About 18 months ago a close buddy of ours recommended, or rather demanded, that we check out a then unknown avant-rock band from Brighton called Pope Joan. Filled with a certain level of scepticism we headed down to the Prince Albert fully expecting to be disappointed. To our excited disbelief we were completely blown away. We’d found our new favourite band!

Somehow Pope Joan manage to blend the best bits of most of our favourite bands into intricate and feedback-drenched punk-noise. There’s the danceable punk-funk of Gang of Four, the intelligent guitar hooks of Bloc Party, the excitement and downright fun of Les Savy Fav, and the political edge of Fugazi.

A year down the line and Pope Joan have amassed an arsenal of sure-fire hits that would put any long established band to shame. Recording the entire record in just one hectic weekend in a rusty studio in their hometown, Pope Joan have managed to produce the most exciting 27 minutes of music we’ve heard in a very long time. So it’s with great pleasure that we welcome Pope Joan onto the OIB Records roster and announce the release of their debut mini-album ‘Hot Water, Lines and Rickety Machines’!

The 8 track mini-album comes on CD and download formats (iTunes and the like) and is available from our webstore as of Monday August 25th and in all good stores throughout Europe on Monday September 8th. OIB Records are represented throughout Europe via Southern Records.PRE-ORDER BEGINS Monday August 11th.

The first 150 copies of the album bought from the OIB Records webstore will also come with a super limited edition remix CDR including remixes by Lonely Ghosts / Mewgatz / The Tumbledown Estate / My Device / La Fuzer / and many more! Full details and tracklisting of this CDR coming soon

You can hear tracks from the album right now on the Pope Joan MySpace page at www.myspace.com/popejoan as well as download the track No TV and check out live videos right now on our media page.

UK / Pope Joan – CD
Hot Water, Lines and Rickety Machines - £6.50

EU / Pope Joan – CD
Hot Water, Lines and Rickety Machines - £7.50

RoW / Pope Joan – CD
Hot Water, Lines and Rickety Machines - £8.00

Tracklisting:
• No TV
• 49 Years Time
• A Length of String
• Nothing Is Too Much
• Our Cuisine
• It’s The Same As When You Asked Me The Last Time
• An Alternate Route To The End
• Pocket of Change

You’ll be able to hear the full album streamed on our OIB Records Wimpy Player between 18th-25th August and 1st-8th September.

Pope Joan are a 4-piece avant-pop band based out of Brighton, England. They create intricate blasts of Fugazi and Pixies inspired spiky post-punk utilizing ambient walls of processed guitar noise, furious drum lines and quirky 8-bit synth keyboards, all of which are underpinned by an incredibly demanding pop sensibility.

With this, their debut mini-album ‘Hot Water, Lines and Rickety Machines’, Pope Joan have created a breathless assemblage of 8 tracks recorded over one hectic weekend. This collection of songs reflects the refinement of their sound and combines unforgettable pop-hooks with the lo-fi immediacy of their raw essence. The result is a firm introduction to a band with wide-reaching ambitions and a bucketful of great ideas.

Effortlessly bridging the gap between searing punk-noise and glistening pop melody, and with an acerbic wit of impressively far-reaching proportions, Pope Joan are a force to be reckoned.

Pope Joan – Oh No It’s Cold

Tour Dates:
July 26th:
The Hope, Brighton

July 30th:
Club NME @ Coalition, Brighton

August 2nd:
The Prince Albert, Brighton