Empty White Circles - Adventures - First Listen

Today I have a little treat for you all. Oxford-based Indie/Folk collective Empty White Circles have recently made their first single available on-line and this post will be covering it because it's exactly the kind of thing we like. This site is always on the lookout for quality, new, interesting music crafted with emotion, and this fits the bill perfectly. The band only formed a matter of weeks ago and already have this delightful journey of a track out in the open. The acoustic guitar tip-toeing over a ghostly, shimmering sound scape subtly introduce vocalist Kevin Duggan's vocals and forms the foundations for him to deliver a sincere, moving message. Adventures was originally written in 2009 about getting out of town...

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RHCP, GUNS 'N' ROSES AMONGST HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

Guns 'n' Roses, The Beastie Boys and Red Hot Chili Peppers (amongst others) were all inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this weekend, but the build up to the big event did not come without controversy. The high profile inductees were all without a key member for the ceremony, each choosing not to attend for their own reasons. This week G'n'R's infamous frontman Axl Rose wrote an open letter to the hall of fame: "I strongly request that I not be inducted in absentia and please know that no one is authorized nor may anyone be permitted to accept any induction for me." Axl Rose has always been a difficult individual with a rocky relationship with both colleagues and fans, but it would seem he wasn't missed. The first mention of his...

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NEW ARTISTS - Things to come

I was contacted today by a local artist who are this week releasing their debut single. Empty White Circles, who have been involved gigging in the Oxford are and have recently been billed on a BBC-Introducing covered event will have their single covered in a review short...

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THE MARS VOLTA - NOCTOURNIQUET - MY TAKE

The 2012 radio and record industry in general happens to be bumper to bumper with countless songs that convey the same message, in the same manner, with the same style of sound. A lot of us these days are left wondering exactly where the 'creative' part of being an artist actually lies. Maybe it's in the album artwork. So, what do we need? A game changer. Who's going to change the game? The Mars Volta, that's who. The duo of Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez have always been ones to try and do something different. Long gone are the days of At The Drive-In. The post-hardcore outfit that imploded (personnel wise) just before they were to due to explode in terms of popularity. At least so we thought until the group announced...

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The Strokes Begin Work On Album #5

After headlining several summer festivals this year, many hints were dropped by various members of the Strokes that a 5th album is on the agenda. With 5 year break between First Impressions of Earth and Angles, it would appear that the follow up will arrive in a much shorter amount of time. Bassist Nikolai Fraiture tweeted Number 5 is alive! (No disassemble) The Angles sessions were somewhat troubled; the band didn't seem to be recording as a unit but as 5 seperate parts being pieced together. Vocalist Julian Casablancas often recorded his vocals separately and kept his distance from the other members, supposedly to encourage them to bring more to the table. (Casablancas has sole writer's credit on almost every Strokes song before Angles)The 4th album really divided fans, with some...

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Gorillaz to collaborate for new Converse ad

You may or may not remember the converse celebration advert starring Pharell Williams, Santogold and Julian Casablancas. The three artists basically collaborated and came up with a tune fitting of the Converse image for their Centennial .The Times called it "a three-headed Frankenstein monster of coolness". You can find the 2 and a half minute video for the song here. Now we are fast approaching the next instalment of Converse's '3 artists, 1 song' campaign. This time Gorillaz lead the way, with Andre3000 and LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy eventually being announced as the collaborators after much speculation. 'Do Ya Thang' will be released on February 23 internationally. It sounds like a delicious combination, but this could go either way. Every one of them have been, at least once,...

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The Mars Volta - The Malkin Jewel - First Listen

As previously covered, The Mars Volta will release a new album on March 27. They have now unveiled the lead single from the album: The Malkin Jewel. If you're an old fan of the band you'll probably enjoy it. Very, very interesting modern take on rock. Let us know what you think, I'm already getting quite into it on my second listen. I Can't wait for the album release n...

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UPCOMING POST:

Good evening. To fill in the gaps, I'm at university studying Audio. Over the last few weeks the course has intensified greatly, with many deadlines and exams coming up one after another. I never saw myself taking the education route after how much I hated school, but after some dead end jobs I saved the money to go to a high level private institute.  It was completely worth it, meeting new people and pushing myself to perform has been a game changer for me. After the next couple of deadlines I should be back to normal with album reviews. Pea...

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YOUTH LAGOON - THE YEAR OF HIBERNATION - MY TAKE

Hey everyone, hope you're managing to wade through this tough month. I suspect I'm not the only one taking a financial and psychological kicking. Anyway, let's talk about music. There has been a resurgence in lo-fi style 'bedroom' pop over the last couple of years and today from that genre, I'm going to talk about my favourite album of the 2011 calendar year. Youth Lagoon is the stage name of a rather talented American musician called Trevor Powers. The Year Of Hibernation gives us an insight into his life, in a stripped to the core, emotional journey. In early 2011 fans were granted an early insight to The Year Of Hibernation with the track 'July'. It generated quite a buzz, with praise even being received from the much loved (and...

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TMV Announce Return

El Paso prog-rockers The Mars Volta have announced their anticipated follow up to 2009's The Octahedron. The news comes just days after At The Drive-In confirmed they would reform after a 12 year absence. A cryptic tweet stated 'This station is now operational'. This is of course relevant due to the 2 groups sharing lead guitarist Omar Rodriguez Lopez, and lead vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala. TMV was born from the ATDI split, with 2 halves forming 2 different bands. Sparta being the other, overall less successful of the two. So here's the cover for Noctourniquet which will debut worldwide on March 27. The album is said to tell the story of a character inspired by Superman villain Solomon Grundy and the Greek myth of Hyacinthus. Well,...

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Coachella 2012 Lineup Announced

Yesterday was a big day for this year's music. After much speculation, (which is pretty much guaranteed every year) , Coachella have announced their first double weekend lineup for this year's festival in Indio. The two weekend long shows will be in April. First weekend from 13th to 15th, and the second a week later from the 20th to 22nd. Here's the full poster: Senstaionally, At The Drive-In make a return after splitting up 11 years ago. No new material is expected, but some kind of tour defnitely is. Stay tun...

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This Year's Best Prospects

Hello and happy new year everyone! 2012 is looking like a major year for music. To be honest I felt the majority of mainstream releases last year were a little lacklustre. Everyone went mad on Adele around March, Foo Fighters and The Strokes put out something a little different, Coldplay stuck to their guns. I was personally disappointed by RHCP's latest effort, I'm not quite sure if they ever will reach the Blood Sugar / Stadium Arcadium heights. This year we can expect studio album number 4 from The Killers, who are apparently moving back to the more guitar led sounds of Hot Fuss and Sam's Town, after the rather mellow, electro-tinted Day & Age. I think that sounds like a good move for them. They have been incredible since...

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