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Four Year Strong sign to Pure Noise Records

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Four Year Strong Pure Noise Records

Four Year Strong have officially signed to Pure Noise Records, marking a new chapter in their career as they move on from having parted company with Universal Motown back in 2012 just prior to supporting blink-182 on their UK tour.

Four Year Strong have released four studio albums to date, the last of which was ‘In Some Way, Shape or Form‘ back in 2011, so with three years having passed this November since their last album hit the shelves this news will hopefully now mean that fans of the band will not have much longer to wait until details about the next album are released.

Malibu Shark Attack – Malibu Shark Attack Review

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Featuring Belfast’s Rocky O’Reilly and Atlanta’s Tribe One, Malibu Shark Attack are an incredibly interesting transatlantic indie-rap duo that receive help throughout this album from numerous other musicians such as MC Lars, Tim Wheeler (Ash) and Kevin Steinhauser (Math The Band). Ciara Donnelly, aka Yellowbridge, also provided vocals on the band’s recent tour of the UK and complimented the Malibu Shark Attack sound strongly, unfortunately she doesn’t appear on this album, however, and for those that are yet to see the band live you’ll just have to wait in order to discover the impressive vocal beauty that she brings to the band’s sound.

Kicking off with ‘Better off as Friends‘, this self-titled studio album gets off to a solid start as Tribe One name checks his other group The Remnant as well as Rocky O’Reilly’s former band Oppenheimer, citing fears of Malibu Shark Attack’s potential critics who may prefer their older work to their new crossover material. One thing that became instantly clear from seeing Malibu Shark Attack live was that Tribe One is a storyteller; he raps about what he knows, his lyrics have depth and there’s also a real level of emotional attachment to the music. Right from the start of the album this notion of Tribe One as a storyteller is instantly recognisable, something that continues throughout the release as he reflects upon a variety of different subjects with his lyrical content.

‘Yo into New York‘ hits hard with a powerful chorus and an impressive rapping style in the verse, ‘Doing it Wrong‘ meanwhile follows up powerfully with a message of staying true to yourself, following your dreams and sticking to your guns even when it may be perceived that you’re doing it wrong. On the surface ‘Doing it Wrong‘ is a fun song about a childhood dream of wanting to be Batman, at its core though it’s far more than that, an incredibly motivational offering of music that stands out strongly as one of the best tracks on the album.

With ‘Back to the Start‘ and ‘Internal Organs‘ Tribe One reflects upon love, loss and friendship, with a helping hand from MC Lars on ‘Back to the Start‘ as the post-punk laptop rapper adds to the track with his own experience of loss as he shows his appreciation for a friend that sadly departed far too soon. Serious or jovial, Tribe One tackles his subject matters impeccably every time, setting the scene strongly and gripping you with his lyrics as well as his impressive rap flow. Instrumentally the album is packed full of swirling synth sounds and impressive indie flavour and Tribe One’s lyrics really grab you as these two components come together and keep you coming back for more.

‘Bdmthrfckr‘ is Malibu Shark Attack’s nod to Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, complete with Tribe One’s take on how he would have handled the film. With a fast rapping style in places and plenty of synth styled goodness, ‘Bdmthrfckr‘ is a very fun song that features guitar work from Ash’s Tim Wheeler and additional vocals from Angie McCrisken. It comes at the midway point of the album and provides a fun turning point as the band go from handling several pretty serious tracks to once again providing a little light relief.

‘It Takes Time‘ and ‘Plans for the Weekend‘ follow, the latter of which coming across as a bit of a party anthem from the band that’d no doubt go down well on a night out. There’s a bit of a Black Eyed Peas feel with ‘Plans for the Weekend‘ when Ugly Duckling’s Dizzy Dustin kicks in, and Tribe One once again gets his fast rap flow on. With its 8-bit backdrop this is definitely a very fun track that certainly has a lot to appreciate about it, and with tenth track ‘No More Tears‘ the 8-bit feel is furthered as Belfast based rapper Bee Mick See also joins the party.

The eponymous ‘Malibu Shark Attack‘ is another track from the band that stood out strongly at their live show along with ‘Doing It Wrong‘ and ‘Bdmthrfckr‘, with a chorus that’s simple, effective and also gets you remembering their name. On a live circuit level the track is absolutely perfect as it ensures that you don’t go forgetting about the band, as an album track it is equally excellent though as an impressive piece of music that has fantastic instrumental flavour and a strong vocal style also. The track tells the tale of the duo coming together from separate sides of the globe to make an album together despite never having met until arriving in Leicester to begin a UK tour on May 15th; it’s a strong story of what can be accomplished in the modern age, where two artists from separate sides of the globe can create an album together as impressive as this without ever having met.

After the energy of ‘Malibu Shark Attack‘, things are toned down for penultimate track ‘Moment of Truth‘, providing a sense of the album winding down as it comes to a close. Closing track ‘Monsters Under Your Bed‘ is another slower number from the band, with the album ending on two songs that bring things to a mellow and chilled out conclusion. After the absolute energy and excitement of ‘Malibu Shark Attack‘, the final two songs on the album feel well chosen as closing numbers, with the band demonstrating their ability to hop between sounds and ultimately provide an album with a huge amount of diversity and intrigue.

Tribe One has a real talent for storytelling, seems at ease in front of a crowd as evidenced by the band’s live performance and has a strong talent for rapping about subject matters that you can tell truly mean something to him. Tribe One is not just rapping for the sake of it, every track is heartfelt and sincere and this is what makes him such an impressive front man. Malibu Shark Attack are definitely a band to check out if you haven’t already done so, and with their self-titled album available for streaming on Spotify and to purchase from Bandcamp, there really is no reason whatsoever not to at least give this album a listen. Defining themselves as post-new wave-prog-electronica-indiecore-synthpop rap, Malibu Shark Attack are a band that provide a little bit of everything, so regardless of your tastes in music it really is well worth giving this band a whirl.

Handguns now streaming new song ‘Sleep Deprived’

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Handguns - Life lessons

American pop-punk band Handguns have premiered new material in the form of ‘Sleep Deprived‘ from their upcoming album ‘Life Lessons‘ which is officially due for release via Pure Noise Records on July 7th.

‘Life Lessons‘ was recorded in Baltimore at Valencia Recording Studio this past winter, produced and engineered by Paul Leavitt (All Time Low, The Dangerous Summer) with added vocal production from All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth.

You can take a listen to ‘Sleep Deprived‘ below:

Alvvays sign to Transgressive Records

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Alvvays

Canadian fuzz-pop quintet Alvvays have officially signed to Transgressive Records and will release their self-titled début album via the label on July 21st.

With the likes of The Mystery Jets, Bloc Party and Iron And Wine amongst their alumni, Transgressive Records seems like a strong label for Alvvays to make their début with and sees the band signed to the current home of such top acts as At The Drive-In, Foals and Theme Park.

‘Alvvays‘ will be available July 21st on CD, LP and digital via Transgressive Records in the UK, and July 22nd via Polyvinyl in the US.

Ted Zed – Souls Video

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Official video for Ted Zed’s ‘Souls‘, the second track taken from the ‘Alien Monday‘ EP which was officially released on April 28th 2014. ‘Alien Monday‘ was the first track lifted from the EP, a track picked out for remix by electronic producer Mac Stanton, and with a video that was chosen by Daft Punk, Calvin Harris and Avicii for their VEVO playlists.

Camden Rocks Festival stage times announced

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Camden Rocks Festival

Camden Rocks Festival is due to take place on May 31st, with over two-hundred bands performing across twenty different venues across Camden Town throughout the day.

Stages and schedules have now been confirmed for all of the bands performing on the day and there have also been numerous further bands and artists confirmed for the festival including Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, Whales In Cubicles and Slaves.

The full schedule for Camden Rocks Festival is as follows:

Electric Ballroom 21:15 The Subways
Electric Ballroom 20:00 Dinosaur Pile up
Electric Ballroom 18:45 Turbowolf
Electric Ballroom 17:30 Sonic Boom Six
Electric Ballroom 16:30 Blitz Kids
Electric Ballroom 15:30 Eureka Machines
Electric Ballroom 14:30 Protafield
Electric Ballroom 13:30 The Peckham Cowboys
Electric Ballroom 12:30 New Device

Underworld 21:30 Hacktivist
Underworld 20:30 Fearless Vampire Killers
Underworld 19:00 The Blackout
Underworld 18:00 The Howling
Underworld 17:00 Devil Sold His Soul
Underworld 16:00 Hounds
Underworld 15:00 Boy Jumps Ship
Underworld 14:00 Verses
Underworld 13:00 Sondura

Underworld 00:30 -03:00 Afterparty + The Virginmarys

Proud 21:15 Reverend and the Makers
Proud 20:15 Petebox
Proud 19:00 Exit Calm
Proud 18:00 Trampolene
Proud 17:00 The Struts
Proud 16:00 Goldray
Proud 15:00 Panic the Vulture
Proud 14:00 Tankus the Henge
Proud 13:00 Shiva and the Hazzards
Proud 12:00 Duchess

Jazz Café 21:30 Johnny Borrell and Zazou
Jazz Café 20:30 The Graveltones
Jazz Café 19:00 Ginger Wildheart
Jazz Café 18:00 The Xcerts
Jazz Café 17:00 Paul Hegley Band
Jazz Café 16:00 The Petals
Jazz Café 15:00 Strangefruit
Jazz Café 14:00 4th Street Traffic
Jazz Café 13:00 Saint Agnes
Jazz Café 12:00 The RPM’s

Barfly 21:30 Orange Goblin
Barfly 20:30 Hang the bastard
Barfly 19:15 TBA
Barfly 18:15 Max Raptor
Barfly 17:00 Gnarwolves
Barfly 16:00 Toseland
Barfly 15:00 Straight Lines
Barfly 14:00 The Ratells
Barfly 13:00 Dead Harts
Barfly 12:00 Ugly Love

Dingwalls main 22:15 The Virginmarys
Dingwalls main 21:00 Nine Black Alps
Dingwalls main 20:00 Acoustic TV (Terrorvision)
Dingwalls main 19:00 Whales in Cubicles
Dingwalls main 18:00 TBA
Dingwalls main 17:00 Longy
Dingwalls main 16:00 Bleech
Dingwalls main 15:00 Knights
Dingwalls main 14:00 Hero Fisher
Dingwalls main 13:00 Tax the Heat
Dingwalls main 12:00 Walk The Night

Purple Turtle 22:00 Messanger
Purple Turtle 21:00 Deadly Circus Fire
Purple Turtle 20:00 Generation Graveyard
Purple Turtle 19:00 palm reader
Purple Turtle 18:00 to the bones
Purple Turtle 17:00 Empire
Purple Turtle 16:00 Exit International
Purple Turtle 15:00 Flood Of Red
Purple Turtle 14:00 The Wild Lies
Purple Turtle 13:00 Romance
Purple Turtle 12:00 Eat The Evidence

Black Heart 22:00 God Damn
Black Heart 21:00 The Hell
Black Heart 20:00 LTNT
Black Heart 19:00 The Dogbones
Black Heart 18:00 Apologies, I Have None
Black Heart 17:00 Crazy Arm
Black Heart 16:00 Crystal Seagulls
Black Heart 15:00 Sons of Icarus
Black Heart 14:00 Shattered Skies
Black Heart 13:00 Menshevik
Black Heart 12:00 Death Koolaid

Hawley Arms 22:00 Slaves
Hawley Arms 21:00 Burning Beaches
Hawley Arms 20:00 Storms
Hawley Arms 19:00 Turbogeist
Hawley Arms 18:00 Deadcuts
Hawley Arms 17:00 Dirty Harrys
Hawley Arms 16:00 Silver Arm
Hawley Arms 15:00 Young Aviators
Hawley Arms 14:00 Arms
Hawley Arms 13:00 Dead Eye Mariners
Hawley Arms 12:00 Weatherbird

Monarch 22:00 Baby Godzilla
Monarch 21:00 Beasts
Monarch 20:00 Plastic Baricades
Monarch 19:00 Bleach Blood
Monarch 18:00 Black Dogs
Monarch 17:00 The Hype Theory
Monarch 16:00 Cytota
Monarch 15:00 Dolomite Minor
Monarch 14:00 Damn Dice
Monarch 13:00 The Broken Chords
Monarch 12:00 Charlie and the Band of Demons

Good Mixer 22:00 The Vex
Good Mixer 21:00 Under The Influence
Good Mixer 20:00 Raglans
Good Mixer 19:00 The Talks
Good Mixer 18:00 The One Hundred
Good Mixer 17:00 My Little Empire
Good Mixer 16:00 The St Pierre Snake Invasion
Good Mixer 15:00 Riskee And The Ridicule
Good Mixer 14:00 The Derellas
Good Mixer 13:00 The Cramatics
Good Mixer 12:00 Fur Cough

Enterprise 23:00 Electric River
Enterprise 22:00 Colt 45
Enterprise 21:00 Calling All Cars
Enterprise 20:00 Dead
Enterprise 19:00 Kenelis
Enterprise 18:00 New Desert blues
Enterprise 17:00 West of the Sun
Enterprise 16:00 LIFE
Enterprise 15:00 Blast Until Moscow
Enterprise 14:00 Avosetta
Enterprise 13:00 Mia Klose
Enterprise 12:00 Attention Thieves

The Cuban 22:00 Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly
The Cuban 21:00 Cypher 16
The Cuban 20:00 The Carnabys
The Cuban 19:00 AudioWhores
The Cuban 18:00 Richa
The Cuban 17:00 Aerial Light
The Cuban 16:00 Shoulders of Giants
The Cuban 15:00 Shooting Suns
The Cuban 14:00 Gang of Gypsies
The Cuban 13:00 Remote View
The Cuban 12:00 David Pear

Beatrice 03:00 Mixhell
Beatrice 02:00 Little Barrie
Beatrice 01:00 Money For Rope
Beatrice 00:00 Rubylux
Beatrice 23:00 Flagship
Beatrice 22:00 Dead Sea Skulls
Beatrice 21:00 A Plastic Rose
Beatrice 20:00 Broken Hands
Beatrice 19:00 I Am In Love
Beatrice 18:00 IC1’S
Beatrice 17:00 The Din
Beatrice 16:00 Love Zombies
Beatrice 15:00 Dumbjaw
Beatrice 14:00 Voodoo Vegas
Beatrice 13:00 Chasing Cadence
Beatrice 12:00 Get Inuit

The Forge 16:30 The Virginmarys
The Forge 15:30 Fearless Vampire Killers
The Forge 14:30 Blitz Kids
The Forge 13:30 Longy
The Forge 12:30 Sean Grant & The Wolfgang

The Black Cap 22:00 Wounds
The Black Cap 21:00 Zoax
The Black Cap 20:00 The Mercy House
The Black Cap 19:00 Drones
The Black Cap 18:00 Mitsubishis
The Black Cap 17:00 Legend In Japan
The Black Cap 16:00 Nevermind
The Black Cap 15:00 Tropical Contact
The Black Cap 14:00 Stereo Juggernaught
The Black Cap 13:00 Mr Shiraz
The Black Cap 12:00 Gem Stone & The Mil Men

Dingwalls Canal side 22:00 Mavis
Dingwalls Canal side 21:00 Vuvuvultures
Dingwalls Canal side 20:00 The Dash
Dingwalls Canal side 19:00 Paris Pickpockets
Dingwalls Canal side 18:00 The Dirty Truth
Dingwalls Canal side 17:00 The Parade
Dingwalls Canal side 16:00 The Front
Dingwalls Canal side 15:00 Kerri Watt
Dingwalls Canal side 14:00 ITAMAR
Dingwalls Canal side 13:00 Los Pepes
Dingwalls Canal side 12:00 Healthy Junkies

Camden Head 22:30 Verse Chorus Verse
Camden Head 21:30 Rob Jones (Missing Andy)
Camden Head 20:30 Oxygen Thief
Camden Head 19:30 The Show
Camden Head 18:30 Jonny Walker
Camden Head 17:30 Star Scream
Camden Head 16:30 Sam Forrest (Nine Black Alps)
Camden Head 15:30 Joe Fox
Camden Head 14:30 Sample Answer
Camden Head 13:30 Riskee & The Ridicule

Brewdog 23:30 Crazy Arm
Brewdog 22:30 The Honey Ants
Brewdog 21:30 Adam French
Brewdog 20:30 The Undivided
Brewdog 19:30 Colt 45
Brewdog 18:30 Sam Duckworth (Get cape. Wear cape. Fly)
Brewdog 17:30 Matty James
Brewdog 16:30 Shea
Brewdog 15:30 Jamie Kimmett
Brewdog 14:30 Chris Catalyst (Eureka Machines)
Brewdog 13:30 Milk n Kinski

Man Overboard – Wide Awake Video

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Official video for Man Overboard’s ‘Wide Awake‘, taken from the band’s ‘Heart Attack‘ studio album which is out now via Rise Records. The video has been directed by Max Moore.

Of Mice & Men – Would You Still Be There Video

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Official video for the Of Mice & Men single ‘Would You Still Be There‘, taken from the band’s ‘Restoring Force‘ studio album which is out now via Rise Records. The video for ‘Would You Still Be There‘ has been directed by Nathan Cox for Renaissance Man Productions.