Alvvays

Alvvays? Yeah, pronounced Always, but Alvvays. Confusing? You'll get used to it.

Photo by Norman Wong

Alvvays are a Toronto based band, who specialise in making the sounds of nostalgia, summer and waves of the sea. All you could ever want and need from a band I'd say. It seems that many bands are opting for this 'surf rock' style but Alvvays are different, they're a 'surf rock' band that you can sing along to but one that you can also (if you want) listen to whilst feeling heartbreak and sadness.






Their self titled debut was only released earlier this month and already, positive reviews and a lot of 6 Music radio play, has boosted their popularity quite significantly. It's full of echoey vocals from lead singer Molly Rankin, a bleach blonde babe, armed with a guitar and plenty to sing about. 'Alvvays' is mainly a love-based album, with songs 'Archie, Marry Me', 'Ones Who Love You' and 'Adult Diversion' with lyrics such as 'How do I go on without you?'. But despite the lovey-dovey mood, like anything, it doesn't have to be interpreted in that way. Alvvays are a fresh new face to the 'surf-rock' side of the music industry and they certainly live up to this vastly growing genre's expectations.




Alvvays shall be playing a few dates in London next week but shall be back in Autumn with Real Estate to embark on a tour around the country!

Get tickets to see them here

- Amy 

Mixtape Monday #18: We Are Back

Here's our first mixtape since the hiatus, just for you FIBLAR fans

Laura: Flirting USA // Peace

Molly: Little Monster // Royal Blood

Amy: Men's Needs // The Cribs

Avalon: Green Fuz // The Cramps

Charlotte: You Only Live Once // The Strokes

Holly: Up My Sleeves // Death Grips

Calum: Reynard The Fox // Julian Cope

Daniel: Water Fountain // tUnE-yArDs

Kieran: Lovefool (The Cardigans cover) // Superfood 

Nina: Alex // Girls

Collage by Molly x

Arctic Monkeys - great or greatly overrated?

No matter your opinion on them, I can almost guarantee that you have at least one friend who adores Arctic Monkeys. Equally, you probably also have at least one friend who despises Alex Turner and thinks NME need to get their heads out of his perk behind. Maybe you know someone whose opinion is a bit of both, like mine.

I don't think there can be any denying that the Monkeys' debut, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, is one of the greatest albums of the 21st century. Raw and subtly poetic, the Sheffield boys stuck to their roots and sang about things that affect us all - the bands in the shabby clubs that think they're from America when in reality they're from humble Yorkshire in Fake Tales Of San Fransico, for example. 

Second album Favourite Worst Nightmare is riper; more refined, and although has some flashes of brilliance on it, such as the beautiful 505, it will never quite edge their debut for me. 

After that came Humbug, an album which I consider as their worst overall effort, but which gave us, in my opinion, some of their best singles. Pretty Visitors, for example, is dark and dreamy and has the line "What came first? The chicken or the dickhead?" which is great fun to shout (more than sing) along to. 

Fourth album Suck It And See is the one that they seem to have put the least amount of effort into. It's not actually a bad album, but the music itself is almost as bland as the artwork, which they clearly put no effort into at all. It's a bit of a "mostly-filler-some-killer" album, like Humbug, only better.

Despite the ups and downs of their career during these first albums, the only real controversy started with the release of latest record AM. They've gone all LA on us with their leather jackets and quiffs and sunglasses indoors, and despite Turner's famously egotistical speech at the BRIT awards, their music has become less rock n roll, more hip-hop. And now he's been accused of tax dodging. In light of all this, people who have been fans for a while are all of a sudden not fans anymore. This hasn't phased the Monkeys though, because after the recent huge success of single Do I Wanna Know (which, by the way, I adore), the number of new fans has increased massively. I'm sure they'll still be selling out stadium tours for many years to come. So tell that friend that you have, the one who's a massive fan, that they needn't worry... though I doubt they were anyway.

Written by Molly McGrath. All opinions are mine, not FIBLAR's as a collective. 

JAMIE T

 On Tuesday 15th July the tediously long wait for new Jamie T material was finally over. After a very long wait new single 'Don't You Find' was aired on Radio 1 as Zane Lowe's 'Hottest Record'. The song signals a musical change of direction from the 28 year old Londoner. The song which is just under four and a half minutes is a slow, melodic heartfelt song with beautifully harmonious female backing vocals. The song which has got over 160,000 YouTube hits in just over a week was officially released on Monday (21/07/14) and is the first single  on Jamie T's third album 'Carry On The Grudge' which will be released on Monday 29th September. 

 

Album artwork for Jamie T's 'Carry On The Grudge' 

Track listing for 'Carry On The Grudge' can be found below: 

Limits Lie 

Don't You Find 

Turn On The Light 

Zombie 

The Prophet 

Mary Lee 

Trouble 

Rabbit Hole 

Peter 

Love Is Only A Heartbeat Away

Murder Of Crows 

They Told Me It Rained

Jamie T will also embark on a small UK tour at the end of July / August 

JAMIE T WILL PLAY:

July 29 - Art School, Glasgow (Sold Out)

July 30 - Kazimier, Liverpool (Sold Out) 

July 31 - Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth (Sold Out) 

August 7 - Tufnell Park Dome, London (Sold Out) 

 You can find the video for 'Don't You Find' here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tmoaFAT108

Kieran 

The Words Of A One Direction Fan

One Direction fans, aren't they a strange bunch? With their fan art and fanfiction, some believing the members of the band are gay and in secret relationships with each other. It's all very weird.
Now, since watching the One Direction fan documentary on tv a while back I've wondered what goes through the minds of the fans and I thought I'd ask one. My good friend Emily from Bristol wrote a little something to explain what the band means to her etc and I thought it'd make a great comeback post for you all to get into the mind of a 'directioner'

"You know, when someone says One Direction, it's easy to guess what others would say about them. They have no talent, their music is painful to listen to and their looks are so far past the line of unattractiveness that they can't even see it anymore. But not everyone has that opinion on them. I am one of those people. To me, the band that have an ungodly amount of fate on their side, are miracles. There were an infinite number of situations that were so close to happening which would have changed the way their lives have turned out. Small things like Zayn's mother urging him, pushing him, to get out of bed on the morning of his audition, to bigger things like Liam giving it a second shot. The tiniest things have joined these five young lads together and given them the chance to achieve the things that they used to dream of as a child and in my eyes, I find that incredible. 

I have been a fan of One Direction for going on 2 and a half years now and I still underestimate just how extraordinary each member is. Their personalities are completely different from one another along with everything else that makes them unique. I didn't choose to become a fan of them, it just sort of happened. My best friend was a fan of them before me and she was the one who got me into them. Before then, if I'm being honest, I never really paid much attention to them. However, I never thought bad of them. I never thought they were awful musicians or horrible people, I just never saw them in the same way as I do now.

As a collective fandom, we are famous for our various talents that are associated with every fanbase in existence. Although we partake in our fair share of montage videos, blogs and fanart, I would have to admit that fanfiction is our speciality; so much so that one of the fandom's most well known and most popular fanfic, After, is actually being produced into a film. 

The lads have changed me, in ways I never thought were possible, and I know that makes me sound like an idiot, but it's true. I don't care what others think of them, even if the things I have heard people say about them are so disgusting and disturbing that it makes me wonder how they could ever say that about another human being, they make me happy. And to be quite honest, I don't know what I would do without them. They are my life and nothing will ever change that. So say what you like about them, I'm not planning on leaving them anytime soon."

And that's that, the weird and maybe not so wonderful mind of a One Direction fan. 

Emily's twitter: @LetItShineTT

It's good to be back,

Laura 

Introducing: Briony Sayers

Briony Sayers, aged just 17, is an up and coming singer/songwriter from York who writes melodic and heartfelt songs with the company of her acoustic guitar. At present, her recordings are limited to a few demos, but everyone who has had the chance to witness her enchanting live performances would agree that she clearly shows some very promising talent.



The best (in my opinion) of Briony's demos is the above, Constellations (The Ballad Of Icarus), of which a version without bass was posted online 6 months before this one. The bass in this current version was also written and played by multi-instrumentalist Briony, and with the aid of soothing melodies, beautiful imagery ("We'll find our way in the constellations") and her gorgeous vocals, this is a wonderful summer tune.




Majority of Forever was the first of Briony's own songs that I heard, around a year ago. It's a lovely little story of romance and promises which wouldn't seem at all out of place in a chick flick. I remember seeing her perform this live and people all around me were singing along; it's one of those songs that finds its way into your mind and stays there for a long time, somehow without being annoying at all.

This summer Briony will be making her festival debut at Galtres Park Festival in Helmsley, North Yorkshire, which is being headlined this year by The Human League, amongst others. She tells me she is very (x4) excited to play, as she loves performing, and has practised so much that her guitar strings are now bloodstained. If that's not dedication, I don't know what is.

Listen to more of Briony's music on her Soundcloud and catch her live at Galtres Park Festival, 22 August 2014, 16:00 - 16:30 on the Firkin Stage.

Written by Molly McGrath

We are back

From our new look and logo, you may have guessed that we were coming back. We can confirm that yes, we are! It took us a while to actually get everything together and make our comeback official but finally, it has now happened. We've all missed writing about the stuff we love and hopefully people have missed reading our posts. It's been way too long since we were a 'thing', as such, and so now, we can declare FIBLAR, once again, open!

Big, big thanks to Alex Cabré for our new logo
Love the FIBLAR team x