My Greek mythology may be a little sketchy but even I know the story of Achilles. A hero of the Trojan War, he was made near-immortal when Thetis dipped him in the River Styx, leaving his heel as his only vulnerability. He’s been mentioned countless times in popular music, most notably in the title of [...]
Tyneside newcomers Matadors have been on pretty regular rotation on my whey-aye phone since a couple of their demos landed in my inbox a week or so ago. Rough around the edges they may be, but the Heaton-based four-piece display a genuine gift for melody that puts many of their more experienced contemporaries to shame.
Here’s [...]
Ubiquitous in this year’s One’s To Watch lists, New York City-based outfit The Drums fuse the rain-soaked monochrome of late eighties Manchester with the sunkissed pop of California to startling effect on their debut EP. Dazed & Confused said Summertime! ‘took the Sun Records blueprint, added some parochial wit and peppered it with flashes of [...]
Exploding onto the UK indie circuit whilst still at school, North London-based outfit Bombay Bicycle Club spent their formative years juggling A-levels and a fledgling musical career. Tagged as ‘the hottest band to come from North London for quite some time’ by the NME as far back as May 2007, the four-piece released their debut [...]
They’ve been dubbed the best connected band in Britain thanks to guitarist Robbie Furze’s previous incarnation as record label boss and talent scout, but strip back the layers of industry hype and friendships with Klaxons, Little Boots and Florence Welch that surround London-based duo The Big Pink and you’ll find a band delivering some of [...]
The Vandelles have staked an early claim for my favourite new band of 2010 with their apocalyptic indie-fuzz. Another bunch of New Yorkers with a penchant for fusing sixties girl group melodies with ear-shredding distortion, their eponymous debut EP is released through SVC Records in the UK on January 18 and is well worth risking [...]
2010 is already shaping up to be one hell of a year for North East music. With debut albums from Detroit Social Club, Beth Jeans Houghton and Little Comets set to land in the coming months, it looks like Tyneside’s burgeoning independent scene will finally gain the nationwide recognition it deserves. Here are ten acts [...]
You’d have thought I lived in New York rather than Newcastle with the amount I’ve been banging on about Big Apple bands of late. But when the banks of the Hudson river can spew forth the indie-pop genius of The Drums, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and Acrylics, who can blame me?
Check out [...]
I love Acrylics. I mean, I fucking love them. The Brooklyn-based outfit’s seventies-tinged lo-fi indie makes a refreshing change to the too-cool-for-school post-punk that dominates much of the city’s output. Built around the songwriting partnership of Molly Shea and Jason Klauber, the band’s sound owes more to the mega-selling Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac than regular NYC [...]
Newcomers Mansfield Holiday are already making waves in the right places. Tipped for greatness by music journo legend John Robb on his Twitter page this week,the Newcastle-based five-piece look set to follow Frankie & The Heartstrings to the top of the region’s indie-pop tree.
Mansfield Holiday are supporting Hatcham Social at The End on December [...]
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