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Kate’s hat auction helps out a worthy cause!

Kate Hat

Kate has recently donated a faux fur hat that she wore in publicity photos from the ’50 Words For Snow’ album campaign to a celebrity auction held on Ebay. After 58 bids, the hat eventually raised £861 for St. Mungo’s, an organisation that provides emergency shelter for homeless people in London and the South of England. Other famous people who donated hats to the auction included Annie Lennox, Roger Federer, Kevin Spacey, Ricky Gervais, Hugh Jackman, Daniel Craig, Renée Zellweger, Sir Ben Kingsley and Susan Boyle.

If you would like to help out St. Mungo’s this Christmas, please visit their website here or buy one of their special hand-knitted woolly hats here

St. Mungos Woolly Hat Day

From the auction catalogue: This hat donated by Kate Bush has been crafted from black felted fabric. The details include a soft, domed crown with a two tone grey faux fur trim. This perfect for winter hat has been signed by Kate on the inner silver satin lining. This is the same hat worn on promotional artwork for her critically acclaimed latest album, “50 Words for Snow”.

Kate sends her thanks …

Kate has now posted this message of thanks on KateBush.com:

I am so thrilled and honoured that ’50 Words For Snow’ won the South Bank Sky Arts award yesterday. It was a really wonderful event with the most extraordinary collection of artists. I was absolutely delighted to be a part of it and simply stunned by the incredible welcome. Many, many thanks to Melvyn Bragg for such a special day. I wonder if he knows what a total treasure he is?

I have been sent a great long list of comments from you all and I am just completely overwhelmed. Thank you so much for all your kind words and love. You made me cry!  I feel so touched and grateful to have you there and I am over the moon!
                   With love,
                        A very happy Kate xxxxxxxxx

Kate wins South Bank Sky Arts Award!

South Bank Show awards

Kate has won the prestigious pop award at this year’s South Bank Sky Arts Awards ceremony in London today. Sir Tom Jones presented Kate with her award.

Update: Kate has posted this on her official site:

UPDATE : A message from Kate …

I am so thrilled and honoured that ’50 Words For Snow’ won the South Bank Sky Arts award yesterday. It was a really wonderful event with the most extraordinary collection of artists. I was absolutely delighted to be a part of it and simply stunned by the incredible welcome. Many, many thanks to Melvyn Bragg for such a special day. I wonder if he knows what a total treasure he is?

I have been sent a great long list of comments from you all and I am just completely overwhelmed. Thank you so much for all your kind words and love. You made me cry!  I feel so touched and grateful to have you there and I am over the moon!
With love,
A very happy Kate xxxxxxxxx

 

From the Irish Independent:

“Reclusive singer Kate Bush pipped Adele to a prestigious prize after her latest album was recognised at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards. 50 Words For Snow won the Pop Award at the central London ceremony, beating Adele’s Grammy-winning bestseller 21 and PJ Harvey’s Let England Shake which was also nominated. It is Kate’s first set of completely new songs since 2005 when she released Aerial. The awards at the Dorchester Hotel, on Park Lane, also saw wins for BBC1’s Sherlock, Channel 4’s Fresh Meat and the musical Matilda. The awards were hosted by Melvyn Bragg who said the judges had faced an “impossible decision this year”. He said: “With such a strong and vibrant array of winners, from Kate Bush to Matilda, to the ENO, this is a wonderful opportunity to praise the incredible wealth of artistic brilliance we have in this country.”

Kate gets South Bank Award

Fantastic achievement for Kate! Huge congratulations, we are over-the-moon!! The awards show is televised tonight on Sky Arts HD at 9pm.

Speaking backstage at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards where he presented a gong to Kate Bush, Sir Tom Jones revealed he would like to team up with Kate. He said: “If Kate could come up with a song I would gladly do it with her.”

More coverage: Music WeekDaily Telegraph | BBC News | Independent | Evening Standard | Daily Mail | Daily Mail 2 | Sky News | Daily Express | The Sun | Huffington Post

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjPvh4V-MgI[/youtube]

Daily Mail 2nd May 2012

Zelo Street Blog takes the Mail to task.

Kate Bush’s snow shows footprints worth following

Article by Graeme Thompson in Friday’s Guardian:

The veteran risk-taker’s Ivor Novello-listed album maps out a future for female musicians, according to one of her famous fans …

The nomination this week of Kate Bush‘s latest album, 50 Words for Snow, for an Ivor Novello award is an acknowledgement of the profound influence she continues to exert …

Anna Calvi, whose eponymous debut album was nominated for the Mercury music prize and a 2012 Brit award, believes that Bush, with her 2005 album Aerial and 50 Words For Snow … is mapping out a new future for female musicians. “I like the fact that she’s embracing her age, her family and her life, and that it doesn’t mean that you still can’t be a really amazing artist,” she says. “That’s what I’d like to imagine myself being like in 20 years’ time. I love how unafraid she is of taking risks. She does some crazy things on her records, especially with her voice. It sounds like there is a complete surrender to her art, and I find that really inspiring.”

Amanda Palmer, of acclaimed punk cabaret duo the Dresden Dolls, believes one of the reasons that Bush remains so important is that “she’s a creator, not a reactor”. Palmer says: “You can tell that she explores and translates the muses inside, as opposed to pleasing the worlds outside. Artists like this – the ones who don’t muddy the connection – should be revered like gods.

Ivor Novello: let’s hear it for the girls

Neil McCormick in the Daily Telegraph:

In the Ivor Novello award nominations announced yesterday, the Best Album category was a women’s only event. It is the first time this has happened in the award’s 68 year history. As I have suggested before, women are taking over popular music. And what women they are. You cannot argue with these nominations: three pop generations of bold and brilliant singer-songwriters, each carving their own unique path through what has been a male dominated industry.

The extraordinary sonic adventuress Kate Bush is 53, and has been making unique, almost wilfully eccentric yet open and accessible music since 1978. Over decades in which the vast majority of female pop role models were expected to be little more than eye and ear candy, she was a beacon for high-minded female pop, forging a body of work that, in it’s interior psychology and ornate beauty, was somehow inherently feminine.

She spent most of two decades in maternal semi-retirement, but with last year’s 50 Words For Snow she demonstrated that she has lost none of her uniqueness of vision or magical touch. Popular music can be a cruel forum for aging but, like the greatest of artists, Bush has held her position with originality and maturity, and deserves to be lauded again …

Kate nominated for Ivor Novello Award

NME: “Adele, Kate Bush and PJ Harvey have landed nominations for best album at next month’s Ivor Novello awards, the first time that all the nods in the Best Album category are for women …

Album Award
’21’ by Adele
’50 Words For Snow’ by Kate Bush
‘Let England Shake’ by PJ Harvey.

The Ivor Novello Awards celebrate, honour and reward excellence in songwriting and composing.  They are presented and judged by the writing community.

Kate, Adele, and PJ Harvey up for 2012 South Bank Sky Arts Award

Daily Telegraph 2nd April: 

Three female singers will go head-to-head in the pop music category for the sixteenth South Bank Sky Arts Awards.

The 2012 list is female-only, with PJ Harvey’s Let England Shake and Kate Bush’s 50 Words For Snow going up against Adele’s best-selling 21 …”

Kate to release Lake Tahoe / Among Angels 10″ picture disc for Record Store Day!

Record Store Day

Lake Tahoe / Among Angels 10" single

As part of Record Store Day on Saturday 21st April, Kate will release a limited edition 10″ vinyl picture disc. The disc will feature two songs from Kate’s current album, 50 Words For Snow: Lake Tahoe and Among Angels. The disc artwork features imagery from her 2012 film Eider Falls at Lake Tahoe and also an ice sculpture by Robert Allsopp & Associates. According to Kate’s official site, this will be a limited edition of 2000 copies.

The single, which follows last year’s Record Store Day 10″ Hounds of Love EP, will only be available in participating record stores from the morning of Saturday 21st. These limited releases are intended to encourage people to support and rediscover the joy of their local independent record store. Read more about Record Store Day (and participating record stores) here.

New interview with Kate on KEXP radio today!

UPDATE: Listen to the whole interview here: http://blog.kexp.org/2012/02/24/exclusive-kexp-interview-kate-bush/

 

DJ El Toro has interviewed Kate about 50 Words For Snow on the brilliant US radio station KEXP (can you tell it’s one of my favourites?) The interview will be aired today, Friday February 24th on The Afternoon Show on http://www.kexp.org/ 2pm to 6pm PT USA time / 10pm to 2am UK Time and also on February 29th on DJ El Toro’s show on http://www.kexp.org/ 9pm to 9.30pm PT USA time / 5am to 5.30am UK Time (early on 1st March) It will be also be available online at the KEXP Blog. Read more at their Facebook page here. (with thanks to Louise)

50 Words For Snow vinyl album is a UK bestseller in 2011!

The resurgence in popularity of vinyl albums continues to grow which should make Kate very happy. A BBC article has revealed that 50 Words For Snow was one of the best-selling vinyl titles in the UK in 2011. Are you loving your brand new Kate Bush vinyl albums? Send us a picture of you and your copy of Director’s Cut and/or 50 Words for Snow and we’ll feature it in a gallery here on the site! Send pics to sean@katebushnews.com (with thanks to Malcolm Calder for article link)

Kate vinyl

Top 10 UK vinyl album sales of 2011:

1. The King Of Limbs – Radiohead

2. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds

3. 21 – Adele

4. Let England Shake – PJ Harvey

5. Suck It And See – Arctic Monkeys

6. Bon Iver – Bon Iver

7. Different Gear Still Speeding – Beady Eye

8. 50 Words For Snow – Kate Bush

9. Submarine (Original Soundtrack) – Alex Turner

10. The Dark Side Of The Moon – Pink Floyd

‘Eider Falls at Lake Tahoe’ film is warmly received online

Eider Falls at Lake Tahoe

Blogosphere buzz on Kate’s beautiful new film has been very positive: Huffington Post “The simple tale matches the animation technique, which, in an era of stop-motion this and 3D that, is almost more impressive to watch and be completely taken with. Thank you, Kate Bush, for this short moment of reflection.” Perez Hilton: “What a beautiful music video. The exquisitely devine Kate Bush has released a new music video for her latest track…so, so lovely. The song matched with the animated video is really something you don’t want to miss.” BBC America: “Kate Bush – the last shadow puppeteer?” Chart Attack: “…still a master of her art — both sonically and visually” Stereogum: “I somehow had goosebumps for almost the entire running time, and I got a tiny bit choked up when the lady and the dog came face to face….Kate Bush has put together yet another bewitching piece of work.” Prefix: “visually engrossing” Electronic Beats: “What’s the perfect medium for Kate Bush’s thoughtful, melancholic music? How about some old-school shadow puppetry? ‘Eider Falls At Lake Tahoe’ is the simple story of a lost dog, his owner, and the house they share that is eventually washed away on a mysterious ocean. Perfectly performed, it captures the bleak beauty of the track, shortened here from its 11-minute length since we last heard it on Bush’s 2011 cold masterpiece 50 Words For Snow.” Fistfullofculture: “a simple but surprisingly moving video” Listenbeforeyoubuy: “one of the most beautiful videos we’ve seen in a long long time”

Kate’s new film, “Eider Falls at Lake Tahoe” now on Youtube!

Kate has this evening premiered the third visual piece from the 50 Words For Snow album. It is called “Eider Falls at Lake Tahoe” and is of course based on the third track on Kate’s new album. The film runs for just over 5 minutes. Kate writes a note about the track on her official site:

From Kate… Here is our third visual piece: “Eider Falls at Lake Tahoe”.  It is all done in camera with shadow puppets, one of my favourite art forms because of its simplicity and something I have really wanted to do for a long time now.

Very special thanks to Robert Allsopp for creating the most beautiful puppets and to Rob and the puppeteers for their hard work. A big thank you to Roger Pratt, to Bertie for his determination and help and to everyone who has been involved in this project.

I hope you enjoy it.
Kate

There is also a write up about the new film on the NPR website here. “Her use of shadow puppetry matches song’s dreamlike quality. The stark contrast between the black figures and the white world makes each set piece seem mystical. The dog runs through phantasmagorical lands filled with spooky woods, looking for his owner. It’s beautiful in its simplicity — emphasizing small subtle movements over big extravagance. The elegant design of the puppets mixes fantasy elements like the moving trees with realistic pieces such as the soft sway of the woman’s hair.”

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKPHA3_cBus&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Kate nominated for 2012 Brit Award – Best British Female Artist!

The Brit Awards nominations are being announced at this moment at an event in London and Kate has been nominated for best British Solo Artist. More as we get it! Congratulations Kate, great start to 2012!! Update: Other nominees in this category are Adele, Jessie J, Florence and the Machine and Laura Marling. Kate’s nominee page at the Brits website is here. Full list of nominees here.

Telegraph | Daily Mail | Mirror | Artrocker | TNT | Guardian

The Guardian front page 13th Jan 2012

Kate featured in Classic Rock special issue – out next week!

classic-rock-prog-dec-28th-2011

Whatever your thoughts about applying a “prog rock” label on to Kate’s music, there’s no denying that this looks like a nice special issue from the makers of Classic Rock magazine.  It features a new interview with Kate and reader’s top 25 tracks among other Kate-related content. The quote from David Gilmour on the cover reads: “Those who have followed in her shadow are but pale imitations…” This edition hits shop shelves in the UK, Ireland and possibly other places from next Wednesday 28th December. Read more at the magazine’s Facebook page here. Thanks to Louise and to Graham Rhodes who published these cover shots on his blog here.

 

Classic Rock Prog magazine

classic-rock-prog-dec-28th-2011-b-large

Stuart Maconie reviews 50 Words For Snow

An old one this, but nice all the same. Stuart Maconie reviews Kate on The Review Show on BBC 2, this clip from November 18th. (thanks Louise)

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2la6Qfge9po[/youtube]

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