interview

Blessa speak to us about catalysts for new bands, blogs, misogyny and what's next for the Sheffield soft-rock five-piece.

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It terms of the Internet, Sheffield's Blessa have been around for just over a year since the unveiling of "Pale" back in February 2013. To some bands, that's about as much time as us "throw-away" bloggers give them, promoting a here-today gone-tomorrow nature of musicians and releases. Is that actually the case though?
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On the launch date of Something, Yoof's debut LP, we spoke to Michael-James Dent about the process which got them this far and what will hopefully take them further.

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Making a name for yourself as a new band is no easier these days than what it was before. It's claimed that the emergence of the Internet as a marketing and promotional tool has opened new doors for independent musicians, creating a level playing-field to showcase their music. There's always two sides to any coin and with the level playing-field comes the problem of standing out among a lot of repetition, copycats and in some ways far too many would-be musicians who, Soundcloud streaming aside, couldn't snag themselves a gig to save their lives. Musical self-awareness isn't a quality that the masses possess, but it's ultimately the key to relative success and longevity in a market, currently saturated in singer-songwriters, shoe-gazers and dream-poppers. We spoke to Yoofs' Michael-James Dent on their progress since 2011 and the problems facing modern-day bands.
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Since we first heard Gloss' "Front Porch", let's just say we've been waiting, fairly impatiently, for the next helping of "dreamy-ass jangle pop". It's now here in the form of "Ian's Dream", which will accompany the bands debut single, "Front Porch" on its physical release.
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Hailing from Leeds, Slowcoaches have acquired numerous fans on the back of their debut EP We're So Heavy, which was released through Sheffield based Tye Die tapes earlier in the year. And it's easy to see why, with their concise, No Age like hooks and thrashing post punk demeanor, they posses a ballsy character that is often so absent from much of the new acts we come across on a daily basis. 
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Florida native Yuno, aka Uno Yu-no, fka Unouomedude, has been steadily making music in his bedroom for the past five years or so now. First attracting attention with his Marsh EP back in 2010, the  young soloist, who has since outgrow his previous moniker of 'Unouomedude', then followed up with the fuzzy dream-pop single "Frequency" a year later.  
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Toronto native Joe Roth, or Tezeta, is no stranger to the flourishing Canadian music scene. Since playing with Little Girls back in 2011, this year has seen the emergence of his personal project - Tezeta.
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After the refreshing tastes of "Canyon" & the silky smooth, 80's inspired "Running", our favourite Brazilian wunderkids We Are Pirates have released their debut EP 'Kids Practice'.
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Childhood: Leo Dobson, Ben Romans-Hopcraft, Daniel Salamons 

Some bands come out and show you everything they have, all guns blazing, if you will. Some can't, won't, and perhaps don't even want to. Nottingham via London band Childhood fall into the latter category for sure.
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We first came across Grimes (Claire Boucher) earlier this year when she blew people away with her SXSW performances. Since then things seem to have sped up with the release of Darkbloom, her split EP with d'Eon and subsequent videos for "Vanessa" (self directed) and "Crystal Ball". Claire's now prepping the re-release of her Geidi Primes LP through No Pain In Pop, previously released in 2010 by Arbutus Records. The re-release is to be kicked off with a new video for "Beast Infection" which you can see below.
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When in search of new music the are numerous sources you can look to. Random trawls through the likes of Bandcamp and Soundcloud can be fruitful, as to can a direct email from a band or artist (although not in the majority of cases, just saying). A more reliable source, however, is from an artists recommendation, someone which they see and respect as a fellow musician. As is the case with Mr. Simon Bridgefoot, aka The Parish Of little Clifton.
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It seems like ages ago since we first came across Kyle Krone's solo project. It wasn't, it was June and he's come a fair way since then too.

With the release of five tracks now, people are starting to wonder when we'll see a full length release.  We were one of those people(s) so instead of sitting around, we got onto Kyle and thought we'd throw him a few questions. See the outcome below.
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We get lots of emails consisting of demos, amateur videos and so on, as every other site does. However, it's very hard to come across someone worthy of exposure and praise. Not in Theme Park's case though, they rolled into our inbox from one of our more trusted industry friends and immediately blew us away.

The bands debut double A side, "Wax/A Mountain We Love" will be out via ParadYse (an imprint on Transgressive Records) on August 29. They will also play their first show, two days later at The Lexington, London.

Theme Park have the potential to go far if they can keep up their infectious melodies and captivating vocals. We need to know more though. So far all we know is they're a four piece from London, twins Miles & Marcus Haughton, Louis Bhose and Oscar Manthorpe and they formed in early 2011. Because of this we took matters into our own hands, here's what they told us last week.
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Back in March we were hit by what could only be called upbeat, feel-good chillwave, in the form of a track called "It's Funny Things Aren't Gonna Change". It turned out to be a Big Wave Riders song, we then found "Skate Or Die" and the big wave riding love began.

We then found out the band were from Finland and we just had to find out more. So we got in touch and asked Aleksi Luuka from the band a few (like you do) questions. The outcome is below.
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In what I would so far call, the most productive and musically varied month for new releases, emerged a band from Blacksburg, Virginia. After one solitary listen, Hoop Dreams immediately landed a spot in our CN Mixtape for April and ever since then we've been aching for more than 2 Minutes of the larger than life, nostalgic lo-fi fuzz that's so clearly on display when listening to "XCPR". We spoke with the guys earlier this month, read below to see what they revealed.
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From the confines of a warehouse space, the trio of Charlie Hilton, Patrick Adams & Jacob Portrait (who has worked with the likes of Starfucker & The Dandy Warhols) make up the relatively new Portland based Blouse. 
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We spoke to the lads from Dirty Gold a few months back now and they tipped us the fantastic sounds of TV Girl, they've been gracing our decks ever since. We managed to catch up with TV Girl a week or so ago and here's the result.
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Seattle's Beat Connection initially caught our attention way back in the summer months of 2010 (you know, when the sun is supposed to be shining?), which was quite fitting as the duo of Reed Juenger & Jordan Koplowitz make music that is supposed to be played while basking in glorious weather. As the duo themselves state, they make some "Tropical Psychedelic Pop", which is just about bang on the money.
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Hailing from Denver, Colorado, the duo FLASHLIGHTS - Ethan Converse & Sam Martin - put out EP 2, Hidden Behind Trees, back in February
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“You know when you just know?”. These are the words which graced my first tweet after publishing our original story on Alpines back in February. Upon first listen we were hooked, which is a rare pleasure in itself. Especially in our case, spending the vast majority of days listening through piles music.

Catherine Pockson and Bob Matthews formed on the back of visits to each other’s respective shows. Bob with his previous band and Catherine playing solo. Bob said: “A couple of months later we started making music really naturally, just because it felt like the right thing to do. By the beginning of 2010 we realised that we had something really good, and only then did we start to think of ourselves as a band. We spent ages thinking about what kind of band we wanted to be, what we wanted to sound like, and what we’d be called. After we played our first shows in the summer everything happened really quickly, we ended up signing our record deal in the autumn.”


“We came up with the phrase Night-Pop because we knew that we'd need a quick way of describing our music. I think it works quite nicely though.” - Bob Matthews, Alpines, 2011

It's now 2011 and on top of an EP release, the band has plans for an LP, Bob said: “We've currently recorded 8 songs but we really need 14 or 15 to narrow it down from to make the record. So we're going back in next month. It should be out in September and our working title is Nocturnes". Very exciting news, especially paired with the fact they're working with Craig Silvey who mixed Arcade Fire's The Suburbs and produced Portishead's Third. One thing that really struck me when I heard Alpines is that they've got a very intrinsic balance between vocals and instrumentals which is something Bob puts down to their recording process: “Catherine will write the song on a piano, and then I add everything else, and I try and make sure it does the song justice.”

They’ve self classified their sound as 'Night-Pop', Bob laughs: “We came up with the phrase Night-Pop because we knew that we'd need a quick way of describing our music. I think it works quite nicely though”. The Night Pop excellence of “Drive” seems to be what got the band noticed. It featured in a Rankin produced promotional video for fashion designer, Hannah Marshall. The track also was the soundtrack to her catwalk show last September.


(Rankin made video ft Alpines - Drive, for Hannah Marshall's S/S11 introduction at London Fashion Week)


Catherine: “That campaign was an interesting one because Rankin heard our music very early on before many people were aware of Alpines. It was a great opportunity for us, as he was very enthusiastic and supportive. As a result it’s made Bob and I more open to the idea of our music being used alongside other fashion shows and art forms. I'm also hoping to work with Louise Amstrup in the future, designing a collection of clothing inspired by the influences of Alpines".

Another typical part of entering the media spotlight is the inevitable comparisons - In Alpines case it's Florence & the Machine and La Roux. Bob adds: “It's always flattering to be compared to such successful acts in a positive way, although I don't think there's much similarity between us and those two acts other than the fact we have a female singer.”

The band were due out on tour with Fenech-Soler this month, but the sad news of lead singer Ben being diagnosed with cancer has forced the tour to be cancelled. A very big 'get well soon' from us. Below you can find a brand new remix of "Ice & Arrows" by Dark Sky (who has previously re-worked The XX's "Cyrstalised"). Get used to Alpines because you will be hearing and seeing a lot more of them in the future.
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We came across Glowbug at the death in 2010, the 27th of December to be precise with the latest EP Displacer Beast blowing us away. Well they now have a new video for the track "No Fun"...
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