Two Skies

Ralph has had his eyes on Sheffield band Two Skies for a little while now having previously played the deliciously heavy Stay on his Radio KC Indie Show. 

So it was with great interest that he heard that they were realeasing Feel as a single on May 11th.

It's a pleasingly psychadelic offering, evoking memories of early Pink Floyd or pre - Hawkwind the Hawklords.

Gaining critical acclaim including Q Magazine saying - "They deal in bass-heavy, freak out friendly reveries" and Tom Robinson no less was heard to say - "Soaring vocal and big drums".

Comprised of Dan Cutts on Vocals and Guitar, Jamie Cheetham on Bass and Oliver Harrap on Drums Two Skies are a powerful live band that are creating solid, eminently listenable indie psych music that will appeal to fans of many different genres.

To quote the band - "Two Skies were driven together by a mutual love of ethereal noises and powerful trippy grooves".

My best advice would be catch Two Skies live in Carsons Bar in Middleton on May 21st as their powerful psychedelic guitar infused live sets are becoming legendary and with strong new tracks like Feel and the flip side Broken Hearts to add to their armoury of haunting anthems, it'll be a night to remember.

Other Live Dates are...

MAY

21 - Carsons Bar, Middleton

30 - Opium 10, Barnsley...with Blossoms

JULY

03 - Kraak, Manchester... with Dom Keller

24 - Tramlines festival, Sheffield

25 - Karma, Leeds

Snippet aka Johnno Casson

Snippet aka Johnno Casson is the quintessential English musician.  Prolific, diverse, entertaining, clever, wistful and whimsical (no more so on his recently released mini-album 'DIY' and the track 'Let's Talk About Us' on which he comments on his winkle - and he isn't introducing us to his pet mollusc Brian).  It's a track Ralph's had on constant replay ever since he featured it on his Radio KC Sunday Show a couple of weeks back, and which received much favourable feedback.

A Londoner now based in Colchester, Johnno is also known to many as the establish artist Snippet, a funky folky, wonky pop multi instrumentalist, who has delivered an extremely well received range of vibrant releases in the last few years in the shape of four well received EP's and a debut album ‘Slowly Slowly Catchee Monkey’.  In the process he became most played artist in the history of BBC Introducing and was described by Q Magazine as - “reminiscent of early Beck."

It's a 12 track album and Johhno proves that he's all things to all listeners bringing you everything from funk (Let's Talk About Us) to electro (Come To My Party) and all in his own inimitable stylee.  There's a quirky little 22 second insert 'There's A Bear' between the two tracks that gives you an insight into the humour of the man.

Next track 'Absolutely Love' gives us a more laid back disco/funk feel and it's followed by another 20 second piece of quirky humor 'Hello Hello'.  This is followed by some of the aforementioned wistfulness with 'Gone To Ground' with it's shades of Bowie.

45 seconds of electronic quirk 'Memory Bot' lead us into 'Much To Much' which kicks in with a funky world music thrum overlaid with deft keyboards and laid back vocals.  It's an addictive track and one for the headphones on chilling in the garden.

'Absolutely Funk' is just that, a minute of funky instrumental, quickly followed by the almost Brit Pop-esque 'Celebration' (the next single maybe).  The album is rounded off with a short, subtle reprise of 'Let's Talk About Us' - lovely!

If you haven't already been introduced to his inimitable stylings then this is the perfect lead in...go and seek out his back catalogue or even better check him out live...I think you'll find he's one of the nicest blokes you'll ever meet...

Johnno is also a writer/team member of the Fresh On The Net Online Music Blog

21st SEPTEMBER- FOLKSTOCK FESTIVAL,HERTFORDSHIRE

Black Swans

What do you get when you put in five years hard graft to learn your craft and believe in what you're doing - the debut album 'The Life We Chose' by Liverpool band Black Swans of course.  It's recently been released along with the latest single 'Be There' to critical acclaim and looks like becoming one of the best 'breakthrough' albums of 2013.
'Really really good' NME - 'Epic' Q magazine - 'Effortlessly cool' GQ magazine (UK)

 
 "Over the years we've realised many things," says singer Jamie Wright. "For example: you never write a song for the sake of writing a song. It has to mean something, to say something, to communicate. And never underestimate the importance of melody. You can't be self-indulgent. You've got to be streamlined, you've got to capture the attention immediately."






Black Swans are  certainly managing to capture the attention as the single 'Be There' has already been included on a new compilation album by LA label Alexis Records and is garnering worldwide airplay on over 3,000 stations!  Their sound is very much destined for the big stages and, in the same vein as Scotland's Vigo Thieves they're producing modern day anthems.



Jamie Wright and Adrian Crane, 29 and 32 respectively, have known each other since schooldays. Growing up together on the Wirral, they came together out of a common love of the same music.

"We came of age during Britpop," says Jamie. "Oasis, Blur, Suede, and, before them, Stone Roses."

But their respective musical educations began much earlier than that. Ade was a classically trained pianist, Grade Eight and concert hall-bound, before, as so many teenagers do, ultimately gravitating towards the guitar, convinced it was the more exciting instrument. Having mastered the piano, he decided he'd be able to teach himself the guitar without the benefit of lessons. 

They played in various bands throughout their school years, but by the time Jamie left university, he fell into a full time occupation, while Ade landed work as a studio engineer.   In 2006, Jamie gave into the obvious, aware that he was never destined for a desk job. 



He ditched the office environment, and formed a band with Ade instead.  His sister had recently invested in a bar in Liverpool, and was looking for an act to grace its small stage. Her husband and brother realised that this was the perfect opportunity to try out some of their songs.  



Quickly gaining a local reputation, they found a bassist and drummer, and their first band, Hudson Fall, was born.  A straightforward rock and pop outfit, Hudson Fall fly-posted their many live shows right across Liverpool and the north-west for the next four years, recording a couple of EPs and an album along the way.

"We got a lot of advice from a lot of people over those years, but much of it turned out to be bad, or else not quite right for us," Jamie says now. "But it was a useful experience, and we learned a lot from it."

"The record industry has changed,"  - Jamie says -  "You don't necessarily get anywhere by playing live tirelessly and endlessly. You do so by playing the right shows, by choosing wisely, and by building up a following online.  This is what we plan to do."

Black Swans album, meanwhile, ably speaks for itself and was co-produced by Andrea Wright, who has worked with both Coldplay and Echo and the Bunnymen, The Life We Chose has the sheen of the former and the grandeur of the latter, along with the honesty and punch of Biffy Clyro and early Radiohead.  It's a great record and a convincing statement of intent.

IC1s

Summer's nearly here and band's are starting to get their new releases out there and IC1s are no different.  June 3rd sees the release of their latest single 'Growing Up, Going Down'.  Ralph's had a sneak peak at the new single and it's a proper rock n rolla.  It's a guitar driven anthem that'll sit well with any Festival crowd and a definite hat tip to their musical influences.

From the first guitar riff it grabs you, shakes you and doesn't put you down until the last note!

Ic1s are Daniel Coburn - Vocals, Jesse James - Guitars, John Campbell - Guitars, Andy Faulkner- Drums and Jacob Osman - Bass and they're all in your face Indie pop at its absolute best.

IC1s debut single ‘Levitate’ saw success as the 2nd most downloaded new entry in the ITunes Alternative Singles Chart in its week of entry, resulting in a chart position of #195 in iTunes Top 200. Follow up single ‘Karma’ featured on Soccer AM and in Q Magazines as 'Track of The Day'. The track peaked at #40 in the alternative charts during in Christmas week with the band donating all profit to UK homelessness charity Shelter.

In 2011 band worked alongside Gary Powell (The Libertines) and his 25 Hour Convenience Store label.  Oasis discoverer, and all-round musical hero-maker Alan Mcgee, The Stone Roses’ Mani, Steve Lamacq and many more can all be credited as fans.  The band have since shared venues and festival stages with indie giants such as The View, The Charlatans, The Cribs, The Rifles and mainstream acts such as Tinie Tempah.

April 2012 saw the band release 'Not Perfect' as part of a compilation entitled ‘Emerging Icons’ curated by Kaiser Chiefs.  In February 2012 the band headlined the final date of ‘HMVs Next Big Thing Festival’ and were invited to play The Olympic & Paralympic Games on the Emerging Icons Festival Stage in the Olympic Park.

If this single gets the airplay it deserves then we should be seeing them hit the Festival circuit next year.