Band of the Moment #6

It’s been a while since our last ‘Band of the Moment’ but we’re back with a fantastic new 4 piece who hail from Scotland – Edinburgh to be exact – ‘The Cosmonauts’.

With four recordings up on their reverbnation page you’ll soon become completely hooked with all of them like we did. The first single we heard, ‘Dawn Breaks’ opens us up the band with a cheery, summer-tinged record. A perfect accompaniment to the beautiful weather we’ve been having here in London. ‘Dawn Breaks’ offers a 60’s sounding vibe, with a hint of the Coral but the soft guitar riffs keep this fresh and modern. However any premonitions or pigeon holes you may have placed The Cosmonauts in are quickly blown away when the punky, rocky sounding ‘The Howl’ begins. Think of it as the love child of the White Stripes, The Pixies and early Kings of Leons – and any other beer soaked rock band you’ve encountered – in short, it’s epic.  Their Rockabilly sounds continue with ‘Tell Me’, but just when you think you have ‘The Cosmonauts’ vibe locked down up steps ‘Memoirs’ and the folksy country sound that floats out your speakers once again shatters your preconceptions.

This is an incredibly diverse band, probably the most diverse we’ve reviewed. The Cosmonauts really do offer something for everyone and we believe will constantly come up with the goods to please and surprise. Every artist we’ve put into the ‘Band of the Moment’ section we believe are heading for success but if The Cosmonauts aren’t a favoured choice of alternative music in the next few years then something’s seriously wrong.  We’re certainly going to be following these with great interest and hope they make the trip to London for a gig soon.

Check them out for yourselves here;

http://www.reverbnation.com/cosmonauts69

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Cosmonauts/288995347872
http://www.myspace.com/cosmonauts69
https://twitter.com/thecosmonauts69

The Vex - A Fools Desire

Firm Mixed Musings favourites ‘The Vex’ revealed their darker sounding vibe with new release ‘A Fools Desire’ today. The clash-esque style of the previous releases has edged away and a rougher, darker sound blasts out in this two minute beast.

They keep the ska edge which they play so well but when combined with possibly their strongest lyrical offering to date, along with the heavier bass lines and rockier concoction they’ve produced, in our opinion, their best single yet.

If you’re still yet to check out The Vex at the best – live on stage, then make sure you head down to the Camden Barfly next Thursday (5^th April) and see for yourselves why they're the one of the best unsigned bands in dear old Blighty.

A skint Friday night waiting for summer...

Having spent all our money once again on tickets to more festivals than we should have (Benicassim taking the majority of the pot) along with the Stone Roses and Blur gigs we’re flat broke so are spending the night sat at home, watching the Ronnie Wood show.

Thankfully there’s nothing better than discovering new acts, so rather than wasting the evening we’ve going through the latest artists announced for our last festival of the year the amazing Bestival, and so far we’ve discovered a few new acts to check out when we’re there, but one we’ll most definitely be stopping by on is the stunning Nina Nesbitt.

Recently we’ve found ourselves leaning towards more acoustic, folk music – most probably due to this winter seemingly lasting forever, this kind of music just resonates sunshine, warmth and festivals. So we’re pleased to add another artist to our repertoire. She’s already built quite a following, bolstered no doubt by her current position of supporting Ed Sheeran (of which comparisons too are unavoidable). However we’re not that big on Ed, whereas so far Nina’s winning us over – especially when we learnt she’s only been gigging for less than a year! The cover of JME is unusual yet it kind of works, but what sets Miss Nesbitt apart are her own tracks, ‘Skeletons’, ‘Glue’ and ‘Noserings & Shoestrings’ our current favourites.

It’s discovering artists like this that make festivals so amazing and currently Bestival is the event we’re most looking forward to this summer, if your coming as well then check out the wonderful Nina Nesbitt, you won’t regret it.

Band of the Moment #5

We know you’re probably (not) gutted that we missed last week’s best band of the moment blog, but never fear we’re back this week the delectable tones of ‘mylittlebrother’. Going against our usual preference of loud, brash, punchy, guitar driven anthems the calm and delicate songs from the band quickly found their way out of our speakers again and again.

Within the first half of mylittlebrother’s opening track, ‘Genevieve’ we knew this would be a band that we enjoy, fittingly perfect for this lazy Sunday afternoon we’re having. Simplicity is the key with their EP, and that is in no way a negative point, it’s proof that a well written song needn’t be over produced. The second track, Disney Films is probably our least favourite track but any doubts were soon washed away as the uplifting third track ‘Steve’ begins. From here the collection just grows and grows. From the piano led and firm favourite ‘Forty Eight, Blue Eyes’, with the soft background of distorted guitar combined with fuzzy vocals to the quicker foot-tapping melodies of ‘NoseDive’ with  harmonies that only serve to show off the beauty of mylittlebrothers story telling lyrics. 

A chance follow on twitter led us to discover these beautiful emotion filled songs, and we’ll be following the progress of mylittlebrother with great interest. If you’re a fan of folk music then you will love them, and if you’re not, then chances are you’ll probably love them anyway.

Check them out for yourselves on the links below and as always thoughts and comments are more than welcome!

http://www.soundclound.com/mylittlebrother
http://www.twitter.com/mlittlebrother
http://www.myspace.com/574536372
http://www.youtube.com/mylittlebrothermusic
http://mylittlebrothermusic.tumblr.com/
http://www.thisismyjam.com/mylittlebrother

Band of the Moment #4

With our reader count soaring (3 people even said they like it!), we’re pleased to present the fourth instalment of our ‘Band of the Moment’ section which see’s us landing in Essex for the wonderful ‘Dream in Colour’.

We came across this 4 piece when we saw their city session recording of debut single, ‘Strangest Place’ (which you can see below). Instantly, we were hooked with the incredible vocals of Richard Judge, which in turn led us to their website where we would discover that when combined with Peter Judge on drums, Michael Thackeray on guitar and Steve Daniels on bass we get a band that will sure to be making serious waves in 2012.

We’re struggling here to write something that’s not already been mentioned by the amazing reviews they’ve already had, (just check out their facebook page for proof). The collection of songs over on their official website shows a band with an incredibly diverse sound. From the Coral-esque ‘Fourteen’ to the minimal sounding but hauntingly stunning ‘Running to Pretend’ which demonstrates you don’t need mass production if you’ve got the talent.

This isn’t so much a review but an order for anyone who does happen to read this post to go and listen to this band.

Find out more at;

http://www.idreamincolourband.com
http://www.myspace.com/idreamincolourband
http://www.facebook.com/idreamincolourband
http://www.youtube.com/idreamincolourband
https://twitter.com/idreamincolour_x

The Cribs - Chi-Town Review

The Wakefield lads are back as a trio and today their first comeback single since Marr’s departure ‘Chi-Town’ was made public. It’s a record that signifies the third coming of the band and they’ve ditched the melodic rock that Marr brought to ‘City of Bugs’ and returned to their roots of distorted guitars and iconic riffs.
Stomping straight into the chorus the Jarman brothers are back with a vengeance. Yet perhaps it’s because I think that Johnny Marr is a God that this record just seems to be a little disappointing. Yes, it’s got the same formula as their first two albums which I loved but this just feels like it could have been a surplus record from either of them. A repetitive, catchy melody? Check. Ryan’s now traditional husky vocals? Check. Breakdown into an instantly recognisable riff? Check. All the ingredients are here for this to be another epic album but so far I feel a little let down with this comeback single.

For me The Cribs appear to have taken a step back, Johnny Marr’s influence has never been clearer, and rather than attempt a record that proves the trio are as great as we know they could be, they’ve slipped back into a time-proven routine. However it’s only been on my iPod for 10 minutes so it may yet grow on me, but at the moment when ‘In the Belly of the Brazen Bull’is released I’m not going to be rushing to but it.

Rating: 5/10

Listen here and let us know what you think! - http://soundcloud.com/wichita-recordings/the-cribs-chi-town/s-aMO89

So on a day when twitter became alight with musically uneducated youngsters who firstly started the day asking who Bon Iver were (or ‘Bonny Bear’ as they believed they were called), followed by quite frankly a disturbing development when ‘Who is Paul McCartney’ began trending. I felt it was time to stick up a review of living legend, Jack White’s new solo single ‘Love interruption’ from forthcoming album ‘Blunderbuss’ . It also happens to coincide with his newly announced tour dates in March.

Now I certainly fall into the side of the fence who believe pretty much everything he touches is amazing but I’ll admit I was apprehensive when it was announced he would be ditching the collaborations and releasing a solo album. Even on first listen of ‘Love Interruption’ I still wasn’t convinced this was a move that would work out. A slow melody of an acoustic guitar and bitter lyrics of love, “I want love to murder my own mother” isn’t a particular pleasant image or great start. Yet put it on repeat and it changes your mind, it’s typical Jack White awesomeness, I particularly welcome the return of country blues!

Of course there are negatives, firstly it’s not completely solo – there are the delicate vocals of Ruby Amanfu but I’ll forgive him. There are also parts I’m not so keen on, particularly around the 1 minute 12 seconds mark where they cut the instruments and Jack and Ruby sing in unison but ‘Love Interruption’ is a departure from the distorted riffs and fuzz of the White Stripes and Dead Weather and if the album is following this acoustic country blues style then Mr White’s done it again!

Rating 8/10