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Quality And Quantity: Torgeir Waldemars - Highasakite - The Little Kicks - Fleurie

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Torgeir Waldemars - Sylvia (Southern People). Background - Torgeir Waldemar took the Norwegian people and music press by surprise with his eponymous debut album in 2014. Who had thought that the black-clad, long-haired and bearded man would deliver an album that captivated and moved us as much as it did. An acoustic masterpiece that sounded like it came straight from the rehearsal room of a young troubadour from Laurel Canyon in the seventies. While his previous album cultivated a pure, acoustic sound, we get more rock music this time, and for Torgeir Waldemar nothing is more natural. With his background as a guitar hero in various rock bands, it was only a question of time before distorted tones would assert themselves in his solo career. No Offending Borders is a gloriously composite work with both dead honest acoustic laments and grandiose rock songs. But the record is so much more than that, and for Torgeir this is a document that shows the seriousness we meet in our everyday

Weekend Wonders: Rome Is Not A Town - Billy The Zombie Kid - The Velveteins - OhBoy! - Billy T Band - Varick

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Rome Is Not A Town - Blood And Secrets. Background - 4 piece Gothenburg, Sweden unit Rome Is Not A Town released their debut 7” “Stupid” in late 2015. With their noisy postpunk they soon found a special place in the hearts of everyone with a fondness for cracking guitars and some furious drum beating. Swedish media got excited and the biggest ones such as Festivalrykten, Hymn and Gaffa soon compared them Sonic Youth. As a match made in heaven Rome Is Not A Town got the chance to tour a few dates with the Thurston Moore band soon there after. Since that initial success the band’s been on tour with fellow label mates Tiger Lou in Sweden and Germany as well as recording a new EP, "Careful Like You Cared" with Per Stålberg (Division of Laura Lee) in Welfare Studios, Gothenburg. The EP consists of four brand new tracks, and six minute masterpiece “Blood and Secrets” as a b-side. All released by Startracks – home of Fireside, early Refused and so on. Guitars go in the family, th

Six Of The Best: Sloucher - Essie - Hawk - The Blue Aeroplanes - Four Star Riot - Sleepytown

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Sloucher - Waiting to Start. Background - Like a lot of bands, Sloucher started off as a relatively unambitious project. After writing a batch of songs on acoustic guitar to sate his downtime as drummer in a couple of revered West Coast bands Cayucas and Hibou. Jay Clancy decided to better harness the melodic thrusts bouncing around his head, eventually recruiting guitarist Kyle Musselwhite (The Globes) and drummer Jack Hamrick to solidify Sloucher as a trio. “The record really started as me testing myself to see if I could actually complete an entire record of my own songs,” explains Clancy, who recorded most of the EP himself. “I had written a batch of songs that were all basically little snapshots of my life from the past few years, and wanted to get involved in a recording project.” Certainty, the resultant collection of seven songs, deals in the kind of melodic interplay typically found in the more voluminous aural panoramas of Elliott Smith and similarly alchemic songwriters.

Genre Wander: Cairobi - Daniel Wiggins - Sounds of Sputnik - Surf Rock is Dead

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Cairobi - Saint. Background - Cairobi are a headily eclectic globe-crossing fourpiece of Giorgio Poti (vocals, guitars), Alessandro Marrosu (bass), Salvador Garza (keys) and Aurelien Bernard (drums). Their sound reflects their various backgrounds with a unique multi-cultural twist. Their debut self-produced album was written in Berlin and, fittingly with their diverse nationalities, was recorded between Berlin, London, Rome and New York. Music and this resulting album was Giorgio’s means of finding his way through health problems, as after relocating to Berlin, he started to suffer frequent, violent migraines that would incapacitate him for an average of twelve days a month. “I could either stay still, in silence, eyes shut, or take the medication and hope it worked so I could move on with my day,” he recalls. “Even when the medicine worked, it would make me extremely sleepy, so some of the music and lyrics on this record were written in a state of drowsiness. That part wasn’t parti

Midweek Muse: Super Paradise - Beatrix Players - Stella Rio - Golden Daze

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Super Paradise - The F.C. Background - Born in Milan, and now based in London, Super Paradise have just burst onto the garage scene in the UK with their debut album Quencebo: twenty minutes of high-octane rotary psych, both frenetic and melodious fusing the genres of garage, synth pop and psychedelia. Originally written and recorded by lead singer and guitarist Francesco Roma in his hometown, Milan, the record sees the collaboration of Nico Spreafico on backing vocals and now as guitarist in the live line-up. Since moving to the UK, they inspired keyboardist Juliet Styles and drummer Bradley Smith to join to create the full line up. Building on the edgy energy of Thee Oh Sees, the rough sounds of Parquet Courts and the soundscapes of New Order, the result is a hypnotic amphetamine rush with dizzying catchy melodies. Bandcamp here , and Facebook here . Taken from the debut release 'Quencebo' we have chosen to feature the first track 'The F.C.' The song is a fine