Last month, Blaenavon frontman Ben Gregory took to social media to share a searingly honest account of a stress-related breakdown he suffered at Christmas in 2017. A heart provoking admission, Ben ends the letter describing how the “suffering, guilt, love, family and overcoming trauma” that he experienced is what forms the core of the band’s upcoming second album, Everything That Makes You Happy.
Releasing their first new song from the album “Catatonic Skinbag” the rousingly powerful rock song tackles the feeling of isolation and cutting yourself off from the world. Sharing the accompanying video today, directed by Homer and Farley, it’s a visual glimpse at that feeling of locking others out. “The video reflects a pretty miserable time in my life,” Ben explains. “Living in a cycle of self pity and sensual self-indulgence. Harris and Frank knocking on my door but I’m too busy soaking in stagnant bath water to answer. Homer and Farley got the vibe spot on. The song is a bit of fun but the theme is pretty severe: ‘always tired, lacking desire to feel enough to start the day.’”
The Deer Shed Festival is among my favourite festival events of the year, I have only missed two of these yearly events the first one I didnt know about the other was due to a car mishap Its always the week after the larger and more hetic Latitude the Deer Shed is a wonder, a small site easy to navigate your way around and full of family led people that just want to find a few new bands and let their children thoroughly find themselves in the vast array of things to do . At Deer Shed you are probably more likely to come across a small person going a bit wild after too many fruit juices than an adult getting drunk and rowdy. Deer Shed Festival could quite possibly be the best family festival in the UK ever.
Friday
Everything is a delight on this opening day all I can say is that every band is worth seeing, so how do you decide who to see, My top choices are Blaenavon, they should surely warm up the crowd with their infectious indie rock and insanely energetic performance, BenGregory introduces them with: “We’re Blaenavon. It’s difficult to spell and even harder to say!” their incredible debut album “That’s Your Lot” released last year. Received with critical acclaim, the band have been festival faves ever since it came out and if you haven’t caught them live yet, well, you’re really missing out. released last year.
Then the visually new romantic punks and creatures of the night: whatever you describe them HMLTD are, they’re absolutely ace. Outlandish, strange and on the rampage, HMLTD are all dressed up with somewhere to go.
Dream Wife the Icelandic-Brightonian star trio, From their Riot Grrrl roots right up to their raucous live show, we been waiting a long time for a band like Dream Wife. They’ve got the art school cred – they all met while studying down in Brighton but are now based in London – they’ve got the slamming tunes and they’ve got the kind of attitude that, were you able to bottle it and sell it to shy and retiring 14-year-olds, you’d make millions. ‘Cool’ is a word that’s chucked about far too lightly these days, but cool is what Dream Wife are. The trio are made up of Rakel Mjöll on lead vocals, Alice Go on guitar and Bella Podpadec on bass, and their glimmering punk-pop is the most exciting thing you’re going to hear this weekend.
but in the Lodge Stage there is not one act to be missed too Joan Wasser aka Joan As Police Woman is the colossal Friday night headliner. Simon Raymonde of Bella Union Records ( surely the best indie label in this world) bass player in legendary Cocteau Twins. For his new venture Simon has teamed up with Richie Thomas, ex-Dif Juz member, to release some more tunes of their own. They’re called Lost Horizons, and their stunning debut album, Ojalá, is a rare sighting of two gifted musicians who, for different reasons, have been largely absent from music-making for the last twenty years.
Check out Art School Girlfriend and girl band Peaness, and finally friday night headliner Drenge , Drenge may be from the Peak District but they often gig in Sheffield, have not performed live for nearly three years all intents and purposes a Sheffield band with echoes of Jack White or the Black Keys. Their heavy riffage of Black Sabbath and sounds as though Messrs Iommi and Ward dropped by the shack where they recorded it to help out, Drenge are an English three-piece rock band made up of Eoin Loveless, on guitar and vocals, his younger brother Rory, on drums, and Rob Graham on bass. The brothers grew up in Castleton, Derbyshire, where they formed the band in 2010, relocating to Sheffield in 2014. The band take their name from something “that would sound like a noise that we would be playing onstage.” Their name also translates into “Boys” in Danish. They have released two albums, Drenge (2013) and Undertow (2015).
Saturday
Goldfrapp the Electronic synth pop duo, comprised of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory headline the saturday night along with the return of the excellent Public Service Broadcasting to Deer Shed consisting of J. Willgoose, Esq. on guitar, banjo, other stringed instruments, samplings and electronic musical instruments, Wrigglesworth on drums, piano and electronic musical instruments, and J F Abraham on flugelhorn, bass guitar, drums and assorted other instruments. The band mostly plays instrumental music; Willgoose has said that “singing is never going to work. I’m not going to be happy with it, I’m not going to be comfortable playing it to other people.”They take samples from old public information films, archive footage and propaganda material.
This Is The Kit, featuring Kate Stables’ her angelic voice and her magnificent band of musicians, After making a long-awaited breakthrough with 2015’s Bashed Out – which featured PJ Harvey collaborator John Parish and the National’s Aaron Dessner – last year’s Moonshine Freeze a certain Best Album of the Year cemented the Winchester-born, Paris resident’s position as the rising star of contemporary folk. Although her music nods to Sandy Denny, Beth Orton and Robert Wyatt, she’s carving her own niche in a notoriously tough field. Her songs veer from achingly stripped down – just voice and banjo – to deliciously more complex, with layers of trumpet, clubbier grooves and psychedelic folk mantras.
Young Halifax band The Orielles first caught our attention with their jangly brand of surf-pop, Consisting of sisters Esme and Sidonie, with friend Henry on guitar, The Orielles are skilled at creating sunny melodies, fused with reverb-strewn harmonies and their own trademark sparkling, youthful energy.
Cardiff-based Boy Azooga is piloted by Davey Newington, a young man with much musical heritage currently making waves.. The gifted vocal of Matt Maltese, but my highlight of the day is Gaz Coombes and his band the ex-Supergrass frontman, if you saw his set on Jools Holland it was just sublime. A key inspiration for the album was reading Grayson Perry’s assessment of contemporary manhood The Descent Of Man. The book resonated on a personal level, making him contemplate his conduct as a man in the context of being a partner, a father to two daughters, a son, and a songwriter, but also as a male who feels compelled more generally to be an active participant in deconstructing and rebuilding masculinity in order to create a better, fairer, more equal society. Check out his latest solo album World’s Strongest Man, So here’s an album by a male songwriter who feels deeply affected by the conversations happening around men and masculinity right now in light of #MeToo, Time’s Up and gender inequality in all its forms. Gaz Coombes isn’t congratulating himself on having these thoughts, he’s just trying to be more like the man he wants himself and other men to be. There’s room for a lot more of those.
Psychedelic super vocalist Jane Weaver with her latest album Modern Kosmology leads us to the claim that she could well be the queen of psychedelia.,
One of the many multi-talented members of This Is the Kit is singer songwriter Rozi Plain as a solo performer pleases both the traditional folkies and those with more experimental tastes. Dreamy electronic synth riffs and fluttering soundscapes surround her vocals layered with lovely harmonies.,
Someone I really need to see is American singer songwriter Anna Burch. Burch’s debut album, “Quit The Curse”, released in early February. The nine tracks of pop rock generously glazed with her honeyed vocals. It’s “about processing unhealthy and tumultuous relationships” from the Detroit singer-songwriter. Though, on first listen, the album’s many difficult themes are rarely given away by the breezy production that shrouds the lyrics like a beautiful, catchy cocoon. If singles ‘2 Cool 2 Care’ and ‘Tea-Soaked Letter’ are anything to go by, it’s going to be a phenomenal set with Burch’s super-sweet vocals and song subjects.
Sunday
Field Music brothers David and Peter Brewis are that awesome band from Sunderland What a Sunday afternoon finale to Deer Shed Festival 9 this should be! co-founder and former guitarist of The Coral, a producer extraordnare is pretty much Merseyside music royalty. Bill Ryder-Jones, one of the most intelligent and moving guitar-driven singer songwriters around. Scottish band and Lost Map act Pictish Trail also I’ll be checking out one woman and her guitar. who after 3 super EP’s released her debut album “Like An Island” Sarah Howells is beginning to make seismic waves in the British music scene. as Wales based songwriter Bryde formerly part of the duo Paper Aeroplanes
Make sure you check out the Big Top and the comedy of James Acaster and over in the new Buckends tent is legendary songwriter Chris Difford from the band Squeeze hopefully playing a few songs and talking about his time with the much loved quintessionally english group.
Head over to the legendary Science tents where the Deer Shed offers a fantastic selection of activities for all ages with craft activities and workshops going on during the day. a huge effort to ensure that older children had interesting and age appropriate things to do as well as the younger ones. There are workshops galore, one where you could screen print your own festival poster,
Don’t forget the other highlights the run around the park on sunday morning and of course who does’nt love a game of Swingball or the chance to construct something at Cardboard City.
Hampshire indie-rock trio Blaenavon had a big hit album 2017. They released their critically acclaimed debut album, That’s Your Lot, via Transgressive and Canvasback; they supported Alt-J in the UK; Then they supported Circa Waves and White Reaper in the U.S.; and they scored slots at last year’s Glastonbury, Lollapalooza and Osheaga festivals
That’s Your Lot is a triumphant mix of delicate ballads (“Swans”), indie-pop bangers (“Orthodox Man”), upbeat, funky guitar tracks (“Lonely Side”) and earth-shattering, climactic rock (“I Will Be the World”).
Newcastle’s Hit The North Festival has announced the 2018 festival line-up.
Taking place on Sunday 6th May across 15 venues in Newcastle City Centre, Hit The North will continue to champion new music, from established bands with new releases to new bands on the scene. The Horrors have been announced as the first headliner for Hit The North 2018, following the release of their fifth studio album ‘V’.
Joining them on the line-up are acts including Marmozets, Tom Grennan, Blaenavon, Sunset Sons and Pale Waves. LMLL favourites Marsicans, Sea Girls and Hockey Dad also join this year’s line-up, championing new music.
This year, Hit The North Festival will take place across the full weekend with opening parties on Friday 4th May (Drenge, Jungle and Circa Waves), Meet The North on Saturday 5th May and the Hit The North on Sunday 6th May.
Tickets for the full weekend are priced at £50, with day tickets for the main festival available for £30 via Gigs North East. Find out more about the full Hit The North Festival 2018 line-up via HitTheNorthFestival.co.uk!
A lot was riding on the release of Blaenavon’s debut album this year. Since signing with lauded London label, Transgressive Records, in 2013, the young British alt-pop trio had opened for Bloc Party, Foals, and Two Door Cinema Club and earned much adoration in under-the-radar profiles from the British music press. Yet, in those four intervening years, they’d only released a few EPs and their first attempt at recording an album had been rejected by higher-ups. Would their debut full-length live up to the hype?
Listen to That’s Your Lot and the answer becomes obvious. Take the mesmerizing destruction of “I Will Be the World,” the raw, lovesick adventure of “Prague ‘99,” or today’s featured song, “My Bark is Your Bite,” and you’ll agree, this is an impressive and versatile debut, the kind you hope for (but don’t necessarily expect) from a band who played Glastonbury before any of the members’ 21st birthday.
“My Bark is Your Bite,” is a polished post-punk gem detailing a romance dependent on dishonesty. Whether it’s a reluctant embrace or an outright lie, each of the singer’s deceits is a double-edged sword, keeping the peace, but wounding the singer. “It cuts like a knife when I lie,” Ben Gregory sings, but “my mind says it’s the best thing to do, for you.” All the signs are there that something is wrong, but the singer is too afraid of the aftershock to drop the bomb. Meanwhile, the song races along with the anxiety of keeping up appearances. Bassist Frank Wright picks a pulsing bassline. On occasion, Gregory’s heavy baritone trips up to a fluttering falsetto, as if he can’t hide his nerves. In the end, it seems, the music saves the pair. After a few choruses, drummer Harris McMillan slices the beat in half, revealing a shiny Editors-like dance groove, the guitar glimmers, bright for a moment, and a dancefloor appears. Gregory concedes: “I’ll take one more chance, I’ll dance if you’ll dance.” Love will tear us apart, but lies – and a well-crafted pop song – will keep us together. At least for now.
Blaenavon recorded a session with KEXP at the Triple Door on June 13th. Stay tuned to the KEXP YouTube page for video from that performance and, for now, enjoy the video for “My Bark Is Your Bite.”
These two covers might not come as a surprise in the way that the Prague ’99 EPwas, but having first been heard in sessions for BBC Radio 1, the band’s covers of Sign of the Times by Harry Styles and High and Dry by Radiohead are now out on youtube .
Their version of Sign of the Times, is stripped back affair to piano, double bass and vocals only, whilst High and Dry sees the whole band plus additional vocals from Blaine Harrison (Mystery Jets) and singer songwriter Marika Hackman.
“Here you have two very different covers that mean very different things to us. ‘Sign of the Times’ is a massive song… could be a classic, even. The lad’s got an impressive range and we fancied giving it a crack and keeping it sparse. ‘High and Dry’ however, we wanted to go all out. We were lucky enough to be joined by two amazing musicians (Blaine from Mystery Jets and Marika Hackman) and we tried to keep it close to the original, as it’s pretty perfect as is. It’s a beautiful arrangement and I think you can hear how much we’re all enjoying it in the recording.“
Earlier in the week, the band also announced that they’d be out touring Europe with Sundara Karma in December, just after their own headline tour of the UK which includes a date at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London. Details of all their upcoming shows,
Coming just after Blaenavon’s Prague ’99 EP, here is a video for the title track directed by Kit Monteith – a frequent collaborator of Foals and Toothless.
“The song is so dynamic – intricate at times as well as soaring and majestic. We wanted to make sure the visuals matched up to this and developed a technique where all these sides could be seen at once; combining slow motion and normal speed action within the same shots. However, the track is more complex still, there is sadness yet strange celebration within it and this more emotive side is where we wanted to experiment in making Ben’s psyche a character in itself. We wanted to create a surreal space where Ben could start to blend with a female presence and for this merging of forms to be the visual backdrop to the fragility, anguish and intensity of his performance on the track. It was also just a nice excuse to see a Blaener in the buff.”
The song also appears on their debut album which came out earlier this year – That’s Your Lot. It’s been an incredible year so far as a result, with tonnes of great reviews, shows alongside Sundara Karma, The Sherlocks, alt-J, Two Door Cinema Club and Circa Waves, as well as all their festival appearances. They’ll be back out on tour in November, with their biggest show yet at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London.
Since 2012, Father John Misty, aka Josh Tillman, has unexpectedly emerged as a singular (if not undeniably, um, idiosyncratic) voice. Whether by virtue of his lyrics, which routinely defy the presumed polarities of wit and empathy; his live performances which may perhaps be described best as “intimately berzerk”, or the infuriating line he seems to occupy between canny and total fraud online or in interviews, Father John Misty has cultivated a rare space for himself in the musical landscape – that of a real enigma. Pure Comedy sees Tillman at the height of these powers: as a lyricist, and equally so a cultural observer – at times bordering on freakishly prescient. Tillman’s bent critiques, bared humanity and gently warped classic songwriting are all here in equal measure and – at 75 minutes – there’s a veritable fuck ton of it. The album navigates themes of progress, technology, fame, the environment, politics, aging, social media, human nature, human connection and his own role in it all with his usual candour, and in terms as timely as they are timeless.
Tillman wrote the majority of Pure Comedy throughout 2015 and recorded all the basic tracking and vocals live to tape (in no more than two takes each) at United Studios (fka the legendary Ocean Way Studios, favored by Frank Sinatra and The Beach Boys) in Los Angeles March 2016.
Pure Comedy was co-produced once again by Josh Tillman and long-time producer Jonathan Wilson; mixed by Tillman, Wilson and Trevor Spencer, and mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering Studios. The album features string, horn and choral arrangements from classical iconoclast Gavin Bryars (Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet, Sinking Of The Titanic), with additional contributions from Nico Muhly and Thomas Bartlett.
Limited copies come with a 12 track bonus CD That’s Your Lot – The Bedroom Tapes. Following a breakthrough 2016 which saw them sell out London’s Scala, fill tents at Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds and Latitude, ink a US deal with Canvasback / Atlantic and release a run of critically acclaimed singles, Blaenavon release their long awaited debut album, That’s Your Lot. Recorded with Grammy-winning producer Jim Abbiss (Arctic Monkeys, Adele, Bjork) the LP marks a certain milestone for the band – a sumptuous, thrilling and brave collection of songs written throughout their teenage years and now fully realised. Intensely personal, yet exploring the universal experiences of friendship, sadness, hope, love held and lost, and all the confusions of youth – a body of work to help define a generation. That’s Your Lot includes I Will Be The World, Let’s Pray and My Bark Is Your Bite – a more than impressive run of singles championed by the likes of Annie Mac, Zane Lowe, Huw Stephens, NME and Fader, whilst collectively racking up over 1,500,000 Spotify streams. The album will also feature explosive new single Orthodox Man, Blaenavon’s most immediate moment to date and already a firm fan favourite following a series of incredible live performances.
2LP – Limited Double Blue Vinyl with Fold Out Poster.
Diet Cig are here to have fun. They’re here to tear you away from the soul-sucking sanctity of your dumpster-fire life and replace it with pop-blessed punk jams about navigating the impending doom of adulthood when all you want is to have ice-cream on your birthday. Alex Luciano (guitar and vocals) and Noah Bowman (drums) have been playing music together ever since Luciano interrupted the set of Bowman’s other band for a lighter. The New Paltz, New York duo have since released the infectious, 2015 ‘Over Easy’ EP that introduced consistent sing-a-long lyrics with thrashing drums and strums that never held back. ‘Swear I’m Good At This’ is the first full-length from the band and accumulates their tenacity for crafting life-affirming, relatable tales with a gutsy heart at their core. Luciano has the ability to write lyrics that are both vulnerable and badass, perfecting a storm of emotive reflection that creates a vision of a sweaty, pumped-up room screaming these lines in unison. Diet Cig make it okay to be the hot mess that you are.
When Happyness first burst into the public conscience with 2013’s debut single ‘It’s On You’, their spirited take on US college rock was as big a surprise as it was an instant hit. The resulting full length, ‘Weird Little Birthday’, went on to feature in many of 2014’s End Of Year album lists. Worldwide tours, an NME Award, a re-issue on much-loved label Moshi Moshi Recordings (Bar/None in US) and millions of plays later, it is with some anticipation now that the band finally reveal the full details of the follow up.
Titled ‘Write In’, released through Moshi Moshi Recordings and featuring artwork from the band’s own Jon EE Allan, the record was made in the band’s own studio above a now-abandoned bookshop, then finished and mixed with Adam Lasus at his LA home studio.
‘Write In’ sets its stall out as an outward looking, inventive and thoughtful progression from their debut. Drawing on an array of influences including Roxy Music, The Beach Boys, Randy Newman, Sonic Youth, Big Star and Pierre Cavalli, the direction is best summed up by Jon EE Allan; “I’d like to think this record looks outside the little American alt-rock sphere we were looking in on. I think we used to be very afraid of being earnest. And now we’re able to be tender or heartfelt without feeling too guilty about it.”
One band who have been threatening a big breakthrough is female four-piece The Big Moon, who in 2016 were dubbed the coolest young band in Britain are destined to be huge in 2017 with their Slits and Elastica-inspired punky gems.
“Definitely a band to watch” – London On The Inside
“With each new release, they continue to reach brand new heights” – The Line of Best Fit
“Another sign of the band’s blossoming maturity and growing confidence as songwriters” – Clash
“London’s most exciting new quartet … The Big Moon are readying to shoot for the stars” – NME
“Another introduction to one of the buzziest new bands on the scene, it’s proof that they’re making all the right moves on their road to the top”
Canyons of My Mind is, as its title suggests, a landscape where the personal and the pastoral converge. Drawing inspiration from the biographies of literary figures like Charles Wright and Jim Harrison, Combs has created an album that explores the notion of sustainability in its many facets – artistic, economic, spiritual, environmental. “When I set out to record All These Dreams, I had a distinct vision of what I wanted the record to sound like. It was a cocktail of the Roy Orbison, Glen Campbell, Nilsson vibes that you can hear right there on the surface,” Combs says. “Canyons is much more personal. It’s a testament to my acceptance of who I am as a man, and who I am becoming.” The quiet struggles and satisfactions of carving out an identity in a world gone wrong are palpable throughout the album. Whether questing through the labyrinth of his own spiritual yearning, (Heart of Wonder), recreating a rail rider’s full-body sensation of freedom beneath an azure Montana sky (Rose Colored Blues), imagining a near-future dystopia where the very idea of green spaces has been annihilated (Dirty Rain), or channeling the desire of a peeping Tom who has fallen in love with his sylvan quarry (Hazel), Combs refines the vulnerable vagabond persona he mastered on All These Dreams while pushing it beyond those boundaries, into a more pastoral realm aligned with artists like Nick Drake and Tim Buckley.
Currently performing sold out shows on their huge headline tour and with their highly anticipated debut album “That’s Your Lot” released this Friday, Blaenavon have shared brand new single ‘Lonely Side’ .
The song marks a coming of age for the band, and may well be their most accomplished effort to date – fitting, as the whirlwind 18 months Blaenavon have had since passing up University places and focussing on the group full time has most certainly seen them bloom. ‘Lonely Side’ offers Blaenavon the chance to explore their own teenage years and applying that to afford the audience some insights in to the world we face.
Discussing the song, singer/guitarist Ben Gregory offered the following:
‘It’s probably about time that I admitted I am a young, ridiculous, romantic buffoon. I am in love with everyone at the same time: but in and out of love constantly – disillusioned like a juvenile James Dean. This is incredibly unhealthy, but also very fucking funny. I will continue to get absolutely everything wrong until I grow old, settle down and die. Until then, I walk the Lonely Side.’
Blaenavon say their debut That’s Your Lot is “five years of our lives condensed into 59 minutes of yours…Youth, capriciousness, duality, duplicity, love, bitterness, fate. Songs from the human core: some malleable, long considered – others pure, direct, cruelly honest. An album to bathe in and appreciate the inevitable end.”
The band have been tipped for some time, with their precocious live shows matched to some superb songwriting.
The long awaited debut album from indie trio Blaenavon. The band play a blend of indie-rock with a sunset-beach vibe, full of well crafted melodies, tip-toeing guitar licks, funky bass and drum patterns, this is one to keep an eye on
Debut album ‘That’s Your Lot’ was recorded with Grammy winner Jim Abbiss (Adele, Björk), the album really has taken its time but will be released on April 7th.
The Fat Angel Sings 