Hardcore titans Converge are coming to the UK for an extensive tour, following last year’s well received No Heroes album. Head along to one of these dates to see them live:
July:
2nd – Brighton Concorde 2
3rd – Newport TJ’s
4th – Nottingham Rock City
5th – Dublin Voodoo Lounge
6th – Edinburgh Exchange
7th – Sheffield Corporation
8th – Reading Fez Club
9th – Stoke On Trent Sugarmill
10th – Manchester Music Box
11th – London Electric Ballroom
12th – Kingston The Peel
Crossfire favourites Necrosadistic Goat Torture will be playing a couple of shows in London this month.
The group will support Skyforger at the Purple Turtle on February 17th and Thus Defiled at the Underworld on the 24th of February before heading off to Helsinki to play at Bar Kantis in March.
Make sure you’re also on the look out for the new 5 track record called The Maniac’s Banquet which is pure thrashing metal mayhem.
Strung Out have posted their new video diary online.
The band are posting regular updates as they work on their new record, Blackhawks Over Los Angeles, their first full length since 2004’s Exile In Oblivion.
The video shows plenty of shredding and each member of the band talks a little about the recording of the album and their plans for the future. The album is due out in June.
To see the video click here.
Gossip will be re-releasing the title track from their album, Standing In The Way Of Control.
The band will bring the single out again on February 26th due to popular demand and the song has gone into the midweek top 40 thanks to download sales, despite it being released in November last year.
The song is being used [in the form of a Soulwax mix] for the trailer for E4’s show Skins, which is already massively popular. To partner the single, the band have put out a video, which you can see here.
Good Shoes’ new single, Never Meant To Hurt You, will be released on March 12th.
Following the single, the band’s debut album, Think Before You Speak, is released on March 26th. The band will also be touring in March to support the releases and have made a video for Never Meant To Hurt You which you can watch by clicking the links below. The tour dates are:
March:
14th – Cambridge, Soul Tree
15th – Reading, Fez
17th – Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
18th – Bristol, Thekla
20th – Birmingham, Academy 2
21st – Newcastle, Academy 2
23rd – Leeds, Cockpit
26th – Stoke, Sugarmill
27th – Oxford, Zodiac
28th – Brighton, Concorde 2
29th – London, Astoria (Mean Fiddler)
Video links:
Quicktime:
Real Media:
Windows Media:
Napalm Death are celebrating the 20th Anniversary of their debut album Scum with a special release.
Earache Records is putting out a special edition 20th Anniversary version of the album, containing both the album itself and a DVD looking at the band’s early days and the impact of the album on the wider music scene.
The DVD will also see an interview with Mark Titchner, a Turner Prize nominee, who looks at the aesthetic styles of Napalm Death’s music. You can check out a trailer on the Earache myspace page and the record will be released on March 19th.
Revered Bristol graffiti artist, Dicy, will be exposing his screenprint and spraypaint artwork at The Workshop in Bristol. The show opening night is on Friday 2nd March from 6pm till 9pm.
All artwork will be on sale and will be up until 6th April.
Check out www.tcfcrew.co.uk and www.letthemhang.co.uk for more goodness!
Call The Workshop for info 0117 922 1566.
Mean Fiddler
01.02.07
In strict contrast to the mild mannered mobbery of the Bloc Party queue outside of the Astoria, the queue forming adjacently at the Mean Fiddler for Cute Is What We Aim For was considerably younger. You would in fact be forgiven for assuming it was someone’s sweet sixteenth if there wasn’t an army of touts harassing the queue.
Opening the show tonight was the latest Drive Thru Records protégé David Melillo. Well spoken and polite this talented young man caused quite a stir. His short but sweet six-song set brought about more pre-pubescent screaming than was expected by many, but more than that, dancing and fun was seemingly had by all as he and his newly formed band careered their way through a set that was largely new material to most of the audience.
‘Morris County Blues’, the opening track had the audience glued as it led to ‘Wait for it’ followed by the seminal ‘This is 2005′. At this point Dave performed two solo tracks, ‘Sam’s Song’ and ‘Vatican Roulette’ before being joined again on stage by the band for the downright amazing ‘Knights Of the Island Counter’. For those unfamiliar with David Melillo; he’s amazing, even more so considering the fact that he’s only eighteen. God, it makes you feel old.
Following Dave was much-talked about Hit The Lights. This five piece pop-punk outfit from Ohio have been turning heads here ever since New Found Glory brought them over in December and are were recently confirmed for this summers Give It A Name festival. Even with their short thirty minute set, they blew away any shadow of a doubt that they are going to be one to watch in 2007. Playing material mainly from their album “This is a stickup… don’t make it a murder” they opened with ‘Talk Us Down’ which immediately had the crowd eating out of their hands.
‘These Backs Are Made For Stabbing’ followed quickly and ‘The Call Out’ was next, but it wasn’t until the first few notes of ‘Save Your Breath’ that it was apparent exactly how big the following for this band has got over here. Every word was sung intently and it didn’t stop there. The same happened for ‘Speakers Blown’, ‘Until We Get Caught’ and the two closing tracks, the much loved (albeit a little cheesy) ‘Bodybag’ and the pit-inducing power-pop of the mighty ‘309′. Hit The Lights made a lot of friends tonight, and Cute Is What We Aim For (CIWWAF) were really going to have to pull something out of the bag to top their performance.
It has to be noted at this point I suppose, that not only is this the end of the tour, but CIWWAF have also had problems for the last few dates. Lead singer Shaant Hacikyan has been having vocal issues all week and they even had to drop off of a few dates.
Two days prior to the show their confirmation was yet to be received so their being here alone was a good start. Opening with ‘Finger Twist and Split’ it was obvious from the word go that Shaant’s voice wasn’t 100%. Not that he sounded awful. Just… strained. None the less, the crowd lapped up everything they offered; ‘Newport Living’ gartering a reaction unexpectedly loud.
‘Moan’ was well received and ‘Teasing To Please’ was the surprise hit of the night. Even if the band in their entirety weren’t firing on all cylinders, the crowd certainly were, but in truth it was not a true reflection of the bands abilities. They weren’t at their best tonight, and it showed. Closing track ‘The Curse Of Curves’ brought with it a sigh of relief from many. The bands valiant efforts had been upstaged by Hit The Lights; and Cute Is What We Aim For had, and I say this shamelessly, missed their aim. Be it due to illness or not; CIWWAF promised lots and failed to deliver. Better luck next time.
Stones Throw heavyweight Peanut Butter Wolf has gotten into the spirit of things and brought out a Valentine’s Day Mix.
If you want to get something awesome for Valentine’s Day without having to splash out on flowers, chocolates and bling bling, then head on over to the link at the bottom of the page and you’ll be able to grab this mix for free. It’s only available today so make sure you step to it and pick it up!
Track list:
1. How Could You Break My Heart – Bobby Womack
2. Don’t Cha Love It – The Miracles
3. I Wanna Be Where You Are – Marvin Gaye
4. Blacks & Blues – Bobbi Humphrey
5. Blues Away – Micheal Jackson
6. Equal Love Opportunity – Clear
7. Pretty Music – New Birth
8. Go For What You Know – Archie Bell & The Drells
9. Aint It Funny – Roetation
10. Telephone Lovers – Alladin
11. Dance With Me Tonight – Holt Brothers
12. I Want Your Lovin – Backyard Construction
13. Loves Traffic – Loves Traffic
14. Someday In Your Life – GQ
15. Need To Be – Stereolab
16. Bring Me Coffee Or Tea – Can
17. Sirens Of Salo – Jimi Tenor
18. Ballata – Barry Forgie
When I read that a band sounds “retro”, I immediately think of the drivel chruned out by various “the” bands, who are trying desperately to be Joy Division or their counterparts. But then you have the few groups who can actually bring off the label, and Chromeo do that, and much more.
The Montreal duo of Pee Thug and Dave 1 are Sparks for the noughties. With their disco infused synths and voicebox operatics, you can’t help but shuffle around imagining you’re wearing an all white suit, white slacks and a skinny tie.
Needy Girl comes from 2004’s She’s In Control album and is a perfect example of what you can expect from the Canadians. The chorus says it all: “You’re a needy girl, I can see it when I look into your big brown eyes… it’s all about what you want, what you say, how you feel, how you play the game”. Just what you wanna hear around Valentine’s Day innit!
With a new album, Fancy Footwork coming out in May, make sure you lap this stuff up to get you in the mood for the release.