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BirdPen - Bijou Noir - Big Bliss

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BirdPen - Eyes In The Sky. Background - BirdPen is an alternative rock/electronic/prog act formed by Dave Pen (also the singer and guitarist in Archive) and Mike Bird. Their fifth studio album, ’There’s Something Wrong With Everything’, will be released in mid-October, immediately preceded by new single ‘Oh So Happy’. Melding heavy/psychedelic guitars, rolling basslines, Krautrock drums and old school electronics to create a doom groove ambience, the duo draw inspiration from the likes of Deerhunter, Hookworms, Suuns, The Beta Band, Pink Floyd and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Families sit huddled together in front of their flatscreen TV’s peeking through their hands to see the new world leader being sworn in by a fading shadow of hope while criminals applaud. The world is crying and The End Is On TV. Outside, lost souls wander in a daze fixed on prescription drugs with Eyes In The Sky. This Is Your Life trying to escape advertising and takeaway menus and spending what you don’t h

Me and My Friends - Tara-Lynn Sharrock - Frigga

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Me and My Friends - High As The Sun. Background - Me and My Friends have announced their new album 'Look Up' the release date as December 6th via Split Shift Records. Album highlight, ‘High As The Sun’, has been released as a first taster. It's a gorgeous sun-drenched track with a chorus that’ll keep you warm throughout winter. The band are also playing several live dates beginning later this month, including a newly announced show on Thursday 6th December at Rich Mix in London which promises to be a wonderful evening. Me and My Friends play soulful, poignant, and gloriously danceable music, subtly referencing many styles, including vintage Ghanaian highlife, Jamaican roots and Afro-Brazilian folk. The UK-based quintet create a timeless sound with a global outlook, performed with an infectious energy, and the result is instantly recognisable, highly original and truly genre-defying. On their new album ‘Look Up’, coming December 6th via Split Shift, the elegant voice an

Tenth Electric - Princess Chelsea - Party Hardly - Fightmilk - For Esme

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Tenth Electric - Brighter. Background -  Tenth Electric announce the release of their upcoming single, Brighter, out on Friday 12th October. The band, who offer a gritty blend of electronic rock with powerful lyrics and guitar riffs deliver a message of empowerment, hope and faith in this new track and forthcoming EP. The upcoming EP, out this Autumn, draws attention to the stigma surrounding mental health issues conveys positive ways to combat this together. Whether it is focusing on the little things in life or taking a moment to breathe, Tenth Electric believes music is a gateway to breaking down barriers that so many of us face. Pain doesn’t discriminate; none of us are okay all the time and we should not be afraid to talk about our issues and share the burdens. Building on lead singer Luke Mitchell’s experience personally, spiritually, and as an advocate for vulnerable individuals, Tenth Electric want to unify people and encourage people to speak up and say ‘it’s ok to not be

Red Telephone - Gumshoe - Jessie Munro - Ghost Caravan - Piney Gir - MAWD

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Red Telephone - Victoria Park. Background - There is a timeless quality an other-worldly melancholic sadness that hangs on every passing note from Cardiff's most exciting psychedelic night urchins Red Telephone latest single 'Victoria Park'. It could be a long lost song from the 1966 'Blow-Up' soundtrack, The Yardbirds covering Syd Barrett in the minor key!  Yet 'Victoria Park' is very much about today, the sound of a band transcending their influences to create a confident and thrilling world within their songwriting. As the bands singer Declan Andrews explains of the recording process. "we wanted to create a striking and recognisable landscape of sounds without overwhelming the core song. It could have easily ended up full of baroque-sounding parts but in the end we found ourselves taking parts away and opening up space"    The song itself "was written around loose recollections of Victoria Park in Cardiff, where I used to go every no

Free Love - Art Brut

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Free Love - Playing as Punks. Background - Glasgow’s disco-pop duo Free Love (fka Happy Meals and consisting of Suzanne Roden and Lewis Cook) have announced their new EP ‘Luxury Hits’, due for release November 9th and shared a brand new single from the EP, ‘Playing as Punks’, out today. The duo have also announced their own run of headline shows in London, Manchester, Dublin, Belfast and Glasgow. Since their seductive Euro disco-flecked single ‘Pushing Too Hard’ came out in late July, the duo have rounded off a busy summer of festival bookings with a live performance at Gottwood, Lovebox, supporting Django Django & Sylvan Esso at Edinburgh International Festival and a live 6 Music session for Vic Galloway (sitting in for Marc Riley) after Tom Ravenscroft made them his 6 Music Recommends. Their credentials as one of the best new live acts continues to go from strength to strength - they will be supporting James Holden and The Animal Spirits on a string of UK tour dates next

Anne Marie Almedal - Malojian - Louise Lemón

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Anne Marie Almedal - You Keep Me At Arm's Length. Background - Norwegian singer-songwriter Anne Marie Almedal has shared a new single from her forthcoming album 'Lightshadow', which is due out 26th October 2018. The single is also accompanied by a stunning new video by Pål M. Laukli. Somewhat destined to be the first track of Anne Marie Almedal’s new album 'You Keep Me At Arm’s Length' arrives with just Anne Marie’s commanding vocals and Nicholas Sillitoe’s wistful folk guitar accompaniment, a brooding piano and synth bass slowly adding momentum.  Melancholy as ever,  bittersweet, focused and full of longing, the new single is a bold blend of folk, electronics, indie-dream-pop and nonchalant vocals. It’s a song about unrequited nearness, love forlorn, hopes and dreams flailing in the distant horizon. Something familiar, something new. 'You Keep Me At Arm’s Length' was recorded in Anne Marie’s hometown Kristiansand in a summer break with producer/co-wr

Karine Polwart - Hilma Nikolaisen

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Karine Polwart - Laws Of Motion. Background - Multi-award winning songwriter and musician, theatre maker and published writer Karine Polwart - six-time winner at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, including 2018 Folk Singer of The Year - is today sharing the title track from her forthcoming album release, Laws of Motion, (due out October 19, 2018 via Hudson Records). Polwart’s seventh release, it’s the follow-up to 2017’s much-praised A Pocket of Wind Resistance, which earned Karine & co-writer Pippa Murphy a New Music Scotland Award, alongside nominations for the 2018 Scottish Album Of The Year & Radio 2 Folk Album Of The Year. Laws Of Motion - recorded alongside long-term collaborators Inge Thomson and brother Steven Polwart - will arrive amidst a 13 date UK tour, including London’s Cadogan Hall on October 17, 2018. A Pocket Of Wind Resistance used the migratory habits of geese to crack open universally human societal & ecological issues. Across Laws of Motion Polwart cont

Hajk - Fröst

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Hajk - Dancing Like This. Background - 'Drama' – of the interpersonal kind – that’s what Hajk have turned their focus to in 2018. The band burst onto the scene with their self-titled debut album last year, garnering support around the world as well as making a name for themselves in their home country of Norway. Now, the highly anticipated follow-up 'Drama' has been announced for February 2019 – a record that both pulls at the heartstrings and urges you to dance away your sorrows. Lead single and first taste of what is to come arrives in the form of the bubblegum-flavoured new cut, 'Dancing Like This'. It's a lyrically melancholy and wide-eyed love song, with an addictive melody that looks to sugarcoat your tears. Hajk’s 2017 debut received praise from the likes of Astrid S, Sigrid and Kimbra, as well as actress and model, Chloë Grace Moretz. International acclaim came in waves from Noisey, Stereogum, The Line of Best Fit, Drowned In Sound, V Magazine,

Thyla - The Brevet - Valley Maker

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Thyla - Candy. Background - Riding a wave of momentum that shows no signs of stopping anytime soon, Brighton’s latest indie juggernauts Thyla announce plans for their debut EP and share mesmerising lead single Candy, further solidifying their status as one of the UK’s finest emerging indie acts. Expertly masterminded by frontwoman Millie Duthie’s commanding vocals, Candy strikes a much more sombre tone than their previous material with a series of carefully constructed guitar parts and dreamy intervals capped off with another trademark anthemic chorus. Earmarked as one of NME’s 100 Essential Acts for 2018 alongside Dream Wife, Nilüfer Yanya and Pale Waves, the quartet demonstrated their potential in the first half of the year sharing bills with Sunflower Bean, INHEAVEN and Fickle Friends as well as encouraging displays at The Great Escape, Live At Leeds and Dot To Dot. Praise from all corners of the press, widespread support on the BBC Radio 1 airwaves (one of Huw Stephens’ Altern