Who will be on the BBC Sound Of 2012 list? Does it even matter?

oh shit, what's that noise? It's that annoying Christmas song on the Sky TV guide. It must mean one thing. It's that time of year again.

Every year, The BBC gets help from "experts" in the music industry to select the artists who are tipped to be the next big thing. The BBC Sound Of 2012 list is 'completely meaningless', says Association of Independent Music chairman. Is Alison Wenham correct? To an extent yes, it is just one big advert for people like me to go "They aren't new, I've been listening to them for 2 years" or "Shit, who are they? GOOGLE...Well that was disappointing". But like Christmas is to an atheist, it's just a partially annoying bit of fun that wont go away any time soon. Kind of reminds me of that Charlie Brooker cartoon. Last year, the likes of Jessie J, The Vaccines and Nero topped the list. It's a miracle! Oh thy Lord, thank you for blessing these with success, etc! Although the list did tip Jamie Woon and Claire McGuire to do well (Tehe), we can all dream. Let's have a gander the up and comers for 2012. That's if we don't all die because of South Americans or soemthing...

Cast Of Cheers
These gents are the latest attempt of mainstreaming math rock. Not much stuff is available to listen to online at the moment and I refuse to compare these to Foals, Battles or Two Door Cinema Club. But I just did. I'm pretty sure these will be a festival favorite in the next couple of years.


Azealia Banks
One word. FILTHY. She's been touted as a "re-writer of RnB music". i can't see it myself. I see her as more of a more sexually aggressive Nicky Minaj rip off. She needs to smarten herself up if she want to do well in the charts. Listen to the lyrics and see for yourself.


Lana Del Rey
This was too easy to pick. Off the back of her hit, "video games", the fact shes hot and can sing live will only do her favors in the future. Her voice is sometimes haunting, lets hope her song writing continues to be equally pained and provocative.


As much as I want to I'm not going to say "Well its 2012 so here's the obligatory dubstep tips - Flux Pavillion (NEEEERRRRNEEERRRRR) and Skrillex (YES! OH MY GAWWWDDD!)", like the BBC did. So here's my other tips:

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
Citizens!
Modestep
Fixers
Danger
Architects
Ben Howard
Drums Of Death

Exclusive Interview: Hawk Eyes / Chickenhawk

If you are a regular listener to BBC Radio 1 in the evenings, then you would have heard of Hawk Eyes or at least Chickenhawk (the band has changed name). The Leeds based rock band started to grow on me and I became curious. Who were they? Everytime I would hear their song on the radio, it would usually be followed by Zane Lowes Oceanic accent driveling on about how excited he is and then mention 'Pulled Apart By Horses'. So I thought, lets find out a bit more about them. Here's the results of a funny and slightly sarcastic interview. Enjoy:

'Scorpieau' seems to be the song getting a lot of attention lately. What is the song you look forward to performing the most?
With making a new album and not having played any new songs live,
I'd say something off the new album. Its not finished yet and most of
the songs have working titles so let's say - 'Nigel'


It seems hard to find an interview where Pulled Apart By Horses isn't the band your compared to, what are your thoughts on this?
Perhaps because we are both from Leeds and a guitar band, we're
both riffy but sometimes journalists can be a little lazy with
comparisons, we've had endless comparisons in the past including Amen,
Castrovalva and Slayer!!! PABH are however an excellent band, my
favourite is Rob. He also has an excellent name.

Your style is quite unique; how would you describe it and who are your biggest influences?
Probably the sound of 4 people trying to pull the songs in
different directions apparently working together but secretly doing
battle. Dillinger Escape Plan, Melvins, Duran Duran and Danny Elfman
are some influences. A good dose of pretending we know what we are
doing always helps too.

We have had a few peoples opinions on the best alternative music scene and it seems that overall Manchester and South Wales are leading the way. What is the music scene like in Leeds and would you recommend going to see any particular bands?
Biased perhaps but the Leeds scene for me wins everytime, not
basing bands on success but quality I think the list from Leeds is
both long and ridiculously varied. Top of my head: Antares, False
Flags, These Monsters, Normal Man, Canaya, Mucky Sailor, Monster
Killed by Laser many many many more. Concentration Champ should've
been massive, hunt them out...

You are currently writing a new album, give us the low down on it.
We've written these songs over the last 18 months, I've
scrutinised the songs so much that I've lost touch on reality with
them, one of the engineers we are working with said it doesn't sound
like the same band as the first record, in a good way. I personally didn't want
to make Modern Bodies part 2. I don't know why I'm saying personally
as the others didn't either.

If you had to be a cover band, who would you cover and why?
Queen, so I could play songs by Queen. Music should've stopped
being made when Freddie Mercury died. I realise how silly the
statement is, thanks in advance just incase.

What's the funniest thing to happen to you as a band?
Luckily as a band we laugh quite a lot, the funniest things
hopefully will remain in our minds, being booed for not being
Alexisonfire was pretty funny though. Being in Europe in crack den
central was also funny but only once we were a long distance away.
That place was a massive advert to never take drugs, scary.

Finally, what are the Hawk Eyes goals for the future?
Goals, hmmm. Its hard to say without sounding like an idiot. 5
years ago the goal was to play a gig, we'd like to accomplish more and more but if the band split up tomorrow, I think we'd be pretty happy with our lot. My main goal now is to make an album better than Modern Bodies.

Cheers gents.

Reading And Leeds Festival Initial Review

A few hours before the official release of the Reading and Leeds lineup. The image of the yellow poster in a creased Kerrang magazine spread across the internet like a virus(A virus only rivaled by Rebecca Black's Friday). It sent waves of festival fans into hysteria. "Why is MCR headlining?!", "Don't Pulp have just 1 song?", "Where are the Foo Fighters?!", "Who the fuck is Beady eye?", "It's a shit line-up, I'm not going... Shit they are running out of tickets! Buys tickets."
Same old. Same old.

At a glance, the line-up is Ok. Not great, but it doesn't send shivers up your spine. Until you look closer that is. Let's start with Friday of Reading: MCR and 30 Seconds To Mars. headlining. It should be dubbed black Friday. Plenty of bands that will be attracting reformed emos and teens with wardrobe malfunctions. That, however, is just looking at the headliners. The potential for havoc in the first day is there for the taking. Lots of heavy down tuned 7 string guitars. Deftones, The Offspring and Rise Against will bound to bring a maturer audience with them. Its not so bad. Besides, come on guys, everyone likes MCR, they are just pretending they don't. Come on admit it. The NME/Radio stage is interesting. Beady eye headlining. How many people will want to catch a glimpse of a washed up singer from some 90's band? Lots probably. The hype magnet The Vaccines are bound to attract a crowd of V-neck wearing cider sippers. They will be on the main stage next year. I'd bet my house on it.

Saturday, interesting. It could have potentially be the best day of the festival. The order is all wrong. Jimmy Eat World and The National should be swapped with festival favorites Pigeon Detectives and Seasick Steve. Jane's addiction to headline the NME/Radio 1 stage was a great choice. Without Red Hot Chili Dave Navarro though, what is the point? The Strokes headlining is a superb choice. Although a victim of massive hype, they haven't felt they needed to change their style and carried on making great music. With the quality new material to play. Strokes will be the centerpiece of the festival.

Sunday is the climax. I don't need to say anything about MUSE or Elbow, their records speak for themselves. Interpol though, without Carlos Dengler, will not as interesting to watch but I'm sure it would make too much of a difference. I'm pleased to see Enter Shikari back on the main stage. May I draw your memory back to 2009. If you don't know what I'm on about. Youtube it. 1 word - carnage! A welcome return of Death from above and Frank Turner is bound to excite many. While, whatever your view of them, it is the streets last festival. They will split up later in the year. So go and see them. No moaning.

In short, its a good line up if you look closely but the decision to not pick bands who are headlining other festivals will be criticised by plenty.

Song: White Lies - Bigger Than Us

White Lies: Melancholy. Emotive. Dark. Evolving?
We have seen with most of the post punk revival bands (Editors and Interpol for example) that like the originators Joy Division after the death of Ian Curtis, they have opted for the New Order electro sound. However, White Lies have always incorporated synths into their music so what's different about them now? It's far more noticeable and industrial a la Kraftwerk. The bass isn't as clean as on 'To Lose My Life'. Nothing much as changed though, for this song anyway. Time will tell what real direction they have gone and whether they are brave enough to change their sound significantly. It has a bold introduction that just shout 80's at you, interrupted nearly immediately by the singers eerie voice - "You took the tunnel route home, you've never taken that way with me before".

The video is a mock of E.T, although it seems a bit tongue in cheek, especially when the basketballs are flying around the band as they look at the camera in a disinterested manner. Also, E.T probably for legal reasons has been replaced by uh... a girl in a chocolate bar. This is a good song and hopefully a taste into what should be a very interesting sophomore album.'Ritual' has been completed and is set for release in 17th January 2011.

Coming Soon

Coming Soon:
An interview with Rou Reynolds of Enter Shikari!
And, A video interview with a young talented drummer - Simon Parrat, on the challenges of performing live music and the trials and tribulations of being in a band.

Exclusive Interview: Attack!Attack!

For starters, your called Attack!Attack! (2 exclamation marks). Fans, Spotify and new music scouts must surely get you confused with Attack Attack! (1 exclamation mark). Do people ever turn up to your gigs expecting an American hardcore band?
Haha, Yeah its happened a couple of times but in general most people are able to work it out and because the music is so different its easy to tell apart

So, you've toured with Kids in glass houses, Lostprophets, Youmeatsix and just done a headline tour. Impressive! But if you could tour with any band who would it be?
I would love to play with Pearl Jam , they are my fave band and it would be a dream to share the same stage as them

You've got a new album coming out, could you tell us about it please?
Its called "the latest fashion" . The title refers to how in music it seems more important to look "cool" than to actually write good songs. As a band we always put song writing first , image isn't important to us , writing great music is. It's 11 tracks of rock classics :D

How important for the band was your single "You and Me" getting onto Guitar Hero 5?
It gave us exposure that we would never have had on a worldwide scale . We got to play our music to millions of people who would never of heard it. And all of our friends thought we were awesome too :p

Wales has turned out some amazing music. But who do you rate; past, present and future, as the best?
The best for me are lostprophets and stereophonics , both bands have written some amazing songs , but there are so many great bands from Wales , The manic street preachers , skindred , funeral for a friend plus there are loads of new bands coming through that are amazing like straight lines and tiger please for example

One of this blogs first articles was about Attack!Attack!s live performance in Blackwood Miners Institute. You've gained a local reputation for having crazy gigs, but what was the best you've played?
Our fave gig was reading festival. It blew our minds how many people showed up to watch us on the really small Radio 1 stage, it was an amazing experience

The singer of Attack!Attack! Neil Star has another band - Dopamine. A band that is reforming. Is this just for a while; a few one off gigs or are you looking to have an album out?
Dopamine never really split , they just took time out whilst Neil concentrated on A!A! Dopamine have written a new album , the first 3 songs are being released as a 3 track EP at the end of the year

Describe Attack!Attack! in less than 10 words.
Nice guys , fun to watch live , kick ass on CD

Finally, What's the funniest thing that's ever happened on tour?
We had our passports stolen in Amsterdam along with our sat nav, it wasn't really that funny at the time but trying to get to Germany using printed instructions in DUTCH was a challenge , looking back on it we laugh!

Album: Hurts - Happiness

We've had copies of all sorts of sounds from the 70's and 80's. Joy division's unique vogue has been repeated in the sounds of Interpol and The Editors. The Cure's pleasant indie sound was the inspiration of the likes of Bloc Party and such. I could go on. But what I'm getting at is - Its been done. But has it? Yes, the electro, indie and general modern rock scene has all come from the 80's. BUT 80's crossovers are few and far between. Hurts have managed to create the polished style and sound of Roxy Music, whilst venturing into new romantic lyrics and music.

They've been on the lips of any new music enthusiast and critic since early 2009. Appearing in newspapers and having interviews. Until the hype machine packed in and they disappeared until BBCs Sound of 2010 list, finishing an impressive 4th. They built up anticipation for their album that was released last week. Happiness is an album about how relationships or lack of really affect people. It doesn't dance around heartbreak with merry rhymes and sing about love like its mans greatest gift. Happiness should be called 'suicidal tendencies due to women being so cruel'.

Never mind. Because they do it incredibly! Radio has allowed the track 'Wonderful Life' to be brought into the mainstream and not so much, its superior single 'Better than love'. Which talk about sex and failing relationships from a sometimes bi-sexual stand point. Bringing these songs in a mainstream isn't a bad thing for once. Because its a very poppy sound.

The stand out songs from the album are 'Blood, tears and gold', 'Illuminated' and 'Devotion'. A song that shows the pop potential for the band, featuring Kylie Minogue, but not as you know her. She sings a heart felt verse with words that echo sadness and affairs. "I feel so ashamed. Right now you seem so far away".

The thing that fascinates me is the really clever marketing on Spotify. Simply type in A5M4 into the search bar and begin your journey into author Joe Stretch's dark (and fitting) interactive audio book, narrated by Anna Friel. Telling the story of a woman with a gun, a story that leads wherever you want in a sexually and emotionally confusing world. In the background is Hurts music. Simply Brilliant!

It's a truly unique album for the time. But I cant help think its a bit... boy band. Maybe. Excellent effort nonetheless and worthy of the awards I'm sure they will win over the next year. So buy it.

Here is a song you may not be familiar with - Blood, Tears and Gold. A video that sums them up pretty much.