Sea Records proudly present Scheiß Mit Reis, the brand new album from Les Cox Sportifs, which means "excreta with rice" for those without any German, and is two steps further in the direction the band have always wanted to move; towards self-indulgent art which incidentally, is the only righteous music away from career rock.

Simon (the group's manager) tried to break them apart because he was jealous of the relationship that the band have on tour, which is TIGHT. He noticed that when the band weren't on tour, that they were susceptible to division and Simon did his best to be divisive. But singer Christopher Rollen's move to London and drummer Christo Wallers' move out to the country proved to be the saving grace of this album, because the threesome decided to put some special "guy time" aside to record in both the rural heart of conservative Northumberland as well as deep in the city walls of Newcastle at medieval poetry venue Morden Tower.

Nobody noticed them creep in to an 17th century building one Friday night, where wedding receptions usually take place and no-one saw them creep back out again on the following Sunday with a laptop full of real shit, recorded in the moment using the 21st century's version of the 4-track.

A warm feeling of openness to multiple styles, languages and sounds locates this album very much in the European Union. It is its own E.U, with songs dedicated to the Netherlands and our friends over there in Germany, not to mention Scotland and the North East of England.

And the lyrics are as special as ever - the Gretna Green vernacular of Christopher Rollen, blended with a very modern Scottish appreciation of high brow culture finds its finest articulation in 'Mixing up the Cordite' and 'John E Millais', while 'Scheiß Mit Reis' also sees vocal contributions from all three members including multi instrumentalist Micheal Patterson, whose colourful instrumentation and wild studio effects are present through-out.

Rhythm however is the key of 'Scheiß Mit Reis. Gameboy blips and beats sit alongside primitive and off kilter live rhythms while keyboards and synthesizers bubble and fizz deep from underneath the surface.

It's the attention to detail and studio feel of this album that really helps it veer away from the rather dirgy and restrictive quality that is sadly consistent with the Brit mentality. By the way, that is a generalisation, because when there is something embarrassing about your country, there are always some artists who are able to use that as the best weapon in their arsenal and we at Sea Records would like to think that this exercise in freedom of creativity has some of that flavour. Dig it!'

PRAISE BE FOR SMR!

'A slippery group of outsiders in the grandest tradition, Les Cox offer surrealism-infected bedroom pop played as a band pulling in every direction at once. Christopher Rollen's lyricism peaks through the primordial pop slurp and hits like a ray of sunshine through a rainbow of melting fruit pastilles, and when the remainder of the group join Rollen on vocals, it's like a food fight with marshmellows and gravel. The blogosphere loves them as indie art dirt-poets and likens them to The Fall, Modern Lovers and Country Teasers but that does a disservice to the wacked out dynamic that reminds us of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and others of the knowing psychedelia movement.'

- ROUGH TRADE