I don't know alot about this band, but they like making kooky minimal Japanese videos for their awesome electronic/industrial type pop/rock songs. Think The Big Pink producing School of Seven Bells & partying with The Naked and the Famous & The Horrors.
"CATCHY POP SONGS WITH A SENSE OF DARKNESS, OF THE MURKY AND MYSTICAL, AND A RHYTHMICAL, ALMOST TRIBAL INTENSITY. AND YOU CAN QUOTE US ON THAT." -Guardian
Ace arty Post Punk band from London currently on tour with Ulterior. Leeds folk catch them at The Common Place Friday 11th March. More cool videos on their Vimeo channel HERE.
Leeds based looper & screamer Napoleon IIIrd returns to Yorkshire after touring his critically acclaimed 2nd album 'Christiania' with Brainlove Records. This video is a fantastic live version of the latest single from the album 'The Unknown Unknown', with members of stairs To Korea, Internet Forever and Braindead Collective forming his backing band. Currently touring the UK, hometown show @ Nation of Shopkeepers on Saturday 12th March with the amazing Trumpets of Death also playing.
Awesome proggy post-rock instrumental band from Manchester. Mental freaky video full of Satanism, tortuous scientific experimentation, rape and monsters. So NSFW then? Yeah I spose... Currently on tour with Fujiya Miyagi, catch them at the Brudenell Social Club this Friday 4th March.
Collab btwn BBC Introducing & NME Radar bringing ace new band Tribes in for a Maida Vale session. Ignore Krissi Murison's bullshit about trying to avoid plugging bands with big backing, Tribes just signed to a major, BUT they are awesome so I wish them every success. I could go on about NME policy, but I'll just say this: Jessie J & Nicki Minaj were both featured on NME Radar in the last few months. Draw your own conclusions.
Big pumping psychedelic rock from South Wales. White Noise Sound have just released their self titled debut album in the UK & US to much critical praise. Grab the mp3 at The Line Of Best Fit.
"One holy mothership of destruction and audible bliss. Awesome" Artrocker
Our favourite Scouse Blues monsters The Cubical are currently finishing off recording their second album in Liverpool and will soon embark upon more European travels to Spain and Scandinavia. Latest single ‘Dirty Shame’ is the first taster of what’s to come.
The Super Furry Animals frontman is back with a new album ‘Hotel Shampoo’ out on valentines day 14th February, along with second single ‘Sensations In The Dark’ coming out the week before on 7th Feb. Here’s the album promo video showing all the assorted hotel freebies Gruff hoarded from his time touring the world with SFAs, and the miniature hotel he made out of them.
And here’s the video for the fantastic first single ‘Shark Ridden Waters’.
Get a free download of 'Shark Ridden Waters' with this widget:
This is a really great shanty singing folk band from Leeds. I had the pleasure of seeing them a few months back, and was very impressed by their powerful singalong tunes that reminded me of Titus Andronicus. With the sound of eight musicians including up to four guitars, clarinet, violin and a saw, they can sure stir up a ruckus of the best kind. Catch em soon live at Oporto, but in the meantime, here's an exclusive free download of 'Pinhole of Light'.
These pounding psychedelic rockers have a busy year ahead releasing next single ‘Love In My Veins’ in April. The single package will also feature a highly anticipated remix of I Got The Devil from Richard Norris (aka Time And Space Machine & one half of Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve with Erol Alkan). Additionally, the band are planning a vinyl repress of the Erbistock Mill EP as the free CDs were snapped up so fast, and their debut album is due later in the year.
Marina Gasolina
This is the new solo project from the frontwoman of Brazilian Electro/Baile-Funk outfit Bonde de Role. But this time Marina is making music to a different beat, taking influence from rockabilly guitars and garage rock for her new sound. Here’s a teaser video for her latest single ‘Leone’.
Download the track HERE. Also check out this video of Marina in the studio recording her debut album on VBS, with Daniel Hunt from Ladytron taking production duties HERE.
A new EP should be coming very soon, and after recently signing to Atlantic Records we can probably expect a debut album in the next 12 months from Paul as well. Check out this video of an acoustic performance of ‘Appointment in Samarra’ from the upcoming ‘Lilac & Wisteria’ EP.
I don’t know much about this band, so I’ve stolen a blurb off their facebook page.
“Woodsman is an experimental ambient post-psychedelic band based in Denver, CO. The quartet contains two totemic percussionists and two sonic animators who employ electric guitars, feedback loops, and recorded samples to build the dreamy astral soundscapes that define Woodsman’s sound. Influenced by hazy mountain passes, the cinema of Stan Brakhage, and early 1970’s improvisational recordings by Miles Davis Woodsman has crafted aural offerings that are uniquely their own.”
They’ve previously released music with hip label Mexican Summer, but their latest album Rare Forms is being released by the Firetalk & Lefse on 25th January. It can be streamed in its entirety HERE, and looks like this:
Check out this video of their ace track ‘Insects’ being played live.
‘The Fog’ as they would be known in English, make instrumental Surf-Rock, and they do it goood. We (sortof) had the pleasure of seeing them live at last years SWN festival, but the Cardiff Arts Institute was absolutely packed out at around 4 in the afternoon for these guys, and we couldn’t get a decent view. They were awarded The Sunday Times album of the week the other week, and will soon embark on tour with Gruff Rhys pretty much around the world. Here’s a video of them in action:
…and while I’m at it I may as well give a shameless plug to my own band Buffalo Bones. We’re a Leeds based Alt-Rock 3 piece, putting out our debut EP in March. You can hear alternate versions of two of the four tracks from the EP below, and check out videos and gig dates on our site linked above. Get a free download of 'Left Before I Arrived' (Live) if you sign up to our mailing list HERE.
Thanks for reading, what are you looking forward to this year?
It’s Christmas Eve! I’m sat on the sofa by the fire waiting for some relatives to come round so we can start drinking and playing board games. There’s been a serious lack of board games so far this Christmas, and I won’t let it continue!!
Anyway, to put off wrapping presents a little bit further, I’ll assemble these digital audio presents for y’all…
Rather good music site The 405 has lots of free festive content up at the moment, but in the spirit of discovering new music, the part that most appealed to me was their free Ones to Watch 2011 album. Its 18 tracks feature songs from such rockin people as Jonquil, Group Love, Tall Ships, and lots more, 15 more actually. Check it out HERE.
Liverpool’s psychedelic blues monsters The Cubical have blessed us with a free new festive ditty showing their softer side, not dissimilar to tracks like Would Be Lovers and All Is Well from debut album ‘Come Sing These Crippled Tunes’. The Golden Rule is available for free now from their Bandcamp page HERE.
Domino Records have been terribly nice and given us a free Compilation of some of the standout tracks from their artists this year. Get your 14 tracks of Domino goodness, including music from Archie Bronson Outfit, Fourtet & Villagers, from the widget below.
Lovely folky blog For Folks Sake have also put out a Christmas compilation album. This one features Xmas covers from a host of their favourite folk artists including Laura Hocking, Emmy The Great & our pal Sam Airey. The album is for sale from their Bandcamp page HERE on a pay-what-you-can basis raising money for the Integrated Cancer Centre at King’s College London.
Sheffield loonies The Heebie Jeebies have just released a new EP, ‘All Our Friends Are Hardcore’ is available for free if you sign up to their mailing list on their music glue page HERE.
Leeds Pop Noir outfit Insect Guide have released a new EP with netlabel Ear Drums Pop. ‘5 O’Clock Recordings is available for free HERE. And check out the video for Grey Sky:
Leeds Music Scene have put together a whole host of Christmas presents on their Audio Advent Calendar HERE. Notable freebies include tracks from Just Handshakes (We’re British) on the 5th, Loose Talk Costs Lives on the 6th, Gary Stewart on the 11th, Buen Chico on the 19th and a splendid Christmas mixtape from Juffage on the 14th.
Music & photo ‘intraview’ blog A Negative Narrative is currently closed for business over the holidays while they redesign the site. We can expect the relaunch in a few weeks, but in the meantime they’ve zipped up a collection of some of the best tracks they’ve hosted this year. Get it from their homepage HERE.
Transgressive Records have teamed up with Turnstile to release a free ‘Bento’ mix EP featuring Pulled Apart By Horses & Johnny Flynn which you can get by putting your email address into the widget below.
We//Are//Animal, taking time out from causing trouble at muso parties, have given us some treats of new material showing some new sounds and hinting towards what the next record might be like. There’s a decent sized EP’s worth of material available to stream from their soundcloud page HERE, and we also have an exclusive free download of new track ‘Ah Ha Oh Haoha’ for you HERE. The band have got plenty of shows lined up for next year, make sure to go check them out live if you’ve not already, no doubt we’ll be bringing them back to Leeds soon.
…and there you have it! Lots of festive freebies to listen to over the holidays. Have a very Merry Christmas everyone!
And have a Happy New Year too, if any of you have anywhere near as much fun as this freaky party looks, let us know!
So we’ve come to the end of another year, and I thought it would be right to sign off by taking a look back at all the fun we’ve had and the music we’ve enjoyed. 2010 has seen Dead Young proudly release our second 10” compilation record: the Dead Young Club Volume 2 featuring The Cubical, Gringo Star, Paul Thomas Saunders & We//Are//Animal. We also went on a short tour to celebrate the release back in May travelling to Bangor, Leeds, Brighton and Liverpool having lots of fun on the way.
In Leeds we put on shows for tons of great acts such as The ABC Club, Blue Roses, Gregory & The Hawk, Insect Guide, Let’s Buy Happiness, The Lucid Dream, Lupen Crook, Mirrors, Moody Gowns, TeenagersInTokyo, Thomas Truax, The Victorian English Gentlemens Club, Young Rebel Set, Zoey Van Goey & many more. From October onwards we were especially busy, promoting at least a gig a week at Oporto, ontop of The Gaslight Club acoustic nights every Monday.
2010 has been a brilliant year for music all round, with so many great new bands coming through and great records being released. Best Coast supplied the soundtrack to the summer with their California sunshine filled guitar pop. Sleigh Bells grabbed our attention by making music louder than anyone else.
Locally we’ve also done well with two great debut albums coming from Leeds bands Dinosaur Pile-Up & Pulled Apart By Horses. These two have clearly had a significant impact across the country as Niall Doherty, editor of The Fly, noted that 'Leeds is singlehandedly saving British Rock music' in reviewing the DPU record. I also took much pleasure listening to the latest efforts from Archie Bronson Outfit, The Black Angels, Black Mountain, Foals, MGMT & Weezer.
It was also a strong year for electronic music, with brilliant releases by Caribou, LCD Soundsystem & many more. Check out Club Mariachi’s review of the year on the Neon Cactus blog HERE.
Released waay back in January, Astro Coast is the debut album from the five Floridians known as Surfer Blood. The record is full to the brim with catchy guitar riffs and hooks, from which hang the vocals doused in reverb, with lyrical themes of loneliness and confusion. Mixing the African melody & rhythm used by Vampire Weekend, and the powerchord rock of Weezer, Surfer Blood play a fun fusion of American alternative guitar music, and do it well.
Videos for ‘Floating Vibes’ and ‘Swim’ can be seen on previous posts HERE and HERE.
This great record was described quite accurately by one reviewer as having the sound of a 21st Century Sgt. Pepper’s. Whilst not as eclectic for some it was dismissed as 60s throwback psych rock. But for me Innerspeaker’s hazy slacker feel, and fantastic production enhance Tame Impala’s joyus songwriting to create a brilliant psychedelic rock record. It was self-produced, and mixing duties were handed to Dave Fridmann, who also worked on The Flaming Lips phenomenal record from 2009 Embryonic, to bring some sonic modernity to a record otherwise inspired by the past. A modern approach was also taken to their imagery and media as their latest video for ‘Expectation’ shows. Directed by Clemens Habicht in a forest just outside of Paris on a day off during Tame Impala's European tour, the video shows the band spending a day in the autumn wild with a 360 degree camera and a few flares for company.
Additionally the video for 'Solitude Is Bliss' can be see on a previous post HERE.
This is four women from Los Angeles making ‘experimental art rock’. To be honest it doesn’t seem particularly experimental, but while I found The XX a bit boring, Warpaint create a sexier, more interesting, psych-rock influenced version of their style of delicate guitar music which has become popular this year. The ethereal female vocals also remind me of School of Seven Bells, who’s debut I enjoyed hugely in 2009, but Warpaint are a straight up guitar band so I’m sure it sounds just as great live with no over-reliance on electronics that I thought hindered SoSB’s live show. Hugely regret missing them live this year, must catch them in 2011. One thing they could do better with though is their videos, I was going to put one up here but they’re all a bit boring!
If you’re reading this you’ll probably be aware Dead Young is no stranger to the //Animals. We’ve featured their track ‘1268’ on our Dead Young Club 10” series which came out earlier this year, and put on shows for them several times. I heard early demos after getting a Myspace friend request before Owain had even recruited his band. Between that and fully releasing their album in November their sound hasn’t changed much. Recording to a broken Boss 8-track machine infused their sound with a raw punkish energy, and the lo-fi production goes without saying. All finished by April (less than 5 months into their existence), Idolise may be the sound of a band in their youth, but the tenacity & creativity it captures is truly exhilarating. Their progression can be heard in their prolific output, new tracks are regularly made available online, and a free EP will soon be posted up here.
Check out videos for ‘1268’ and ‘Black Magic’ on previous posts HERE and HERE.
...and you can listen to these four albums as a Spotify playlist HERE.
A year after the global success of their critically acclaimed debut album ‘Come Sing These Crippled Tunes’, The Cubical are back with new single ‘Dirty Shame’; the first to be taken from their new album which will hit the shops next year. Sounding like a cross between Roxy Music and Exile on Main Street era Stones, ‘Dirty Shame’ continues where the band left off with their unique and twisted take on psychedelic garage blues only this time adding a full horn section for extra measure. From the duelling guitar intro to the horn section climax, singer Dan Wilson's trademark blues growl and bizarre lyrical imagery sit proudly on top of a sound that only The Cubical can make: a thunderous swamp blues groove of twanging guitars, frenetic bass and pounding drums. After 3 and a half minutes of 'Dirty Shame', The Cubical will leave you gasping for breath and eagerly awaiting more from their forthcoming second album. The video (a homage to Italian singer / songwriter Adriano Celentano's 1972 gibberish single Prisencolinensinainciusol) isn't bad either.
Here’s a reminder of what people have said about The Cubical from around the world:
'If you like your rock'n'roll primal and pounding, and your vocals gritty and growly, then meet Liverpool's answer to the Magic Band.' –The Guardian
"Ever wondered what might happen if Tom Waits and The Rolling Stones got together for an old fashioned jam and Nick Cave stopped by to bum a cigarette? This is one of the most vital records of the year, The Cubical may just be your new favourite band. 4.5 /5"Sydney Morning Herald -Australia
"Compared to other Liverpool bands, The Cubical stand out for a mile as the demented, disheveled, brilliant band they are."THE FLY MAG
"If you don't like The Cubical, you are stupid. Easy."Music News - Norway
"Guitars clang and the bass and drums shuffle just right enough to raise the ghost of Willie Dixon, track down Captain Beefheart circa Safe As Milk and have a chat wtih The La's. And the singers raspy vocal might just shatter your lightbulbs' -Mojo
“Mind-warpin’ mutated blues. Don’t let it pass you by.”- Shindig
'The key difference between The Cubical and the other thousand odd Beefheart / Waits acolytes, is that they actually pull off this primal, experimental form of rock 'n' roll with considerable poise' - Drowned in Sound
"The rumble of Great White Lie is enough to make a listener fear divine retribution, hide the children and close the curtains."- Spin magazine - USA
"The Cubical are simply a sensational band.”- Popular 1 Magazine – Spain
“There are no casual fans of The Cubical, only ardent believers.” Malibu Magazine – USA
‘Dirty Shame’ & B-side ‘Saints Above My Bed’ will be available to download from iTunes, Spotify and all the usual places from Monday 29th November 2010.
The Cubical will be headlining an extra special Christmas show with the Indo Silver Club on Saturday 4th December at The Kazimier in Liverpool, Facebook event HERE.
