Rest In Peace: The Ghost Of A Thousand

British hardcore punks The Ghost Of A Thousand have decided to call it a day, after nearly 7 years. Their debut album, This Is Where The Fight Begins, was one of my favourite albums of 2007, and their second album New Hopes, New Demonstrations, only cemented their place further as one of the best hardcore bands in Britain.

The Ghost Of A Thousand will be missed.

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New Music Video Time: Tall Ships - Plate Tectonics

So you know about the Plate Tectonics single coming out in early April. Now here's the video, which is a collaboration between Tall Ships and Todd Atticus. There's a lion in slow-mo, so if that doesn't totes your goats and tugs your ducks then nothing will.

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New Excite: Johnny Foreigner - Certain Songs Are Cursed Frisbee-EP

Pre-orders are selling like hot cakes laced with crack for Johnny Foreigner's upcoming EP, Certain Songs Are Cursed. It's coming out on one of our favourite record labels, Alcopop Records (Stagecoach, Ute, My First Tooth) on April 18th.

  What Drummers Get by johnny foreigner

As with all Alcopop releases, this one will not be your typical jewel-case CD physical release. It's being labelled as a frisbee-EP. I'm not entirely sure what that means, but maybe it will allow for full-on ultimate frisbee tournamets at JoFo gigs?

Listen to another song off the EP after the JUMP.

What A Lush Song: Fleet Foxes - Grown Ocean

I am quite in love with this new Fleet Foxes song, Grown Oceans. It's from their upcoming album, Helplessness Blues.



Download the track 'Helplessness Blues' after the JUMP.

I Like This: Pygmy Lush - Old Friends

This is the album I wanna get right now. Unfortunately I got lost at the website they assigned for European pre-orders (England, in Europe? Those crazy Americans) because it was mostly in German. Anyway it's up for pre-order in several different colours and several different versions and whatnots on their Bandcamp. So many choices, it's almost criminal.

Bandcamp / Facebook  / Blog

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Free Download/Review: Sun Buffalo - Sun Buffalo EP

This is an excellent little EP by Sun Buffalo, a band that has only been in existence since late last year.Hailing from Maryland, USA, Sun Buffalo brings with them a healthy dose of melodic punk, hardcore, indie pop and even a hint of jazz - along with a million other things. Even within songs, Sun Buffalo seem to have no respect for genre boundaries, and is all the better for it. Disparate influences mesh and intertwine and break off into tangents and then back again, and it all works surprisingly well.

A very promising first effort. I very much am looking forward to any of their future offerings.

Facebook / Bandcamp / Twitter / Myspace

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Free Download: Musical Mathematics - First Time's A Charm

Musical Mathematics is a Leeds-based music blogging collective and sort of like It's Raining Planes & Helicopters's buddy blog. I've recently joined in their writing team, and I can say nothing but good things about the blog. Not because I'm now a member of course (although that plays a part), but I genuinely believe that the content there is always great and exciting.

Recently they've released their first compilation ever, aptly titled First Time's A Charm. This fine collection of tracks is definitely something you can't afford to dismiss. Choke full of IRPAH faves such as Dad Rocks!, The James Cleaver Quintet, Adebisi Shank, Tera Melos, Tall Ships, Talons, and various others, as well as bands I've never heard before and glad to be introduced to, it will also be released as a limited run of screen print CDs.

Listen to the compilation and download it for free after the JUMP.

New Release: Tall Ships - Plate Tectonics

Tall Ships is releasing Plate Tectonics, a track from their brilliant There Is Nothing But Chemistry Here EP, as a digital single. It will feature a remix of Snow by Pure Lust and a remix of Chemistry by Teej. The first 50 orders will get a limited edition print. It's available to order from their Bigcartel on Monday, 4th April.

Photo of the screen print after the JUMP

Joseph & David - Here's To My Old Friends (Live)

Last Saturday I went to see Stuart Warwick play the Left Bank in Leeds, a church that has been converted into an arts and music venue. The place itself is beautiful, and while lighting the candles, we found a papier mache Jesus hiding in the narrow passageways and unicycles in the store room. This surreal theme befitted the nature of the show, as Stuart Warwick's voice definitely benefited from the brilliant acoustics the church provided.

One of the many highlights of the show was the first support band, Joseph and David. David Henshaw's voice is hypnotising, complemented beautifully by his own guitar and the trickling of Joseph Lawrenson's piano. Other than the named Joseph and David, Kieran O'Malley further added to the bittersweet atmosphere of introspection with his often mournful violin-playing.

Listen to 'Father' from their EP 'So Short Of Time' after the JUMP

From Brunei With Love: Eda Brig - Unplugged Sessions For Pelangi FM

Eda Brig (formerly The Chief Brigade) was recently invited by national Bruneian radio station Pelangi FM to do an acoustic session for them. The set consists of several of their own songs and several covers including one from The Police and another from Foo Fighters. It's a great session overall.

Check it out after the JUMP.

From Brunei With Love: Dayfuckers - Trainwreck Blues

  Dayfuckers - Trainwreck Blues

This is one of several demo songs available on Bruneian four-piece Dayfuckers's Purevolume. Their music style varies from song to song, with elements of Britpop, indie pop, Southern American rock and garage rock with a tinge of grunge all contributing their influences. I wish they used something other than Purevolume though. Anyway, I'm looking forward to hearing what these guys have in the near future. Maybe a studio version of these ace tracks?

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Coal Train - Carry You On My Shoulders

Check out the new single, Carry You On My Shoulders, from Sunderland-based Coal Train. It's ace, isn't it? It's not often you hear about the old days of making mixtapes on, you know, actual tapes anymore.And these boys appreciate their vinyls, and appropriately, this will be released on limited edition 7" vinyls on Run Of The Mill Records.

Listen to and download second single 'Tall Ships' for free after the JUMP.

Review: Tangled Hair - Apples EP

From the ashes of Colour (two-thirds of them, to be exact) up rises Tangled Hair. This debut EP from the trio - although the demo itself definitely deserved its own full release - will undoubtedly be endlessly compared to Alan Welsh's and James Trood's former band, but after just one listen to Apples, it's clear they have definitely evolved musically and applied new influences to their new musical project, especially with  the inclusion of bassist Alex Lloyd.

Read the rest of the review and listen to Campfires after the JUMP

Free Downloads: March 2011

This edition of Free Downloads has been greatly helped by the Kytes EP competition, in which whoever gave me a link to a free song which I liked the best would win a copy of the excellent Kytes EP (review HERE). So thank you all for your submissions.

View and listen to all free downloads after the JUMP.

Track: Bearfoot Beware - Catbus

Catbus - Unmastered by bearfootbeware

This unmastered track is a preview of the new sound Leeds band Bearfoot Beware is going for in their upcoming album No Face's Gold (coming out in April). Previously they sounded a bit like this:

Listen to The Love Life Of Trevor Bennett after the JUMP

Review: Matt Emery - Pulled Apart By Matt Emery

Pulled Apart By Horses are many things. They are one of the best, most entertaining live bands in Britain. They are purveyors of unpretentious, raucous, sweaty rock, and irreverently humorous, shouty vocals. They also provided us with one of the best albums of 2010. So it's perfect fodder for a piano reinterpretation then, yes?

If you choked yourself on that last bit there, then you haven't heard Matt Emery's covers of PABH's tunes on his youtube channel, and subsequently his upcoming cover EP, aptly called Pulled Apart By Matt Emery. Matt Emery covers 4 tracks by Pulled Apart By Horses, and he somehow manages to successfully incorporate the etherial, atmospheric nature of his Elysian Fields album with the furious intensity of Pulled Apart By Horses.

Read more, listen to tracks off the EP, and download the EP after the JUMP.

The Monopolist - At Sixes And Sevens

The Monopolists - At Sixes And Sevens

Our favourite Strokes 'tribute' band, The Monopolists has released their new single, At Sixes And Sevens. What's captivating about this single is the fact that it shows how much The Monopolists has grown and matured as songwriters. All this while maintaining their knack for catchy, guitar-driven garage rock that comes with all the right hooks and staccato rhythms.

Download the song after the JUMP.

Competition: Free Kytes EP

Now here's the blog's first competition ever.

I recently reviewed Kytes's new EP, and to celebrate the release of the EP next week, the band has decided to give away free downloads to a lucky few. Yesterday @JimHelixLee on Twitter won the first of the free EPs. Now you can be the second.

All you need to do is to post a link to a free download of a song you love, and the best song that I haven't heard before will be the winner. Sound good? You've got until 12.00am tomorrow (March 8th UK time) till the competition closes. You can post the link either on the Facebook page, on Twitter (reply to @mujahidjohar), or at the comments section. Please don't forget to leave your e-mail address.

Now go on and impress me with your musical knowledge!

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Review: Kytes - Ursa Major, The Great Bear

The blog's favourite math punks are at it again. Kytes's debut two-track EP was only a taste of what these boys can do, and with new release 'Ursa Major, The Great Bear,' they completely justified the excitement that I had built up waiting for this overdue follow-up. Originally scheduled to come last October, the delayed March release made me quite concerned that it would not be worth the wait. Boy, was I wrong.

Listen to the EP and read the rest of the review after the JUMP

Exclusive: The Xcerts Acoustic Session

I've got another excellent acoustic session with you on the blog. This time it's with Scottish rockers, The Xcerts. I managed to catch them at the Leeds leg of their Rock Sound Tour with Dinosaur Pile-Up and Japanese Voyeurs. Enjoy the video:

The Xcerts - Carnival Time

I first saw The Xcerts at Southsea Fest 2009, a gig in which their bassist was absent because of some injury I, for the life of me, can't remember. Despite his absence, and despite not having heard The Xcerts before, I came out of that gig a fan of their brand of alt rock.

Since then I've managed to catch them live a couple of times with a complete line-up, and with every performance they seem to be getting better. Possessing anthemic rock sensibilities and melancholic, darkly subtle lyrics, The Xcerts's second album Scatterbrain came out last year to widespread critical acclaim. It also earned a spot on this blog's Top 50 Albums of 2010.

The Xcerts - Scatterbrain

Videos of their live show at The Cockpit later that night after the JUMP.