Beady Eye Announced for Fuji Rock Festival

Beady Eye have seem to have been confirmed for their first and to date only scheduled gig for 2012, despite Liam telling Zane Lowe there would be no gigs this year. The lineup has appeared online and although not officially confirmed yet, seems likely to be true. Will be interesting to hear if Beady Eye play any new material in their set.

Noel Gallagher Plays D'yer Wanna Be A Spaceman Live at Intimate Glasgow Show

Noel Gallagher performed the classic Oasis B-side D'yer Wanna Be A Spaceman for the first time in over 10 years last night in Glasgow, the performance of which can be viewed above. Hopefully this means some impending changes to his setlist, which has remained largely identical for all his full-scale gigs so far. The full setlist was as follows:

(It's Good) To Be Free
Talk Tonight
If I Had A Gun...
Supersonic
Wonderwall
AKA...What a Life!
D'yer Wanna Be A Spaceman
Half the World Away
Don't Look Back in Anger

Apparently the gig is being broadcast on the radio in 10 days or so, unfortunately don't know any more than that.

The Sand Band Finally Announce Release Date For New EP

After teasing and delaying this EP for 3 months, Liverpool's The Sand Band have finally decided to give us a release date for their Love Will Save Us I Hope EP; namely the second of March. The 8-track EP (seem to remember reading it was 8 anyway but don't hold me to it) is in support of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and will be available from the band's Bandcamp page here, with all proceeds going to the charity. Eagerly anticipating this as the band's debut album, All Through The Night, was one of the best things I heard all last year: if you haven't heard it, check it out before this drops!

Echo Raptors Post New Songs

Echo Raptors have posted two new songs online, with a third to come tonight. There's a new one called Idle Dream (not at all similar to the Oasis song Idler's Dream in case you were wondering), which has a great catchy chorus, and an electric version of Stepping Stone which was previously heard as a Kitchen Session in acoustic form. It reminds me slightly of an early Oasis song, which is high praise indeed. Both songs can be listened to at the band's Soundcloud page here and keep an eye out for a third new song at midnight tonight.

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds Post New Song, Shoot A Hole Into The Sun

This is the first thing to be released from Noel's much-anticipated collaboration with psychedelic duo Amorphous Androgynous. It's been played before gigs but the studio version was only uploaded today. It's an elongated and almost unrecognisable remix of If I Had A Gun, and although I was cautious about what the collaboration would bring I am now eagerly anticipating the album, due out late this year or early next. The video doesn't want to embed but can be watched here.

Gimme The Sign - New Single by The Enemy

The video for the  new single from The Enemy was put online earlier today. Must say I'm not too impressed, sounds pretty average to me. The singer, Tom Clarke, has made some pretty bold statements about the state of music lately, which I largely agree with, but this doesn't really help his case.

R U Mine? - New Single by Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys released this standalone single earlier today, before they start a US tour supporting the Black Keys. Great song and video.

Paul Weller says Sonik Kicks will be his last album with Simon Dine

My copy of Mojo came through the door a couple of days ago (the issue shown above) and as you may have guessed contained an interview with Paul Weller. One thing that caught my eye was Paul Weller saying that he and Simon Dine had fallen out recently over how much Dine was paid for his work on Weller's records, meaning Sonik Kicks will likely be the last thing they collaborate on. In my opinion this is great news; Dine seems to have been largely responsible for (in my opinion) the decline in quality of Weller's last couple of albums. He seems to have been responsible for a lot of the experimental stuff on these records; his contribution consisted mainly of sending Weller electronic loops to work with. I'm hoping that his departure will mean Weller's next few albums will go back to more traditional guitar-bass-drum stuff that he did so well in the 90s.

Reverend And The Makers Announce October UK Tour

Reverend and the Makers announced a full UK tour earlier today, due to take place in October. The dates are as follows:

Newcastle Academy (11th Oct)

Edinburgh Liquid Rooms (12th Oct)

Liverpool Academy 2 (13th Oct)

Manchester Ritz (14th Oct)

Nottingham Rescue Rooms (17th Oct)

Leeds Stylus (18th)

Norwich Open (19th Oct)

Sheffield Academy (20th Oct)

Birmingham Academy (21st Oct)

Brighton Concorde 2 (23rd Oct)

Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms (24th Oct)

Bristol Academy (25th Oct)

London Shepherds Bush Empire (26th Oct)

Tickets can be pre-ordered from the band's online store here.

Ancient Energy - New Single by Ian McNabb

Ian Mcnabb, probably best known for being the singer in the Icicle Works, premiered the first track from his new album, Little Episodes, a couple of days ago. Called Ancient Energy, pretty good in my opinion. The album, his ninth as a solo artist, is available to buy at his gigs I believe, although not sure when it will be getting a full release.

Blur Play Brits, Announce Summer Shows

Blur played at the Brit awards last night after collecting their deserved Outstanding Contribution award, and I have to say their 5 song set was head a shoulders above the rest of the night (to be fair that wouldn't be hard to surpass). My favourite song they did, This is a Low, can be watched above, but the user has uploaded the rest of the songs from the night too. The band has also announced they are returning to the scene of some of their triumphant  2009 gigs, Hyde Park, on August 12th to help close the Olympics. They have also announced a festival date in August, the Way Out West festival in Gothenburg, Sweden, which gives me hope they might do a few UK dates too.

That Dangerous Age - New Single by Paul Weller

This is the official video for That Dangerous Age, Paul Weller's new single (I posted just the song a few days ago). Having had time to reflect I really like it, catchy and strangely reminds me of Stereophonics at times. The single is released on March the 12th, a week before Sonik Kicks, the new album. Some more details on the release from the email I was sent on the mailing list:

"The single will be released in four formats - digital EP, CD and two 7" vinyls - and is backed by the brand new track 'Portal To The Past' plus remixes from Matt Helders (Arctic Monkeys), Ladytron and Devlin"

Narcotic Farm No. II - New Song By Kasabian

Kasabian have released this new song, not sure if it's a demo or what, online. However I really really like this, reminds me of Little Barrie's exceptional King of the Waves album (check out Precious Pressure and the title track) that was released last year.

What'll It Take - New Single by Graham Coxon

This was premiered online today, although the video is yet to surface. This is the first single to be taken from Graham's forthcoming solo album, A+E, which is due for release on April 2nd. Enjoying this so far, bit of a departure from his previous solo work but definitely still accessible to long-term fans.

New Album Release - Stand Upright In A Cool Place by Dodgy

Been looking forward to this album for a few months now, but unfortunatly not been able to listen yet as it's not on Spotify. However it's received some great reviews which make me very eager to hear it, let me know your thoughts and I will try to give it a listen in the next few days.

New Album Release - Sweet Sour by Band Of Skulls

Band of Skulls released their second album today, called Sweet Sour. Pretty solid bluesy rock which might appeal to fans of the Black Keys or White Stripes, although I'm no expert on the genre! Anyway an enjoyable listen; The Devil Takes Care of His Own stands out for me.

Blur Make Live Return, Debut New Song

Blur (albeit only consisting of Damon and Graham) made their live return after almost 3 years last night, playing a 3 song acoustic set in aid of War Child. The setlist steered clear of any well-known songs; Strange News From Another Star, He Thought Of Cars and a new song (!!!), Under The Westway, were played. Under The Westway sounds great and gives me hope for any future Blur releases, watch it in the embedded link above. The other two songs have also been uploaded by the same user.

Chi-Town - New Song by The Cribs

The Cribs have debuted the first song from their new album In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull, called Chi-Town (I assumed it meant Chinatown but apparently it's slang for Chicago). Less melodic and more "shouty" than the band's work with Marr but still pretty decent I reckon.

The Cribs Announce New Album Details and Tour

 The Cribs have annouced their first album since 2009's excellent Ignore the Ignorant. Called 'In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull' it is due for release on May the 7th, and is their first album since 2007 that doesn't feature Johnny Marr after he left the band last year. I really enjoyed the last album but curious as to how this will sound since Marr's departure. The tracklisting is as follows:

Glitters Like Gold
Come On Be A No-One
Jaded Youth
Anna
Confident Man
Uptight
Chi-Town
Pure O
Back To The Bolthole
I Should Have Helped
Stalagmites
Like A Gift Giver
Butterflies
Arena Rock Encore With Full Cast

The band has announced a short May UK tour in support of the album, dates are as follows:

7th May - Rock City, Nottingham
8th May - Troxy, London
9th May - O2 Academy, Bristol
11th May - Barrowlands, Glasgow
12th May - Academy, Manchester
13th May - Winter Gardens, Eastbourne 

Paul Weller Streams New Song, That Dangerous Age

This is the second song to be heard from Weller's upcoming solo album, Sonik Kicks, after Around The Lake. Only listened a couple of times but sounding quite good to me so far.

Reverend And The Makers Post New Song, Bassline, Announce New Album Title

Reverend and the Makers have released the first song from their upcoming third album, which will rather bizarrely be called @reverend_makers. The song, Bassline, is quite dancey and not dissimilar to The Machine in the repetition of a phrase. It's available to download for free from the band's Facebook page here, just click the @reverend_bassline tab on the left hand side. Above is the first photo of the band's new lineup which includes ex-Milburn and The Book Club frontman Joe Carnall.

Proud Mary 'Annouce' New Album and Hometown Gig

This was posted a few days ago on Proud Mary's website but I only just came across it now:

"Proud Mary will be launching their fourth as yet untitled album this april and will be playing a special hometown album release party show at MANCHESTER SOUNDCONTROL   on Saturday 7th April,  along with The Excellent’ Northern Uproar’ and more special guests to be announced. We have managed to extend the license till 12 and tickets are only £7."

Good to hear talk of a new album; their last, Ocean Park, was truly excellent. Wouldn't expect it to drop too soon though, as I seem to recall Ocean Park being delayed for almost a year with little information coming through. Still, we can dream...

Lightning Seeds Gig in Whitehaven

The Lightning Seeds seem to be pretty divisive but I reckon they've released some great stuff over the course of their career. The band is still going and now features Riley Broudie, frontman Ian's son and the inspiration for the band's biggest hit, The Life of Riley, on guitar. They played the first gig of their latest UK tour two nights ago in Whitehaven (wherever that is), setlist is as follows:

Ready Or Not
What If...
Sense
All I Want
You Bet Your Life
Change
Imaginary Friends
The Life of Riley
Cigarettes and Lies
The Prettiest Star
Perfect
You Showed Me
Pure
Sugar Coated Iceberg
Lucky You
Marvellous
Three Lions

One video from the gig has been posted so far, Ready Or Not, which can be viewed below. The band played in Leeds last night and is playing in Liverpool tonight, followed by 7 more dates; details can be found here.

Reverend And The Makers Gig Last Night In Coventry

 Reverend and the Makers made their live return after almost two years last night at S7ven in Coventry. The setlist is as follows:

Open your window
Out of the shadows
The state of things
Warts n all
Shine the light
No soap in a dirty war
He said he loved me
Bassline
The wrestler
Heavyweight champion of the world
Armchair detective
Noisy neighbour
The machine
Silence is talking

As far as I'm aware, at least 5 or 6 of the songs there are new; unfortunately there are no videos yet to be found. The band plays a free gig at FAC251 in Manchester tonight and are also playing at Fibbers in York tomorrow, so some videos will almost definitely surface soon.

The Law Acoustic Radio Session on Tenement TV

http://www.tenementtv.com/artists/the-law/

Above is an excellent video of the Law playing 3 songs acoustically for Tenement TV (whoever that is!). The songs played are all off the new album, Trigger, which was released on Monday: Holiday, All Over Your Mind and 7th Avenue all get an airing. Well worth checking out, even if just for Holiday, which as you may have guessed from the level of exposure it has got on here is one of my favourite tracks of the year so far.

Paul Weller Sonik Kicks Samples Posted on Amazon

The 30-second previews of Paul Weller's upcoming album, Sonik Kicks, have been uploaded on to Amazon today. As with his last few albums, sounds like it will be a case of separating the good stuff from the weird (for me at least!). Still, sounds like there will be a couple of decent songs on it at least. The release date above is obviously meant to say 2012 and not 2011!

Listen here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00749Z0HI/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_dp_-F6mpb1S3F2ED

Dream On - New Video by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

http://musique.jeuxactu.com/video-noel-gallagher-s-high-flying-birds-le-clip-de-dream-on-8581.htm

This is the video for Dream On, the fourth single to be released from last year's splendid Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. Not sure if this was meant to be premiered or not as I've never heard of the site before, but the video is pretty good and definitely better than anything Beady Eye managed to muster. The single is out on the 12th of March, and will come with the B-side Shoot A Hole In To The Sun, the Amorphous Androgynous version of If I Had A Gun which has been played before Noel goes on stage live. You can listen to the live recording below.

Noel Gallagher Interview On Fasterlouder.com

Not gonna post every interview Noel does on here (there's already a blog for that, Stop Crying Your Heart Out, which can be found on the sidebar) but I found this one to be a really interesting read so I'll stick it up here. Noel talks about his collaboration with Amorphous Androgynous, working with Paul Weller and an Oasis archive release amongst other things, definitely worth a look.

http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/features/31446/Noel-Gallagher?page=1

Machine Gun Silhouette - New Song by Jack White

Listen here http://soundcloud.com/emergencybroadcastsongs/jack-white-machine-gun

This is the B-side to Jack White's first solo single, Love Interruption, that debuted online recently. The sound is more mellow than much of the his work, and I for one am enjoying his new direction. The album, Blunderbuss, is due to be released in April.

Shotgun - New Single by Eugene McGuinness

Eugene MccGuinness released his self-titled debut album in 2008 although since then his solo career has gone a quiet. Well, that is until a few months ago. Having released an album in 2010 as Eugene & The Lizards and played in Miles Kane's live band for much of the past year, he has finally made his solo comeback. However the Eugene we see here is very different from the 2008 model: both his music and appearance have undergone quite a transformation. This is the fourth song he has released since his comeback and the third due to appear on his new album, The Invitation To The Voyage, due out this year. The fact that this is probably the worst of the three singles (the other two being Thunderbolt and Lion) speaks volumes about how good they are, and I am eagerly anticipating his new album. This was released to download on iTunes today, doesn't seem to have been announced previously or if it was it completely slipped through my net!

Echo Raptors Kitchen Session #3 - Time Bomb

Echo Raptors have posted another brilliant Kitchen Session, if they continue putting them out at their current rate we'll have a whole album's worth soon! Really enjoyed this one, looking forward to hearing more.

We're A Crowd - New Single by The Twang

A few days late with this but here's the video for We're A Crowd, the first single to be taken from the band's new album, 10:20, which is due out some point this year. This is the first thing the band have released since last year's Guapa EP. Quite a nice song, nothing too radical a departure from their previous work and unlikely to set the world on fire. Interestingly the usual bassist has been replaced by Barry Fratelli from (you guessed it) The Fratellis in this video, not sure if this is a temporary or permanent arrangement however. The single is available to download from next Monday, February 13th.

Echo Raptors Kitchen Sessions

Those who have been watching this blog for a few months (if these people exist!) will be aware of Belfast's Echo Raptors, who are one of the most exciting new bands I've heard in a while. If not check out their Soundcloud page at http://soundcloud.com/echoraptors/tracks to get up to date. They have recently started a series of acoustic videos from one of the band member's kitchen, possibly inspired by The La's legendary Kitchen Sessions. Two videos have been posted so far (embedded below), but how long this runs for remains to be seen. Anyway I'm enjoying what I've heard so far and am looking forward to the next instalment; will post on here whenever a new one is uploaded.

New Album Release - Trigger by The Law

The second album from Dundee's The Law is released today, alongside the Holiday single featuring the B-side Nightmare Maker. The album is a bit of a departure from their previous, Jam-inspired sound; the songs here are slower, more acoustic-sounding and bluesy than the previous album (2009's a Measure Of Wealth). The album does get a little samey after a while although there some excellent tracks here, notably Gimme Some Love, the aforementioned Holiday, Paraglide and the title track, Trigger. A stronger Oasis influence runs through this album, particularly on songs like Holiday.

Sulk Announce UK Tour

Sulk are a new band from London, who released a couple of excellent singles last year including the brilliant Back In Bloom which you can watch below. They have just announced their "first northern tour"consisting of 5 dates in March, details below. Obviously the setlist is under wraps at the moment, but the band have said on their twitter page there will be a different setlist every night. They also posted a rehearsal setlist on Facebook which could provide a few clues; songs from the bands previous incarnation as The Ruling Class are included as well as a fair few unheard Sulk ones. The rehearsal setlist is as follows:

Back In Bloom
Sleeping Beauty
Wishes
Photograph Of You
Flowers
Down
Diamonds And Ashes
Marian Shrine
Umbrella Folds
Shame Or Pride
End Time
Higher Plains
Another Man Fades Dawn

The dates announced are:


15th March – Sheffield, The Leadmill
16th March - Manchester, FAC251
17th March - Liverpool, The Magnet
30th March - Dunfermline, PJ Molloys
31st March - Glasgow, Chambre 69

Tickets can be bought from www.thisfeeling.co.uk

 

New EP Release - The Peeks

The Peeks are a new band hailing from Manchester, discovered them on Soundcloud a few months ago. The other day they released a self-titled EP on their Souncloud Page which really impressed me, check it out here: http://soundcloud.com/thepeeks/sets
Their sound is nothing particularly original, the singer sounds not dissimilar to Liam Gallagher or BRMC's Peter Hayes. In fact I would probably describe their sound as BRMC if they knew how to have fun! Well worth checking out anyway.

You're So Good For Me - New Video by the Inspiral Carpets

Last year the Inspiral Carpets reformed (oddly with their first singer who left before they got very big) with the promise of new music, and this is the first new song they've released. It's been knocking about on youtube since November albeit in live form (XFM session and an audience recording of the Buenos Aires gig this footage is from), but this is the official video. Really like this song and I have high hopes for the impending album, although details are very scarce at the moment.

Arctic Monkeys Gig From Last Night at the Paris Olympia

Arctic Monkeys streamed the 100th gig of their Suck It And See Tour, at the Paris Olympia, live on their website last night and of course someone has ripped it and stuck it on Youtube. Would recommend watching this and/or ripping the audio quickly as some videos of the night have already been taken down due to copyright claims. Miles Kane was supporting and Alex joined him on stage for a rare version of The Last Shadow Puppets' Standing Next To Me, which you can watch below. Later on Miles returned the favour, as has become customary, and Richard Hawley came on to play on You & I, the new B-side to Black Treacle. He looks near-identical to Alex!

Reverend And The Makers Return!

Reverend and The Makers have been pretty quiet since their second album, A French Kiss In The Chaos, was released back in 2009. However Jon McClure A.K.A the Reverend recently posted this on the band's Facebook page which can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/ReverendAndTheMakers . Sounds like album 3 should drop in the next few months all being well. The band are doing a couple of gigs next week as warm-up shows before they support Noel Gallagher on some of his UK dates; I've put all the details at the bottom. Chances are some new songs will be aired so I'll post videos on here when they surface. Anyway this is what The Rev had to say:

"Afternoon.

So we've been away for a minute. Well more than a minute.

Truth be said I fancied a bit of time out the bear-pit for half an hour to get myself a bit of a holiday, and well, calm the fuck down n enjoy myself a bit.

Not that I sat completely on my arse for the best part of two years.

Errrr ..... (I’ve kind of forgot what your supposed to talk about in a post even tho I decided to write one!!!)… I’ve been a few mad places in Asia, Africa and South America which was unbelievable. I bought some daft instruments while I was away too - none of which I can play but they look r8 good in my house.

I did a bit more with Afrika Express. If you don’t know what it is then check it out at www.africaexpress.co.uk - it’s a thing Damon Albarn set up and its fuckin’ amazing.

I did a little gig with Mick Jones from The Clash at The Leadmill and I got up and sang ‘Bankrobber’ with him, which was a proper buzz.

Mostly though, I had a soundsystem with my mates Jimmy Welsh and Matic Mouth which was mega. We threw house parties and warehouse parties, and generally got daft doing parties for nish, until we got a bit too daft and the police started turning up to every do we had.

So, we knocked that on the head and I decided I might fancy getting back to the day job... I just kind of fell into writing this album by accident and the next thing was it was nearly finished. I’m bang into it - which you'll all expect me to say. But I enjoyed making it more than any album I’ve made so far. It’s all up and mainly bangers, so we had a right old laugh in the process. Special thanks go to Ed the Pilot and Jimmy and his Onkens.

The album is being produced by a combination of Jason Cox and James Dring (Gorrrilaz, Good the Bad & the Queen) and Youth (The Verve, U2) and for what its worth there's no politics on the album. Why not? Well as much as I’m into all that and I still believe much the same, I’ve said it now and it quickly becomes boring if you labour the point too much. In truth I sort of bored myself with it. I’ve took down the Che Guevara poster for this album, you may or may not be glad to know.

So we have some new band members who have joined as well. Ryan Jenkinson on drums who used to play with a band I used to be into called This Girl. On bass we have borrowed Joe Carnall from the Book Club. Check them out they are ace (www.facebook.com/pages/Joe-Carnall-The-Book-Club). Joe was the singer in Milburn, who were the band that kinda kicked off the Sheffield thing a few years ago, so I’m made up to have them both play with us.

The album’s out this summer and will be preceded by a tour supporting Noel Gallagher on his arena dates around the UK. Not even gonna lie, we are well looking forward to it, and hope we'll see you there - and if not I hope you might catch us on our own headline tour later in the year. We’ll give you details of that soon.

Nice one, ta for reading, and good to be back.

The Rev x

PS. Reverend & The Makers have signed a new worldwide record deal with Cooking Vinyl home of The Prodigy, Marilyn Manson, etc. The first single will be available for FREE download from this very Facebook page the week before the Noel Gallagher tour starts, then expect another one around early April, followed by the album (more details to follow). "

GIGS

Friday 10th Feb - S7ven, Coventry

Saturday 11th Feb - FAC251, Manchester (FREE GIG!)

Sunday 12th Feb - Fibbers, York

Monday Feb 13th - Manchester MEN Arena (Supporting Noel Gallagher) 

Tuesday Feb 14th - Aberdeen P&J Arena (Supporting Noel Gallagher) 

Sunday Feb 19th - Sheffield Motorpoint Arena (Supporting Noel Gallagher) 

Friday Feb 24th - Glasgow SECC (Supporting Noel Gallagher) 

Sunday Feb 26th - London O2 Arena (Supporting Noel Gallagher) 

Thursday 1st March - Birmingham NIA (Supporting Noel Gallagher)

Holiday - New Single By The Law

Been a big fan of this band since I saw them supporting Paul Weller in their hometown of Dundee a few years ago, and been looking forward to a second album for a while. This is the excellent first single to be taken from their new album called Trigger, which should be out at some point in February and which I am greatly anticipating.

The Horizon - New Single By All The Young

Really enjoying the new single from Stoke's All The Young, called The Horizon. The album, called Welcome Home, is due out on April 2nd. You can download a live album from the King's Hall in Stoke here: http://app.alltheyoung.co.uk/kingshall