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Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo
One time The War On Drugs member Kurt Vile is back with his fourth album, his second for Matador Records, under his awesome Kurt Vile and The Violators moniker. Smoke Ring For My Halo follows 2009′s ‘Childish Prodigy’ and confirms Kurt as one of the finest young American songwriters out there with Bradford Cox (Deerhunter) perhaps being his main rival for the title right now.
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The Mantles @ Shacklewell Arms, March 24th.
San Francisco four-piece The Mantles finished a two week European tour with an Upset The Rhythm hosted gig at what was supposed to be Marquis of Ladndsdowne but ended up being the Shacklewell Arms, just round the corner in the heart of Dalston’s cool (London). The Mantles first caught our attention with the PHENOMENAL ‘Dont Lie’ single from their 2009 self-titled debut album, one of our tracks of that year. // more
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FM Belfast @ SXSW 2011, March 19th.
FM Belfast @ Emos Indoors, SXSW 2011 March 19th. Not exactly on the money for our normal tastes and they’ve got a pretty questionable cover of ‘Killing In The Name Of’ called ‘Lotus’ but there’s no denying (by anyone that was there at least!) that Reykjavík’s FM Belfast killed it at Emos on Sat night. A perfectly rowdy indie dance show to finish the festival with and the star of the show was a guy that we can only call King Cow Bell. One for the moment.
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Grimes @ SXSW 2011, March 19th.
Grimes @ Club De Ville, SXSW 2011 March 19th. Pint sized Canadian freak-folk-popster Grimes was an intriguing watch late on Sat night. A little too poppy for our tastes on the odd occasion and it was hard to judge whether there was much substance behind the style. ‘Devon’ was undoubtedly a tune though and Grimes is definitely an artist that’s going to stir up more attention soon. She’s already been splashed on Gorilla vs Bear’s (heroes) pages and that’s hardly a bad place to start. We’ll be digging deeper to make up our minds. // more
