Kicking things off on July 30th when they appear at the infamous Slam Dunk Club Night at Camden’s Purple Turtle, the Southampton quintet will perform at venues from Scotland to their home town on the south coast during the  first weeks of August.

Guitarist Jack Fairbrother said;
“We’re excited for the August tour because these will be our first headline shows in some time. We can’t wait to get out and play a new set in both familiar cities and new places – to some old and new faces. Fans can expect the best Not Advised show they’ve ever seen. We’re putting everything we can into these dates to make sure we play the best set – and more importantly make sure that everyone walks away after the best gig of their lives. That’s the aim!”

With a new single to be released between the end of this tour and the announcement of more UK dates in October, these are busy times for Not Advised, who will also confirm dates for their upcoming December European tour soon.

This is the current single from Not Advised – The World’s Not Ready

Not Advised UK Tour Dates:

30 July – LONDON, Slam Dunk @ Purple Turtle
1 August  – MILTON KEYNES, Crauford Arms
2 August – BRISTOL, Academy 2
3 August – BIRMINGHAM, Academy 3
4 August – NEWCASTLE, Academy 2
5 August, GLASGOW, Academy 2
7 August – ABERDEEN, Warehouse
8 August – DUNDEE, Dexters
10 August – MANCHESTER, Roadhouse
11 August – LIVERPOOL, Academy 2
12 August – LONDON, Islington Academy 2
13 August – SOUTHAMPTON, Joiners
15 August – SHEFFIELD, Academy
17 August – LEEDS, Cockpit

For further information visit the Not Advised MySpace page.

Florence & The Machine @ Latitude Festival 2010 photo: ryanmasonimaging.com

The Latitude Festival is much more than a music festival with a broad range of arenas, stages and tents offering theatre, poetry, film, dance, literature and music.  But for this review I will concentrate on my Latitude Festival 2010 music highlights.

As with previous years, many festival goers and keen campers began to arrive on the Thursday, but more so this year, possibly caused by the late additions of Nigel Kennedy and Tom Jones opening the Latitude Festival with Thursday performances.  Unable to attend I can only go on what I heard.  The festival was noticeably busy and Nigel Kennedy’s set on the Lake Stage was well received whereas many were disappointed as they couldn’t get near the small Sunrise Stage, set in the middle of the woods for Tom Jones’ midnight performance; and furthermore were bemused when the set introduced songs from his new album and did not include any of his classic hits.

With seventeen stages, tents, arenas and other impromptu performances over four days it was always going to be difficult to timetable seeing everything we wanted to, even for two reviewers; and some attractions were so popular, such as the Inbetweeners press conference and screening of Four Lions followed by a Q&A with writer, director and comic genius Chris Morris that we couldn’t even get into the Film & Music Arena to review!

Of the music stages I mainly frequented just three: the Obelisk or Main Arena, the Word Arena and deep in the woods, the Sunrise Arena.

The Obelisk Stage is big and open and on Friday night was headlined by Florence & the Machine.  It was their first major festival headliner and Florence’s performance, voice and stage presence was very warmly received.  At the same time The National headlined the Word Arena.  Set under canvas, in a more confined space the music was darker, deeper and altogether more compelling.  The audience was clearly divided between pop mistress and the broody baritone vocals of Matt Berninger and the post-gothic but surprisingly upbeat sound of The National.  For me, The National won the day with a great set including songs from their new album, High Violet.

One of the highlights of the whole festival was witnessing The National perform of their current single, Bloodbuzz Ohio.  More than merely watching or listening, this was all about ‘being there’. The sound, performance and atmosphere were perfect.

Before Florence & the Machine, Empire of the Sun gave a larger than life performance on the main stage complete with dance routines and various costume changes. While the Sunrise Arena hosted a lively performance from the wonderful Tokyo Police Club who were well received by a large crowd, many of which were familiar with songs from their 2008 debut Elephant Shell and the new album, Champ. They finished the set with a seismic version of Your English Is Good.  At times Tokyo Police Club remind me of Luna, The Pixies and The Strokes.  And yes, they are that good!

On Saturday the main stage played host to the return of Belle & Sebastian, though The Word Arena won the battle of the stages with performances from Noah & The Whale, The Horrors and The XX.  I was looking forward to seeing The Horrors after missing a low key show in June.  But I have to say the sound let them down; an engineer who had too much bass vibration and not enough vocal or noisy guitar in the mix.  That said The Horrors still put in a good performance.

The problem with the full-on bass was accentuated with The XX.  One of my sons decided not to stay for The XX.  He explained afterwards that he had left early because the bass was so loud it was stopping him from breathing!

The Word Arena was too small for The XX and the crowd was heaving and not helped by a constant stream of drunken teenagers constantly pushing through and treading on my toes.  As far as I saw, The XX played to the largest crowd in the Word Arena, while the biggest crowd for the main stage goes to Mumford & Sons for their massive performance on Sunday afternoon.

The Gentleman’s Dub Club played a late midnight set on the Sunrise Stage in the woods with a great energetic dub reggae set with some good time ska pick-me-ups.  It drew a large crowd of all ages. Teenagers’ pogoing to the up-tempo ska beats while middle-aged men reminded themselves of the skinhead moonstomp, from back in the day.  A great performance, coupled with a perfect sound.  Pockets of strange smelling cigarettes kept people smiling and dancing well into the wee small hours.  Loving dub reggae as I do, Gentleman’s Dub Club was a real highlight for me and a band I must go and see again, soon.

By Sunday I was becoming weary and needed something light and easy listening.  For that, Midlake performing their 1970s flavoured laid back country rock was a perfect anecdote; and was a pleasant surprise as this was an introduction to their music.  But before them were Mumford & Sons followed by Dirty Projectors.

I can only assume Mumford & Sons were booked to play Sunday afternoon way before their success blossomed.  I knew they would attract a crowd but the main arena was solid. They played songs from their Sigh No More album and the crowd jigged and sang along.  Their contemporary brand of English folk music was appreciated as much as the cider and was loved by pretty much everyone present.

Always looking like drawing the short straw, The Big Pink played the Word Arena while all but a handful of people crammed in to watch Mumford & Sons.  They were plagued by sound and technical problems and though they were making an impressive noise, the songs appeared lifeless and empty of quality.  Something was missing, and it wasn’t just an audience!

Following the folk and cider sing-a-long of the Mumford & Sons set was never going to be easy, but could not have been more of a polar opposite than the challenging anti-pop music of Dirty Projectors.  I have to be honest the album didn’t do much for me at all on first listen and so was not given a second; and I was only here as I was at a loose end and a friend was keen to see if they could pull it off live.  And they did.  The crowd may have dwindled to about a third of Mumford & Sons but that was to be expected.  They gave a stunning performance, considering.

Dirty Projectors are an experimental rock band from based in New York and led by Dave Longstreth. The music is best described as Captain Beefheart in its complexity and multi-faceted cacophony of simultaneous rhythms.  While the guitarist and main singer Dave Longstreth showed nervous twitching mannerisms of Tom Verlaine and the deranged stares of a young David Byrne, vocals also come from the three female voices of Amber Coffman (vocals, guitar), Angel Deradoorian (vocals, keyboard, samples, guitar, bass) and Haley Dekle (vocals).  The Dirty Projectors line-up is completed by bass and drums. Looking back on the weekend this performance, along with Midlake was two of the best for me as I had no expectations.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart didn’t disappoint.  I love this band.  Four young kids from New York who admit to have listened to jangly 1980’s British indie pop until they were able to perfect the sound of the debut My Bloody Valentine album.  Their set at the Sunrise Arena was another lesson in perfect pop. Three minute bubblegum pop led by thrashing buzzsaw guitars, manic drumming and sugar-coated twee vocals with boy- girl harmonies.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart mixed a couple of new tracks in with songs from their much-acclaimed self-titled debut album which appeared in many end of year ‘best albums of 2009’ lists.

They were my music highlights from the fifth Latitude Festival. I don’t have much to say about the other main stage headline acts Belle & Sebastian or Vampire Weekend.  I’ll leave that for someone else.

On reflection the festival was as good as ever if not at times too busy and soured by the constant stream of pissed teenagers that appear to have come with mummy and daddy, only to be left to wander round the music stages treading on toes and pushing through attentive crowds while their parents were probably in the literary or poetry tents sipping wine.  It was also shocking to hear while driving away from the festival that the police were investigating two charges of rape on 17 and 19 year old girls, felt not to be connected.

Each year Latitude is a success it becomes more popular.  But personally I believe the festival organisers, Festival Republic, should consider what will be lost if the best small festival in the UK outgrows that category.

In case you have not heard Reef reformed recently and as a consequence of their reformation a new band is also born, as Reef members Gary Stringer and Jack Bessant release their first album as a duo, Yard which was released this week.

Both Reef and StringerBessant, as the duo are known, will be hitting the road to promote their respective new material over the coming months, the duo are in Newquay tomorrow.

Justice Force Five are a group of Superhero rockers who have just released a video single or vingle if you will called Fight the Fight. The video can be seen below and the band will be performing live in London and Bath this month if that takes your fancy.

In addition there are live dates announced for Frank Turner and Fighting Fiction as well as two of my current favourite bands Straight Lines and The Xcerts.

Full details of upcoming XtraMile artists live dates in the UK:

STRINGERBESSANT
16 July KOOLA BAR, NEWQUAY
17 July MISS PEAPODS, FALMOUTH
21 July THUNDERBOLT, BRISTOL
23 July THE VIC, SWINDON

JUSTICE FORCE 5
20 July – 93 Feet East, London
23 July – Belushi’s, Bath

FIGHTING FICTION
25 Sep Frog Fest @ Frog and Fiddle, Cheltnham
13 Nov The Royal Oak, Ipswich

FRANK TURNER
16 Jul 2000 Trees Festival, Cheltenham
17 Jul Latitude Festival, Southwold
19 Jul iTunes Festival, London
1 Dec Lemon Tree, Aberdeen
2 Dec ABC, Glasgow
3 Dec 53 Degrees, Preston
4 Dec The Plug, Sheffield
5 Dec The Regal, Oxford
6 Dec Corn Exchange, Cambridge
7 Dec The Guildhall, Southampton
8 Dec Lemon Grove, Exeter
10 Dec The Academy, Leicester
11 Dec The Academy, Liverpool
12 Dec O2 Academy Brixton, London

REEF
4 Sep Bingley Music Live, Yorkshire
18 Sep Racecourse, Devon
26 Nov Hall For, Cornwall
27 Nov Portsmouth Pyramids, Portsmouth
2 Dec Kentish Town Forum, London
3 Dec Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton
4 Dec Rock City, Nottingham

STRAIGHT LINES
22 Jul Buffalo Bar, Cardiff
30 Jul The Empire, Abertillery
1 Aug Sonisphere Festival (Bowtime Bar Stage @ 2pm), Knebworth
30 Sep Camden Barfly, London
13 Oct Arts Centre, Norwich, UNITED KINGDOM
14 Oct Rock City Basement, Nottingham, UNITED KINGDOM
15 Oct Sugarmill, Stoke, UNITED KINGDOM
16 Oct Sound Control, Manchester, UNITED KINGDOM
17 Oct Cockpit 2, Leeds, UNITED KINGDOM
19 Oct IronWorks, Inverness, UNITED KINGDOM
20 Oct King Tuts, Glasgow, UNITED KINGDOM
21 Oct Newcastle 02 Academy, Newcastle, UNITED KINGDOM
22 Oct Masque, Liverpool
23 Oct Leicester Academy 2, Leicester
23 Oct Leicester Academy 2, Leicester

THE XCERTS
16 July 2000 Trees Festival, Cheltenham
17 Jul Guilfest (Rocksound Cave stage), Surrey
18 Jul Wimbledon Calling, London
20 Jul Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
21 Jul Le Pub, Newport
24 Jul Rythms of the world festival, Hitchin
27 Jul Harley’s, Bathgate
28 Jul King Tut’s, Glasgow
29 Jul Da Vinci’s, Livingston, Scotland
30 Jul The Doghouse, Dundee
1 Aug Sonisphere Festival, Knebworth
10 Aug Deaf Institute, Manchester w/Get Cape.Wear Cape.Fly
11 Aug Borderline, London w/Get Cape.Wear Cape.Fly
12 Aug Rock City Basement, Nottingham w/Get Cape.Wear Cape.Fly
13 Aug Inn On The Square, Barnstable w/Get Cape.Wear Cape.Fly
13 Aug Electric Circus, Edinburgh w/Get Cape.Wear Cape.Fly
18 Sep Southsea festival, Portsmouth
26 Sep Underground Festival, Gloucester

metric - eclipse (all yours)

The new single from Metric will be Eclipse (All Yours), taken from The Twilight Saga:Eclipse Original Movie Soundtrack, it has been announced.

Eclipse (All Yours) will be released on August 16th, the second track to be released from the soundtrack album, following Neutron Star Collision (Love is Forever) by Muse which came out in June.

The track Eclipse (All Yours) is the first new material to be released by Metric since their critically acclaimed fourth album Fantasies and the track looks set to be a massive hit for the Canadian band as Twilight mania once again takes a grip on the UK.

Metric – Eclipse (All Yours)

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack is the musical companion to the third smash installment of Summits film franchise.  The album entered the Soundtrack chart at number one and has already sold in excess of 75,000 copies in the UK.  The film is the largest midnight opener in history in the US, it was released in cinemas across the UK and Ireland by E1 Entertainment last weekend.

In addition to Metric and Muse “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” soundtrack features new songs from Florence + The Machine, The Dead Weather, Vampire Weekend, Cee Lo Green, The Bravery, Beck and Bat For Lashes, UNKLE featuring The Black Angels, Fanfarlo and more. Each recording featured is exclusive to the soundtrack, having never been released previously.

Redtrack

Ever wondered what The Buzzcocks would sound like if they were just starting out? Think no more and listen to the excellent new track Perfectly Fine Intellectual from Redtrack, you will not be disappointed.

The four piece from Southend on Sea reckon that they sound like a cross between Girls Aloud and The Clash, but maybe former Buzzcock’s frontman Pete Shelley has had more influence than just producing their previous single Poledancer.

Both tracks are taken from the album Whole Towns Heart which is scheduled for release on August 30th, the first album to be released on Label Fandango.

The album also features a star turn for Hollyoaks starlet Hollie Jay Bowes on Pretty Boy, a return favour for the bands recent appearance on the TV show.

Actor Ray Winstone is also a big fan apparently and has shown some interest in recording a track with the band in the future.

Frankly it is a miracle that this record even exists seeing as how three years ago bassist Phil Blake was attacked with an air gun and a meat cleaver and so badly hurt that he needed microsurgery on severed tendons in his arm.

That he is back playing is a testament to his spirit in the face of potentially crippling adversity. Certainly the printed press and television stations have recently been fascinated by his recovery. And seeing Redtrack live you can see why his band mates downed instruments and waited for him to recover, for they are tight knit quartet of tautest order.

To complete the Buzzcocks connection Redtrack will complete a number of Summer headline dates in the UK before supporting the legendary Buzzcocks in September.

Redtrack – Perfectly Fine Individual

The Redtrack single Perfectly Fine Intellectual is released on Label Fandango and is available now.

For more information visit the Redtrack website.

Latitude Festival - The Horrors, The National, The XX, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Mumford & Sons, Frank Turner, Temper Trap & more

Latitude Festival returns for an incredible 5th Edition on 15-18th July 2010 set in the beautiful countryside of Henham Park Estate on Suffolk’s Sunrise Coast.

Latitude is dedicated to giving you only the best and most eclectic ensemble of music, theatre, comedy, literature, film, poetry, dance, art, fashion and cabaret for three spectacular days and as ever, this focus has delivered a line-up like no one else.

As with all good festivals Latitude has a great and diverse range of music across several stages.  What I like best about Latitude is that it isn’t too large, like Glastonbury, but big enough to attract a great line-up.

So if you’re lucky enough to have tickets you might be thinking of which performances you want to see over the weekend.

The three headline acts on the main Obelisk Arena will be Florence & the Machine, Belle & Sebastian and Vampire Weekend.  None of those really take my fancy.  But when I look at other acts performing on the main stage there are a few I’m already looking forward to, including Mumford & Sons, Frank Turner, Temper Trap and the wonderful Rodrigo y Gabriela.

Furthermore, there is plenty of music on the other music stages.  Highlights for me are The Horrors, The National, The XX, The Big Pink, Wild Beasts and Grizzly Bear all appearing at The Word Arena.  On the Sunshine Arena I hope to see the wonderful Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Girls, Tokyo Police Club and a late night performance by the Gentleman’s Dub Club; while Beth Jeans Houghton will be performing on The Lake Stage.

In all there is no fewer than 17 stages offering music, dance, film, art, poetry, theatre and comedy.

Spread throughout the site, just waiting to be discovered, expect the highest calibre of art.  Building on its reputation as one of the most respected and highly anticipated events of the season, 2010 promises to be an inspirational and entertaining, sophisticated and scintillating weekend; another spectacular slice of unadulterated cultural fun and adventure.

Celebrating its fifth year, Latitude continues to lead the way as a bold and pioneering festival cherry-picking the very best from the worlds of music, theatre, comedy, literature, film, poetry, dance, art, fashion and cabaret and bringing them together for one glorious weekend. It is a place like no other; an intimate world away from reality that encourages you to be all that you’ve ever wanted to be whilst indulging in the spirit of exploration and discovery.

Latitude Festival is on Thursday 15- Sunday 18th July 2010.  Tickets are sold out.

Taken from their debut album Reservoir and released through Atlantic Records on Monday July 12th 2010 – Fire Escape will feature radical reworkings by Dave Sitek (TV On The Radio), Tom Furse (The Horrors), Toro Y Moi and The Time & Space Machine (Richard Norris), as well as a new single mix from Tom Elmhirst (Amy Winehouse, Jonsi).

The single will be accompanied by a stunning, black-as-ink, video, directed by Jamie Thraves (Radiohead, Coldplay), which will be premiered on the US blog site Stereogum on June 8.  Two different endings have been shot, one ‘happy’ the other ‘unhappy’, although, concerning with suicide, cults and human vulnerability, both could be seen as thoughtful ruminations on staring into the abyss.

Meanwhile, the band are set to confirm of a very special tiny London show around the release of Fire Escape and their biggest UK headline tour to date in the autumn within the next few days.

Fanfarlo 2010 UK Dates:

25th June
Glastonbury Festival – Queen’s Head stage

1st July
London – Serpentine Sessions
(with Laura Marling)

16th September
London
Campfire Trails at Troxy
(with Wild Beasts)

Throughout the summer Fanfarlo can also be seen appearing at festivals in Japan, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Italy, Iceland and across America.

Elsewhere the band recently made a series of engaging short films with experimental US film-maker Brain Gonzalez. A cut above your average on-the-road doc, a snippet of the conceptual films based around their appearances at this year’s SxSW Festival will be shortly made available to view via their site.

Finally, an exclusive, brand new song, ‘Atlas’, recorded with Mike McCarthy (Trail of Dead, Spoon), appears on the forthcoming Twilight movie and OST, which is released on June 7th, while ‘The Walls Are Coming Down’ is currently being used in a high-profile Canon Powershot camera ad across the UK and Europe.

Fire Escape, the new single from Fanfarlo will be released on 12th July

For more information visit www.myspace.com/fanfarlo

Dour Festival 2010

Dour Festival in southern Belgium has released its full line-up! This excellent festival for fans of alternative music in whatever genre you can think of has 200 bands over 4 days on 6 stages and music from 12am to 5am.

Recently awarded the prize for the best medium-sized European festival, the line-up this year really reflects its stock as one of the leading European festivals.

Band to particularly look out for include Faith No More’s reformation, De La Soul & Rhythm Roots All Stars, Simian Mobile Disco, Gwar, A-Track, Calvin Harris, The Maccabees, The Futureheads, Dave Clarke, Benga feat. Sgt Pokes, Skream, Archie Bronson Outift, Spoon, The Raveonettes, Devendra Banhart, Paul Kalkbrenner, Atari Teenage Riot Gui Boratto, Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip, Etienne de Crécy (Beats’n’Cubes), Brother Ali feat. Bk 1, Mayer Hawthorne, Third Wold, Mr. Vegas, DevilDriver, Shining, Fucked Up, The Very Best, Dum Dum Girls… the list goes on and on, so have a look here for more info.

Travel to Dour is easy either with Big Green Coach from London, to nearby airports or by Eurostar to Brussels or Lille, and for the price of the ticket (€93 + €17 camping) for 4 days of live music, even with travel it’s a bargain compared to UK festivals.

For those who don’t know the festival, Dour is in the French speaking part of Belgium. It is a very European, broad and open-minded festival that welcomes not only different nationalities, but a broad palette of different musical styles.  It has a capacity of roughly 40,000 people a day so is very humane in its size when spread over the six stages.

Here is the Dour Festival site.

Here is the Dour Festival Facebook group.

Here is the Dour Festival Twitter feed.

Follow me on Twitter.

Latitude Festival 2010

The very wonderful purveyors of C86 indie pop jangly guitars, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart are among the latest additions to be added to this year’s already sold-out Latitude Festival on 15-18th July 2010.

They were thrust into the limelight last year with the release of their self-titled debut album which was awash with fuzz-guitar & sugar candy coated pop songs which drew comparisons with My Bloody Valentine and The Pastels.

Other artists to be confirmed this week include Crystal Castles, Paul Heaton, Joshua Radin, The Antlers, Luna Belle, Arno Carstens,  Lauren Pritchard, White Belt Yellow Tag, Holly Miranda, The Hundred In The Hands,  Michael Kiwanuka, The Supernovas, Cevanne, The Cads and These Ghosts; along with DJs White Wedding DJs, The Vinyl Vendettas and Moshi Moshi.

Latitude Festival is set in the beautiful countryside of Henham Park Estate on Suffolk’s Sunrise Coast.

The now sold out Latitude Festival continues to hold its position as a strident and unique summer event with a bill that defies the traditional. Upon the backdrop of the incomparable Suffolk countryside, Latitude incorporates the very best of music, theatre, comedy, literature, film, poetry, dance, art, fashion and cabaret for a memorable weekend of bliss and adventure as well as inspiration and education.

Four music arenas are host to a tantalising blend of musical talent from new bands, rising stars and a global outlook, whilst the arts programme spills over into thirteen arenas and areas providing something for everyone – no matter what you’re looking for, you’re bound to find it. Once again Latitude Festival may well be the best UK festival this summer.

Continuing the tradition of world famous artists packed onto one stage the Obelisk Arena’s princely location overlooking the site provides a true headlining space for the array of artists performing. Florence + The Machine, Belle and Sebastian and Vampire Weekend are atop this towering bill while Empire of the Sun, Laura Marling, The Maccabees, Rodrigo y Gabriella, Midlake, Spoon, Dirty Projectors and Mumford & Sons embellish this already glittering line-up.

For a complete line-up visit the Latitude Festival Website.

Accepting the personal invitation from punk rockers Green Day, Turner will be opening for the band alongside Joan Jett and The Blackhearts.

The two dates are:
Manchester LCCC  June 16th
Wembley Stadium June 19th

Turner has recently returned from his first ever tours of Australia and China and as well as Green Day support he will be playing at a staggering array of UK festivals over the coming summer months.

His itinerary includes headlining Wood and 2000trees, main stage performance at Latitude, T In The Park, two sets at Glastonbury and the NME/Radio1 Stage at Reading and Leeds. Plus Lollopalooza, Galgory Folk Festival and whole load in Europe.

For more information visit the Frank Turner website.

Also making the headlines is another of Xtra Mile Recordings artistes, Straight Lines, the band is currently on the first ever Xtra Mile tour with stable mates The Xcerts and will also support Frank Turner at the O2 Birmingham Academy on May 27th for the Kerrang! Radio Night.

Straight Lines have announced the release of their next single, the furiously melodic slice of indie pop, Loose Change, taken from the excellent album Persistence In This Game.

Loose Change is released on June 12th.

Straight Lines – Loose Change

Straight Lines UK Dates:

MAY
24 Cellars, Portsmouth – XMR tour
25 Borderline, London – XMR tour
26 The Forum, Tunbridge Wells – XMR tour
27 O2 Academy, Birmingham w/Frank Turner – Kerrang! Radio night
28 Roadmender, Northampton
29 Slam Dunk Festival, Hatfield – Kerrang! Introducing stage
30 Slam Dunk Festival, Leeds – Kerrang! Introducing stage

JUNE
12 Download Festival
24 Millenium Music Hall w/Elliot Minor, Cardiff