First bit of news for the month is that new band Institute have finished work on their debut album. Featuring ex-Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale, it’s expected to be pretty decent and the first track, “Bullet-Proof Skin”, seems to indicate that (albeit only a portion of the track has emerged).
This month saw the finals of the Emergenza UK new band competition. Although I saw relatively little, what I did see was disappointing; a lot of derivative, talentless bands, doing nothing very interesting at all. The exception was Edinburgh’s Amplifico who burst their way through in terms of both style, energy and performance. Pretty songs and a catchy chorus do a good band make. Ones to watch.
Epitaph released the tenth annual Punk-O-Rama compilation CD at the start of the month. While it features far fewer exclusive tracks than in previous years, the quality remains high and the bonus DVD is, well, a bonus. It’s also in the mid-price sampler range, so should be fairly cheap.
Both Idlewild and The Mars Volta released new singles this month; “El Capitan” and “L’via L’viaquez” respectively. Neither is worth getting. While the album the Mars Volta track is taken from is excellent, “The Bible and The Breathalyzer”is a typical piece of Mars Volta editing room trash put out as a B-side. The guys have serious talent, but they don’t make much of an effort for singles.
That’s all I know about this month, haven’t been paying a great deal of attention to music.