Over the past week England has witnessed some particularly disturbing scenes of civil unrest and our thoughts go out to those who have been directly affected by last weeks rioting, looting and violence. The weeks events became particuarly poignant when we learnt that a Sony warehouse which shared its space with the largest UK Independent Music Distributor ' PIAS ' was burnt to the ground. PIAS store and distribute music for most of the UK's independent labels and artists. Overnight they lost an estimated 750,000 CDs, records and DVDs to the fire. [...]
Music Fans Mic is a lesson in underestimating the humble. They self-describe themselves as " a shitty mp3 and album review blog ", but believe us when we say that this is a music commentator that we could all learn some lessons from. Sure we realise that there may be bigger music bloggers in the game, and they may not make the same identical selections as The Recommender, but they definitely share many of our ideals, so it's this that's got them onto our special weekly Q&A feature. You will see below that the Editors, Jamie and Gareth, [...]
An English woman's opinion. Right? Drowned In Sound sent relentlessly English writer Wendy Roby to cover Les Eurockéennes de Belfort, the long running French festival. The line up this year was a happily jumbled mix of sounds, putting Les Savy Fav on the same bill as House of Pain. FINALLY! Actually, I had no idea they were still touring, I guess the Jump Around nostalgia dollar is again trading high. Either way, I would have gone [...]
(Click image for MASSIVE hi-res version to print off and take to gigs ) If you're a regular gig goer I'm sure you've noticed, over the last few years, the increasing number of annoying, imbecilic dullards in attendance who decide to strike up a conversation at the exact point an artist/band begin their set. I mean really , if you want to be a Facebook staus update made flesh or have a good old chin wag why not stand at the back of the venue? Or better still, do us [...]
And so on to part two of our Liverpool Sound City round-up. (PART 1 featuring The Good Natured, Pete And The Pirates and Let's Buy Happiness can be found HERE And it's our first rant of the festival ! Emmy The Great @ Parr Street Studio2. 'A Woman, A Woman, A Century of Sleep ' By Emmy The Great. With such a varied and eclectic mix of musicians [...]
It's easy to say, isn't it, but oh so very hard to do: whatever else you do in the music business, never get into the habit of resenting other people's success. I had an absolutely awful temper as a kid. I don't think anyone I currently know has ever really seen me lose it, because it doesn't really happen these days. But I went through a couple of years of getting into fights, shouting at referees, smashing up things in frustration, and just generally giving too much vent to my feelings. Eventually I got myself sent [...]
One of the most interesting aspects of the SXSW Festival, that came to a close last month, happens in the weeks following it's finish. As much fun and buzz as it no doubt is at the time, it's ultimately a massive industry showcase for new artists, so the real interest should be about who emerge as eventual winners once the Texan smoke has dissipated. The obvious choice is Odd Future - or Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All to give them their ridiculous full name - an extraordinary Los Angeles collective, (occasionally up [...]
We're busy gearing up to fly to Austin for Waynestock and the Axis of Audio day party, in addition to a dozen other events taking place during SXSW, so here are some afternoon links to enjoy in the meantime (though more posts are on the way shortly): Tom Waits was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last night by Neil Young before performing 4 songs, including "Get Behind the Mule" with Young himself. While the broadcast won't air on FUSE until Sunday [...]
Hope everyone's having a great weekend so far. Here's a few links of note this Saturday afternoon… Drowned in Sound , one of our favorite long-running music sites, kindly let me round up music news highlights from January . Enjoy bits you may have missed about Radiohead, Kate Bush, and a slew of other artists here . The Strokes ' first single off Angles , "Under Cover of Darkness," is now up for pre-order on Amazon , where you can also stream [...]
Over the last couple of years The Recommender blog has voted for the BBC Sound Of poll , as one of the 160 appointed 'tastemaker' pundits, so it makes sense that we compile this roundup of the eventual winners, following this week's revelation of the final top 5. We've also managed to grab a few quotes from those that have been involved over the years. We should begin by saying that we are honestly rather pleased with the results, so it's a list that we happily stamp with a Recommender approval and we sincerely hope that the [...]
Trovare la cover , la copertina adeguata al contenuto di un disco è una specie di 'arte': è un momento di sintesi tra la musica e l'immagine, un valore aggiunto in alcuni, fortunati casi e un motivo di curiosità in altri. Se è sempre meno vero che 'non si giudica un libro dalla copertina' (non sono proprio tempi propizi per usare l'espressione "l'abito non fa il monaco"), è anche vero che nella musica le cover continuano ad essere motivo di discussioni anche accese. Complice anche il ritorno del vinile e quindi, di un formato [...]
One of the seminal music websites and communities on the world wide web is Drownedinsound.com and they are turning 10. To celebrate, they are throwing a whole host of parties in the UK, from London to Sheffield, and rightfully so. If are are like this writer and live in NYC, you can tune into BBC6 [...]
AUDIOVISUALS : Masks - Forever Dancing (Live at the Great Escape) ——- Beatcast.tv catch up with the South-east-bound duo and capture some perfect visuals to accompany the sounds of the band's breakthrough track, 'Forever Dancing'. [Thanks to DiS ]
It's been a while since I've last posted mixes on Going Other Places, but now it's time for quick rundown. My patience with mixes varies a lot. Therefore, I think it's appropriate to share a few of the ones that have grabbed my attention lately, so you don't have to go through all the weeds. First up is live recording of John Osborn 's gig at Panorama Bar for the Sub:Stance anniversary back in July. If you've been following the Facebook page , you'll know that I linked to the SCB set a while [...]
Een heel muziekgenre samenvatten in een mix van één uur is haast ondoenlijk. Het Britse webzine Drowned in Sound heeft zich er echter toch aan gewaagd. DJ en muziekjournalist Eighteen heeft 25 dubstep-nummers geselecteerd die tezamen een overzicht moeten geven van hoe het genre zich door de jaren heen heeft ontwikkeld en die tegelijkertijd ook inzicht moeten bieden in hoe veelzijdig de muziek binnen het genre eigenlijk is. Het resultaat is een aardige mixtape vol klassiekers van dubstep pioniers als Skream en Digital Mystikz, aangevuld met tracks van artiesten die de grenzen van dubstep [...]
The good folks over at Drowned in Sound asked me to write about what's going on musically in Dublin at the moment. The end result covers Popical Island, Richter Collective, Box Social, The Rednecks, !Kaboogie, The Cast of Cheers, Heathers, the best of Electronic and Villagers. Check it out here or listen to a playlist I created from the artists featured here: Drowned in Dublin playlist
Not quite a Blogs What I Like feature, but close enough. You're already probably an avid Drowned in Sound reader, and probably haven't failed to notice the new column in town. Niall Byrne, the curator of Ireland's Annual Best Music Blog nialler9 , has started a new in-depth feature on Drowned in Sound. It's called Drowned in Dublin , and features all the best new Irish music from the likes of the bigger names such as Heathers and Villagers, as well as collectives such as Popical Island and the Richter [...]
Green Man Festival is looking for a band to open the Festival Calling all bands - Green Man needs you! There's only one thing better than being at the Green Man , and that's playing at the Green Man! Green Poll is back - and it's bigger and better than ever before. This is your chance to get the party of the summer started with a bang as we launch our annual [...]
![[Listen] – Entire New Album By Ganglians](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/2483223_lg.jpg)
DrownedInSound have an exclusive stream of Ganglians latest album "Monster Head Room", and whilst they note that it's already been out in the U.S. for a while now, it's still great to be able to hear it for free before you decide whether you want to buy it or not. You WILL buy it though. So check it out below, or just go ahead and buy it: Amazon - CD | MP3 - InSound - CD | MP3
Wouldn't it be great if that was a photo of an actual product? Well, it might just become reality in the near future. Rock Band, makers of that game with the fake plastic instruments, recently announced Rock Band Network . While up until now users had to depend on Rock Band itself to release songs (and put up with a LOT of Foo Fighters and 70s rock) , Rock Band Network looks set to change everything. What's new is that bands now have the option to place their own music in the RBN. Potentially, this means that pretty much [...]
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Skrillex Uses Satanic and Homosexual Influence to Win Grammys
