www.newcontinental.org.uk

 We are really pleased to be hosting this show! An ultra-rare pairing of two genuinely enigmatic outfits, this is a superlative one-off. 

NATURAL SNOW BUILDINGS

After seeing this great act's UK debut at the TUSK festival in Newcastle last year, we resolved to bring them to Preston the first chance we got. This is their debut UK Tour after more than 10 years of their beautiful and magical emissions from Vitres in France.

Live appearances by Natural Snow Buildings are an even more rare jewel than their records, which seem to briefly appear in limited numbers and instantly be devoured. The Vitré-based duo of Mehdi Ameziane and Solange Gularte began creating music together after meeting at university in the late 90s, armed with little more than cello, guitar and voice. They began issuing tapes and CDRs in miniscule quantities, word slowly spreading through the exclamations of such devoted advocates as Digitalis and Time Lag.

Despite their minimal means, Natural Snow Buildings music is never less than all-consuming, be it in their ethereal and windswept epics or their moments of close-mic'd vocal-and-guitar tenderness. Their releases always materialize on a grand scale, usually of two discs or more, always adorned by Mehdi and Solange's quasi-mystical artwork – like the tracks inside, each one seems like a fully realized dream.

2006's The Dance Of The Moon And The Sun was perhaps a watershed, the duo finding their work hyperbolised online as a "monumental masterpiece", "the history of all things" and "perfection defined". Popol Vuh, Flying Saucer Attack, Vashti Bunyan – comparisons abound and uniformly fail to do them justice. Soon began their relationship with Sheffield's Blackest Rainbow label and a series of releases that continue to sell out almost before the label takes delivery.

WOODCRAFT FOLK

Woodcraft Folk are kinda like the UK equivalent of NSB, totally choice but almost irritatingly obscure! We thought they'd become a bit of an urban legend after dropping the superlative 'Trough of Bowland' album of pastoral electronica a few years back. Eden on the Line blog accurately described the album as "an alluring mixture of squelchy synths, cheap Casio electronics, xylophone and other acoustic instruments, and occasional wordless vocals. It's charming and catchy, like incidental music for Children's Hour - in an alternate universe." This great record bagged Woodcraft Folk a main stage Green Man festival appearance in 2006 and then the trail went cold.

Trough of Bowland's lifespan was extended through limited re-presses on boutique labels Earworm and Great Pop Supplements and occasional airplay from the likes of Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone, but until last year nothing else had emerged except for a solitary track on a Static Caravan compilation.

Then a 7" single appeared, 'Quiet, Birds Have Ears' b/w 'At Home Howls', armed with a more propulsive undercarriage and latterly a track on a great mini CD single called 'Travels around Britain' which features an adventurous and delightful cover of The Fall's 'English Scheme from 'Grotesque'. Mainman Alan Outram has relocated back to the North West and the move appears to have sparked a burst of activity with a soundtrack to a horror film about the Pendle Witches in the pipeline and a recent solo show in Lancaster soundtracking a film about Morris Dancing. Alan's promised us a full ensemble performance for this show at the Continental with a new Woodcraft folk line up and we can't wait!

TOTALLY WIRED COLLECTIVE

Totally Wired is a not-for-profit group based in Lancaster that organises regular music, performance and visual arts events throughout the North West and beyond. A recent show we attended at the Dukes in Lancaster featured the aforementioned Woodcraft Folk set, spoken word, photography soundtracked by Morecambe band The Heartbreaks, and a terrific film about retired entertainers in Morecambe. 

We've let them loose for the first hour and a half of the evening and in return they've promised us a blast of cultural mayhem in the form of projected visuals & live performance.

Find out more about the Totally Wired collective and details of their future events on their website here.

Tickets are £5.50 advance (£7 on the door) and are available from The Continental’s Bar (01772 499 425), Preston Visitor Information (at the Guild Hall, 01772 253 731), Action Records (01772 884 772) and online from seetickets