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

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 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)

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

vivian girls

On their third album Share the Joy, Brooklyn’s Vivian Girls continue to sharpen and refine their transcendent mix of garage thrash, girl-group warmth and infectious pop sensibilities.

The trio’s vibrant blend of guitar noise and melodic sweetness has already made Vivian Girls one of America’s most celebrated and influential young bands, and has helped to spark a wave of similarly-inclined female-fronted acts who’ve followed in their wake.

Cassie Ramone and ‘Kickball’ Katy Goodman are joined by new drummer Fiona Campbell in the latest Vivian Girls line up which delivers their most memorable songs and most focused performances yet.

Their new tunes successfully venture into challenging new musical and lyrical territory, reflecting the band members’ developing instrumental rapport and their far-reaching musical influences, while retaining the raw immediacy that originally endeared the group to its fans.

“It’s cleaner and more hi-fi than the previous records,” Cassie says of Share The Joy, which the band recorded at Rear House, the home studio run by Jarvis Taveniere (of the Brooklyn combo Woods), who engineered the album.  “The sound is more open, more free.  I think that this album really shows our strengths as musicians, and shows us melding together musically.  It’s more psychedelic and less shoegaze.  There’s also a lot of organ on it, which is new for us.”

Share the Joy’s musical and emotional depth is reflected on The Other Girls and Light In Your Eyes, each of which clocks in at over six minutes.  The former song manages to encompass hammering hardcore, Beach Boys-esque melodic bliss, Neil Young/Nirvana-inflected guitar frenzy and ethereal harmonic drone, while the latter closes the album on a triumphant note of surging sonic uplift.

Elsewhere, Dance If You Wanna and Take it As It Comes rank with the band’s most intoxicating pop confections, while Lake House and Vanishing of Time maintain a thoughtful, introspective tone that may come as a surprise to those who’d had Vivian Girls pegged as a lo-fi garage outfit.

Cassie Ramone reflects on the latest album;

“Share the Joy has the most diverse batch of songs of any of our albums, I feel like these songs are more expansive; a lot of the themes and lyrics are less direct than other albums.  These songs focus a lot on the themes of alienation, reconciliation, identity, and trying to figure out what really matters in life.  It’s a dark album, but unlike our first two albums, it has a happy ending.

“Our music continues to get more and more defined and developed, but it’s never going to be completely polished. A thing I like about our band is that we seem to mean different things to different people.  Another thing I’m proud of is that, while a lot of people may have initially heard about us through internet buzz and things like that, I think our audience likes our music because it’s honest and because we mean it.  I think that people can pick up on that.”

The Vivian Girls album Share the Joy is released on April 11th through the Polyvinyl label.

In the meantime you can download the track I Heard You Say for free as a taster for the full album.

Vivian Girls will be resident on the Bruise Cruise in Miami during the last week of February and will undertake a month long tour of the US in April.

UK dates are promised with details yet to be confirmed.

emily jane white - photo cam archer

Following on from her two critically acclaimed albums Dark Undercoat and Victorian America, the Californian singer/songwriter Emily Jane White will release her latest full length Ode To The Sentience on February 14th.

Ode To The Sentience is a collection of ten uncluttered and captivating songs that explore the sentimental qualities of the singers past experiences, giving the album a personal and intimate feel

“I found catharsis in creating these songs,they speak to the emotional simplicity and complexity of human relationship. I chose to call the record ‘Ode To Sentience’ because it is the capacity to feel that creates a shared human experience of music. We all share the potency of music by having the capacity to feel, and I found the simplicity of this fact very beautiful” says Emily Jane White.

Stunningly simple yet achingly beautiful, here is the video made to accompany the track Cliff from the latest album.

Emily Jane White – Cliff

EMILY JANE WHITE - cliff from Talitres on Vimeo.

Another track from the album Ode To The Sentience called Law, has been made available for free download on the Emily Jane White artist page.

Amplifier

Amplifier release their huge concept album The Octopus at the end of January, a two disc effort that allows for a full scale exploration of the bands unique panoramic soundscapes and vision.

Three years in the making the album is described by the band as ‘probably the best thing we will ever do.’ Amplifier are giving away a taster of the album with this free track The Wave:

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The Get Up Kids – There Are Rules

the get up kids

Kansas City’s The Get Up Kids release their fifth studio album There Are Rules on February 28th, with the single Automatic due out on January 24th.

Seven years after what looked to be their final album ‘Guilt Show’, with the group disbanding a year later in 2005 after 10 years of constant touring, The Get Up Kids returned to the studio in 2009, sparked by a spur-of-the-moment decision to start writing songs together again, made while they were rehearsing to promote the tenth anniversary edition of their breakout album ‘Something to Write Home About’.

The first fruits of these new recordings was ‘Simple Science’, released in April 2010 – an EP that burst, unannounced, into the Billboard Top 200.  But that was just a taste – a precursor to the full-length album, which Alternative Press magazine, upon hearing a whisper of its existence, placed on their “most anticipated…” list.

The result can be heard on There Are Rules, a collection of twelve songs that will prove surprising and familiar, created by a band that has been given a new lease of life and have grabbed it with no chance of turning back.

The Get Up Kids are giving away a free download of the track Pararelevant as a taster of whats in store on the eagerly awaited album.

religious to damn - glass prayer

Hailing from psychedelic other worldly places Religious To Damn is Afghan/American Zhora Atash’s collective of musician’s brought together to create gypsy rock and roll that is tender and aggressive, elegant and raw all in one melodic burst.

First appearing in 2008 as a collective of New York musicians lured into the studio by Atash to make their debut in the WEIRD records live series, collaborators have since included Tamaryn and Finnish songstress Vuk, aka Emily Cheeger of Dirty Projectors and Jim Sclavunos (Bad Seeds/Grinderman).

For the debut album Glass Prayer, Josh Strawn of Vaura takes up guitar and some production duties, Charlie Schmid a classically trained percussionist and composer features on drums and Secret Machines’ Brandon Curtis adds keyboards along with co production and mixing duties.

A profound expansion on her vision, Glass Prayer combines thunderous swirling guitars, painterly atmospherics, and diverse rhythms, reflecting her own brand of bewitching tunecraft.

Throughout, you can hear the musical influence of Atash’s Afghan heritage as it sits intriguingly alongside Western rock elements. Her vocals range from the sweet and fragile, to the kind of ferocious you would expect from someone who filled Jarboe’s shoes as a touring vocalist with post-metal doom metallers A Storm of Light.

What Atash does well is package songs of high drama and tension into affecting melodies and lush textures, allowing the songs to seep in further into your head. While the album’s darker shades remain consistent, Religious To Damn knows where to turn up (and let up) the tension with ethereal moments like “Black Sand” or “To Love The Machine” complementing the driving shoegaze/spaghetti western-isms of “The Wait” or the frantic gallop of “Terra”.

The drama reaches peaks with contributions from Atash’s longtime friend Tamaryn on “The Bell” and “Let The Fires Burn.”

Have a listen to the track Drifter here:

02 Drifter by GOLDSTARPR

Glass Prayer is the debut album from Religious To Damn and is released on M’Lady Records on February 7th 2011.

For further information visit the Religious To Damn website.