'Falcon' sets flight

A new direction for The Courteeners, shunning all of your past experiences, messed up analogies and lad-rock comparisons.

The Strange Boys

Austin's lo-fi garage-folk gritties, The Strange Boys, have been making strides since their debut alubm, 'The Strange Boys And Girls Club'. March 2nd sees this sand-spitting southern four-piece laugh their way into a grubby whiskey-reeking dust-bowl uncharted indie platform.

Scatter your preconceptions into the diminishing abyss because The Strange Boys follow up, 'Be Brave' is a distant growl of layered bluesy riffs, mucky background bellows, dribbled drunken slurs and tin-pan drums that create something both entirely untamed and unpolished, just the way it was intended.

The Strange Boys - Night Might

This Week In The Office

I have mostly been listening to...

Young Rebel Set, take note!

After a rather much-needed lull of escapism as it clambered into the disheartening depths of awkwardness and mortification, pop music is back in the driving seat of our countries music culture. Forceful and fierce, gimmick-coated, hook-ladden glimmering glitter-dust pop that’s as sugar-sweet as a 90s Gerri Halliwell mini-skirt and as catchy as a swine flu infected brothel: and as we revel in these candied synths and excessive diamond encrusted head-sets, we’re sat wondering, is it time for GaGa and co. to ram the mop-topped, scuffed-up indie darlings of our generation into a declining vat of nothingness as dance routines, million dollar outfits and wigs made of fucking unicorn hair take over?

It’s true, to some extent, that the last couple of years in the ‘indie’ world have actually been half decent, but lacking in something, right? There was a buzz in 2005 with the explosion of the Eel Pie Island gang who bought a new lease of life to the struggling post-Brit pop generation who realised we could go a little left-field with this whole damn façade and still retain a mutual level of creativity and pop-appeal.

Now, however, I feel a little distant from everything. I’m not into this dubstep disease that’s infecting the nation, I don’t really like that electro stuff either, and sadly I feel that bands such as Drive-By Truckers, The Low Anthem, The Feliece Brothers et al. who are all amazing bands, will never get the attention they deserve by the people of Britain, bar a few anyway. That’s probably why I’m excited about Young Rebel Set.

Hailing from Stockton On Tees, the Young Rebel Set have the capabilities of crooning their way through piano-tickling ballads of distinct Britishness, pop-top folky jaunts and heart-wrenching anthems that echo the likes of Springsteen and, in parts, even Dylan, as they craft a very noticeably grubby brand of undeniable urban folk-pop.

The song writing has all the fervour of Craig Finn’s working class Hold Steady rock ‘n’ roll with a popped-up country twang. The title track of the Young Rebel Set’s most recent e.p, ‘Walk On’, is a richly woven piano canvas of profound anthemic credentials: insightful and notoriously catchy, and although track two, ‘Borders’, offers little in the way of variation from the previous, it’s penned wisdom tells a gritty tale of love’s radiant conflict, followed by the sombre strumming of ‘Yorkshire Banks’, a heart-rending anti-cheer of necessity vs. morality.

We have the Young Rebel Set playing Lennons on April 17th. Exciting!

I think Mark Beaumont put it perfectly when he said, ‘although the synth-pop may be dominating the ‘ones to watch list’ British rock and roll is alive and beckoning…’

Acoustic Gold From The South Coast

When I was unemployed last summer I spent my days writing blogs and grazing the Internet like most other no-nothing, wannabee music hacks, blinded by a slightly glazed arrogance I reviewed, criticised, praised, shunned and assessed all the new music I could.

On a regular basis I was sent singles and albums by the websites I was writing for. Everything from The Perils to Turbofruits, The Bluetones and Marina And The Diamonds. One hot summers day I was in my parents immaculate garden writing away on my laptop, going through cd's as part of my daily routine when i cam across that mug Tommy Riley.

This wee chump was the victorious contestant on that hope-draining, faith-sucking TV program Orange Unsigned Act. To think that out of all of the people who entered this rather dire 'indie' X Factor-type shit-reel was nearly unthinkable. It was like being back at school with those badly covered Nirvana tributes and note-dodgy Americana acoustic-pop dross covers because it just felt so juvenile.

For some reason this tripe made its way onto my ipod and fearfully appeared when i was walking to work with the bastard on shuffle. Today I was listening to Declan Mcdermott for probably the tenth time this month and it really grated on me.

I suppose if I cast my over-bearing cynicism aside for a second or two, Tommy is the type of person who'll delight morons all over the country with his edge-less acoustic droll about girls and the usual adolescent reeking shite. However, its a temporary gratification, init?

I'm not planning on challenging the whole acoustic-folk-like genre or anything like that, it's just i know that i like listening to acoustic songs with a narrative. The guitar-vocal set up allows for this in its entirety, basic and profound in all its ambient simplicity.

And that is why I'm on the push for Declan McDermott. His songs are riddled with wit, perspicacity, perception, dejection - all of which are articulately and accurately penned over the acoustic strummings of a young man who is incredibly underrated, not only as a singer but as a literary representation of Southampton's young talent.

Animal Kingdom - Tin Man

This coming Saturday at Hamptons we have the shimmering Animal Kingdom in to play their first ever Southampton show.

The delightfully precious twinkles of Animal Kingdom have been compared to the likes of Sigur Ros and Coldplay, the latter who I see no bearable similarities to, however, it's their dainty and divine quaint-pop opulence that shines through like the glowing embers of indie's lesser-known sister: elegance and finesse.

Animal Kingdom - Tin Man

Black Daniel - Look Away Sancho

Sumptuous post-disco punk from over the pond. Black Daniel look like an odd bunch. Miss-matched in appearance, almost ironic even, yet their sultry Velvet Underground influenced drones and breeding up-beat bridges allow them to withstand any sort of critical, anti-original attack from music hacks the world over.

‘Look Away Sancho’ wallows leisurely like an underground New York City garage band until the innovative breaks of foot stompin’ crashes come a-callin’, with an infectious chorus bellowing out with the intensity of a sheer rock ’n’ roll detonation, incandescent and illuminated by the commanding clout of it’s riff-heavy dynamics.

Black Daniel - Look Away Sancho

BLACK DANIEL WILL BE PLAYING AT HAMPTONS WITH LUCIFER'S GOLD, THE BITTERTOWN MARY'S AND DOYLE AND THE FOURFATHERS ON MARCH 12TH