When I started this site, one of my goals was to define what 'indie music' is. After listening to many a song from the pool of what popular culture defines as 'indie', I've come to realize that though you can't really sum up 'indie music' in terms of musical style, you can however, spot the 'indie-ness' of a certain song / band by some tell tale signs. For this week, we've got a list of indie trademarks culled from hundreds of hours of music surfing and an odd number of family and friends commenting on what the heck I've been [...]
We regret being too busy in recent months to provide the microscopic coverage of Birmingham, England-based noise pop titans Johnny Foreigner per our usual modus operandi , and we're going to start making up for it right now. For example, did you know that the trio will finally issue a vinyl single from its superlative sophomore full-length Grace And The Bigger Picture ? The single -- the third from the latest collection after the freebie "Feels Like Summer" and "Criminals" -- is for the track "Every Cloakroom Ever," and just Monday night (when we actually [...]
Thus begins our attempt to bring you news that isn't covered by "the cool kid" websites. Here you'll find the latest news about the bands we've interviewed in the past or are "on our radar". Our goal is to avoid the over-reported stories on topics like the Kings of Leon clothing line or the latest Bono rant. Instead, these are primarily indie bands that aren't covered by the big boys..... but should be. Quick news for you to scan, with the option to follow links that'll give you more detail. Aqualung have almost completed [...]
Some of you may have heard that Johnny Foreigner will be touring South Africa this year. While this UK indie rock band may be pretty far removed from electronic music we still though it would be rad to promote it a bit here. Griet are bringing them into the country and they represent a couple of the artists on electrotrash so yeah, spread the love! They have put together a promo sampler for you to download, along with album art that you can print out to make a complete package! Grab it below! [...]
Birmingham indie rock trio Johnny Foreigner have now made available a free EP called 'The 'Winterval EP' on their Web site . The EP features three tracks: 'Ghost The Festivals', 'Palace Fires' and 'Custom Scenes And The Parties That Make Them'. The band have also announced a short tour of the UK for next month: Monday 1st February 2010 - Edinburgh Cabaret Voltaire Tuesday 2nd February 2010 - Manchester Ruby Lounge Wednesday 3rd February 2010 - Sheffield Harley [...]
I've missed far too much music in the past year to make a proper best of list, so instead, here's a list of 22 songs that I've loved from 2009. Listed in alphabetical order, not preference. Even though all of them are bloody good. 4 or 5 Magicians - Preaching to the Converted So 2009 didn't turn out to be the year that 4 or 5 Magicians finally "made it". They did manage to put out their first proper album though, and despite a few missteps, it's an excellent start. [...]
So that was 2009, huh? Besides all the day-job stuff, we'd be happy for another year just like it, musically and personally. We loathe when people say "this year wasn't very good for music" or crap like that, because, frankly, if you're saying that you weren't trying hard enough. There's always more music, and there is always great music. But enough of that rant. We're pleased with the array of artists we spotlight below; we hope you'll find some things here that had escaped your attention heretofore, and that you derive as much enjoyment from listening to them as we [...]
Birmingham noise-pop trio Johnny Foreigner don't do compromise: "make it loud, make it quick" is about their philosophy. some may look to their contemporaries for reference, but theirs is as much a case of having one foot in the present and one in the past, taking cues from the soaring riffs of bands like Sebadoh combined with the urgency of the current Los Campesinos! . directly to your ears. ARTIST : Johnny Foreigner TITLE : Grace and the Bigger Picture [...]
Here it is, our annual salute to the greatest of the (contemporary) greatest: our most-listened-to tracks of 2009. The usual rules apply: each band only gets one song, so despite the fact that most of our Top 10 most-listened-to 2009 tracks in ITunes are from Johnny Foreigner 's superlative Grace And The Bigger Picture , only the most-played track gets a slot on our list below. The main reason for doing this list is to spotlight great songs that might not have been on an album that warrants best-of-the-best status for the year. The inclusion of George [...]
We're working on a write-up about this song for Sweeping The Nation 's "Noughties By Nature" best songs of the decade thing. Yeah, surprise, surprise, we're writing about Johnny Foreigner again. This is one of our absolute favorite songs (statistically, it is our favorite song), and this very intimate rehearsal video is something we always rediscover every few months. Missing some of the spacey backing vocals and other extras from the version that most have heard. Despite failing to land this performance, the video is incredibly charming.
We remember an interview we did with Art Brut, in which they attempted to entertain us with their wisdom and faux pharmacological humor. Frankly, we thought it came off a bit forced and that they took themselves a bit too seriously. Enter Britain's Johnny Foreigner and their attempt to charm us with music and their interpretation of the way of the world. I remember going to see Guided By Voices shortly after they signed to Matador and as they prepared to join a Lollapalooza tour. Despite the lofty expectations of the crowd, Robert Pollard showed up, [...]
Birmingham, England-based Johnny Foreigner are back with a new album, Grace and the Bigger Picture , which came out last week in the UK. It's a triumphant return for a band that has already made waves on both sides of the Atlantic, although having much more impact in their home country. This record sees them writing music for the long term, as they slowly develop their sound without losing any of the punch that makes them so exciting.
Hallowe'en. 'Tis the season to be dark, ghoulish and scary. It would be easy for me to post a list of top five goth songs or death metal songs, or to be relevant and cater to the taste of the masses, maybe even have run down of favorite songs from the Twilight soundtrack. But I won't. It actually would be easier for me to just produce a list of my favorite noisy songs that have a nice mix of guy and girl vocals (good songs like these are quite the find!). But, [...]
Johnny Foreigner have a quite a reputation to live up to with their second LP 'Grace And The Bigger Picture', their 2009 debut album 'Waited Up 'Til It Was Light' received critical acclaim not only from the press but from fans themselves. The trio from Birmingham's second album highlights their trials and tribulations of touring. Opening track 'Choose Yr Side and Shut Up!' kicks in straight off the bat and doesn't let up for it's 1:51 duration. Things continue in a similar vein throughout the next few song, short but sweet indie noise-pop songs [...]
Thirteen tunes that have entertained my ears over the past few months. Burn it to a CD and play it loud in your car. Enjoy. 01 - Frightened Rabbit - " Swim Until You Can't See Land ". 02 - Pet Lions - " Propeller Plane ". 03 - Turbo Fruits - " On The Road [...]
The span of years roughly book-ended by the launches of Napster and Spotify -- a decade during which many perpetually proclaimed the album format dead -- was crammed with crates and crates and crates and crates of compelling music. And why wouldn't it be? Ones and zeroes do not obviate humanity's innate need to rock . But that is a subject for another day. Today, as part of Deckfight 's ongoing Albums Of The Decade Blog Tour , we force ourselves to choose the 10 best of the last 10 years. For weeks we've debated how to [...]
Let's not mess about - this is the most exciting tour ever made. The fact that I am going to misss both of these at SWN (thanks to money issues meaning no trains/no gains) is slightly made up by the announcement of Johnny Foreigner's UK tour with Internet Forever in support. Expect to see me front and centre in Stoke (Jobseekers Allowance pending) Tickets available at JohnnyForeignerBand.com . If past performances are anything to go by, this is going to be one of the tours [...]
ALBUM REVIEW: Johnny Foreigner - Grace And The Bigger Picture Words: Gareth O'Malley Difficult second album? Pfft. As if . The Birmingham noise-pop trio seem as though they had an absolute whale of a time recording this. 'Grace And The Bigger Picture', in the words of the band (Alexei Berrow, Kelly Southern and Junior Elvis Washington Laidley - guitarist, bassist and drummer respectively) themselves, 'Bigger Picture' is 'a 'band on tour' album'; each of the record's fifteen tracks were written whilst [...]
Boredom is setting in on this fine albeit chilly Thursday afternoon. Having just been sent a nasty package from Gigwise with an Athlete CD requiring reviewing, I thought it good time to unleash some 140-character reviews on some of the stuff on the MFM stereo. | Under scrutiny this time round: Johnny Foreigner Neon Indian Washed Out and Phantogram Awww, here goes! [...]
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