Mother Mother – O My Heart Video

The official video for Mother Mother’s ‘O My Heart‘, due for release through Last Gang Records on June 21st 2010. ‘O My Heart‘ is taken from Mother Mother’s second studio album of the same name.

Owl City @ Shepherds Bush Empire, Sunday 9th May 2010

With new single ‘Umbrella Beach’ due for release here in the UK on May 17th, Owl City launched into this one first at the Shepherds Bush Empire, before then following it up with another track from the ‘Ocean Eyes’ studio album, ‘The Bird and the Worm’. It took a while for Adam Young to warm up the London crowd once taking to the stage, right from the word go his energy and passion for performing was highly apparent however and this was an excellent thing to see as he danced around the stage to his music.

With a guitarist, drummer, glockenspiel player, double bassist, violinist, and keyboardist all on this stage this therefore gave plenty of potential for an extremely full live sound, unfortunately however the levels weren’t perfect and this therefore meant that some of the instruments were unfortunately drowned out a little in the mix. Whilst there was a very crisp drum sound and the guitar and keyboards came through clearly, the glockenspiel in particular was quite hard to make out at times, and although the player very much looked to be enjoying himself; it would have been nice if his playing had been a little more audible. In addition to the inconsistent sound levels, more could also have been made of the lighting throughout the set; there was very minimal use of the lighting available at the Shepherds Bush Empire, and for the type of music that Owl City plays, a solid lighting show could definitely have been of benefit and increased the overall impact of the music.

With tracks played from 2007s ‘Of June’ EP as well as material from the albums ‘Maybe I’m Dreaming’ and ‘Ocean Eyes’, there was therefore a good mix of material both old and new, giving fans a chance to hear Owl City’s earlier sound as well as the more recent hits. The set seemed to fit together well, with the only real strange decision being that ‘Hello Seattle’ was played in the encore, with ‘Fireflies’ having been played about two thirds of the way through the set. ‘Hello Seattle’ has recently been released in the US and to a US crowd this therefore would have been a pretty reasonable choice of encore, as ‘Fireflies’ is currently the only single to have been released in the UK however, to have played ‘Fireflies’ as the final track would definitely have been a greater option. A nice touch could perhaps have been to play ‘Fireflies’ for a second time as this no doubt would have gone down a storm with the sold out London crowd.

The sound levels could have been improved and the crowd interaction could have been stronger, despite this however Owl City was still able to put on a pretty solid show in the sold out Shepherds Bush Empire and there were certain areas of the crowd that really did appear to be feeling the music. All in all it was a solid display of inoffensive electronic pop music, and even though there was room for improvement; there were a number of positives to be taken from the performance and the energy that was displayed on stage by a number of the performers.

Rating:

Social Distortion Signs to Epitaph Records

American punk rock band Social Distortion has officially signed to Epitaph Records, with a plan to release a new album through the label this Autumn.

The band entered the studio back in March to begin work on its seventh studio album, and with a deal now confirmed with Epitaph, Social Distortion can now seriously start to think about getting the album out there. Vocalist/guitarist Mike Ness will be in charge of production duties for work on the new album.

‘Sex, Love and Rock ‘n’ Roll‘ was Social Distortion’s last studio album, released through Time Bomb Recordings back in 2004.

Jaguar Love ‘Polaroids and Red Wine’ Remix Competition

Over at TracksAndFields.com there is currently a competition running, looking for the best Jaguar Love ‘Polaroids and Red Wine‘ remix possible. The winning remix will be considered for digital release, so if you feel that you have a strong ear for remixes then this could be an absolutely fantastic opportunity for you to show off your skills and potentially get your remix out there to the masses.

You’ve got until June 10th to get your remix sorted, so with a whole month to spend on it you’ve therefore got plenty of time to perfect that mix and make sure that it’s the very best you can possibly offer.

Exact details of the competition are as follows:

Contest Rules:

1. You can either download stems and remix using your own software or work online with the Tracks & Fields sequencer….the choice is yours! And don’t forget you can form discussion groups with your fellow remixers to share inspiration, tech talk or anything else!

2. Publish your remix here. You are not allowed to publish/post your remix or the stems from this contest on any other site – you may only use Tracks& Fields widgets for this purpose. Any user found to be doing so will be disqualified from this contest.

3. Do not infringe anyone’s copyright: only use your own or royalty free/creative commons licensed material! Fat Possum / Jaguar Love remain the sole copyright owner of the song ‘Polaroids and Red Wine’ and all audio stems from this contest.

4. Jaguar Love/Fat Possum will choose the best remix – the entrant with the most votes will not necessarily win this contest.

PRIZE:
CONSIDERATION FOR DIGITAL RELEASE!

Deadline:
10.06.2010

The Candle Thieves Sunshine And Other Misfortunes Tour

Peterborough’s The Candle Thieves will be hitting the road on May 22nd for a twelve date tour of the country, taking in venues such as Brighton’s Pav Tav and Nottingham’s Spanky Van Dykes.

The tour will begin with a co-headlining show at Hastings’ Brass Monkey venue along with Stars & Sons, and the band will then progress to complete a further eleven tour dates.

The tour is in support of the band’s recently release ‘Sunshine and Other Misfortunes‘ debut album, and with the band sure to put on a powerful string of shows this is most definitely not a tour to be missed.

The following is a list of the twelve tour dates that The Candle Thieves is all set to play between May 22nd and June 2nd:

22/05/10 Hastings – Brass Monkey
23/05/10 Brighton – Pav Tav
24/05/10 Northampton – Labour Club
25/05/10 Southampton – Joiners
26/05/10 Colchester – Twist
27/05/10 Sheffield – Bungalow and Bears
28/05/10 Leeds – Cockpit
30/05/10 Nottingham – Spanky Van Dykes
31/05/10 Peterborough – Met Lounge
01/06/10 London – Water Rats
02/06/10 Bristol – Mothers Ruin

The Gaslight Anthem Studio Video

A video from the studio as The Gaslight Anthem talks about recording the ‘American Slang‘ studio album, due for release through SideOneDummy Records on June 14th.

The album is available to pre-order from HMV right now, with a very respectable £14.99 price tag which includes a t-shirt and badges as a part of the deluxe edition. ‘American Slang‘ is the band’s third studio album to date, and is the follow-up to 2008s ‘The ’59 Sound‘, also released through SideOneDummy Records.

Harrys Gym May 2010 Tour Dates

Norwegian Rock/Pop group Harrys Gym is hitting the UK next week, and can be seen at a number of different venues throughout the country.

Three of the band’s six dates are to be played in London, in addition to this however Harrys Gym can also be caught in Tunbridge Wells, Birmingham, and York.

The band is all set to officially release its self-titled debut album here in the UK on May 10th, and this short tour will then follow as the band looks to get its music out there to a UK crowd.

Here is a list of the six tour dates that Harrys Gym has planned between May 11th and 18th:

11 May – White Heat @ Madam JoJos London
12 May – Lumanaire w/Warpaint London
13 May – Forum w/Warpaint Turnbridge Wells
16 May – Stereo York
17 May – Hare & Hounds Birmingham
18 May – Flowerpot London

Cancer Bats and Bring Me The Horizon September 2010 Tour Dates

Having not long finished a tour of the UK, Canadian hardcore punk band Cancer Bats already has plans to return as they have nine tour dates arranged for September with Bring Me The Horizon.

The band is actually back again in June to play Download, this will be Cancer Bats’ next proper tour of the UK however and is all set to begin in Oxford on September 21st.

Bring Me The Horizon will be hitting the Warped Tour between June and August, they’ll be back for September however and the shows involving these two bands will no doubt be absolutely packed full of energy.

Cancer Bats released third studio album ‘Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones‘ earlier this year, Bring Me The Horizon meanwhile will release its own third studio release later on this year in August.

Although there’s no London date scheduled for the shows involving both Bring Me The Horizon and Cancer Bats (with additional support from Tek-One), Bring Me The Horizon will be playing at London’s Relentless Garage on October 1st.

The following are the Bring Me The Horizon/Cancer Bats tour dates currently scheduled for September:

9/21 – OXFORD Academy 2
9/22 – NORWICH Waterfront
9/23 – BIRMINGHAM Academy 2
9/24 – GLASGOW Garage
9/25 – LEEDS Cockpit
9/27 – MANCHESTER Club Academy
9/28 – COLCHESTER Arts Centre
9/29 – BRIGHTON Concorde 2
9/30 – EXETER Lemon Grove

Owl City – Umbrella Beach Video

Owl City’s ‘Umbrella Beach‘ is due for release through Island Records on May 17th, and this is the promotional video that has been recorded for the single, directed by Alexander Brown for Davey Inc.

Alexander Brown has been able to put together an extremely impressive video for the single, showing a young boy achieve his dreams as he creates from scratch his very own flying machine. The video serves as an absolutely fantastic backdrop as we’re treated to the fine vocal talent of Adam Young in another extremely impressive piece of music from Owl City.

‘Umbrella Beach‘ is the follow-up to the smash hit number one single ‘Fireflies‘, and is the second single to be lifted from Owl City’s hugely impressive ‘Ocean Eyes‘ studio album, released through Universal in February 2010.

Morcheeba Reunite with Skye to Release New Single and Album

British band Morcheeba has reunited with lead singer Skye Edwards, and will release brand new album ‘Blood Like Lemonade’ through PIAS Records on June 7th.

Leading up to the release of the album, Morcheeba is also to release a new single, ‘Even Though’, and that will be available for download from May 24th.

‘Blood Like Lemonade’ is Morcheeba’s seventh studio album to date, and band member Paul Godfrey has had the following to say about the use of lyrics on the album:

The lines about “the hidden dangers” and being “cast adrift in space” reflect worries about humanity. That was inspired by reading interviews with astronauts – they’d get into space and look back at the world, and couldn’t understand why people were still fighting with each other, and why we were destroying our own planet, that was so beautiful from a distance. The heavy breathing sound is an astronaut breathing in his helmet. He doesn’t have long to live, and at the end his breathing stops. He’s basically just trying to send a message that we should all get along.

As well as having a brand new album set for release soon, Morcheeba will also be touring throughout June/July, and you’ll be able to catch the band at the following venues and events:

June
17 B1 Maximum Club, Moscow
18 Stereoleto Festival, St Petersburg
20 Parklive Festival, Bulgaria

July
8 Les Ardentes Festival, Liege
9 Festival Bete de Scene, Mulhouse
10 Festival Terres de Son, Tours
17 Festival Aux Zarbes, Auxerre
18 Den Atelier, Luxembourg
19 Paradiso, Amsterdam
24 Blue Balls Festival, Luzern
30 Hollywood Bowl, LA
31 Hollywood Bowl, LA

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