Thursday, 30 April 2015

WATCH: Sivu (feat. Rae Morris) - 'The Nile'


I am so glad that one of the most beautiful tracks I’ve ever heard finally has an equally stunning video to accompany it. The track is The Nile by the lovely Sivu featuring Rae Morris, and the video, though incredibly simplistic, is fantastic. Give your ears and eyes a treat.

LIVE: Communion New Faces tour (24/4/15)

24/4/15
Source: Megan Seekings
I’ve recently rediscovered my love for photography, and have been taking photos at the local Sofar Sounds shows. I am keen to gain more experience with gig photography so I took my camera along to the Communion New Faces show in Oxford on Friday evening. It was a brilliant evening seeing a range of new talent in the form of Frances, Tenterhook, Charlotte OC and Freddie Dickson - an indicator of the calibre of these nights is that the last tour had Amber Run, Kimberly Anne, Fyfe and Pixel Fix on the bill, who are all now going from strength to strength with tours, albums and the like. I’m pretty chuffed with how my shots from the evening turned out, and you can see them all in an album on my Flickr here.

WATCH: The Sea & I - 'The Great I Am'


Check out this stunning new video from The Sea & I for their track The Great I Am. I was lucky enough to go to a preview of the video in a quirky space in East London, followed by a short performance by the band (see photo of me looking chuffed to be there). Both were great and I heartily recommend a watch!

The band have an upcoming residency at The Islington, playing shows on 14th May, 11th June and 25th June (tickets here, £5 for each show or £12 for all three.) The first time I saw the band I was mesmerised by their performance which also featured London Contemporary Voices and London Chamber Brass, and I expect that the upcoming performances will feature equally brilliant collaborations.

Saturday, 25 April 2015

WATCH: Stornoway - 'Get Low'


Somehow managed to evade Stornoway until I met the bassist, Oli, at Sofar Sounds Oxford which he co-runs. They’ve been about for a while and released a few records, an impressive back catalogue including tracks such as Zorbing, I Saw You Blink and Fuel Up. They’ve just released a new record, Bonxie, which reached number 20 in the album charts last Sunday. As a local Oxford band they played an unplugged acoustic instore at Truck Store just up the road from me for Record Store Day. I couldn't see much as it was so rammed but what I could hear (most importantly) was beautiful. A couple of days ago I went to see them again down in Reading at Sub 89. Traffic issues aside it was a superb night, with the band playing a quite diverse set with really rock-y elements shining through from their ‘alternative indie folk’ (Wiki) roots. A highlight for me was the unplugged performance of Josephine, a track taken from the new record.

Stornoway remain on tour through to the beginning of May, dates here.

Friday, 10 April 2015

WATCH: The Maccabees - 'Marks To Prove It'


Behold the new video from The Maccabees for their track Marks To Prove It. Looking forward to their new record quite a bit.. gutted that their intimate London gig in May clashes with exam time!

LIVE: Everything Everything at Oval Space (9/4/15)


Last night I saw the brilliant Everything Everything for the first time, playing a fairly small and quirky East London venue, Oval Space. After discovering the band through a live-stream of their performance at Glastonbury a couple of years back, I bought their second record, Arc, which quickly became a favourite. Their first record is just as great, and the set was interspersed with favourites from those, but was dominated by new tracks from upcoming Get To Heaven, including the already released crowd pleaser Distant Past. The new tracks went down a treat and for me, the record, out mid-June, can't come quick enough!