Neon Trees

Mohawks and colorless inert noble gas covered trees....

These 3 components help to form a rock group called "Neon Trees". This American group was Formed by Tyler Glenn (vocals and keys) and Chris Allen (guitar). The band set down roots in Provo, Utah where they recruited Branden Campbell (bass guitar and vocals) and Elaine Bradley (drums and vocals), finely rounding the number up to an even 1,2 carry the 3....4 yes a 4 piece Rock Pop Orchestra. A fifth member known as David Charles occasionally sneaks into the band when touring as keyboardist & additional guitarist sounds. Although the Trees are mega superstars in the local Provo taverns they didn't receive nationwide recognition until 2008 when they opened for The Killers on various American Tour dates. The band are now signed by major record label Mercury Records and released their first actual real big boy album "Habits" in 2010.

The Band have been very busy since 2005 touring with The Killers and 30 Seconds To Mars, headlining the Summer 2010 Bang The Gong Tour with Paper Tongues, MeTalkPretty, and Civil Twilight, performing to 7,000 at Lollapalooza, Their first single "Animal" has climbed to number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the Alternative Rock Chart.

Below is a couple of Youtube links showing off some of the skills the band possess. Most ear and eye catching is the lead singer Tyler Glenn's fashionista style and silky smooth swinging vocals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b901cPCUtg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEYxcyA1oCI

(Thanks to Youtube, Google and Wikipedia)

Sleigh Bells

The sound of Sleigh Bells is in the air, it must be Christmas time,

An awesome American version of our beloved Ting Tings, Sleigh Bells are a noisy American pop boy 'n' girl combo. The group released their debut album (Treats) in May 2010. Coming straight out of Brooklyn NY with a combined weight of 300lbs Sleigh Bells are fronted by the silky smooth, aggressive Alexis Krauss and the behind the scenes man/ upfront guitar wielding maniac Derek Miller AKA the brains of the operation (songwriter, guitarist, producer). A brief in site into the duo's past points us in the direction of "Poison the Well", where Derek played guitar as the....um guitarist. Alexis on the other hand had a very fluffy wuffy past as a member of a teen pop group called "Rubyblue", she also appeared in a Nickelodeon Magazine commercial. You should be ashamed of yourself Alexis!! That's not Rock 'n' Rolls baby! The duo met and formed in 2008, legend has it that Alexis's mum kicked the whole thing off with a chance meet and greet in a Brazilian restaurant. I like to think the story went exactly like this (possible slight fabrication)......A down and out former rock star called Derek was waiting tables at a Brazilian restaurant called "Miss Favela" when he stumbled upon two hotties, whilst he was mentioning (to the hotties) that he was looking for a female vocalist to work with on a musical project; Alexis's gobby mother immediately stuck her nose into Derek's conversation and sold her daughter to the project for mere pennies, she has since been claiming royalties from the groups worldwide success. For the purpose of law and truth telling blah blah blah this did not happen, but it went something like that. The terrifying twosome are signed to M.I.A.'s N.E.E.T. Recordings and Mom + Pop Recordings.

Every time i hear the track "Tell Em" i automatically think of the Michael Jackson video Black or White when Macaulay Culkin is dancing in his bedroom and then his dad comes up stairs and sh*ts on his party, Macaulay then sets up his amps and with a massive F you to his dad, or evil step dad as i like to assume, strums his guitar and destroys the whole house with loudness ha ha ha aha ha aha ah....Awesome!

I've just bought my copy of "Treats" mere minutes ago for the grand sum of £5 (HMV Online), that's the equivalent of a penny sweet these days. If you've got some change floating around in your pocket, purse or strange pouch located in men's swimming trucks, whats that all about? Then get it out and purchase this album now!

As always i have trawlled through Youtube and found some links to some great associated video's, Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhYYd5adVY4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZFf9T32g94

We Are Mona (The Band)

I have frustratingly titled this, We Are Mona (The Band)

Why you ask? firstly, Stop talking to yourself in your head its dangerous, Secondly! Well.....there is no secondly, the reason i have done this is because Mona is the most commonly named song, band, food, animal, mineral, disease etc, etc, etc in the entire universe. Don't try and research this you will only find out that i am correct. Finding information on this band has been an arduous task, don't ask me what arduous means because I'll just stare at you uncomfortably until you get bored and walk off. After many hours i struck gold, Triumph!!! An actual understandable, sense making, journalist type individual wrote this........its just below this, look down.......Now....

Mona are an indie rock band originally from Dayton, Ohio, now located in Nashville, Tennessee. They play romantic rock n' roll songs for the 'city folk'. Their single ‘Listen To Your Love’ was recorded in their basement and was released on their own Zion Noiz recordings which came out in the United Kingdom on September 13th 2010. The band comprise of Nick Brown (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Vince Gard (drums), Zach Lindsey (bass), Jordan Young (guitar). The band have been so keen to keep their debut material under wraps that rather than sending it out to journalists to review, they played it down the phone to them.

The above was Stolen from: The Guardian - New Band of the Day, I have chosen to highlight and underline this as i am not going to prison for plagiarism again, I'll never go back there, swapping PlayStation's for trainers is crazy!!!!

I saw Mona on Later Live With Jools Holland preforming amongst power houses such as Robert Plant, Arcade Fire and Adele, who if i may add sang a single from her new album "Someone Like You" due for release in January, what an amazing song. Back to the titled band, whilst being sandwiched between the Godly ex-front man of Led Zep and the thousand member strong Arcade Fire, Mona really hold their own amongst the overlords of everything that is rock.

Please check out the Youtubious video's and judge for yourselves, I'm sure you wont be disappointed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTH6Hz_jrY0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziir6rf0eQk

Had to sneak the Adele track in here, sorry if your not a fan but its a great track!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHciwrfQQpU

Onlookers

Tunbridge Wells Forum......

A public toilet lookalike on a dark dark hill in a posh toff town where well known bands such as Gallows, Rolo Tomassi and The King Blues can sip shandy and rub shoulders with some of the new up and coming bands playing along side them at this old school venue, One of those new bands being Onlookers. I was more than grateful to see this band perform last night warming up the stage for another local band called Dogs. Onlookers is a Faversham based band consisting of four young lads, two of which are brothers, Dale Norton Lead Vocals and Rhythm Guitar, Callum Norton Drums and Vocals, Jamie Darby Lead Guitar and Keys, and Thomas Ford Bass and Percussion. An English take on blues rock with powerful vocals, commanding stage presence, and faultless live performances propel them from just another support act too a band worthy of headline stardom. Being Onlookers newest self proclaimed honorary band member i vow to use whatever platform necessary to help rocket the guys to ungodly heights.

If you like what you hear or are still on the fence then check out the tracks on Onlookers myspace and performances at Canterbury's Chantry Social Club's Hoochie Coochie night on the bands Facebook page.

www.myspace.com/onlookers

http://www.facebook.com/onlookers

(Special thanks as always to Google search engine for pictures)

At The Drive-In

After watching the 250 million trillion best Later Live with Jools Holland videos last night i stumbled across an All American Rock band that would make Ian Curtis look like Idiana Jones stuck in quick sand. The band were called "At The Drive-In", Hence the title. I say "were called" because they sadly went their separate ways in 2001, before the separation the band were active for 8 years that's 1,2,3,4,5, ah 1993 to 2001 for those of you that are mathematically challenged like my great self. They were known for being extremely energetic and have some of the most unorthodox guitar Melodie's as well as having unpredictable tempo shifts and loud controlled screaming, slightly reminiscent of my old PE Teacher, as well as......."only kidding"! I fell madly deeply head over heels in love with this band the second i saw them, sorry I've just read that back to myself and realised how that statement could be taken out of context, lets get it "straight" i was referring to the way they carry themselves whilst performing a live show, anyway shut up (dam this holes getting deeper, Hello is anyone up there?) At the Drive-In are sometimes by many described as a Prog Rock-Tastic face yankingly great band that should never have died. If you love music and you love listening then put those talents together and listen to this music, by this music i of course mean check out the link that i have attached. If you like some of the cool classic Rock bands such as The strokes, The Nation of Ulysses, sex pistols or even some of the new sounds crossing over to our shores these days like Dananananaykroyd then check out this band, I'd like to finish by saying and i think my friend Tony would agree "Their Grrrrreat".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NYbojdoAQE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqsNR5pI6bw

(Thanks to Youtube and Google Images)

The Island of Whites

The Island of Whites is a strange place, an island of only one rule "NO BRINGING DRINKS INTO THE ARENA". Slightly reminiscent of the fair that the boys were carted off too in Pinocchio, "You Know", the one where they all turn into donkeys.

 

Tip number one for all you festival goer's, don't buy a pop up tent for a rainy festival. I am sad to say i did and yes it did flood. I first became aware of this when i woke up in a pool of my own urine, have you ever heard of that game people play when a drunk mate falls asleep and you put his or her hand into a bowl of water whilst sleeping and they end up peeing themselves, it is now apparent to me that hanging your hand off of a blow up bed into rain water can be just as effective. I'll leave you to decide for yourselves how much of this statement is true.

 

I went to Glastonbury festival in 2009 and it is safe to say that Isle of Wight is a much more chilled out festival, nothing starts until about 13:00, so the morning is spent sleeping, eating and generally prepping for the evening ahead. There are considerably fewer preforming tents than Glastonbury so alot less walking which was nice.

 

Onto the music, i managed to see 10 Main Stage acts, 4 Big Top acts and possibly a few from the other stages and bars but i cant remember names. Highlights of the week for me were; Jay Z preforming Heart of the City, Kanye West joining Jay Z for Run this Town, Jay Z's interaction with the crowd, Pink entering the stage via a crane, Vampire Weekends drummer....drumming, Ocean Colour Scene stealing some dudes hat, The Big Pinks drummer standing on the bass drum to show the crowd her ass cheek revealing swim suit, and Bombay Bicycle Club doing there thang.

 

All of these moments were dwarfed by the mere presents of, drum roll please......wait for it........ THE STROKES!!!!!!

 

Now i'm a 27 year old man and should probably know better but i found myself palming small women and children out of the way in order to get to the front of the stage so i could enjoy this moment to the fullest as i have convinced myself that this will end up being a once in a life time reunion. I know i should be ashamed of myself but I'd do it all over again if i could, the cry's of squashed feet and palmed faces were drowned by the Sheer coolness oozing from the stage. I bounced around like a baby for about an hour, I even removed my shirt at one stage in order to swing it high above my head in some homoerotic Stroke loving frenzy, for that and that alone i am ashamed. It's safe to say that this was the highlight of my festival, no year, no decade, No.....Life. For all of you that missed this moment, I feel sorry for you and wish you all could be as happy in your lives as i now am in mine.

......

Surf's Up Dude!

There Surfers....Blood

Strutting the streets of Florida comes an interesting and refreshing summer sounding indie 5 piece called Surfer Blood. Still in their early 20s this greasy hoodie wearing indie boy band have been locked away in their smelly university dorm room, venturing out only to stock up on cartons of orange juice and all manor of tasty treats that the crazy young indie folk use to stuff their faces in order to stay awake until the early hours of night stroking their strings, disgusting. In summary they have just finished their new album Astro Coast.

The band comprises of Guitarist and lead singer John Paul Pitts who is considered by no one as the colossal Juggernaut and driving force behind surfer blood, playing with his toms directly behind him is drummer Tyler Schwarz who is widely considered to be the deep thinker of the group, just to the left of him is guitarist and all round ladies man Thomas Fekete, self proclaimed wild man and general trouble maker stands to the right in the form of bassist Brian Black, last but by no means least percussionist Marcos "Crazy hair" Marchesani, there's one in every band!

As you can probably tell by now Surfer Blood still remains a mystery even to me, they are still going through the very early stages of Indie Rock growth, as we all know their journey is just beginning and thanks to me you are privy to their first word. If you like music and you like listening to it (yet another odd line) check out Surfer Blood in my opinion their "totally awsome dude".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCCqODXuLVU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDCe6mV0xV8

(Praise goes out to that god like Buddha YouTube entertaining the young & poor til the end of time)

Lissie

Country Music Yall.....

Country music is on its way to the UK just in time for our 1 day of summer sunshine, shouldn't be flippant our summer lasts at least a week, anyway where was i....... Ah yes Country Music, Lissie Maurus other wise known by her stage name Lissie, dropping the surname is so in this season, is an American country music artist likened by some people to a modern day Stevie Nicks. Lissie released her debut EP, "Why You Runnin" in 2009 and her debut album, "Catching A Tiger" is Rumoured for release, see what Ive done there Ive slipped in a sneaky Fleetwood Mac comparison, can you spot is? Anyway her debut album is due for release in June 2010.

Lissie's debut EP "Why You Runnin" was produced by none other than Bill Reynolds the string slapper from legendary Country, Rock band "Band of Horses", "Oh Mississippi" was co-written with English singer songwriter Ed Harcourt who has worked with artists such as Jamie Cullum, Yusef Islam, The Streets, New York Fund, and Brian Jonestown Massacre. The first single of the album, "In Sleep", was selected as Track of The Day by Q Magazine.

Lissie isn't just another Country singer she brings a Folk, Rock element to her work and really puts her stamp on the American Folk, Rock wave invading our shore's today. Lissie has real appeal and the fact that she has chosen to favour an electric guitar as apposed to the classic acoustic guitar look donned by so many in her genre invokes real sex appeal for all of the red blooded Folk, Rock lovin men of the world.

Check out these video's and hopefully you'll see what i see;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh4_Jysk8Q4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRlXausKdiQ

(Video's and Pic's secretly stolen from Google and YouTube)

I Blame CoCo

CoCo Sumner,

Beautiful name, sounds like hot chocolate some nerd, delish! I like hot chocolate!

Real name Eliot Pauline Sumner, Band slash alias "I Blame Coco" their/her first album, The Constant is due out this year, and her first single, "Caesar", was released in February.

Back in the early days of days ago when i first heard "I Blame Coco" performing at 2010's Camden Crawl i was amazed at how much they sounded like "The Police", not a police siren that would be rude, after hours of heavy journalistic type researching (Wikipedia) i was shocked, actually shocked is stupid since my first impression was of them sounding like "The Police", anyway back to my thought thread, i was shocked to find out that she was daughter of none other than The Sting himself, this is clearly evident in her vocal style, once you wrap your lobes around my links you will see ney hear this and say "Yes he is right".

Check "I Blame Coco" out for yourself, via the selection of YouTube Video's that i have supplied:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykQC_9yqr-g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSweH0gYZXI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9LAEf-EGdQ

(Pics and Vid's Ripped from YouTube and Google)

Kevin Devine

Bello,

Next on the Random Blab list is a very flaky review of a singer songwriter called "Kevin Devine", No ladies he's not a smooth, tall, black, muscular R&B singer that likes to expose his abs at every god given moment, though the name oozes otherwise he's but a mere skinny, white, ginger boy from Brooklyn New York.

I first took notice of this Brooklyn based singer songwriter after trawling through "Manchester Orchestra's" video blogs. On a whim i typed his name into YouTube, after watching him goof around and talk about getting his ass kicked by a fast food employee, i was pleasantly surprised to find that not only was he a singer but he was actually pretty good.

I'm not overly familiar with his music but the tracks i have listened too can be described as (in my weird warped world) Rock, Indie, Folk with a dollop of Political, Melodic, Lyrical Flav. I have attached three video's, two of which have been added to give you an incite as to how cool this guy really is and the other is an awesome live version of a song called "Another Bag of Bones" which is now one of my new favourite songs. if your going to check out but only one new artist this season then beg you kind Sir's make it Kevin Devine, you wont be disappointed.

Kevin is currently touring the US with his fifth album "Brothers Blood" enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDFwb534O34

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e6WPjdfdjk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=953EdDtFhvQ

(Picture and Video's supplied but the Juggernauts Google and YouTube)

Silversun Pickups

Silversun Pickups.......

A future Heavy Weight in the Rock world or at least i like to think they should...ney Need to be regarded as. They hail from the gold plated, sun kissed streets of Los Angeles California.

This Rock 4 piece consists of the following; lead vocalist and guitar player man Brian Aubert, who's slightly cock eyed, meek presents is dwarfed by his rough edgy yet faultless vocals, Nikki Monninger, ex English literature supply teacher look alike backs up Brian with a more gentle Vocal range and also plays her part in rhythm section of the band on bass guitar, Christopher Guanlao, a small left handed man child with a head down Dave Grohl approach to drumming who likes to extend his cymbals to the sky for some crazy arm extending reason, last but by no means least Joe Lester, he plays Keyboard.

The band released their debut EP, Pikul, in July 2005, and their debut full-length album, Carnavas, on July 26th 2006. Their second full length album, Swoon, was released April 14th 2009.

As i reluctantly found out last week Carnavas is the perfect album to listen to (volume low) whilst trying to sleep after a gig in the back of a car, it is also a great album to amp right back up and shake the life back into a car full of selfish snoozers, best of both worlds.

Here are a few video's of the Pickups in action, Enjoy;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziR2EaQOSjU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB_YbQQ6tcA

(Pictures and Images supplied by Google and Youtube)

Los Campesinos

(Eagle)

Los Campesinos, a seven piece indie pop band from the Welsh'est Welsh of Wales, Cardiff. Formed in early 2006 at Cardiff University, interesting fact for you - none of the band members are actually Welsh.... sorry did i say interesting i meant blahhhh but thought I'd mention it regardless, i mean come on guys you couldn't have even squeezed one tiny Pubhornist in, just to keep the home fans happy? Huh, shame on you, anyways...Their debut album "Hold on Now, Youngster" was released in February 2008. Campesinos second album "Romance Is Boring" was released in February 2010 but was not without its casualties, the band announced on their website that Aleks (Keyboard and Vocals) was to leave the band and return to her studies after their US tour in August. The Campesinos crew released the single "The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future" hmm beautiful, it was to be released as a free download. Giving something back to the people, i like, i like a lot. The video for the song was directed by the band's bassist, Ellen Campesinos.

Campesinos formally announce Aleks successor in the form of lead singer Gareth's sister Kim, having long alien like fingers and the voice of an angel she slipped nicely into the band as the new keyboardist. blah blah blah more facts........If your a fan of Arcade Fire, Dananananaykroyd, Vampire Weekend, Peter, Bjorn & John and all other indie type bands that the youngsters are infatuated by these days (Just messin) then you'll love Los Campesinos. Deserve'ed of a lot more recognition than they currently get, i predict big things in the future so much that i am not going to get my brother to illegally down load "Hold on now youngster" for me. I intend to shell out the £5 price tag Play.com have generously attaching to this epic record....I shall however wait until "Romance is boring" is to match this mark up as i am not a millionaire, £7.99 is too much, TOO MUCH. Cheap Bastard signing out.

Favourite tracks from LC:

The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6booM03nKI

Death to Los Campesinos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGDsbnTqdaE

(Image borrowed from Pitchfork.com)

In 2010 Look Out For...

(Image taken from Fly.co.uk)

If your looking at this Blog entry and saying to yourself "This is just a list of tracks" Then firstly stop talking to yourself its Weird and secondly your right, these are some Awesome tracks that will hopefully either make you think "WoW who's this" and lead on to you purchasing the album, making the Artist rich and powerful and then make you say to yourself "That blog i bumped into whilst looking for naked pictures of Audrina Patridge was right these are kick ass Bands/ Artists", Failing that then hopefully it'll just make you think "I know these already" and if that's the case then you need to be out spreading the word because some of these bad boys deserve a little more recognition than just a bob of the head every now and again!!!

Any-whob... Enjoy;

The Cheek - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYZ12yav6GU

Goldhawks - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufQZd32k3lc

Foals - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYoINidnLRQ

The Automatic - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP6ztAyFoV8

Kids In Glass Houses - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MRAc9-Q9C0

General Fiasco - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM5JK2i6qwI

Blood Red Shoes - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuUfIZkEYCY

Matt Morris - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5Tdf6M_Ce4

Bombay Bicycle Club - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOBKSuC42PI

Lykke Li - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJHdT1j6hH8

Phoenix - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGDqnJLou9k

Ellie Goulding - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVAy87yJcBY

Tegan And Sara - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4tcDRkqU4o

Chitty Bang - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McRgkE_vgjU

Two Door Cinema Club - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLK4oaXUuLg

Silversun Pickups - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeGtsL-0W1g

(Thanks to the YouTuber's as always for supplying these great videos)

Band of Skulls

Good, Bad, Ugly?

Haven't heard enough yet, but what i have heard is pretty dam Rockin!! "I Know What i Am" from their album "Baby Darling Doll Face Honey" is due for release in the UK on March 15th and is in my opinion an absolute anthem, think white stripes with a bassist. On Lead Guitar and vocals we have Russell Marsden, If you tilt your head slightly to the left and squint he looks slightly similar to the late great Kurt Cobain, On Bass and Vocals welcome to the stage Emma Richardson, looking a little like Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs but without the wacky outfits, And last but not least i give you Matthew Hayward on drums looking a lot like Matthew Hayward. Legend has it that the trio first met at college where they fancied the unlimited possibilities of having two lead singers and three songwriters together in one orgy of a rock fest. Not only are they on a cosmic journey through time, space and other odd words that pop into my head to establish themselves in the music industry but they have also been known to dabble in the fine arts with all of the album artwork being based on paintings by Bassist Emma Richardson who recently held an exhibition called "Meat Me At The Butchers", in a butcher's shop where she spent time on the weekends elbow deep in blood and guts, very Ozzy Osbourne of her. Their debut album is due for release in the USA on April 6th, exclusively at iTunes before being thrust upon the rest of us lowly mortals two weeks later.

-

My Favourate tracks on the soon to be released album are:

-

"I Know What I Am"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrcev6z7c_8

"Death By Diamonds and Pearls"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIBNpd9s_yA

-

The UK Tour:

07 May 2010 - Cockpit, Leeds

08 May 2010 - Classic Grand, Glasgow

09 May 2010 - The Factory, Manchester

10 May 2010 - Rescue Rooms, Nottingham

11 May 2010 - Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton

13 May 2010 - Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth

14 May 2010 - Electric Ballroom, London

(Image borrowed from "audioabsinthe.com")

Wild Beasts

I first caught glimpse of Wild Beasts whilst poodling around on YouTube for new musical talent, i was intrigued by a live video recording of the track "All the Kings Men" from the their second album Two Dancers, the mix of masculine and feminine vocals made me laugh at first and i remember thinking are these guys for real, yes they were! The operatic vocals and melodic beats fuse perfectly to form a crisp and faultless band cautiously sneaking into the indie music scene, "All the Kings Men" could easily become a summer anthem for the midday weekend lager sippers. "Hooting and howling" shows off another weapon in the Beasts arsenal, that being a very edgy Rock like vocal range produced by Hayden Thorpe within the first 30 seconds of track, saying that Ben Little changes things up in a big way during tracks with sometimes using a big deep vocal range and sometimes changing it up mid thought with loud sheiks of controlled power.

I've possibly done this band a grave injustice by making them sound like crazy whaling banshee but that perception is kind of true to an extent, all i can say is check them out for yourself and form your own opinion I'm sure it wont feel like wasted time.

Check out http://www.wild-beasts.co.uk/ for the full listings but hurry as they are already selling out their UK tour which starts tomorrow.

(Image borrowed from Melting Vinyl.com)

The Maccabees

Where to start Where to start....

I was first introduced to The Maccabees many moons ago by my best friend who was and is still a massive fan, stupidly i refused to succumb to their charm's and didn't even give them a chance. This was partially due to me being a proud warrior like man that does not need other men telling him what is good and what he needs to be wrapping his ear lobs around.

Luckily i discovered them all by myself much later on without the help of any other alpha wanna be males, i did things slightly backwards i bought there newest album first "Wall of Arms" and fell in love with the Massive guitar riffs and intricate drumming patterns, "Seventeen Hands" and "No Kind Words" being my favourite tracks on the album.

After listening to "Wall of Arms" constantly for weeks on end i caught wind of The Maccabees possible appearance at Glastonbury's 2009 Festival, i say "caught wind of" what i actually meant was that my slightly dribbly, drunk, overweight friend (come on we've all got one)spat it into my ear after reading the line up in NME magazine Yummy! With that information securely locked in my mind in the shape of a toffee nodule i set off for Glastonbury in search of my new Favourite band. They were due on stage but i was what felt like a million miles away and was unable to fight my way through the wall of teenagers, there were just too many of them!!! so i enjoyed the set from far far FAR away. They were still amazing but i didn't feel as though i got the full effect of their gig. on my way to see Kasabian on the main stage i stopped in at the phone refueling club where people refueled phone battery, duh, much to my amazement guess who was standing on stage ready to start an unannounced private gig, that's right it were "The Maccabees". Highlight of the Festival was when Felix got what i believe was his little brother "no not Hugo the younger one" to sing whilst they did a cover of The Strokes "Reptilia", it was flawless and seriously awesome, sadly my best friend who tried introducing me to The Maccabees in previous years missed it because he fell asleep watching Kasabian, that'll teach him.

Any who, after returning from the festival i purchased "Colour it in" and was wowed by the colossal awesomeness of it, i much preferred it to "Wall of Arms" both albums having there place permanently embedded in my life forever. In short if you havent heard or just haven't checked out The Maccabees then you need to be slapped HARD!

Check Out:
X-Ray (Colour it in)
Lego (Colour it in)
Mary (Colour it in)
Seventeen Hands (Wall of Arms)
No Kind Words (Wall of Arms)
Love you Better (Wall of Arms)

(Picture and Video Taken by Myself at Glastonbury 2009)

Manchester Orchestra

After seeing Manchester Orchestra on the TV show "Live from Abbey Road" i felt compelled to dust the cobwebs off my moth filled wallet and buy their new album "Mean Everything to Nothing". If Hard old school Rock whilst not straying to far from your indie roots is your thing then wrap your ear holes around this 5 piece from Atlanta Georgia. Lead singer Andy Hull's voice is likened to a husky Ozzy Osbourne, by who you ask?? By me that's who! The band are currently touring America then off to Germany before setting hoof down in the UK in October where they will be touring the UK and Ireland along side Biffy Clyro. buy your tickets early as I'm sure this band is sure to explode all over the UK.

Best 3 Tracks on the Album (In my opinion):

Tony the Tiger
Everything to Nothing
I Can Feel a Hot One

Check out their live performance on "Myspace Transmission" Via YouTube in particular the single "Everything to Nothing" the Drummer is savage!!!! And vocal harmonies are Awesome, "Ive got friends" and "shake it out"are just as bad ass but "everything to nothing" blew my mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCttzQSsdWc

(Image and Video borrowed from Google and Youtube)