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Welcome to the home of Rif Mountain Records, a small independant co-op label.

ACTUALLY
DISINTEGRATING

Hi there, just a quick note to say that we've had to cancel the forthcoming Meet On The Ledge due to a double booking on the venues behalf. Apologies to you all, refunds will be issued and we hope to reschedule.

Cheers. { Dom }

DISINTEGRATION IS
QUITE PAINLESS

Hello there, next month sees a welcome return of Meet On The Ledge. Jason Steel headlines (his live gigs of late have been a joy and he's on fine form, definitely worth seeing), with Lost Harbours in support (playing their cinematic mini epics), and some eclecticism from The Straw Bear Band's Cabinet of Curiosities.

The venue is The Constitution in Camden, which was Davy Graham's old local. Spaces are limited so please book a ticket in advance or email us. Buy a ticket.

In other news, the last Owl Service gig is next week at the Half Moon in Herne Hill. Also, Jason also has another gig coming up on May 5th at West Hill Hall, Brighton. With The Diamond Family Archive and Woodpecker Woolliams. He'll also play alongside Nancy Wallace and The Straw Bear Band at an evening we're co-hosting with Steven's new Stone Tape Recordings at this years Leigh Folk Festival. We'll be playing on the sat evening, June 23rd from 8.30 at the Clarendon HQ. More details nearer the time.

Finally, Nancy will be on tomorrow's Mule Freedom's Sunday Pint on NTS radio from 11am.

Until next time. Enjoy your week and see you soon. { Dom }

KITTI' COMES HOME

Of all the releases I've been involved with over the last 6 years, one of my very favourites is The Kittiwakes album 'Lofoten Calling'. An ambitious folk concept album about the lives of people who inhabit the Lofoten Islands in Norway, the album is an excellent example of fine songcraft with some truly spirited singing and playing. Sadly, the band split last year before a follow up could be completed but thankfully Kate Denny of the 'wakes continued the work she started and she is now about to unleash her new solo record, Closer to Home. Another concept album of sorts but this time, as the title suggests, it's of a more personal nature. You can now download the wonderful opening track from the album, entitled William & the Boat...

Closer to Home is set for release on June 18th and there's an album launch show at the Green Note in Camden the following night. Kate's also playing a wealth of shows in support of the new record between now and the end of the year, including the Leigh Folk Festival. For more details and to pre-order the album on CD visit Kate's homepage here. { Steven }

HALFTIME REPORT

Here's a video from Jason Steel's gig at The Methodist Church in Leigh. He's singing I Lost My North.

Thanks to all the supporters and promoters. The tour continues on March 9th at The Louisana in Bristol. Find out more on Jason's site.

Here's another video from The Garden show. { Dom }

GIVE NOT THAT WHICH
IS UNHOLY UNTO
THE DOGS...

You can now listen to the whole of the forthcoming Owl Service EP, There Used to be a Crown, via the Rif Mountain Soundcloud page. The EP contains 4 covers of songs originally written and recorded by legendary US psych folk band Pearls Before Swine, and it will be released next month as the final Hobby-Horse 7" single. Singles club subscribers will soon receive a link via email enabling them to download the 4 tracks as WAV files, and the EP will be available to order from the webshop as soon as the stock arrives.

Pearls Before Swine, more than any other band, inspired me to create The Owl Service almost 6 years ago and this has been a project that has brought me immense satisfaction and maddening amounts of frustration in equal measures, as I've struggled for many month to do justice to the beautiful original songs. It's been a very personal project, and as such I've worked on it entirely alone with the exception of the opening unaccompanied vocal intro, sung by Diana Collier.

I hope you enjoy the tracks, and for anyone as yet untouched by the genius of Tom Rapp and Pearls Before Swine, I urge you to seek them out. { Steven }

Listen to There Used to be a Crown on Soundcloud

CARE IN THE
COMMUNITY

You can now reserve your copy of Jason Steel's new album, The Weight of Care, ahead of its release on April 2nd - it comes as a deluxe LP package with a CD-r containing a special 'laid bare' mix of the album with no overdubs, and the first 50 copies will also come with an exclusive CD-r EP containing some newly recorded instrumental tracks.

To reserve your copy click here. { Steven }

TYLERS VS STEEL

Tickets are now on sale for the Leigh-on-sea leg of Jason Steel's tour - the date for your diary is Feb 17th 2012, and this should be a great night as Jason is playing with RM favourites, the utterly superb Cath & Phil Tyler. Also, this show is happening in the beautiful New Road Methodist Church where Jase played with Tom Paley last June - a really, really nice venue. The event is a preview concert for the 2012 Leigh Folk Festival which is happening over the last weekend of June, and tickets are a very reasonable 5 English pounds in advance from the LFF website.

On the subject of the Leigh Folk Festival, the 2012 line-up is already looking like the best ever IMHO, so be sure to keep checking the site for full details of that. { Steven }

GIG ROUND-UP

Here's a quick update covering all forthcoming RM-related live activity.

Firstly, Jo Lepine of The Owl Service is performing a solo set in the bar at Cecil Sharp House (Regents Park Road, London N1) on January 19th. She'll be ably assisted by myself on electric guitar for part of her set, the rest will be unaccompanied.

Secondly, Jason Steel is heading out on tour next month in support of his imminently forthcoming second album, The Weight of Care. Dates are as follows;

10/2 - London, King's Place (w/Nancy Wallace)
13/2 - Liskeard, The Barley Sheaf
14/2 - Bristol, TBA
15/2 - Cheltenham, TBA
16/2 - Brighton, TBA
17/2 - Leigh-on-Sea, New Road Methodist Church (w/Cath & Phil Tyler)
18/2 - Ipswich, The Garden

Thirdly, the new duo of Greanvine (Diana Collier and me) will be making their debut live performance, opening the Leigh-on-sea date of Jason Steel's tour at the New Road Methodist Church on Feb 17th.

Fourthly, Roshi Nasehi will be performing in the Purcell Room at the Southbank Centre on March 9th as part of an event called Mary Pickford Revived, which sees three female artists performing scores to three silent films by Mary Pickford. Full details here.

Lastly, The Owl Service will be playing their final live show on Saturday March 24th at the Half Moon in Herne Hill, South London. Support comes from Roshi Nasehi.

That's all for now, we hope to see some of you out and about over the next couple of months.
{ Steven }