Portico Quartet have teamed up with Soundcloud to celebrate the upcoming release of their new album ‘Portico Quartet’ out 30th January 2012 by inviting the world to remix their phenomenal album track ‘Steepless’ which features singer-songwriter Cornelia.

Portico Quartet still sound like nothing you ever heard before. The Mercury nominated East London based outfit’s unique music has expanded to embrace new sonic territories. Drawing on the inspiration of electronica, ambient, classical and dance music as they take their strange, beautiful, cinematic, future music to exciting new vistas where the inspiration of Burial, Mount Kimbie and Flying Lotus rubs shoulders with the textures of Arve Henriksen and Bon Iver and echoes of Steve Reich and Max Richter. But all underpinned by a shared joy in collective music making as the band push their inimitable music into the future.

Fresh from recording their self-titled third album for Real World records, and their first with new member Keir Vine, Portico Quartet are embarking on a short UK tour to share their latest sounds with a UK audience.

Watch ‘Ruins’ from their forthcoming album and download it for free via the link below.

Inspired after recording their second album, Isla, with legendary producer John Leckie at Abbey Road, the band decided that while they still loved Knee-Deep they would welcome the opportunity to revisit the albums mixes again. The album was duly withdrawn from circulation earlier this year and the band invited John Leckie to remix it for a re-issue on the Real World label, also home to Isla.

After a breakneck year that has seen Portico Quartet build on their critical acclaim of their second album Isla with an almost non-stop world tour taking in venues from New York to Paris, Istanbul to Stockholm and Prague to Berlin, the band announce two very special shows back home in London on 3rd & 4th December.

Portico Quartet’s last London show found them headlining a near sell-out Barbican show, but for these special intimate shows the band have opted to return to the ICA, one of their very favourite London venues. And for what promises to be two very wonderful nights Portico Quartet have invited two of their favourite artists to open the shows, atmospheric trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf and electronica artist Leafcutter John.

After the huge success of their critically acclaimed second album, Isla (released last year on Peter Gabriel’s Real World records), Portico Quartet hit the ground running in 2010 with their most ambitious UK tour to date, including their biggest show yet at the Barbican on March 8th.

ONETASTE FESTIVAL 2009 SUNDAY 8TH NOVEMBER AT THE BEDFORD, BALHAM, LONDON.
New musicians, poets, alternative thinkers & practitioners, filmmakers, actors, DJs & dancers converge for the 1st time in a unique festival for London.
“…a series of MCs, poets, witty musicians, and beat boxers each took turns on stage, none of them outstayed their welcome and all of them were red hot. OneTaste deliver a night out that’s both theatrical and b-boy sharp. I wandered into the Glastonbury night with that rare, gleeful feeling I’d made a great discovery. OneTaste will go far….” Thomas H Green – The Telegraph

Portico Quartet embark on their UK tour in support of their second album ‘Isla’ this week. Full details are below.

UK Tour (*with Sweet Billy Pilgrim)

Saturday 24 October BRISTOL Old Vic *
0117 987 7877 bristololdvic.org.uk

Thursday 29 October BASINGSTOKE The Anvil *
01256 844244 anvilarts.org.uk

Monday 2 November LONDON Koko KOKO.uk.com *
08700 600 100 ticketweb.co.uk or seetickets.com 0870 264 3333

Tuesday 3 November MANCHESTER RNCM *
0161 907 5555 rncm.ac.uk

Wednesday 4 November EDINBURGH Electric Circus *
0131 226 4224 theelectriccircus.biz

Thursday 5 November GLASGOW The Arches *
0 141 565 1000 thearches.co.uk

Friday 6 November MIDDLESBROUGH Town Hall Crypt *
01642 242561 middlesbrough.gov.uk

Saturday 7 November BIRMINGHAM CBSO Centre *
0121 767 4050 thsh.co.uk

Sunday 8 November BRIGHTON & HOVE The Old Market *
01273 736222 theoldmarket.co.uk

Monday 16 November NORWICH Arts Centre
01603 660352 norwichartscentre.co.uk

Saturday 21 November COLCHESTER Lakeside Theatre
01206 873261 visitcolchester.com

Sunday 22 November CAMBRIDGE The Junction
01223 511511 junction.co.uk

Monday 23 November LIVERPOOL The Kazimier
Thekazimier.co.uk or in person at MelloMello Café

Tuesday 24 November NOTTINGHAM The Rescue Rooms
Dealmakerrecords.com

www.clashmusic.com features Clipper as track of the day today (20th October) – www.clashmusic.com/feature/track-of-the-day-2010-portico-quartet

In just a few years Portico Quartet’s hypnotic music has taken them from busking on London’s South Bank, to a Mercury Prize nomination, to performing at the Royal Opera House (with support from Wiley and Chipmunk) and recording at Abbey Road with producer John Leckie. Famed as a nurturer of young bands (Stone Roses, Radio Head etc), Leckie has brought a powerful clarity to the band’s music and Isla is a darker, more mature, expansive statement than their debut, Knee-Deep In The North Sea. However, it is still very much a Portico Quartet album.