The Riots. New album and tour in March.

One of the bands that have me sitting on the edge of my seat in anticipation of their forthcoming album, an album that promises to blow out the cobwebs and give the music scene a good kick up the arse, for the first time since around 1977 is The Riots album "Time For Truth."

I haven't been so excited about an album release this much since The Jam released "In The City."  A pretty long wait I think you will agree and maybe it is the fact that this band remind me a lot of The Jam circa 77, loads of attitude and great songs, mix that with a touch of Clash and you have a recipe sure to please the bored masses and The Riots promise to bring this party to you.

The album is due for release on March the 6th and hopefully I shall be reviewing/featuring it here on the blog.  Watch this space!

Tour dates to support the release of the album are as follows:

06.03.2013 D - FRANKFURT - DKK Album Release Party :: versus C-TYPES

07.03.2013 F - BESANCON - Les Passagers du Zinc

08.03.2013 F - PARIS - Cafe de Paris :: versus FRENCH BOUTIK

09.03.2013 F - LYON - La Triperie :: versus CAVEMEN FIVE

10.03.2013 F - DIJON - Deep Inside Klub Rock :: versus THE CHEMIST & THE ACEVITIES

14.03.2013 D - FREIBURG - The Great Räng Teng Teng :: versus DELILAHS 

15.03.2013 D - MÜNCHEN - The Atomic Cafe 

16.03.2013 D - NÜRNBERG - Kulturbrauerei

17.03.2013 D - LEIPZIG - Conne Island Cafe

18.03.2013 D - HAMBURG - Yeah Yeah Yeah Studios

19.03.2013 D - HAMBURG - Yeah Yeah Yeah Studios

20.03.2013 D - HAMBURG - Hafenklang :: versus THE LAST THINGS

21.03.2013 D - KASSEL - Nordstadt

22.03.2013 D - BERLIN - Bassy Cowboy Club :: versus THE PIKES

23.03.2013 D - KÖLN - Sonic Ballroom :: versus THE MAKE

26.03.2013 D - BIELEFELD - Desperado Concerts

28.03.2013 A - VIENNA - Chelsea :: versus NORB PAYR + BAND

29.03.2013 D - PFARRKIRCHEN - tba

30.03.2013 CH - BASEL - Schiff *Mods vs Rockers*

31.03.2013 TBA - Secret Last show

Contact, befriend, like and love The Riots here: Facebook

The album will be available here Time For Action as are the bands earlier singles which are all well worth checking out, also check out the bands previous incarnation "The White Trainers Community" which is also excellent.

John Hopkins - Sunlight Madness NAME YOUR PRICE

With an affliction of Brian Wilson's Smile and perhaps some ELO, this charming piece of work sets the mood for a sunny day, a day to be spent chilling and listening intently to the lush arrangements and harmonies.

"My music is a mix of a variety of styles, most of which have been defined at some time or another as "pop," with further elements drawn from the orchestral realm. Vocal influences include everything from the Beach Boys to the Mills Brothers and any group in between that made extensive use of close harmony."

Stream and download the album here: Bandcamp

Contact, follow, befriend, like and love The Musical World Of John Hopkins here: Facebook

Jeff Melin - Smile Like A Lemon, Kiss Like A Papercut

SMILE LIKE A LEMON PEEL, KISS LIKE A PAPER CUT has the best record title of the year, bar none FULL STOP... PERIOD...if that wasn't enough, it's a classic US feisty Powerpop bounce-along, a little bit EDDIE & THE HOTRODS, a little bit ELVIS COSTELLO (with Attractions, natch), and a whole lot BESERKLEY... when Jeff gets to headline Madison Square Gardens THIS will be the tune the 19,522 punters scream for throughout the set... THIS will be the tune WINONA RYDER, PHOEBE CATES and MOLLY RINGWALD ressurect JOHN HUGHES for to retrospectively make the best US college flick EVER, solely to have it played over the closing credits... oh, and also features DOUG YULE and Helen and Steph from SHRAG, and as such is the past, the present and the future handily compressed into 2 minutes 56 seconds of MAXIMUM POP JOY... GRIN, SPIN, WIN... oh yes..

wiaiwya-7777777 is a series of seven 7" singles released during 2013, one on each day of the week, and always on the 7th of the month, in the 7 colours of the rainbow, with exclusive tunes from 7 of the most exciting indie, electronic, folk and alternative bands around... oh, they come in editions of 777 too... 

the bands and release dates are:

Thursday 7th March (yellow) – Jeff Mellin

Sunday 7th April (orange) – Hong Kong in the 60s

Tuesday 7th May (violet) – Darren Hayman and the Long Parliament

Friday 7th June (red) - Sourpatch

Wednesday 7th August (blue) - Pups

Saturday 7th September (indigo) - Comet Gain

Monday 7th October (green) - the Middle Ones

Find them all: Bandcamp

More information here: http://wiaiwya-7777777.blogspot.co.uk

The Unswept - Surf Song EP

Where possible I try not to draw too many comparisons with other bands when putting my features together on the blog, but I feel I really have to with The Unswept, not because they lack any originality, they really don't, but, the influences here are so much fun when brought together, I can't help myself.  Imagine The Jesus and Mary Chain jamming with The Mighty Lemondrops (you remember them right?) and The Monkees swing by and add some 60's stylings to the equasion, what you would have is The Unswept.

I like this a lot, it is good fun and the O'Brien cousins obviously don't take themselves so seriously which is refreshing, see the video for the explanation of this statement.

The O'Brien cousins, Charlie and Ryan, grew up on the same estate in sunny Sheffield, UK and attended university near London. With a couple mates at school they formed The Council Walls, whose one and only independently released single, “Unimpressive,” managed to scrape the bottom rungs of the local indie charts.
Following a show on a stifling summer night at the 100 Club that ended in a food fight, the band split. Charlie & Ryan soon found their way to the USA, eventually settling in Chicago, Illinois and forming The Unswept.
They now write & record tunes in a small but tiny apartment in the Logan Square neighborhood.

The Unswept have been confirmed for the International Pop Overthrow Festival in Chicago this year, so go along there and catch the guys live, along with all the other great bands that the IPO book.

Check out more tunes from the unswept and download the EP here: Bandcamp

Official Band Page: http://theunswept.com

Contact, befriend, follow, like and love The Unswept here: Facebook

Paradise - NEW VIDEO - Enjoy!

One of the "Ice Cream Mans" favourite mod outfits, rolls out a great new video for the stomper song, "Humans and Stars."  Enjoy.

The Portland quintet took over a Portland Eagle's Lodge for the night and set up a Mod revival show complete with scooters and their friends dressed to the nines in retro attire.This is the official video for their second single "Humans and Stars" off of their first full-length album "Diary of an Old Soul." The video was shot mostly on Super 8 and directed by Michael Cogliantry. 

"Paradise pulls enthusiastically from the same songbook as the Troggs or Small Faces, adding their own uniquely modern spin to those evergreen tunes with plenty of distortion on their flashy guitar chords and the occasional Farfisa organ mixed into their stripped down rock. The result is loud, brash, energetic and incredibly fun." IFC

Pradise's Website: http://weareparadise.com/

Paradise's Facbook: http://www.facebook.com/Paradi

Stephen Lawrenson - Obscuriosity

This is wonderful!  Stephen Lawrensons latest offering, his first on the "Kool Kat" label, really is something special.

From the very first few chords of opening track, "Your Karma," you know you are in for a real treat or 10 as is the case here, this album is beautifully immediate, no slow growers here within, this is one of the rare albums that grabs your interest from the word go and what is more it holds your interest!

Learn how to get your music noticed at ReverbNation.com

Stephen makes quite a pop splash here on his 2013 Kool Kat debut! Playing every note on the record, he proudly wears his pop influences on his sleeve. 'Small White House" would pass for a Brian Wilson-penned song. His inner Jeff Lynne pops up on both 'Pale Yellow' and the 12-string laced 'Words To Say'." It's intelligent, well written, and completely catchy. Power pop, with loads of great hooks, melodies and harmonies. A masterful melange of 60's, 70's, and 80's guitar rock mixed and matched with no concern for the namecheck. That's how good this is. Five stars isn't enough. Six, maybe!" - MR Gomez --Mr. Gomez

"What do you think would happen if you threw The Goldbergs, The Beatles, Three Hour Tour, Teenage Fanclub (in their fuzzy period), Big Star, The Posies (circa 'Frosting On The Beater'), 'Pet Sounds' period Brian Wilson, and the Electric Light Orchestra into a giant pop blender? You'd get Stephen Lawrenson, that's what!" - Max Humphries --Max Humphries

I have to admit, that I didn't know much of Stephen's work until now and I certainly intend to look back at his back catalogue and see what I have missed, if it is anything as good as this album, then I have missed an awful lot!!!!!

Buy the album: Kool Kat Amazon itunes and CDBaby

Contacts, befriend, like and love Stephen Lawrenson here: Facebook

Sam Page - Breach OUT NOW

Last year I featured Sam Page's EP "Waiting For Another Spring, which we all loved here at "ICM" and I am pleased to share the details of his new 10 track debut album.

The album has been released digitally so far on itunes, Spotify and other good download sites and the cd release will be available on March 29th.

This guitar driven pop/rock will sit very well with fans of Matthew Sweet, Weezer, Cake, Jack White, Dinosaur JR and Blur to name a few.

Sam Page is an independent singer/songwriter who creates guitar-driven pop/rock. In 2010, he began performing at open mics, learned to home-record, and made an EP (The Garage Band Files). Sam then formed a band in 2011 and did twenty gigs in southern California. In April 2012, he released a second EP (Waiting for Another Spring) that earned an encouraging amount of praise. Sam's first full albumBreach was released digitally in January 2013. 
     In a past life, Sam scored a PhD in Philosophy and for five years was a full-time college professor. But then he needed a break from being rational. So he decided to pursue a music career . . .

This album is a real sparkler from start to finish, pleasently upbeat with plenty of guitar riffs and jangly guitars in abundance, if this fails to get you moving, then you must be dead!

Contact, befriend, follow, like, love and download the album at the following links: