London psychedelic pop artist Black Market Karma announces their upcoming tour with The Black Angels as they gear up for the band’s eleventh full-length album ‘Friends In Noise’, an international collaboration rooted in friendship and spontaneity, to be released via London boutique label Flower Power Records.
Revolving around songwriter Stanley Belton, Black Market Karma offers a colourful carousel of jingle jangle and distorted wobble with flavours of psychedelia, fuzzed out tones and thumping grooves. With a thick and colourful sound channelled through vintage equipment, their music is rooted in 60’s guitar and pop music, other influences include folk, blues, lo-fi electronica, alt pop and soul.
“I didn’t really get the idea of an album in my head too much. It’s something that gradually came together over the years through playing and becoming friends with so many good musicians. Collaborations naturally occur when you’re spending time with people who are musically minded, especially when we would hang at my studio. The songs started to build up over time and I thought man, these should all be gathered together on one release so here we are,” says Stanley Belton.
“The last pieces came via two good friends – Craig Dyer of The Underground Youth and Butchy Davy of The Confederate Dead. Craig and I had wanted to make music together in the past but it never came to be – he lives in Berlin, but we managed to make ‘Wonky’ happen. Lastly Butchy came to the BMK studio with an unfinished, instrumental demo and we worked on it together. The result was ‘Ageing Boy'”.
Earlier, Black Market Karma released the singles ‘The Sky Was All Diseased’ with iconic vocalist Tess Parks and ‘Aping Flair’ with Ruari Meehan (Tess Parks, Tess Parks & Anton Newcombe and Belakiss with Ringo Starr’s granddaughter Tatia Starkey).
Featuring recordings captured over nine years, ‘Friends In Noise’ is a series of collaborations between Black Market Karma and friends. Apart from Tess Parks, this album also involves The Underground Youth, Les Big Byrd / Joakim Ahlund, The Confederate Dead and Ruari Meehan. More recently, Stan has also been collaborating with Pete Kember (a.k.a. Sonic Boom) of Spacemen 3 fame on a forthcoming release.
Earlier this year, the band released the ‘Aped Flair & Hijacked Ideas’ LP, a loaded 11-track offering with a fluid texture of beach-soaked instrumentation. Themes ranging from the sycophantic circles that leach from the arts, desperate attempts to stay spiritually close to a distant love, Japanese folklore, and the deep connection between man and beast.
As of January 13, the ‘Friends In Noise’ album will be available everywhere digitally, including Apple Music, Spotify and Bandcamp. It can be ordered on 180-gram coloured vinyl from the label, as well as their latest ‘Aped Flair & Hijacked Ideas’ LP. Tickets for upcoming tour dates can be ordered here.
TRACK LIST
1. Black Market Karma & Ruari Meehan – Aping Flair (with Ruari Meehan)
2. Wonky (with The Underground Youth)
3. The Sky Was All Diseased (with Tess Parks)
4. Heady Ideas – Joakim Åhlund Remix
5. War In The Streets – Stan Belton Remix
6. Ageing Boy (with The Confederate Dead)
TOUR DATES (Get tickets)
Jan 27th LISBON, Portugal – LAV
Jan 28th PORTO, Portugal – Hard Club
Jan 30th MADRID, Spain – Teatro Eslava
Jan 31st BARCELONA, Spain – Apolo
Feb 1st TOULOUSE, France – Le Bikini
Feb 2nd BORDEAUX, France – Rock School Barbey
Feb 4th GRENOBLE, France – La Belle Electrique
Feb 5th LAUSANNE, Switzerland – Les Docks
Feb 15th COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Vega
Feb 17th ANTWERP, Belgium – Trix
Feb 18th NIJMEGEN, Netherlands – Doornroosje
Feb 19th AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – Paradiso
Mar 15th TOURS, France – No New Fest (without The Black Angels)
