We are off to the seaside later this week for the Great Escape festival and we are looking forward to catching up with friends, watching bands, drinking beer, eating fishing and chips and dancing until the wee hours.

However it’s not all play as we are hosting a showcase with our friends Black & White Music on Friday and we’d love to see you there.

FRIDAY 11^TH MAY: STICKY MIKE’S, BRIGHTON – 12 PM TIL 4 PM, FREE ENTRY (No wristband required)

LINE UP & STAGE TIMES: OLIVER TANK (Aus) -12:30 pm + WORSHIP - 1:20 pm + MUNICH - 2:10 pm + CONCRETE KNIVES (France) – 3:10 pm + MONKEYSUIT DJs.

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MAP: http://g.co/maps/u4kv6

OLIVER TANK

“Just gorgeous” MARY-ANNE HOBBS, XFM
“Reverb drenched and touchingly sparse music…blissful tracks” JEN LONG, RADIO 1
“Something really special…. blissfully sparse electronica”. AMAZING RADIO – “Artist of The Day”

With his own brand of incredibly textural glitch pop, combining live instruments and synths, talented Sydney-based producer Oliver Tank creates soundscapes akin to waking dreams. He’s already setting the blogosphere alight, charting in a top position on Hype Machine and has been gaining plays on XFM, Radio 1, BBC 6 Music and Amazing Radio in the UK and has been getting extensive support from Triple J Radio in his native Australia plus NPR in the US featured his EP in their top 5 bandcamp albums of 2011.

Oliver will be venturing to the UK to play a short tour, perform at the Great Escape and Liverpool Sound City festivals plus record an XFM session as well as other engagements.

WORSHIP

“Sounds like a sonic cathedral” THE GUARDIAN
“Atmospheric synth-based songs that haunt the ears, evoking mysterious filmic landscapes” – COUNTERACT MAGAZINE
“Big things are on the horizon and you will not be disappointed.” – ALEX BAKER, KERRANG

Worship caused waves of industry excitement after posting their first demo, ‘In Our Blood’, on their Myspace page. They were almost immediately brought in to record a Maida Vale session for Rob da Bank at Radio 1, and booked for that year’s Bestival.

The reaction the track received gave the band the confidence to take themselves off to Norway for a month of writing. Here they penned a selection o…f new tracks, including ‘Collateral’, which was playlisted on BBC Radio 1 and led to a slot on the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury (a performance which was singled out and plugged by Greg James at Radio 1).

Since then Worship have released their first indie single, House of Glass, and toured the UK with acts like Everything Everything, Dry The River and The Antlers. They’ve played numerous festivals and even supported rock legends Primal Scream. Most recently they appeared on Channel 4 for Curated by Lyle & Scott and headlined the first ‘Guardian New Band of the Day Live’ event.

Regularly featuring on tastemaker blogs and in publications like Artrocker, Kerrang, The Guardian and The Independent and with sporadic plays across Radio1, Kerrang Radio and XFM, Worship have cemented themselves as ones to watch for 2012.

MUNICH

“Exciting and poignant” THE GREAT ESCAPE
“Exactly what British music needs” XFM
“Bold and anthemic” MUSIC WEEK

Brighton Indie five-piece MUNICH write bold anthemic guitar music with heart. They’ve supported Bombay Bicycle Club, Mona, Chapel Club and Graham Coxon and played many festivals such as The Great Escape,Glastonbury and Ben & Jerry’s Sundae. After releasing debut EP ‘Where Are You Now’ (MaDa Music/ Universal distribution) in 2010 they have been playing sold out shows in Brighton and London gaining support from XFM’S John Kennedy, BBC Introducing Sussex, Source and Q Magazines.

After 3 further releases and UK headline tours including ‘All Sussed Out’ / ‘Into The Rain’ and recent free download ‘Just Like You’ Munich are pulling in great crowds across the UK.

CONCRETE KNIVES

“A carnival in your front room ” STEVE LAMACQ, BBC6 MUSIC
“The sound of being dragged onto the dancefloor at 2am” ARTROCKER
“Concrete Knives have created the perfect balance of indie pop” THIS IS FAKE DIY

French band Concrete Knives, return to the UK this May after the phenomenal reaction to their glorious January UK debut EP ‘You Can’t Blame The Youth’. Steve Lamacq was an early champion for the band, inviting them into the BBC studios for their first UK radio interview as his ‘New Favourite Band’. The lead track ‘Youth Compass’ also made the XFM playlist, and picked up strong support from Q Radio and Amazing Radio; as well as coverage in Artrocker, The Guardian, The Line of Best Fit, and This is FAKE DIY.

Fronted by both male and female leads, with strong and distinctive vocal style, Concrete Knives is an anthem machine for you to chant to in unison. Their compositions dusted off Dad’s vinyl records, incorporating new tones where vintage keyboards and organs fly through syncopated rhythm sections. This is indeed fresh music, carrying clean and balanced textures. This is the scraping of a knife on concrete, a creative rupture wholly aroused by an exciting new band.

Carrying the support and expectation from a country geeing them to success, they were chosen as the support act for Arctic Monkeys in the summer for their French dates, and they also performed at some of Europe’s most celebrated festivals including Rock En Seine and Paleo. On stage, Concrete Knives resuscitate the ghosts of the eighties with great energy. Their feel good, happy-go-lucky sunshine pop has been likened to B52’s. Their debut album is planned for release across Europe later in 2012 through Cooperative.

MONKEYSUIT DJS

Resident Monkeysuit Djs will be spinning tunes to ease any soreheads from the night before and providing the background soundtrack to your afternoon with us.

We no longer use WordPress to list or showcase info on our events, so please check our Facebook group and Facebook page for listings. Many thanks.

At a quick glance - Sat 3rd: Vices – EP Launch (Reading), Wed 7th: So Many Wizards (USA) – debut UK show (London) and Fri 9th: Emmy the Great (Reading).

March gig preview – Vices, So Many Wizards, Emmy the Great by MONKEYSUIT

SAT 3RD – SOUTH STREET ARTS CENTRE, READING – £5 ADV/ £7 ON THE DOOR

Line up: Vices + Chewing Gum Weekends + South House Daze

Vices – human being by MONKEYSUIT

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WED 7TH – THE SHACKLEWELL ARMS, LONDON – FREE ENTRY

Line up: So Many Wizards (USA) – debut UK Show + Toodar + The Focussed Distraction + Monkeysuit DJs

So Many Wizards – Lose Your Mind by jaxart

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FRI 9TH – SUB89, READING – £12.50 ADV and 16 +

Line up: Emmy the Great with a string section + Quiet Quiet Band + Monkeysuit Djs

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TUES 24TH – THE OLD BLUE LAST, LONDON – FREE ENTRY

Line up: Concrete Knives (France) – debut UK show + Thom Cross + Radials

Time Out ‘Recommended’

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WED 25TH – SOUTH STREET ARTS CENTRE, READING – £4 ADV

Line up: Concrete Knives (France)  + Kinky Boot Beasts + The Dianas

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FRI 27TH – PLAY (FORMERLY PLUG N PLAY), READING – £6 ADV

Line up: Tall Ships + A Genuine Freakshow + Sleep Room

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TUES 31ST – SOUTH STREET ARTS CENTRE, READING – £6 ADV

Line up: MineOurArc + Sylver Tongue (debut show) + Jay Newton (Quiet Quiet Band)

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Previous guest Mr Fogg unveils the video to his forthcoming sublime single Stay Out Of The Sun. The single will feature on his second album which was recorded in Reykjavik, Iceland at Greenhouse Studios by producer Valgeir Sigurdsson (Björk/ Múm / Feist).

The new single is released on February 28^th and is available as a FREE download via his site.

The band has the songs to back up the praise and following on from their debut single Bloodflood/ Tessellate. They’re set to release Fitzpleasure as part of an AA single with Matlida on February 27^th via Infectious Music (single artwork above).

See below to stream the single and watch the band performing Tessellate at Maida Vale.

Yesterday evening Norwich’s The Kabeedies premiered the video for their forthcoming single Eyes. The single is released on January 30^th and taken from their second album SOAP which is released on January 23^rd via Fierce Panda.

The band will be hitting road soon to promote the album which is a follow up to their acclaimed debut Rumpus. We’ve booked them to play in Reading at South Street Arts Centre on Sat 11^th Feb. Details here.

You can stream/ download album track Earthscore below.

Errors – Earthscore by MONKEYSUIT

Tracklist:

1. Tusk
2. Magna Encarta
3. Blank Media
4. Pleasure Palaces
5. The Knock
6. Canon
7. Earthscore
8. Cloud Chamber
9. Barton Spring
10. Holus Bolus

Previous guests Clock Opera have released a new video for the album version of their single Once and For All. Their album Ways to Forget will be available on April 9th via Universal.

We decided not to list any acts that have played for us before as we felt that would be a bit of a copout, so instead we’ve selected ones we’ve been enjoying over the past few months.

Now, we are not trying to predict who’s going to be the next Adele and sell a bucket load of albums and nor are we trying to be all ‘hipster’ and pick acts, you may or may not of heard of purely for the sake of it. The idea of our list is a very simple one. A selection of 12 talented acts we love, who we think have a great year ahead of them and wish to share with you.

You can stream and download our selection at the bottom. We’ve included a picture of everyone featured and just click on the acts name to be linked to more info/ music. We were going to talk about each act individually but we decided to let their music do the talking instead.

We hope you enjoy our little gift and have a great Christmas!

FEAR OF MEN

LUCY ROSE

OLIVER TANK (AUSTRALIA)

THEME PARK

GRIMES (CANADA)

WALLS

SYLVER TONGUE

AJIMAL

DEAF CLUB

ALT-J

YOUNG DREAMS (NORWAY)

OUTFIT

 Monkeysuit – Listen & love: Ones to watch 2012 by MONKEYSUIT

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