Tuesday 28 February 2012

Video Tuesday

There's times, like a dismally grey day in February; or the comedown after a weeks festival, or just the impenatrable fog of ennui derived from another working day, when you don't feel like doing anything. Just cannot be bothered. It's moments like those when I find music is at it's best, I think everyone has experienced the mood changing power of music, and at this moment in time there's nothing I want more than a little pop pick me up. Luckily for me then that there's three great pop songs (and videos) knocking about at the moment. Not a lot more to be said then just let these little nuggets of brilliance brighten your day.

Allo Darlin' - Capricornia


Eux Autres - Home Tonight


MJ Hibbett - A Little Bit


Also there's a little bit (ahem) on the making of the video on Hibbett's website which you should read.

Friday 24 February 2012

Start All Over

Like a bedraggled phoenix struggling from the flames; like a snowdrop waiting to be crushed by a jackboot, Beerandbands rises again ready to hobble into action. To misquote a dour Mancunian "7 months is a long time", and that is truly the case; new bands and music rise and fall, ebb and flow, and vanish before anyone even noticed, and whilst I may have missed out on reporting on stuff over the last however long, it's pleasing to note that there's still a lot going on.

In fact it's a flurry of activity out there at the minute; exciting enough to move me to (relative) action.

Firstly, London Popfest. It was on last night and it's on over the weekend; allday on Saturday and from 1:00pm on Sunday. I believe Saturday is sold out but there's tickets for Friday and Sunday, both of which boast fantastic line-ups. If sadly you can't make it (much like me) then there's at least the brilliant consolation of a free download compilation of this years line-up. Which is more than worth the 5 - 10 minutes of your time it will take to download it.

Details of popfest - tickets, times, etc can be found on their website.
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If London Popfest isn't enough to get you excited then surely the prospect of Indietracks must do. For some waiting for the first announcements of indietracks is a traditional. Bands waiting to be see if they can play, fans with fingerscrossed that their favourite will get a chance. The fact that a band who played the previous year won't usually play the next year, adds a nice spice to the mix. So yes, anyway, Indietracks have already announced there first few acts, and it looks as promising as ever. Go on HAVE A LOOK. It's a nice mix of the big hitter (Allo Darlin', Tender Trap), the new flavours (Colour Me Wednesday, Evans The Death, GoldBears) and the mysterious (Doggy.) I must admit I'm mostly excited about Language Of Flowers, I saw them once supporting Camera Obscura in, oh 2006 I think, and they were wonderful. I had no idea they were going to reform to do this. There are early bird tickets on the indietracks website I linked up there; and it's worth noting that the festival takes place earlier this year, just in case you're on auto pilot and have booked the wrong days off work! Finally the last couple of pages of the indietracks announcements page on anorakforum.com has some videos of the announced bands so far.

One last indiepop festival to mention before I go, and it's a new one. On the 24th Of March there's going to be an indiepop alldayer in Leicester. I like the fact that there are more and more of these 'popfests' popping up all over the country it can only be a very, very good thing. This one has the always entertaining M.J Hibbett and Tender Trap for starters, but the line up is very good indeed.
There's a facebook events page for this one.