Whilst we do love festival season, we haven't been gushing over Coachella like most of the people we know. Yes, sometimes British festivals could be doing with a bit of Californian sunshine and a little less rain (as the people who were at Y Not festival last year may agree) but it wouldn't be Reading festival or Download without the mud.
What we have been doing this month instead, is eyeing up this year's festival season and playlisting some of our current favourite tracks, which this month come from the likes of Vistas, Sea Girls, Isaac Gracie, The Indigo Project and a final favourite from Trash.
Although we were trying to hold off until our festivals post, we just had to put Knuckle Pucks latest track 'Nervous Passenger' in this months playlist. As one of our must see acts at Slam Dunk this year, we have long awaited the return of one of our favourite bands from Chicago. The tracks taken off the band's second studio album 'Shapeshifter' which came out last October. They're playing this year's Slam Dunk as we've already said, as well as playing on the final run of Warped Tour.
Last month, our favourites in Trash announced their break up. Whilst we're still drying our eyes from the news, we decided 'While You're Mine' should feature in this months playlist as one of our favourite summer tracks.
We've talked before about the boys in Trash, how we loved their 7" of Migraines and how we aimed to catch them live at some point. The latter is now not possible but expect us to still to go about their music and prised vinyl from time to time.
Something else which happened last month, which we still haven't gotten over, is Superorganism's track 'Everybody Wants To Be Famous'. Recorded live at RAK Studios, London for Spotify, you'll find yourself falling in love with this live version of an already great track.
If you haven't already seen this band live you need to and your chances to do so start with this year's Sound City, Liverpool and Live At Leeds.
Last month The Telegraphed wrote 'This Macaulay Culkin lookalike has evolved beyond his hype, which got a few people talking. Whether he does or doesn't look like the famed Home Alone actor, we love Isaac Gracie just the way he is.
His track 'Last Words' is one of the tracks we can't stop playing this month. Spotify is probably sick of us and this song. If we're not playing it on repeate - we've got it set up as our next play (countless times a day).
Taken from Gracie's self title debut album which came out just two weeks ago, its the perfect summer song and judging from his from his recent tour which wrapped up in the Hackney Empire, London, it sounds great live too.
It's been a while since we spoke about The Indigo Project.
If you follow us on Instagram, you will have seen our story routinely feature this band as our current favourite track, alongside our posts about how they are one of the bands we NEED to see live.
Why more people aren't listening to this band we'll never know because they have the genuine potential to go somewhere huge. Having already played at massive events like Reading and Leeds festivals, Kendal Calling, Millennium Square and having supported the likes of The Sherlocks and DMAs within a handful of years of forming, it's no surprise this five-piece from Leeds are being likened to bands such Catfish And The Bottlemen, when they have the capability to follow a similar rise from small, dimly lit venues to the festival headliner slot.
Back from our 'oh my god we love them' fangirl tangent and back to the track at hand, there should be no surprise seeing 'As Always' sit in the middle of this months playlist. (We love it as a track, that's all there is to it. We love it.)
If your heading to Live At Leeds next month, go check out The Indigo Project live on The Independent stage alongside Circa Waves, Blaenavon, Sam Fender and The Night Cafe.
Also playing at Live At Leeds this year are our favourites in The Vaccines. No surprise 'I Can't Quit' made its way into our April playlist. We're still reeling from the UK tour earlier this month, where we got all teary-eyed (in pride ) when the Glaswegian crowd lost it the moment 'Wreckin' Bar' started. The tour, ending in London's Alexandra Palace (with a capacity of 10,200), was when we realised our indie favourites, with now four albums released in eight years, have truly made it. Headlining London's Community Festival, FIB Benicassim, Lollapalooza, Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh and the main stages at both Reading and Leeds festival.
Jumping from old time favourites to our newly found, were talking about Prey Drive and the track we snuck in at the end of our playlist. The tracks called 'Brand New Skin' and comes from the bands debut EP Tabula Rasa, released earlier this month on Krod records. Mastered by John Naclerio who has previously worked with the likes of My Chemical Romance and Real Friends, we're expecting big things to come from this band as they've already set the bar high with this debut EP.
The brand new track from Vistas, of course, made it into this months playlist. Everyone we know are now obsessed with this band (partly due to us forcing everyone to listen to them and partly due to their huge tour supporting Marscians). You could ask us what their best gig has been so far, but the real question should be who isn't planning to catch Vistas live somewhere this summer?
The first time we saw this band live was in our favourite of venues, King Tuts, supporting Model Aeroplanes last year, after months of watching them play at the likes of the Liquid Rooms and a sold out Mash House in Edinburgh. It was at a time where Vistas were making a name for themselves and their continued rise ever since is enviable.
Every so often you find a band who you know are capable of 'making it'. Over the past few years, our beliefe and love for Vistas has soared. Considering what they've achieved in the short space of two years, we think they are about to properly take off and we're behind them for every part of it.
Watching local musicians properly grow into a sellout, festival headlining band isn't a yearly occurrence and we know Vistas are already heading for the top.
We thought we'd finish off with our absolute favourites (slight obsession) at the moment, Sea Girls. (A slight obsession is healthy, right?) In the past two days, we've listened to 'Eat Me Whole' more times than we can count and very little else. If you're into the likes of High Tyde, Mariscans and Luna Bay you will love Sea Girls.
They've been our favourites before with previous tracks but as the summer arrives and with a tour already announced for October, the momentum around this band is beginning to properly pick up.
UK Tour October 2018
4 - Nottingham, Bodega
5 - Glasgow, King Tuts
11 - Birmingham, Mama Roux
12 - Sheffeild, Leadmill 2
13 - Newcastle Upon Tyne, Think Tank
18 - London, Scala
19 Brighton, The Haunt
20 - Southampton, Joiners
21 - Bristol, The Thekla
And that's our playlist for another month. As usual, we want to know what you think, who your listening to currently and who we should feature next month - not just tracks for the playlists but for interviews too!
If you want to get involved contact @shybutlovesmusic or shybutlovesmusic@gmail.com.
If you want to get involved contact @shybutlovesmusic or shybutlovesmusic@gmail.com.