Snowman honoured by Pitchfork

Snowman have capped off a busy year by getting an honourable mention for their sophomore album The Horse, The Rat and The Swan in Pitchfork's Albums of the Year list. Here's a bit of what they said about the album:

"The record is a proud enigma, technologically advanced and primal, referential but utterly unique, a terrifying vision of our Stone Age future."

Snowman released the album in May and following a national tour relocated to London. If you've been wondering what they've been up to, here's a message from Joe:

To those of you who give a damn,

We are sorry for the long silence, our communication methods were disabled. We have been busy building new lives in London. Slowly the empire is growing. We have found a home of some description, in Walthamstow, E17 (where the group East 17 once hailed from, though I doubt we will be channeling any of their magic). Our home is above an Italian cafe on a high street. On our doorstep there are markets. Most mornings I am woken by the sound of a cockney shouting "two for a pound" or "money back guarantee". I fall asleep at night to the sound of a domestic disturbance or a stabbing. There are seven of us living in the flat. We have one toilet. I am sleeping under a stairwell...in a passage way. Today I am locked inside the house as I have not been allocated a key yet. In time these minor issues will be resolved.

We all appear to have jobs now. None of which are worth mentioning other than Ross'. He is a garbage man.

We have played a few shows here in the UK. We played Leeds, Bristol and London with fellow Australian noisemakers PIVOT. They are fine gentlemen and a wonderful band. Dear chum and label sibling Ned Collette played a show with us the other night too.

We are working on some new things. Bits and pieces. Something will rear it's ugly head at some stage.

We hope you are safe and warm.

Love always,

The SNOWMAN Empire

Snowman will be playing at Madame JoJo's (White Heat) in Soho on January 6th with HTRK.

Snowman's First German Interview

German music blog Auf Touren has featured an interview with Snowman frontman Joe McKee. Joe talks about touring, musical influences and the band's songwriting process, particularly on their latest release The Horse, The Rat And The Swan...

AufTouren: Your brilliant last record, “The Horse, The Rat And The Swan”, takes a lot of time. Once you think you discovered it, you really really love it. I would say, it has got no real singles or instant hits and only works as a whole. How does it feel to release something that takes that much time in terms where people like to listen to silly ringtones?

Joe: Well, it took a long time to write. We spent hundreds of hours dedicated to the writing process and focused on creating a piece of art. It is, at times, a challenging piece of art, but all of my favourite art is this way. I think for art and music to truly move someone, it needs to be challenging and engaging at the same time.

For the full interview check out the Auf Touren blog.

Earlier this year Snowman relocated to London playing throughout England including several shows with fellow Aussie band Pivot and Ned Collette. The band are look on embarking tours throughout the rest of Europe and the US in 2009.

New videos from Snowman and Magic Dirt

Snowman - Daniel Was A Timebomb



From the album The Horse, The Rat and The Swan out now.
Hear more of the album at myspace.com/thesnowmanempire


Magic Dirt - Romy



From the album Girl out now.
Magic Dirt are currently on a national tour. Check tour dates at myspace.com/magicdirt

Snowman score 8.0 on Pitchfork

Snowman have only just relocated overseas and instantly hit the front page of PITCHFORK. The influential US music blog has given the Perth quartet’s new album The Horse, The Rat And The Swan an 8.0 review, describing it as “practically biblical in the way it strikes you with one hand while pulling you closer with the other.”

You can read the full review here.

The Horse, The Rat And The Swan is out now through Dot Dash.

www.myspace.com/thesnowmanempire

We Are The Plague