Thursday 31 March 2011

The Spires reveal new video for 'Fireworks' single released physically on the 18th of April!

The Spires are a three piece from Sheffield who produce striking sounds that straddle the border between indie and euphoric rave and dance music.They've released the new video today watch it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-ygIEGP_7Q the embed code is below! If you are interested in covering their new single please let us know! Any news pieces, features, interview requests welcome!





cheers

Embed:

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2-ygIEGP_7Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Download:
http://music.intruderlabel.com/track/the-spires-fireworks
Stream:
http://soundcloud.com/soundandvisionpr/the-spires-fireworks
ARTIST: THE SPIRES
TRACK TITLE: FIREWORKS
LABEL: INTRUDER RECORDS
RELEASE (FREE DOWNLOAD): OUT NOW
OFFICIAL RELEASE (DIGITAL RETAILERS & LIMITED PHYSICAL) 18th APRIL 2011
Teaming up with producers The Animal Farm and Intruder Records in late 2010 produced three cracking singles, the first of which, Fireworks, is out on 18.04.2011. The Spires new single ‘Fireworks’ is a multi layered carnival of colours, an adrenaline filled floor filling anthem that blurs the boundaries between dance and indie-rock scenes. Bright synth sounds and wired dance beats, are given precise human form not through drum machines but by the electric instrumentation of this three piece. Rhythmically building up the pressure until ‘Fireworks’ explodes into an insatiable disco-rock chorus, fired through with striking guitar licks. ‘Fireworks’ is already receiving enthusiastic blog commentary and BBC Sheffield Introducing support.
The Spires were born at a mental asylum on the outskirts of Sheffield, where lead singer Matt Smith worked as a caretaker. Inspired by his surroundings, Matt put all his energy into riotous, lung bursting performances that soon established The Spires as a must-see live outfit in Sheffield.
With a batch of scratchy home demos and an insane live show, Matt and his band mates Matt Dacey and Matt Pike - The Three Mattsketeers, anyone? - caught the attention of Embrace lead singer Danny McNamara who featured them on his BBC1 show. Support slots with Delphic, festival appearances and a bizarre gig with INXS at Sheffield’s City Hall followed. The gig coincided with unprecedented flooding in the city that day. Biblical? Maybe. Ominous? Certainly.
The Spires completed their first UK tour of toilets in November 2010. “I guess it’s progress. I used to clean up after the loonies. Now I get to play to rooms full of them”, says Matt.
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Forthcoming shows:
7th April - London, Barfly
19th April - Norwich Arts Centre
21st April - Bury St. Edmunds, LP
22nd April - Leeds, Milo
23rd April - Sheffield, The Leadmill
Contacts / Social links:

Sunday 27 March 2011

Ideals - Significant Other

Case Study: Ideals- Significant Other- single campaign

We've worked hard on Ideals
http://www.myspace.com/idealstheband  single campaign over the last few months. Here are some of the results we achived with the help of Intruder records.

Steve Lamacq played Significant Other on his SIxmusic show on the 07/03/1980


INTERVIEWS:

It's interview week on the Devil's blog and what better way to start than with a band that will be one of 2011's bands to watch of the blogosphere cognoscenti. Lead singer and guitarist Andrew Major took time off from preparing for super-stardom to tell the Devil about his favourite artists, his regretful fling with the music (sic) of Limp Bizkit and the little white lies he once told about shoe sizes!






REVIEWS:

 Ideals "Musically it’s big, dark and melodramatic with a rich, polished production. Imagine the National fronted by The Editors Tom Smith and you’d be pretty close. This is a great track and apparently the first of six singles to be released this year - I can’t wait for the next!"



The melancholy remains, the sweet melodies permeate the surface but the whole sound comes down over you like an almighty waterfall. IDEALS are exhilarating. 2011 is set to be a busy year. Having already played with Pete Doherty and The Automatic, this coming year is all about the road. More singles will follow and with each release more karaoke pub singers and Madonna wannabe's will be washed away by the cascading IDEALS waterfall.



After just one spin of the dark moody indie rock of Significant Other has me hooked on the Ideals tense yet infectious sound, the dark brooding croon of frontman Andrew Major had me scrambling for the repeat button over and over again, leaving me smitten with the contagious chorus, serrated riffs and pulsating rhythm section.

Significant Other is slightly unsettling, yet it's also addictive and thrilling, it's both edgy and compelling leaving the listener drained yet still begging for more.

Ideals are their way up, they've already been courted by Pete Doherty and The Automatic for gigs, Ideals are going to be the must hear indie band of the year. I suggest you check them out now before they hit the stadiums.



“…If you hear a little voice in the back of your head that’s me and I’ll be screaming…” Andrew, Ideals’ frontman warns, displaying all the sentimental and melancholic tones he can muster. There’s a curse when it comes to imitating the sounds of Joy Division, White Lies or Interpol, on one hand, you’ll be skyrocketed to success faster than Kerry Katona in an Iceland chicken aisle, on the other, you’ll be labelled as dreary and more depressing than anything Nick Clegg may be proposing. Unlike the latter, Ideals seem to have got something right.

‘Significant Other’ is more Robinson’s Concentrated than Tropicana Freshly Squeezed but that’s not a bad thing. There’s disappointment (“if you’re falling down the street in your see-through dress”), love (“I’m your significant other”) and determination (I’ve got spirit and it feels all the same)- like a Tesco sale, Ideals seem to cover many things. 


London upstarts Ideals release their new single ‘Significant Other’ this month. Steering a careful course between the twin urges of suffocating introspection and empty catchiness without ever verging too far in either direction, it’s a fine introduction to a promising new band.

http://www.joyzine.org/videos5.html
Despite the usual doom mongers declaring the death of music at every turn, there are actually loads of great bands around that genuinely excite us here at The Beat Surrender. A perfect example for you are Ideals a terrific band who have delivered a great video to accompany their brand new single Significant Others.


The music is, for this track at least, top end U2 brood, jangle n buzz and the lyrics clear the 'boy loses girl' bar with ease.



They have slowly became a favourite with me and they still haven't peaked, they play a brilliant live show and this song is always a highlight. This song is not so much a long way off their debut song, as that too was a superb track. Through the two gifted guitarists to the pulsating rhythm of Simon Wilson’s bass and Ben Ward on the drums they give a stirring and vibrant sound that you want to hear more of.



On the first listen to the new single by London-based band Ideals, you can’t escape a nagging feeling that it’s all been done before. Twin rhythm guitar attack? Yup. Monotone singing style? Check. Melodramatic lyricism? Ho hum. And yet – there is something here that seems to work, and even to mature, when revisited. It’s easy to criticise seemingly formulaic music in the continual search for authenticity. And yet, sometimes, a band following a tried-and-tested recipe can just work, adding up to a force that’s significantly greater than the sum of its parts.




Fancy a musical treat? Well London based Ideals have just that for you with their new single ‘Significant Other’. This follow up to their acclaimed Forever Leisure EP sees them taking their sound further forward with a release that pulls you in and then carries you along on the wave of a pulsating chorus that stays with you long after the song ends.They stand heads above most on this offering and will surely elevate to higher status sooner than later.



Anyone who has ever had the misfortune of clinging on to the ashes of a lost significant will appreciate the angst-ridden heartbreak pounding from the depths of lead singer Andrew Majors. The vocals are powerful and distinctive and draw parallels to that of Editors Tom Smith. The closing repetition of ‘I’m the last one left to change’ feels more like a personal self realisation than a public confession.


Who wants to listen to a bleeding heart ? Ideals however do it reasonably well, although in the originality stakes they try and sneak in distant shades of The Strokes and Interpol,


it’s the slower pace of Significant Other that serves to draw out the finer details of Ideals’ talent. Andrew’s vocals lend the track a powerful atmospheric sound and shows a depth of versatility from the front man. Add to this the excellent guitar riffs that evolve fluidly after every chorus and you have another great single from a wonderfully diverse indie band that stays fresh from start to finish.



Ideals discovered nothing new retracing ways walked by other bands like the Killers or the Bravery, but they walk this way well. In fact to create a good scene, music needs more example of the same genre, revisited in different personal ways, and Ideals belong to a “dark-indie” (forgive me for this awful label) scene with a great sense of melancholic lyrics, monotone singing style and rock pace, I want to underline that because they can appear like a band of depressed boys and this is not the case, they are under the spell of energetic drums and industrious guitars dressed with a veil of melodrama.



Major's vocals are warm and welcoming and his lyrics offer depth to this age old problem. It's an interesting track that will be welcomed by Ideals's fans.


Significant Other plays one song of alternative rock, taking some influence from post punk bands that managed to do something new with pop music.




VIDEO LINKS:







http://lovemusic24.co.uk/lovemusic24/blog/166/

Wednesday 9 March 2011

OK release new single 'LEGO' next week & the making of their puppet video!

Hi, how are you this fine sunny day?!

I'm working with OK from Cardiff. Their deceptively clever brand of guitar pop has been gathering a lot of plaudits in the Welsh Capitol. They now release their new single 'Lego' nationwide next Monday (14th of March) watch the hilarious puppet video that accompanies the song below, here's how they made it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B57dRVUQius . You can listen to the track on soundcloud below. Any news pieces, blog features, airplay, reviews, interview requests, welcome!

Stream:
http://soundcloud.com/soundandvisionpr/ok-lego

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZzMd2KpJTo&feature=player_embedded

OK release their new single Lego, which has sparked a massive response grom fans and the Welsh media, as digital download via ITUNES on the 11th of Feb, followed by a limited edition CD release on the 14th of March.


Welsh indie heroes OK release Lego a blast of harmonic sunshine upon a grey music scene, ‘Lego’ showcases OK’s joyous power guitar-pop sound in just under three minutes. The song excels in glistening guitar hooks, disco-filling drum and bass sparring, and heady, addictive vocal refrains that encapsulate a feeling of infatuation, part giddy, part searching for reassurance.“Just tell me if we could fit together /like lego.” Lego is backed by live favourite, the delightful Perfect World.

Lego was recorded by Jordan Andrews at Ripe Fruit studios in Cardiff and mastered by Donal Whelan at Hafod. Lego is the first release from a growing pool of new songs, OK have been working on over the last year, and the first to feature Oli Miles on guitar and Dave Powell on Drums. OK singer and guitarist Joe Paine said,“It was obvious straight away that Lego would be the first single. We were really happy with the way it sounded and are looking forward to people finally hearing it.”
New single Lego is accompanied by a band-produced video, filmed in the band’s own back room, and featuring handmade puppets, gleefully parodying the ecstatic feeling OK generate when playing live.

Despite line up changes within OK since the release of their debut album, 2009’s well-received ‘Under the Weather But Over The Moon,’ OK have held onto their name regardless of its immense impracticalities. “We always loved the name although it's awkward to find us online,” says bass player Adam Barrah, “the band had been going for a while when I joined, so there is a continuity of OK that I love being a part of.’

Lego is the first in a series of releases slated for the coming year. ‘”There are more songs waiting to be recorded” says OK’s Joe Paine, “some of which will be recognisable to people who have seen us live and some of which are completely new and unheard.”

Buy the single on Itunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/lego/id420481096?i=420481135&uo=4

OK@ Joe Paine(vocals, guitars), Adam Barrah(bass, vocals), Oli Miles(guitar), Dave Powell(drums, vocals).


http://www.myspace.com/thatbandok
http://www.twitter.com/thatbandok
http://www.facebook.com/pages/OK/81056970025
http://twitter.com/sound_visionPR

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