In the spirit of Halloween, we are frightfully delighted to bring you the seasonally spooky fun of Big Stir Digital Single No. 100, the debut release from Highland Park, CA's OCTOBER SURPRISE, out Friday, October 16 and up for pre-order at www.bigstirrecords.com/big-stir-digital-singles right now! It's a boisterous art-pop reimagining of JOHN CALE's orchestral classic “Paris 1919” with its chirpily eerie chorus “You're a ghost, la la la la la la la la la”, backed with the band's original tune “(Just Can't See) The Attraction” to provide a glimpse of what to expect on October Surprise's debut album, due next spring. And aptly enough, there are some surprise guests from the Big Stir universe helping the duo out... read on!

OCTOBER SURPRISE is an interstate partnership between siblings KENNETH “KIX” CRÈCHE (based in California) and EMILY CRÈCHE in Evanston, IL. Having performed as an acoustic Americana duo in the Chicago area under the name KIX & EMMYLOU, the partnership nearly folded when Ken moved to the LA area to work in film scoring. As the pandemic shut down film production earlier this year, the pair renewed their collaboration remotely and shifted their focus to recordings, angling for the sound of their influences from the '70s art-rock of Cale, Bowie and Roxy Music to the sparkling '80s college rock of the likes of Prefab Sprout, Echo & The Bunnymen and Aztec Camera. “It was a blessing in disguise”, says primary songwriter Emily. “Kix was set to go with the film-geared recording and I'd written a lot of material that fit that idiom, so we committed to making a whole pitcher of lemonade out of 2020's lemons.”

That's where fate intervenes. While working on this fresh material in his Highland Park apartment, Kix found himself interrupted by overly-loud guitar practice from a neighbor's apartment and left a stern note on the offender's door. The culprit turned out to be BSR's own Rex Broome, and after the pair hashed out their differences, they bonded over similar musical tastes (Cale in particular) and Broome found himself impressed by the work in progress. He suggested adding a live organic element to tunes, and it's thus that the October Surprise version of “Paris 1919” came to feature guest contributions from drummer JOHN BORACK (Popdudes, The Test Pressings), singers KARLA KANE and KHOI HUYNH (Agony Aunts, The Corner Laughers) and Emily's homestate neighbor DOLPH CHANEY on the e-bow. An ace mix from NICK FRATER on the Cale cover, and an equally terrific mix from MICHAEL SIMMONS on the flip side, cement the Big Stir connection here.

Of the duo's own “(Just Can't See) The Attraction”, Emily says, “It's a portrait of that thing that happens when two of your best friends hook up, and as much as you love them individually, you can't help but think it's a terrible match and dread the outcome... we've all been there. But it's also a sort of self-effacing knock at people who try to manage the lives of their friends, too... the narrator is out of line and doesn't seem to know it.” While Emily sings lead on the A-side, Kix steps out front here, with a vocal reminiscent of the late Grant McLennan of The Go-Betweens (“We both still miss him so much,” says Emily) and the track itself evokes that band in its string-laden heyday. And there's a tinge of American Music Club, from whose “Sick Of Food” Crèche openly admits to borrowing the signature chord voicing (“it just sounded so open and lovely on piano and we built around that.”)

The debut album from OCTOBER SURPRISE is completed but as yet untitled – “Kix wants to call it Frampton Comes Alive but I'm trying to talk him down from that”, says Emily – and slated for an April release on Big Stir Records. Advance copies are already drawing praise from the likes of Don Valentine (I DON'T HEAR A SINGLE) who says: “October Surprise are a revelation. Having been fortunate enough to hear the upcoming album, I can tell you that this is the future of Art Rock. This expands Big Stir's genre hopping even further. You are in for an absolute treat.” So while we wait for Spring and the hopefully better times of 2020, it's time to get Autumnal with “Paris 1919” and “(Just Can't See) The Attraction”... trick or treat, friends!

NICK FRATER's new album FAST & LOOSE has been widely hailed as a stack of perfect pop singles waiting to happen, so... how to choose the much-needed second one? LA-based Big Stir Records (and listeners worldwide have gravitated towards “California Waits”, and the wait is over: the single and its exclusive non-album B-side “The Afterparty” are out Thursday, October 15 and up for preorder at www.bigstirrecords.com/big-stir-digital-singles right now!

Bursting out of the gate with a guitar and keyboard riff that locates us firmly in the classic sunny '70s radio rock idiom at which Frater excels, “California Waits” has everything a pop fan could hope for: a short and sharply-observed character study with an instant singalong chorus – “Daddy didn't teach you to drive” is worthy of Cheap Trick at full hook-propelled power – and a bridge that drops the title right on the listener and keeps barreling forward. If you need a quirky twist or two, some surprisingly lovely accordion passages and the most melodic deployment of the word “palindrome” in rock history should broaden the smile that's already on your face. That's Tom Shotton nailing the vibe on the drums... everything else is Nick!

The never-before-heard B-side “The Afterparty” is an aching ballad that sounds exactly like what the title implies, a humo(u)rously sombre postscript to the boisterousness of the A-side. “The afterparty's over, streetlights take me home”, Frater sings over a bed of keyboards and guitars that seem to guide the way to some perhaps-much-needed contemplative isolation. “Everyone just needs a little time to slow back down” indeed. It's beautiful, and we're delighted to release it as the perfect epilogue to a record called FAST & LOOSE, the sessions for which yielded the recording.

FAST & LOOSE was loosed upon the world last month and is available on CD and download now at www.bigstirrecords.com/store and everywhere music is sold or streamed. As for the ever-restless Mr. Frater himself... he's already hard at work on a new record and a host of other fascinating projects that are sure to be of interest. Watch this space as California, and the global pop scene, waits for details!

With an album release announcement just around the corner, Cumbria, England's MYLITTLEBROTHER are ready to let it all out with the second (and title) single from their forthcoming record HOWL. “Howl”, the song and the single, is out this Friday October 9 and up for pre-order at www.bigstirrecords.com/big-stir-digital-singles right now. It's backed with a classic and personal favorite of ours, “Song About Amsterdam” from the band's previous record, which should be all the incentive you need to dig in to the mlb back catalog while you wait for Howl.

Will Harris, the charismatic frontman of the harmony-laden indie-rock band, says of the single: “It’s a singalong, but quite a sad one, to be honest. It’s a song about doing your best to get out of a toxic situation, but being dragged in time and time again. Yet there is an undercurrent of hope through the song, you know it’ll be alright in the end!” That's a theme that runs through the new album, conceived before (but often eerily prescient of) the 2020 pandemic, and previously teased by the first single “Janey”, released on Big Stir Records earlier this summer.

Will (piano and lead vocal) is joined in mylittlebrother by Dan Mason on guitar/vocals, Robin Howson on bass/vocals and Simon Buttress on drums/vocals. Their three EPs and the full-length If We Never Come Down (featuring our B-side, the irresistible bittersweet singalong “Song About Amsterdam”) have received rave reviews, and gained airplay from Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 1, Gideon Coe and Tom Robinson on BBC 6 Music, BBC Introducing In Cumbria, Radio Caroline and have featured on BBC television, ITV, Channel 4 and in several short films. Their newest recordings reflect their new fuller sound, and project the energy of their joyous live shows – one of which, in Liverpool a few years back, was how they caught Big Stir Records' ears for good.

Pre-pandemic, the band had been honing that live sound, with gigs including British Sea Power's Krankenhaus festival, a headline slot at Kendal Calling, and gigs across the country supporting the likes of Glasvegas and Juniore. The stage-tested Cumbrian four piece master the art of creating harmonious, insanely catchy songs. Swathed in vocal melody, they use driving electric guitars and piano to deliver upbeat indie-rock that often hides a cynical, sometimes melancholic, darker undertone. "There’s something happening in the Lake District that is really very special", says the always-trustworthy Louder Than War, referring to the band's home region in the north of England. You'll hear it here, and you'll here it on HOWL, the album, before the month is out!