Their sound comprises cello and female vocals enwreathed in a multi-layered chorus of guitar, keys, bass and beats. The band met whilst studying in Bristol and has been intermittently producing and playing music together ever since.​

For one thing, they only began as a band when their sonic experiments in improvising three-minute pop songs - verses and choruses, yes, melody and arrangements, no - exploded into something deeper and darker.

They’re as comfortable discussing Guy Debord and Arthur Schopenhauer as they are John Coltrane and Black Sabbath. Their Twitter feed thrums with hymns to Mei Leaf tea and conscientious vegan messaging alongside plugs for Notorious B.I.G. and tributes to legendary jazz-funk drummer Alphonse Mouzon.

Will Ritson (vocals, lyrics) is a visual artist, writer and poet and has his own book publishing company. Multi-instrumentalist Matt Ritson (keys) is a stellar photographer. Jonny Tams (bass) spent his teens fiddling with broken synths before going on to work with producers like Spike Stent and Stephen Street, as well as artists including Björk and Russell Haswell. Kai Akinde-Hummel (drums) is fluent in three languages, and his grandfather was part of Nigerian trumpeter Dr Victor Olaiya’s band, the same one Fela Kuti played with. Sash Lewis (synths) has patched modular synths with the likes of Four Tet, Caribou and Floating Points, and has, as they say, “a history…”

As Formation, they make a noise that is the single most explosive and joyously angry thing you’ll hear for a long time. So that’s numerous remarkable things already and we haven’t even mentioned Yes or the Wu-Tang Clan yet.

Brothers Will and Matt grew up in a South West London household where one parent loved Northern Soul, disco and funk while the other loved choral music, opera and Queen. For seven years, Will and Matt sang in church choirs four times a week – church being a venue they appreciated more for its acoustics than its message.

In his youth, Jonny worked in a record store in Wimbledon, recommending classic albums that would inspire the brothers. Later the three would work in a warehouse together, sucking down every great record they could squeeze onto the shared iPod, quietly brewing the first Formation EPs.

Meanwhile, Kai shared the brothers’ orchestral upbringing, playing with orchestras and jazz bands, sporadically working on projects with Matt, until he was drafted into the band while still living in Spain. Sash was sharing studio space with Jonny and joined the live set-up to “tune” the synths before a more serious involvement with the band was born.

A local scheme - the Merton Music Foundation - allowed the brothers to rent affordable instruments and so drums, clarinets and saxophones entered the house at an early age. Up in Camden, Kai was already playing in - and touring Europe with - orchestras and jazz bands.

“Playing in orchestras and in churches opened us up to so much more music,” Kai nods. “It was those places that taught us how to communicate.”

Others took a less conventional approach. Jonny, whose young mind was being blown by early music software, would record things falling over until he’d perfected the art. Meanwhile Sash would sit around in his mate Kieran Hebden’s bedroom, discovering samplers and drum loops as “pure magic” unfolded.

In their early teens, the boys soaked up Pink Floyd, Free, Yes and Jimi Hendrix. And it’s here we meet the very heart of Formation: on the left; groove, on the right, power; and in the centre, know-how. And while metal helped shaped them as teenagers, you’ll not hear that influence on Look at The Powerful People as the record doesn’t feature a single guitar. What you will hear is the bass as lead, percussion as lead, drums as lead, vocals as lead, the groove as lead – everything where it’s needed.

And now there’s an album - named after Gino Vanelli’s 1974 pop-soul masterpiece. Co-produced by the fast-rising Adele and The Strokes engineer Ben Baptie and genre-defining house producer and DJ Leon Vynehall, Look At The Powerful People shares the same redefining air that lit-up Andrew Weatherall’s work on Screamadelica. And while Look at The Powerful People might appear to be flashing its arse at Trump and May, it’s about flipping that drive around to create a gang with an inner power.

“People have a collective power,” Kai says. “We’ve always been on the fringes. We’re misfits, never a member of any scene. So we’ve built our own gang and if people want to join us they can.”

Take “Back Then,” a euphoric ball of heat and fire, bejewelled by Jonny’s production skills, bouncing on a thick Motown-like groove. It skirts time-wasting nostalgia but still thrills to the memories of being care-free enough to spend weeks building skate-ramps and stealing trolleys. “Buy and Sell” is sheer aggression, a fantastically nasty, jagged piece of commentary tackling consumerism and advertising.

“Drugs” pulses wildly, it’s not an anti-intoxicant song as such, more of a be-aware-of-what-you’re-doing song. Elsewhere, “A Friend” is a lunatic pop blast, like a psychedelic Killers stripped of their showbiz glitter and jacked up on cheap coffee and cigarettes.

If any song were to sum this brilliant group up it would be “On The Board”. It’s actually about chess, which puts it in a small group with “Your Move” by Yes and the Wu-Tang’s “Da Mystery of Chessboxin’”.

“Us, Yes and Wu-Tang,” smiles Will. “That’s the magic pyramid of Formation! The first five Yes albums and the first three Wu Tang albums - I could throw everything else away. It doesn’t get more ‘us’ than “On The Board”. I wanted to make a tune someone else might sample - and this might be the one…”

Formation are something else. Something real. Something you can trust. They bleed Stax and Curtis Mayfield, Pantera and Sly Stone, Gil Scott Heron and Vaughan Williams. They’re built on the bones of visionary musicians and the desire to connect that’s within us all. Look at The Powerful People is “a diverse record from diverse people for a diverse crowd,” Matt says, summing it up to perfection. 2017 just got a whole lot brighter.

In early 2009, Joey Vannucchi began writing songs in a small mountain community just outside of Yosemite National Park. With the help of friends to perform his material, From Indian Lakes the band began playing local shows and released a full-length record, "The Man With Wooden Legs" in the winter of 2009. Since the initial debut, the band has furthered its musical reach through noteworthy touring, in addition to Vannucchi’s maturing songwriting and recording.

When the band released its sophomore album, Able bodies, in 2012, it garnered wide acclaim for it’s depth, while still retaining the passion and darkness of “The Man With Wooden Legs”. Today, the band anticipates the release of their third album, “Absent Sounds” on October 7th, 2014. Vannucchi, who continues to write and record the majority of From Indian Lakes releases, continues to showcase his creative talent while the growing fan base anticipates every turn.

Naomi plays percussive instruments, the Cajon and the Batas. Whilst Lisa plays piano. Together the twins have learned the songs of their father's culture, Yoruba.

Yoruba travelled from West Africa to Cuba with slavery in the 1700s. The Yoruba people have the highest twinning rate in the World, and twins occupy an important position within Yoruba culture. Ibeyi is pronounced "ee-bey-ee" and translates as "Twins" in Yoruba.

Ibeyi sing in English and Yoruba, and have created a minimalist sound that merges elements of their heritage with their natural love of modern music as teenagers grown up in Paris, citing artists such as James Blake and King Krule amongst their wide range of influences.

Ibeyi are currently recording their debut album for XL, with Richard Russell on production.

Their debut release came in the form of ‘Awake,’ a 4 track digital EP released in early 2013. Their second EP ‘Eye of the Storm’ is due for release on 2nd June 2014. This will be followed by a further two EP’s set for release in 2014.

Davies handles most of the production in their home studio and steers the basic structure of their songs whilst Wilkinson writes the bulk of the lyrics and vocal melodies, which as a duo is a collaborative force. Lyrically, the words are generated by Rachel’s dreams and heavily inspired by visionary TV shows and movies such as Game of Thrones and The Hunger Games.

With a cinematic quality to their arrangements, Rachel & Jamie are inspired by the soundtrack composers Tom Tyker (Cloud Atlas, Run Lola Run) and Hans Zimmer. Each and every Ivy & Gold song is embedded with sophisticated layers, seductive melodies and Wilkinson’s strong yet brooding vocals.

For the latest EP, Rachel has been creating limited edition canvases for the band’s merchandise store and their stunning EP artwork – created by a friend - is available to buy as a fine art print.

By the very uninhibited nature of her sound, the understated approach in which Låpsley introduced her music came by way of the simplest of discoveries; a handful of people engaging so closely with it they couldn’t help but pass it on, write about it or play it. When you can’t keep a secret it inevitably works its way beyond what you believe is possible as an artist out there on your own - cue up support from the likes of BBC Radio 1’s Annie Mac, Huw Stephens and Phil & Alice, mentions in the NME and online support from Gorilla vs Bear, Disco Naivete, Pigeons & Planes and DIY among many more.

Gaining a plethora of plaudits for her minimal yet striking electronic production, and achingly beautiful vocals, the music that she has made available online gives an intimate insight into the concentrated potential of this young artist and a promising indication of great things to come.

After the departure of co-founder and vocalist David Jakes earlier this year due to health reasons, Lonely The Brave stood together, supporting their friend but adamant that as one door was closing, they would very soon be opening a new one. They never stopped writing, never stopped creating, and instead started the search for a vocal talent that they could stand side by side with in their march toward album number three.

A short search led them to the door of Jack Bennett, and an instant connection was made as they traded stories, ideas and inspirations. He is noted for his strong and emotionally wrought vocal performances - qualities that have come to define the band’s live show - so it is with some excitement that their first live outing together is announced to take place at Omeara, London, on October 13th. Tickets will be available here - http://smarturl.it/LTB_Omeara - and go on general sale from 9am this Friday, August 17th. This will be a special headline show with no support act and an early 10pm curfew, so be sure to get down early to avoid disappointment.

The band had this to say about Jack’s arrival;

We don’t know where to start with everything that has happened over the last 12 Months or so, so first of all we all want to say thank you to every single one of you that has messaged us with your support during this period. Nothing worth doing is ever easy and your continued words of encouragement really have helped galvanise our belief that this band has so much more to give. It fills us with pride to say that this new chapter of our history will begin in earnest on the 13th October. The show is our way of thanking every single one of you for standing by us and understanding that this is a continuation; that the songs really are the most important part.

Morrissey grew up just off the Portobello Road in London, the second-oldest of nine children. If it was an unusual upbringing it was nonetheless one that has given her both the grounding and the confidence to plough her own particular furrow. It was Morrissey’s father who introduced her to artists such as Devendra Banhart and Antony and the Johnsons, and her older brother who led her to Jeff and Tim Buckley. “And I always knew Bob Dylan,” she says “When I was maybe eight years old I did a talent show and sang Maggie’s Farm, in a cowboy hat and cowboy boots.” What she admires most in music — and hopes might be found in her own songs, is for there to be “something childlike in the best way possible, something almost vulnerable about the music, for there not to be a barrier.”

At 14 Morrissey began learning guitar. She still remembers the thrill when, only a couple of weeks into lessons, she played a song for her best friend “making it up as I went along,” she smiles. “I got really excited by the idea — I remember going back home and recording it on garage band.”

Soon she was replacing the recordings on her MySpace — youthful renditions of Lord Bless You and Keep You and My Fair Lady covers with her first original song.

Morrissey left school at 17, abandoning A Levels in Music and French to pursue her songwriting career. “It was a big decision,” she admits. “But I’d always been set on not going to university because I knew that music was what I wanted to do. Her parents, she insists, were entirely supportive. “But because I’d been making music since I was 14 and putting it online, and the power of the internet had helped pave my way to meeting my manager and meeting my label, they supported the decision.”

When she was 15, Morrissey had written a song called Show Me — a stunning and arresting song that sounded world-worn and emboldened, showcasing the height and depth, the twist and turn of her exceptional voice. She began saving up for a Super 8 camera to make the song a video she would post to Vimeo.

In a roundabout way it was this video that brought Morrissey to the attention of Elliot Roberts, manager of Devendra Banhart and Neil Young, and then on to Daniel Glass of Glassnote Records (home to Phoenix, Mumford & Sons and Daughter, among many) a label she chose because “Nearly everything I do now has to be centred around a sense of family and community and being around nice people.”

It is Show Me that forms the cornerstone of her debut album, a collection of songs written over the past 5 years of her life.

Morrissey recorded the album with producer Noah Georgeson (Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Cate Le Bon), spending two and a half months in Los Angeles.

Having played only a handful of live shows – including much-lauded performances at Green Man and Wilderness, last autumn Morrissey suddenly found herself on stage at the Casino de Paris, playing two songs to 2000 people as a sort of amuse bouche before headliner Damon Albarn.

She remembers, she says, how warm the audience was, “And seeing a girl smiling in the crowd. And I was trying to smile and think that this is just a song, just go for it. Because sometimes you just have to laugh, don’t you, at the silliness of this whole thing?”

It’s a musical progression that mirrors a personal one: the early Tropics output was all made in the idyllic, if isolated setting of Ward’s grandmother’s empty house in the seaside town of Southsea, which he moved into after graduating from university to focus on writing and recording. He was alone there - “like, really alone. For days, I had literally no distractions.” Having moved to London in 2013, Ward now splits his time between the city and the road, having played in America, Mexico and across Europe throughout the past year with his live band Keith Vaz and Gillan McLaughlin.

Signed to Innovative Leisure, Ward has crafted an album that fuses his love of avant-garde percussion, the pop-leaning hooks of classic 70’s and 80s singer-songwriters, and deep production that takes its cues from ambient music.

20 year-old twin sisters Catherine and Lizzy Ward Thomas have the vocal power and versatility to make you forget the external. Fresh, wholesome, honest and sincere, they both portray an easy-going, confident style that oozes a mixture of the untainted swagger of youth with the confidence and bravado of adulthood, and the soul of classic female icons well beyond their years.

Family harmony singing, especially sibling harmonies, has long been a staple of Country music, and Catherine and Lizzy deliver an intricate and effective vocal package. Their harmonies dissolve into the musical bloodstream and their original thoughtful and intuitive song lyrics aid the process. More to the point, both possess strong, powerful voices and a distinctive feel for modern Country.

In 2014, in between putting the finishing touches to their debut album, Ward Thomas headed out on the road, touring all across the UK and also working doing gigs and showcases around Nashville and other music venues in America’s deep south, where their uniquely ‘British-take on Country music’ has been well-received.

In the spring of 2014 they made the BBC Radio 2 playlist with The Good And The Right. That coincided with the releases of their FOOTNOTES EP, which featured their first non-original song. They make Dougie MacLean’s Caledonia very much their own as they strike a stunning balance between vulnerability and self-assurance.

Ward Thomas are one of the most refreshing acts to come along in some time and in ‘From Where We Stand’ they have put together a beguiling debut album that is sure to charm all who come across it. They are the kind of act whose future literally seems unlimited.

Alan Cackett (Founding Editor, Maverick Magazine)

Dashing through northern pastures unsaddled and un-blinkered Jane's journey so-far, from teenage Liverpudlian shoe-gazer to conceptual-pop mistress, has seen her graze with pocket-punk, Synth-pop, acid folk, indie-schmindie, dark-ambient drones, Hollywood soundtracks and girl-group psych.

Raised on the enthusiasm and inspiration of Factory records founder Rob Gretton and counting Doves and Elbow as her early backing bands Jane’s desire to cultivate and promote Manchester's lesser-documented Female musicians lead to her long-running Bird records imprint (releasing the earliest recordings of Cate Le Bon, Beth Jeans Houghton and Maxine Peake) housed in the anti-office of Andy Votel’s Twisted Nerve label.

Having recorded 6 critically acclaimed self-penned solo albums Jane has also written and recorded with a wide range of multi-disciplined artists featuring pioneering ‘lost’ musicians (Wendy & Bonnie, Suzanne Ciani, Cybotron and Suzanne Christie) as well as non-conformists (Demdike Stare, Dave Tyack and The Focus Group) and high-profile friends and supporters (David Holmes, Damon Gough, Dave Brock).

Jane’s lesser known creative endeavours have seen her contribute sound-installation projects to labels via Manchester's Boomkat experimental imprint, various international theatrical institutes as a film re-composer, as a compiler for Finders Keepers records, and as an author of children’s books based on her visual collaborations with Klunkclick (Yo Gabba Gabba / Bobby Conn).

Meanwhile her presence as a live performer has been requested by the likes of Jarvis Cocker, Guy Garvey (Meltdown), Laetitia Sadier, Richard Hawley, Josephine Foster and Gruff Rhys and has flexed her knowledge in the DJ booth as a one-time member of Sean Rowley’s Guilty Pleasures DJ team. Jane’s music has appeared in fashion campaigns for Chanel and Chloe plus a wide-range of TV and Cinematic productions such as the soundtrack to ‘Kiss Of The Damned’ directed by John Cassevetes daughter Xan. Jane’s voice was also sampled by the band Coldplay, on the track ‘Another’s Arms’.

Jane’s last album ‘The Silver Globe’ was, in Jane’s own opinion, her most complete and realised commitment to vinyl to date and was released via her own Bird Records imprint in late 2014 garnering the instant accolade on Piccadilly Records Album Of The Year a notion shared with many music fans and blogs. Gilles Peterson gave the first single ‘Don't Take My Soul’ a Top Ten place in his best tracks of the year adding to the unanimous support of radio DJs like Jarvis Cocker, Marc Riley, Stuart Maconie, Lauren Laverne and Mary Anne Hobbs. Early DJ mix encouragement has also come from the likes of Andrew Weatherall and Beyond The Wizards Sleeve. Having debuted songs to a proud list of sold-out headline gigs, and as a key artist at last years Festival Number 6, beneath the rays of The Silver Globe anything is possible.

2017 will see the release of new music, yet to be announced, with a busy live schedule expected later in the year through 2018.

Alice grew up on a mountainside in South Africa listening to her parent's records and indulging her love of theatre, arts and music at a local Waldorf school; a formative time that nurtured her independence and desire to experience music of all styles. This multi-faceted creative upbringing mixed with Alice's natural wanderlust and in 2010, 16-year-old Alice made her first journey to Europe during her summer break from school. Inspired by watching fire dancers in Paris, she began to perform likewise to get enough money to fund her travelling.

That summer Alice roamed between Paris and Amsterdam; experiencing the highs and lows of street performances' underbelly. This vagabond lifestyle was a creative inspiration and gave Alice an enduring taste for the immediacy of street crowds. After returning to South Africa to complete her studies, Alice's path led her back to Europe and she made her way to the German capital - Berlin. The freedom of the city was intoxicating and she immersed herself in the creative world there.

Alice began busking across Berlin with just her guitar, a small amplifier on a trolley and her mesmerising voice. Her natural talent and captivating delivery started to garner a cult street following with people coming to see her busk and buy her records. The uncompromising creative community of Berlin also helped Alice grow musically and she collaborated with acoustic, jazz and electronic musicians; including multi-instrumentalist Matteo who quickly became Alice's live performance companion. Soon Alice self-released her first body of work - the Momentum EP - her first collaborative effort recorded between Berlin and Cape Town with five different producers. Although by now interest was sparked with several major labels, Alice's desire to maintain the creative freedom she had fostered kept her focus on growing her digital community of loyal fans and imagining ever more interesting settings for her intimate live shows

Now having spent two years playing intimate gigs across Europe and South Africa, and supporting established like-minded artists like Rodriguez, April 2016 will see Alice releasing her first full length studio album. Orbit comprises nine jazz-influenced, eclectic tracks recorded between Cape Town and Berlin that encapsulate the freshness of her live style, vagabond spirit and showcase her distinctive, soprano voice. Produced by Matteo and Kyson, the album is a testament to Alice's collaborative way of writing and features musicians from South Africa and Europe lending their musical skills and different visual artists producing art works to match each track. The result is an intricately woven pattern of soul, blues and jazz: scattered with retro, beatnik melodies; soothing vocal harmonies and sleazy brass flourishes.

Produced by Charlie Hugall (Florence and The Machine, Ed Sheeran), Paul Savage (Mogwai, Franz Ferdinand) and Peter Miles (We Are The Ocean, Futures, The King Blues) and with arrangements and strings from Valgeir Sigurðsson (Sigur Rós, Björk), the resulting 10-track album is bold, expansive, confident and cohesive - an undeniable step up in both diversity and volume from their critically acclaimed debut, Shallow Bed (March 2012).

Dry the River have announced a UK headline tour in October. The dates follow a number of festival shows over the summer, including appearances at Glastonbury and the Main Stage at Reading and Leeds.

They ended their last run of UK dates with a euphoric sold-out show at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire in November 2012, a year which began with them appearing in the BBC ‘Sound of 2012’ poll. This tour will see them play their biggest headline show yet, at The Forum in Kentish Town, London.

His debut EP, 'Pieces', due for release in early 2015, is a selection of the best of those songs. It's a contemplative affair, with sonic nods to The Bad Seeds, Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. Some parts are loud, others almost imperceptibly delicate but Brill's brandy-warm baritone is always at the centre of proceedings.

In The Pink Of Condition - H. Hawkline’s first record for the irrepressibly brilliant Heavenly Recordings - is a transportational record. Through twelve tracks, it folds the space between a pinched grey seaside town in North Wales and the bleached-out wide-open spaces of the City of Angels. In doing so, it creates a glorious hybrid environment – one where a rundown, rough and tumble branch of Pontins could occupy the space once reserved for the Disney castle and where ‘spooky dogs’ wait for you around corners, their “two eyes set in a lick of fog”.

Shot through with the blues, the reds and the golds, the greens and the wispy white clouds that hang lazy over the rolling Pacific, In The Pink Of Condition truly marks Huw Hawkline’s arrival. His first album proper for Heavenly Recordings, it blossoms with all the charm, beauty, wit and wonder that’s been hinted at over the last few years across the artist’s limited run releases, singles and EPs and adds a brilliantly clear-eyed focus.

A few words of background. Huw Hawkline was born in Cardiff and raised in sunny Prestatyn, a seaside town famous for the aforementioned Pontins holiday camp and the first ever branch of Kwik Save. Formerly co-presenter of S4C’s flagship music-show Bandit (alongside Radio 1’s Huw Stephens), twenty-nine year old Huw recorded three albums in his native country (2010’s A Cup Of Salt, 2011’s The Strange Uses Of Ox Gall and the 2014 collection Salt Gall Box Ghouls) before taking flight for a life in L.A. late in 2013. (Well, you would if you could, wouldn’t you?)

The effect of the relocation on Hawkline’s music is total. Recorded in Seahorse Sound Studios just off Skid Row and produced by long-time cohort, fellow Welsh émigré and musical maven/genius Cate le Bon, In The Pink Of Condition is “strange pop” (words borrowed from Huw): a controlled explosion of lazer-guided guitar melody (think a careering Television set or the Pavement outside the original site of Spillers) and whip smart bi-lingual wordplay. From the scratchy proto-disco ‘Everybody’s On The Line’ to the haunted saloon bar rattle of ‘In Love’ and the demented strut of ‘Moddion’ (Welsh for medicine), it’s a record that clearly feels the benefits of good weather.

That said, Wales is in there too – how could it not be? Viewed in backwards glances across countries, it’s there through weather smudged-windows of ‘Rainy Summer’ (“Head full of crashing waves on dog mouth dunes”) and ‘Concrete Coloured Clothes’ (which paints a picture of a place “where slate grows slow”). If Wales is Hawkline’s brooding foundation stone; California is the optimistic extension constructed atop it.

Although reluctant to cite a shopping list’s worth of influences, Huw nods to two permanent inspirations – the maverick U.S. author Richard Brautigan (the Hawkline name appropriated from Brautigan’s 1974 ‘gothic western’ The Hawkline Monster) and a just-turned-solo Paul McCartney (Huw namechecks Ram, an album coincidentally recorded when the once-and-future Beatle was also twenty-nine). From the former, a wistful ways with words - songs constructed as slices of life, surrealist observations on the everyday. From the latter - what else would one ask for other than a just smidgeon of Macca’s six sense for abundant, tumbling melody?

So, Brautigan, Macca and a union between one wild west coast and another; forks in the road on the journey of one of the most unique musical talents to emerge from Wales – or anywhere - in the last ten years. Worth sticking around to see where he’s heading next.

I love watching PIANO WIRE play. Every single time. It’s so exciting to witness the same kind of guitar tension that powered Boston’s Pixies/Breeders axis, cuffed against the wall with Magazine’s straitjacketed postpunk pop, struggling to get free. Guitars growl from under the floorboards, melodies tighten around your heart. Harmonies and battering rams, guitar strings and piano wire.

Piano Wire are the new band from Sym and Andy, still smouldering from the wreckage of Eighties Matchbox B Line Disaster’s final uncontrolled detonation. Sean and Tim fill out the four here and balance the scales.

The band have been tipped by The Quietus, Clash, Radio 1, Xfm, 6Music, Artrocker, DrownedInSound, The Line Of Best Fit and more.

Their “excellent debut” record, The Genius Of The Crowd, a “lurid post-punk gem”, packs in 8 great songs in under 24 minutes, thrilling and shaking from the off with the “delicious pop-tinged rock-threat” of I’ll Kill You’s 136 seconds of breathless escape.

It balances the shaking and helpless Are You The Vaccine? and Into The Orchid “conjuring up a veritable shitstorm” with the Elliot Smith-y melodic wordplay of Blue Canyon Eyes‘ beautifully scarred vistas and the dizzy swaggering of Fossils and Superstar.

The Genius Of The Crowd EP released on 12”/DL via Something In Construction on June 8th:

A 1. I’ll Kill You 2. Are You The Vaccine? 3. Fossils 4. Blue Canyon Eyes

B 1. Into The Orchid 2. Society 3. Superstar 4. Crushing Violet

Thanks to Hank for the title.

So they say…

“an excellent debut… they're pop, but they're also weird, which is the best kind of pop” - THE QUIETUS

“an invigorating blend of dead-eyed QOTSA swagger and piercing post-punk” THE LINE OF BEST FIT

"a lurid post-punk gem. The imagination of The Cramps bolted onto a uniquely British chassis" - CLASH

“delicious pop-tinged rock-threat, I’ll Kill You… something for shouting along to as summer saunters into frame” - THE LINE OF BEST FIT

“conjuring up a veritable shitstorm….traces of Husker Du….the most primal moments of SST Records” DROWNEDINSOUND

“It’s made up of jagged, messed up, wirey guitars and helter skelter drums and, of course, it’s brilliant“ ARTROCKER

“something different and special” THIS YEAR IN MUSIC

“one of the most COMPLETE upcoming bands at the moment, and they’re one of the bands you should ALL listen to” VAPOUR TRAIL

In the case of PINS, swaths of the primary color wheel embedded in the group’s aesthetic, artwork, and presentation ring out almost as loudly as the pops of neon synths, loud guitars, and cheeky melodies in their music do. Not only does the palette distinguish the trio—Faith Vern, Lois MacDonald, and Kyoko Swan—from the rain-soaked soul of their native Manchester, UK, but it also unites them as a ​“girl gang​.”

Such vibrancy defines their third full-length album for their own Haus of Pins label, ​Hot Slick​.

“Since we’re girls who play music, our band has always had this ​‘girl gang’​ thing that follows us around,” exclaims Faith. “We do what we want though. It’s simple. We’ve learned how to present ourselves. Bold colors represent being strong. So, we’ve embraced those in the music, art, and aesthetic. Strength should be the main thing that comes to mind when you think of us.”

Since the release of ​Girls Like Us​ in 2013, PINS have exuded strength in their danceable alternative post-punk transmissions and earned the trust, endorsement, and creative blessings of rock royalty such as Iggy Pop and peers including Jamie Hince of The Kills. 2015’s ​Wild Nights​, which was recorded and produced at Rancho De La Luna with Dave Catching (Eagles of Death Metal), attracted acclaim from Harpers Bazaar​, ​Interview Magazine​, ​The Guardian​, and ​Stereogum​. They toured on both sides of the pond alongside everyone from Sleater-Kinney and Warpaint to Best Coast and The Subways. 2017 saw them unveil ​The Bad Thing​ EP preceded by the single “Aggrophobe” [feat. Iggy Pop]. ​i-D Magazine described it as ​“AMAZING​.​” ​Along the way, things slowly, but surely changed. PINS parted ways with the original rhythm section of bassist Anna Donigan and drummer Sophie Galpin. Paired down to a three-piece, Kyoko jumped from keys to bass. At the same time, they hunkered down and wrote and recorded ​Hot Slick​. Not to mention, Faith was pregnant throughout the entire process, even playing shows ​“up until eight months​.​”

“PINS has obviously changed, which is why there was a huge gap between releases,” the frontwoman goes on. “We got this room in Manchester where the three of us would rehearse, play, and hangout. We went back to square one and thought about how to portray everything going forward. It was an opportunity to refresh the image and sound. We built it up from scratch. As I was about to become a mom, I was also thinking about the world my daughter would live in. It was like a second chance.”

“After Anna and Sophia left, we looked at other sonic options,” Lois says. “We used more drum machines and synth production techniques to get the sound we wanted. As we were learning how to use these processes and equipment, our writing improved. It was different, because we were swapping out instruments, synths, and drum machines among the three of us. We weren’t assigned to the set roles of ​‘guitarist’ ​or ​‘keyboardist’​. If somebody had an idea, she just played it! That allowed us to be quite free. We got on the same page and really supported one another. It gave us energy and confidence in what we were doing as well as a fresh start.”

Kyoko remarks, “With less voices in the room, there was less pressure. The three of us were able to relax and be more natural.”

They expanded the soundscape, nodding to influences such as Soulwax, LCD Soundsystem, Suicide, and New Order. Additionally, they welcomed a rotating cast of collaborators. Rich Woodcraft oversaw the entire project as producer and engineer, while Jamie Hince and Dean Horner contributed additional

production and Nathan Saoudi of Fat White Family lent his talents on the keys. Faith personally handled all of the styling, photography, and creative direction for the artwork and rollout, emphasizing strident colors. The group also equally amplified every aspect of their signature sound, including the lyrics.

“Let’s be clear,” she grins. “A lot of the lyrics are a bit cocky and cheeky. It feels good to be unafraid though.”

Produced by Hince, the first single “Hot Slick” introduces the album with a glitchy drum march, wobbling synthesizers, and an ominous bass line. Cathartic howls crash into thick distortion as Faith repeats, ​“Get away, get away, I’ve got to get away”​ with robotic precision.

“It’s about escape,” she continues. “The whole thing is one big fantasy for us. It’s not real life. It’s about being a band, touring, and feeling alive.”

“The title ​‘Hot Slick’​ sounded sexy too,” laughs Kyoko. “It was something we came up with as a joke, but we all loved it.”

“Ghosting” sways back and forth between thudding bounce and heavenly harmonies punctuated by high register crooning. Primed to evoke fits on the dancefloor, it captures what Lois describes as ​“a big club vibe​.​” S​ peaking of dancing, the industrial bass groans and tambourine tingles of “Bad Habit” accompany a fan favorite dance move. “It always feels like I’m singing ​‘Bad Habit’​ right to the audience,” explains Faith. “It’s our most inclusive song.”

Meanwhile, a high-heeled skittering beat struts right through “Ponytail” towards a declaration, ​“Yes, I will be up all night, I whip my ponytail from side-to-side.” T​ he track centers around, ​“going out and having a good time with your friends without letting the party end.​ ​”

With its cheerleader-style chant and slippery synths, “Bad Girls Forever” doubles as a clarion call hung up on a sing-song-hook. “There are still some girls who are frightened at shows and don’t come out,” she adds. “They’re not confident enough to be on stage. It’s our job to make them feel like they should be. The song’s just for the girls.”

In the end, PINS fly their own flag higher than ever on ​Hot Slick​ and inspire in the process.

“It’s been over eight years, and so much has happened,” concludes Kyoko. “It’s about having a good

time as friends.”

“PINS is a projection of ourselves,” Faith leaves off. “There’s a little bit of fantasy. This is the world we built for ourselves. Maybe people will dance there with us.”

In my haste returning to Vancouver, I had left all my instruments in a storage locker in LA. My sister had moved out and left her piano at my parent’s house, an instrument I had yet to explore. The first song I wrote on that piano was ‘Just A Dream.’ It was also one of my first attempts at singing. I have yet come to terms with my singing voice, but at the time I was left with no other option.

I recorded the demo, and then did a few more. Afterwards I sent the demos to JR White [Girls], someone who had produced one of my favorite records of the past few years (and was also signed to True Panther, the label I’m currently on). Soon after, he asked me to come down to San Francisco to record an album. After a series of visa issues and border complications, I finally met him and spent the next few months jumping from San Francisco to Los Angeles, recording in studios and bedrooms with friends.

After all that was said and done, I got offered to have a few more of my songs produced by Patrick Carney [The Black Keys] in Nashville, and Ariel Rechstaid in Los Angeles. I owe the sound of the record to the great effort of everyone involved, the producers and musicians doing and playing things I couldn’t and treating the production with the same reverence I treat my songwriting.

The writing will always be the most important to me; the production, playing and singing I am still figuring out. I still play a bit of guitar, but I’m mostly sticking to the piano these days.

- TJJR. December 2014

After sold-out shows in London, Isle Of Wight and Bristol, they holed themselves up in their self-built analogue studio to write and record their next offering ‘Inhale The Universe’. Finding it difficult to create the desired drum sound at home, they rowed out at dawn to coastal caves for inspiration and to get the recording just right – a sheer moment of genius!

Third EP in the trilogy, ‘Everything Is Yellow and Yellow Is My Least Favourite Colour’ followed in June 2016 and saw the band back at their creative best. Even the EP artwork took hours and hours to craft from multi-dimensional collaged New Scientist magazines, culminating in one beautiful photograph - another stroke of genius by this idiosyncratic quintet.

Playing a spell-binding headline set at this year’s Rhythm Tree Festival, followed by electrifying and breathtaking performances at bluedot, Kendal Calling, Deer Shed and FarmFest, this five-piece band are gaining a huge array of fans with their unapologetic quirkiness.

The band continue to take creative risks; musically and especially within their live shows, and are looking to write and record an album as the next logical step.

Plastic Mermaids are: Douglas Richards (vocals, piano, cowbell), Jamie Richards (guitar, drum machine, samples, vocals), Chris Newnham (guitar), Tom Farren (bass) and Chris Jones (drums).

Since releasing their breakthrough debut album, Evergreen, in 2014, the brother-sister duo of Georgia and Caleb Nott—better known as Broods--spent the better part of two years on the road learning the ins and outs of what it means to be a band. For an act that was thrust into the international spotlight when both members were just barely out of school, the experience of playing big stages around the world had a powerful effect on the music they would choose to make next. It makes sense that when it came time to make a new album, assuming control would be a priority.

“I think the whole process of releasing Evergreen and then touring the record was just a massive learning curve for us,” says Georgia. “Everything that we were doing, we were doing for the first time and you just have to learn as you go. There's not really a class for writing albums and touring albums at school.” Caleb concurs. “After touring for so long, you start realizing which songs you enjoy playing the most and which songs audiences react to,” he says. “We know more about what we're up to and that's definitely influenced the way that we wrote the second album. I think it meant that we just gravitated toward writing songs that were bigger. This record is a punch in the face compared to the last one. Evergreen was very subtle and airy, this one really goes for the throat.”

A renewed sense of confidence is evident on Conscious—Broods’ highly anticipated sophomore album. Recorded at studios between LA and in the band’s native homeland of New Zealand, the album is an audacious step forward for the band. Produced by long-term collaborator Joel Little (Lorde, Ellie Goulding, Jarryd James), the band themselves, as well as production by Alex Hope (Troye Sivan), and Captain Cuts (Halsey, Tove Lo), the record is both bigger and bolder than anything the duo have done before. As evidenced by the record’s anthemic first single, “Free,” the newly emboldened duo have built on the restrained, textural pop of their debut and amped up the intensity. “Hallelujah, I’m free,” sings Georgia, her voice surrounded by whip-cracked beats and an arsenal of pulsing, oceanic synths. “All I want is your attention please,” she commands, “Don't want your opinion or your fee.” The track is a powerful statement of intent and one that, for the band, feels duly earned. While Georgia has grown into a powerful vocalist and front woman, Caleb has similarly evolved as a producer. (“When we were starting, I had to explain to someone else what it was I wanted to hear,” he says; “Now I can just make those sounds myself.”) According to the duo, the new record not only showcases their continued evolution as a pop act, but also serves as a testament to how much they’ve grown as people. “I didn’t want to just be up there singing about love,” says Georgia, “I wanted to talk about other things—things that people might really be going through, the kinds of things you face when it’s not just about being a kid anymore and having fun. I wanted to make great pop songs but also feel just a little more mature.” As a result, the 13 tracks on the record adroitly discuss the pleasures and pains of young adulthood—namely, what it means to take the reigns over your own life.”

Elsewhere on the record the duo is joined by Swedish pop sensation Tove Lo on “Freak of Nature,” a gorgeously articulated and darkly personal ballad about embracing and overcoming your own personal demons. (“Love made me do crazy things,

Loving life turned me insane,” sings Georgia, “But maybe it’s beautiful.”) The band also get the ultimate co-sign from fellow New Zealander Lorde, who co-wrote “Heartlines”—one of the album’s most potent pop moments. Buoyed along by a stomping beat and clapping synths, the song is the kind of single that seems tailor-made for stadium sized sing-alongs. “I don’t always play nice, but I wanna feel your heartlines,” sings Georgia, as the song explodes into a gleeful ode to jumping state lines, grabbing onto the one you love, and running towards whatever it is that makes you happy.

Broods will spend the majority of 2016 expanding and refining their live show, leading off with a run of arena shows with Ellie Goulding. The live experience will continue to be a family affair (the duo’s cousin, Jonathan Nott, will be joining them on drums), and it’s an experience that continues to both challenge and strengthen Caleb and Georgia’s sibling bond. In fact, other than fielding endless questions about what it’s like to be from New Zealand, (“We’ll leave it to Lorde to keep serving as unofficial ambassador,” jokes Caleb), it’s their relationship as a brother and sister that continues to be a constant source of fascination for both journalists and fans. It’s the relationship that also serves as the beating heart of the band.

“The fact that we used to just do this as a hobby and now this is our career,” says Georgia. “When we were kids we used to fight all the time, but now it’s different. You grow closer when you share this kind of experience because it’s just such a massive part of both of our lives. We have to make sure that we’re both still happy and loving what we’re doing. It’s a really big thing to do what you used to do just for fun as a full-time career. It’s good that we have each other during this experience, to make sure that the love for the music is always there and that we don’t get overwhelmed or let any of this stuff really change us. When someone has known you your whole life and they are your bandmate it’s easy for them to keep you in check. You need someone around who will encourage you, but also knows when to tell you to stop being crazy and get your shit together.”

It is music about burying yourself in an avalanche of words and warm bodies in an endless search for the right ones.