Metronomy 2010 Trailer

First glimpse of new material/ stuff from Metronomy since 2008's cruelly overlooked jerk-pop classic 'Nights Out'.

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Liverpool Sound City- Thursday

///Gigwise///

Liverpool is a city that can often be held back by its impressive but dated history, so it's great to see a festival like Sound City establishing itself with a roster full of exciting new bands playing in the city's myriad of venues. Now in it's second year Sound City 2009 was a well organised and exciting event which, for the two days this writer was present, provided a non-stop catalogue of treats and surprises.

The best LA and Brooklyn has to offer was on show at the Barfly on Thursday with the mouth wateringly cool 'Kings of US Underground' show. Everyone with a festival pass and, more importantly, a plaid shirt was in attendance to see Mika Miko and Titus Andronicus open the event however it was the much blogged about Soft Pack who were most noteworthy, if sadly for the wrong reasons. The band formerly known as The Muslims offered great potential on their single 'Parasites' earlier this year however their live show suffers the pit falls of repetition and worse still boredom. They do show some promise with the aforementioned single and the swaggering 'On My Time' however so many of the tracks blend into a mush and far outstay their welcome that you can't help begin to clock watch.

Luckily with fifteen minutes of Soft Pack time left Atlanta's rowdiest band Black Lips take to the stage in the venues main room. They instantly whip up a storm playing tracks from 'Good, Bad, Not Evil' and this years '200 Million Thousand' creating a swelteringly hot atmosphere in an already sweaty venue. 'O Katrina' proves an early highlight and sees the crowd gathered at the front of the stage twisting, turning and threatening to spill over. As the set progresses so does your love for the three piece, they genuinely do seem to play as if their life depends on it. Guitarist Cole Porter who, when not spittin' 'n' riffin', regularly leans into the crowd, never missing a beat. Meanwhile Jared Swilley is attacking his mic like it did him wrong many years ago. As the set reaches fever pitch with 'Bad Kids' the crowd begins to spill over the barriers and heavy handed security grab the revellers by the throats and force them outdoors- seriously unfair. Undeterred, Black Lips finish their set explosively, proving that in the face of youthful newcomers they are still sitting on the throne of the US subterranean.

Thursdays final act is Brighton pop Gods Metronomy in the footballers haunt Alma De Cuba. "How nice it is that somebody finally married traditional Greek orthodox religion with Cuban cuisine" jokes singer Joe Mount at the bar's confusing decor/ business contrasts. With the departure of Gabriel Stebbing to his own band Your Twenties Metronomy have evolved into a full band four piece. Having recruited drummer Anna Prior (Lightspeed Champion) and bassist Gbenga Adelekan (Akira, Jeremy Warmsley) the band dynamic has shifted somewhat and the new foursome are clearly not quite comfortable with it just yet. Having said that, with such genius tracks as 'Heartbreaker' and 'A Thing For You' in their arsenal Metronomy can't fail to get the crowd moving. As they bring the night to an end you can't help feeling that Metronomy have made more than a few heart rates rapid this evening.

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First acts for Great Escape 2009 announced

British Sea Power
The Big Pink
Holy Fuck
Little Boots
The Chapman Family
Passion Pit
Lightspeed Champion
Metronomy
The Handsome Family
Future Of The Left
Johnny Foreigner
Danananakroyd
The Joy Formidable
Chew Lips
To The Bones
Kasms
Your Twenties
Esser
Pulled Apart By Horses
The Soft Pack
Cage The Elephant
Kissy Sellout
The Pipettes
VV Brown
Let's Wrestle
Official Secrets Act
Televised Crimewave
Golden Silvers
Ben Kweller
Beth Jeans Houghton
Micachu And The Shapes
The Invisible
Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man.
It Hugs Back
Screaming Tea Party
Artefacts for Space Travel
Vivian Girls
The Pains Of Being Pure Of Heart
The Miserable Rich
Woodpigeon
Beast
A Grave With No Name
Yves Klein Blue
The John Steel Singers
Middle Class Rut
The Arkells
An Experiment On A Bird In The Air Pump
Fanzine
Cassie And The Casettes

Kasabian will headline one night of the event with more acts to be announced in the coming weeks.

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Albums Of The Year- The Also Rans

Over the past few days I have realised that there were loads of good albums I missed off my list of top albums. That top 25 was probably more like a 'most played 25' and not entirely indicative of what I have enjoyed in 2008. Below is a list of a lot more I have enjoyed this year.

Abe Vigoda- Skeleton
Albert Hammond Jr- Como Te Llama?
Be Your Own Pet- Get Awkward
Bon Iver- For Emma, Forever Ago
Deerhunter- Microcastles
Duncan Lloyd- Seeing Double
El Guincho- Alegranza
Elbow- The Seldom Seen Kid
Errors- It's Not Something But It Is Like Whatever
Flight Of The Conchords- Flight Of The Conchords
Frightened Rabbit- The Midnight Organ
Fucked Up- Chemistry Of Common Life
The Gaslight Anthem- 59 Sound


Juno- OST
Kings Of Leon- Only By The Night
The Long Blondes- Couples
The Long Blondes- Singles
Neon Neon- Stainless Style
No Age- Nouns
Of Montreal- Skeletal Lamping
Rolo Tomassi- Hysterics
Santogold- Santogold
Tilly & The Wall-O
Tokyo Police Club- Elephant Shell
Vivian Girls- Vivian Girls
Wild Beasts- Limbo Panto

Flight Of The Conchords- 'Ladies Of The World'

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Recent Albums in a Few Sentences.

Heavy, loud, confrontational rock from one of the most adventurous punk bands around.

Mark Ronson in no horns shocker. Kaiser Chiefs move nearer to being the indie band they want but still fall short when faced with being the masses idols. Amazing singles ('Radio Ladio', 'My Heart Rate Rapid'). Also lots of filler. ShameMusically incredible as they switch genres with ease. The vocals still don't connect with these ears though. A band to watch as they grow. Twee indie also rans hit the jackpot with mainstream straddling mega pop album- dance around your teapot to this. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. HA

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