Brian's Video Of The Week - Cocoa Futures 'Circus'

Brian's Video Of The Week commencing 15th October is the interestingly disturbing and highly compelling new one from the enigmatic London based Cocoa Futures, baby of Scottish singer songwriter par excellence Greg Sanderson..

Directed by Danny Nellis and Wesley Gonzales Cocoa Futures - Circus. Released on Lost in the Manor Records.

Stream Circus on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0BFEUv...






Stream on Apple Music: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/cir...


Website: http://www.cocoafuturesband.com YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/user/cocoafut Twitter: http://twitter.com/cocoafuture Instagram: http://instagram.com/cocoafutures Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cocoafutures

Billy Bibby & The Wry Smiles - Single Launch

We've followed the ascendancy of Billy Bibby since he started to plough his own furrow on departing Catfish and The Bottlemen and the formation and transformation of Billy Bibby & The Wry Smiles.

So we're delighted to be featuring news of the new single War Of One here on Ralph's Life and Brian will be playing the single on the Radio KC Indie Show on Sunday April 29th between 5 and 7pm.

Billy had this to say of the new release:

"War Of One is another upbeat rock song that I personally loved writing because I just know that live it's gonna be a blast to play for mine and the band's sake, and I'm sure from the audience perspective too," 


Billy mused further:

"Any fans of rock music are going to want to be hit with a wave of sound that fills their hearts with joy and tears them down with its sheer power and driving force behind the amps, and that's what I am hoping this single will bring to the fans. I always want to keep an element of secrecy behind my lyrics so that you can all create your own thoughts as to what they mean to you."

"For me, it is simply about the war between you and you alone and how you deal with certain normal issues in life. Hence why it's called War Of One. As depressing as that may sound I always try to make light of it and write positively so it's far from being a negative song!"



Billy Bibby & The Wry Smiles will be celebrating the single release tonight and most appropriately, at Record Junkee in Sheffield.  This marks the penultimate date of busy 16-date spring tour that began near home in Chester and zig-zagged across the UK, from Cardiff to Birmingham, from Liverpool to Glasgow and many more places in between. 

The tour ends on a high note in London with a Camden Rocks appearance at Nambucca April 28th. 

Apr20

Billy Bibby & The Wry Smiles / Sundance / Keyframe

Today 19:30 · Record Junkee · Sheffield

Apr28

Camden Rocks All-Night'er feat. Echoic & more at Nambucca

Sat 19:00 · Camden Rocks Presents · London, United Kingdom

Aug4

Gig in the Car Park 2018

Sat 12:00 · The Greenside Venue · Leslie, Fife, United Kingdom

As we wait to spin the new single...why not have a listen to the last one which was a big favourite on Radio KC here...

Feral Five ft: Sisteray 'Algorithm Prison - Video Of The Week

Brian's favorite video this week is Feral Five ft: Sisteray 'Algorithm Prison' Reconstructed, and it's one of the best single releases I've heard in the last two years! Post Electro Punk at it's absolute best!

Feral Five profess to playing Electro Punk Dance Music with snarling guitars, stabbing synths and ferocious beats, which they do in spades and this release is a tribute to that!

Fellow Londoners Sisteray (who were on the bill at the Ralph's Life CD launch in Proud Camden as were Feral Five) bring a fresh punky attitude to this single)





Sisteray are an in your face post-punk live band who from the first chord dominate from the stage and take the crowd on a whirlwind journey of musical joy and a perfect match for Feral Five on this single release.

Video Of The Week then for week commencing Monday 20th August. After a lifetime of listening to Pop Pap this is the real deal and deserves to dominate the airwaves and needless to say it's getting a spin on Brian's Next Radio KC Indie Show of Sunday 26th August 20th.

Kid Kapichi

After setting the British guitar music scene alight with their riff-filled debut EP, hedonistic Hastings quartet Kid Kapichi return with their much vaunted EP Lucozade Dreams which is released tomorrow March 30th).

Having received support from the likes of Kerrang TV, MTV Rocks and London Evening Standard with their eponymous breakthrough debut EP, the rising indie rockers were being tipped off by industry experts as ones to watch.

No surprise then that Brian is spinning their most excellent single release Puppet Strings on the Radio KC Indie Show on April 15th.

Consisting of Ben Beetham (guitar/vocals), Jack Wilson (guitar/vocals), Eddie Lewis (bass) and George MacDonald (drums), the EP mirrors their colossal riff-infused live shows; driven by monstrous guitars and vocal melodies, which are seamlessly switched between Jack and Ben. King Kapichi have recently been discovered by the Underground England Soundwave’s platform, putting them alongside the likes of Pale Waves and Black Honey.

Dripping with rock tunes that punch you in the chest and leave you humming the chorus with the few breaths you have left, the Kid Kapichi EP with it's blend of heavy, incendiary rock with harmonising vocals, makes it obvious as to why the four-piece are the forerunners of the new generation of bands in the deepest South.

With a sold-out festival show on Hasting Pier already under their belt, Kid Kapichi will be touring the UK showing off Lucozade Dreams alongside one of Brian's favourite Scottish bands and SAMA Best Rock Award Winners Bloodlines. 

March 29^th - Glasgow – The Old Hairdressers

March 30^th - Edinburgh – Banshee Labrynth

March 31^st - Inverness – Tooth and Claw

April 4^th - London – Camden Monarch

April 6^th - Torquay – Apple and Parrot

April 7^th - Hastings – The Carlisle

Bugeye

Having made a splash in 2016 and 2017 with airplay from luminaries such as BBC 6 Music, Steve Lamacq and rave reviews from the likes of God Is In The TV, female fronted, disco-punk band, Bugeye, return with their new single, I’m Not the One and a UK tour with sold out shows.  

Taking obvious inspiration from early pop punk bands such as, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Altered Images with a visual nod to David Lynch and punch-drunk productions, I’m Not The One sees the band take on a slightly darker pop approach than previous offerings, with a video production debut from front women, Angela Martin as the music video director and producer.

Bugeye sound like the bastard child of Ian McCulloch and P J Harvey with this single release by their prodigy seeing them as proud parents with their love-child Bugeye getting top marks for their GCE A level Music Module with I'm Not The One. 

OK, OK that's as surreal a comparison as I can stretch to; but it's as big a compliment as I can pay.

"When dreams in the waking world don’t come true, we expect escapism in our dreams at night, but often receive the opposite which this song and video explore. It's a piece about isolation, about an inner pleading for everything to be OK in the morning, but instead we’re plagued with nightmares.  The lyrics repeat to represent the continued struggle of how we are all waiting for something, mostly an un-articulated something and that we, as humans, can only have respite for a fleeting moment."  

Written by Bugeye front woman, Angela Martin, the song revisits, on a more personal note, taking care of her Mother in her final weeks of life in 2013 where diary notes that later influence the song state; 

"I’m not the one that saves the day, I’m not the smart one that thinks of a cure, but maybe tonight I’ll think of something to ease the coming days to give you peace."

Brian's spinning I'm Not The One on the Radio KC Indie Show April 1st so make sure you tune in from 5-7pm GMT.

MAR21

Bugeye / Heavy Lids / whathappenedonthatisland /Devils in Skirts Wed 19:00 · Hosted by Bugeye

West Street Live Sheffield

APR13

Bugeye / The Empty Page / Hexmaze / Blue Mean Eyes Fri 19:30 · 775 guests

New Cross Inn London

Hero Fisher

Photography by Julian Broad

British-born, French-raised and London-based Hero Fisher (yes, that’s her real name) is returning to release her sophomore LP Glue Moon. Her career has so far seen her collaborate with Alison Mosshart and Boy George in the Mark Ronson scored ballet Carbon Life, open for The Rolling Stones and Neil Young at Hyde Park, and get shortlisted for the 2014 Glastonbury Emerging Talent Prize.

In 2015 Hero Fisher released her debut album, the critically-appraised Delivery which won her fans in The Horrors and Blur. By turns a blistering rock and roller in the vein of Patti Smith and PJ Harvey, and an experimental folk storyteller à la Jeff Buckley, Hero Fisher resists easy generic categorisation with her protean and cinematic musical storytelling. Able to expertly strike a variety of different narrative poses, she is at once the spurned lover and the fired-up rabble rouser.

With previous singles Sylvie and Push The Boat Out, Hero Fisher shows lyrical imagination that is unique and bountiful. Her matchless new single Lonely is the latest chapter in her development as an artist. She’ll reach many more milestones yet on her creative journey.

Hero Fisher in her new song Lonely provides us with a masterclass in reinvention. Rich in ambience and with a slow crawling beat, Her subtle and tender vocal performance evokes a deep sense of isolation amidst the cluttered mysteries of daily life. Drums, pianos and synths all work in tandem brewing a restless sonic tempest as the song subtly crescendos to its cathartic conclusion.


Lonely could be the soundtrack to a deeply arresting and sad movie, long expanses of sound create a panorama over which Hero lays some of her deepest and most internal lyricism yet. If Lonely is any indicator, she’s already one of the most unique new offerings this year.

Hero Fisher had this to say about the single:

"Lonely is about self delusion. We all wear blinkers to hard truths in one way or another. A common condition people have is loneliness or feeling secluded. I think it’s a sentiment a lot of people can relate to, if they don’t, then they may have mastered self delusion.”

See Hero Fisher Live

March 15th: St Pancras Old Church, London, NW1 1UL

May 19th: The Great Escape Festival

Coralcrown

Upon settling in London, Coralcrown auteur Luis Gotor took a hiatus from music, crestfallen that his old band had finished. Eventually, the capital’s vibrant and diverse musical nightlife captivated him, and he decided to return to music as a solo artist on his own terms and with complete creative control.
Coralcrown is the result of that. It’s a vital and visionary project, establishing Luis as an ambitious musician with a gifted ear for the kind of restlessly infectious melodies that made popular music from the seventies and eighties so uplifting. Between The Lights is radio friendly and hugely addictive, you have been warned!

Photo courtesy of Daniel Pastor

His technical approach is cutting edge, and the sound he’s achieved is nothing short of the slick professional indie pop production you’re likely to hear on say, a Foals or Bombay Bicycle Club record - audacious and primed for the festival circuit.

The first Coralcrown EP Birth is the culmination of Luis's effortlessly lush rebound back into writing music, and with a live band backing him, the stage is literally and figuratively set to disseminate his canny pop hooks to anyone with a relish for melody.

Between The Lights showcases the subtlety and sensitivity in this body of work by Coralcrown. It’s a song about a shy guy fighting his own insecurities to ask a girl to dance. Unbeknownst to him, she’s fighting her own securities too.
It’s a clever and poignant meditation on the prison of our internal complexes, made into something aesthetically sublime through tactful guitar work and a mastery of vocal layering and harmony.
Brian is playing Between The Lights on the Radio KC Indie Show so tune in Sunday March 18th from 5-7pm.

TALMA

Seamlessly blending alt, classic and art rock, London-based five-piece TALMA command a magnetic sound and presence that comes straight out of the underground scenes of London. The raw and unshackled live performances are where TALMA truly run riot. They’ve supported the likes of Queen keyboard player Spike Edney and received acclaim for their intense energy and all-out charisma from London all the way to LA, including praise from industry commentator and author Ari Herstand.

Singer Henry Adams captivates attention with a bravado and charm rarely seen among many frontmen, while the telepathic tightness of guitarists Jack Rennie, James Creed, bassist Pete Warren and drummer Jonny Harrison make TALMA a force to be reckoned with.

Where TALMA draw direct inspiration from the likes of The Smiths, The War On Drugs and The National, they also incisively employ a musical diversity and dynamic range comparable to the likes of Radiohead and Wolf Alice.

The result is a band who operate without creative constraints and who are primed to challenge the seemingly predetermined conception of modern British rock.








The lead track of the second EP release, Out To Sea is a song of two halves.

TALMA drummer Johnny Harrison explains: "Many of our artistic influences write about death in their music - The Smiths, Nick Cave, Pink Floyd.

In my own writing I sought to approach the subject from a positive viewpoint, or at least a bittersweet one. Out To Sea is about being comfortable with the concept of mortality, an acceptance that can afford us a sense of opportunity in fleeting moments and a perception of fate that gives rise to purpose. The culmination of the track in the second half instrumental almost expresses the ecstasy that comes with these realisations - we can embrace the absurdity of it all.”

APR

05

The Black Heart, Camden

Thursday, 7:00PM

London, United Kingdom