#194 – Collectors Club

The North-East is currently producing a healthy crop of artists. We recently featured Little Comets, who hail from Jarrow and Tyneside; today it’s the turn of Middlesborough’s Collectors Club.

#192 – Review: Electric Guest – Mondo

The debut by LA four piece Electric Guest is a lesson in how to put a host of sub-three minute pop songs (one or two exceptions notwithstanding) into a 40 minute slice of fun pop that’s perfect for the summer.

While the band generally stick to three minute songs, they are by no means conventional. Opener ‘Holes’ is a slow, synthy start to the record where singer and front-man Asa Taccone gets a chance to put his vocals to the fore. In contrast the next song and lead single ‘This Head I Hold’ is pop bliss. That’s pop influenced by the Beach Boys and the Beatles, not the R&B/David Guetta pop that’s taken over the top 40.

#191 – Little Comets Pre-order For Life Is Everywhere

The temporary cover for Life Is Elsewhere

Little Comets have recently announced that their sophomore album, to be titled Life Is Elsewhere, is going to be released on 20th August. You can pre-order it here.

The band’s debut, In Search Of Elusive Little Comets, was a treat

#189 – Urban Cone

Stockholm’s Urban Cone make some really, really delightful music! It’s the kind of thing that goes down a treat when laying in the sun in Greenwich park, with a frisbee and some once-cold bottles of cider. Which, incidentally, is exactly what I intend on doing this weekend, weather permitting.

But back to the music. The song I’ve been listening to on repeat (a mere year late…) is the infectious ‘Urban Photograph’. It’s got a beat that skips along with a synth part that’s more than a little reminiscent of a certain song by fellow Swedes The Caesars, while the vocals have got a really endearing quality to them. You can stream it here, and download it (for free!) over at the Universal Music Sweden Soundcloud page. To find out more about the band pop over to their Facebook page.

Urban Cone – Urban Photograph

The next song brings us up to date with their newest release, which is called Our Youth Pt. 2 and came out at the start of May this year. The song I’ve chosen from it is called ‘We Should Go To France’, and while it’s a bit of an evolution from ‘Urban Photograph’, the main ingredients are still there. It feels a little “blissed out”, to use an expression I don’t fully understand but seems to apply. You’ll get what I mean when you hear it.

Urban Cone – We Should Go To France [Buy]

#182 – Leisure Annouce Debut Album

People who know them have been waiting for this for ages now, so I’m happy to be able to say that Leisure have announced a release date for their debut album, which will be called Plastic Soul. It’s due to be released on 18th June digitally.

#181 – Jesca Hoop’s Got A Free Song For You

Jesca Hoop, showing off a pretty sweet hat

It’s all in the title really… Jesca Hoop, the Northern Californian girl living in Manchester whose music Tom Waits described as “like going swimming in a lake at night”, is giving away a song over at her website for free. All you need to do is enter your email and then BAM!, you can be the proud new owner of her latest song ‘Born To’.

It’s from her upcoming album called The House That Jack Built,

#179 – Anchorsong Told Me To

If you’ve visited the site recently you may have heard us – specifically our newest contributor Max – raving about Anchorsong. Max saw Anchorsong supporting Belleruche last month and was blow away. Some people apparently describe the show “like watching a painter drawing on a white canvas”; Max said he’s pretty sure the guy uses some kind of black magic to make his live show work. Whatever it is, you’ve got the chance to see him touring his awesome debut Chapters, starting in London’s Cargo on March 22nd.

In support of this Masaaki (that’s what his mum calls him. Well, she almost certainly doesn’t call him Anchorsong!) was good enough to contribute to this regular feature, picking a few of his favourite songs and explaining why. It’s enlightening and his choices are thoroughly enjoyable (I’m a particular fan of the Pumpkins song he’s chosen). If you want to hear a little more of his music, then read Max’s previous post. And if you want to buy tickets for the 22nd March, then you can get them here. I’ll be there at the front and hopefully some of you will join me. If you’re quick you can get your tickets for a fiver too…

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Fiona Apple – The First Taste [Buy]

#178 – Chromatics Album Maybe Coming Out Sometime Soon. Maybe

Okay, it’s a little more specific than the title suggests, but not by much. Producer/band member Johnny Jewel has done an interview with Self-Titled Magazine, which suggests that we can expect the long, long awaited album at the end of this month. As a teaser, they’ve released their fourth single from the upcoming LP, Kill For Love, called ‘Candy’. That’s the video you can see above.

#171 – Songs From Our Mailbag

We get loads of music to listen to every week (which we like) and a good chunk of it is really good (which we really like). Unfortunately it’s impossible to put everything we like up, but we’ll have a crack. Here are five songs from signed and unsigned acts that have ended up in the Safety, Fun & Learning inbox this week.

#169 – Mystery Jets Announce New Album ‘Radlands’

So the time has come to announce another big album release for 2012. It’s only been 18 months since Serotonin came out, but they’ve been to Austin, TX and recorded a whole bunch of new songs that they want to share. In the video above they’re all on their best behaviour, describing how great it was to be out there and the likes. I don’t doubt it for one minute and I’m a little jealous, if I’m being perfectly honest.

Anyway, the release date is 30th April and leading up to that they’ve got a whole bunch of intimate live shows. When I say intimate I mean around 500 people. Grab your tickets quickly as they will sell out in no time. All the dates are below and you can get your tickets here.