Fence Secret 7 collection – a new series of vinyl, available for free at Fence Club shows. There are a limited number available from this website and select independent record stores.

This Secret7 title is a split single, with tracks from PLAYER PIANO and COME IN TOKYO.

Player Piano is the nom de plume of Indiana-born, London-fed Jeremy Radway. We’ve been a fan of his for awhile now – having had him play the past couple of Homegame festivals, up here in Fife. A talented musician and studio-engineer, Jeremy plays all the instruments on all of his recordings – drums, guitar, keys, vocals, handclaps and even backslaps (if it’s going well). ‘Backwards Invention’ is a rattling glam pomp-pop shimmy, all Bowie preen and Roxy glisten.

In 2007, Alan Oates (a.k.a. winsome folk troubadour Little Pebble) traded his acoustic guitar for an electric, messed up his hair a bit, became friends with proto-drummer Anna Duffield, and started to write songs as Come In Tokyo. Together they make the most blistering 3-minute pop you’re likely to hear in our life. ‘See Saw’ is no exception – a juggernaut of a tune, replete with filthy riffs, shuddering drums, and jackknife time- hanges. Easily one of the best live acts on Fence.

This Secret 7 title was available for free at Fence Club #5 – The Bulleit Sessions (06/06/2008).

ULTRA-LIMITED 7″ ON SPACEY CLEAR-BLUE VINYL!!

This is the third release as part of the Fence Secret 7 collection – a new series of vinyl, available for free at Fence Club shows. There are a limited number available from this website and select independent record stores.

This Secret7 title is a brand new title from King Creosote – a sneaky taste of his new home-made album ‘They Flock Like Vulcans To See Old Jupiter Eyes On His Home Craters‘. You can buy the single here – but you can only purchase the album at King Creosote live shows throughout May and June 2008.

The first track, ‘On Esther’s Planet‘, is a crackly KC pop classic – rolling bass, casio organ and a chirpy drum machine. This song also features on the album … but the mix on this single is different to the mix on the album.

The second track, ‘What’s Your Favourite?“, is an dancey instrumental tune – not available on any other release!

This Secret 7 title was available for free at Fence Club #4 – The Bulleit Sessions (08/05/2008).

Initially available only at tour dates throughout summer 2008, King Creosote’s latest album is a 12 track treat of all new songs – recorded at home in Crail.

Edinburgh art-poppers, FOUND, mark their debut on Fence Records with 11 tracks of electronic bleep-hop song wizardry.

As the title suggests, This Mess We Keep Reshaping is an album awash with starts and stops, where songs build, reset themselves, and regenerate again into something different – from the twisting key changes of opener ‘Plotkiller’, to the shifting gonzo-squawks and squeaks of ‘See Ferg’s In London’; from the progressive chanting layers of ‘Admission Number Two’, to the desperate breaking pleads of ‘When You Fall’.

With each new start, pop’s possibilities are explored; ideas bounce around mirrored parts, echoing into unexpected tunnels and turns, before resurfacing – strengthening the song with their kaleidoscopic hooks.

A double album pack from our first lady, HMS Ginafore, comprising of her out-of-print debut album (L’argent De La Mer) and her picket fence title (PF B04 – And The Racket They Made).

This set contains some of the finest music this label has ever released – sparse tunes with lyrics that are heartbreaking/heartwarming in equal measure, sung in that inimitable voice.

Each disc has been produced and remastered by King Creosote, individually hand-stamped and assembled in packaging by Gummi Bako.

ULTRA-LIMITED 7″ ON SQUEAMISHLY GREEN VINYL!!

This is the second release as part of the Fence Secret 7 collection – a new series of vinyl, available for free at Fence Club shows. There are a limited number available from this website and select independent record stores.

This Secret7 title is a split single, with FOUND on the A-side, and THE PICTISH TRAIL on the AA-side.

FOUND‘s track, ‘Something Under The Bed Is Drooling’, is a terrifying monster mash-up of 80′s synth and ghoulish two-step tip-toe prowl.

THE PICTISH TRAIL‘s side is a distorted glam stomp romp, with electric guitars and much howling. Take the word ‘folk’ and smack its bum.

This Secret 7 title was available for free at Fence Club #3 – The Hallowe’en Fancy Dress Pary (01/11/2007). If you didn’t manage to make it along, don’t worry! Thereare a limited number of copies left in stock, on shockingly shiny green vinyl. This issure to become a Fence Collector’s item – so grab yours today!