The Xcerts New Album: Live At King Tut's

The Xcerts are set to release a mini live album exclusively through iTunes called Live At King Tut’s.

Having recently returned from tours with My Vitriol and Feeder, The Xcerts will release a live album as they continue to play across the UK this summer.

Live At King Tut’s captures a very special sold out show from the launch of their Crisis In The Slow Lane single released on Xtra Mile / King Tut’s Recordings. The live album was mixed by Dave Eringa (Idlewild, Manic Street Preachers) who produced the band’s debut album.

The Xcerts Live At King Tut’s will be available exclusively through iTunes on 27th July. The energetically charged eight song set includes the previously unreleased track, Beige.

Singer Murray Macleod said of the show “It’s every kids dream to play King Tut’s and to sell it out was a big milestone for us. When our soundman Nelly suggested recording it we were nervous but it came out so well that we wanted our fans to hear it too. It’s a bit rough and ready but it represents the breaking point of 2 years hard touring and we couldn’t be more proud.”

The Xcerts UK Tour Dates:

JUNE
25th Warwick Uni, Warwick
26th Westend Centre, Aldershot
29th Barfly, Cardiff

JULY
1st The Garage, London
2nd The Grapes Cellar, Hereford
3rd Electric Bay Festival, Scotland
4th Electric Bay Festival, Scotland
5th Ice Factory, Perth
24th Wickerman Festival, Scotland
26th Truck Festival, Oxford

AUGUST
1st Hevy Festival, Folkestone
7th Boardmasters Festival, Newquay
9th BBQ Your Life. Brixton Windmill, London (special covers show with Winnebago Deal and 4 or 5 Magicians)
15th Leefest, Kent
22nd GRV - SOS Festival, Edinburgh
31st Beachdown Festival, Brighton

SEPTEMBER
19th Southsea Festival, Portsmouth

Visit The Xcerts MySpace page for more information.

The Xcerts debut album In The Cold Wind We Smile is out now on Xtra Mile Recordings.

Arctic Monkeys new single: Crying Lightning

Crying Lightning, the first single from Arctic Monkeys’ new album, Humbug, will receive it’s worldwide, exclusive first radio play on Monday the 6th of July on Zane Lowe’s Radio 1 show.

Crying Lightning willbe available digitally via iTunes from 7th July.  While the CD will be available on the 17th of August, a week before the release of Humbug.

Humbug features 10 brand new Arctic Monkeys’ songs and was produced by Josh Homme in the Mojave Desert and Los Angeles and James Ford in Brooklyn.

Fans can now pre-order the album in bundle form, with a collectible, limited edition poster, from the band’s website: www.arcticmonkeys-store.co.uk

The Arctic Monkeys, who will be headlining the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August and playing the following shows over the summer, have added 4 new shows in the US to their world tour:

Thursday 2nd July Opener Festival, Gydnia, Poland
Saturday 4th July Rock For People, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic
Sunday 5th July Vienna Arena, Austria
Tuesday 7th July Prokurative, Split, Croatia
Thursday 9th July Exit Festival, Serbia
Saturday 1st August All Points West, New Jersey, USA
Sunday 2nd August Osheaga Festival, Montreal, Canada
Monday 3rd August Highline, New York, USA
Wednesday 5th August Paradise, Boston, USA
Friday 7th August Metro, Chicago, USA
Saturday 8th August Lollapalooza, Chicago, USA
Thursday 13th August Oya Festival, Oslo, Norway
Friday 14th August Way Out West, Gothenburg, Sweden
Saturday 15th August Beat Day Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark
Friday 21st August Highfield Festival, Erfurt, Germany
Saturday 22nd August Pukkelpop Festival, Hasselt, Belgium
Sunday 23rd August Lowlands Festival, Holland
Friday 28th August Leeds Festival, England
Saturday 29th August Reading Festival, England
Monday 19th October Budokan, Tokyo, Japan
Friday 6th  November Zenith, Paris, France

For more information visit www.arcticmonkeys.com

Moneen Live at The Barfly in Camden, London

Last week I had the chance to check out Moneen at the Camden Barfly, as they headlined one of two UK shows before kicking off their weeklong tour with Brand New.

Despite the fact the show had been organized fairly last minute, with the band having to borrow equipment from opening act Lights. Action!, the Barfly was packed and Moneen delivered a solid performance. Playing predominantly old material with a few new songs off their forth-coming album The World I Want to Leave Behind, they had the whole room singing along from the moment they stepped on stage.

The four piece indie rock group from Ontario, Canada formed in 1999 and have released three albums to date, with their new and highly anticipated follow up to The Red Tree (2006) expected to drop sometime this fall. They have developed quite a reputation over the years for their stunning live performances, and this show was no exception.

They kicked things off by launching into ‘Are We Really Happy with Who We Are Right Now?’ as vocalist and guitarist Kenny Bridges delivered an indefatigable performance, leaping around the stage.

This was followed by a number of old favourites, including ‘Bleed & Blister,’ ‘Tonight I’m gone…’ and ‘The Passing of America’ much to the delight of the crowd. They also took the opportunity to play 2 new songs ‘Hold That Sound’, off the new EP, and ‘Believe.’

The new material seems to be a bit of a departure from the tech rock sounds of their last albums. Regardless of this shift, both new and old fans received the new material enthusiastically only adding to the anticipation surrounding their upcoming release.

As their set came to an end, Moneen finished up on a high with ‘Don’t Ever Tell Locke What He Can’t Do.’ At this point general mayhem broke out as the crowd surged with excitement, fans jumping up onto the stage and all the microphones, with the exception of guitarist/ vocalist Hippy’s, seemingly disappearing into the crowd.

Moneen are an astounding live band that consistently delivers passionate, high-energy rock that continues to impress. It is for this reason that the band has developed such a loyal following with some fans travelling from as far away as Norway just to see them play. Hinting that they may be back in the fall to tour their new album,

I would highly recommend taking advantage of this second chance to go check them out.

Mouthwash - True Stories

Mouthwash - True Stories is out now on Rebel Alliance Recordings

Fusing hard-edged ska and ragga rhythms and melodies with a punk rock sound and enthusiasm, Mouthwash have grown a loyal live following over the past 14 years.

When they supported Rancid at the Astoria it impressed lead singer Tim Armstrong so much he asked the band to join his label Hellcat Records on which they released the debut album 1000 Dreams.

Mouthwash released their latest album True Stories tihs month with a bonus CD featuring live and unreleased tracks.

Their songs are defined by an honest delve into the under belly of London life, with references to rejecting day jobs, bundling on to night buses to getting guns pulled on them in Brixton.  All their music is engrained with a gritty realism that tenderly touches on the romantic before heading back to the street corners, signing on and the offy.

Mouthwash themselves are quick to point out that they don’t have a particular message to spread, they just want to make good music, get smashed and enjoy themselves along the way.

With tour stories such as hitchhiking across America and being stuck in a van for days with a mental patient, it seems like they are definitely trying!

These hard working boys are back and better than ever with their new album.  To promote this new release the band are headlining a series of UK shows after and have just a UK tour with good friends The King Blues.

You can see how energetic Mouthwash are when they perform at the following venues this summer:

26th July The Retro Bar, Manchester
8th Aug Maze, Nottingham with Voodoo Glow Skulls

9th Aug Secret location (just outside Bristol), Boom Town Fair with Chas n Dave & Sonic Boom Six

Watch the promo video for Dark Was The Night:

True Stories by Mouthwash tracklisting:

1. Ask and it is given
2. A face in the crowd
3. No fear
4. N68
5. The sound
6. That Girl
7. Everyday feelin’
8. What I don’t know
9. Southbound
10. Atlantic Rd.
11. Dark was the night
12. Hazy days

Bonus Disc:
1. N68 (acoustic live)
2. Solid as a rock (live)
3. Sign of the times (unreleased)
4. I don’t wanna hear it (live acoustic)
5. We evolve (live acoustic)
6. Knock on your door (demo)
7. Ask and it is given (live acoustic)
8. Fools Gold (live)
9. One in ten (demo)

10. Deeper (unreleased)

For more information see www.myspace.com/mouthwashlondon

Mouthwash - True Stories is out now on Rebel Alliance Recordings

Crazy Arm - Born To Ruin

Plymouth’s hard-rocking roots-punks, Crazy Arm produce true grit punk rock - 21st century style.

After three false starts, Crazy Arm have eventually released a debut album. Born To Ruin is a well produced, polished debut album that is not that simple to drop into a clearly labelled box.

Born To Ruin is an aural accumulation of years and years of influence and inspiration.  Country punk rock and hardcore is clearly audible in both the raw hard rocking guitar-led tunes and vocal angst.  But a more commercial sides of rock give Crazy Arm several aspects and layers to their music.

But in the same way that London Calling by The Clash, The Argument by Fugazi and Under The Fog by The King Blues are punk rock records, Born To Ruin by Crazy Arm, though uncomfortably so, is best categorised as a punk rock album.

But unlike three chord thrash of the 1970s, Crazy Arm are much more melodic in their tunes and more restrained with their vocal delivery.  All of which makes this type of hard-edged rock music more accessible and radio-friendly in 2009.

For instance, Blind Summit and Broken By The Wheel may be dynamic country-punk anthems – all slide guitars and self-confession, but Christ In Concrete and Asphalt harness the dark brooding tones of 16 Horsepower. Reassure Me may pack a melodic hardcore punch, but International Front – a slight upon imperialist wars – and Henry Fabian Flynn pay tribute to the protest song of Dick Gaughan, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, et al.

Elsewhere, live favourites like the galloping Still To Keep call to mind the sub-pop sensibilities of Ted Leo or The Replacements.  All told, Born To Ruin is a good rocking debut album.

Here’s the promotional video for thedebut single taken from Born To Ruin, Broken By The Wheel

Crazy Arm - Born To Ruin is out now on Xtra Mile Recordings.

For more information visit www.Myspace.com/CrazyArm

Here We Go Magic

Here We Go Magic self-titled debut album was released on Monday 29th June 2009 on Western Vinyl.

Here We Go Magic is a solo project of Luke Temple. Luke plays all instruments and vocals on this beautiful debut album. But for anyone familiar with Temple’s previous work, this is a true departure from his two previous albums, Hold A Match To A Gasoline World (2005) Snowbeast (2007).

Here We Go Magic has gentle waves of electronica and experimentation (Nat’s Alien, Ghost List) alongside more commercial sounding folk (Everything’s Big) pop (Fangela) and African rhythms that remind me of Paul Simon’s Graceland album (no more apparent than the opening track Only Pieces), though others have referenced the ethnic instrumentation and ambient space of German Krautrock band Popol Vuh.

As well as being a multi-instrumentalist, Luke Temple has the most angelic of voices, at times reminiscent of Jon Anderson.

Developed over a two-month and amazingly recorded on a 4-track at Luke Temple’s Greenpoint, Brooklyn home, the album was recorded as a solo concern and was completed with less of an editing process. Here We Go Magic is much more an unfiltered recording. The result is a brilliant, beautiful and amazing album.

Since producing he Here We Go Magic debut album, Luke Temple has assembled a four-piece band to perform the music live and plans to record further albums as a five-piece. They are Michael Bloch (guitar, vocals), Kristina Lieberson (keyboards, vocals), AJ Lambert (bass, vocals) and Peter Hale (drums).

Former Cocteau Twins’ Robin Guthrie is a big fan and has invited Here We Go Magic to play the Bella Union label stage at the forthcoming ‘Wireless’ gig in Hyde Park as well as a night at the prestigious ICA in London.

Here We Go Magic are currently playing gigs in the US with Grizzly Bear, who are big fans and personally chose them for the tour.

UK Tour Dates
Sun 5th July - LONDON Hyde Park ‘Wireless’ - Bella Union Stage
Mon 6th July - LONDON ICA - Bella Union Night
Tue 7th July - LONDON Madame JoJo’s ‘White Heat’
Thur 9th July - GLASGOW Captains Rest
Fri 10th July - LIVERPOOL Korova ‘Evol’
Sat 11th July - LEEDS The Faversham ‘Bad Sneakers’

For more information visit Here We Go Space MySpace page.

Tortoise: Beacons Of Ancestorship

For just under two decades now, Tortoise have been experimenting with popular music. Their freeform, sound-experiment style has quietly given them the status of post-rock musicians experimenting with electronic music.

So in a time where groups like Holy Fuck and Battles and artists like Dan Deacon are lauded for pushing the boundaries of conventional song structures whilst blending rock instruments with electronic invention, why is it that Tortoise rarely get mentioned as their forbearers? (I don’t know by the way, in case you were hoping I was going to answer that)

On their sixth full-length album, Beacons of Ancestorship, Tortoise again take their place in this genre of freeform song experiments, and again show why they must be considered along with the most interesting and influential in the field. The tracks blend interesting rhythms with at times very loose sounds, and often much tighter ones. ‘Northern Something’, for instance, plays with the texture of sound more than its melody, whilst the stunning ‘Gigantes’ uses synths to create the same sorts of shimmering melodies that gave Boards of Canada so much success.

Tortoise are usually known to traverse an encyclopaedia of styles, and Beacons Of Ancestorship is certainly a an album of very separate songs – like albums used to be. And like those albums they all possess a unifying essence, but unlike them, it is not through voice. This is a telling indicator of the success of Tortoise’s artistic vision. Here, vocals and conventional song structure and length aren’t needed; music can be created another way.

The result is an album of sonically rendered moods. The wonderful ‘Minors’ blindly pushes its way through monotony and resignation, ‘Yinxianghechengqi’ screams in a apoplectic rage before falling into a glitchy, speechless, hopeless spasm; ‘High Class Slim Came Floatin’ In’ emanates shiny arrogance from all its pores.

Tortoise must surely take their place at the forefront of the sound-experiment groups that keep arising. This is, once again, a wonderful demonstration of how frozen in convention music-making has become, and how far it can still be pushed, moulded and manipulated to speak in a different voice – one that is not necessarily human.

Moneen release Hold That Sound EP & UK Live Dates

Moneen release their new digital download EP, Hold That Sound, on 23rd June. The title track is taken from Moneen’s fourth full-length album, due out later this year on Dine Alone Records (worldwide) and Vagrant (US). The, as yet untitled, new album was produced by David Bottrill (Tool, Silverchair, Muse).

Moneen’s Hold That Sound EP will also be released on limited edition 12” vinyl on 8th July on white, black, and clear vinyl.

You  can listen to Hold That Sound EP and pre-order the vinyl right now on

Moneen mix new grunge with catchy, upbeat rock tunes with stirring melodies and poetic, though-provoking lyrics, Moneen released their debut album, The Theory of Harmonial Value in 2001, followed by Are We Really Happy with Who We Are Right Now? in 2003 and The Red Tree in 2006. The group’s 2008 live CD/DVD It All Started With A Red Stripe was nominated for Music DVD of the Year at the 2009 Juno Awards.

Hold That Sound EP Tracklisting:

1. Hold That Sound (album track)
2. Madness – b-side / unreleased
3. The Way – b-side / unreleased
4. Waterfalls (album track, alternate version)

To help promote the new ep and forthcoming album, Moneen will be playing some live UK shows in June.

Moneen UK Live Dates:

Jun 22 – London, UK @ Barfly
Jun 23 – Manchester, UK @ Academy
Jun 24 – Glasgow, UK @ Barrowlands
Jun 25 – York, UK @ Fibbers
Jun 26 – Birmingham, UK @ Academy
Jun 27 – London, UK @ Forum
Aug 02 – Kitchener, ON @ Cutting Edge Music Festival

For more information visit www.myspace.com/moneen and www.moneen.com

Arctic Monkeys announce third album - Humbug

The Arctic Monkeys‘ third album, Humbug, will be released on Monday 24th August 2009.

Humbug features 10 brand new Arctic Monkeys’ songs and was produced by Josh Homme in the Mojave Desert and Los Angeles and James Ford in Brooklyn.

Arctic Monkeys - Humbug tracklisting:

1. My Propeller
2. Crying Lightning
3. Dangerous Animals
4. Secret Door
5. Potion Approaching
6. Fire And The Thud
7. Cornerstone
8. Dance Little Liar
9. Pretty Visitors
10. The Jeweller’s Hands

The Arctic Monkeys will be headlining the Reading and Leeds Festival in August and playing the following shows over the summer:

Thursday 2nd July
Opener Festival, Gydnia, Poland

Saturday 4th July
Rock For People, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic

Sunday 5th July
Vienna Arena, Austria

Tuesday 7th July
Prokurative, Split, Croatia

Thursday 9th July
Exit Festival, Serbia

Saturday 1st August
All Points West, New Jersey, USA

Sunday 2nd August
Osheaga Festival, Montreal, Canada

Friday – Sunday  7th- 9th August (date TBC)
Lollapalooza, Chicago, USA

Thursday 13th August
Oya Festival, Oslo, Norway

Friday  14th August
Way Out West, Gothenburg, Sweden

Saturday 15th August
Beat Day Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark

Friday 21st August
Highfield Festival, Erfurt, Germany

Saturday 22nd August
Pukkelpop Festival, Hasselt, Belgium

Sunday 23rd August
Lowlands Festival, Holland

Friday 28th August
Leeds Festival

Saturday 29th August
Reading Festival

Friday 6th  November
Zenith, Paris, France

Whilst local music fans were off to see Manchester legends Oasis, those in the know were heading out to the leafy suburb of Altrincham to see the launch of Designed By The Unsigned, a live music event hosted by Manchester Bands vs Pay To Play.

Fed up with the attitude of many promoters and venues in Manchester of having to sell a certain amount of tickets or make up the short fall to play a gig, Manchester Bands are hitting back by setting up their own monthly event at Altrincham Conservative Working Men’s Club. Now don’t be put off by the name because there is nothing Conservative here.

First on the bill was Scott Lennon formally of Desmond Rebellion starting off the night with a great acoustic set of new songs intertwined with songs from his former band.

Next up were Them Bones who’s high energy and great rock sound really got the night going, and in lead singer Dion have a great front man.

Third on the bill were indie band Satellite Towns. They may be classed as an indie band but unlike many others that are labelled as such, they care about the music they make and not how good they look, and that translated in their performance. From the whimsical Emily Built A Boat to the rockier Close To Midnight you could tell these guys work hard to produce great music.

Last on the bill, and performance of the night, went to The Words. For those of you who have not seen this band before I suggest you do everything you can to see them live, they had the audience in the palm of their hand from the opening guitar riff to the final chord they played.

Considering lead singer Steven kept complaining of losing his voice due to the amount of gigs they have done recently, this was a powerful performance from a very well rehearsed band. All the songs were extremely catchy and for an unsigned band it was as if you had heard the songs before, many of the tunes would sit well in the current charts and not look out of place.

So whilst many people paid £40 to see Oasis, others spent just £3 and saw four great bands and drank cheap beer as well. What more could you ask for?

All the money collected on the night went to the performing acts, so those that attended were contributing to the future of Manchester Music, and not a ticket in sight to fill greedy promoters’ pockets. So it’s 2 fingers up to them I guess!

The next Designed By The Unsigned is on July 18th and from August these nights will take place on the 1st Saturday of the month.