Author Archives: Alex Knott

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Clock Opera unveil new video + tour dates | Music News

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Following the release of their acclaimed debut album ‘Ways To Forget’, Clock Opera are re-releasing single ‘Belongings’ on July 30. Watch the video here:

 

 

Following their sold out album release partyat the Scala in April the band have announced their next headline London show and UK tour on the back of a busy summer of festivals including Blissfields, Winterwell, Roskilde, Latitude, Summer Sundae, Beacons, Bestival and Festival Number #06 to name a few.

The full list of Autumn UK dates are as follows:

20/10 – Gathering Festival – Oxford
22/10 – Sugarmill – Stoke
24/10 – Cyprus Avenue – Cork
25/10 – Roisin Dub – Galway
26/10 – Academy 2 – Dublin
27/10 – Limelight – Belfast
29/10 – The Kazimier – Liverpool
30/10 – Bodega – Nottingham
31/10 – Deaf Institute – Manchester
01/11 – Doghouse – Dundee
02/11 – King Tut’s – Glasgow
03/11 – The Harley – Sheffield
05/11 – The Haunt – Brighton
06/11 – Thekla – Bristol
07/11 – Waterfront – Norwich
08/11 – Heaven – London

Tickets on sale at www.clockopera.com/tour-dates/

Opossom sign to Fire Records

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Hotly tipped New Zealand band Opossom have signed to Fire Records. The brainchild of Kody Nielson, formerly of acclaimed “trouble gum art punks” The Mint Chicks, Opossom will release their first record on the label ‘Electric Hawaii’, on 6 August.

Already acclaimed by the likes of Pitchfork, NME and CMU, the band’s intense live performances have garnered rave reviews and the band made waves after their UK live debut in April. Joining Kody on stage are Bic Runga in the role of chanteuse and multi-instrumentalist and former fellow Mint Chick Michael Logie on bass guitar duties. There are plans are afoot for UK, European and US shows in the Autumn.

Have a watch of the video for the first single from the album, “Blue Meanies”, below:

John Cale announces new album | Music News

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Former Velvet Underground man John Cale has announced the release of his 16th studio album, ‘Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood’ due for release on 1st October 2012 via Double Six Records.

Shifty Adventures… is the result of sessions held at Cale’s LA studio. Days were spent experimenting with MPCs, pounding fists onto pianos, manipulating glitches and lots of signature viola drone while patiently waiting for songs to reveal themselves. There was also a spontaneous session with Danger Mouse to create the opening track ‘I Wanna Talk 2 U’.

The full album tracklist is as follows:

1.   I Wanna Talk 2 U                         2.  Scotland Yard

3.   Hemmingway                                4.  Face To The Sky

5.   Nookie Wood                               6.  December Rains

7.   Mary                                              8.  Vampire Cafe

9.   Mothra                                          10. Living With You

11. Midnight Feast                              12. Sandman (Flying Dutchman)

Mumford & Sons reveal traveling fest + tour playlist | Music News

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Mumford & Sons kicked off a series of UK shows this week, playing alongside the likes of The Vaccines, Michael Kiwanuka, Zulu Winter, Slow Club, and Willy Mason. 

These shows include their “The Gentlemen of the Road” series of outdoor events , headlined by Mumford & Sons, and will feature full bills of support acts curated by the band themselves.

Ahead of the shows the band have compiled a playlist of their favourite songs from each of the artists playing these June events. The playlist – complete with specially-created artwork – is available to stream below:

 

 

Speaking about the shows the band said: “The Gentlemen of the Road Stopover is based loosely upon our favourite festivals like Colorado’s Telluride Bluegrass and Scotland’s Loopallu Festivals. We want to stop off in towns not usually heavily toured by bands, and celebrate the people, food and music that inhabit them. We’re keen to promote the town’s local businesses, and we’ll be using the local bars and venues for aftershow parties, whilst working closely with the local people to get everyone involved in making these shows spectacular. There will be a host of our friends playing too, and the vibe falls somewhere between ‘travelling Victorian circus’ and ‘Victorian travelling circus’. It should be a whole lot of fun.”

All of the Gentlemen of the Road Stopover shows will heavily involve the local communities, from the produce sold on the sites, to engaging visitors with the towns as a whole. The band will be playing a series of shows between the gigs with the support acts selected from the Summer show line-ups.
The final show will be on 9th June in Galway featuring Mumford & Sons + The Vaccines, Willy Mason, Zulu Winter, Nathaniel Rateliff and The Correspondents. For further details visit http://gentlemenoftheroad.com/

Hot Chip: new video, tour info + album details | Music News

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London electronica gods Hot Chip have unveiled the Peter Serafinowicz-directed video for ‘Night And Day’, the first single from their forthcoming fifth LP, ‘In Our Heads’, released on 11th June. The video features appearances from Terence Stamp, Reggie Watts, Lara Stone and of course Hot Chip.

Peter Serafinowicz stated that “many animals were harmed during the making of this video. Regrettably, none of them made the final edit.”

 

The band can also announce that they have invited The 2 Bears, Peter Um and Factory Floor as special guests on their forthcoming June UK tour. Details below:

 

SUN 10 JUNE – SHEFFIELD, UK – LEADMILL – with The 2 Bears live

MON 11 JUNE – CAMBRIDGE, UK – JUNCTION – with Peter Um plus The 2 Bears DJs

WED 13 JUNE – LONDON, UK – HEAVEN – with Factory Floor – SOLD OUT

FRI 15 JUNE – LONDON, UK – LOVEBOX – headline

FRI 27 JULY – DORSET, UK – CAMP BESTIVAL

SUN 2 SEPT – STRADBALLY, IRELAND – ELECTRIC PICNIC

THU 6 SEPT – ISLE OF WIGHT, UK – BESTIVAL

The band’s new album, ‘In Our Heads’, was recorded in London and produced by the band with Mark Ralph and is the band’s follow up to 2010’s intoxicating One Life Stand and their first LP for Domino. In Our Heads will be released on 11th June .

Scrufizzer unveils new video for ‘What’s New’ | Music News

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West London MC and producer Scru Face, aka Scrufizzer, is steadily becoming one of the UK undergrounds most explosive new talents. Renowned for his inventive, rapid-fire flow and cutting-edge fusion of urban production styles, the last two years have seen a steady ascension of his name, leading to collaborations and performances with the scenes top names including Dizzee Rascal, Donae’o and Skepta, being put on the radar of Annie Mac, Nick Grimshaw, Rob Da Bank and Trevor Nelson on Radio 1, as well as being selected as one of BBC 1Xtra’s ’12 for 2012′.

His latest video for new track ‘What’s New’ sees Scrufizzer on the mean streets of his native borough of West Ealing in London.

Bowling for Soup announce UK tour | Music News

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Bowling For Soup turn 18 years old this week and to commemorate the band have announced a full UK tour, for what will be their 30th visit to the UK. Having just completed a busy spring of touring the Middle East (entertaining the troops), a successful UK acoustic tour, and a tour of the North Eastern United States, BFS are delighted to announce a 15-date blitz of the UK. Support comes in the form of American counterparts The Dollyrots and Patent Pending.

Sharp-eyed BFS fans will be quick to notice the lack of a London date on ‘The One Big Happy Tour’ and this grey cloud comes with an enormous silver lining as, BFS are beyond excited to be a part of the Warped Tour’s return to the UK at Alexandra Palace, London, November 10th, 2012. So Londoners make a day of it and witness a taste of the legendary tour on home soil.

Full tour dates:

14 Oct – O2 Academy – Newcastle

15 Oct – O2 ABC – Glasgow

16 Oct – O2 Academy Liverpool

17 Oct – Mandella Hall – Belfast

18 Oct – The Academy – Dublin

19 Oct – O2 Academy – Leeds

20 Oct – Manchester Academy – Manchester

21 Oct – Picturedrome – Holmfirth

22 Oct – 53 Degrees – Preston

23 Oct – UEA – Norwich

24 Oct – O2 Academy – Birmingham

25 Oct – Rock City – Nottingham

26 Oct – O2 Academy – Bristol

27 Oct – O2 Academy – Oxford

28 Oct – Corn Exchange – Cambridge

http://www.livenation.co.uk/artist/bowling-for-soup-tickets

WARPED TOUR UK

10 Nov – Alexandra Palace – London

http://vanswarpedtouruk.com/buy-tickets/

 

 

Bloc Party announce new album + live dates | Music News

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Bloc Party will release their new record, ‘Four’, on 20th August via Frenchkiss Records. The album was produced by Alex Newport (Death Cab For Cutie, The Mars Volta, At The Drive-In), and was recorded and mixed in New York.

Along with this wonderfully exciting news, the band have announced a string of European, US and festival appearances following a two year absence from playing live. Frontman Kele’s blog gives more on the making of the record and the year ahead.

 

 

The band play the following UK, US and festival dates throughout the summer:

June
19 – Garage – Glasgow
20 – The Ritz – Manchester
21 – Koko – London
24 – Ebisu Garden Hall – Tokyo, Japan
29 – Peace and Love – Sweden

July
05 – Super Bock Super Rock – Sesimbra, Portugal
06 – Open’er Festival – Gdynia, Poland
08 – Ruisrock Festival – Turku, Finland
12 – BBK Live – Bilbao, Spain
13 – Melt Festival – Ferropolis, Germany
20– Festival Les Vieilles Charrues, France
21 – Paleo Fest, Switzerland
28 – Splendour  In The Grass, Australia
30 – The Republik – Honolulu, HI USA

August 
03 – Hard Festival – Los Angels, CA USA
04 – Lollapalooza – Atlanta, GA USA
05 – Osheaga Festival – Montreal, CA
07 – Terminal 5 – New York, NY USA
08 – Terminal 5 – New York, NY USA
09 – Terminal 5 – New York, NY USA
11 – The Pool @ The Cosmopolitan – Las Vegas, NV USA
12 – Outside Lands – San Francisco, USA
16 – Pukkelpop Festival – Hasselt, Belgium
17 – Lowlands – Biddinghuizen, Netherlands
18 – Frequency – St Polten, Austria
24 – Rock en Seine – France
25 – Open Air Festival – Zurich, Switzerland

September
04 – Mallorca Rocks – Mallorca, Spain
05 – Ibiza Rocks – Ibiza, Spain

November
03 – Le Stereolux – Nantes, France
04 – Le Transbordeur – Lyon, France
05 – Le Rocher de Palmer – Bordeaux, France
07 – Le Bikini – Toulouse, France
08 – Alcatrax – Milan, Italy
11 – Docks – Hamburg, Germany
12 – Theatrehaus – Stuttgart, Germany
13 – Eventwerk – Dresden, Germany
14 – Tonhalle – Munich, Germany
18 – Vega – Copenhagen, Denmark
19 – Munich Brewery – Stockholm, Sweden
20 – Rockafeller – Oslo, Norway