Nearly every week, another music conference springs up from nowhere and tries to convince us that the crop of artist playing in a disused airfield will be the acts of the future.
For the unknown bands and singers playing at these gatherings, it’s pretty much the first chance they’ll get to have people hear their music properly, and not in a horribly compressed MP3 shoved on some corner of the internet.
Don’t think of them as festivals so to speak, more a chance for A&R people and record label executives to see what talent is actually out there. One of the most diverse conferences on music is held in Austin, Texas. Gone are the days when the state was simply known for oil, executions and idiotic politicians. To honour the conference known as SXSW, here a band who hail right from the city itself, Love Inks.
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No you silly dyslexic person! This isn’t some sort of crazy side project by M.I.A or a failed attempt by record label EMI trying to reinvent themselves after speaking to some art students in London’s Brick Lane. These initials make up the full name of Erika M. Anderson. After hearing just a singular track, we are already hooked on a musical approach.
Weirdly, we are crying out for a badly coded MySpace here so we can listen to more EMA songs in poor quality audio. Sadly, all we can find is a singular song on Sound Cloud and some basic blurb on the singer who we have high expectations for.
A South Dakota native, she moved to LA when she was just 18, because she really liked ‘Welcome to the Jungle’. Each to their own we guess.
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Okay ear owners! It is time to punish yourself in the most fuzztastic way possible. Scorching guitars, white-boy soul howling and drums being hit so hard that the snare wishes it could grow arms just to blow its brains out.
This week’s HecklerPlay is offering you free tunes from the outrageously great Irish outfit, The Bonnevilles. Fans of The Black Keys, MC5 and shit-kicker blues, apply here.
A sick minded two-piece, The Bonnevilles take the blues by the scruff of the neck and give it a motorcycle booted kicking before buying it a round of drinks. Then beating it senseless again. We’re talking white-hot, knuckle cracking garage punk rock ‘n’ roll that aims to hit the floor so hard that the floorboards move out of the way. The Bonnevilles’ ‘Good Suits and Fightin’ Boots (which you can listen to here) is a firm hecklerspray favourite. And the gruesome twosome are giving away an EP for free! Merry bastard humbug readers.
The Bonnevilles Facebook or The Bonnevilles Bandcamp for more details and free stuff!
Over the years, there’s been a whole host of mash-ups and, quite frankly, most of them are terrible. However, something that always kinda works is when rock and hip-hop collide. Hardly surprising really when you consider that hip hop is, essentially, a genre that embraces the mash-up culture more than any other.
When Run DMC mashed with Aerosmith, the results were astonishing. Years back there was the fun ‘Grey Album’. Jay-Z’s Glastonbury performance came from leftfield to meld classic rock under existing tracks of his. Even more recently, one of the best albums in years came out under the guise of Beatles Versus Wu Tang Clan.
And now, we’ve got the White Stripes verses a whole host of hip hop greats. Read More >>>
Many of your were keen to outpour your grief and disappointment when Liam Gallagher’s new band – Beady Eye – released their new single on the world. Chances are, you were hoping for something that sounded like Oasis and, sadly for Liam, it sounded more like Alvin Stardust.
However, that won’t stop you from carrying some hope that he’s got some decent tunes in his back pocket. Andy Bell was in Ride, and Ride were really great!
This means you might be interested in watching Beady Eye play some gigs, provided you’re willing to overlook just how shot Liam Gallagher’s voice has sounded for the past 5 years. Read More >>>
When Oasis split up, many of us breathed a massive sigh of relief. They’ve been churning out toothless, thundering-pain-in-the-stomach rock for so long that it really did seem like they would fulfil Damon Albarn’s prophecy of becoming the new Status Quo.
However, they did the right thing and split up before one of the Gallagher brothers killed each other. But that wasn’t the end of it.
Of course, Liam has now formed Beady Eye, a band that imaginatively features the Oasis backing band put together by Noel. And their new single, ‘Bring The Light’, came out and thrilled as many as it confused. And now, there’s a promotional video to stare at. Read More >>>
It’s a good thing that Oasis split-up. This is because, should the band have continued, Liam or Noel Gallagher would have probably killed each other, which would have meant a reappraisal of Oasis’ back catalogue and dreadful, sycophantic mewings over just how ‘great’ they were.
Instead of becoming rock martyrs, they’ve been left to shuffle around some pub-rock world for thick-headed simpletons to thrill over each misguided swagger and V-sign.
However, the music won’t stop as Liam Gallagher and his new band Beady Eye are releasing their first single ‘Bring the Light’ as a free download. Read More >>>
Steve Mason, the voice of the Beta Band, has been quietly release the same record over and over again for years. Weirdly, all of them are as enjoyable as the last. Now, he’s back with some solo stuff and details of an Autumn UK headline tour.
Mason will be playing with full band all over the UK, which includes a special and free stripped back acoustic in-store on Tuesday 17th August at Monorail in Glasgow. It kicks off at 7pm so get down early.
This all ties into Steve’s new record, Am I Just a Man, which will hit shelves on Monday August 16th.
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