WATCH: Bombay Bicycle Club - 'Everything Else Has Gone Wrong'

To set the scene for this post, you find me writing it far too late in the evening when I should be asleep because I'm in the midst of working in retail over the busy Christmas period. (Help!) It's a busy and stressful time so, as with most situations of the like, I'm looking to music to find some solace. Bombay Bicycle Club are delivering that in spades, with the second (and title) track from their upcoming record, Everything Else Has Gone Wrong.

Sharing the track online, the band explain that it is "about finding hope, safety and comfort during times of despair, when everything is seemingly crumbling all around you. It's about finding light in the dark, and the cathartic role that music can play in bleak situations." Enjoy the video, directed by long-time friend of the band Louis Bhose, below.

The new album Everything Else Has Gone Wrong is due for release on 17th January, and the band will be touring the UK soon after, with support from bandmate Liz Lawrence (who recently released a brill album) and The Big Moon (who have an album on the way). Dates below, remaining tickets here.

20th Jan: Corn Exchange, Cambridge

21st: Academy, Bournemouth

23rd: De Montfort Hall, Leicester

24th: University Great Hall, Cardiff

25th: Academy, Leeds

27th: Academy, Newcastle

28th: Barrowland, Glasgow

31st: Academy, Birmingham

1st Feb: Centre, Brighton

3rd: Victoria Warehouse, Manchester

7th: Alexandra Palace, London

10th: Vicar Street, Dublin

12th: Ulster Hall, Belfast

Follow Bombay Bicycle Club - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram. 

WATCH: Low Island - 'When You Wake At Night'

Those Low Island chaps have taken the DIY music video to a whole new level with their latest offering. Shot and directed by the band themselves, the video sees Carlos running around the outskirts of Oxford as the sun goes down. Splitting up the roles of driving, make-up, acting and directing between the four of them, it's a real joint effort and the effect is a really unique video giving you a glimpse of that gorgeous Oxfordshire countryside, set against a stunning track.

The track is taken from recent EP Shut out the Sun, on which it is joined by Long Answer, Search Box and In Person - it's a really strong release but I'd expect no less from these guys, they're incredible. The band are currently in the midst of a UK tour for the EP, with shows coming up in York (2nd Dec), Stoke (4th), Tunbridge Wells (5th) and their hometown shindig at The Bullingdon in Oxford (6th) - they're a superb live band (and can only have got even better in the couple of years since I last saw them) so I'd really recommend getting along to a show.

Follow Low Island - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

WATCH: The Big Moon - 'Take A Piece'

"Look we made a pop song!" 

This one is sounding glorious on the blog playlist this week, nestled between new tracks from Friendly Fires and Love Fame Tragedy. Taken from upcoming album Walking Like We Do (due 10th January via Fiction Records), The Big Moon are paying homage to some rather legendary 1990s boybands with the video for their current single, Take A Piece. Worth a watch for the overwhelming nostalgia alone.

Talking about the track, vocalist Juliette Jackson explains that "I initially wrote this song for someone else [...] I'd written an album's worth of songs but a lot of them felt similar to our first album and I wanted to try something different."

"I'd just watched a documentary about this pop star and seen how insane their life was and their intense relationship with their fans, and was blown away by how much of themselves they'd had to give up to have the life they had [...] This mega pop star's life was literally nothing like mine but I could really identify with the vulnerability of being a performer and standing on stage every night and feeling the eyes of an audience, which can feel either grounding and unifying or - occasionally - scary and isolating." 

If you'd like to catch the band playing live soon, you're in luck as they're heading out on tour with Bombay Bicycle Club across the UK in January and February - and they've just announced a run of their own shows for Feb/March. Full listings here.

27th Feb: The Fleece, Bristol
28th: O2 Academy 2, Liverpool
29th: Summerhall Arts Centre, Edinburgh
2nd March: Contemporary, Nottingham
3rd: O2 Academy 2, Oxford

Follow The Big Moon - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

LISTEN: Bad Sounds - 'Breathe'

I had a busy weekend at work (the joys of retail at Christmas...) so didn't get around to writing a blog post for yesterday but today I'm attempting to make it up by bringing you an exciting new tune that was released yesterday. Having returned to our hearts (and our ears) with Sympathetic Vibrations recently, the ever wonderful Bad Sounds have just announced their Escaping From A Violent Time Vol. 1 EP and shared the second track from it, Breathe. Aiming to create a representation of where the band currently stands, without outside influence, the EP was self-produced by the bands frontmen, brothers Callum and Ewan Merrett. Writing and recording underground in a former prison cell in Bristol, they describe wanting to make the EP feel "visceral, and of this moment." 

Talking in more detail on Breathe in particular, Callum explained that "Breathe is about the inescapability of our own human nature. How we are destructive purely by existing, and it isn't something we can help. Some of us carry the burden of that responsibility and truly feel the guilt of being human. We're all kind of hoping that it means something in the end, but perhaps that's just desperately optimistic. Naive even. Also there is a chainsaw at the start." 

You can catch the band live at the following dates:

1st May: Deaf Institute, Manchester
12th: Lafayette, London
13th: The Fleece, Bristol

Follow Bad Sounds - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

LISTEN: Max Bloom - 'Bottle'

Psssst. New today - Bottle from Max Bloom. It's his third solo single of the year and it's a really honest, personal one. After eight years of playing and touring as the frontman of Yuck, the breakdown of an eight-year-long relationship proved the catalyst to him making his own music in 2017, as his tastes began to shift from those which informed Yuck. The creation of solo material was, for Max, a way of processing the changes he was experiencing at the time, without the pressure of an established audience or a sound to follow. The result is a project which is experimental, open and intimate. 

Talking about Bottle in particular, Max explains that "this song is about the moment when my ex-girlfriend and I ended our relationship after 8 years. It was just after Christmas, and we met up in a busy bar in Soho. She gave me a bag of Christmas presents from her family. She broke her stoicism for one second to say the words ‘I always thought that we’d be together forever,’ and I completely broke down. Suddenly, for the first time in 8 years, I found myself completely alone. I’ve come a long way since then, but the way I felt at that moment will stay with me forever.”

Max Bloom heads on his first solo UK tour this December, dates as follows and events/info here.

4th: Headrow House, Leeds

5th: The Library, Oxford

6th: Cafe Kino, Leeds

7th: Kazimier Stockroom, Liverpool

8th: Jimmy's, Manchester

9th: Paper Dress Vintage, London

Follow Max Bloom - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

LISTEN: Maggie Rogers - 'Love You For A Long Time'

I'm gonna love Maggie Rogers for a long time indeed. Almost without warning (beyond some mysterious lyric posts on instagram) she's just dropped her first new music since debut album Heard It In A Past Life back in January. With a catchy chorus and her ridiculously impressive vocal range, Love You For A Long Time has all the hallmarks of a brilliant Maggie Rogers track, and it arrives in the wake of some very (VERY) exciting news. Yesterday, Maggie became a Grammy nominated artist in the 'Best New Artist' category. Hugely deserved, and I can't get enough of her reaction video (here.) Good luck Maggie!

Follow Maggie Rogers - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

TOUR NEWS: MarthaGunn (March 2020)

Last week I shared the new (but also kind of old) MarthaGunn track to the blog. As I'd scheduled the post a few days before I was already slightly behind as they shared the music video just before my post went live. As well as that, having just wrapped up some touring across Europe supporting Palace, they've announced a tour of their own for next Spring. Check out the video for Heaven below...

The tour dates are below and tickets are available here.

22nd March: Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds
24th: Broadcast, Glasgow
25th: Think Tank, Newcastle
27th: The Castle, Manchester
28th: Dead Wax, Birmingham
30th: Heartbreakers, Southampton
31st: Louisiana, Bristol
1st April: Hope & Ruin, Brighton
2nd: Courtyard Theatre, London

Follow MarthaGunn - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

WATCH: Halloweens - 'Hannah, You're Amazing'

I am ridiculously excited to share this one. I'm not much of a Halloween fan, but I can certainly get behind Halloweens. The duo is a new project from Justin and Timothy of The Vaccines, and that's pretty much all the information as I needed to be entirely sold on it. Joining Hannah Hunt (Vampire Weekend) in my personal hall of fame of brilliant tracks with the name Hannah in their title... Hannah, You're Amazing reels you in from those first notes, I'm loving it and must say that it is a joy to have Justin's vocals back with new music. They also shared a cracking video to go alongside the track - worth a watch!

Posting the track online, they explained that it "started life as a song about getting high and falling in love with an amazing stranger at a house party. by the time we finished it, we'd zoomed out and started daydreaming about biblical figures and philosophers and finding/losing faith/hope in others on a much larger scale. An ode to enlightenment and a song of entitlement. it goes both ways."

The track was shared alongside Ur Kinda Man which is a really sweet piano ballad - listen here. Crossing my fingers for a show announcement, but only if they'll commit to wearing those costumes.

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LISTEN: BE GOOD - 'Sickie'

If you know anything about this blog or the music nerd behind it, you'll know that I have quite a bit of love for Oxford band BE GOOD. They came into my life just after I moved out of Oxford but I've loved getting to know them through their releases for the last couple of years as they've released tune after tune with the likes of Nightbus and It's Cool But It Ain't You. Earlier in the year, they shared their debut EP God Of Nowhere and started to really break through with features on various playlists. Sickie is their first release since the EP - it's typically BE GOOD, melancholic and nostalgic as slick music wraps around lead singer Ash Cooke's distinct and vulnerable vocals.

Discussing the track, Ash explains that it "takes a look at a few small vignettes from past relationships, and contrasts those with imaginary moments of a future that never happened. Sometimes you can get so wrapped up in waiting for a particular version of your life to materialise that you don't realise everything was changing anyway, without you." 

They're currently on tour across the UK with fellow Oxford musical legend Willie J Healey (who just released a cracking new EP) with shows in Southampton (Joiners on Weds) and London (Omeara on Thurs) still to come, before their triumphant hometown return to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Centre on 29th Nov for Divine Schism.

Follow BE GOOD - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

LISTEN: Christof van der Ven - 'Live at RAK' EP

In 2019, Christof van der Ven has managed a kind of new release hat-trick. The legend. Back in March he released one of my favourite EPs of the year, Beneath The Ordinary Load, before returning in September (after a stretch of touring with Bear's Den) with the stunning record You Were The Place. As if those two weren't quite enough, he's recently shared the Live at RAK EP, which features the audio from some session videos that he recorded at the RAK Studios in London. Featuring a whole bunch of talented musicians from the Bear's Den and Matthew & the Atlas live bands and elsewhere, it's hard to imagine it being anything but completely beautiful, and it is. A highlight for me from the album and this EP is 4AM, which you can watch in the session video below.

Check out the full Live at RAK EP from Christof van der Ven here.

Follow Christof van der Ven - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.