Download Festival has announced all three of it’s headliners for next summer’s festival. System of a Down will play their third headline appearance on the Friday, Biffy Clyro will headline the festival for the first time on the Saturday in support of their new album Ellipsis and Aerosmith will make their only UK appearance of 2017 as they bring proceedings to a close on the Sunday. The festival will take place on the 9th-11th June at Donington Park, with the remainder of the line-up still yet to be revealed.
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Top Tracks: whenyoung – Actor
The new single from this Irish trio is a massive hit just waiting to happen. ‘Actor’ is up there with the best of the likes of Honeyblood, Sunflower Bean and Wolf Alice. Bristling with energy, with a fair deal of fuzz and a driving rhythm it certainly ticks all the right boxes. The bright vocal melodies carry an air of innocence and the big hooks are simply brimming with youthful exuberance. This is no mindless single however, it carries a deeper message. As frontwoman Aoife Power puts it the song “is about contorting your character to fit into a disfigured view of the perfect self in order to belong”. Had this track dropped earlier in the year and had chance to grow and weave it’s magic round my mind it would have been up there with the best songs of the year. If the band have more music like this to offer then they’ll be topping ‘best of the year’ lists in no time.
Album Review: Soft Ledges – Soft Ledges
Soft Ledges – Soft LedgesTop Tracks: The Little Kicks – You And Someone Like Me
The Aberdeen based indie rock quartet have returned with the new single from their upcoming album. The upbeat electropop of ‘You And Someone Like Me’ boasts an infectious funky rhythm which will surely see it in heavy rotation in indie discos across the UK and beyond. The track is made all the more delightful by it’s motion capture music video. The day will never come when I find dancing skeletons anything but sheer unbridled joy, and these boney bandmates have some damn slick dance moves. The winning combination of hit track and endearingly quirky video make this a real feast for the senses. The Little Kicks have already shown themselves to be one of the best Scottish bands of the decade and if their new single is anything to go by then the sky is the limit.
Album Review: Silence in the Snow – Break in the Skin
Silence in the Snow – Break in the SkinAlbum Review: The Answer – Solas
The Answer – SolasSpotlight!: TIRADE
Anyone who says that rock is dead is undoubtedly looking in the wrong place. Often the bands with the most attitude and the biggest point to make aren’t the ones filling stadiums, although I think massive adoring crowds aren’t too far away for a band as talented as TIRADE. Tracks like ‘Knives in Your Eyes’ and ‘Optimism’ are brimming with blistering riffs and boast a breakneck rhythm section with the stamina of wild stallion. They have such a high level of musical mastery that their dazzling technical theatrics seem effortless. On songs like ‘Snakes and Social Ladders’ and ‘Travel Agent for Guilt Trips’ they show hints pop punk, bringing a sly dash of fun and some wicked harmonies to the table. All together their self titled EP has a fair deal of bite and bravado but with plenty of likability beneath. It’s as though the EP would quite easily beat you down flat on your arse and then buy you a consolatory pint for your troubles. For an alternative rock band of this calibre it would take an act of God to stop them from becoming one of the most important new British bands on the scene.
Fans of Lower Than Atlantis, We Are Carnivores, Young Guns and Twin Atlantic should keep an eye out for their eponymous EP out 25th November.
Playlist: Sept/Oct 2016
Interview: Mariam
This up-and-coming South London based singer/songwriter is one of the most talented spotlight artists that Belwood Music has had in a long while. The soulful storytelling present in her upcoming debut EP is the stunning result of a lot of hard work amongst London’s bustling music scene, not to mention her innate musical talent. I was lucky enough to chat to Mariam ahead of her upcoming release Heart to Heart. Continue reading
Top Tracks: Nick Valentini Collective – Worms
I’m always a fan of bands that boast virtuoso talents and love to show them off. Considering the fact that the Nick Valentini Collective have only been together for just over six months they perform like a well oiled machine and display enviable levels of technical wizardry. From the addictive opening bass line, soaring vocals and the alternative rock hooks, to the bewildering journey through jazz fusion and it’s closing moments of understated ambience, ‘Worms’ is one wild ride. Despite being crafted from an array of different genres into a new and inexplicable form lead songwriter Nick never loses control or strays too far from being interesting and accessable. Playing out like the contents of a demented doodle pad, the animated music video is just as bizarre and bewitching as the track itself. Call it madness, call it brilliance, but ‘Worms’, like most great music, has a fair share of both!
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