For the next few weeks, we’re focusing on UK acts. Not to ignore the rest of the great new music out there, but we hope you understand our reasoning.
The heartbreaking Manchester attacks six days ago left us speechless. The event came as a huge shock to us all, and as frequent gig goers, we questioned our own gig habits. Then we decided to stop.
We decided not to live in fear. We chose to go to Slam Dunk yesterday and we are still writing about music today. No one can stop us from doing what we love. No one should be made to feel unsafe anywhere, especially not at gigs and live music events, which are supposed to be celebrations of artists, musicians, new albums, band break-ups and a time to share your love for music with other people. You shouldn’t be made to feel scared. (If you want to know our thoughts on the horrendous event you can read our full post here.)
Now more than ever do we need to celebrate and fall in love with our music.
Starting off with a new track from our all time favourites The Magic Gang. After seeing this band live, supporting Circa Waves, our love for them only grew. Since its release, we have not stopped playing this track. It's called 'Your Love' and if you like the sound of it, a debut album is on the way and for now, you have the bands two previous EP's to enjoy. Another few favourite tracks of ours by The Magic Gang are 'How Can I Compete?', released earlier this year, and 'Alright', one of the bands first releases. This band can do no wrong.
Another absolute favourite of ours at the moment is from Declan McKenna. We heard this track live for the first time a week ago and we're still not over it. If you get the chance, try and catch Declan McKenna live whether it's a headline gig, support slot or at a festival this year. Expect confetti, lots of glitter, unexpected crowd surfing and a room full of people singing all of the words back.
The track is called 'The Kids Don't Wanna Come Home' and is featuring on his debut album 'What Do You Think Of The Car?', due to be released on the 21st of July.
With everything going on at the moment, this track and McKenna are a light in the dark for young people. If you're not part of the younger demographic caught up in the confusing world of politics and the countries instability, you might not understand the importance of having an artist, someone your age, stand up and tell you it's right that you want to be heard.
Very quickly changing the pace of things with another favourite of ours is from the South London three-piece She's Seventeen. Originally we came across this band via social media but then they popped up on our Soundcloud last month and we haven't stopped listening since.
It's pretty easy for this track to properly get stuck in your head but
we love it. With an EP on the way, it's a good time to start listening
and see what's next in line for this band. The tracks called 'The Sunken', and as we've said already, we're a bit obsessed with it.
So that's it for this week. Three tracks we're in love with right now and our take on what can only be called the devastating attack in Manchester.