A lot of new British bands are given plane tickets dumped in the Texas Desert and then forced to play South-By-South-West (SXSW) in Austin to pay for their journey home and simultaneously try to show-off some of the best new music Britain has to offer... here's a run down of my picks for the agenda-setting festival. BEARSUIT MP3: Steven Fucking Speilberg : Speeding South-Eastern indie-pop gets revved up screeching from motorway to dirt-road to railway-track looking for the line that takes them to the sea, smiling throughout knowing they [...]
>> Surprisingly, given our typical microscopic coverage of all things Johnny Foreigner , we don't think we've yet reported that the Birmingham, England-based trio will release "Our Bipolar Friends" as a single March 5. DrownedInSound notes the release in this interview with fronter and guitarist Alexei Foreigner. We imagine that the single will be available in the UK only, but we're hoping that it will be carried, albeit digitally, via EMusic. Not that we won't buy a hard copy of the import, of course. We're curious as to what the b-sides to the single will be; as [...]
Another year comes to a close and unless you were living under a rock, 2007 was a great one for music. Maybe the tunes are actually better lately or maybe they're just easier to get at (I sometimes wonder how many great bands were lost during the pre-Internet era). There are so many bands to be excited about right now, much of which is coming out of the UK at the moment courtesy of forebearers like The Arctic Monkeys and The Cribs and now spilling into a new generation of punk/C86 mashers like [...]
Georgie James 20. Band of Horses " Is There A Ghost " For everyone nostalgic for the Catherine Wheel, look no further. 19. The Sea and Cake " Coconut " Yet another example of why Chicago may very well be the music capital of America. 18. Tegan and Sara "Hop A Plane" Couldn't find a free link to a mp3 of this one. The twins benefit from top notch production courtesy of [...]
Arcs Across The City -- which could just as easily been titled Six Clattering Explosions And One Soft One -- is the new gold standard in indie rock. After more than a decade of our comparing the merits of new recordings to monumental releases including Archers Of Loaf 's Greatest Of All Time EP; Lilys ' A Brief History Of Amazing Letdowns EP; Haywood 's Men Called Him Mister ; The Lemonheads ' Lovey ; Camper Van Beethoven 's Key Lime Pie ; et cetera; [...]
Thanksgiving is tomorrow and things are winding down around here...check out some songs I've been enjoying recently! Mystery Jets - Flakes Johnny Foreigner - Another Ghost Another Planet Blunderbuss - I Am A Prayer Radiohead - Unravel (Pocket Mix)
>> If you're strolling around Manhattan next month and you think you see Birmingham, UK-based indie rock geniuses Johnny Foreigner mucking about, you're not crazy. The trio plans to record a full-length record with heavy rock producer The Machine there next month. Said producer's credits include work with King Crimson and Clutch . An interesting choice for a producer, to be sure. If given our choice we would have selected J. Robbins , but we are excited to hear what the striking pairing will bring about for the band. Anyway, if you [...]
Please flashback to 1995, when Oasis and Blur were battling for the title of undisputed champions of popular British music, putting forth (What's the Story) Morning Glory? and The Great Escape , respectively. While the bands claimed to share little more than common accents and stakes on the Beatles' legacy, each was forced to fight against the overwhelming shadow of the Pacific Northwest musical movement that had dominated the early nineties. One could easily imagine all parties involved referring to much of the popular American music of the day as "rubbish." So fast forward to [...]
Noisy, shouty and loud. Is there any better way to kick start the weekend? Turn the volume up and prepare to launch yourself around the room. This is Johnny Foreigner and for the most part, they seem quite incapable of producing anything other than an unholy racket. But an unholy racket with a knack from hooky melodies. Hailing from Birmingham, Johnny Foreigner are a band local to me who excel in propulsive drumming, scratchy, scathing guitars and strainingboy/girl vocals. The songs are packed full of directions and raucous action. At times it feels like [...]
>> Little of what Modest Mouse has done in the ensuing 12 years or so has equaled to our ears their amazing first single, "Broke" b/w "Whenever I Breathe Out You Breathe In." We capital L Love the song "Broke," and probably listened to it more than anything else in 1996. Imagine our surprise to see Modest Mouse performing the tune live in a clip over at AOL Music. The original recording is perhaps the bitterest, most heartbroken three minutes Modest Mouse has ever mustered. This AOL version is a little "soft rock," but [...]
Aaaah now here's a nice bit of aural relief. Cos basically, when it comes down to it, it sounds like emo. You know, from when before it meant slightly morbid pop-punk. So the first band I thought of after a minute or two of this minialbum/EP was Braid. And then a bit of Cap'n Jazz. But it ain't aaaall like that of course; there's a few dashes of girl/boy shouting going on, recalling post-Huggy Bear types like Bis and Los Campesinos, plus there are even a few Polvo-esque twisty out of tune spazzy bits. So basically, it's all good. Very [...]
Bella Summer's finally over. Bring on the seasonal affective disorder. 1. Black Kids - " I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You " 2. Johnny Foreigner - " Our Bi-Polar Friends " 3. Bella - " Give It A Night " 4. Bowerbirds - " In Our Talons " 5. Vampire Weekend - " Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa " 6. Brad Laner - " June Gloom " 7. Iron & Wine - " Innocent Bones " [...]
When I was in London a couple weeks ago, one of the favorite places I visited was the Shoreditch area of town. Hipster central. Yip. Anyway, Johnny Foreigner recently played to a packed house there and will continue to shock and aww around the UK in the next few months opening for Meneguar and the latest DFA signee, Prinzhorn Dance School. Have a listen to "Our Bi-Polar Friends" and you'll find delightful boy/girl vocal interplay coupled with big beats and spastic guitars. Mandatory blogger comparison: The Plastic Constellations with less hardcore influences and more pop [...]
This week ushers in the beginning of a parade of albums we've been waiting all year to hear, albums that will likely be our favorites of 2007. This is not to say there aren't other excellent records in the pipeline that we think will be stupendous ( Kevin Drew , Les Savy Fav , etc.). But here's the rundown of the stuff at the very tip top of our list: >> Sept. 18: The A-Sides -- Silver Storms -- Vagrant [ buy! ] The A-Sides have had [...]
The nice thing about writing for a blog is you can help out your favorite bands in a variety of ways. Not only can you write about your newest discovery, do a writeup on a new single or review an album, you can also promote their live appearances. Of course, when the band is in the faraway (for you) UK, you can promote shows that you, sadly, cannot attend but hopefully someone else will. I have no idea how many UK readers we have here at Rock Sellout, but I know we at least have a few. So [...]
[ Another week, another update about Johnny Foreigner... it's getting to the point where we are half-considering setting up a separate blog just to cover them, with a wacky name like "A+ No. 1 Super Fun Time Johnny Foreigner Fan Club USA Blog." But on to the news... -- Ed. ] There's almost imperceptible buzz around the Internets that superhuman Birmingham, UK-based noise pop trio Johnny Foreigner is considering at least one record deal. Not much of a surprise, really. We'll let you know how that shakes out. In the meantime, you should really click [...]
If we lived in the UK we would have seen earlier tonight (likely in person, because the band had scads of guest passes) criminally underknown Birmingham-based noise pop heavyweights Johnny Foreigner performing for the Channel 4 teevee cameras at London's Carling Academy Islington. The appearance was part of the band's bid for a slot at this summer's V Festival . At this point, because of the time change, the TV appearance has already transpired, but we're not seeing anything on the YouTubes yet. For now we wait. Anyway, it did actually take us burning all [...]
Everything seems to be coming up Johnny Foreigner at the moment. Fresh off the back of supporting Los Campesinos! and Sky Larkin on their recent tour, the band have now reached the finals of the Road To V competition. Road To V allows unsigned bands to battle for a place at the V Festival later on in the year, and Johnny Foreigner have made it to the final list of 14. This means they will now play for some industry types, and as I understand it, will be appearing on a [...]
It sounds like Johnny Foreigner have finally pulled themselves out of the dustbin they were recording in, if the new recordings on their Myspace are anything to go by. The band have gone back and put together some new versions of old favourites 'Sometimes, In The Bullring' and 'Sofacore', and they sound fantastic. This isn't an entire sea change though, as there is still very much a DIY feel to these recordings, but in a way where you can actually hear the words now. MP3 [...]
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A Certain Romance
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I’ll Just Leave This Here #161
BAND OF HORSES – The Funeral (Sound Remedy Remix)
K-Holes - "Frozen Stiff"
Angger Dimas – Ribon Dooh (Preview)
