The awesome Various Cruelties have announced they are set to release their new single Chemicals on 3 October 2011. Following the success of their previous two singles Neon Truth and If It Wasn’t For You – which sold out after being sold online and through Rough Trade – the band follow up with this track.
A year in the making, Various Cruelties have supported Fixers, The Vaccines and Villagers already, and are set to play Bestival in September having made an impressive debut at Latitude and the Isle of Wight festival.
Good, honest music, we’re sure you’ll love this band.
We all know musicians are creative types, but the guys at Sudanese Playboys have take it a step further with their new single Anyhow. The illustrated video was made by the guys themselves through a labourious but effective method of tracing images they shot before taking stills of them in turn. The band made a follow up video explaining the process which you can watch here.
Additionally, the track is a really good one with trinkety guitar riffs over a Lightening Seeds-esque vocal offering, the track is a chink of summer sunshine.
New wave post-punk indie-poppers So What Robot are set to release their new single Girl Who Readson 22nd August.
Friends since childhood, the quartet hail from the north where they played in bands Odd Shaped Head (Rob and Paul) and Indigo Colony (Pip and Jamie) before coming together as So What Robot little over a year ago.
The band have been touring the UK in that space of time, establishing pockets of fans across the country. Now as we hurtle through the summer months, the group are set to release their debut single on 21st August (preorder here). Influenced by the likes of the Young Knives, Talking Heads, Adam and the Ants and the new wave/new romantic set of the late 1980s, So What Robot combine electronic synth pop with fresh drum beats and swinging vocal harmonies.There undertone of classic punk is not to be sniffed at either as these guys blend genres to produce a really fresh sounding and infectious number.
Falling under a similar umbrella as fellow northerners Mammal Club, Vinyl Jacket and Everything Everything, Girl Who Reads is a really great summer tune. Make sure you download it from 22 August online here.
Do you remember what real indie music sounds like? Before electro started creeping across the alternative charts, there was guitar music; snare drums;intelligable vocals.
You’d be forgiven for thinking those days were back if you’ve tuned into Dublin based band Funeral Suits recently. With their brand of rock music, they’re championing a return to the basics of indie music with their simple formulae of lifting guitar riffs, booming peddles and smashing snares. With their songs being described as the sound you’d get “if you left Chapel Club, Klaxons and Yeasayer in a room together, which, as odd as it sounds, kinda works.” That description’s not far off the mark, although I’d add Bloc Party in there for good measure with a heavy dose of Birmingham outfit The Editors.
Much as the likes of The National, Local Natives (who they’ve supported on tour) and the Macabees, Funeral Suits are answering the call to arms issued for simple, instrument driven music that doesn’t rely on over-production to conceal its flaws. Their sound is strong, and their credentials are likewise impressive.
Lined up to play Reading and Leeds this summer and Electric Picnic, give these boys a spin and find out just why we’re raving about them.
SOUNDS LIKE: Klaxons, Chapel Club, Local Natives, Bloc Party, Editors
BEST SONGS: Health & Colour Fade
RATING: 4/5
After touring with the likes of Ed Sheeran and Django Django, Norwegian singer-songwriter Eric Ness is most certainly one to watch. The title-track from his debut EP All The Things You Are is a lively up-tempo number complete with cheerful honky tonk piano, mischievous brass, and a fanciful video to match.
WORDS: Laura Seely
Produced by German filmmaker Sergej Hein, the video sees Ness transformed into London’s very own Scandi-Superman, performing a unique flying manoeuvre around the capital that is best described as a mid-air quasi-breast-stroke. Aided by his bizarrely bodiless bandmates, Ness concocts a plan to achieve that most admirable of ambitions, getting the girl. Chaos inevitably ensues.
The ‘All The Things You Are’ EP is due for release in September and you can catch Eric Ness performing across the summer. For more details, check his website here.
