The Great British Tune-Up. It’s not just about people writing about new British music, but people doing it really well, and writing about tunes are really good.

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The Great British Tune-Up:

Music Like Dirt has very good things to say about Adele: “As Adele skips the cracks in the pavement, her chorus soars over the piano proclaiming all the wonders of this world… a woman asks if she is lost, “no and thank you madam, I ain’t lost, just wandering“” {read more}

Chris @ Gorilla Vs Bear liked Jonquil too: “‘Lions’ is a perfectly soaring and achingly sincere (if a little too short) introduction” {read more}.

Sir Dodge in his own words “I love cover songs, and I like a lot of things others might find annoying, but even I wanted to stab myself when I heard this cover“. Girls Aloud doing Wheatus. A blogger not afraid to be a little critical now and again. {read more @ My Old Kentucky Blog}

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Gigs:

I saw Slow Club support Architecture in Helsinki and Caribou and they successfully pulled off the usual colourful and imaginative folk-pop with added percussion and glass bottles to add a little cream to the jelly. They even got the front row properly dancing (waltzing) before 9 O’clock. Slow Club who have yet to put in a bad live show in about a dozen performances, and they still don’t look tired nor any less excitable.

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Puzzle, a band I wrote about very recently played a gig at one of Sheffield’s finest venues for seeking out new bands “The Grapes” and although they have much to perfect, some songs were relentless in very indie-pop sense. It just needs to stand it’s ground, gain a little more strength and not be pushed around by the big boys. Really promising, and delightful.

New Puzzle track:

Puzzle - Left for the Capital

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Napoleon IIIrd played a fantastic solo gig, supported only by his analogue reel to reel tape player at Sheffield University recently. “The Conformatist Takes All” is one of the best songs I’ve heard in years: high-calibre, super strength experimental pop music that brings to mind Flaming Lips on protein shakes. No-one else seems to be doing it and it is a live show that you want to share and give.

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Thoughts? You want this dog?

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