Today the news broke that solo artist Bebe Black has signed to Columbia records.
Back in late 2010 the track ’I'll wait’ was passed along to DIY on ExpressFM by our very good friend Joel, From first listen the haunting truth lyrically and the strength in structure showed extreme promise.
From gripping and very intimate performances up in the big smoke adjoined by endless hard work the future now shows bright for the young artist.
We await confirmation of release for future material but here we can bring you the very track we played, ‘I’ll wait’ is a self confirming adorning composition of lust and losing love pieced together beautifully by piano and thundering drum beats.
Saturday night (16th July) saw the launch of the world famous ClubNME at Portsmouth’s world famous Wedgewood Rooms. Previous artists to grace the ClubNME Portsmouth stage include indie-upstarts Doll & The Kicks and Indie-Electro Italian Death In Plains among a favourable handful of the cities very own up and coming.
A firm cemented night around the UK and abroad ClubNME boasts all the best in new music from London’s world famous Koko to Milan’s Tunnel club. Since it’s launch in 2004 the club night has seen the likes of Kaiser Chiefs, The Gossip, Glasvegas, Foals, Klaxons and many more, throw in the best local DJ’s and guests playing the biggest and best music around it sure keeps your feet moving until the early hours.
With a slow building Wedgewood Rooms crowd first band CURXES took to the stage, from the remnants of the equally great HoldFast the spectrum certainly had swung. Macaulay still held his daunting swagger and Roberta her ever haunting voice but there was something more, This sound that they had created was entwined, polished but still not settled leaving every song ever more endearing.
CURXES tick over with a collision of sounds that sway around the ballad-like Last Shadow Puppets met intently by The Joy Formidable, adjoin electronic beats near completion they bring the CURXES twist. Unquestionably the future is bright for the band and I hope ClubNME can bring them back in a headline slot within the year.
Without introduction FriendsElectric began their set, Within the year they had Toured with Blondie, The previous night played London’s ClubNME at KOKO and were mid-journey to Latitude…And this shun though from start to finish. Captivating the audience with Delphic-esq electro hooks and a Friendly Fires energy it was hard not to tap a foot, move a leg or have your whole body educed by the wonderful noise that was being made.
A high sense of excitement surrounds the band with gigs lined up at this years V Festivals, A handful of European dates ending on home soil in Shrewsbury. Unsigned and clearly on fire it wont be long until we see official releases through record labels and more endless tours, One to watch.
DJ’s The Quick And The Dead and Lemon took the ClubNME reigns from 12pm playing a wide rage of songs including Calvin Harris, Herve, Gorillaz, Miles Kane, Maximo Park, Kaiser Chiefs, Lady Gaga and many many more…With the dance floor still packed doors were extended into the early hours.
The next ClubNME is at Southsea Fest, rumors are whirring already with acts to be confirmed in the very near future. Firmly cementing themselves on the Portsmouth club night scene the only way is upwards from here.
The Salvadors, a 5 piece from Adelaide, Austraila. A clear fusion of modern music, a chant for a chorus and a sing-a-long verse. They are lyrically spot on and could quite easily soundtrack a summer’s evening.
Carrying the tropical-pop flame Sonar track ‘Eliza Jane’ gathers all you’re feelings together and then throws them towards the wall, what sticks is only a sweet musical taste that you can liken to The Beach Boys. Other tracks include clear future indie disco favourite ‘Atacama Disco’ the gentle ‘Wilson’ and beach ballad ‘Westfield’.
I hold hope that between Paralowie and Mclaren Vale there is a band basking in sunshine with guitars in hands and drums within reach. Safe to say Australian exports come few and far between but they are clearly in line behind The Vines, Jet and Wolfmother.
Bear Cavalry are a tropical-disco-progpop 4 piece from Gosport and are by far the towns best export since Roger Black.
Unequivocally trying to keep them in one position is nigh on impossible, energetic stage shows ensue a plenty most recently resulting in the band winning the Portsmouth heats of ‘The Road To Blissfields’. All reports from the festival point to positives leading the band onwards and upwards.
The coiled musings can only be described beside likeliness to Vampire Weekend with compositions placed beside the ever successful Friendly Fires with added trumpet, annotation aside they cannot be boxed in one genre jumping between many in a matter of seconds.
Recent EP release ‘Maple Trails’ is available on band camp and features Sonar track ‘Custom Hands’.
This week saw Seasick Steve play his night at London's Roundhouse as part of Itunes Festival 2011.
Over the festival season Steve has popped up with John Paul Jones in the most unusual places most recently being Milton Keynes Bowl to play alongside Dave Grohl on a sold out Sunday evening. After meeting at this years Isle Of Wight Festival Steve and Dave both had conveyed about his very first Nirvana gig and instantly hit common ground leading to the collaboration.
At The Roundhouse he took it one step further, as the video shows and quite possibly proves this could currently be the collaboration of 2011. Whilst on stage he invited Jack White and Alison Mosshart to join him for a song written and recorded in Nashville on a drunken night...'Write me a few of your lines'.
With the festival season edging closer to close collaborations and few and far between...Can this be topped?
The Strokes today released a teaser for their next single 'Taken For A Fool' from album 'Angles'.
Despite recent rumours of the band parting it has once again been scuppered and squashed by lead singer Julian Casablancas and bassist Nikolai Fraiture saying they would like to record a follow up "as soon as possible"
'Taken For A Fool' is a dimensional,futuristic and could easily make you dizzy if watched on repeat.
The Travelling Band are a 5-piece folk-crunk band hailing from Manchester, England. Third album ‘Screaming for something’ was released in late May this year under record label Sideways Saloon.
It’s unfortunate when trying to gather palatable influences when currently the wheel of fortune that is folk music lands on either the musings of Laura Marling or Mumford & Sons but don’t dismiss The Travelling Band firmly on that synopsis, They flow nicely along with soothing vocals that harmonise gently and are partnered by various other instruments. Championed by Sir Paul McCartney they Sight likeliness from Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros and Of monster and men with an individual take on the genre it is something to behold.
Sonar track ‘Sundial’ is taken from there most recent release which is available via Itunes and you can also find them at Eastleigh Festival this coming weekend (9th July).
Arctic Monkeys have confirmed that the next single from number 1 selling album 'Suck It And See' will be 'The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala'.
Judging from the video they have taken the same approach as first teaser release 'Brick By Brick' and self recorded the video in the USA.
At parts they are overlaid by palm trees, notably followed by a 'Hellcat' and there's even a cameo from long time friend and soundman Big Nige building a cup pyramid.
An offering from across the pond that crosses the loving yet hysterical vocals of Matthew Shultz (of Cage The Elephant fame) with tempo thrashing guitar riffs and proceeding drums that we still clutch onto from The White Stripes.
Free Download ‘The Art’ screams of lust falling into disrepair and that feeling of a vacant Friday night, The first track I heard was ‘Basement Stars’ which got me instantly hooked and are both available online.
Arctic Death are a band I will be championing onto big things within the next year or so whilst eagerly anticipating a jump over the pond for a show on our very own shores.
Noel Gallagher today released details of his second solo release.
Set for release on October 17th under his own record label 'Sour Mash Recordings' it is aptly named 'Noel Gallagher's high flying birds' and will be followed by a second LP in 2012 with Amorphous Androgynous.
Gallagher is also due to tour in the autumn but no dates are yet confirmed.
Full tracklisting is as follows :
'Everybody's On The Run'
'Dream On'
'If I Had A Gun'
'The Death Of You And Me'
'(I Wanna Live In A Dream In My) Record Machine'
'AKA...What A Life!'
'Soldier Boys And Jesus Freaks'
'AKA....Broken Arrow'
'(Stranded On) The Wrong Beach'
'Stop The Clocks'
Rumours currently are saying that 'The Death Of You And Me' will be the first single release but this is yet to also be confirmed.
Late night radio sessions implore my life on occasions and in a sleepy nonchalant daze you can stumble across some of the most beautiful sounds BRAIDS being one of those.
The recent rise of shoe gaze art rock bands over the last 2-3 years has been extravagant and only few survive or we await second comings. The likes of Passion Pit and Dirty Projectors are the ones that shine and a clear product of their success lies within the sounds BRAIDS make.
Haunting voices partner a cavalcade of sensual sounds that could throw thousands of colours across rooms with a certain sense of excitement that follows.
Willy Wonka took us all on wonderful adventures when we were younger and as those who have grown up around The Subways will know its been quite a journey for them also. Still smouldering in the ashes from the success of ‘Young for eternity’ and ‘All or nothing’ another indie-rock phoenix is about to rise with new album ‘Money & Celebrity’ an offering from the band alongside pledge music set for release in September.
A sold out show at the end of a near enough sold out jaunt around the country, they start there set with crowd pleaser ‘Oh Yeah’ and onto title track from the first album ‘Young for eternity’. The crowd scream back every word as they rock back and forth into a sweaty non-existent oblivion leaving just enough time between next track ‘obsession’ to catch a breath.
After a brief introduction and thank you they thrash into ‘Alright’ followed by ‘Mary’ which Billy notably dedicated to his mum. We were then given our first offering of new material from the band with ‘We don’t need money to have a good time’ a track explained to be written after a failure during a night on the tiles with friends lightly doused with a sing-a-long chorus.
Mixing up the albums once more they move triumphantly into ‘Shake Shake’ followed swiftly by dual vocal ‘I want to hear what you’ve got to say’ ending in single release and all round anthem ‘Rock and Roll queen’. The crowd throughout the gig have been bated and gagging for more when they are treated to another offering from the new album ‘Celebrity’ encompasses everything that both albums prior boasted and is well received.
Single release ‘Girls & Boys’ sees The Wedgewood Rooms transformed into a substantial circle pit of sweat and angst willfully incited by Billy before setting into tracks ‘Turnaround’ and ending on sing-a-long ‘With You’. Before a brief interval and chorus of ‘Subways’ from the crowd they return with first single ‘At 1am’ and it is clear to see the band themselves appreciate there clear cult following. Raucous ‘I won’t let you down’ slowly bleeds the last bit of juice from the crowd leaving them whirring for just one more song, Next single ‘it’s a party’ ensues and confirms the welcome return after lengthy absence of The Subways always rowdy, boisterous but never reluctant of a show.
