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The Yorker presents this week's succinct guide to goings-on of the musical variety, both locally and nationally. Here you'll find previews of a selection of album and single releases from the week ahead, as well as a guide to the hottest tickets in town for live music.
The music week in York gets an extra special kick off right on your doorstep with the visit of the band Stornaway to the university; hosted by URY, the Oxford-based indie outfit play Derwent college bar on Tuesday (11th).
Head over to Fibbers on Thursday to hear the blues stylings of the Martin Harley Band; having previously toured with Newton Faulkner and, more recently, James Morrison, this appearance comes hot on the heels of the release of their latest album Drumrolls For Somersaults. On Sunday, the same stage is graced by Little Comets, the self-proclaimed North-Eastern ‘four-piece multi-pronged quadrilateral’ currently being championed by Zane Lowe and Huw Stephens.
Meanwhile, if you haven’t been lucky enough to get tickets to Pete Doherty’s solo show at The Duchess on Tuesday, then fear not, the venue offers more musical greatness on Thursday with the visit of the legendary Dr Feelgood co-founder Wilko Johnson supported by Birmingham-based Peoples Republic Of Mercia.
Musical multi-tasker Jack White returns to our iPods just months after the release of the White Stripes live album Under Great White Northern Lights with Sea of Cowards, the sophomore release from his supergroup The Dead Weather. Also comprising Alison Mosshart (The Kills, Discount), Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age) and Jack Lawrence ( The Raconteurs, The Greenhornes), the band formed early last year after bonding over a jam at White’s house, releasing their highly praised debut album Horehound in July.
Also airing their second album this week is Oxford five-piece Foals, two years on from their debut Antidotes; Total Life Forever has been mysteriously described by band members as ‘tropical prog’ and ‘like the dream of an eagle dying’, giving only those with an unhealthily active imagination a clue as to what the album will sound like.
However, the biggest release of the week comes in the form of High Violet, the fifth studio album from The National. Fresh from their one-off sell-out appearance at the Royal Albert Hall last week, the Cincinnati band’s new record looks set to become part of the soundtrack to the summer, tying in with a number of the band’s festival appearances, including, notably, at Latitude.
We Have Band - Divisive
Armed with an awful band name and a music video whose final 15 seconds inspire actual feelings of seasickness, this single from the electro-pop group We Have Band is surprisingly listenable. Whilst this song doesn’t really go anywhere after the first minute, it is a still a decent debut which, when remixed correctly, could be downright amazing. All they need is to get the Freemasons or Pascal Gabriel on the phone and they are in business.
Peter Searle
Faithless – Not Going Home
The first single from the electronic trio in four years certainly sounds familiar but delivers what it promises. Ignoring the vaguely sinister lyrics and the slow build-up, Maxi Jazz’s smooth voice lulls the senses whilst the steady beat builds into an infectious dance number that will satisfy anyone in the early hours of the morning. Although this is safe ground for Faithless, dance music is what they do and dance music this is.
Lizzy Pennock
Keane - 'Stop for a Minute' ft. K'Naan
With this latest offering, Keane – possibly one of the whitest, most middle-class bands around – have attempted to win over a different social demographic by collaborating with Somalian-born Canadian rapper K’Naan. While I don’t have much of a leg to stand on when rating vocal talent, suffice it to say that K’Naan fares better in the rap section than when he’s singing. During the chorus he is carried by Tom Chaplin’s vocals, but even Chaplin wails his way through the introduction. The song grows with repeated listens, but it’s nothing spectacular.
Hannah McCarthy
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