WATCH: Band Of Skulls - 'Killer'

Check out the video for Killer, the first track to be taken from the new Band Of Skulls record, By Default. Directed by Yonatan Weisberg, the video is a fitting support for the track, which has been supported by BBC Radio 1 (also, you can't go wrong with 240,000 likes on the band's Facebook page!) 

The record is due to be released on May 27th through BMG Recordings, produced by Gil Norton (Foo Fighters, Pixies) and recorded at Rockfield Studios. The band have been described to be at the best form of their career, 'more engaged and focused than they've ever been'. The record represents a step back for the band from their heavy touring schedule, but they're back at it at the end of April, playing warm-up gigs in Guildford and Stoke, headline shows in London, Paris and Amsterdam, and a variety of festivals, including Glastonbury. 

Source: Andy Cotterill

The dates are as follows: 

April 28th - Boiler Room, Guildford (SOLD OUT)

April 29th - Sugarmill, Stoke

April 30th - Live at Leeds

May 1st - Stag & Dagger, Glasgow

May 19th - Electric Ballroom, London (SOLD OUT)

May 20th - The Great Escape, Brighton

May 24th - Le Trabendo, Paris

May 25th - Paradiso, Amsterdam

May 28th - Soundcity, Liverpool

June 4th - Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff (supporting Stereophonics alongside The Vaccines)

June 22-26th - Glastonbury Festival

July 14th - Dour Festival, Belgium

July 16th - Out Of The Woods Festival, Austria

July 22nd - Secret Garden Party, Huntingdon

July 29th - Leopallooza Festival, Cornwall

July 31st - Kendal Calling Festival, Kendal

August 5th - Forgotten Fields Festival, Tunbridge Wells

You can pre-order the new album, By Default, on iTunes here, as well as from Amazon on CD and vinyl. 

LISTEN: Howland - 'Callout/Slow Down'

If you look at Howland's Facebook page, specifically the genre section, it reads "Our jobs were boring so we made a garage indie band." Seems as good a reason as any, and the four piece band from Brighton have just released their debut single, and are embarking on a tour, starting tonight with a hometown show at Brighton's Green Door Store. 

Howland are Tyler Adams (rhythm guitar, vocals), Lee Vincent (lead guitar), Tim Beavis (bass guitar) and Jake Saunders (drums) and they're no strangers to live shows, having supported the likes of Fickle Friends, Little Comets and Foals! This debut single, Callout/Slow Down is certainly something for them to be proud of. The music is indie-rock with a fairly summer-y vibe (nice with the weather picking up!) and is reflective, partially, of the likes of The Wombats and The Maccabees. If you read my recent posts about Bel Esprit, they've got a similar sound - and Howland  actually supported Bel Esprit at their Southampton Tigmus gig at the start of the year.

Howland play a mini tour promoting the single this month, dates are as follows:

2nd April - Green Door Store, Brighton
5th April - The Joiners, Southampton (supporting High Tyde)
8th April - Barfly, Camden (playing Jubilee Club)
22nd April - Sanctuary, Basingstoke
29th April - Thorngate Halls, Portsmouth (supporting VYNCE)

If you like what you're hearing on the Soundcloud links above, you can download the single on iTunes here.

WATCH: Ryan O'Reilly releases lyric video for 'The Northern Line'

With a week before I return to Oxford, and having been fairly productive writing an essay over the last few days, I thought I'd catch up with some blogging - and wanted to share the new lyric video for the title track of the new Ryan O'Reilly album, The Northern Line. If you're from London or, like my, visit quite a bit, the tube-related lyrics might resonate with you, but the track is worth a listen either way. I'm particularly fond of the strings towards the latter half of the track, and I'm a big fan of the tone of Ryan's voice - glad to have seem him live twice in February supporting King Charles and will definitely be looking out for another show. 

The new album, The Northern Line, is due to be released on 6th May, and you can preorder it digitally from Amazon here.

LISTEN: March 2016 playlist - my month in music!

At the end of February, I posted a Spotify playlist which encapsulated my month in music, and thought that, if the response was good, I could try to keep it up as a monthly feature on the blog. The response was in fact pretty staggering, so I've made a playlist for March which you can listen to below. With particular highlights including Jack Savoretti, Neverlnd and Biffy Clyro, the playlist is a mix of artists I've seen live during the month, and those who I've been listening to and writing about. If you find something new that you enjoy - feel free to comment below!

Brief explanation as to why I've chosen each artist/track: 

1. Neverlnd Where Do I Start - this month came the news that the newly re-named Oxford band (previously Balloon Ascents) are heading in a new direction and planning to release a free track monthly, stepping away from the album format. This is the first of those free tracks and I can't wait to hear it at their Oxford gig in April!
2. Benedict Benjamin Thin Skin - Ben played the Sofar Sounds Oxford show I went to at the start of the month, where I bought the first physical copy of his debut album Night Songs which has just been released, and I love this track from it!
3. Biffy Clyro Wolves Of Winter - this one needs little explaining - Biffy are back and they're releasing an album in July. A completely triumphant return and a sprinkle of rock onto the playlist!
4. Jack Savoretti Catapult - the highlight of my live music experiences over the month was probably Jack's London Cadogan Hall show generally, and particularly his performance of this track with a string trio, with whom he performed the track on The Graham Norton Show at the beginning of the year.
5. Martin Harley & Daniel Kimbro Money Don't Matter - following the end of my placement with the lovely guys at Tigmus, I've kept in touch and I ran the door for a show with these guys headlining in Oxford in the middle of the month. It was a lovely Sunday evening blues show as part of a tour promoting a recent live album that they recorded together, and this track was a stand out for me on the evening! 
6. Black Honey Corrine - I went along to see Black Honey at The Bullingdon without having listened to them beforehand. Watching from a distance to avoid the moshing at the front of the crowd, I enjoyed the set - if you're Oxford based and off to Truck Festival over Summer, I'd recommend checking them out as they've just been announced in the second wave of acts!
7. King Charles Lady Of The River - would it be a playlist of mine without King Charles? This is one of my favourite tracks of Charles' second record and a music video for the track was released this month.
8. Lucy Rose Nebraska - likewise, this beautiful track from Lucy Rose had a video released this month, with Danny Dyer in drag. Beat that, Charles...
9. Roo Panes Stay With Me - I've known of Roo for a while after seeing a couple of videos he recorded with Burberry Acoustic a few years ago. This is the opening track from his new record Paperweights which was released earlier this month. I slightly regret not going to his show in the same venue that I saw Jack Savoretti at last week, because I was being sensible and staying in to write an essay!
10. Bel Esprit Island - these guys are releasing their single Leave Me Here on 8th April and they are currently on a mini Easter tour to promote the track, playing Southampton tomorrow (1st) and London on Saturday (2nd). I loved this track when I caught their Oxford show at the end of February. 
11. Little Brother Eli Dreams - one of my favourite discoveries through Sofar Sounds Oxford, where I saw them back in November. They announced this month that their debut album, Cold Tales, is being released in June, and it will feature this track...
12. Jack Savoretti Breaking The Rules - when I saw Jack play in London, his performance of this track made me cry - happy tears, considering how well he is doing at the moment!
13. Laish Song For Everything - another Sofar Sounds Oxford artist, Laish (aka Daniel Green) is releasing a record, funded through a crowdfunding campaign which just finished. This is the title track of the EP being offered to pledgers, a video for which was released during the campaign.
14. Roberto y Juan Monster Love - these guys featured a couple of times in the February playlist, but as I saw them twice in March, I couldn't leave them out this time around! This is the title track of their second EP, which I described back in Feb as "some of the best new music I've heard so far this year."
15. Bloom Twins Blue - another of the acts from the Sofar Sounds Oxford show I attended this month, these twins are based in London but originally from Ukraine, and are currently on tour with Duran Duran, so our intimate Sofar show was probably quite a change for them! 
16. Martin Harley & Daniel Kimbro Nobody's Fault But Mine - when watching the set a couple of weeks ago, this track stayed with me (probably because the lyrics focus upon reading - and I'm doing a joint English Literature degree!)
17. Benedict Benjamin Coward - having listened to the new record quite a few times, I struggled to choose two tracks to include in the playlist as I'm really enjoying it as a full record. If you like what you're hearing... I definitely recommend checking the whole thing out!
18. Stornoway The Only Way Is Up (acoustic) - this beautiful cover seems like a great way to wrap up the playlist, taken from the Bonxie Unplucked EP. Stornoway announced this month that they are playing a show at the RSC theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon in July, which guarantees to be a special evening in wonderful surroundings! 

LISTEN: Cast Of Light - 'Acer Avenue'

In the same vein as my post earlier about the upcoming The People The Poet EP, Reading based pop-folk band Cast Of Light are releasing their Acer Avenue EP digitally on Friday 1st April too. They released the EP physically at a February Tigmus show they supported on, and with the digital release just around the corner, I was sent a link to listen to the EP.

Acer Avenue EP artwork

Though I'd heard of the band through seeing their name on the line-up for the Tigmus show back in February, I hadn't listened to them before but I'm digging the EP. A quick look at their Facebook page and I can see recommendations to fans of artists such as Imagine Dragons and Of Monsters & Men, with their Soundcloud page reading "imagine Bastille infused with Noah & The Whale, Frank Turner and Ed Sheeran" - the Noah reference has me sold, to be fair... You can listen to Youth, the second track of the EP, below, and there are some older tracks from the band here.

The EP is pretty lovely all round with the opener, A Time Will Come, building slowly into a brass section (I could be lying - my music detection skills aren't spot on), definitely like Of Monsters & Men or Mumford & Sons in style, a big track. Youth, the above track, is upbeat and fairly catchy, contrasting folky acoustic guitar with an almost rock-like chorus of powerful vocals, something mastered by many of the influences mentioned above. The title track opens slowly and is fairly reserved, but grows in momentum towards the end. The tracks all have in common a contrast, and a fairly nice mixture, between a 'big' sound, and personal vocals. The vocals take the forefront throughout the EP, standing out and placing focus upon the lyrics, making you feel as if you could have been transported to a Cast Of Light concert, standing less than a metre from the stage. 

Keep an eye out for the digital version of the EP which will be released (on iTunes etc) on Friday 1st April. If you're more of a fan of physical music, you can grab the CD version of the EP already here - limited to 100 copies and certainly worth it for that beautiful artwork!

LISTEN: The People The Poet release single 'Club 27'

I get quite a few tracks/EPs sent to me to write about, however among work for university I sadly don't get chance to check it all out - I was pleasantly surprised when I found a track from Welsh rockers The People The Poet in my inbox! Four years ago in 2012, they were supporting Charlie Simpson on tour alongside Sam Beeton and I caught the show in Birmingham, it was the first gig I had an AAA pass for so it is a very fond memory, and I remember enjoying the bands set. There's also a lovely impromptu cover of Paul Simon's You Can Call Me Al that Sam and TPTP filmed backstage at another of the shows on the tour. 

Paradise Closed EP artwork

Since then, they've gone from strength to strength, releasing their debut record The Narrator in 2013, touring it extensively, supporting bands such as Deaf Havana and Straight Lines, and performing at a range of festivals including Latitude and The Great Escape. They've just returned from SXSW, which they were invited to play after impressing at the festival last year. They're set to release a new EP, entitled Paradise Closed, on April 1st via Beeline Records. The six track EP features the track Club 27, a track which pays tribute to the members of the so-called '27-club' (musicians such as Jimi Hendrix and Amy Winehouse, who died when they were only 27 years of age). It was recently debuted on Huw Stephens' BBC Radio 1 show, and you can listen below... 

Described by Tom Sarig (Twin Atlantic and Gaslight Anthem manager) as the best music the band have written, the upcoming EP also features the tracks Matchday and When The Fire Goes Out which have received radio play from the likes of Huw Stephens and Dermot O'Leary. Having just listened to  the full EP, I can heartily recommend taking a listen when it is released next week. It's a pretty varied set of tracks so I'm struggling to give a "if you like this... you might like it" style recommendation, but they're predominantly a rock band, with the press release for the EP highlighting comparisons between the tracks to artists such as Manic Street Preachers, The Killers, Snow Patrol, Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam - an eclectic bunch! 

The People The Poet play a hometown EP release show at The Muni in Pontypridd on 1st April, and you can pre-order the Paradise Closed EP through iTunes here.

LIVE: Jack Savoretti at Cadogan Hall (23/3/16)

Last night I saw my 20th gig of the year, Jack Savoretti playing in the beautiful Cadogan Hall in London. The show was acoustic, a stark contrast to his lively full band shows, a stunning evening.  Support came from Amy Lawton and her band, a really nice opening set - will definitely be keeping an eye out for her at upcoming shows! Having been a fan for a few years, Jack is one of my absolute favourite artists, with his unique, 'gravelly' (if that's a word) accent coming across in the music beautifully. I'm so glad that Jack is doing so well at the minute following support from Radio 2 and a performance on The Graham Norton Show, where he played his track Catapult (from the re-packaged version of his latest record Written In Scars) with a string trio. While being interviewed on the show he invited them to join him at the Cadogan Hall show, and luckily they accepted - watch my video below of them performing the track together!

He talked last night about wanting the show to be 'about old friends', with a guest pianist (who's name I didn't catch!) and Italian artist Violette Zironi joining him for a few tracks. The stripped back set allowed him to play some tracks that he doesn't often get to, such as Harder Than Easy, Between The Minds and Chemical Courage. My favourite song from the latest record, The Other Side Of Love, was a highlight of the evening, and I shed a few tears through Breaking The Rules. If you're interested, there's a bit of his back story on the about page on his website, after his first two albums, he had given up on music, and this track, he described last night, was him sticking it to some of the industry, when he returned with his third record. Thinking about how well he is doing at the moment, and how lucky we are that he carried on playing and writing music, the track made me cry - happy tears though! All in all, a lovely evening. 

Jack plays a show at Somerset House in July, but sadly it's sold out already (the only date to be sold out so far I think, with other acts including Everything Everything, Benjamin Clementine and Laura Mvula, so no mean feat and just another indicator of how successful Jack is being at the moment!) After last night's show, I'm wishing I'd got a ticket before it sold out - now I will have to spend the next few months looking out for one! 

LISTEN: Bel Esprit - 'Leave Me Here'

Premiering on Soundcloud, take a listen to Leave Me Here the new single from Bel Esprit, below. I've known about the band almost since I started university, as they played at Oxjam Oxford in 2014 when I was volunteering on the door, but it wasn't until the end of February this year when they played a show at The Bullingdon in Oxford that I took the time to listen to them properly, and I'm really enjoying what I'm hearing. 

I initially went along to the Oxford show to catch Homeplanetearth who were supporting, but was impressed by the set from Bel Esprit, you can read my post about the evening here. If you like the track then you're in luck as they're playing a mini Easter tour to promote the single, starting tonight (23rd March) in Reading at Purple Turtle, a hometown Southampton show at Joiners on 1st April, London on 2nd April at The Good Ship and Bournemouth's 60 Million Postcards on 7th April. 

Photo by me from their recent headline Oxford gig at The Bullingdon.

Leave Me Here will be released on iTunes, Spotify (and all that jazz...) on 8th April.

ALBUM NEWS: Biffy Clyro - 'Ellipsis'

After a week or so of cryptic social media posts, last night saw the premiere of Wolves of Winter (the name interestingly inspired by a David Attenborough documentary), the first track from the new Biffy Clyro record Ellipsis, which is due out on the 8th of July. In short: get excited. You can hear the full track (for the next 30 days) on Annie Mac's show, upon which it was the 'Hottest Record In The World', along with an interview with frontman Simon Neil, here. Listening to the track, it starts almost tamely, giving us a quiet, reserved side of Biffy, but we're soon dragged back to the distinctive Scottish lead vocals of Neil, alongside powerful drums, guitar and almost chant-like backing vocals, a "snarling song" as Simon referred to it during the interview. As Annie Mac so accurately put it, it's a "ferocious return from the band that we all love", and it's so great to have them back, I can't wait to hear more of the record. 

Source: https://www.facebook.com/biffyclyro

There's a preview of the track here too if you can't access iPlayer, or if you just want to listen for a bit longer (which I wouldn't blame you for as I've just listened 5 or 6 times in a row...)

For more information on the record Ellipsis, which is out 8th July, head to the Biffy Clyro store here. They're also playing their biggest Scotland headline show to date in Bellahouston Park in the last weekend of August, during which they'll also be headlining Reading and Leeds, a fairly busy weekend - information about all the upcoming dates on the site here.

LISTEN: Spector - 'Tenner'

The ever wonderful Spector (with James from Swim Deep filling in for Danny) recorded some tracks at Youtube HQ recently, the first of which was released yesterday. It's a new track, Tenner, with a catchy beat and some superb guitar and bass solos - great to hear new music from them considering their second studio album, Moth Boys, wasn't released that long ago! I first watched the video on my laptop, thinking 360 did just mean that it was shot as a panorama, but... check it out on your mobile devices and you can be in the centre of the performance, turning your phone to look in various directions. I'm slightly blown away by the fact that camera technology allows us to view the performance in this way online! 

Watch our for more videos from the session...