LIVE: Alabama Shakes @ The Boston Arms, London

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24th February 2012

Twitter has gone mad, every music journalist and radio presenter worth his salt is raving about them, and they’ve landed in the UK for a three night residency at The Boston Arms in Tufnell Park.

A band that provokes such a storm of hype before releasing a full album is, more often than not, a sign that they’re going to be shit. But instead of the expected anti-climax, Alabama Shakes blow all expectations out of the water and take their shot at becoming one of the world’s hottest new bands.

Deep Southern soul, fused with punk rock boldness; the band hurl themselves into an effortless set of fifteen tracks. Lead singer Brittany Howard’s voice is rasping and passionate with hints of Janis Joplin. Casually oozing soul on the slower tracks and rampantly radiating whiskey drenched rock n roll when the tempo picks up. Bookish with thick rimmed glasses and a flowery dress, Brittany doesn’t look like your typical front woman, but when she opens her mouth, the passion erupts and a primal howling escapes with lyrics coming straight from her heart. She has a set of lungs and a heavy heart belonging to someone older than her 22 years.

The continuing excitement that’s building around Alabama Shakes is being built on solid foundations; their tracks are filled with bluesy riffs and are powerful, fiery, vibrant, fun and ultimately, really good rock n roll.

The ‘next big thing’ doesn’t always live up to expectations, but this time it does. Alabama Shakes are on the cusp of mahoosiveness!

Listen here:

How to promote your debut album…by Dry the River

Check out Dry the River’s amazing new promotional campaign! A highly innovative and interactive idea to promote their debut album across east London and virally across the internet.

The band have created a unique series of string art posters to allow fans to hear ‘Shallow Bed’ in full for the first time.

The twelve posters located around east London each have tin cans attached with string and allow fans to the hear tracks. Genius!

‘Shallow Bed’ will be released on 5th March 2012.

Australia’s Triple J Hottest 100

Australia’s Triple J Hottest 100 is always a fantastic listen. Taking place on Australia Day each year it provides the soundtrack to hundreds of sun soaked parties across the country.

It’s a great insight into the way Australia receive music from all around the world. Partly because it exposes the kind of crap that the UK has shipped overseas, but also because it can reveal some future hits for us poms.

This year’s chart was topped by Gotye’s ‘Someone That I Used to Know’ which has recently caught the attention of the British music press. Gotye is new to us, but is already a household name in Australia, being voted Number 1 in Triple J’s Best Albums of 2006 and winning 5 ARIA Awards (Australian Record Industry Awards).

The rest of the Top Ten ranges from Boy & Bear, Australia’s very own desperate answer to Mumford & Sons (but more naff) to the sweet sounds of all female Australian quartet, The Jezabels.

Upbeat, diluted indie-pop always rates highly and this year is no different, with Foster the People, Grouplove and The Wombats cluttering much of the chart.

But with Active Child, Florence and the Machine, M83, The Black Keys, Bon Iver, Lykke Li, Arctic Monkeys and Bombay Bicycle Club all making the Top 100, there is a great range covered in the listener voted annual poll.

Along with the amazing social media interaction they offer their listeners, the chance to listen back in chunks, a party guide and a breakdown of the history of the chart – this is an amazing annual radio event!

http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100/11/fulllist.htm

Local Natives – Airplanes

In loving memory of a very special lady whose birthday it would have been today x

Video: Trent Reznor & Karen O cover Led Zeppelin’s ‘Immigrant Song’

Covering the Led Zeppelin classic for the soundtrack of new film ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’.

I’ve missed this woman’s voice!

Watch Here

New Band: Governor’s Luck

Show some love for Governor’s Luck – a new four piece band from Essex with a small but superb collection of indie rock dazzlers.

“Combining the fellatio of Jack Horscraft, the fingering of Manny Martinez, the bashing of Ben Daniels and the strumming of George Horscraft. Renowned for their love of mystery novels, art deco interiors and paintings of nude sea creatures, they are one of the finer things in life. A perfect accompaniment to any wine tasting session, wedding Bar Mitzvah or business seminar.”

Thumbs Up, Tom Foolery:

Tit For Tat:

 

http://governorsluck.co.uk

LIVE: The Antlers & Dry the River

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7th December 2011

First up were the humble five-piece, Dry the River, who justify the hype around their folk infused rock. Rich layers of impassioned vocals, lovelorn lyrics, powerful guitars and a delicate violin create soaring ballads. Every track builds up into a powerful crescendo that gives you shivers.

The Antlers follow next; a band in a class of their own. Driving guitars, falsetto vocals and distorted electronic sounds melt together and drew the crowd in with ease. The set including tracks from ‘Hospice’ and ‘Burst Apart’ brought an intoxicating, almost suffocating weight of emotion into the venue, creating a lush ambiance around the spellbound, motionless crowd.

Intense and emotionally charged, but a wonderful and flawless gig.

The Antlers & Dry the River @ The Lexington, London

Tonight Spotify presents two of my favourite bands of the moment. Two of the most emotionally charged bands I have ever seen live …back to back.

It’s going to be emotional!

The Antlers

 

Dry the River

LIVE: The Maccabees @ Village Underground

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The Village Underground in London tonight is burning with anticipation as a frenzied crowd of young fans await Brighton indie heroes, The Maccabees.

Two years after ‘Wall Of Arms’ was released, fans are eager for new material. After teasing fresh tracks at various events over the last year, London fans finally got an insight into what January’s new album ‘Given To the World’ will bring.

Orlando, Felix, Hugo, Sam and Rupert greet the intimate venue with an awkward confidence, conscious of the high expectations that lay in front of them in the packed out, excited crowd. The crowd are unexpectedly prompted into a mode of quiet reflection as they concentrate on the opening tracks – two new songs ‘Child’ and ‘Feel to Follow’.

LEGO! An overwhelming gush of unadulterated delight satisfaction fills the room as the opening riff of the riotous favourite is played.

 ‘First Love’, ‘One Hand Holding’ and ‘Can You Give It’ follow with incredible, faultless energy before another new track, ‘Pelican’, rides effortlessly off the back of the crowd’s high spirits.

The new tracks are noticeably much darker than those on the debut ‘Colour It In’; powerful chords set off with delicate lyrics. Particularly the poignant ‘Forever I’ve Known’. Shivers spread through the room as Orlando begs “I know that nothing stays forever, but can you just try…can you just try?” before the track combusts into a surge of frantic guitars. The past two years have evidently been time well spent perfecting songs with their trademark irresistible choruses but with a more complex, darker sound.

There is so much love for the band in the venue tonight and there is no doubt that they have been forgiven for taking their time to get their new material out to their fans. New and old – their catalogue is a musically and lyrically robust, powerful, well honed set of tracks that dazzle. 2012 looks bright for The Maccabees!

Set List

• Child

• Feel To Follow

• Lego

• First Love

• One Hand Holding

• Can You Give It

• Pelican

• Precious Time

• No Kind Words

• Forever I’ve Known

• William Powers

• Love You Better

• X-Ray

• Wall Of Arms

• Grew Up At Midnight

Dry the River – Weights & Measures

The brand new video from Dry the River to accompany their super intense new single ‘Weights & Measures’.

• A girl

• A guy

• A chainsaw

• A hell of a lot of red paint

= one bad break up