ones to watch – and so she thinks

Years & Years – King

admin — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 16:54:51 +0000

Apparently they are the ones to watch in 2015. So here you can watch King, the new single from Years & Years. You may dance. Even though it’s only Monday.
Out on March 1st.

The next twelve months

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 22:12:51 +0000

So now we know that it’s not the end of the world, what’s coming up in 2012? This is the stuff we’re already getting excited about.

Daughter – We were lucky enough to see Elena Tonra (aka Daughter) play at the beautiful St Giles in the Fields church in London just before Christmas and she absolutely blew us away. We’d been meaning to catch her for months, but events always conspired, but nothing could have prepared us for one of our gig highlights of the year. On some levels she will be pigeonholed as another ‘girl with a guitar’, but there is much more to her music. We’ve seen it described as ‘dream-folk’ and ‘ghostly’, which isn’t too far wide of the mark, with the kind of subtle soundscapes that the XX do so well adding depth to her music. If we’re honest she had us hooked after one listen of Landfill, but live she really is something special. With a date at Islington Assembly Hall already in the diary for April and many more around the country, we really hope 2012 is her year.
Listen to and buy both her EPs here.
Lucy Rose – Really excited to hear the full album from Lucy Rose. Having done the backing vocal rounds with Bombay Bicycle Club, this year is definitely her time to shine as an artist in her own right. With a voice to melt the heart and some beautifully crafted songs she’s sure to do well this year. Expect a BBC member or 2 on backing as well.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adBPg8Zdp2g]
Alt J – We wrote this on seeing them live a couple of months back… ‘The last couple of years haven’t been short on intelligent, earnest ‘indie’ music, but where say Wild Beasts skirt the fine line of irritating pretentiousness, Alt – J seem more accessible in their own abstractness and imagery, but no less intelligent or intriguing in their performance and sound. On this showing, they’ll certainly be heading for the upper ends of the ‘ones to watch’ lists for 2012.’ – we’ll stand by that…
Social Network here–
Breezeblocks (demo) by alt-J
The Maccabees
Ascending and descending through the depths of all emotions, the title track from latest album Given To The Wild is a departure, brimming with wavering soft ambience, but the gritty guazey guitars, stop start rhythms and dashing assault of psychological similes that made The Maccabees one of our favourite bands remains. ‘We’ve grown up as people and changed as a band,’ guitarist Felix White said recently. ‘We’ve learned for the first time what we really wanted The Maccabees to sound like on record. It’s taken us three albums but we finally achieved that. We’ve discovered what we’re truly capable of and that feels really exciting.’ Sounds it.
Blood Red Shoes

Their Facebook bio may describe them as just ‘another fucking roll’n’roll band’ but we know different. Scuzzy riffs, rip em up guitar work and a blistering pace, Blood Red Shoes consistently deliver behemoths of tunes, and the follow up to Fire Like This and Box Of Secrets won’t be any different. Besides, since when has being a rock’n’roll band been bad? Some narrow minded twit called David A Noebel stated on his spoken word album The Marxist Minstrels back in 1974 that rock’n’roll ‘music is loud, primitive, insistent, strongly rhythmic and releases in an undisguised way the all-too tenuously controlled, newly acquired physical impulses of the teenager. Mix this up with the phenomenon of mass hypnosis, contagious hysteria and the blissful feeling of being mixed-up in an all-embracing, orgiastic experience, and every kid can become ‘Lord of the Flies’ or the Beatles.’ Sounds bloody brilliant doesn’t it?

Ten bands you must hear this year (with handy links so you can start right now)

Fanzine
Low by Fanzine
Lanterns On The Lake
Lanterns on the Lake ‘Lungs Quicken’
Grimes
Grimes – Skin
Soldiers Can’t Dance
Soldiers Can’t Dance – Lego by soldierscantdance
Spring Offensive
A Stutter and A Start by springoffensive
Rachel Sermanni
The Fog by Rachel Sermanni
Young British Artists
Young British Artists – Everything In Front Of You
Ideals
Significant Other by Ideals
The Wave Pictures
The Wave Pictures – Sweetheart
Gross Magic
Gross Magic – Yesterdays

Spector fall off the back of a van

admin — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 21:31:17 +0000

Back in August It’s All Happening discovered Spector. In fact, they’re one of the few things John remembers from Field Day. The band have also just been mentioned in the BBC’s Sound of 2012 list – but don’t hold that against them. Joining some of our favourite bands, including Two Wounded Birds , Tribes, The Joy Formidable and Grouplove, Spector have hooked up with Bands In Transit to perform What You Wanted.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPTOy6F-DT4]

Neil Cousin – Bonfire

admin — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 20:22:20 +0000

Released 5^th November 2011 on Olibug

Reviewed by Francesca Baker

The fourth album from Neil Cousin as a solo artist, Bonfire is the first to feature ‘a band’, with dense strings, varied piano laments and propulsive drums all contributed by friends and artists discovered on the way, in true bohemian style. The timing of the release, and possibly its name, means that an automatic ‘nu-folk’ label will be slapped upon it, but Bonfire is more raw and resonant than many in this gang. Pub Singer is an upbeat tale of a less than salubrious figure, Semaphore Haiku combines gentle guitar plucking with ardent yet never overwrought lyrics, and the tormented temper of title track Bonfire lingers on long after its closing notes. Striking is the reminder of The Libertines, sensitive and stark tracks Dead Chris and Carpathian Mountain March in particular having the troubled lilting pace of Music When The Lights Go Out and grazingly embracing vocal style of Carl Barat. A personal and powerful album that emotes the smokey smell, intense colours and yearning feeling of the autumnal, Bonfire is a welcome addition to cold evenings.

Cast of Cheers – Chariot

admin — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 19:45:21 +0000

Greg Synnott

A band that’s made many Top of 2010 lists including my own and now nominee’s of the Choice Music Prize, it’s a wonder The Cast of Cheers have come so far with little or no promotion. After all many people are still wondering where this Irish four-piece came from? And where can they get a hold of the album?
Fortunately for everyone that’s running haphazardly around looking for a copy of their own you need look no further than bandcamp.com where they’ve left their debut ‘Chariot’ up completely for free.
You’ll be hard pushed to find a negative review of this album or these guys live, they just steal the stage and your music players making you crave more of their addictive math rock style with indie-pop influences. A cross-over few would dare to try and less would succeed in achieving. The Cast of Cheers have proven time and again that they are set for big things with their catchy choruses and irresistible guitar melodies that host such a dynamic range of sound, you’re never completely sure what genre this band are trying to draw from.
Vibrant with a punkish attitude that pushes the levels of experimentalism to its limits whilst jerking it back and forth so speedily with the help of loop pedals, you can’t help but look on in awe when they take a stage.
Taking a similar direction as Battles by adding ruthlessly infectious bass lines and one of the tightest drummers to come out of Ireland, The Cast of Cheers are only complimented by Conor Adams lead vocals that are so pleasantly laced with crunchy distortion that adds and rough edges to most of their songs except when he hits back with the reverb in the likes of ‘Deceptapunk’.
You can’t say you’ve heard of The Cast of Cheers until you’ve seen them live but this act translates so well onto a record that you’ll never walk away disappointed. The swift pace and infectious offerings from songs like ‘Tip the Can’ and ‘Derp’ will have you dancing alongside many others before you can say The Cast of Cheers are my new favourite band.
These guys are the band to watch of 2011, I for one hope they continue with their groundbreaking sound that keeps me coming back for more and one can only hope for a new album. With their growing level of success why wouldn’t there be? But for now, go and find their debut ‘Chariot’ for free online here: http://thecastofcheers.bandcamp.com/ and sit back and enjoy, if they don’t have you on your feet in minutes that is. Makes you wonder why they keep on singing the line “Is there any f**king love in here?”
Note: Album can be downloaded from here (http://soundcloud.com/richtercollective/sets/the-cast-of-cheers-chariot/) and music can streamed to any site also.

Ones To Watch

admin — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:29:06 +0000

It tends to take years, or at least months, for bands to form a following, to build a reputation and to get themselves heard. The arrival of January 2011 will not suddenly create a throng of new artists that until now have been hiding away, ready to form on New Year’s Eve and take the music industry by storm. That’s why the following list of artists are not necessarily ‘new bands’. You may have heard of them, they may already be huge or you may not have a clue who they are. But, either way, we love them and hope that they get the attention they deserve in 2011.

Wolf Gang – Electro indie pop genius. Recent single ‘Lions in Cages’ is an enjoyable, upbeat track that MGMT would be proud of. Wolf Gang AKA Max McElligott has a host of dates coming up in February and March, including a tour supporting popular Kiwi’s The Naked and Famous.

Yuck – Formed out of the ashes of the beautiful Cajun Dance Party, Yuck are a different animal altogether. The band fuse together a blend of grunge and shoegaze that creates a raw, scuzzy but downright fantastic sound. Singles Georgia and Rubber are two very different track which increases anticipation about the finished album, set for release in 2011. This promises to be a huge year for Yuck.
Trophy Wife – Trophy Wife became a internet buzz band in the latter part of 2010 with the exceptional single ‘Microlite’. The trio are set to build on this momentum throughout 2011 by seeing in the year playing with fellow Oxfordians, and influence, Foals at The Forum in London. Foals’ ‘Total Life Forever’ was one of the albums of 2010: don’t be surprised if Trophy Wife’s debut album gets similar plaudits.

Boy & Bear – Australian band Boy & Bear are the sort of band that leave you standing in awe, with the hairs on the back of your neck raised and a tingle down your spine. Debut EP ‘With Emperor Antarctica’ is an exceptional 5 track collection of indie folk. Having supported Laura Marling and Mumford and Sons in 2010, Boy & Bear are set to return to UK shores in the middle of 2011 with a debut album and a set of festival appearances. Don’t miss them.
Dry The River – In a similar vein to Boy & Bear, Dry The River produce beautiful songs with sing a long qualities. Songs such as ‘New Ceremony’ and ‘Family Tree’ start slowly and build in to a bubbling pace. 2011 looks likely to be a promising year for the London based quintet.
Cosmo Jarvis – “Yo-ho Sebastian, Let’s go far away, Somewhere where the captain won’t be mad. Yo-ho Sebastian, I want to love you good. We deserve much better than we’ve had” You need to be either a genius or a fool to write a song called ‘Gay Pirates’ about a homosexual pirate who loves fellow swashbuckler Sebastian. With over 540,000 views on YouTube consensus suggests that Cosmo Jarvis is. A genius, not a homosexual pirate.

Ross and the Wrongens – Ross has to be one of the nicest guys in the music business. Events conspired against Ross that meant the usual wrongens were unable to join him on stage to headline the November It’s All Happening gig. Not to be deterred, Ross was joined on stage by a part time wrongen and cracked out a fantastic set of upbeat indie pop. If Ross and the Wrongens are at a venue near you in 2011 then you must see them: they deserve great things.
Tall Ships – Tall Ships came on to the IAH radar in 2010 having released two brilliant EPs and an energetic live show that sees the trio pass instruments around like a hot potato. Part of the fantastic roster of reliable record label Big Scary Monsters and management Idle Hands Club, Tall Ships have a lot of talent and are sure to make big waves in 2011.
The Joy Formidable – Long term readers of IAH will probably be aware of our championing of The Joy Formidable. Debut full length album ‘The Big Roar’ is to be released on January 24^th 2011 and is set to be massive. The trio make an unfathomable layered sound that is so different from most bands in the current music scene. Having heard the promo copy, The Big Roar will be one of the best albums of the year.
Spring Offensive – Spring Offensive are a delightful band. They have a great ability of writing dark, but intelligent lyrics with unpredictably catchy tunes. With an EP and a mini album already under their belt, we’re expecting a full length album in 2011 from the Oxford quintet.
The Cast of Cheers – In all honesty, IAH don’t know what The Cast of Cheers have planned for 2011. New album? Tour? Split up? No idea. Hopefully it will be the former two because we have just had the joy of discovering 2010 debut album ‘Chariot’ and my gosh- it’s good! This Irish foursome have a Foals-esque brilliance about them: a calculated, jagged rock that wants you leaving more. Hopefully 2011 will be the year that everybody knows their name.