#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.

#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.

#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.

#162 – Niteflights

This is a band called Niteflights. I have to apologise at this point, because they sent me their stuff ages ago and I’ve only just really started listening to it. I saw it on my phone and was curious. Well, I’m happy about the way things ended up. This Kilburn-based band use guitars that sound lifted out of a Bowie or Orange Juice record, with some 8 bit programming over the top. Vocally the lead singer sounds a bit like Alec Ounsworth of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – it’s got that slight fragility which makes it quite accessible. They certainly aren’t for everyone, but if you’re looking for something to listen to and you don’t want a traditional slice of indie then they could well be for you.

#151 – Some Songs By Destroyer

I like Destroyer. The Canadian producer/band (I’m not sure even he knows quite what the make-up of the project is as it changes members so much) makes slightly spacy, intelligent and really good music. Last year he released Kaputt, which was great. As I liked it so much I’m going to share a couple of my favourite tracks from it in the hope that you’ll like them enough to go out and buy it and listen to it lots. He’s also a key member of The New Pornographers, so if you like this you’ll like them, and vice versa.

Review: Tribes – Baby

The current trend in ‘Indie’ music is to write songs that sound like they’ve stepped out of a Delorean from the 80’s. Knowing this (expecting it, even) makes the opening of Tribes’ debut rather surprising, as they draw influence from bands of the following decade like Nirvana and Pixies rather than Huey Lewis and Steve Winwood.

Review: The Maccabees – Given To The Wild

For me, the new Maccabees record was always going to be a big one. I’ve enjoyed their last two albums so much that I had high expectations of album number three. I remember reading reviews of Wall Of Arms describing how much the band had ‘grown up’ since Colour It In, which is probably true. So, have they done the same thing again and further refined their sound? And is it good?

#137 – They Might Be Giants ‘When Will You Die?’

12 Days Of Christmas – 27th December

Hello again. Another day, another song. Rather than go for one which has existed since time immemorial (or the 80’s, whichever you want to call it) today it is the turn of one of my favourite bands from my time at Uni. No, it’s not The Shins or Death Cab, but The Maccabees. Their new album called Into The Wild is due out right at the start of January (the 9th, on Fiction, for those of you who are interested) and this is the single they let lose last month. We’ve opted against doing a round up of the year in favour of writing some bits about artist we’re looking forward to hearing from over the coming months. Check back for some thoughts on these guys, but for now just enjoy.