It’s dark tonight. Above my head in the clear sky, there are a million stars dusted across the inky blackness. Down here on the ground, blank rolls of mud-brown hills stretch out in front of me. Somewhere close by there is water, a huge amount of it, a crushing weight of water being pulled back and forth by the gravity of the moon. I can hear the crashing sound as it flagellates the shoreline. Somewhere far below my feet, I’ve been told there is a hot, molten core of fire in the heart of this planet, but up here above the earth’s mantle a cold breeze breathes onto my face, past me, through me. My attention moves to my own breathing, the air being consumed by my ravenous lungs, and I listen to my heart as it beats the blood around my body. My eyes stare outwards, and somewhere in the space behind, my consciousness realises itself once again.

Dark skies, inky blackness, soft mud, roaring oceans, fire, nature, blood, and selfhood in the face of an unknowably vast universe - quite a palette of evoked imagery and invoked subject matter. But entry into this grand exploration is just one of the things offered up by Fuck Buttons’ astonishing debut album, Street Horrrsing.

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dEUS return this spring with a new album! Vantage Point is the Belgian’s first new material since 2005’s, rather splended, Pocket Revolution, and will be released on the 21st of April.

The album features guest vocals from Elbow’s Guy Garvey, (“who sent his vocal straight from the Massive Attack studio where he was working”) and Karin Dreijer Andersson of The Knife.

“Hi everybody, just a word from me to tell you that our record Vantage Point is finished,” so says Barman. “It was recorded in Antwerp in our brand new studio by the same name.”

The band will tour smaller venues across Europe in April and May before heading on to the Summer festivals and then a “more extensive” set of dates in the Autumn.

There’s a London live date, pencilled in for the Scala on the 16th of April.

The Hold Steady have finished their fourth album, the band have confirmed to Pitchfork.

Frontman Craig Finn explains the possible title: “There’s a song called ‘Stay Positive’ we’ve been playing live, and it was just something that’s been kind of hanging around in my head a long time. I would say it’s safe to say that’s the name of the record.”

You can hear the track over at NPR (fast forward 14:30), which has an hour long concert from the 9:30 Club in Washington DC.

Read what the Hold Steady made of our 20 Questions here. Download the bands set from Lollapalooza 2006 here.

Tift Merritt was hailed as a major new talent when her alt-country styled debut Bramble Rose emerged in 2002, even being put forward as a successor to the magisterial Emmylou Harris, as is the way with press hyperbolae. But rest assured, she does have a landmark voice that can shift through the gears from Joni Mitchell pure and ethereal to Lucinda Williams tough and gritty. Tambourine in 2005 won several country/Americana award nominations, including for a Grammy, despite stretching the customary slack definition of ‘country’ with its rock’n’soul leanings. That direction may have been influenced by producer George Drakoulias (Black Crowes, Jayhawks, Tom Petty, Maria McKee, Primal Scream) and he is back behind the desk here, though this latest offering had an elongated international gestation. At the end of her last European tour Merritt took time out to chill for a couple of months in a Paris flat with only a piano and the odd baguette for company. As might be imagined given those circumstances, the new album has more of an acoustic foundation than Tambourine, and is her “most personal record to date”, finding her more plain spoken and introspective. With a collection of songs committed to paper, Merritt relocated to the famous Laurel Canyon for recording in LA. Continue Reading

Fanfarlo has put some zest back into pop for me, the singles released in 2006/2007 shine out amongst shiny things, your back leg thumps on the floor and your tail waggles, as if they were tickling your belly, and etc when you listen to them. They are a really good guitar pop band with a predilection for horns and violins, basically. Continue Reading

Nada Surf and Rogue Wave may represent similar genres in their classing, but each represent different stages in their careers. Nada Surf have been known for some time, Rogue Wave are only just starting to surface their heads. Pretending I didn’t know this, it still stood out like a sore thumb.

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UNKLE ANNOUNCES SPECIAL GUESTS AT BRIXTON ACADEMY SHOW ON SAT 1ST MARCH:

IAN BROWN, BADLY DRAWN BOY AND LEILA MOSS

PLUS SPECIAL GUEST SUPPORT FROM

ZOOT WOMAN

plus DJs Sebastian and Mr. Flash (Ed Banger)

AND you can be there! We’ve been running a competition to get a pair of tickets for this event.

All you have to do is answer the following question:
What’s the link between UNKLE and current chart ranger Lupe Fiasco?

Email your answer, with the subject line “UNKLE Competition” to competition[@]thelineofbestfit.com

We’ve extended the competition deadline to the end of today - so be quick!

The competition has now ended! Congratulations to Matthew Butcher who’s got the tickets!

Japanese noise-masters Boris, have announced a few UK dates in April in support of their new album Smile.

Catch them at:

20 April - The Cooler - Bristol
21 April - The Ruby Lounge - Manchester
22 April - Medicine Bar - Birmingham
23 April - Scala - London

Have a look at a video taster for their new material in our main player on the front page…

It’s a pretty familiar story by now: Band Of Horses, having risen from the ashes of Carissa’s Wierd, won our hearts in 2006 with their stellar debut Everything All The Time, then promptly broke up, in a sense, when Mat Brooke left the band and the Horses moved to South Carolina. Brooke stayed behind in Seattle, formed a new band called Grand Archives, created a MySpace page and posted some demos. In the year since, the band embraced their inner grandness with a name change, signed to Sub Pop, released their demos as an EP, and beefed up from four members to five. Continue Reading

You know that band from the 90’s called Smashing Pumpkins? I do. I’ve listened to an awful lot of Smashing Pumpkins in the past. When I was 15 I listened to Mellon Collie and Siamese Dream pretty much non-stop for a year. I was fascinated by those albums. A friend gave me the viewphoria live collections VHS cassette. I can remember being spellbound by the live performances on there. I’d never seen anything quite like it. I was struck by this collection of weirdoes, the band themselves- the dysfunction, the energy, the passion. The especially weird, slightly effeminate front-man Billy Corgan seemed to personify that Alternative Rock Spirit, the youthful rage, the arrogance, the talent. The images of Billy, Jimmy, James and D’arcy on stage playing this incredible melodramatic music, building to frenzied crescendos, tearing through angry rock tracks and plunging into beautiful swirling guitar led soundscapes captured my young imagination completely. It was fucking exquisite. Musically, that band changed everything for me. They were one of the most important elements of my formative teenage music listening.

But, yeah anyway that band broke up in 2001. I still listen to the pre-2001 releases from time to time.
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The initial line-up for this year’s Supersonic Festival in Birmingham has been announced.

Battles, Harmonia, Wooden Shjips, Earth are the biggest acts to be appearing at the Custard Factory from the 11th - 13th of July.

Battles
Harmonia
Wooden Shjips
Earth
Efterklang
Noxagt
Thrones
Oxbow
Justice Yeldman
Dalek
Orthodox
Harvey Milk
Black Sun
The Owl Service
Max Tundra
Magnetaphone
Einstellung
Guapo

Tickets for the event, now in its sixth year, go on sale next month, from TicketWeb.co.uk and you can find more info on Capsule, the event organisers, here.

Photographs by Jacob Saunders.

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If your search engine sent you our way with the promise of lesbian twins, you’re in for a disappointment I’m afraid, as we are a music site. So you might want to head back to Google and have another go. As you are here though, feel free to pull your trousers up and take a look around. Good aren’t we? Why not take a look at these photos, they’re brilliant. And while we have your attention, here is a review of Tegan and Sara’s latest album, (which I guess may have sent the Doctor Who fanboys our way also, here, try this album out, your kind of music) who yes, are lesbians, and twins, and have made a rather fine record. Continue Reading

“Teenage dreams, so hard to beat“. These were the words on John Peel’s headstone, finally erected last week in the graveyard of St. Andrews Church in Great Finborough. Without doubt, the teenage dreams, tales of love, bedroom dancing and having a good time that Los Campesinos! offer up on Hold on now, Youngster would have struck a chord with Mr. Peel, no doubt reminding him of a turbocharged version of a Bearsuit or Bis.

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Nobody would raise a finger if you argued that Annie Clark is the patron saint of playfulness. Indie boys across the land have to pick up their collective jaws when the little sprite flits about on cutesy music videos. What she asserted this weekend on her trip through San Francisco that she can rip a guitar and melt hearts in quick succession. Continue Reading

With all the hype and excitement over new Brit sensation Adele Adkins it’s hard to judge her new album entirely on its own merits. Especially because of the frequently mentioned similarities between Adele and Amy Winehouse which are strikingly obvious on faster paced songs like ‘Right As Rain’. However, no one could possibly say that she is merely a Winehouse clone. Continue Reading

A culmination of 3 years touring, writing and being a band, Blood Red Shoes are ready to unleash their album. Box Of Secrets will make its debut on April 14th and is released through V2. Taking its name from the duo’s inter-band nuances. “It’s a phrase me and Steven have,” says Laura. “It means things that we can talk about with each other, but that we can’t share with anyone else. Sometimes one of us will say something, and then the other will be like, ‘There’s something for the box of secrets’… The box is getting pretty full now.”

Tracklisting:
01 Doesn’t Matter Much 3:25
02 You Bring Me Down 3:42
03 Try Harder 3:50
04 Say Something Say Anything 3:12
05 I Wish I Was Someone Better 3:48
06 Take The Weight 4:38
07 ADHD 3:17
08 This Is Not For You 4:32
09 It’s Getting Boring By The Sea 2:56
10 Forgive Nothing 3:10
11 Hope You Are Holding Up 5:12

MARCH
26 - Sugarmill, Stoke
27 - Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
28 - Barfly, Birmingham
29 - Cockpit, Leeds
31 - Lamp, Hull

APRIL
01 - Waterfront, Norwich
02 - Soundhaus, Northampton
03 - Academy, Oxford
05 - Forum, Tunbridge Wells
06 - Junction Theatre, Cambridge
07 - Komedia, Brighton
08 - Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
09 - KCLSU, London
12 - Thekla, Bristol
13 - Barfly, Liverpool
14 - Academy 3, Manchester
16 - Academy 2, Newcastle
17 - Kef, Aberdeen
18 - ABC2, Glasgow

Fighting With Wire emerged from the ever creative Northern Ireland music scene in 2003, the brainchild of guitarist Cahir O’Doherty (Jetplane Landing / Clearshot) and drummer Craig McKean (Clearshot).

An idealistic bunch, they’ve since done what rock bands are meant to do: they wrote a bunch of songs, and took to the road. The last three years has seen them play shows with the likes of Reuben, Biffy Clyro, Million Dead, Seafood, YCNI:M and Future Of The Left, racking up hundreds of miles and honing their live show in the process.

After putting out a number of limited edition DIY singles, they took a breather at the end of 2006 and finally started work on their long-awaited debut album Man Vs Monster, which is to be released on March 10th.

1. Cut The Transmission
2. Everyone Needs A Nemesis
3. All For Nothing
4. Long Distance
5. Strength In Numbers
6. Into The Ground
7. Sugar
8. Make A Fist
9. My Armoury
10. The Quiet
11. This Body Is In Danger

Catch them on their UK tour in support of the album…

April
23 London Maida Vale Studios

May
04 Aberdeen Kef (Headline)
05 Edinburgh The Ark (Headline)
06 Glasgow Barfly (Headline)
07 Manchester Ruby Lounge (Headline)
08 Sheffield Corporation (Headline)
09 Liverpool Barfly (Headline)
10 York Fibbers Barfly (Headline)
11 Birmingham Barfly (Headline)
12 Cambridge Portland Arms (Headline)
13 Cardiff Barfly (Headline)
15 Southampton Unit 22 (Headline)
16 Plymouth The Hub (Headline)
17 Yeovil Orange Box (Headline)
18 Brighton Freebutt (Headline)
19 Oxford Jericho Tavern (Headline)
20 London Barfly (Headline)

myspace.com/fightingwithwire
smalltownamerica.co.uk