Mixtape Monday #21

Kieran - Shake It Off // Taylor Swift

Maisy - L.S.F // Kasabian

Nana - The Writing's On The Wall // OK Go

Molly - Bloodbuzz Ohio // The National

Benny - Summer Again // The Wytches

Amy - Basic Instinct - The Acid

Laura - 26 // Catfish & The Bottlemen

Collage by Molly

FIBLAR x 

alt-J review - This Is All Yours

After the loss of a member, the release of a few singles and excitement building, indie experimental heroes alt-J have gifted the world once again with the release of their second album. This Is All Yours finally is all ours, and it's a good one. (The prize for understatement of the year goes to...)

It starts off with a track called Intro, just like 2012 Mercury Prize winning debut album An Awesome Wave, which kicks off the proceedings in the only way Leeds band alt-J know how: unconventionally. Two minutes of "lalalala" and odd noises make way for frontman Joe Newman's muffled vocals, then more odd noises and the song's over. I think it's a pretty good introduction to the band for those who haven't listened to them before. 

This Is All Yours artwork

Next are the first two in a series of three tracks on the album with 'Nara' in the title: Arrival in Nara, Nara, and the third, the penultimate track on the album, Leaving Nara. I did have to Google it but it appears that Nara is a place in Japan. My favourite of the three is Nara; a soft, drum backbone supports beautiful vocals, tinkling piano and even a bit of dubstep. 

Recent singles Every Other Freckle and Left Hand Free follow, the former featuring lyrics that could almost rival those of Fitzpleasure from their first album. ("Turn you inside out and lick you like a crisp packet." is a particularly memorable snippet.) The latter is a song I adore; the repeating acoustic guitar riff is constantly worming around inside my mind and possibly brings the listener closer to reality than other tracks. But they don't want that. Cue a trademark background-noise-filled interlude to reduce the chances even more of alt-J ever creating a "normal" record. 

Slow burner Choice Kingdom then precedes lead single Hunger of the Pine (featuring a sample from a Miley Cyrus track) and Warm Foothills, with a male/female duet that alternates within the lines; as in, they finish each other's sentences. It's definitely not cheesy though. 

Well timed handclaps and breathing movements form the background for The Gospel of John Hurt, a song written about that one scene from Alien that everyone knows about, whether they've seen it or not. It's a very catchy tune. Then comes gorgeous, melodic, falsetto filled Pusher, a certain highlight, but it's the following song that I was most excited to listen to when I first saw the track listing. Bloodflood pt.II is the follow up to the incredible Bloodflood from their debut, and has some of the same lyrics as the first, including "Dead in the middle of the C-O-double M-O-N". I was very thankful to not be disappointed; in fact, I think it's the best track on the album. It's a brilliant part of a brilliant record.

This Is All Yours is available to listen to now on Spotify, and is released officially on Monday 22nd September. Preorder it on iTunes here and on CD or vinyl here. 

Written by Molly McGrath

Mixtape Monday #20

Some tunes which we have had on our minds for ages, and hopefully the tunes that will brighten your Monday!

Laura: Cocoon // Catfish and The Bottlemen

Maisy: Praise You // Fatboy Slim

Molly:Electioneering // Radiohead

Nana: Lily For Your Pad To Rest On // Superfood

Benny: Things Behind the Sun // Nick Drake

Amy: Experiment IV // Kate Bush

Kieran: Pacifier // Catfish and the Bottlemen

Collage by Amy 

FIBLAR x

Introducing: Milk Teeth

About to head out on tour with Birmingham's JAWS, Milk Teeth are a four-piece grunge punk band from Bristol. They currently have two singles and an EP online, which are loud and angsty and feature the shouty (yet pleasant) vocals of frontman Josh Bannister. When bassist Becky Blomfield also takes the vocal reins, it creates a sound reminiscent of female-led Wolf Alice (see Swear Jar for instance), until Josh appears again to shower the listener with the remnants of his vocal chords once more. (Forty Six is a nice example).

The band cite their influences as "Wide and varied; from the obvious grunge bands like Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Nirvana, to stuff like Slowdive, Elvis Presley... and we all love a good catchy pop song!" Clearly the grunge is the most obvious influence; shown via their prominent drums and twisting guitars in tracks like newest single Vitamins:



In an interview with thrashhits.com, they say that the band formed when Josh and drummer Olly wrote a 3-track EP, sent it to guitarist Chris who agreed to join the band, then hired their friend Becky as a bassist because, "You know bands have those". Turns out hiring her was a good decision, as the male/female vocal split works really well against their grungy backdrop. I like this band, and I think a sound like theirs would be even better live than on record. Good thing they're playing soon in a town near you...

Get tickets here

Find Milk Teeth on Facebook, Twitter and Bandcamp

Written by Molly McGrath

Cockpit closure

Leeds residents and visitors alike have today been saddened by the news that alternative music venue The Cockpit has closed its doors for good. Opened in 1994, the barrier-less venue was a fan favourite and has seen the likes of The White Stripes, Coldplay, The Libertines, Kasabian and Biffy Clyro to name just a few. It was also a regular member of the venues participating in annual music festival Live At Leeds.
It seems the twenty years of mayhem and madness inside those four walls have taken its toll, as the closure has been blamed on the building's "current condition", in a message on the venue's website.
However, we mustn't despair too much as a brand new venue has been promised for 2015, and all scheduled upcoming gigs at The Cockpit have been moved elsewhere. All the info is on their website.

Coming from North Yorkshire, almost all of my gigs (there have been many) are in Leeds, and The Cockpit was definitely my favourite venue. It will be sorely missed by me and the many other (generations of) music fans in and around the area. RIP. 

Written by Molly McGrath

Superfood album release

Big news for fans of Birmingham band Superfood - their debut album finally has a release date. Don’t Say That comes November 3rd on Infectious Music, and the band are heading on the road in the UK starting next month to play it to the masses. To get our mouths watering for the release, the band have put out another track, that appears, along with previous releases “Superfood”, “TV” and “Melting”, on the new record.

“Lily For Your Pad To Rest On” is another one in a row of decade-bending releases by the foursome, and features, like previous single “Right On Satellite”, a distinct sitar-esque twang and a healthily none-too-serious vibe. Evoking an avant garde-ttitude like that of 90’s Beck and with a psychedelic funkiness right at home with Talking Heads a la 1983, the track fits right in to the band’s cool and curious universe while being deliciously original. If this is what Don’t Say That is all about, then you can be sure we want a nice large helping.

Written by Nana Gongadze

Reading & Leeds 2014

Undoubtedly amongst the best festivals in the world, Reading & Leeds 2014 have just finished, and they were spectacular. Headlined by Arctic Monkeys, Blink-182, Queens of the Stone Age and Paramore, we had a few writers at Leeds who each had a different view on their favourite acts. Here are our picks of the best of the weekend, in no particular order:

Bombay Bicycle Club
London based indie-rock band BBC headlined the NME/Radio 1 stage on the Saturday of Reading and Sunday of Leeds. The band, led by angelically voiced frontman Jack Steadman, had the crowd in the palm of their hands for the entire set. The light and picture show going on behind them only exaggerated the brilliance of what was, for me, possibly the best performance I saw all weekend. Everyone lost their shit at What If, and songs like Lights Out, Words Gone and How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep prompted huge singalongs from the loved up crowd. I was a fan before, but they went so far above any expectations I had and absolutely blew me away.  - Molly 

The Hives

The Hives. Photo: Giles Smith

As soon as Peace left the main stage on the Sunday at Leeds, huge white letters spelling 'HIVES' took their place, forming the most part of the Swedish band's incredibly cool backdrop. The backdrop suited them well as they are an incredibly cool band, not least deservedly cocky frontman Howlin' Pelle Almqvist. Dressed to match the rest of the band, he swaggered and jumped about the stage, howling (hence his name) at the audience to "Cheer! We deserve more applause than that!". During the now famous freeze-frame bit of Tick Tick Boom, he spent around five minutes introducing the band and then went into the crowd to get us all to sit down, in preparation of going mental for the last part of the song. "If you're still stood up I'll come out there and make you sit down!" he commanded, and his adoring crowd obeyed. They finished with Hate To Say I Told You So, and as we showed our appreciation, Almqvist yelled proudly, "I know you're cheering in part because I've told you to, but the other part is because you fucking love me!". He wasn't wrong. - Molly

Baby Strange
Following their support slot on Palma Violets' Rattlesnake Rodeo tour last November, Glaswegian three-piece Baby Strange have built up a loyal following, and it certainly showed in Leeds; their fairly large crowd seemed to be loving every blast of punk rock they were showered with. After an extremely well performed and received cover of the Talking Heads' Psycho Killer, they expressed their wish to play "a couple more songs" which "are really short, only about two minutes each" but they were denied it, resulting in much booing from the crowd (including me), eager for more. However, the booing did turn to applause as the band left the stage - what we got from them was fantastic, and I know we'll be seeing much more of Baby Strange in the near future. - Molly

The Wytches
Filling an opening slot on the NME stage on Friday at Leeds festival, Brighton three piece The Wytches had a tough job. Their unique brand of "surf doom" could easily have fallen flat, with their heavily distorted guitar and piercing screams not being the usual fodder for this stage. However, they certainly impressed, filling their short set with pit-worthy anthems from their debut album Annabel Dream Reader. The standout moment for me was their opening song- Burn Out The Bruise, showcasing their Bleach-esque style and ability to write and perform a seriously heavy yet catchy chorus. - Benny

Mongol Horde. Photo: Giles Smith

Mongol Horde
Frank Turner's hardcore project Mongol Horde aren't what you'd call radio friendly, and of course in their sub-headline slot on Leeds' Lock Up stage, they didn't alter this one bit. Their music is effectively a massive "fuck you" to basically everything ever, full of genuine humour and brought together by Turner's deafening roar. Their set consisted of twelve songs from their self titled LP released this year, bringing huge circle pits to the adrenaline (and whatever else) fuelled crowd, with Frank frequently being hoisted in the air by adoring fans. A band which has a song about Natalie Portman's tapeworm forming a republic clearly doesn't take themselves too seriously, so they clearly don't give a shit what I think. All the same they were definitely a highlight of the weekend. - Benny

Queens Of The Stone Age
Possibly the best stadium rock band currently touring, Queens Of The Stone Age destroyed this years' Leeds festival, which isn't surprising as their latest album Like Clockwork is amongst their best. New songs such as Fairweather Friends and If I Had a Tail sat comfortably among their old classic songs from Songs For The Deaf and Rated R, with godlike frontman Josh Homme delivering them with his trademark swagger. Ending on the near satanic Song For The Dead, this band seem as good today as they've always been, and look unwilling to stop. My only criticism (and no fault of the band) is their short set, caused as a result of their headline slot being shared with the simply cringeworthy pop-punk of Paramore.  All in all however, Queens shone; their catchy desert rock being my personal highlight of the festival. - Benny

Peace
After standing through Dry The River (a very good folk band) Peace took to the main stage. I'd headed down early to get a good spot - I was in an alright place, quite far left of stage left. The crowd was pretty chilled out throughout their set. Each member walked on one at a time, starting with Dom who started playing a drum line, followed by Sam with a bass line, then Doug with some chords and finally Harrison. They burst into 'Lovesick' their last single from debut album 'In Love' and I must say it's a crowd pleaser. The band continued to play through some older album and EP tracks including 'Float Forever' and 'California Daze'. The guys didn't fail to impress with new songs 'Money' and 'Lost On Me' and they, as they have been recently, replaced '1998' with rap track 'World Pleasure', but who can complain when there's a groovy bass solo? No one. This was my fourth time seeing Peace and I've never been so proud of them; seeing them play on the main stage made my festival. - Laura

Wolf Alice

Wolf Alice. Photo: Victor Frankowski

When Wolf Alice took to the stage in the Festival Republic tent on the Sunday of Leeds festival, they did so in matching white outfits. I must say I was surprised; that was one thing I was never expecting a young indie rock group to do. As always, they didn't fail to impress. Ellie's vocals blew me away; how she can go from singing a quiet slow song such as 'Blush' to having loud, wild vocals in 'She' amazes me. At one point Ellie and Theo started doing their swaying side to side type dance while they played a solo together, and this always manages to make me smile. The band played through well known EP tracks and followed these up with a couple of new tracks, closing with a sped up version of 'Fluffy' as they were about to get pulled off stage. - Laura

Superfood
These guys were one of my favourite acts of the festival. After chatting to frontman Dom Ganderton (he remembered me from a few months back and gave me a slighty wobbly, possibly drunken hug), they played the BBC Introducing stage on the Thursday night. This, like Peace, was my fourth time seeing them, and they really did blow me away. It was nice to be surrounded by hundreds of people there to see them and being in a Superfood-loving crowd was incredible. The band played well knows tracks 'Melting', 'Bubbles' and 'Right On Satellite', a couple of album songs and finished with debut song 'Superfood'. Superfood really never fail to put on a good show. - Laura

Feel free to comment with your favourite acts of the weekend! 

Introducing: Dolomite Minor

Forget the four-piece, the regular singer-guitarist-bassist-drummer arrangement. The past few years have seen the rise of a less conventional layout for a band: the duo. Of course, we had The White Stripes, and we had The Black Keys, but the recent chart storming of bands like Deap Vally, Drenge and Royal Blood show that the love for the duo is stronger than ever. Now, fresh from great sets at Reading & Leeds, Dolomite Minor are hoping to be the new carriage in the duo success train.

Consisting of long haired singer/guitarist Joe Grimshaw and drummer Max Palmier, the Southampton rock band currently only have three songs on their soundcloud, but each one is a corker.



The first, Let Me Go, showcases straight away Grimshaw's sleazy vocals atop a thick bed of grinding guitar and a matching progressive drum beat, as he sings about nights on the town where "The night's still young but the police have been rung." It's a head-banging, foot stomping piece of grit.



Uploaded second was Girl of Gold, a live track which sounds, nevertheless, like a studio version (or maybe that's just the terrible sound quality on my crappy laptop). It's a fairly long one, and features a fantastic riff supported once again by strong drumming from Palmier.




The true excellence, however, doesn't come until most recent track Talk Like An Aztec (now available on Spotify and iTunes as well). Its gentle build up leads to a brilliantly articulated drop which I can imagine moshpits going mental for, but even so, it's more melodic than the previous tracks and will stick in your head for a while afterwards. As the band progress, this song will become a classic and without doubt a live favourite.

I caught their set at Leeds festival without knowing anything about them at all so I had no idea what to expect, but I was very pleasantly surprised. If truth be told, I'd heard the name before but for a reason unbeknownst to me I'd always thought Dolomite Minor was the name of a black, bespectacled, buttoned-up shirt wearing solo artist. You learn something new every day don't you?

Check out their tour dates here and the music video for Talk Like An Aztec here.

Written by Molly McGrath