LIVE: Public Service Broadcasting at Hammersmith Apollo (27/10/17)

On Thursday night I headed to Hammersmith Apollo for the closing night of the Public Service Broadcasting UK tour, promoting their latest record Every Valley. Based on a short set I saw them play for the Music Venues Trust last year at the Roundhouse, their Live In Brixton album and my extensive listening of all three studio records I had pretty high expectations and they certainly delivered. Alongside The Maccabees at Alexandra Palace in June, the Stornoway farewell shows in March, The Hoosiers anniversary gigs this month and Bear's Den at the Apollo back in April the gig has certainly made it's mark as one of my favourites of the year! 

After a delay getting into the venue I missed some of the opening set from Londoners Palace who released their debut album So Long Forever last year (listen here) but I enjoyed what I did manage to catch! It may be because I was seated and not thrown into the set as I would normally be from the front of the crowd, but it felt fairly relaxed and not quite as full on as support sets can so easily become, and I was able to actually listen to the lyrics and they proved a lovely warm-up for what was to come!

After a quick turn around the Public Service Broadcasting chaps took to the stage (but not before a friendly reminder to only use mobile phones with respect to those around you - which could certainly do with being said at most gigs!) Opening up with the first two tracks of the latest record I was instantly bowled over and reminded why I love the band so much. If you're new to them, their bio reads that "J. Willgoose, Esq. and Wrigglesworth sample old public information films and archive material and set them to new music. Live, the films are screened simultaneously as laptops are fiddled with, drums are pounded, theremins are wafted at, guitars are bashed and banjos furiously plucked. Teaching the lessons of the past through the music of the future." 

As the band took us through a set of tracks from all three records (including fan favourites Gagarin, GO! and Spitfire) it struck me just how well thought out (and executed) each element of the show was. The light show was really impressive and the stunning visuals elevated the tunes to a whole other level. Keys player Mr. B, who doubles up as the band's set designer and 'visuals chap' is in charge of the visuals and did a cracking job, with screens across the stage showing a mix of handheld live shots of the band and archive footage (often that from which the audio for the tracks has been taken.)

In the absence of vocals on the most part, the focus is on the musical capabilities of the band much more than in the majority of concerts, and each member of the band proved to be a total genius - each taking on multiple instruments and contributing to a truly impressive sound. They were helped along for most tracks by their brass ensemble The Brassy Gents who brought yet more cheer to the evening while helping to make it sound even better too. With their latest record being the first to feature collaborations with vocalists, they also called on various artists to help on particular tracks. Instrumental trio Haiku Salut joined them for They Gave Me A Lamp and delivered some beautiful harmonies, and in a particularly noteworthy moment of the show, Lisa Jên Brown joined them to perform You + Me, a track which she duets on with PSB's J. Willgoose Esq. Despite his anxieties about playing a quieter track to kick off the encore, the crowd were entirely behind him as he delivered both a beautifully delicate (and rare) vocal and a more beautiful still guitar solo.


As if all of that weren't enough, after promising two more tracks, thanking the various members of the band and performing first album hit Everest (confetti cannons included) the band welcomed the Beaufort Male Choir to the stage to perform Take Me Home, the closing track of Every Valley. With the various members of PSB jumping off stage to watch from the barrier it was a really emotional and fitting moment to close the final night of the UK tour, and the choir got one of the biggest cheers I've probably ever heard at a concert of that size. Absolutely crazy and beautiful scenes which were thankfully captured by a member of the crowd here!

To summarise - long may Public Service Broadcasting reign. Since being introduced to their first album by a friend back in 2014 I've been fairly besotted with their tunes and they certainly do not disappoint in the live environment. Reflecting on the show to write this review I've become instantly desperate to see the band again so I hope that it's not long before they're back touring the UK! I've also realised a new life goal of being pals with the band and getting to witness some of what goes into making their records as my admiration and fascination towards them has increased massively!

WATCH: Sugarmen - 'Push Button Age'

If you're into the likes of The Magic Gang and Spring King you should love these chaps, Liverpool indie rockers Sugarmen who have recently released Push Button Age, a fast paced and punchy single, sure to get live audiences up and dancing. Following a successful few years taking their tunes to the likes of Seoul, SXSW, Reading & Leeds and further around the globe, they are set to release their debut album Local Freaks on 6th October. Following support slots with The Jesus and Mary Chain in Liverpool and Sheffield in September, the four-piece headline Sebright Arms in London for their album launch on 5th October - tickets here!

Follow Sugarmen online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

WATCH: Public Service Broadcasting - 'Turn No More'

The wonderful chaps of Public Service Broadcasting have shared a video for the tune Turn No More, taken from recent (and brilliant) record Every Valley. A slight departure from their previous records, it's the first to feature guest vocalists and this track features Manic Street Preachers frontman James Dean Bradfield, who stars in the video too. Charting at an impressive number four in the album charts back in July, this is the fourth track to be taken from the record, a concept album surrounding the theme of mining in the Welsh Valleys. Talking about the track, PSB's J. Willgoose Esq. says that "I wanted the track to have a restrained, plaintive, defiant but still angry feel, and working with James’ voice and the source material was a big part of that, especially layering the voices towards the end. At its heart it’s a song about the people living with the aftermath – both environmental and personal – of the desolation caused both by the practices of an industry and its subsequent collapse.”

With a North American tour this month, PSB head back to play UK tour in October, with shows in Cardiff, Norwich, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Leeds, Coventry, Nottingham, Bristol, Portsmouth, Bexhill and London's Hammersmith Apollo - full dates including a 20-date European tour in November on the band's site here.

LISTEN: Noah Gundersen - 'The Sound'

Noah Gundersen has shared the first single from his upcoming record White Noise, released through Cooking Vinyl on 22nd September. Heavier than his previous tunes, the track is a bold move for the Seattle-based musician and quite the earworm! Writing about the record on Facebook, Noah wrote that "work began last spring. I called my then manager and told him I didn’t want to go on tour in the fall. I told him I wanted to make a record. Something different. Something that was going to take some time. I started writing songs. Lots of songs. Every day. The songs were like buildings, with scaffolding and framing. Things added, things taken away. Like oil paintings, waiting for colors to dry so that the next layer could be applied."

Keep an eye out for Noah's third studio album on 22nd September - he's popping over to the UK for a couple of shows next week with London's Borderline on 11th and Manchester's Night & Day Café on the 12th! Tickets here!

WATCH: Public Service Broadcasting release 'Making of Every Valley' documentary

I'm partial to a good music documentary and really enjoyed getting an insight into the process of making what is a pretty unique album, the new record from Public Service Broadcasting. As I write this I've just found out that the record, Every Valley, a concept album of sorts about the mining industry in Wales, reached number four in the album charts after its release last week - incredible work for a fairly niche band. Check out the 'making of' documentary below and grab the new record through the band's site here!

WATCH: Public Service Broadcasting release video for 'They Gave Me A Lamp'

Hearing lines such as "politics is life and everything to do with it affects you directly or indirectly" and "'You can't come with us because you're a girl', and it made me damn determined to do it", I can't help but think that the sampled lyrics of the latest offering from the brilliant Public Service Broadcasting couldn't be more poignant and relevant to the current day, despite being taken from the 1980s.

They Gave Me A Lamp reflects upon the history of coal mining communities in the UK, addressing the political awakening among women's support groups at the time of the South Wales mining strike. Featuring post-rock trio Haiku Salut the track itself undergoes an awakening of sorts, raising in volume and pace as it progresses, and the newly released video for the track was shot underground in a former mine, incorporating footage of the Welsh Valleys mining community. Alongside the first single Progress, the track is taken from the band's upcoming album Every Valley (due 7th July) a major the theme of which is disenfranchisement, a story of dignity and social responsibility set against the backdrop of industrial decline.

If you like what you're hearing be sure to pre-order the new record Every Valley and check out the upcoming tour dates on the PSB site here - they're heading to the US in September, UK in October and Europe in November, as well as some album launch shows here in the UK at the start of July.   

WATCH: Parekh & Singh - 'Ghost'

It's difficult to not instantly fall for Parekh & Singh when you see one of their music videos or press shots, they're usually dressed to impressed and their tunes are pretty great too. They're from Kolkata in India, and have recently been on a little tour in the UK including shows at The Great Escape and Dot to Dot, earning them a positive review from Baeble Music who caught their set at TGE and wrote that the band "are what you wish was playing in every coffeeshop you've ever sat in." They've recently released the cinematic video for the track Ghost, which has a real focus on narrative and paints a beautiful picture of India along the way as the pair play against beautiful backdrops.

Check out the band's other music videos, including I Love You Baby, I Love You Doll, on Youtube here!

LISTEN: Tom Hobden & Eliot James - 'Housman's Theme'

If you've been following my posts for a while you'll probably have grasped that I'm quite a fan of Noah & The Whale and have been following their solo endeavours since the band split a couple of years ago. I've seen the members of the band in various guises since the split (all except frontman Charlie but I'm off to see his debut solo album stage show in June) and can't wait for bassist Matt Owens' show with his band Little Mammoths in Oxford tomorrow night.

It's been great seeing what violinist and keys player Tom Hobden has been getting up to, performing all around the world with Mumford & Sons, as I can honestly say that he's one of my favourite musicians and a big part of the reason that I have come to appreciate strings in a live performance so much. Excitingly then, Tom has teamed up with fellow composer Eliot James, whom he met back in 2007 when they worked on the debut Noah album, and collaborated on an LP, Roam.

Aiming to tackle an issue they see in a lack of opportunities and appreciation for orchestral strings within pop music, the project was born after the pair exchanged demos of orchestral and score material last year. The first track from the project is Housman's Theme, a soaring and beautiful classical piece and quite a departure from what I'd usually share on here - but lyric-less music has been featuring in my headphones a lot to get through my last essays, especially the dissertation, and this is stunning!

Talking about their intentions for the record, the pair say that: "True to the album’s name we set out with a hunger for exploring new musical territory. With an orchestra on hand, we gladly lost ourselves at times in the wide plains of English Romanticism but at the same time were ever aware of the here and now, and the importance of forging new lines."

The record, Roam, is due for release on 16th June through Village Green Recordings, and you can give the project a like on Facebook (here) to stay up to date! 

WATCH: Public Service Broadcasting release video for 'Progress'

What a time to be alive! While 7th July might still be months away, we're on the cusp of a new Public Service Broadcasting record and to whet your appetites, here's the newly released video for the first track from the record, Progress. Directed by previous collaborators Lucy Dawkins and Tom Readdy and produced by Yes Please Productions, the video was filmed in a jet engine testing facility in Suffolk, a nod to the band's beloved track Spitfire from the first record Inform - Educate - Entertain. Much like an essay I'm currently procrastinating by writing this (about Sherry Turkle and the influence of technology on human relationships) the video looks at 'mechanisation and its true place in the 'progress' of humanity', watch below...

The track is taken from upcoming record Every Valley, the theme of which, as the name suggests, is the mining community of South West Wales, though the record more generally is 'set against a backdrop of industrial decline and neglected and abandoned communities across the western world'. I adore this track and can't wait to hear the rest of the record and to see where the theme has taken the band musically. (By the way - if you haven't listened to the first two records, please correct that oversight!)

You can pre-order the new record Every Valley in a range of formats (including a funky indie record store only clear vinyl) and bundles through the band's website here!

LISTEN: Public Service Broadcasting - 'Progress'

Following their hugely successful record The Race For Space (silver certified, no less) the unique and talented Public Service Broadcasting bunch have released Progress, taken from their upcoming record, the details of which are currently under wraps. It's the first ever PSB track to feature guest vocals (if you're not familiar with their tunes, they rely on samples of old public service broadcasts, hence the name), with Camera Obscura's Tracyanne Campbell taking the helm. Listen below...

Along with a couple of festival announcements, the band are playing a London show in Camden's Electric Ballroom on 31st May - tickets go on pre-sale to the mailing list on Wednesday, and general sale at 9am on Friday 17th March (here). I've only been lucky enough to catch them playing a short set at the Roundhouse last year and I'm desperate to catch a headline gig, and this one is set to be pretty special as they debut a bunch of new tracks, alongside the old favourites.