Four weeks. Four exams. No school. Its that time of year again.
If you are like me and are a huge procrastinator (when you really shouldn't be), you might find yourself spending hours on Soundcloud scrolling through playlists and tags in the attempt to find new music you like. Which is exactly how I spent my week off school.
After last years playlist I decided to make another. I never meant for this to become a yearly occurrence, but for now it is. This year I wanted to include the artists and tracks I am really excited about, and that is why my first track is 'Tracey' by The Blems.
Originally I came across this band through Instagram. I've watched them get hyped about releasing their first single to the release of their second single and build up to the debut EP, which is pretty special to do as more and more bands release their debut EP with no warning where no one can get excited about it with them.There is something I really, really like about them. They are young with a sound a lot of people already love. I'm expecting big things for this band with the release of the EP and hopefully this time next year we'll be finding them on the festival stages.
My second track is from alt-rock shoegaze sweethearts Black Honey.
I adore this band. They supported Catfish and the Bottlemen on their most recent UK tour and I am still very jealous of everyone who got out to see them. I got annoyed when someone told me they on purposely missed the support act because 'support acts are never any good.' It really killed me. First of all, it is complete nonsense. Support acts become the festival headliner’s of the next few years. Their talented and usually always are incredible, even if it is not their own show. Secondly, who would give up seeing Black Honey live ? It is beyond me.
Third on my playlist is 'Last Night' by The Sherlocks. This is another band who I think will blow up pretty soon. Already they've got a huge UK tour lined up for September so if your local date is not already sold out, do get a ticket and see them live because their a great band and lovely guys.
The Sherlocks have a big summer where they are set play at a bunch of festivals of UK festivals including T in the Park, Reading and Leeds, Great Escape, Dot To Dot, Kendal Calling and Y Not, so if you get the chance check them out.
This single was released on a 7" emerald-green limited edition vinyl with Last Night as the A side and Emily as the B side.
It wouldn't be a 2016 playlist without Pretty Vicious. Late last year I named them as my Sound of 2016, which you can read here. Since writing that post, the boys have announced and released everything I hoped for, an EP, some more live dates including a UK tour in September.
If you've read my post, Finally, We Can Own Cave Song or saw my tweets in the last few weeks, you'll know of my excitement when the Cave Song EP was released. Still I'm in love with it, I've always loved the track and for that reason alone, it is on this playlist even although it was originally uploaded in 2014. Signed by Virgin Records and with a debut album due at the end of this year, the Merthyr band have been dubbed as 'the next Oasis.'
You can find the full playlist here, at Study Leave 2016. Unlike last year, I will add new tracks throughout the next month and will have a few related things coming your way.
All the social media links for the bands I have mentioned are listed below, so please do check them out. Like I've already said, I love them all and I genuinely think these will be some of the biggest new bands taking over in the next few years, from festival headliners to sell out tours and number one albums, it'll be coming from bands like this.