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All Things Bob is, as the name very much suggests, the solo project of Bob Sharman, an East Londoner now residing in the wilds of Essex. Writing, playing, singing and recording everything himself, his...
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Lapis Lazuli are a Kent-based six-piece band who write great music in the funk/jazz genre. They recently returned from a European tour and the opportunity to support the legendary Alice Cooper. We had...
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For those who don't know For the Imperium, they are a frantic Finnish band who cross genres and mix styles with an ambition and energy rarely seen. Broadly in the metal genre, they have just relea...
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South London's Stubborn Heart, although vogueishly labelled post-dubstep, call themselves electronic soul and, with their heartbreak lyrics, emotive vocals and down-tempo electronica, you can see ...
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One of the more interesting, shadowy bands to emerge from the resurgent and fecund Leeds scene, White Heat have been brewing up their dark and beautiful music for a while. This band mines a furrow of ...
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Prolific Welsh singer-songwriter Martyn Joseph has just released his new album, Songs for the Coming Home, and is about to embark on his second UK tour of the year. We caught up with him for a few wor...
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With the exception of cornering Yan Tiersen in the car park of the Brudenell after a gig once armed with a small notepad and pen, this interview was actually my first face-to-face 'proper' int...
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Laura Kidd, aka She Makes War, is a formidably multi-talented artist/one-woman cottage industry, designing album packaging; crafting handmade zines to give out at shows; filming her own music videos; ...
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With their new album, Canines, out now, Soundblab catches up with Bob (vocals/guitar) and Helen (vocals) of fantastic London/Brighton indie-rockers Shrag for a chat about playing America, dodging dodg...
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So your single Black Dog is due for release on June 4. I can imagine you're feeling pretty excited?
It has been really exciting! Especially because we are running the label ourselves. Feels Good!...
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Hanne Huckelberg's latest critically acclaimed album Featherbrain is a special beast, an idiosyncratic, powerful and epic statement of intent which sounds like a musical exorcisim. It is yet anoth...
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It's been a hell of a year for This Many Boyfriends. Stalwarts of the Leeds indie scene, they were featured by NME as one the must-hear bands of 2011 and have become, it's fair to say, one of ...
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At Risk Teen (or ART) - a shadowy avant-garde sound coming out of the heat haze of Alabama. Their experimental, sinister noise constantly shifts and pulses, never comfortably settling on one tune when...
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Hailing from Brighton, Birdeatsbaby an unusually talented four-piece who, not fitting into any of today's music genres, discovered their own sound by mixing classical with punk and rock. They take...
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The freshness of a new young guitar band to get your juices flowing in 2012 - check; a confident four-piece effervescent in ideas, confidence and a roaring live act - check. Check list ticked off, peo...
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The 2 Bears, made up of Hot Chip's Joe Goddard and house DJ Raf Daddy, are a whole lot of fun. Seamlessly mixing club-shaking house beats with leftfield electronica and myriad other influences, th...
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Hotly tipped Yorkshire three-piece I Swim With Sharks have been creating a buzz with their new single 'Just Be Good'. We caught up with them for a quick chat.
How did I Swim with Sharks come t...
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Half Japanese are one of those bands from the punk era that influenced a whole host of bands over the past 35 years. Co-founder Jad Fair is pleased with his band's long-term legacy.
"Yamantak...
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As we speak, journalists everywhere are getting their heads in a spin trying to determine exactly who it is that hot new band Spector sound like - is it The Killers or Frank Sinatra, The Strokes or Ro...
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Monument Valley is the brainchild of London-born musician, Ned Younger. Although confessing to a penchant for UK garage, Younger is better known for his poetic and articulate lyrics which are perfectl...
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I caught up with Nottingham band Swimming as they prepared for their recent gig at XOYO in London. We chatted unusual side-projects, bizarre comparisons and what to expect from their new album, Ecstat...
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Having already been formally trained on guitar at only eight-years-old, composing his original material at 14 and gigging in night clubs while still only a minor, Norwegian singer/songwriter Sondre Le...
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Next month Gizeh Records launches a new series of concerts entitled the Silent Bells tour.
November's installment features three artists from the label roster in the shape of FareWell Poetry, Sle...
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It's a crying shame that the most famous thing hailing from Essex appears to be the fake-tanned eejits currently overtaking our screens especially when the county has given us some of the best dan...
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Firstly, how did the band name come about? I'm assuming all if not one of you is a Blonde Redhead fan?
Yeah, it's a play on their song title. Basically, the faults are all the faults I see in ...
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Manchester-based music maker Niall O'Conghaile, who goes by the tag of The Niallist, has made what may very well be the party album of the year with AKA, a collection of old-school hip hop and aci...
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Named after a Beat Happening song, This Many Boyfriends are based in Leeds and have already gained a strong following in Sheffield and Manchester. Now with their EP and newly released single 'Youn...
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Jeff T Smith aka Juffage has made one of this years best albums; Semicircle is a mixture of electronic experimentalism and unexpectedly catchy pop songs. To really understand why people wax lyrical ab...
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Leeds' Yugoslavian Boys are simply one of the most thrilling, fun, dumb, angry, plain odd live acts around right now. I saw them open for Vivian Girls at the Brudenell Social Club back in July and...
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Glasgow's Dam Mantle, aka Tom Marshallsay, has fast become one of Soundblab's favourite artists. His dubstep-influenced beats and warped, always inventive ambient soundscapes, captured on Firs...
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As soon as you hear Maria & the Mirrors' twin-drum, synth 'n' shout assault on their new Travel Sex EP, you'll want to know more out this band of otherworldly helliens and the seri...
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Soundblab catches up with our favourite "polished turd" electro-punk-whatever band to talk about their up-coming debut album, being scummy and their essential rules for an amazing party.
We ...
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Get People aren't strangers to a little bit of media hype. Their debut offering 'Careless'/'Odyssey' started a mini frenzy as people hyped them as the next big thing due to their u...
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The multi-instrumentalist and producer, whose brilliant new album Biophila was released last month, talks to Soundblab about his day job working with 'hard to reach' kids, the sounds that insp...
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London three-piece, the ironically named Not Cool, have just released Rugged Raw, a mini-album of their unique style of 'gutter pop' available on iTunes. Heads are turning and ears are prickin...
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Leeds tunesmiths The Whatevers make effortlessly breezy indie-pop with tonnes of heart and a healthy dose of cynicism and lyrical wit. They've released a couple of brilliant albums (Art & Sex ...
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Fabrizio Palumbo already created one of my albums of the year: the bleak but beautiful Drama Queen, released under the guise of ( r ). Then he went and topped it off by playing one of my gigs of the y...
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Buried in the backstage of Manchester's Sound Control venue, I meet Kip Berman, lead singer, guitarist and principal songwriter of New York City's The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.
How has the...
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So guys, how are you finding the year so far?
Mmm.... You mean the whole world-wide situation? Japan tsunami, diseases in carrots or God knows which vegetables, inflation, DSK making French people fee...
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Vancouver based indie rockers, Said the Whale have made quite a name for themselves within the four years they have been together and, with already two successful albums and numerous EPs under their b...
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Emily Bielby went to the Great Escape Festival where she caught up with Raphaelle Standell-Preston from Braids.
This is your first time in Brighton. What's your first impression?
It is very quaint...
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Krautrock-tinged indie popsters HSOL released their eponymous debut album last month, and were greeted with a steady swell of acclaim. Guitarist Bentley Cooke answers some questions for Soundblab.
How...
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The Sounds are big news in America, clocking up impressive celeb fans including Dave Grohl, Gwen Stefani and Quentin Tarantino. Now they're concentrating their efforts on breaking the UK. We met u...
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Sarabeth Tucek has recorded one of Soundblab's favourite albums of the year so far; the haunting, minimal Get Well Soon. Al Brown caught up with her on tour in Leeds' Brudenell Social Club to ...
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Anyone who's heard the music of Hauschka (aka Volker Bertelmann) will find it instantly unforgettable. An artist who takes classical and modernist music into new realms inspired by the techno, hip...
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London-based psychedelic drone-pop band Inca Gold formed in late 2010 and have already built a reputation as one of London's most exciting bands. Their self-titled debut EP was released on Februar...
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For those of you who don't know Bachelorette, it's a solo recording and live performance project by Annabel Alpers based in New Zealand. Inspired by a host of acts, including The Beatles, The ...
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It is likely no other album released in 2011 will resemble Teeth + Teeth = Teeths, the debut from Leeds trio Trumpets of Death. Comprised of bleak, fragile soundscapes, avant-jazz freak-outs and mangl...
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"I just want everyone to know, LA Drumz is not the name our next album," says Tennis guitarist Patrick Riley, chuckling on a couch with his wife and co-songwriter Alaina Moore.
Tennis' m...
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Sometimes humble people like myself are fortunate enough to stumble upon a band that are on the cusp of something great and when I squished myself into the grimy upstairs room at London's Old Blue...
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After a three-year absence Sparkadia are back, back, back. He may have shed his Antipodean bandmates but frontman Alex Burnett's swagbag of soaring melodies is as jam-packed as ever - if blues-soa...
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Beataucue: Two lads from Normandy who are so ridiculously cool you'd probably never heard of them before the start of this sentence but they'll be your new favourite French disco duo by the ti...
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When I met up with three of the members of Reading band Attention Thieves, they were all suffering from severe cases of man-flu. Nevertheless their air of cheeky cockiness was still very much apparent...
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Fresh from their recent tour supporting The Drums, we caught up with hotly tipped Margate band, Two Wounded Birds.
Let's talk Margate. Your press info leaves it at 'dismal', yet apparently...
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Wooden Wand is the moniker of Eastern Kentucky-based singer-songwriter James Jackson Toth. He has previously worked with psych-folk band The Vanishing Voice and became known as part of the freak-folk ...
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Deep in the bowels of Manchester Cathedral I meet Jana Hunter, the lead singer and guitarist of up and coming Baltimore band Lower Dens, shortly before their sold-out Manchester date supporting Beach ...
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Poly Styrene is, of course, a legend and an icon. As the singer in X-Ray Spex, she was one of the first off the blocks when punk came calling on the disaffect youth of late-70 Britain. The air raid si...
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Alabaman spoken word artist Matt Finney started off collaborating with Randy Erkes in ambient/experimental duo Finneyerkes and through a recommendation of a music blogger friend now collaborates with ...
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I first encountered Mwen back in 2006 when she stood in on drums for a reggae band at a Leeds night called Hang Out where I was the resident DJ. The band's name is long since lost to the mist of t...
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Kelley Stoltz releases his new album on November 1 and heads over our way to support his heroes, Echo & the Bunnymen. We'll be reviewing both album and gig but first we caught up for a quick c...
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Teeth are Soundblab's favourite new band of the moment. Their debut single 'See Spaces', released back in August, is a disco noir swoon of distorted, detached vocals, stuttering beats and ...
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After a string of shows across Europe, Canada's Black Mountain have taken the UK by storm again (no drum roll for song puns, please). Although sitting on a motorway siding for hours en route to No...
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Young Rebel Set (looked after by Oasis' management) are beginning to get fans up and down the country with their full-hearted, troubadour melodies. After self-releasing two very limited edition si...
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So, the last time The Black Angels hit Manchester, one of them literally hit. Nate (Ryan, bass/guitar) had a small accident with the bottom of a beer bottle, which carved not only a still visible hole...
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Are you a Shrag convert? If not, Soundblab isn't too surprised. The Brighton-via-London five-piece has been bubbling under the radar for a few years now. Soundblab first encountered them rocking L...
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"Tony tiger balm/ Tony tiger balm/ Tony tiger balm/ Put it in a ring and yeah/ Tony tiger balm/ One eye big/ One eye small/ Hello, hello/ No, yes, oh..."
A man putting on a woeful approximat...
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So many bands right now are making such a hash of referencing mid-80s pop (hello, Hurts) that it can be easy to miss a band you get it exactly right. New York's Violens are such a band, although t...
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Imagine floating about California on acid climbing into people's rooms to crash their house party a la Jim Morrison. Not that taking acid is at all advisable, but this is kinda what The Soundcarri...
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Having thoroughly over celebrated the last long weekend of summer, Soundblab limped up to Manchester on a sunny Bank holiday Monday to hear all about the world according to Slow Motion Shoes. The tran...
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Soundblab can't help but feel a little bit guilty when we greet Dum Dum head Girl Dee Dee in the bar area of Manchester 's Sound Control. The poor lass is stuffing down a salad as fast as she ...
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If you've got your ear to the queer/feminist DIY punk underground, chances are you'll be well up on MEN. If not, well - do you like super funky, dance floor conquering pop influenced by dub, r...
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Celebrated guitarist, songwriter and producer Richard Warren finally emerges from the shadows of Echoboy to deliver his emotionally raw debut solo album, Laments. After spending five years touring the...
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Glamorous young singer/songwriter and guitarist Gemma Ray has created a wonderfully inventive and diverse covers album, entitled It's a Shame About Gemma Ray, as the follow up to her award winning...
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Garage pop darlings and full-time glamourpusses Dum Dum Girls are following up the release of their fuzzy, warm-hearted debut I Will Be on Sub Pop with a European tour, including UK dates in London, S...
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Paul Heaton has had a long and meandering musical career. Initially finding fame in the 80s with indie socialists The Housemartins, he went on to become one of the most successful songwriters of the 9...
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Mark Everett has had a busy year. In 2005, his band Eels released Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, a sprawling and intensely personal double album widely considered his masterpiece. But then: no...
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I caught up with James Smith after Hadouken!'s set in the Sunday Best arena for a quick jabber about Huey Lewis, beats and priapic mice...
Hadouken! were incredible today, you definitely laid wast...
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Trash Kit are a London-based trio of face-painted rhythm bandits who make thrillingly asymmetric, no wave-style bursts of noise incorporating everything from Afobeat to Filipino rhythms. In amongst al...
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Daniel Martin-McCormick has an air of authenticity about him. Exuding an intense and slightly frazzled vibe which belies his unspoiled, youthful looks, it's easy to imagine him as a righteously an...
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Richard Hawley is one of the UK's leading singer/songwriter/producers working today. A passionate fan of rock 'n' roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, country and all manner of 'roots' m...
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Gregg Davies aka electro act Savier recently took time out from his busy schedule to chat about new E.P Serenade My Enemy exclusively to Soundblab.
What is the main message behind Serenade My Enemy?
...
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I stumbled on the music of William Fewer-Reed, aka Blue Crystal Fire, by accident while searching on MySpace for another band with a similar name. So entranced was I by the collection of disorientatin...
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Take the intelligent dance music of Aphex Twin and Squarepusher, add some tinny 8-bit madness and a big dollop of the inventively structured sounds coming from the more experimental end of the dubstep...
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By Richard Morris
The first time you hear It's a Heatwave, the debut album by Manchester's Hotpants Romance, it sounds like bludgeoning, shrill noise made on the cheap by madwomen in a hurry. ...
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These New Puritans' George Barnett talks to Richard Morris
Soundblab catches up with George Barnett, These New Puritans' drummer, just after their explosive gig at The Leadmill in Sheffield on...
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Richard Morris catches up with kind-of-indie, kind-of-dance London band Is Tropical to talk about squat parties, being approached by Russian oligarchs and the hotness of Justin Bieber.
Is Topical are ...
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Leeds-based five piece This Many Boyfriends' charming brand of winning indie-pop is gaining fans throughout the country. After a difficult conception ("We've had more line-up changes than...
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Whole Lotta Love
If you haven't already heard the name Maika Makovski being whispered your way, you soon will. When she was just 12-years-old, Maika was already writing songs and at 15 gained majo...
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Industrial Renaissance: Soundblab interviews Excepter
Excepter are a six-strong experimental noise group from Brooklyn. Renowned for their long improvised live performances and for the hundreds of hou...
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Down in the west-country town of Cheltenham, there's an experimental folk/acoustic talent brewing going by the name of Andrew Villanelle. His innovative style is leaked through the likes of his gu...
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It's a clear-skied, surprisingly warm Saturday afternoon in February and Soundblab has elected to spend it in the scruffy but homely environs of Leeds' renowned Brudenell Social. While a gang of kids...
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The Ruby Suns formed in 2004 when Californian Ryan McPhun relocated to Auckland, New Zealand. They've released two albums of dreamy, experimental synth pop, 2005's eponymous debut and Sea Lion in 2008...
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Egyptian Hip Hop: four lads, still in their teens, from Manchester who, since late last year, have managed to gain a remarkably strong toehold in the mainstream media, with several mentions in NME...
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Wetdog are one of those of bands who can single-handedly restore one's faith in modern music. Why? Because they're an all-girl band with a sound that's a bit no wave, a bit riot grrrl and a whole ...
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