The Illicits are the leaders of the next generation. The four-piece band from Blackburn are the vital, essential guitar band the UK music scene has been waiting for. The cover of the Underworld classic Born Slippy has become a firm fan favourite at live shows, with the band encoring with the 90s classic. Using soaring guitars and thumping percussion instead of electronica, this is an exquisite cover, and it is easy to see why this has been favourite within their set list.
Few bands in 2019 have us excited quite like Miss June. The New Zealand guitar-rock quartet crashed our hearts, minds, and playlists with firecracker single “Best Girl.” The riffing single comes with word of Miss June’s debut album, Bad Luck Party, its title lifted from the instantly memorable chorus of “Best Girl.”
Mystery Jets is an English five-piece indie band, formerly based on Eel Pie Island in Twickenham, London. It’s hard to believe that it’s been ten years since Mystery Jets broke surface with their debut album, Making Dens.
A few days ago Mystery Jets have shared a video for A Billion Heartbeats. The indie-rock number serves as the title track of the band’s upcoming sixth studio album, out on April 3 via Caroline International, having had its 2019 release postponed due to vocalist Blaine Harrison undergoing emergency surgery. The clip, meanwhile, was shot in Trafalgar Square, London.
JFDR (aka Jófríður Ákadóttir) is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born in 1994, from Reykjavík, Iceland. She is known for her solo project JFDR as well as her work with Samaris, Pascal Pinon and Gangly and works closely with producer and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily. She makes Experimental Pop music, mixing classical, folk, and electronic music. JFDR is back wit her second album New Dreams,
M/A/R/R/S was a one-off collaboration between members of A.R. Kane (Alex and Rudi Kane) and Colourbox (Martin and Steve Young), both veteran 4AD artists. They took their name from the four collaborator’s initials plus that of label boss Ivo Watts-Russell, who suggested they get together. Those four are the credited songwriters on the track.
This song is made up of about 250 samples. The line, “Pump Up The Volume” came from “I Know You Got Soul” by Eric B. & Rakim, which was released earlier in 1987. Other samples include Coldcut’s 1987 song “Say, Kids What Time Is This” and James Brown’s “Funky Drummer.” It also contains three seconds of Stock Aitken & Waterman’s song “Roadblock,” but the group didn’t get official clearance and Peter Waterman placed an injunction for five days while the copyright issues were worked out. This was the first ever #1 UK hit on an independent record label: 4AD. It also reached #1 in Holland and New Zealand.
It’s been eight years since Angel Deradoorian abandoned her stint with Dirty Projectors to pursue a solo career. Since, she’s made several guest appearances for artists like Flying Lotus, Brandon Flowers and Rostam (who, little-known fact, was also a member of the Projectors alongside Ezra Koenig way back in the day). Tuesday, Deradoorian announced her first full-length since signing to ANTI-, Find the Sun, the follow-up to her 2015 album The Expanding Flower Plant. The record is set for release on May 22.
Julia Stone has performed a cover of the classic Midnight Oil hit ‘Beds Are Burning’ while protesting the need for indigenous land management practices.
