Chicago’s Lupe Fiasco, who broke into the charts with Kick Push, is back with a new single. Daydreamin‘ will feature Jill Scott and is due out on September 4th and will be followed by the album Food And Liquor on September 18th. The album will feature Jill Scott, Kanye West and Mike Shinoda and has Jay Z as an executive producer.
You can check out the video for Daydreamin‘ by clicking one of the links below:
Windows Media:
Real Player:
Metric are offering a free mp3 of a track, Glass Ceiling, from their album Live It Out.
Head on over to Drowned In Sound by following this link and grab your free mp3 and check out a video of the group performing live. The group are playing Reading and Leeds after having sold out King’s College earlier this week.
Former NWA rapper Ice Cube is back with a bang as he releases his new album and shows he’s lost none of his style or hard hitting content.
Why We Thugs, the first track to be taken from the album Laugh Now, Cry Later, sees Cube tackling the continued problem of violence on the streets, and sees Bush making the same mistakes as Saddam did when he was in power. When he states that “every hood’s the same, everything’s the same” you know he’s speaking from experience and it’s a sad state of affairs that we’ve not come on from street gangs and larger scale warfare.
Cube also questions why he’s called an animal for smoking some weed and wonders why the person who built the prison he gets thrown into isn’t the animal. Uncompromising as ever, Cube spits the brutal truth in his typically hard delivery and shows that he’s not afraid to say the things that others might. If this single is an indication of the rest of the album, then he’s going to set a lot of tongues wagging and get some people in high places’ back’s up. Long may that continue. This single is released on September 4th, look out for it.
In case you don’t know, The Mean Fiddler have applied for planning permission to demolish The London Astoria (and The LA2, aka The Mean Fiddler etc) to re-develop as shops and offices.
Now I’m sure you all appreciate just exactly how much we all need even more shops and offices at the junction of Oxford Street, Tottenham Court road and Charing Cross Road (right opposite the empty Centrepoint building) and it’s not like there’s an abundance of decent sized live music venues in Central London (in fact there isn’t one other decent one for miles) so here’s your chance to do something about it:
Sign the petition…Save The Astoria!
The albino MC made big waves with his Rhymesayers debut Shadows On The Sun, combining powerful story telling with a mixture laid back verocity and hyped passion. With Atmosphere’s beatmaker Ant behind him, his beats have always been feel good and cranks the head-nod up to 10. With his Champion EP, he once again proved he is one of the best MCs in the underground right now and everyone has been anxious to see what he’ll come up with next.
His new album, The Undisputed Truth, is out early next year and will certainly be one of the best albums of 2007 is his past record is anything to go by. Showcasing new tracks at Scribble Jam this year, he proved he’s the man and will continue to prove Rhymesayers are the top of the pile right now in hip hop. This track is from the Scribble Jam Compilation CD and is an absolute banger. Love it.
Dutch turntable and production wizards C-Mon & Kypski [who were featured in July’s Hip Hop Radio Show] have posted on their Myspace site that their 3rd album, Where The Wild Things Are, is finished.
The album is to feature Sadat X, Pete Philly, Kain The Poet and Benjamin Herman. The single, Bumpy Road, is slated for an October 6th release with the album out on October 20th.
You can get at the single by clicking right here. And check out their myspace site for more.
The Bronx have announced a series of album playbacks taking place around the UK early next month of which you can go nuts to at the following dates:
8th September Ramshackle @ The Academy, Birmingham
9th September Distortion @ Rock City, Nottingham
9th September Loaded @ The Krazyhouse, Liverpool
9th September Sonic Boom @ The Leadmill, Sheffield
12th September Satans Hollow, Manchester
The Bronx tour dates:
OCTOBER
FRI 13 Dirty Sounds @ The Barfly
SAT 14 Oxford Zodiac
SUN 15 Cardiff Barfly
MON 16 York Barfly
TUES 17 Leeds Cockpit
WEDS 18 Manchester Roadhouse
THURS 19 Liverpool Barfly
FRI 20 Nottingham Rock City
SAT 21 Glasgow Barfly
SUN 22 Sheffield Corporation
MON 23 Birmingham Barfly
NOVEMBER
WED 1 London Islington Academy
Carling Islington Academy
06.08.06
Powered by penniless music-loving volunteers, Uxfest is a charitable way of supporting local music. With proceeds being donated to Youth Music, Natandy Fund (helping Tsunami victims), Yeldall (for the Homeless). An ultimate festival for lovers of ska to death metal, and everything in between. The only thing that would have made it Rock Harder is hosting it on 06-06-06!
I arrive late and miss the first few bands. Once you in, you aint allowed out, and a gals gotta eat! So I missed opening acts No Warning Shot, Sylosis, OutCryFire, Inner Rage, Profane, Shellshock, French Eths and Forever Never.
I make it in time to catch the one of the best local hardcore bands PDHM. With drums so loud they drown out your own heart beat, the 2 front men bounced around the stage giving an energy injected performance. A husky, rusty metal voice complimented with AFI-like vocals, make the match almost as perfect as chips and mayonnaise!
Over to the Mill stage to catch the last couple of songs from the jazzy ska tracks of Mumrah. A six-piece surfer set, with a guy that does a disturbingly high screeching soprano.
Sacrificing seeing Head On, next up are one of my personal favourites The Blackout. Replacing Captain Everything they still jam-pack the room with adoring fans. Looking like butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths they blow your hair back with their hard as rock set. Seasoning in a new track called Death Angel, their new album ‘The Blackout The Blackout The Blackout ‘ is bound to be a hit.
The most photographed band was definitely the Architects. Missing Engel from Sweden, I walk into a raging hot-box. It may be the smallest stage, but the excited vibe from the crowd make up for it. Whipping up a moshpit of mayhem, the photographers hit their own scrum in front of the stage! A four-piece from Brighton, with a rocking bassist delivering solid Pantera-esq riffs. With the singer Matt, bending back to fully open his Death Metal screams. Catch them on their insanely full diary in and around the UK till mid-October.
Hot new favourites Exit Ten are definitely a room filler, with devoted fans singing along to every word like a Thrice mantra. They play their highly addictive hit track ‘Resume Ignore’, which they have just launched a new music video for. With the finely tuned voice of Ryan this is definitely a band with lasting power which is inching closer, and closer to stardom every second you spend reading these lines.
I change stages to fulfil my curiosity of the Alice In Chains sounding B-Movie Heroes, and hope to stumble across them for more than 2 songs sometime soon.
Kingsize Blues rocked out with the singer doing vocal acrobatics, you cant help but be damn impressed! Singing almost 2 parts simultaneously, Tom Hennessy offers a flawless stage performance. Promoting their fittingly titled album ‘Live Fast and Die’, a slogan they share with Viking Skull, This band is no doubtedly going to have a successful tour in October.
Lighting up the up the Mill Stage are Fireapple Red. Blazing punk giving the political lyrics of Propagandhi some stiff competition, they have already toured with the likes of Bad Religion, Pennywise and Anti Flag! With the singer rocking facial expressions like System of a Down, these punkers are a photographers dream! Don’t be fooled by this humble-looking four-piece, their sound will eat you alive, and have you begging for more. More of which can be found on their latest EP ‘The First Drop’. Their up and coming revised line-up is mostly for charity. Punk ‘n Roll with a big heart…the way it should be!
Big in China, Biomechanical grace the Main Stage with their perfectly rehearsed stances. Describing themselves as ‘British Steel’ metal they play with a similar line-up to Uxfest in the Damnation Festival in Manchester later this October. Demanding the attention of Kerrang, Classic Rock, and Terrorizer magazines Biomechanical successfully appeals to Iron Maiden and Pantera fans alike. Switching between melodic keyboards to metal mayhem they strike the balance between new and retro.
Well known and loved Murder One are back to share their Metal antics. With quirky duo John and Paul giving the crowd their all. Dripping in sweat they squeeze out a back-to-back explosive set. Screaming words of angst from tracks ‘It was Lies’ and ‘Where the Body Lay’, they promote their hot new release ‘Somethings Are Better Left Unsaid’. They are playing a few odd gigs over the next 2 months, so catch ’em while you can…you never know when they likely to disappear into the cracks again…
Boasting not quite heavy rock or metal, Skindred offers a fresh forward thinking sound. The South Wales eclectic four-piece has enough personality to fill the crammed room on their own. With Benji Webbe’s humor, Daniels’ tight basslines, and Mikey Dee and Dirty Arya holding it together in the background, their talents are on the same plateau. In their multi-cultural sound you can hear influences of The Clash, The Specials, and Sublime.
Swinging his dreads about Benji interrupts his own stage performance with lines like ‘Isn’t music exciting!’. Being short of girls throwing their bras at them, they throw a found ‘Clutch‘ badge into the crowd, only to get it thrown back in distaste of it not being a Skindred badge. With fans showing their loyal dedication, it might be time for them to get some made up to silence their next up and coming crowds over the next 2 months. Rocking their encore with the lines ‘Nobody gets outta here alive…’ it plays in my head the whole way home.
Niki Kova’cs
Photos by Niki Kova’cs
The Crimea have been simmering underneath the radar for a few months, relentlessly touring and working on the new album – but with the release of the atmospheric, multi facetted Baby Boom, they have the weapon with which to really crack into the mainstream. Baby Boom, a mainstay of their stunning live shows, sets your senses alight with twinkling keyboards, soothing bass and wailing, almost crying, guitars combining with Dave MacManus’s edgy and breaking vocals.
The lyrics are both comical and tragic ‘we’re just a bunch of buffalos, getting slaughtered’ is closely followed by the wonderfully comic chorus lines of ‘You can call me Fred Flintstone, Tarzan King of The Jungle..’. It’s an inspirational wide sound, every piece of the jigsaw fitting together for a track that is both melancholic but strangely uplifting, a dark sky lit by sparkling stars. The Crimea are one of the hardest working bands out there, and well deserving of success. Baby Boom is a great showcase for them and it’s little wonder it’s been Track of The Week on Radio One – and with a slot at V Festival on the horizon, here’s hoping they win over the crowds.
Twickenham Stadium
Sunday 20th August 2006
I’m one of thousands of people making their way to Twickenham Stadium and I’m hit by a cloud of greed surrounding the stadium that actually included paying £25 to park your car in a Church Car Park! – “Money goes to charity” says the tubby bloke at the gate as I reverse in disgust – even Jesus’ followers are cashing in on the mighty Rolling Stones tonight but ‘oof, take that Jesus‘ as your nut jobs are getting nothing from me tonight! £25 to park my arse!
Feeder open up tonight’s show with bags of confidence and handle the stadium like it’s the Dublin Castle as they crack out hit after hit but people are waiting for one thing and one thing only and as The Stones step out onto the mammoth rig, 70,000 people go insane to the sounds of ‘Jumping Jack Flash‘ and has me leaping out of my seat with everyone else.
The stage looks like a hotel or even an ocean liner has been dumped into the middle of the stadium. Lights hang from every nook and cranny and people who paid £1000 for exclusive tickets are waiving from the stage either side of the monstrous screen so that people in Row Z don’t miss a thing. As rain pours out of the clouds above, Mick Jagger that has to be careful of where he dances – roadies with towels are soaking up the water as ‘Start Me Up‘ follows the opener and the band are looking good, in fact they are looking amazing! The rain stops as ‘Sway‘ drops over the speakers from Sticky Fingers, although Jagger has to ask the band members which album it was from, then a slower track followed by the classic ‘Ruby Tuesday‘.
The orange and electric blue lights fill the stadium, and I’m sure it looks like a ship, I go with this thought as Mick takes a guitar and performs ‘Streets of Love’, one of the lead tracks from the new album ‘A Bigger Bang‘ that will be released this September – the first studio album from the band since Bridges to Babylon in 1997 but all I want tonight are the classics. I’m a virgin to The Stones live and as I crave for ‘Paint it Black‘ and many more I have to remind myself that these guys have been playing for over 40 years and I should just be patient because you know they are gonna go out with a bang.
Keith Richards has a solo moment and just about makes it through ‘Slippin’ Away‘ and then through the fluorescent bulbs and smoke comes the chicken run! Oh yes, the entire band and keyboard player are moving towards us on a floating platform! The atmosphere reaches a new height as we all sing ‘Get Off of My Cloud‘ at the tops of our voices followed by ‘Honky Tonk Woman‘, and the incredible ‘Sympathy For The Devil‘ where the entire crowd is singing ‘Woo Woo!’ so loud that the local ambulance station must have felt slightly insecure of their technology as this noise was far more superior accompanied by flames the height of a house. They were 100 ft away and felt like they almost burnt your eyebrows off! Add the infectious ‘Brown Sugar‘ to this moment and a party massive was going on here, it was absolutely amazing.
As this was happening you felt like you were at a small gig with the band right there in front of you, and when they were not stranded on the chicken run, Jagger was running full length of the field all night long, amazing really for a man his age. Saying that though, we were invited to this show by one of the crew who has been working with them for 20 years and he said to me that he had not seen the band this hungry for shows in a long time. He said that they were on fire and have a new lease of life in them, so much so that they extended this tour for another year, but he said that this could also mean that it could be the end of an era and they may be going for it for the last time – only time will tell on that note.
The encore exploded with the monumental ‘Satisfaction‘ which literally shook the earth and as this song bit the dust tens of thousands of people stood there with the same hat on. For these cherished moments are what we live for, that split second where you know you have witnessed something special, something so classic that you could not replace it with any other artist.
I didn’t get ‘Paint It Black‘ or ‘Wild Horses‘ but what I did get was a feeling worth its weight in gold….something the Church may have forgotten about in this day and age…
Chuck Bangers