GIG REVIEW: Crystal Fighters @ Manchester Academy 2

Saturday night in Manchester and lead singer Sebastian Pringle walks on stage wearing a gold veil and shaking what looks like a collection of wooden bowls in the air. Crystal Fighters are certainly one of the more creative bands. They continued their high energy levels throughout the night which captivated the whole audience. The band definitely have a special knack as it's very unusual  to see everyone in the crowd dancing along.

NEW RELEASE: The Wombats - Your Body Is A Weapon

Your Body Is A Weapon is the first preview from The Wombats upcoming 3rd album. Like previous wombat songs the lyrics are quite emotive but the tune is upbeat and the song as a whole sounds quite happy. It's an instantly catchy song with a quirky video. And what's a wombats song without Murph calling everyone love?!

FUTURE RELEASE: Kings of Leon - Mechanical Bull

Ahead of it's release on 23rd September, you can now stream Kings of Leon's new album on iTunes. Mechanical Bull, as KOL said, is one of their more youthful sounding albums and it has everything you want an album to have. The more up-tempo songs such as Rock City and Family Tree will have you dancing and singing along after just one listen. The slower songs like Wait For Me and Beautiful War show off some of the band's best lyrics for years.

NEW RELEASE: Miles Kane - Taking Over + B-side

If you buy the latest single from Miles Kane on 7" vinyl, you will be lucky enough to enjoy not just the brilliance of Taking Over, but the B-Side 'I Don't Need You At All' as well. Taking Over is loud and powerful, showing off what Kane is best at. However Kane has pushed the boundaries and experimented with new sounds for the B-Side, which is exactly what B-sides are meant to be for. I Don't Need You At All shows Kane proper going for it.

FUTURE RELEASE: Mutineers - Tell Me Why

Manchester underground band Mutineers are releasing their new single 'Tell Me Why' on 23rd September as the follow-up to their debut word of mouth album 'Friends, Lovers, Rivals.'  Mutineers have built a large cult following with 90000 twitter followers and playing amongst the likes of New Order, Pete Doherty and The View. They're one of the few non-commercialised bands out there who simply make music because they love it. If that wasn't enough to make you listen, the single has a classic Manchester sound,  mixed with their own brilliant lyrics and raw vocals from the lead singer.

https://soundcloud.com/mutineersofficial/mutineers-tell-me-why

Pre-order the single on Itunes now or from September 23rd text 'track TELLMEWHY' for the mp3 link or 'track TELLMEWHY m' for a direct to phone download to 80818. 

Tell Me Why mini - tour dates.....

Warrington Friars Court - 12th October

Manchester Sound Control - 17th October

London Rattlesnake - 18th October

Glasgow Pivo Pivo - 2nd November

Leeds Cockpit - 16th November

Ticket booking info at http://www.mutineersofficial.tumblr.com/live

NEW RELEASES: Babyshambles - Nothing Comes To Nothing; Farmer's Daughter; & Picture Me In A Hospital

Although Babyshambles' new releases from upcoming album Sequel to the Prequel may not have the same aggression as previous albums, they do show Pete (now preferred to be called Peter) can still write good songs. The name change is meant to show a matured Doherty and the new songs do show a bit more maturity but they could do with some more oomph. Check out the demo versions.

NEW RELEASE: Swim Deep - Where The Heaven Are We

We've heard a fair amount of Swim Deep material already and there's been a buzz growing around them  for a while now but we finally got to hear their debut LP, Where the Heaven Are We, this month. Swim Deep don't think of making music as a serious business, they just do it for fun, and that's exactly what the album portrays. Lots of happy vibrations, but sometimes it seems to lose direction a bit. However songs such as She Changes The Weather, Francisco and King City show that as Swim Deep develop musically they will only get better. The best is yet to come.