Once famously described as ‘licentious, festering reprobates’ and ‘leprous anti-establishment scumbags’ and banned from playing in their home country, it’s difficult to overestimate the shock and awe The Boomtown Rats inspired in late 70's Ireland. The Rats set out to “disrupt, disturb and question what it meant to be young in the Ireland of the mid-70's”.

After announcing their latest single ‘Games For Girls’ and debut album ‘Lucid Dreaming’ out February 2nd 2015,  the band have recorded a mesmerising cover of Daft Punk and Julian Casablanca’s track ‘Instant Crush’ as a thank you for the amazing support they’ve received so far on their latest single. Taking Daft Punk’s fantastic single ‘Instant Crush’ they’ve put the now trademark Say Lou Lou spin on it, transforming the original into another dream-pop sensation.

“DOWN TO EARTH”

ALBUM TO RELEASE 27th OCTOBER 2014

Sarah Howells and Richard Llewellyn are Paper Aeroplanes, they hail from West Wales and their musical output is often likened to that of Nerina Pallot and Turin Brakes. Their influences range from Laura Veirs to the sublime tones of Jeff Buckley, Pete Yorn to Sarah Mclachlan and Bjork to The National with a strong mix of Suzanne Vega, Nina Simone, The Cardigans, Leonard Cohen and Jeffery Lewis thrown in for good measure.

So from New York City to the slightly less 'gangsta' streets of Totnes in the sleepy shire of Devon, the trio exchanged their usual hangouts (Madison Square Garden, Empire State Building and Times Square) with the best that Totnes had to offer (The Royal Seven Stars, Morrisons and The Cat Cafe) in order to please the crowd that had ventured out on a Sunday evening to witness this once in a lifetime experience.  Let's get inside the club and see how things went down.....

The Rural Alberta Advantage will release their highly-anticipated third album, Mended With Gold,on September 29th. The twelve-track album was recorded at Toronto's Candle Recording with the band's long-time live engineer Matt Lederman (Hayden, !!!, Besnard Lakes) alongside  co-producerLeon Taheny (Owen Pallett, Austra, F*cked Up). 

Multi-Platinum and Award Winning Hip-Hop Icon Ice Cube has made his highly anticipated return to the mic with his debut single,‘Drop Girl’ featuring Redfoo and 2 Chainz, from his forthcoming album.

My Extraordinary mark the end of their extended absence with the release of the incredibly accomplished mini-album 'The World We Live In'. 

It’s been two years since they released their ‘Reality’ EP and in that time, jobs have been quit, backline overhauled, home-studios constructed and new faces have been added and reshuffled within the ranks of the Newcastle five-piece.

We caught up with Anthony Thompson (vocals) at a live filming session for the new series of Geordie Shore, our eyes met across the fog of fake tan and hairspray, we stayed for 13 nanoseconds before getting the hell out of their to find a nice traditional boozer where we could get a decent pint. We chatted about Michael Jackson's 'Thriller', supergroups and members of the band who enjoy pain, here's how it went....

‘ART OFFICIAL AGE’ AND ‘PLECTRUMELECTRUM’

BOTH RELEASED SEPTEMBER 29th

Alt-J are that rare thing - a rock band that genuinely has an "alternative" sound. Unlike most such bands, they make use of dynamics and space in music - they are not scared to be quiet or reflective, slow in tempo with every sound and nuance exposed. Each song is a miniature masterpiece with its own instrumentation and each could be the soundtrack to a moody, atmospheric, but very classy, TV drama.

I think this is a good Leonard Cohen album, but not a great one. I've listened to it many times now, and although I like it, I think it lacks some of the lyrical depth and musical richness of Old Ideas, which I thought was a masterpiece.