By 
Toots And The Maytals
Do they really need any introduction? Well, just in case; Toots and the Maytals are legends in the world of reggae, ska and roots music. They started releasing records from their base in Kingston, Jamaica in the early 1960s, working with the likes of Prince Buster and getting their first major hit, ‘Monkey Man’ in. Their influence is cast far and wide, beyond the immediate world of roots music and into the punk and ska revival of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, through to modern songwriters like the late Amy Winehouse. Toots isn’t just about nostalgia, though; he continues to record and release new music, bringing sunshine everywhere he performs.
Patrick Wolf
Patrick Wolf is one of the world’s born performers and his latest album, Lupercalia is possibly the finest display of his craft. With radio friendly hits, such as ‘The City’ and ‘Bermondsey Street,’ Lupercalia brings us Wolf at his most resplendent, bold and ambitious. Since the release of the album, Patrick’s live shows have been bombastic and celebratory, like an entire festival condensed into one set. Over the years, Patrick Wolf has attracted a seriously devoted fan base (his wolfpack) and to watch him perform, it’s easy to see how they became attracted to this charismatic songwriter, who somehow bridges a gap between Lloyd Cole and the Pet Shop Boys.
The Felice Brothers
The Felice Brothers take the age-old notion of wine, women, whiskey and song and take it up a notch, adding layers of soundscapes and constantly side-stepping from where you think their songs are going to go. Doused with the stench of dusty bars, they sit somewhere between country, folk and rock. Their last album, Celebration, Florida, was a top 5 hit in the US and saw them experimenting more than before, and breathing new life into their introspective Americana.
Hookworms
Leeds’ Hookworms released their cacophonous debut EP last year, the spirit of three-chord rock and roll, shrouded in a wall of sound, so dense, the vocals are set to ‘scream’ in order to pierce it. There’s something addictive about the noise they create, which sets them apart from other ‘buzz’ bands of the moment. A hypnotic rumble of bass and guitars that truly howl, they do psychedelia on a razor’s edge, in a world where melodrama and delay pedals collide.
Maya Jane Coles
Maya Jane Coles is a London-based British / Japanese producer and DJ. She ended perched at the top of pretty much every dance publication’s ‘Best Of’ lists and she started in style, bringing in the New Year at Fabric, followed by a set at Manchester’s New Year’s Day party at the Warehouse Project. MJC has made her name both as a talented DJ and as a producer in her own right, with her compositions being a slick mix of late-night funk, polished house and bassline.
Errors
Errors have been knocking around Glasgow since 2004 and quickly found themselves a home on the city’s veritable Rock Action Records. With the release of Have Some Faith In Magic, the band have found themselves stripped down to a three piece, and – somewhat radically for this bunch – have thrown some dreamy, cryptic vocals into the mix. Steev told Stool Pigeon recently that they’ve torn up the Errors rule book, “Forget everything we’ve done before, and let’s move on,” appears to be the new motto for the band. With this latest album, they’ve taken a step away from the banging Justice-style beats of their earlier records and a step towards the chill-wave sound that’s got everybody riled right now.
Frankie & The Heartstrings
Frankie & The Heartstrings are a 5-piece band from Sunderland. Their first single, ‘Hunger/Fragile’ was released at the beginning of. According to Songfacts, the song title and lyrics of ‘Hunger’ pay homage to the Norwegian author Knut Hamsun’s semi-autobiographical novel Hunger, which describes a young writer’s descent into near madness as a result of famine, poverty and homelessness, mmm sound fun!? They are a fun, entertaining live band who have toured endlessly for the past 2 years and it shows in their incredible performances.
Lunice
Lunice Fermin Pierre II has a lot of tricks up his sleeve but don’t be expecting anything resembling subtlety. Subtle is the one thing Lunice does not have in his repertoire. With two EPs released on the Glasgow imprint Lucky Me (where he counts Hudson Mohawke and Rustie amongst his label mates), there’s a reason they say he’s “taken over the asylum”: he mixes up hip-hop and electro in a manner that suggests he’s trying to translate schizophrenia into sound. Lunice has been working with girl-of-the-moment Azealia Banks, as well as remixing Thunderheist and The Touch. Hold on to your straitjackets.
Cloud Nothings
Cloud Nothings’ second album, Attack on Memory finds this Cleveland band in fine form, with a heavier take on the lo-fi pop of their debut of last year. This time around, they had Steve Albini at the controls and The Wipers on the stereo and the resulting sound is frantic and trashy, yet heartfelt. Whilst Cloud Nothings has always been more of a vehicle for its core member, Dylan Baldi, with Attack on Memory, it seems that they are evolving into more of a solid unit.
Huxley
Raised on a diet of UK & US Garage, House and early rave music, Huxley has moulded his music into what can only be called his own distinctive brand of house.
Willy Mason
Folk at its finest. Willy Mason’s songs are tales of dustbowl heartache, played out slow, strings howling in the distance, the crackle of campfires and old vinyl jostling to be heard. Channelling Dylan, Guthrie and Johnson, Mason is one of life’s troubadours and his voice is gentle and gruff, no clue to his 27 years. A long-time associate of Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), Willy carries a similar spirit in his songs; the passion and frustration of human relations cuts through the guitar lines until its palpable, like the sting of a fresh wound.
Star Slinger
Manchester’s Darren Williams provides the blissed out soul; cutting and splicing the world’s discarded record collections into something brand new. He’s started running the Jet Jam club night, with the aim of transforming it into a “global adventure;” with no strict plans on when or where the next party’s at: no rules, no genre. It’s the same theory he seems to apply to his music, tearing the likes of Rihanna, Drake and Mount Kimbie apart and piecing them back together like he lost the rulebook.
Xxxy
XXXY’s mother knows him as Rupert Taylor. The city of Manchester knows him as one of their finest label-hopping, genre-chopping producers. He’s released tracks everywhere from Fabric (their Elevator Music comp.) to Fortified Audio and Orca Recordings and has developed an aggressive, accomplished sound for himself. The combination of teen influences and a skill that he’s honed over the years has resulted in a sound that layers tech-house sounds over drum & bass rhythms; an atmospheric sound equally well suited to carving up dance floors and headphone-encased eardrums.
Mazes
They might hail from London but you’d be forgiven for assuming that Mazes had arrived on these shores via the beaches of California and the streets of Seattle. There aren’t many bands that welcome the ‘grunge revival’ tag but when you sound like Dinosaur Jr. on a happy day, or a Pavement single played at 78rpm, chances are, that label’s going to haunt you for a while. Mazes – who released their debut LP ‘A Thousand Heys’ last year – definitely fall on the melodic side of grunge, churning out brief but tuneful scuzzed up pop.
Willis Earl Beal
Willis Earl Beal is one of life’s born performers and his live shows are characterised by a serious intensity and unpredictability. You never know quite what he’s going to do; though you can be fairly certain that it will involve copious amounts of whiskey and some of the most impassioned, rawest a cappella lo-fi folk that you are likely to hear. He’s become known for the time that he dedicates to his fans, and even publicly dished out his phone number for people to give him a call so he could sing them a song.
KRL
His take on house music plays heavily around recycling audio; vocals, samples, recordings and rhythms. Tracks like Chase, Machine Code and There Is Nothin’ You Can Teach Me exemplify his soul injected house music, with deep basslines and an original ear for vocals and samples.
Bos Angeles
Adopting the affectionate nickname for their home town of Boscombe near Bournemouth, there’s more than a hint of the surf in their sound. Bos Angeles are masters of the three minute, blissed out lo-fi pop song, lazy vocals strung out and kicked into touch with some neat doo-wop backing vocals. They’re riding a similar wave to Mazes, or Bleeding Knees Club, but with a melancholic edge that lets them punctuate the Nirvana-via-Beach Boys genre that’s ruling the music industry right now.
Double Muscle
Three-piece, loud band from Leeds, UK. Big fans of Japanese footballers, science, Wu-Tang Clan and Dinosaur Jr.
Aartekt
Flux residents Liam Wachs and John Williamson are the latest in Leeds’ rich legacy of electronic producers and DJs. With their own releases on Bad Animal and Something Different Records, you couldn’t ask for better tour guides than Aartekt to take you on your journey through the best in underground house and techno.
Tall Ships
This Brighton-based trio are a three-man, multitasking wall of sound. Their ranging, spidery songs veer between gentle, layered melody and a raucous knees-up, with bass lines that threaten to shatter the bones of those in attendance at their gigs. With a nod to the math-rock of Foals and Battles, Tall Ships weave a rich tapestry of sound that is every bit as emotive as it is cerebral.
Casino Times
It is hard to pigeon hole the Casino Times sound with such varied backgrounds in music and taste, Nick and Joe both want to bring a real amalgamation to their productions and the dance-floor.
Blacklisters
One of Leeds’ gnarliest exports, Blacklisters released their debut album on Brew Records in April, having torn the guts out of several gig venues over the last few years. These guys are bastard sons of the Birthday Party, with an emphasis on ‘bastard’ and ‘party.’ There’s a darkly comic edge to their sound, but you probably won’t find yourself laughing when Billy Mason-Wood is prowling around the crowd with his thousand yard stare, as his band churn away behind him.
B>E>A>K
Sons of Sunderland’s rich music scene, B>E>A>K> started life as an experimental side project, boasting members of Maximo Park, Field Music, This Ain’t Vegas and Coal Train amongst their number. They have since grown into an intriguing entity in their own right, with a fearsome reputation for their energetic live shows. Their instrumental compositions are lively affairs that sound equally at home in a club as they would on a James Bond soundtrack. And You Will Know Them From The Trail Of Feathers.
Goodnight Lenin
Goodnight Lenin sit firmly in the current crop of young British folk music that’s busy convincing everyone that it’s 1965 again and electricity hasn’t been invented yet. Historical accuracy aside, Goodnight Lenin released ‘The Wenceslas Square EP,’ through Static Caravan, where they are labelmates with Laura J Martin, Tunng and Beth Jeans Houghton.
That Fucking Tank
That Fucking Tank are a duo, comprising Andy Abbott (guitar) and James Islip (drums). They are stalwarts of Leeds’ DIY scene and they really came into their own with the release of TFT this year, which saw them bring a real depth to their brutally hypnotic math-rock. Gone are the days of wearing masks and playing in their pants, TFT seem to have proven that their enduring appeal lies in their riffs and not in their trousers.
This Aint Vegas
When This Ain’t Vegas split a few years ago, they left a slew of devoted fans looking dead behind the eyes, staggering around what was left of the Northern music scene, like terribly unhappy zombies, clutching desperately at the vinyl they had left behind. Finally, the cruelty of a life without TAV came to an end, as they got back together for a low-key gig in Leeds in April. Who knows how long they’ll be with us; enjoy the resurrection of these Sunderland-dwelling post-punk anthem makers.
Lanterns On The Lake
This Newcastle six piece formed in 2007 and have been gathering serious pace since last year, when they released their debut LP, Gracious Tide, Take Me Home. A gentle representation of the bleak spirit of the North East, the languishing folk of Lanterns on the Lake will be the perfect antidote for your two-day hangover.
Hawk Eyes
Since changing their name from Chickenhawk, these Leeds-based rockers have undergone a serious transformation. Their album ‘Ideas’ landed an impressive 5K review in Kerrang! and the praise just keeps on coming. Live, they are brutal, from the guttural howlings of ‘Milk Hog’ to the catchy rock anthem ‘Hollywood Sweatshop’ Hawk Eyes are always a fiery proposition. Their recent shift in sound is ambitious and powerful, definitely steering them towards bigger venues, bigger crowds and reviews that go up to 11.
Admiral Fallow
Continuing the time-honoured Scottish tradition of creating rousing and epic indie folk music, Admiral Fallow have built up an impressive following in their homeland. Now, they are bringing the Elbow-esque anthems of their second album ‘Tree Bursts In Snow’ south. ‘The Paper Trench’ recently won 6Music’s Rebel Playlist and there seems to be little doubt that they’ll soon be winning over the hearts they’ve broken, far beyond the border.
Irie Vibes
The Irie Vibes Soundsystem is York’s biggest underground soundsystem weighing in at a chest rumbling 10kW. Bringing a regular dose of the Caribbean culture to the city with home-made food, art and an eclectic music policy influenced by all things Dub.
Comments