A Hawk & A Hacksaw will be performing tracks from their forthcoming fifth album during the tour where the core duo of Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost will be augmented by regular collaborator Sam Johnson and newcomer Issa Malluf.

A Hawk & A Hacksaw will be performing at the following venues;

Tuesday 3 August
Cafe Oto, LONDON (with The Family Elan)
18-22 Ashwin St, E8 3DL
Doors 8pm
Tickets £12.50 adv / £14

Wednesday 4 August
The Kazimier, LIVERPOOL (with a.P.A.t.T and Trouble With Books)
4-5 Wolstensholme Sq, L1 4JJ
Doors 8pm
Tickets £6

Thursday 5 August
The Harley, SHEFFIELD
334 Glossop Rd, S10 2HW
Doors 8pm
Tickets £8

Friday 6 August
Standon Calling, STANDON (Crooked House stage)

Following their sold out show at Bishopsgate Institute, Wildbirds & Peacedrums will return to London for a low-key duo show in the week of release of their new album, Rivers (released Aug 23). The show takes place at The Lexington on Thursday August 26.

Mariam Wallentin and Andreas Werliin released two limited edition vinyl-only EPs earlier this summer, Retina and Iris, and these have now been compiled into the double CD Rivers album.

The Leaf Label have prepared a special preorder bundle for Rivers in the Leaf Label shop, where £18 (plus p&p) will get you a CD, an instant download of the album (currently only available as part of this offer) while you wait for the CD, a ticket for the London show and a ‘Wildbirds & Peacedrums with Voices’ poster.

On August 23, Efterklang will release double CD Special Editions of their first two full-length albums, together with their accompanying mini-albums, in deluxe fold-out card packaging with new 16 page booklets containing sleeve notes written by the band.

The band’s 2004 debut, Tripper, comes with the band’s first release, the Springer mini-album, while Parades is augmented by the long out-of-print Under Giant Trees.

Both releases include two live recordings of songs from the relevant albums, and, for a limited time, Parades + Under Giant Trees also includes the full-colour poster that came with the original Parades CD. In addition, Leaf Label have re-pressed a limited quantity of the original Tripper double LP (the original Parades is still available on vinyl in limited quantities).

Wigan songstress Nancy Elizabeth has announced two full band shows, alongside Homelife and Denis Jones. The shows take place in Manchester (Sep 9) and at London’s King’s Place Festival (Sep 12).

An EP of specially recorded cover versions and remixes by the artists involved will be released by Manchester’s Humble Soul Records to coincide with the dates.

Actor Elijah Wood has compiled an album in aid of The Art Of Elysium, a non-profit organisation which brings musicians, artists and actors into hospitals to work with sick children. The album, entitled Elysium: A Benefit For The Art Of Elysium, features recent Oh No Ono single ‘Internet Warrior‘ alongside the likes of Sonic Youth, White Denim and The Kills. The album is available through iTunes.

And finally you can see the new tune Earth Crisis from Icy Demons below. The track was part of a session recorded for new website Giant System Chicago. Icy Demons are currently hard at work finishing the follow up to Miami Ice.

The Invasion Of…is a five piece band completed by Andre Bayuni, Julian Bayuni, Neil Montier and vocalist Robin Coombes of acclaimed British hip hop group Taskforce, they are set to release their debut mini-album ‘373’ through 25 Hour Convenience Records on October 4^th.

With The Invasion Of... Powell takes on the roll of main contributing composer of the music, with Coombes contributing his unique approach to lyric writing. Fans of Powell’s previous bands are sure to be pleasantly surprised by their ever more eclectic style of rock ‘n’ roll, prog and krautrock as Gary explains;

“Starting The Invasion Of… was a real leap of faith not only in myself, but the soon to be members of the band.  It would have been easier for me to set it up with other musicians from other bands and follow their lead, but instead I decided to get things going with friends, regardless of their musical background. It has worked out better than I could have ever imagined as the musicians I play and work with have surpassed my wildest expectations.
It has been a big ask to expect the guys to take their own leap of faith in me, but they’ve done it and brought along their own ideas, emotions and overall dynamic determination into the mix which has really helped shape the mad ideas we have  into something cohesive Imagine if Chuck Berry in his youth had started making music in today’s day and age, he would be making music like us.”

The Invasion Of… will be appearing live at Proud, Camden on August 3^rd, here is an interesting clip of what to expect from the band, taken from their debut live performance at The Water Rats.

‘373′ mini album track listing:

1)      The Invasion Of Venice

2)      Delusional

3)      Memories

4)      In Like Voodoo

5)      Pedantic Romantic

6)      Devilish Ways

The Big Chill Festival 2010 official partner - viagogo

The Big Chill has come a long way since 1994 when Pete Lawrence and Katrina Larkin organised a series of parties at the Union Chapel in north London. The following it began life as an outdoor festival with an event in the Black Mountains of Wales.  The Big Chill Festival has also been held at other venues around the UK including Lulworth Castle in Dorset and Larmer Tree Gardens.

In 2009 ChillFest Limited went into liquidation after poor ticket sales and was bought out by Festival Republic, the organisers of Latitude, Leeds and Reading Music Festivals.

The Big Chill Festival 2010 takes place between Thursday 5th and Sunday 8th August at Eastnor Castle Deer Park, Malvern Hills, Herefordshire.

This year’s main stage (Deer Park Stage) headliners are Massive Attack, M.I.A. and Lily Allen with some top quality support including Thom Yorke, Roots Manuva, Paloma Faith, Magic Numbers, Newton Faulkner and personally favourites Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions.

The smaller Revellers’ Stage has some great acts too – Kruder & Dorfmeister, Layo & Bushwacka, Mr Scruff, Easy Star All-Stars as well as Kelis, Plan B, Tinie Tempah and Roy Ayers, among others.

Other personal highlights of interest appearing at one of the other 10 stages, tents or areas include The Hundred In The Hand, Liars, Caribou and London Elektricity.

Furthermore, there will be plenty of DJ sets including the likes of from Andrew Weatherall, Don Letts, Tom Middleton and Greg Wilson; and Peter Hook & Howard Marks, Harry Shearer (Spinal Tap’s Derek Smalls & voice of The Simpsons) and Paul Morley discussing Michael Jackson in the Words In Motion Tent.

viagogo is an official partner of The Big Chill Festival.

The Big Chill Festival Tickets
As well as making it easy and simple to buy or sell The Big Chill Festival tickets, viagogo ensure their safe and prompt delivery with online tracking. Every Big Chill Festival transaction is 100% guaranteed to be safe and secure.

viagogo is your online ticket exchange for all UK concert tickets.

Taking time out from recording their next album with Queens of the Stone Age producer Chris Goss, the Zeppelin and Pink Floyd influenced psychedelic rockers are looking forward to playing in the UK again.

Lead guitarist Jules Shapiro said;
“We always love performing in the UK! Our first tour back in 2007 went way beyond expectations. To be asked to perform at the legendary Sonisphere Festival has really got us spinning around. Playing alongside legendary rock bands like The Cult, Iron Maiden and Iggy Pop, is really a dream come true! And to do all that in the UK, a country so influential in making rock music what it is today, is great.”

Full details of the UK dates are as follows:
28th July – Dublin Castle, London
29th July – Riff’s Bar, Swindon
30th July – The Wilmington Arms, London
1st Aug – Sonisphere Festival, Knebworth

If you are at the Sonisphere Festival be sure to check out the outstanding XtraMile artists Straight Lines and The Xcerts, who will be appearing on Sunday on the Strongbow Bowtime Bar.

Straight Lines are due onstage at around 2pm on Sunday and The Xcerts will be performing at around 7pm.

Steeped in history the event has attracted the best artists that the music world has to offer in its many years of existence, names such as The Who, The Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, The Small Faces, T Rex, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple have all supported the festival over the years.

More recently Nirvana made their last UK appearance at the festival in 1992, Stone Roses played their last show together in 1996, and Metallica reached their full potential in 1997.

The headline acts at this years Reading & Leeds festivals include the return of Guns N’ Roses, Blink 182 and Arcade Fire, supported by Queens of the Stoneage, Paramore and The Libertines.

As with all music festivals it is not just about the headline acts and as usual at Reading & Leeds there is a stellar line up across all the stages at this years event.

LCD Soundsystem, Pendulum and Klaxons head up the NME/Radio1 stage, while Alkaline Trio, Bad Religion and Roots Manuva headline the Lock Up Stage.

Marina & The Diamonds, Ash and British Sea Power head the Festival Republic Stage, while the Alternative Stage will be home to comedians Emo Phillips, Stephen K Amos, Jason Byrne, Kevin Bridges, Russell Kane and Rufus Hound.

An incredible line up of support on all stages throughout the weekend is promised at Reading and Leeds and some forward planning may be required to fit in all your favourite acts.

As part of an agreement with Reading Borough Council made in 2009, to increase the capacity at the festival by 10,000 over three years, an extra 3,500 tickets for the Reading Festival were released for sale over the weekend.

If you haven’t done so already, there couldn’t be a better time to purchase tickets for Reading/Leeds Festivals.

Reading & Leeds Festival Ticket Information
At viagogo, every Reading & Leeds Festival transaction is 100% guaranteed to be safe and secure. As well as making it easy and simple to buy Reading & Leeds Festival tickets or sell Reading & Leeds Festival tickets, viagogo ensure their safe and prompt delivery with online tracking.

Despite spending so much time on the road The Xcerts will release their second album this Autumn, the much anticipated follow up to 2009’s In The Wind We Smile will be called Scatterbrain and promises a darker, dirty and earthier sound from the band.

Work started on Scatterbrain at the start of the year with US producer Mike Sapone in his home studio in New York, the first single Slackerpop was released back in June, watch it here performed live at the Borderline from their performance in May.

The Xcerts – Slackerpop

The Xcerts UK dates:

JULY
24th Rhythms of the World Festival, Hitchin
27th Harley’s, Bathgate
28th King Tut’s, Glasgow
29th Da Vinci’s, Livingston
30th The Doghouse, Dundee

AUGUST
1st Sonisphere Festival, Knebworth
10th Deaf Institute, Manchester *
11th Borderline, London * 12th Rock City Basement *
13th Electric Circus (The Edge Festival) *

SEPTEMBER
18th Southsea festival, Portsmouth
26th Underground Festival, Gloucester
* with Get Cape.Wear Cape. Fly.

For further information visit The Xcerts MySpace page.

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.

xfm bestnonfest

The UK radio station that loves music, XFM, have announced the launch of their BestNonFest competition that offers one lucky winner the ultimate non festival package – the ultimate collection of gig tickets to see some of the greatest bands around.

Top bands already lined up for the grand prize include Mumford & Sons, Foals, MGMT, Biffy Clyro, Darwin Deez, Manic Street Preachers and Klaxons, with many more artists to be announced through July and August.

XFM invite music fans to join a virtual queue on Facebook whereby each position is constantly determined by a series of daily music Q&As.

Questions answered correctly enable entrants to move forward whilst incorrect answers move them backwards in the queue.  Each person that enters the competition gets the chance to win weekly spot-prizes of gig tickets, CDs, and festival paraphernalia.

The first person in the queue by the end of the competition wins the grand prize of gig tickets to see an incredible line-up of BestNonFest bands.

The competition is easy to enter by simply clicking on the BestNonFest tab on XFM’s Facebook page where you will find details of how you could win the grand prize.

Good luck!

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.

After almost 25 years fronting The Levellers, Chadwick will release his debut solo album All The Pieces on September 6th through Stay By Records.

One of the UK’s most successful songwriters, Chadwick has co-written 20 chart singles and 6 Top 40 albums (including a Number 1) as part of The Levellers.

All The Pieces is a step away from the confines of the band and although the voice may be familiar that is where the similarities end. Instead, this is an intensely personal collection of wonderfully crafted 3 minute pop songs, written and refined over the course of the last two decades.

All The Pieces is, to all intents and purposes, Mark Chadwick telling the story of his own life, in his own words. Presented chronologically, it charts the highs and lows of his extraordinary life, encompassing life-altering events such as attending Elephant Fayre which helped shaped his political views, falling in (and subsequently out of) love, through to his later disillusion with both mainstream and radical politics.

This album shows a side of Mark Chadwick’s song-writing and personality that up to now he has largely kept out of the public eye. Honest and heartfelt, yet highly accessible and endearingly upbeat, All The Pieces shares many of its hallmarks with the great folk revival albums of the 60’s and early 70’s. Anyone expecting a Levellers sound-alike album will be disappointed, but those with an ear for beautifully produced acoustic-pop, great melodies and engaging lyrics will most certainly not.

Mark Chadwick’s October tour goes on sale on 12 July. He will be joined on tour by a band featuring guest musicians plus support to be announced.

MARK CHADWICK ‘ALL THE PIECES’ 2010 TOUR

OCTOBER 2010
Weds 6 EXETER Phoenix 01392 667 080 www.exeterphoenix.org.uk
Thurs 7 LONDON Bush Hall 0844 811 0051 www.gigsandtours.com
Fri 8 SOUTHAMPTON The Brook 023 8055 5366 www.the-brook.com
Sat 9 CARDIFF The Globe 029 2045 2151 www.theglobecardiff.com
Sun 10 NORWICH Waterfront 01623 508 050 www.waterfrontnorwich.com
Tues 12 BIRMINGHAM Glee Club 0871 472 0400 www.gigsandtours.com
Weds 13 BRIGHTON Concorde 2 01273 673 311 www.concorde2.co.uk
Thurs 14 BRISTOL Colston Hall 2 0117 922 3686 www.colstonhall.org
Fri 15 MANCHESTER o2 Academy 3 0161 832 1111 www.gigsandtours.com
Sat 16 NOTTINGHAM Rescue Rooms 0871 310 0000 www.rescuerooms.com

All the Pieces is available to pre-order now with signed copies of the album available with pre-orders from www.play.com. A limited edition ‘All The Pieces’ collector’s pack featuring 12” vinyl or CD album plus t-shirt, cotton tote bag and screen print is available to pre-order exclusively from www.recordstore.co.uk.

For further information visit the Mark Chadwick website