Haunting and atmospheric, ‘Sliding Off the Edge of the World’ is the latest track from NuBorg – a Norwegian singer who is releasing her album as a monthly collection of singles until the full compliment is available in August.
Sitting on top an effective bass melody and understated orchestration, the song displays a really strong vocal from NuBorg – this is the first I’d heard of the monthly single project, but I can highly recommend listening back to previous tracks on the YouTube page too.
New Rock band Space Elevator have taken a rather unusual step regarding the official release of their self-titled debut album in April.
Deciding to buck the current industry trend, their debut album will not be available for download; fans will only be able to purchase the album on CD or Vinyl.
Their stand to get back to the era of physical rather than digital is backed by recent stats that point to the over saturation of technology driven systems, which the music industry relies on to drive volume has been demoralizing music lovers. Last year the US had a 32% increase in physical sales now at 6 million units. The UK in 2013 sold 780,000 vinyl albums, the highest in 15 years since 1997 (BPI).
Lead Singer of Space Elevator, The Duchess explains
“We wrote and recorded the album with the ethos of classic 70’s and 80’s bands such as Queen, Genesis, Fleetwood Mac and even Kate Bush. Those artists would record albums to be listened to as exactly that, an album.”
The band argue that Vinyl offers the buyer the chance to “focus”, hear the songs, think about the songs, anticipate the next song and appreciate the whole album writing creative. This is all before we talk about the physical handling of the disc, the sleeve artwork, photos and liner notes….. ALL lost in the digital ether. Good creative music is not a sound bite they argue.
She continues..
“We want fans to listen to the whole record from beginning to end rather than cherry picking favourite tracks, which is so common with downloads these days. We thought about our artwork and we thought very hard about the pacing of the album, so we have a defined side one and side two, we occasionally segue from track to track and we also created some sound effect introductions.”
David Young, lead guitarist of Space Elevator further fuels the debate by commenting
“Vinyl made you listen to the album in its entirety not jump to the “single” you bought it for and we now have an entire generation that have often heard music through nothing better than iPod headphones.”
There has been of recent months a swell of disgruntled music lovers who believe that vinyl just feels closer to the music…more personal. You can’t just recline in a chair and enjoy a couple songs on mp3 the same way you feel like you can with vinyl, probably in part due to the manual nature of it. Music lovers (not tech lovers) just like touching something while listening, reading the liner notes, and being mindful about setting the needle and listening all the way through. Space Elevator are not the only band to feel that digital music has killed all of those things, but they are one of the few who are willing to do anything about it!
FUCK ART, LET’S DANCE! release their debut album Atlas today via Audiolith. The album channels, youth, wonderment and discovery, about young hearts trading in security for the unknown – a life of possibilities and adventure – something we all yearn for.
https://soundcloud.com/gloryglory/indigo-son
A mix of indie and new wave sensibilities, ‘Indigo Son’ is a smooth, warm track taken from Glory Glory’s latest EP ‘So Long’. Produced by Justin Gerrish (The Strokes, Vampire Weekend), the Canadian band have seen their stock rise with the reaction to their laid back sound.
Also, the band are playing the following UK dates –
May 2 – Liverpool – The Brink (Liverpool Sound City)
May 5 – London – The Dublin Castle
May 6 – London – Upstairs at The Garage
May 7 – London – The Slaughtered Lamb
May 9 – Brighton – The Blind Tiger Club (The Great Escape)
May 10 – Brighton – Green Door Store (The Great Escape)
Do you want to play at the Isle of Wight Festival this summer? The line-up for the Isle of Wight Festival this year includes Kings of Leon, Biffy Clyro and Red Hot Chilli Peppers! Would you like the chance to join them and perform at the Isle of Wight Festival?
Walkabout have teamed up with the Isle of Wight Festival and Future Music to run a Road to The Isle of Wight Festival Competition for musicians of all types to win a slot on this year’s Isle of Wight Festival which takes place on 12th-15th June. The Isle of Wight Festival competition is supported by Jack Daniels, so the winner will not only get a slot at the Isle of Wight Festival but they will also receive £500 expenses covered and lots of Jack Daniels goodies including limited edition Jack Daniels Guitars!
The Isle of Wight Festival competition runs nationally through May at every Walkabout venue, with the Grand Final taking place in London at Temple on Sunday 8th June to decide the winning act. Last year’s winning act FELLA came from Reading and performed on the Rising Stage.
For more information and to enter please email your name, number and closest Walkabout venue to office@openmicuk.co.uk. You can find all the Walkabout venues here.
Find more information about the Isle of Wight Festival Competition here.
‘Rebel Without A Cause’ is taken from ‘Talk To Strangers’, Fiona Bevan’s debut album – available to pre-order from Propermusic: http://bit.ly/1iuoRVd Amazon: http://amzn.to/1axTY26 and iTunes: http://bit.ly/1glkqu1
Singing competition audition dates have been announced for Open Mic UK 2014 – the nationwide singing competition searching for the UK’s best singers, singer/songwriters, rappers and vocalists!
Open Mic UK is brought to you by Future Music, the company behind the discovery of artists such as Luke Friend, Jacob Banks, Warner Music’s Birdy, Columbia Record’sLucy Spraggan, Union J’s Jaymi Hensley and Jahmene Douglas, both of whom are now signed to Sony Music. Open Mic UK is an exciting competition to get involved in, and the singing competition audition dates for 2014 have just been announced!
We’ll be holding singing competition auditions at the following regions for Open Mic UK 2014! Book your singing competition audition now to secure your place!
Saturday 23rd August at Concourse Suites 29-30, National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Birmingham,B40 1NT.
Sunday 24th August at The Palace Hotel, Oxford Road, Manchester, M60 7HA.
Sunday 31st August at Vincent Harris Suite, Sheffield City Hall, Sheffield, S1 2JA.
Sunday 31st August atDingwalls, Middle Yard, Chalk Farm Road, Camden Lock, London, NW1 8AB.
Saturday 6th September atStudio 1, City Halls, Candleriggs, Glasgow, G1 1NQ.
Sunday 7th September atBritannic Suite, The Liner Hotel, Lord Nelson Street, Liverpool, L3 5QB.
Sunday 7th September at Tobacco Factory, Raleigh Road, Southville, Bristol, BS3 1TF.
Sunday 14th September at Palace Theatre, London Road, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS0 9LA.
Sunday 14th September at The Mill Volvo Tyne Theatre, Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 4AG.
Sunday 14th September at Ferneham Hall, Fareham (near Southampton/Portsmouth), PO16 7DB.
Saturday 20th September atMilton Keynes C.C., Strudwick Drive, Milton Keynes, MK6 2TG.
Saturday 20th September atCommittee Room 1, Hove Centre, Hove, Norton Road, Brighton, BN3 4AH.
Sunday 21st September atSub89, 110 – 117 Friar Street, Berkshire, Reading, RG1 1EP.
Sunday 21st September atBoardroom, Beck Theatre, Grange Road, Hayes, Middlesex, London UB3 2UE.
Sunday 21st September atBritannia Hotel, St James Street, Nottingham, NG1 6BN.
Saturday 27th September at Exeter Corn Exchange, Market Street, Exeter, EX1 1BW.
Saturday 27th September at Kings Hall, Balmoral, Belfast, BT9 6GW.
The Open Mic UK singing competition auditions are allocated on a first-come, first served basis, so get your singing competition audition booked now to avoid disappointment!
Lead track (and title track) from new EP ‘Side By Side’, this is the latest video from 18 year old up and comer Jess Thristan. Displaying her mature approach to songwriting, the song is an excellent introduction to her acoustic sound.
But looking further into her EP, it’s clear that she’s not just a one trick pony. All the tracks are different from one another, whether slow and simply arranged (‘The Shield’), shuffled and fun (‘Among The Grass’) or bringing in electronic drums and simple piano loops to create a more mainstream sound, all songs contain the same level of maturity and quality.
You can see for yourself – buy the EP here.
With his ‘Powerskills’ single/EP, featuring Russell Lissack of Bloc Party (guitar) and Joel Pott of Athlete (vocals), out now (order here), the iron is hot for this UK MC whose particular brand of post-grime rap is getting him noticed in high places. Currently flying under the radar, that might not be the case for too long – let us introduce you to Savvy.
Q; For those who haven’t come across you before, who is Savvy?
Savvy: I guess you would describe me as an MC, lyricist, rapper – whichever you want to call it – and producer. I ran under a previous pseudonym as ‘Saviour’, which got quite a lot of interest in the UK underground scene. I used that to become a better producer and lyricist, to hone my craft. I released through my own label called Saving Grace Music, which is still running. I currently work under the name Savvy with a band called Savoir Faire, and at the moment we’re just gearing up because we’ve got a record to out out.
Q: You mentioned Savoir Faire there, one of the things that really stands out with you is the fact that you rap in front of your own live band. So how did you bring all that together?
S: It was just a culmination of initially growing up as an artist. I started rapping over other people’s beats, trying to write things with substance and improve as a lyricist. I was trying to push the envelope so it became more about adding other instruments and going from there. You know, if you listen to my record I might have a sample or two in there still. It’s supposed to be a combination of all so it kind of reflects that and the live show as well, bringing real instruments in as well as rapping over beats.
Q: Your next single ‘Power Skills’ was recorded with members of Athlete and Bloc Party. How did that come about?
S: How did that start? I think I got one random email from one of the members of Athlete who was into my music just generally in the past, asking if I wanted to collaborate on some songs that never actually saw the light of day. But through that we kept working and finding other producers including a guy called Camp America – not the place for fat kids if that’s what you’re thinking [laughs]. He got in touch with both of us and said he thought our style had kind of a northern style to it which he liked. You know, urban music is almost like a London thing, even though there are artists all over the place it’s like it all comes from London. But he liked our kind of twist on things and my sense of humour so he got me on a track with the lead singer of Athlete, Joel Pott, and then brought in the guitarist from Bloc Party who added his part once we’d done our parts. But yeah, I sent them some rough vocals and they liked it, so I went down to London to see them and we just knocked it out at Joel’s house.
Q: And when’s that one out?
S: That is gonna be out April 6th I believe.
Q: Excellent. I read in your press notes that you had quite a musical upbringing with your Dad, is that right?
S: To a degree yeah, but I mean I’ll be honest there’s even a bit of tension because my Dad grew up in music but then went into other things. Got a career and job and had kids, responsibilities, as you do, so there is a degree of ‘so you’re still doing music then? Still making records? Oooh I don’t know mate it’s tough!’, just trying to keep my feet on the ground you know? But there’s always been music in my family, almost sort of a soundtrack to my family. But there’s always an element of ‘you should just enjoy it and not be trying to “make it”’. There’s a degree of that so but he’s just trying to protect me I s’pose.
Q: But he’d still be very proud no doubt if you manage to get to where you want to be.
S: If I pulled it all off then definitely. You know I’ve done big gigs, you know, homecoming gigs with thousands of people and they got to see that, got to see what a show is really like and that if there’s a crowd then people know the lyrics and stuff like that. So there have been moments over the years where my Dad’s seen that and said ‘you know what, this is great’ so it’s all good really.
Q: If people are interested in checking out your music online, where’s the best place to go?
S: I would say go to my label website:
Or follow me on Twitter because I do updates every day on there:
@IAm_Savvy
Taken from Forthcoming Album POSITIVE DISTRACTIONS: 5th May
“When you watch the video for totally psychedelic single, Into You, you might feel a little hazy. The song a bass-heavy funk jam (and) the visual for it is like being trapped inside an acidic fever dream.” – CMJ
Secret Colours mix 90’s British indie influences with a Black Angels-esque sound and flourishes of 60’s garage and infectious psychedelic organ. It’s an alternative rock sound with a clear pop sensibility. The Chicago 4-piece recently played SXSW and are back in Austin for the Psychfest in May.
On 5th May they release their third album Positive Distractions. The album’s first teaser track It Can’t Be Simple premiered on the Stereogum (“staccato organ, snappy bass, and crisp drums combine to pack a wallop” – Stereogum) with the second Into You’s psychedelic party video premiering on the CMJ website. Positive Distractions follows Secret Colours’ last album Peach (2013) which Louder Than War called “quite simply one of the best psych-pop records you’ll hear” while including it in their ‘Albums of the Year’ list.
Secret Colours self-release Positive Distractions on Monday 5th May on CD, Vinyl, Cassette and Download.
Real Music Network 