Its been a busy few weeks here at Thisisnotanexit HQ - with the first album for the label coming out in April it means there just aren't enough hours in the day.

Firstly, we have some definitive dates for your diary....

Friday February 8th:

There will be a party at Notting Hill Arts Club with Simon A. Carr from the label DJing plus one of They Came From The Stars I Saw Thems last gigs before the release of their killer new LP and their UK and European tour in May. Other stuff on the night include City Reverb LIVE, Toys Like Me LIVE and a DJ set from HERVE. Should be a blinder.

Saturday March 15th:

Detachments will be making their live debut at The Amercham Arms as part of the always spectacular fun Allez Allez night. Its in New Cross and its open late. And Detachments have a few special surprises in store for their first live performance so make sure you come along!

Friday March 21st

Simon A. Carr will be DJing at The Macbeth in Hoxton as part of the Delete Yourself night alongside Rubies LIVE, Heartbreak LIVE, Milo from Binary Chaffinch / Chrome Hoof DJing and Matt Waites aka Nightmoves DJing. Opens at 9pm and its £4 to get in. Plus you have Saturday Sunday and Monday to recover as its Easter weekend!

Monday March 24
After killer 12s on Italians Do It Better and Disques Sinthomme Professor Genius will be unleashing his debut 12" for Thisisnotanexit. Entitled á jean giraud parts 1 - 7 the first 12" released will feature parts 1-3 plus a drumtastic remix of number 1 from Brennan Green.

Monday April 14th
They Came From The Stars I Saw Them return with the first single from their new album entitled The HOT Inc. We have high hopes for this and current journalist support is really hot for this! It'll be on groovy 7" plus other formats featuring remixes from Geek Chic Soundsystem, Eugene Machine and some producers who are doing a new secret project from deep in Crackney and going by the name of MoscoW. They won't tell me their names but the remix they've supplied is deep twisted dubby acid house. Seriously good this one.

Monday April 28th
They Came From The Stars I Saw Them release their new album called *deep breath* We Are All In The Gutter But Some Of Us Are Looking At They Came From The Stars I Saw Them. Its their most focused work yet - and feedback already has been hugely positive. Mungolian Jetset the super remixer from Norway exclaimed it to be "The album of 2008" and "Like hearing The Clash for the first time" so you know its going to be a bit special. Maybe an outside bet for the Mercury prize......

In other news the records you should have picked up are:

1. Partial Arts - Telescope (Kompakt)

Huge groovy kosmic krautrocking from Ewan Pearson & Al Usher. This has been on repeat for the past few weeks - skip the Radioslave remix and just play the original repeatedly!

2. Gatto Fritto - Hungry Ghosts (Dissident)

More cosmic grooviness from Dissident - and this is up there with the best releases so far on Dissident. A nice companion piece to Telescope as its deep and submerged in a similar krautrock vibe.

3. Findo Gask - Va Va Va (OSCARR)

This came out at the end of December but you should still hunt it out - the return of OSCARR (run by the Optimo boys) sees the debut release by Findo Gask - like the Beach Boys jamming with Hot Chip in a disco. Search out!

4. Omar S - Psychotic Photosynthesis (WL)

Deep detroit minimalism that grooves like a motherf8cker - and with the deepest pads of January. Beautiful.

5. Shocking Pinks - Dressed to Please (Echospace Version) (DFA)

A few years ago it was all punk frunk from DFA - these day a much broader set of releases from them - this is a quite stunning remix from Echospace that is perfect for those cold crisp winter days. Quite achingly melancholy too.

Also, don't sleep on the new Peter Visti 12 on eskimo, the Hercules & Love Affair of Only Fools & Horses (not a remix of Del Boy and Rodney unfortunately!) and the new Skylax with a killer LSB edit / remix.

Finally, head over to myspace.com/simonacarr to hear a couple of re-edits he's done - an epic piano house edit of TNT and an extended hands in the air remake of Fleetwood Macs The Chain - and there'll be new edits of Kathy Diamonds Over (extended into a 12 minute psychadelic stomper) and Abba up shortly. Stay tuned.