Blueprint’s Danny Brady celebrates his new shoe release on Lakai tonight in London so if you fancy a beer, then head into Covent Garden. His Belmont shoe release is at Slam City Skates at Neil’s Yard. Get down there for some freebies between 5 and 7pm.
The winner of the Slam City Skates City of Rats premiere tickets and deck and wheel package is…Taimore McDowell from Slough. Get in touch to get your swag.
Fabric have a new promo out featuring Sheffield’s Mark Baines today. Get stuck into this clip put together by Matt Hirst of Bines on a winter mission and click through to the Fabric site to see what goodness they will be bringing to your local skate shop in their Spring catalog.
The Harmony are back with some amazing new decks for Spring with one of our favourite UK artists. The Owl and Wolf decks designed by illustrator Stuart Kolakovic will be i your local skate shop this month, so make sure you pay his amazing work some attention and pick one up.
Blueprint Skateboards have a new deck series about to hit your local skate shop this week. The Monogram series features pro decks from Shier, Murawski, Brady, Kennedy, Jensen and Smith. Check out the sizes below and look out for them on your Spring skate shop visit.
The Landscape Skateboards team met up in London for their Spring/Summer 2012 promo video recently. Watch this edit and click through to their website to browse this season’s collection of decks, clothing and more.
‘Weird Luck’ EP
Free Download
Weird luck is when you are on the web doing stuff and then the next thing you know, you are listening to a new band from Brooklyn who are blowing your ears off within seconds of pressing the play button. That’s how we discovered Life Size Maps here who release a 3 track EP this month.
This trio have some quality noise on offer that sits above some fantastic pop melodies fueled by Mike McKeever’s brash guitars and warming vocals, Jordyn Blakely’s powerful drums and some amazing cello playing from Rob Karpay. Now, the cello may sound like an odd call, but the production on opening track Weird Luck is a masterful mix of noisy indie rock led by a fantastic synth piece that swirls and drives its anthemic chords into a very welcome sonic explosion!
The melodies within these 3 tracks are irresistably catchy. When Wind In The Furnace breaks into its uplifting chorus, euphoria is unleashed on an epic scale accompanied by another heavy pounding of noise. No change here for third track Copper Mirror that ends this listening experience on yet another musical high with stabbing guitars, psych synth and yet another huge chorus. It’s addictive, it’s loud but it’s also beautifully crafted, so let’s hope that this band are able to drive by map and appear in London sometime soon.
Download this EP for free from here and watch this clip of the band playing in Williamsburg, NYC to get the full picture.
For fans of Dinosaur Jr, Superchunk, Flaming Lips and Trail of Dead.
The Camden Crawl 2012 has announced its first wave of evening acts for the May bank Holiday Weekend’s celebrations in London.
New bands in the evening line up include:
ADMIRAL FALLOW / ALABAMA 3 / ALPINES / AND SO I WATCHED YOU FROM AFAR / ANTLERED MAN / ARROWS OF LOVE / BASEMENT / BASTILLE / BAXTER DURY / BEN WESTBEECH / BLACKLISTERS / BLACK MOTH / BLACKHOODS / BOY FRIEND / BRANDT BRAUER FRICK / BRONTIDE / BXENTRIC / CASHIER NO. 9 / CHARLIE XCX / CHEW LIPS / CYMBALS / DOG IS DEAD / D/R/U/G/S / DUTCH UNCLES / ECHO LAKE / FANZINE / FEAR OF MEN / FICTION / FUNERAL SUITS / GHETTS / HAWK EYES / HEY SHOLAY / ICEAGE / ICONA POP / JAMES CLEAVER QUARTET /JAPE / JAYMO & ANDY GEORGE / KEEP SHELLY IN ATHENS / KWES / LIONESS / LUCY ROSE / MARMOZETS / MELODICA, MELODY & ME / NIGHT ANGLES / PARIAH / PEACE / POLARBEAR / PSYCHOLOGIST / ROLO TOMASSI / ROSKA / RUBBER BANDITS / SEX HANDS / SPECTOR / TEAM ME / THE BARR BROTHERS / THEME PARK / TOBY KAAR / TOM STAAR / TOY / TRUE TIGER /WILLY MOON + SPECIAL GUESTS & MANY MANY MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON….
Go to the Camden Crawl website for ticket information and more.
Sean Goff has been down under this month and ranked in the Masters at the annual Bowl-A-Rama at Bondi Beach where Pedro Barros blew the place to bits and Rob ‘Sluggo’ Boyce landed a backflip! There’s also footage of another Oz event filmed at the Manly Beach Bowl comp here that’s worth viewing with some footage of Sean opening the edit. Enjoy.
People Live Everywhere EP
We like it when bands reach out to us direct. No PR company spamming out releases, just straight up, direct contact to say ‘listen to this fucking record, we are putting it out ourselves’. Most bands by choice have to take this route thesedays. With major labels no longer taking risks or even knowing about how scenes develop because their A&R departments are still looking at Myspace for new artists, your average band is forced to get off it’s backside and do the right thing. Do it yourself people and knock on that door.
With Chicago being 3948.26 miles from where our office is in West London, 3-piece punks, Nonagon probably thought we were an American mag but knowing we grew up on Washington Hardcore releases and that we do have a knack of listening to everything that hits our contact page, Nonagon came to the right place this week for a review.
Made up of Tony Aimone (whose previous bands include The Blue Meanies and Taylor), Robert Gomez (Der Lugomen/Martian Law) and John Hastie (Jumpknuckle), Nonagon’s brand new EP kicks off with a crunching bassline, smashing guitars and shouty vocals remiscent of J.Robbins from Jawbox in a fight with the musicians of Bluetip. Thankfully there are no trumpets anywhere near this opening track Vikings, a-la Blue Meanies- only a look back to the good old days of the 90’s when Dischord were on fire with every release they put out. Second track Fresnal Lens offers off-beat drum prowess that slughtly touches on what Tanner were knocking out on ‘Ill Gotten Gains’ all those years back, followed by the spikyness of The Swifts which is where Nonagon’s punk spirit really lets itself loose from the chains. The tempo and winding basslines are stripped back for instrumental number Fadeout before the EP comes to a close just how this People Live Everywhere EP started, with crashing blocks of guitar and a healthy dose of frustration with a meandering crunch close to that of Barkmarket.
If you love the days of Fugazi, Girls Against Boys, Jawbox and The Holy Rollers, then this EP recorded by Justin Foley of The Austerity Program might just be a catalyst to make you get off your fat arse and re-live some of your favourite bands. Stream it in that player below and support these punks and buy the EP for just $5 from nonagonchicago.bandcamp.com