By Mary Chang on Thursday, 17th May 2012 at 6:00 pm
Fancy taking a ride round the city with Ben Howard, then catching some exclusive footage of him performing with his band at Shepherds Bush? You can both with his new video for ‘Only Love’, which you can watch below.
Howard has an extensive UK/Irish tour lined up for November, kicking off at the Brighton Dome on the 2nd of November; see the dates below. Support for the tour will be Willy Mason, who played alongside Howard at Communion’s SXSW showcase in Austin at the St. David’s Historic Sanctuary church in March.
Saturday 2nd November 2012 – Brighton Dome Sunday 3rd November 2012 – Plymouth Pavilions Monday 4th November 2012 – Cardiff University (Great Hall) Tuesday 5th November 2012 – Bristol Colston Hall Thursday 7th November 2012 – Dublin Olympia Saturday 9th November 2012 – Belfast Mandela Hall Sunday 10th November 2012 – Glasgow O2 Academy Monday 12th November 2012 – Manchester Apollo Wednesday 14th November 2012 – Leeds O2 Academy Friday 16th November 2012 – Newcastle O2 Academy Saturday 17th November 2012 – Aberdeen Music Hall Monday 19th November 2012 – Cambridge Corn Exchange Tuesday 20th November 2012 – Lincoln Engine Shed Wednesday 21th November 2012 – Leicester O2 Academy Thursday 22nd November 2012 – Nottingham Rock City Saturday 24th November 2012 – Birmingham O2 Academy Sunday 25th November 2012 – Bournemouth O2 Academy Monday 26th November 2012 – Southampton Guild Hall Wednesday 28th November 2012 – London O2 Brixton Academy
By Mary Chang on Wednesday, 16th May 2012 at 9:00 am
The Hives from Sweden have announced a short tour of the UK for December.
Tickets are available now and are priced at £17.50 (£18.50 for London).
Monday 10th December 2012 – Bristol Academy Tuesday 11th December 2012 – Birmingham Academy Thursday 13th December 2012 – Glasgow ABC Friday 14th December 2012 – London Roundhouse Satuday 15th December 2012 – Manchester Academy
By Mary Chang on Wednesday, 9th May 2012 at 10:00 am
Erika M. Anderson (aka EMA) has created a free mixtape called ‘Hanging Out With Sarah – In Praise of Extremities’, named for their good friend Sarah who acts temporary guitarist, and is offering up free in the midst of EMA’s short English tour this month starting tonight in Leeds; tour dates are listed below. EMA also appears at the Great Escape on Saturday 12 May, playing the Uncut showcase at the Pavilion Theatre at 23.45. Listen to and download the mixtape below.
Wednesday 9th May 2012 – Leeds Brudenell Social Club Thursday 10th May 2012 – Nottingham Bodega Friday 11th May 2012 – Manchester Soup Kitchen Saturday 12th May 2012 – Brighton Pavilion Theatre (Uncut stage at the Great Escape Festival) Tuesday 15th May 2012 – London Scala
Dry the River have announced a tour of the UK for this autumn. Strike while the iron’s hot, yes?
The band perform at the Great Escape this week, making appearances at a secret VEVO show on Friday afternoon, followed by a performance at the Corn Exchange that night at 23.45.
Tuesday 16th October 2012 – Cambridge Junction Wednesday 17th October 2012 – Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms Thursday 18th October 2012 – Gloucester Guildhall Tuesday 23rd October 2012 – Wrexham Central Station Wednesday 24th October 2012 – Liverpool Kazimier Thursday 25th October 2012 – Preston 53 Degrees Friday 26th October 2012 – York Fibbers Saturday 27th October 2012 – Sheffield Leadmill Monday 29th October 2012 – Stoke Sugarmill Tuesday 30th October 2012 – Birmingham Library Wednesday 31st October 2012 – Bath Komedia Thursday 1st November 2012 – London Shepherd’s Bush Empire
There seems to be every permutation of the genre ‘pop’ in the music business today. But this is a new one, even for me: fantasy pop. It’s the genre that Brooklyn duo Savoir Adore use to describe themselves, and I find it a great compromise. There’s an ethereal dreaminess to their vocals, yet I think putting them alongside dream pop bands like Beach House would be lazy journalism. Fantasy, whether Harry Potter, Japanese manga or Xena: Warrior Princess is your chosen poison, is a broad enough category that the uniquely crafted sounds by this pair of best friends can use this sobriquet and not feel stifled by the restrictions of the box. Tagging on the word ‘pop’ works in this instance because when you listen to this music, it’s not a question, it’s a given: these songs will get inside your head and you will remember them. For the best of reasons.
Savoir Adore will be releasing their next EP, ‘Dreamers’, on the 21st of May on Neon Gold Records, who acted as Wolf Gang’s stepping stone into a major label deal. The title track ‘Dreamers’ is actually a track that will feature on their second album, ‘Our Nature’, which has an expected autumn release date in the UK.
This release is structured rather unusually; you might think ‘single’ is a better description of it, since of the seven tracks, there is ‘Dreamers’ itself and then five very different remixes of it. The only other song on this EP that’s not a variant of ‘Dreamers’ is ‘Sea of Gold’. But let’s focus on the original songs.
‘Dreamers’ has a childlike playfulness to it; while synths buzz along with the dream beat, you can practically feel like the purest sunlight is shining down on you while you’re sunbathing at the beach. When I first heard this EP, I assumed they were from Australia or somewhere else far flung and potentially idyllic. It doesn’t sound like it’s come out of Brooklyn. There’s a sweet refrain by Deidre Muro of “you can stay where you are / I will wake you / I will wake you in the morning / you can stay where you are, so don’t you worry / don’t you worry, keep on sleeping.” Really? This sounds like a commercial for a Hawaiian resort hideaway. It’s the kind of “enjoy the life you’re living” song that I suppose the more jaded people will detest, but sometimes you need music that can put you in that zen mode when you’re stressed out, and this fits the bill nicely.
Now let’ shave a listen to ‘Sea of Gold’. It’s funny, for some reason I was hearing a Cut Copy vibe at first hearing this, but it’s actually a deceptively simple track, with a mesmerising drum loop with expansive vocals that build as the song continues. Lyrically, it’s not as evocative as ‘Dreamers’, which is too bad, because sonically it has the potential. It’s a little too sleepy.
The remixes on the EP come from some famous folks: Chiddy Bang’s Xaphoon Jones, Brazil’s Database, plus fellow new Yorkers the Golden Pony, Body Language, and French Horn Rebellion, all of whom their very distinctive spin on the original. I’m torn between naming either the Golden Pony and French Horn Rebellion’s versions the best, as I think both embody the bouncy, fancy free feeling in the original. I like remixes, so I found this EP to be fun and refreshing; however, if remixes leave you cold, you might want to have a listen to this on Spotify before forking over your change. 7.5/10
The ‘Dreamers’ EP by Savoir Adore is out on the 21st of May on Neon Gold. The band will start a short tour of the UK on Sunday at London Notting Hill Arts Centre.
Sunday 6th May 2012 – London Notting Hill Arts Club (Communion show) Monday 7th May 2012 – London Queen of Hoxton (Simply Rad show) Tuesday 8th May 2012 – Cardiff Undertone Thursday 10th May 2012 – Brighton Great Escape Festival (Record of the Day show) Friday 11th May 2012 – Brighton Great Escape Festival (Neon Gold show) Thursday 17th May 2012 – London Camp (Pop Shop / Neon Gold show)
By Mary Chang on Tuesday, 1st May 2012 at 11:00 am
Friends from Brooklyn is one of the hottest indie bands on the planet at the moment, and we’ve blagged a pair of tickets for one lucky reader and a guest to see them in Newcastle (Sunday 6th May), Birmingham (Saturday 12th May) or Bristol (Monday 14th May), winner’s choice. Now you’re wondering to yourself, how do I win these tickets? Read on my friend…
Fill out the form below with the following information: your name, your email address (we’ll use this to contact you if you’ve won) and which gig you want to win tickets for. Then answer this question correctly: What London label are the band signed to? Be sure to get your entries in by 12 noon this Friday, the 4th of May. We’ll choose our lucky winner from all the correct entries and award him/her with tickets for the gig of their choice. This contest is now closed. The winner will be contacted soon by email.
If you want to buy tickets to any of the gigs on their May UK tour, you can use this Live Nation link to buy them for some of the gigs.
Saturday 5th May 2012 – Live at Leeds Sunday 6th May 2012 – Newcastle Digital Monday 7th May 2012 – Glasgow King Tut’s Tuesday 8th May 2012 – Manchester Academy 3 Wednesday 9th May 2012 – London Scala Thursday 10th May 2012 – Brighton Horatios (NME Radar showcase at Great Escape) Friday 11th May 2012 – Brighton Haunt (The Agency showcase Great Escape) Saturday 12th May 2012 – Birmingham Academy 2 Monday 14th May 2012 – Bristol Thekla
There Goes The Fear is where we tell you about the latest tours, gigs, and music we love and think you should too.
We love music that has its heart on its sleeve, tells a story, swims around our head all day or makes us dance like idiots.
The blog is edited by Mary Chang, who is based in Washington DC. She is joined by writers in the UK and America. It was started up by Phil Singer in Bristol, UK.
All MP3s are posted with the permission of the artists or their representatives and are for sampling only. Like the music? Buy it. If you want a track removed, email us and we'll sort it ASAP.
There seems to be every permutation of the genre ‘pop’ in the music business today. But this is a new one, even for me: fantasy pop. It’s the genre that Brooklyn duo 
