Friday 27 March 2009

Whoops!

So I've just remembered that James asked me to look after the blog whilst he's hitchhiking his way across Europe. It would seem that I've disregarded my duties somewhat so I'm hoping to remedy this by writing a quick post now and hopefully something a bit meatier in the next couple of days.

Well, in a bit of a cop-out, I'll write about some bands that I've been listening to recently:

High Places
High Places are a duo from Brooklyn that play experimental, electronic folky kinda stuff. Their sound lies somewhere between Jimmy Tamoerello's Dntel and Animal Collective. I think they're excellent so check 'em:

High Places - From Stardust

The Acorn
My Friend lent me the album 'Glory Hope Mountain' a couple of weeks ago and I've been listening to it ever since. The Acorn are a band from Ottawa, Canada that play some really beautiful indie folk. They are playing at the Fuse festival in Leeds on 2nd May so I'd recommend giving them a listen before then.

The Acorn - Flood Pt.1

Sung Tongs
This Animal Collective album was recorded in 2004 by Avey Tare and Panda Bear. It was recorded using only acoustic guitars and tribal drums and demonstrates a greatly stripped back sound. I only discovered this album a few weeks ago but I think its one of my favourites, although its a much calmer and more peaceful affair it loses none of what make Animal Collective great.

Animal Collective - Winters Love

Just to finish, I wondered if James really meant you should 'defiantly check out' those bands on his Stag and Dagger post? Check them out even though you know you're not supposed to? I don't know...

Sunday 22 March 2009

That Driving Beat // New Venue // Friday 27th March

That Driving Beat have had a few months down at Milo's which have been going well so they have decided to move to a bigger venue. They have chosen The Underground - Leeds O2 Academy.

They will still be spinning 60's Soul, Rare Motown, 70's Northern Soul, 60's R&B, Funk & a twist of Latin!

For the re-launch they have got special guest DJ Matty Sherlock.

Friday 27th March @ The Underground - Leeds 02 Academy
10pm - 3am
£4 b4 11pm £5 after

The Clean // Influential Artist



The Clean are little known first-wave punk band from New Zealand who have been making music since the late 70's. The bands line-up has changed over the years but has always been revolving around brothers Hamish and David Kilgour. The band disbanded for much of the 80's allowing members to work on other projects but came back together at the end of the 80's to continue making music. After reuniting their sound became more commercial but still had an experimental edge. In 2007 they went on their first world tour and released a live album from that tour. The band although only ever having any success in their native country of New Zealand have been influential for many bands. I'd defiantly recommend getting "Anthology" which is a collection of their early material which was put out in 2002 as many of the records were hard to get hold of. Here are some of my favorites from that album.

The Clean - Anything Could Happen
The Clean - Point That Thing


Saturday 21 March 2009

David Byrne // Live

David Byrne will be performing live at Sheffeild City Hall on the 4th April. Sheffeild is only a 40 minute train journey away so it will be definately worth the trip. David will be performing material from his latest colabartion with Brian Eno "Everything that Happens will Happen Today" but also his songs from all his previous works, including Talking Heads songs. Check out a new song where David Byrne colaborated with Dirty Projectors.

Dirty Projectors & David Byrne - Knotty Pine

Thursday 19 March 2009

Stag and Dagger // Line-Up


The initial line-up for Stag and Dagger has been revealed, and so far looks like it's not one to miss.

Confirmed so far:
COLD WAR KIDS
THE MAE SHI
CURSIVE
TWILIGHT SAD
ABE VIGODA (Defiantly Check Out)
ANDREW WEATHERALL
MAPS
JAMES YUILL
RUSKO
N-TYPE
WILD BEASTS
FILTHY DUKES
MARINA & THE DIAMONDS
DAN BLACK
PHANTOM BAND
MICACHU AND THE SHAPES
VIVIAN GIRLS
(Defiantly Check Out)
MARINA & THE DIAMONDS
TELEPATHE
(Defiantly Check Out)
DANANANANAYKROYD
MAGISTRATES (DJ SET)
SOY UN CABALLO
HIGH RANKIN
TOMB CREW
DJ SLUGZ
ED-DL
MOODIE MAXMILLION
WE HAVE BAND
YOUR TWENTIES
PLUGS
TRAILER TRASH TRACYS
EX LOVERS
LET'S WRESTLE
TUBELORD
THE VIRGIN PASSAGES
MALE BONDING
(Defiantly Check Out)
ARCH M
YOUNG TURKS
YOUNG & LOST
PURE GROOVE
CASPER C
GIRLCORE
DE DE MOUSE
80 KIDZ RIDDIM
SAUNTER
TUCKER
ME MY HEAD
THE SPOLKESTRA
AGASKODO TELIVEREK
ARTHUR DELANEY
UNGDOMSKULEN

We'll keep you posted it anymore are added to the line-up. Limited Early Bird Ticket offer available now for all 3 cities at £10 per ticket.

Tickets can be bought from: See Tickets, We Got Tickets and Gigantic.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart // Live Video

Since posting about The Pains of Being Pure at Heart I found these live video's of them on the Offset blog.








Wavves // New Album

I know i've been blogging about this kid Wavves a lot since starting the blog, but he just keeps impressing me. Seeing him live was sick, his first record "Wavves" although a lot of it was a sonic assault of noise was great and now the release of his second album slightly confusingly also titled "Wavves" is even better. The songs in the second record are much more melodic but don't worry he still assaulting your ears with just as much loud noises. Check out some of my highlights.

Wavves - Sun Opens My Eyes
Wavves - No Hope Kids

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

I hadn't heard a thing about The Pains of Being Pure at Heart until a friend played me their record, I then realised that their self titled debut is one of only two records sold in Urban Outfitters. I must be finding out about them a bit late. These Brooklyn kids have made a pop band but you can see their shoegaze influences coming through to make a great noise-pop album. Definately one of the best albums of this year so far and one to get. Check out a few songs below.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Stay Alive
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday

Wednesday 18 March 2009

New York Dolls // New Album


New York Dolls's today have announced that they will be releasing a new studio album on the 4th May. The new album is going to be titled 'Cause I Sez So' and has been produced by Todd Rundgren. The album will feature 11 new tracks and a new version on 'Trash' if you don't know the punk classic, you can download it below.

New York Dolls - Trash

Tuesday 17 March 2009

The Horrors // Countdown Over // Sea Within A Sea



The countdown on The Horrors website ended at midnight and revealed their new music video. The video is for a track called 'Sea Within A Sea' and is a big departure from their debut album 'Strange House'. Douglas Hart from The Jesus and Mary Chain has directed the new video which shows that the band have gone in a shoegaze direction, which I am a big fan of. Other changed are Rhys now on bass and Tom on synth.

The single which has been taken from their forthcoming album 'Primary Colours' which is due to be released on the 4th May. It has been produced by Geoff Barrow from Portishead and the single is available to download for free from their
website if you join the mailing list.

The band have also released dates of a U.K tour and they are coming to Leeds on the 25th May and are playing The Brudenell Social Club. Tickets can be brought from here.




Monday 16 March 2009

Worriedaboutstan // Album Teaser



I have been very kindly sent a track from Leeds electronic music duo Worriedaboutstan. The band say that they make a mixture of post rock and IDM, although their newer material is heavily influenced by minimal techno. Their new album Arrivals is going to be released on Leeds based Gizeh Records in May but luckily we have a track for you to download of free now.

Worriedaboutstan - You're In My Thoughts

Releases // Monday 16th March

The Kills - Black Baloon 10"


The indie rock duo The Kills release their next single from their 2008 album "Midnight Boom". Although this isn't a signature song from The Kills with it being very much calmer and melodic, it's still one of my favourites from the album. On the flip side is two exclusive tracks '44' and 'weedkiller.

Televised Crimewave - Listen and Repeat 7"

This is the debut release, from one of the bands which emerged after Black Wire split up- Televised Crimewave. It's being released on Puregroove and has already been Artrocker's single of the week.

Hatcham Social - You Dig The Tunnel, I'll Hide The Soil - L.P

This is Hatcham Social's debut album, which has been produced by Tim Burgess (The Charlatans). Hatcham Social have received good reviews for this catchy indie pop album which has been put out by Fierce Panda.

Black Lips - 200 Million Thousdand - LP

The Black Lips return with their third studio album "200 Million Thousand". After the huge success of 2007's "Good Bad Not Evil" I'm sure this one will be just as well received.

Wavves - Wavves - LP
After seeing Wavves play at The Fenton a couple weeks ago I've been listening to his first record loads, it's a great mix of Lo-Fi and grunge. I can't wait to here his new album "Wavves" hopefully it will be just as good as the last one.


Saturday 14 March 2009

Rough Trade // BBC // TV Programme

Currently on BBC iPlayer there are two programmes about the indie record label Rough Trade. The first is titled Rough Trade At The BBC which is a series of live performances from artists who were signed to the label, it features The Smiths, Violent Femmes, Pulp and Antony and the Johnsons. My favourite performance is from Leeds Delta 5 who perform "Anticipation" a great post-punk tune.

The second show is called Do It Yourself: The Story Of Rough Trade. The show goes through the history of Rough Trade from it's humble beginnings of a record shop to becoming a record label.

Friday 13 March 2009

Cage and Aviary // DFA

After playing all my disco records for hours last night I went to the record store today to go buy a few more. I found this offering from my favorite record label DFA. It's Cage & Aviary's single "Television Train", another great disco-house tune from James Murphy's label. Slightly more down tempo than most of the DFA stuff but still another good song. Check it out.

If your into italo-disco you should check out FABRICLIVE.36
mixed by James Murphy and Pat Mahoney. It's been out a couple years now but been listening to it a lot recently and still think it's great.

Cage & Aviary - Television Train

Thursday 12 March 2009

SXSW

















Alright Scenesters?

As hopeful bands around the world prepare to bend over for the musical big-wigs in Austin I thought I'd give you a few acts from the festival that I reckon are worth a listen.

Maps and Atlases
Maps and Atlases's first EP 'Trees, Swallows, Houses' offered a delightful mash of spazzy guitar work, chaotic drumming and elegant vocal melodies. Their second EP 'You And Me And The Mountain' showed a move away from the math-rock workouts of their first and delivered a more mature sound full of layered textures and harmonies. They are currently working on their first full length album which I can't wait for.



Titus Andronicus

Taking their name from Shakespeare's first tragedy, this New Jersey band play
loud and raucous lo-fi punk that drips in angst and emotion. Their debut album 'The Airing of Grievances' is a rough and ready record laden with brilliant lyrics and melodies that seem to spring from nowhere. The Guardian called it 'An unholy collision of the Pogues, Bruce Springsteen, Arcade Fire, the Jesus and Mary Chain and even lost Leeds shouters the Three Johns'.



Sky Larkin
I'm sure that this band need little introduction. The Leeds band hit SXSW having just released their debut 'The Golden Spike'.



Grizzly Bear

I may well be preaching to the choir here, but hey ho. Grizzly Bear, a band from Brooklyn NY, play a dreamy blend of folky experimentalism. Their latest record 'Yellow House' is an album awash with colours and textures. Grizzly Bear use flutes, chimes, percussion and electronics to create songs that build to shimmering climaxes.



Obviously I'm not suggesting that these are the only worthwhile bands playing at SXSW but I hope you like some, or one, of the bands I've mentioned.

DIY Punk // Leeds // Next Week

On Tuesday (17th March) the Leeds hardcore scene's (relatively) elder statesmen The Dauntless Elite are playing at The Packhorse with Crazy Arm, Bangers and Pure Graft. The Dauntless Elite have been fairly quiet since the release of their excellent album "Graft" on Leeds' own Bombed Out Records almost two years ago, but they appear to be playing more regularly now and have returned with some excellent new material. This is one of several great shows Tiger Bear Promotions have in the pipeline, so keep checking this blog for more on those.

Then on Thursday (19th March) Dirty Otter presents Pneu (France), Shield Your Eyes and (the excellent) Uprights at Royal Park Cellars in Hyde Park. Pneu are a noisy lo-fi post-rock band, currently touring the UK extensively with Shield Your Eyes.


Heartbreak // NME Tour // New Remix


The italo-disco duo Heartbreak are due to be playing The Cockpit on 7th May. Unfortunately this is on an NME Radar tour alongside La Roux, Magistrates and The Chapman Family.

In anticipation for the tour Heartbreak have remixed La Roux - In For The Kill. They have managed to turn the song into a great disco tune, which you can download here.

Lunar Jam // Secret Location // Saturday 14th March

This Saturday if your not into going to Brighton Beach or Ipso Facto and Little Boots at Bad Sneakers maybe check out this underground disco party, Lunar Jam. It's being held in a secret location in Leeds which is an art gallery space, with special guest DJ Phoreski.

You can download a
Phoreski mix here.

Entry is £5. Venue and ticket information will be released closer to the event.

DEVO // First Album In 19 Years // Released This Autumn

DEVO after announcing that they will be performing their 1978 album 'Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo?' in full at the London Kentish Town Forum on May 6th. The pioneers of new wave have announced that they will be releasing a new album later this year. The album which is still yet to be named will be released in autumn this year. It's the first new music that the band will release since their 2007 single "Watch Us Work It".

Wednesday 11 March 2009

Spider and the Flies // Vice Magazine // Mix pt. 1


Spider and the Flies is a side project of Tom Furse and Rhys Webb from The Horrors. They brought a bunch of old synths went into a studio with Barry 7 from Add N to (X) and produced a fantastic mini LP "Something Clockwork This Way Comes", which if you haven't already heard you should really check out. My personal favorite from the LP is "Jungle Planet".

Vice Magazine had the brilliant idea of asking these "record heads" to make a mix which you can download here. It is titled "Up" and is absolutely fantastic and luckily it's only pt. 1 of the mix. Pt. 2 "Down" is coming soon so we'll keep you posted.

Vivian Girls // New Album // Stag and Dagger


Today the Lo-Fi/Indie trio Vivian Girls announced on their twitter that they have finished tracking their second album, which they claim that they are 'psyched' about. Also it shows on their myspace as being confirmed for Stag and Dagger on the 22nd May at The Library Pub.

Here are a couple of my favouites from their debut album Vivian Girls.

Vivian Girls - All Of The Time
Vivian Girls - Wild Eyes

Tuesday 10 March 2009

Ipso Facto // Gig Rescheduled // Saturday 14th March

For the second time now Ipso Facto's gig has been canceled. Ipso Facto said in a myspace bulletin "As Hatcham Social had to pull out of the leeds gig... The promoter cancelled the show. So we are now playing on Saturday 14th at the brudenell(The Faversham) with little boots! Sorry for any confusion! IF.x"

So
Bad Sneakers Saturday 14th March at The Faversham both Little Boots and Ipso Facto will be performing.

Doors: 10pm - 3am
Tickets: £6 Adv
Stage Times:
Ipso Facto: 10.30pm - 11.00pm

Little Boots: 11.30pm - Midnight

The Horrors // Countdown To Single Release???

Southend's garage rock band The Horrors have started a countdown on their website today. It's unsure what they are counting down to but most people seem to be speculating that it's a release of a single. The count down is due to end at midnight on Monday 16th March. Their new album has been recorded and is set to be released later this year. We'll keep you posted on release dates and any live performances they confirm.

Brighton Beach // Saturday 14th March


I forgot this when I posted the 'This Week In Leeds' post earlier in the week. Brighton Beach will be back with residents Helen Baron and Tony Leighton play Britpop & Indie, alongside Classic 60's Soul, Garage & Rock'n'Roll, in Stylus. In Room 2 Gav Needham & guests play 60’s soul, northern, jazz, psych, garage & freakbeat. Brighton Beach is always a fun night and worth checking out.

Tickets are £5 and available from Crash Records and Jumbo Records, Doors 11pm - 3am.

Deerhunter // "Disappearing Ink" // Live Performance for MTV

Deerhunter perform a new unreleased track "Disappearing Ink" for MTV2. Look out for a full length performance on MTV2 soon.

Remember Deerhunter will be in Leeds on the 24th May at The Brudenell Social Club. Tickets are available from Crash Records, Jumbo Records, Seetickets and Wegottickets.


Monday 9 March 2009

Releases // Monday 9th March

GRAFFITI ISLAND // RAPID YOUTH // MALE BONDING // OLD BLOOD - SPLIT 7" - Pre-Order
Ok. so this hasn't actually released yet, however I urge you to order it now. It's limited to 500 copies worldwide and the label have said specifically that it will not be repressed.
SIDE A

GRAFFITI ISLAND - Long Neck Tribe
RAPID YOUTH - Forever Losing

SIDE B

MALE BONDING - Pumpkin
OLD BLOOD - Trash

Click here to order.

HATCHAM SOCIAL - MURDER IN THE DARK 7"


Taken from their debut album, You Dig The Tunnel I'll Hide The Soil, due out 16th March 2009.

A GRAVE WITH NO NAME / NATURAL NUMBERS - split - TAPE

Split between Mt. Jade's A Grave With No Name and Natural Numbers from Indiana. It's being released on tape which can be brought here or can be downloaded for free here. Remember to check out A Grave With No Name when they support The Big Pink (who look like they are going to be the next big thing) at Cockpit on 20th April.

BLACK LIPS - SHORT FUSE - mp3//7"


Black Lips new single 'short fuse' backed with another dope b-side
'born to be a man'. The Single is taken from their second album for
Vice,
'200 Million Thousand' out next week.

KAP BAMBINO - RED SIGN/ACID EYES - 7"



This is
Kap Bambino's first single after their fantastic noise-pop debut album
'zero life night vision'. Their new album is due to be out in May.


KASMS - BONE YOU - 7"/MP3


First single from Kasms first single taken from their debut album
which is yet to have a release date.

FAUST - C'est Com...Com...Complique - LP/CD

New studio album from krautrock hero's Faust

All of these should be available from Crash or Jumbo.

Sunday 8 March 2009

Stag and Dagger // Friday 22nd May

Stag and Dagger is a festival brought to you by Adventures in The Beetroot Field, Margaret and Vice Magazine. It's first year last year was a great success with performances from the likes of Diplo, Archie Bronson Outfit, Hot Chip, Ladyhawke, Duke Spirit, Jay Reatard, Operator Please, Ed Banger, A Trak, The Metros and Filthy Dukes. This year the festival expanding and is taking place in 3 cities. London on 21st May, Leeds 22nd May and Glasgow 23rd May.

This years line-up was due to be announced at the end of February but currently hasn't been. So far the only band I know is confirmed is Telepathe, so it already looks like it's going to be a good one. We will keep you posted on the rest of the line-up when it's confirmed.

Limited Early Bird Ticket offer available now for all 3 cities at £10 per ticket.
Tickets can be bought from: See Tickets, We Got Tickets and Gigantic.

Here is a Telepathe tune and a disco remix for you to check out.

Telepathe - Lights Go Down
(zShare)
Telepathe - Devil's Trident (Rory Phillips Remix) (zShare)

Leeds This Week

Wild Beasts // Wednesday 11th March // The Brudenell Social Club
Kendal's Wild Beasts bring their indie rock sound one again to Leeds. With support from Fran Rogers, Tigers That Talked and Spodni Pradlo.

Ipso Facto // Thursday 12th March // The Brudenell Social Club

The fantastic Ipso Facto will be gracing us with their presence at The Brudenell Social Club.Ever since their first single Harmonise, released on DiscError they have been taking the country by storm. Supporting Last of the shadow puppets on their U.K tour and legendary the Magazine in a recent London show. It says on the flyer that Hatcham Social are supporting which will be great, however looking on their myspace it appears they are scheduled to play somewhere else.

La Cave // Thursday 12th March // Smokestack

La Cave returns again to Smokestack to bring you the finest sounds of 60s
psych, garage, beat, soul and R'n'B for your dancing pleasure! Best of all it's free!

Idioteque // Friday 13th March // The Subculture

Idioteque once again will be bringing you the best in new alternative music aswell as indie belters.


Raise The Roof // Friday 6th March // West Indian Centre


Raise The Roof made its return to the West Indian Centre on Friday to celebrate the coming of Spring with an Alice in Wonderland themed multimedia festival. Asking 'How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?' Raise The Roof presents an exciting world of visual and sonic art with live acts and djs, virtual graffiti, magic shows, dance acts, tarot reading and much more.

Of the live bands, African drummers 'Honeydrum' and dub collective 'Root One Band' were definite highlights. 'Honeydrum' had the room dancing and shaking with a mind-blowing display of African rhythm and soul and the 'Root One Band', with thumping bass lines, tight horns, big grooves and good vibes, sounded very impressive through the 30k High Pressure Soundsystem.

All in all, Friday night was flippin' excellent. If you were there, congratulations, if you weren't, you should have been! I'm sure Raise The Roof will be back to welcome in the summer so keep your eyes peeled.



Friday 6 March 2009

Mark E Smith // Tonight's Gig // Cancelled

Legendary Mark E Smith (The Fall) and Ed Blaney have had to cancel their gig tonight at The Cockpit due to Mark breaking his hip. This is the second time this gig has been canceled and it's unclear if they are planning to reschedule but we'll keep you posted. Refunds are avaliable from point of purchase.

DEVO to play 'Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo?'

DEVO will play their 1978 album 'Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo?' in full at the London Kentish Town Forum on May 6th. Unfortunately this is in London but I think it would be well worth the trip down south to see the new wave/post-punk legends.







Tuesday 3 March 2009

YYY's // It's Blitz // New Release Date

The Yeah Yeah Yeah's today released the new date that their forthcoming 3rd LP It's Blitz will be released on.

"The cat's out of the bag after IT'S BLITZ! escaped from our clutches into the big bad world last week.
Why should some have and some have-not?

IT'S BLITZ! OFFICIAL NEW RELEASE DATES:

DIGITAL WORLDWIDE MARCH 9TH, US MARCH 10TH.
IN STORES US MARCH 31ST, WORLDWIDE APRIL 6TH.

YYYs have been brimming with nervous excitement in anticipation of releasing this record to the world! Leaks are NO FUN but it's out of our hands. Can't help but ask ourselves, "What would the PHILOSOPHER do in times such as these?" We now present PART II of the SNAKESWEAT TRILOGY, Mr. Brian Chase soothing our troubled souls in THE PHILOSOPHER.

LUV YYYs"


New Club Night // Silver Hips // 5th March 09



New Club Night Silver Hips start this Thursday 5th March at Hi-Fi. With a very eclectic selection of music spanning from NWA to Ipso Facto to Wild Beasts. The music may be too varied but it's always worth checking out a new night for £3.

Live at Leeds 2009











Hello,

This is the first blog I have written for Leeds Beat. In fact, this is the first blog I have ever written. I’m throwing caution to the wind, waving goodbye to my blog-ginity and diving into bed with the blogging world.

So in keeping with the themes of this blog - “New bands, influential bands and events in Leeds” - I thought I would write about an upcoming event in Leeds featuring new and influential bands: Live at Leeds 2009.

Live at Leeds is back after two very successful years, bringing you the best in emerging regional talent alongside established national acts. The festival will take place at venues across the city on the Bank Holiday weekend of May 1st-3rd. Previous years have seen the likes of The Rascals, Metronomy, Wild Beasts and, unfortunately, The Pigeon Detectives taking to the stage. This year looks set to be a cracker with White Lies, Fionn Regan, The Maccabees and Art Brut on the bill.

The real delight of this festival, however, comes not from the headlining acts but from the 100 or so lesser known bands playing across the city, all of whom can be seen for the measly price of £10. Highlights include the brilliant Dartz!, local heroes Sky Larkin and Leeds grunge rockers Dinosaur Pile-up.

For more information check out:

Live at Leeds Website

Clash Music for news on the line-up.

Tom, Leeds Beat xx

Wavves and Pens // 28th Feb // The Fenton

I went into the gig not really expecting too much. Pens matched my expectations only a couple half decent songs and a unenthusiastic performance. Wavves however completely surprised me, great energetic performance singing about skateboarding and smoking weed. They have totally converted me to the Lo-Fi scene and becoming one of my favorite bands so far of 2k9.

Wavves - So Bored(zShare)
Wavves - Weed Demon(zShare)

Here are them live earlier on their tour.


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