Category: Music

Gama Bomb LP gets physical release

Post author By Crossfire
Post date January 26, 2010

Irish thrash metal band Gama Bomb have released last year’s Tales from the Grave in Space on physical formats for the first time. While the record was initially offered as a free download in 2009, fans of the band can now pick up the record on limited edition vinyl (100 copies) or alternatively on CD for just £4.99.

The CD version also comes with a bonus EP consisting of five brand news songs. The Full tracklist reads;

01. Slam Anthem
02. New Eliminators of Atlantis B.C.
03. Three Witches
04. Last Ninjas Unite
05. Escape from Scarecrow Mountain
06. Mussolini Mosh
07. We Respect You
08. Apocalypse 1997
09. Return to Blood Castle
10. Polterghost
11. Skeletron
12. Mummy Invasion

HALF CUT EP (limited edition bonus disc)
01. Cellar Dweller
02. Deep Red
03. Curry Chip
04. Welcome Back to Life
05. Exhumed Maniac

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Attack! Attack! Announce UK dates

Post author By Crossfire
Post date January 26, 2010

Having nearly completed work on their forthcoming second album, south Wales’ Attack! Attack! Have announced their first string of dates of 2010.

As well as now seasoned material from their 2008 debut, this will be the first chance to sample the band’s new album which looks likely to see a Summer release.

Attack Attack Will Play;

April

30 – Borderline

May

01 – Birmingham 02 Academy 3
02 – Newcastle 02 Academy 2
03 – Glasgow King Tut’s
04 – Aberdeen Warehouse
06 – Sheffield Corporation
07 – Oxford 02 Academy 2
08 – Southampton Joiners
09 – Cardiff Clwb Ifor Bach

too Bad Son Video

Attack! Attack! (On Guitar Hero 5!) | MySpace Music Videos

Album Reviews

Gorillaz

Post author By Crossfire
Post date January 25, 2010

Not too long after the overwhelming success of the Dangermouse produced Demon Days in 2005, Gorillaz, the virtual band many of us have become slightly attached to, went into hiding, probably somewhere amongst Jamie Hewlett’s many discarded sketchbooks. Now, Damon Albarn’s animusical creative outlet is back with a whole host of new collaborators to moisten your bloomers over with Plastic Beach due in March. This time however, the focus is turned away from the two-dimensional characters with multi-dimensional personalities and gives room for the music to speak louder than ever before.

And why not? That incredible Demon Days Live show in Manchester let Damon play the role of the ill-lit composer, letting the light shine on the various musicians who make Gorillaz productions so special. Plastic Beach is set to follow in a similar fashion, and download only single Stylo is our first glimpse at what it’ll sound like.

Stylo is deliciously dark, full of punchy electronic beats and floating synth lines, with Bobby Womack providing a soulful narration while your ears take you on a low-flying trip across a makeshift discoteque in the slums. Mos Def fits the bill perfectly as the new rapping poltergeist to enrich the album and I’m already excited for Sweepstakes, a track described by the man himself as one of his greatest works. Despite my natural reaction to anything Damon Albarn puts out is admittedly me getting an instant boner, this is undoubtedly going to be a big release for the new decade.

Moyno.

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Surfer Blood

Post author By Crossfire
Post date January 25, 2010

Riding the wave of the recent surf pop revival are West Palm Beach, Florida’s Surfer Blood. Bad puns and genre tags aside, though, Surfer Blood have crafted one of the year’s first great rock records and marked themselves out as one to watch for 2010.

The band’s vision is never more brilliantly realised as on Swim; a near perfect three minute slice of anthemic power pop. This is one of those occasions where a band catches a moment’s inspiration and gets a song so right that it would be difficult to argue against it. Like anything from Weezer’s Blue album, or The Get Up Kids Something to Write Home About, Swim is as instant as they come and doesn’t look likely to get old anytime soon.

With debut album Astro Coast now officially released, Surfer Blood have caught the Zeitgeist at a good tim,e and look likely to be an early critics favourite for the year. Check out the band performing on their run of late night American talkshows, before they arrive in the UK next month.

Sleekly Lion.

Single Reviews

Young Guns

Post author By Crossfire
Post date January 25, 2010

2009 was quite a year for Buckinghamshire’s Young Guns. And 2010 could be even more remarkable if its start is anything to go by. The band are opening up on the massive Kerrang! Tour and have received over 30,000 plays of the video for this forthcoming single on YouTube as I type this.

‘Winter Kiss’ is more of what we’ve come to expect from Young Guns – big rock hooks and anthemic melodies. Their approach is classic rather than faddy and each song crafted by the band has the potential to win over a heftier legion of fans than the last.

As Young Guns’ music is brought to the masses through their unrelenting touring schedule and some hefty media exposure, their fanbase is sure to snowball. ‘Winter Kiss’ is a great place to start, topical as it is and characteristically riff-driven with layer upon layer of catchy hooks to latch on to. Watch this space. It’s a void in British rock music and it’s kind of Young Guns shaped.

You can download the track absolutely free by clicking HERE.

Winegums.

Music News

Cap’n Jazz reunite for one-off show

Post author By Crossfire
Post date January 25, 2010

Seminal Chicago emo band Cap’n Jazz reformed over the weekend for a one-off show. The band played just a handful of songs to a home crowd as part of a release party for Joan of Arc’s Don’t Mind Control compilation.

Although there are no plans for the band to play further shows, perhaps a more permanent re-union is not off the cards.

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Black Francis completes new record

Post author By Crossfire
Post date January 25, 2010

Pixies’ frontman Black Francis is set to release a new solo record this April, after playing a series of shows with the band this Spring. The album, entitled NonStopErotik, will be released on April 5th.

The tracklist reads as follows;

‘Lake Of Sin’
‘O My Tidy Sum’
‘Rabbits’
‘Wheels’
‘Dead Man’s Curve’
‘Corrina’
‘Six Legged Man’
‘Wild Son’
‘When I Go Down On You’
‘Nonstoperotik’
‘Cinema Star’

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Late of the Pier frontman goes solo

Post author By Crossfire
Post date January 25, 2010

Sam Eastgate, frontman of indie electro outfit Late of the Pier, has outlined his intention to launch a new band this year. Teaming up with an as yet unnamed drummer, Eastgate will form a duo set to road test material in Japan, before eventually coming to the UK.

Speaking in an interview with NME.com, the singer also revealed that a new Late of the Pier album is “unlikely” in 2010.

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New Vivian Girls Single and Tour

Post author By Crossfire
Post date January 22, 2010

Girl punk trio Vivian Girls will be back in the UK next week in support of a brand new single My Love Will Follow Me. The track is taken from recent album Everything Goes Wrong and will be available from February 3rd.

Catch Vivian Girls on the following dates;

January:

22-Leeds Brudenell Social Club
23- Norwich Arts Centre
24-Southamption Joiners Arms
25-London Trinity Centre Hall
26-London Hoxton Bar and Grill

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The Hold Steady Lose Member

Post author By Crossfire
Post date January 22, 2010

The Hold Steady’s Franz Nicolay, who plays a variety of instruments including keyboards, accordion and piano, has officially left the band this week. A post on Nicolay’s website reads;

“You should know: I’ve left The Hold Steady. I told the band I’d be leaving in early September, played my last show with them in Minneapolis around Thanksgiving, and dotted the t’s and crossed the i’s this week. Five years seemed like a nice round number. Thanks to everyone who was a part of the experience, especially the Unified Scene, who are nice folks. I’ll see you all soon in any case.”

The mustached musician is now busy promoting a story collection, entitled Complicated Gardening Techniques, which is set for release next month.