Tim and Sam's 2008

Here's a summary of our year. It includes a break down of Tim and Sam's year, and lists of our favourite albums and gigs. There's also the odd picture, too. Enjoy!

T&S highlights:

January - We made our TV debut! on 31st Jan we recorded a session for Channel M. It was the windiest day ever and we got blown away when we were carrying our stuff into the studio. It was great fun though.

February - Started our first tour of the year. We played 10 dates starting at the end of Feb. We travelled all over the UK and had lots of fun. There is a blog up on Myspace if you'd like to read more about it.



March - We finished our tour and then we started our epic recording session. This month, we mainly focused on recording drums for all of the songs.

April - More recording. We ended up recording 19 songs. 7 of them are on our EP, which is out now. The rest should be released as an album next year. How exciting. We also played a few great gigs, including Huw Stephen's Introducing night at The Social, and a show with Shady Bard and Polytechnic. Both of whom are ace.


Hello,


May - A fun month. We played at The Great Escape Festival, which turned out to be one of our favourite gigs so far. I also got a new car. This was exciting because we could now travel in one vehicle to all of our gigs.



June - We locked ourselves away to get a move on with our recording. We also did a lot of rehearsing, so we could play all of these songs live.

July - Latitude Festival! This was lots of fun. Thank you very much to Huw Stephens for asking us to play.



August - Our second tour of the year. This time slightly longer, playing at a number of small but lovely festivals.



September - We set up Full of Joy Records in September, and set about work on releasing our EP. This was a really big learning curve for all of us. We also recorded the live video for House by the Sea, which you can watch on Youtube here:



October - A small number of gigs in between doing the PR for our EP. This involved lots of promo CDs and lots of envelopes.

November - We released our EP! Our first proper CD. Something we'd been looking forward to having for a long time. We also had an amazing launch party at the Sacred Trinity Church in Salford.




December - Our first in-store at Purgroove in London. We also did as session for Tom Robinson on BBC 6Music, which was amazing.



Some lists. All are in no particular order:

Favourite T&S gigs of the year:

27th Nov - EP Launch Party - Sacred Trinity Church, Salford. A really special night in a fantastic venue. Couldn't have wished for a better way to celebrate our EP launch.

28th March - St Peter's Church, Kingston - It took us 8 hours to get there. We turned up and went straight on stage, and we didn't get home until 5 in the morning. Despite this, we were still in the studio for 9 the following day. Hardcore. Anyway, the gig itself was great.

4th May - Sounds from the Other City Festival, Salford - Great festival. We played in a pub that was completely packed to the rafters.

16th May - Great Escape Festival - Our first larger festival. We were expecting to play to an empty room, but instead we got a full one. Better still, they were all quite and appreciative.

20th July - Latitude Festival - Easily the biggest gig we've done so far. Our second set in the woods was equally as good too. Definitely something we'll always remember.

4th Nov - Tommy's Bar, Cardiff - Dwi'n hoffi Caerdydd! We played with The Kabedees, who all bought T&S T-Shirts and wore them on stage. For this, we love them forever.

21st Dec - Wirksworth Town Hall, Wirksworth - A small town in the middle of no-where, but it turned out to be the perfect final gig of the year.

Non T&S gigs of the year:

Radiohead - Manchester LCCG. Probably our collective all-time favourite band.
David Bazan - Night n Day, Manchester. What a voice.
Bon Iver - The Great Escape Festival. We were all really impressed. Great show.
Okkervil River - The Great Escape Festival. Amazing live band.
Adem - Brudenell Social Club. With his band. One of our collective favourite solo artists.
Elbow - Delemer Forest. Elbow in a forest. What more could you want? Great that they've done so well this year, too.

Albums of the year:

These are all albums that have been doing the rounds in our tour car a lot.

Micah P. Hinson - The Red Empire Orchestra
Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Death Vessel - Nothing Is Precious Enough For Us
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Why? - Alopecia

I hope you've enjoyed this year as much as we have. Very much looking forward to the next one!

Happy new year,

Tim and Sam x

Hello.

We thought it would be nice to make a round-up of all of the reviews we’ve had of the Put Your Slippers On EP so far. Enjoy!

DieShellSuit: “Lovely cheery melodic post indie rock, with what seems like a complete lack of pretension and a very down to earth feel.Highly recommended.” 9/10 <

The Fugitive Motel:“Seemingly seizing on any new tool in the musical family, beautifully constructed melodies compete with each other for the listener’s full attention. You can follow any of them for as long as you wish, or take a step back and appreciate the way they combine to make a totally satisfying whole.” 5.0/6.0

Huddersfield University Student Newspaper: “From the endearingly silly name down to the playful and astonishingly pretty details of their music, Tim and his very able band-mates seem to come from another Britain altogether, a sweeter and more thoughtful place, with this sensibility woven through their heartfelt and cinematic instrumentals.” 9.0/10

CMU Music Network: “'Stepping Stones' is a beautiful acoustic highlight, although truthfully every song is a joy. Composed by a patchwork orchestra of eclectic instruments and tied together in the band's indie-inclined roots, 'Put Your Slippers On' is pretty, magical and rich; an emblem of DIY chamber-pop delight.”

Isthismusic?: "Tim and Sam’s… are a band, that specialise in songs which are immensely and impossibly beautiful. The violins join in on title track, ‘Put Your Slippers On’, it’s one of the finest moments of any song I’ve ever heard.These guys are pretty special."

MEN: “The Manc oufit make music as snug as a warm winter blanket; all folk-drenched pastoral psychedelia, like a mix of Sigur Ros, Belle And Sebastian and Sufjan Stevens, with an extra sprinkling of ethereal wooziness.”

MP3 Hugger: “ ‘Join The Dots’ is an unbridled success as much for the emotions it inspires as the instrumentation, which is both fragile and adventurous.”

Organ: "Lovely indie-flavoured light delicate simple clever post-rock and gorgeous drops of fresh rain in the sun and jumping over stepping stones and badger sets and all warm and organic and wholesome and good” SINGLE OF THE WEEK

Planet Sound: “Brings back summer.” 7/10

Student Direct: “This is the epitome of summer music - and if it’s not summer, listen to it and you’ll never care about what’s going on outside.” 4/5

Subba-Cultcha: “A pastoral symphony of textures and colours played on everything that makes a noise.”

Supersweet: “‘Put Your Slippers On’ weaves an aural tapestry of naivety and maturation. Their songs cajole the senses into a comfortable state of comatose for what is ultimately an ethereal listen.”

ThisisfakeDIY: "Tim and Sam haven’t stuck to the norm really, choosing instruments which are better suited to the BBC Philharmonic rather than an indie-folk band, but the fusion of classical (flute, clarinet, piano, glockenspiel and violin) and modern (guitar and percussion) works wonderfully well, and partly contributes to their quirkiness.”

ToxicPete: “These instrumental renderings, are wonderfully constructed, gentle and sensual works of fluid and organic 'scores' or mini-symphonies. Post-rock maybe but, there's nothing at all stark, angular or obtuse about this EP. What's offered here is gently lilting, softly flowing, cosseting and easy on the ear. A classy and very well structured EP of excellent modernistic music for the heart, mind and soul."

You can order the EP here:

www.timandsam.bigcartel.com

Thanks,

Tim and Sam x