The track is a damning indictment of greed in a year riddled by riots, revolutions, occupations and increasing collapse of the global financial system. A collaboration with Crass vocalist Eve Libertine, German elector monsters Slope and Dan Catsis from The Pop Group on bass “Nothing Is Sacred” has a howling funk-rock and unyielding political attack evolved from the sessions for Mark Stewart’s forthcoming album, and is the now-deleted AA of his limited 7” cover of the T.Rex classic “Children of the Revolution”.

Mark Stewart is one of those rare artists that has not only remained steadily prolific over the course of three decades, he continues to inspire with his pioneering sonics, viciously astute social observations and uncompromising manifestos.

Nick Cave, Alec Empire, Bobby Gillespie, Trent Reznor and Tricky amongst many others have cited him as a major influence, as well as a host of current provocateurs like Factory Floor, fellow Bristol producers Kevin Martin (The Bug, King Midas Sound) and Kahn.

His 11th-hour appearance at St. Vincent’s recent London show duetting on his early Pop Group track, “She’s Beyond Good and Evil” elicited a breathless response from critics (“a firefight of vocoder-distorted vocals and funk-rock rhythms” – The Guardian) and St. Vincent herself: “I did not want that song to end ever! It’s crazy to get to play with one of my heroes, I kinda can’t believe it.”

“Nothing Is Sacred” by Mark Stewart is available as a free download from www.markstewartmusic.com.

Horse Guards Parade - Ten Songs

Several years in the making, the Horse Guards Parade are about to release their carefully honed debut album Ten Songs, a collection of  quirky and quintessentially British pop tunes written with a light comic touch.

It is no surprise to learn that the band have recently been touring in support of the likes of Jarvis Cocker and Pavement, there are similarities to be heard in parts of the Horse Guards Parades debut.

It’s the strength of the band’s songs that has attracted regular airtime on BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio 2 among others, completing sessions for BBC introducing and Simon Mayo along the way.

The band was also asked to play at the Pavement curated All Tomorrow’s Party festival, as well as supporting the iconic band for a show at Glasgow’s Barrowlands. There’s certainly something of Stephen Malkmus’ lyrical sharpness to the record, although Waudby claims he is just as inspired by literary influences;

“It’s mainly writers such as Henry Miller, Charles Bukowski, Brett Easton Ellis and Larkin who inspire my lyrics, but I also get inspired by the work of artists, film makers and musicians from Chuck Close to Lars Von Trier to Neil Young. They’re all people who create uncompromising, beautiful and exciting art. They all make you feel something, whether you like that feeling or not.”

Listen and download one of the stand out tracks on the album Ten Songs, this track is amusingly titled ‘She Looked Like A Henry Moore.’

04 - Horse Guards Parade - She Looked Like A Henry Moore by Ten Songs

The Horse Guards Parade debut album Ten Songs is released on April 11th

Smile

Formed by five friends from Reading and London in 2009, Smile have featured on national radio stations XFM and BBC 6Music, winning listeners over with a session recorded for the Tom Robinson Show.

The band are a refreshing update of some of alternative rock’s true greats, referencing everyone from Afghan Whigs to Dinosaur Jr. while creating a personality entirely of their own.

Smile release their excellent debut EP ‘Closer’ on April 11th and the band are offering a free download of the title track right here:

Smile - Closer by divisionpromotions

Smile singer Chris Relevitch said:

“’The song ‘Closer’ is a break up song; it’s actually very bitter. I didn’t want to turn it into anything too crappy, so I tried to make it as direct and honest as possible, which ended up with me singing the most infantile, dumb shit. Stuff that I would probably say if I were drunk, which I was. It’s a healing process, the hurt process. ‘Nightlife’ is an ode to failed relationships and their worth in reminding us how much of a dick we can all be. Lord Lucan was a dick, he tried to kill his wife but ended up killing the nanny instead.”

Live Dates:

March 28th – London, The Windmill

April 7th – London, The Monarch

April 13th – Reading, The Oakford Social Club

The Goldberg Sisters

Perhaps best known for saving Private Ryan in the Hollywood blockbuster movie, actor Adam Goldberg is the man behind The Goldberg Sisters whose self titled album will be released on April 11th.

The Goldberg Sisters is the latest moniker for Adam’s musical output, he has previously released material as LANdy but has changed the artist name to avoid copyright infringements with a famous Brandy manufacturer.

The Goldberg Sisters is an album which encompasses everything from psychedelic to the “psychotropic” and explores themes from the depressing to the negligibly, less depressing, and it is Goldberg’s lofty ambition that this new album will put a wiggle in your step and a shot of adrenaline in your arm.

There are of course no sisters in the band, Goldberg explains; “I wanted to be in a sister band because there are a lot of cool sister bands lately, so I was basically trying to jump on the bandwagon. And I have two half-sisters whose last names are Goldberg. They don’t appear on the record, but they are there in spirit.”

You get the impression that Goldberg is his own man and his music too is about as unique as it gets, he manages to build his music in unfamiliar territory and clearly has a taste for the perverse- choosing to shoot the video for the track Shush on an iPhone, in one take.

The Goldberg Sisters – Shush

If you like Shush, get the free download of The Goldberg Sisters track Don’t Grow, here.

The Goldberg Sisters self titled album, tracklisting:

01. The Room
02. Mother Please (The World Is Not Our Home
03. Shush
04. Don’t Grow
05. You’re Beautiful When You Die
06. Erik Erikson
07. Third Person Blues
08. The Difference Between
09. The Skin Of the Patriot (Blame It on Your Youth)
10. The Heart Grows Fonder

The Goldberg Sisters brand new single Shush is released on March 28th with the self titled album to follow on April 11th.

Big Sleep

I have to admit to knowing very little about the band Big Sleep, other than they are from Manchester and appear to be quite elusive.

Unlike most bands these days Big Sleep do not appear to embrace the social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter and the like, but fair to say that they have a video out that has racked up well over 30,000 hits in a month on YouTube.

The track Ghosts also made it onto the Music Week playlist who described the song as ’soaring, melodically ambitious guitar-driven pop’.

Whatever their background Big Sleep are causing a bit of a buzz, not only with the song Ghosts but also on their current UK tour supporting The Comets, with many fans commenting that Big Sleep are something really special as a live band.

If you are in Newcastle at the weekend check them out at Newcastle Uni on February 26th where they will be performing along with The Comets, who are quite brilliant themselves.

Big Sleep – Ghosts

You can download the demo version of Ghosts here:

Ghosts by B I G S L E E P

The EP provides a taster for the second album and finds Dum Dum Girls moving away from the lo-fi bedroom pop of their debut and heading towards a punkier pop rock sound.

Check out the lead track from the EP He Gets Me High below, the song is being offered as a free download.

The new tracks are produced by the legendary songwriter and producer Richard Gottehrer who has previously worked with Blondie and the GoGo’s as well as writing the hit songs My Boyfriend’s Back and I Want Candy. He is ably assisted on the production by lead Dum Dum Girl Dee Dee and Sune Rose Wagner from the Ravonettes.

He Gets Me High EP Tracklisting:

1.Wrong Feels Right
2. He Gets Me High
3. Take Care of My Baby
4. There Is a Light That Never Goes Out (Smiths cover)

Following the release of the debut album, Dum Dum Girls embarked on a non stop schedule of touring in 2010, appearing with the likes of Vampire Weekend, Beach House, MGMT, Male Bonding and The Crocodiles.

This year already promises to be just as hectic with the band touring the US and Canada and arriving in the UK  at the end of March for a handful of dates here and in Ireland.

31-Mar UK Manchester  Deaf Institute
01-Apr IRE Dublin  Whelans
02-Apr UK Belfast  Black Box
03-Apr UK Glasgow  Stereo
04-Apr UK Leeds  Brudenell Social
05-Apr UK London  Dingwalls
06-Apr UK Brighton  Komedia

the day i die sleeve

Following the recent release of the video and single The Day I Die from South Central, the band have announced that they are giving away a free download of the track in its remixed format produced by Prodigy.

It’s a bit of a rarity these days to see a Prodigy remix, their own recent one was for Jay-Z, so expect something special on this South Central track.

The original release of the single The Day I Die by South Central features no less than five re-mix versions including the Prodigy mix, alongside the original version of the track. It has already been described as a Festival Anthem for this summer and marks the closest the band have come yet to providing a crossover single for the masses.

You can download the, The Day I Die Prodigy remix here.

The single complete with remixes will be officially released on March 14th on Egregore Records, the full track list is here:

1.          Day I Die
2.          Day I Die (The Prodigy rework)
3.          Day I Die (Qemists remix)
4.          Day I Die (The Toxic Avenger remix)
5.          Day I Die (Rhythm Masters remix)
6.          Day I Die (Baxen remix)

J Mascis

Dinosaur Jr. frontman J Mascis, one of the pioneers of grunge rock music is about to introduce another side to his unlimited talents when he releases his first ever solo album Several Shades of Why on March 14th. The album is preceded by the release of the single Not Enough on February 28th.

The album marks a departure from the fuzzy electric guitars that have been Mascis trademark since those early days with Dinosaur Jr. and is instead an acoustic collection of some incredible beauty.

Recorded at Amherst Massachusetts’ Bisquiteen Studios, the album was created with the help of a few friends. Notable amongst them are Kurt Vile, Sophie Trudeau (A Silver Mount Zion), Kurt Fedora (long-time collaborator), Kevin Drew (Broken Social Scene), Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses), Pall Jenkins (Black Heart Procession), Matt Valentine (The Golden Road), and Suzanne Thorpe (Wounded Knees).

Together in small mutable groupings, they conjure up classic sounds ranging from English-tinged folk to drifty, West Coast-style singer/songwriterism. But every track, every note even, bears that distinct Mascis watermark.

Mascics comments;

“Megan from Sub Pop has wanted me to do this record for a long time, she was very into it when I was playing solo a lot in the early 2000s, around the time of the Fog album [2002’s Free So Free].  She always wanted to know when I’d do a solo record. Several Shades of Why came out of that. There are a couple of songs that are older, but the rest is new this year. And it’s basically all acoustic. There’s some fuzz, but it’s acoustic through fuzz. There’re no drums on it, either. Just one tambourine song, that’s it. It was a specific decision to not have drums. Usually I like to have them, but going drum-less pushes everything in a new direction, and makes it easier to keep things sounding different.”

In celebration of the release, a free download of  wonderful album track ‘Is It Done’ has been made available, downloadable direct from Sub Pop.

In this amusing video interview Mascis gives an insight into the new album as well as a quick look around his studio.

Playing European shows in support of his forthcoming album Several Shades of Why, Mascis will arrive in London on April 14^th for an intimate performance at London’s Cargo. The full European dates are:

13^th – Dublin, Whelans

14^th – London, Cargo

16^th – Paris, Point Ephemere

17^th – Milan, Bloom

18^th – Rome, Circolo degli Artisti

20^th – Antwerp, Trix

21^st – Amsterdam, Sugar Factory

22^nd – Madrid, Moby Dick

23^rd – Barcelona, La (2)

we are augustines

Having supported the likes of Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth and The National with their previous band Pela which disbanded in 2009, the Brooklyn based duo Billy McCarthy and Eric Sanderson have returned as a compelling new act creating a bit of a buzz on the East Coast of America over the last few months.

It is easy to hear what all the fuss about listening the debut single Chapel Song from the duo who now go under the name of We Are Augustines. The band are offering the track as a free mp3 download from the We Are Augustines website and will issue it as a limited edition on vinyl through their website and on their forthcoming tour only.

We urge you to get over to the bands website and grab a copy of this excellent track right now, but for anyone doubting my personal tastes, here is the video made to accompany the track.

We Are Augustines – Chapel Song

With its jangling guitar and nonchalant vocals evoking shades of Robert Smith and The Cure, Chapel Song is taken from We Are Augustines forthcoming debut album Rise Ye Sunken Ships which has been produced by Dave Newfeld of Broken Social Scene.

Dubbed the modern day Springsteen by his peers, singer McCarthy’s raw and anguished vocals, along with his persuasive storytelling, are nothing less than masterful. And if your ears are in tune with bands such as the Gaslight Anthem, Arcade Fire and The National, you will not be disappointed by the album.

We Are Augustines will be touring the UK with The Boxer Rebellion in March 2011, catch them at the following venues:

3rd March 2011 – Edinburgh Cabaret Voltaire

4th March 2011 – Leeds Cockpit 2

5th March 2011 – Northampton Roadmender

6th March 2011 – Manchester Ruby Lounge

8th March 2011 – Bristol Fleece

9th March 2011 – Birmingham Temple @ HMV Institute

10th March 2011 – London Heaven

sound of guns - breakwater

Liverpool’s Sound of Guns have announced a new single Breakwater, scheduled for release on April 4th and taken from their forthcoming album which will be released later this year.

Sound of Guns are offering the track Breakwater as a free mp3 download, the single is backed with two more tracks for its full release via iTunes. The additional tracks will be Statues and Bottled in Birkenhead.

Get a copy of Breakwater at the Sound of Guns site.

Breakwater has already earned the accolade of becoming Single Of The Week at XFM and who seem to have taken a shine to the band, the band’s debut album ‘What Came From Fire’ is in their nominations for the New Music Awards 2011, as voted by its listeners.

Adding more fuel to the fire, the band has a spread of live shows throughout February with The Last Shadow Puppet’s Miles Kane, including HMV’s Next Big Thing w/Funeral Party.

Full tour dates are:

Sat 12             Glasgow King Tuts (with Miles Kane)

Sun 13            London Barfly (HMV Next Big Thing)

Mon 14           Nottingham Bodega (with Miles Kane)

Tues 15           Bristol Fleece (with Miles Kane)

Thurs 17         Coventry Kasbah

Tues 22           Leicester Musician (with Miles Kane)

Wed 23           Leeds Cockpit

Mon 28           Southampton Joiners

March

• Tue 1              Bristol Louisiana
• Wed 2             Nottingham Bodega
• Thurs 3           London XOYO
• Fri 4                Grimsby I Bar

May

• Sat 21 Liverpool St Georges Hall (Sound City Festival