Review - Affordable Hybrid - No Area, No Criminals

Affordable Hybrid - No Area, No Criminals

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6 out of 10

"Fifteen tracks of rock and roll gold" claims the over excited PR blurb. Now there are two kinds of gold in this world. There is real, mined out of mountains, blood has been spilled in villages gold and there is Argos gold. Where about on that shit to gold scale Sweden's Affordable Hybrid sits is something that has been annoying me for weeks. They have an obvious love for all things "Swami" sounding (that's anything John Reiss has put his name to really) and a knack for bending your ear with a catchy refrain but the vocals seems to pull some of the aggro away from the music. Maybe that's the idea! I still don't know after all this time. Maybe I never will. But the vocals and harmonies almost act like this other side. The good side maybe. They just don't sit right with Oliver's ears.

I do still give Black Star Foundation kudos for the eco packaging though.

Listen: www.myspace.com/affordablehybrid

Tracklist:
1. Jim Jones
2. Faces
3. Elvis Golden Records
4. Ego Blues
5. The Prison Song
6. Hell Of My Dreams
7. Shiny, Shiny
8. Speak To Me
9. Straight To You
10. If You've Got The Time
11. Still Can't Get Science Fiction
12. No Control
13. I Lost My Shoes
14. Dirty Old Hands
15. Visions

News - Shoes And Socks Off Cover EP

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Shoes And Socks Off (Tobias Hayes formerly of Meet Me In St Louis and Shield Your Eyes) will release a 6 track covers EP called "Pipeton" on the 22nd of March as a free download.

Track Listing:

1. Lounge Act (Nirvana)
2. Not Ready Yet (Eels)
3. You Said Something (PJ Harvey)
4. Wolf At The Door (Radiohead)
5. Tame (Pixies)
6. To Forgive (Smashing Pumpkins)

The EP will be available from www.bsmrocks.com and a number of other websites, with an "enjoy this and share with your friends" policy very much encouraged.

News - Latitude Festival 2010

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Latitude Festival is returning in 2010 for the 5th time from the 15th - 18th of July at Henham Park Estate in Suffolk. The initial line-up has been announced as follows:

~ OBELISK ARENA ~

~ Florence + The Machine ~ Belle and Sebastian ~ Vampire Weekend ~
~ Empire of the Sun ~ The Maccabees ~ Rodrigo y Gabriela ~


~ THE WORD ARENA ~

~ The National ~ The xx ~ Grizzly Bear ~
~ Charlotte Gainsbourg ~ The Horrors ~

~ COMEDY at LATITUDE ~

~ Emo Philips ~ Ardal O'Hanlon ~ Rich Hall ~ Tommy Tiernan ~
~ Marcus Brigstocke: Early Edition with Andre Vincent and Guests ~
~ Arthur Smith ~ Richard Herring ~ Russell Kane ~ Holly Walsh ~
~ Sara Pascoe ~ Seann Walsh ~ Kevin Bridges ~ Charlie Baker ~
~ Doc Brown ~ Mark Olver ~ Joe Bor ~
~ Robin Ince's Book Club ~ Adam Buxton: BUG ~ Popcorn Comedy ~
~ Rich Fulcher ~ Laura Solon~ Jonny Sweet ~
~ Pappy's ~ Idiots of Ants ~ Cardinal Burns ~ Golden Lizard ~

~ THEATRE AT LATITUDE~

~ Royal Opera House ~ Royal Shakespeare Company ~
~ The Opera Group and London Sinfonietta ~
~ Bush Theatre ~ Lyric Hammersmith ~
~ Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse in association with Paines Plough ~
~ Northern Stage and Company of Angels ~
~ English Touring Theatre ~ Les Enfants Terribles ~ Soho Theatre ~ nabokov ~
~ Red Shift Theatre Company ~ Shatterbox Theatre Company ~ Mouth to Mouth ~

~ FILM & MUSIC ARENA ~

~ BAFTA ~
~ Mark Lamarr presents God's Jukebox with Geno Washington,
The Jim Jones Revue and more to be announced ~
~ Riz MC MICroscope ~ James Rhodes ~
~ Adam Buxton: BUG ~ Popcorn Comedy ~ Modern Toss ~

~ LITERARY ARENA ~

~ Robin Ince's Book Club ~ Word Theatre ~ 5 X 15 ~
~ Bret Easton Ellis ~ Adam Foulds ~ Natasha Walter ~
~ Jon Ronson ~ Arthur Smith ~ Jon McGregor ~ Samantha Harvey ~
~ Philippa Perry ~ Jane Bussmann ~ Anthony Cartwright ~ Louise Stern~
~ Pappy's ~ The School of Life ~


~ POETRY ARENA ~

~ Wendy Cope ~ John Cooper Clarke ~
~ Blake Morrison ~ Luke Wright ~ Jacob Polley ~
~ Spoken Word All Stars ~ WordTheatre presents David Soul and Amber Tamblyn ~

~ CABARET ARENA ~

~ Duckie ~ The Crack ~
~ Rich Fulcher ~ Laura Solon ~
~ Idiots of Ants ~ Jonny Sweet ~ Cardinal Burns ~ Golden Lizard ~

~ THE FARAWAY FOREST ~

~ Royal Opera House ~
~ The School of Life ~
~ The Masked Ball ~ Bacchanalian party hosted by Johnny Blue Eyes ~
~ The Dialogue Project ~

~ DJs ~

~ Guilty Pleasures ~ Smash & Grab ~
~ Goldierocks ~
~ Club de Fromage ~ Beef Warehouse ~ Cosmic Underground ~

Weekend tickets £155 including VAT, subject to booking fee
Day tickets Fri, Sat, Sun £65 including VAT, subject to booking fee
Weekend tickets prices include car parking and camping
Day tickets include car parking only

Credit Card line: 0871 2310846
Online: www.festivalrepublic.com . www.seetickets.com . www.latitudefestival.co.uk

News - Sick Of It All Post New Song Online

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Sick Of It All have put new track "Death or Jail" up on their MySpace page. It’s taken from forthcoming album "Based On A True Story" which will be released on the 19th of April through Century Media Records.

Armand (drums) further states:
"We wrote the song ’Death or Jail' about friends of ours that broke away and ended up following a path that led them to self-destruction or incarceration. We all know people who have made these huge mistakes and it’s a really difficult thing to explain, especially when they come from the same place and common background. They don’t just turn their backs on their friends because it’s as if they’re turning their backs on themselves, shutting themselves into a reality that can offer nothing but stress, violence and wickedness. Thank goodness we had the outlet of hardcore to help us vent our frustrations, or we all might have found ourselves in a similar place. This song is dedicated to those friends that we wish could have made better choices."

News - Bayside Sign To Wind-Up Records

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Bayside have signed to Wind-Up Records (www.winduprecords.com).

News - Facedown Presents: FREE Digital Sampler

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Submitted by Facedown Records: "You can now download our FREE Spring 2010 Facedown sampler. This sampler features 13 tracks from 13 different bands on Facedown and Strike First Records and includes unreleased new music from War Of Ages, A Hope For Home, Wrench In The Works and Letter To The Exiles, as well as songs from For Today, Impending Doom, Onward To Olympas, Sleeping Giant, A Plea For Purging and more! Check it out here: http://www.loudbytes.com/facedownrecords and make sure to enter code "FACEDOWN"."

News - Is Tropical Are A Touring Machine!

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Submitted: "Is Tropical are gearing up to join New Young Pony Club on their UK Tour next week:

MARCH - New Young Pony Club Tour

15th PORTSMOUTH - Wedgewood Rooms
16th BIRMINGHAM - Academy 2
17th BRISTOL - Thekla
18th OXFORD - Academy 2
20th MANCHESTER - Moho
21st LEEDS - Cockpit 2
22nd NOTTINGHAM - Stealth
23rd GLASGOW - King Tuts
25th NEWCASTLE - Academy 2
26th LIVERPOOL - Korova
27th CAMBRIDGE - Junction 2

They will then return to London to play a free show at Pure Groove on 29th March:

www.puregroove.co.uk/in-store.aspx?CntProv=Events&CntItem=f64e60cd-faff-4973-bf10-733164e545fd

Is Tropical will be keeping themselves busy by going straight back on the road with Good Shoes. Here are full dates:

APRIL - Good Shoes Tour

19th NORWICH - Arts Centre
20th SOUTHEND - Chinnerys
21st LONDON - Dingwalls
22nd BRIGHTON - Audio
23rd GLOUCESTER - Guildhall
24th PORTSMOUTH - Wedgewood Rooms
26th EXETER - Cavern
27th WOLVERHAMPTON - Little Civic
28th MANCHESTER - Deaf Institute
30th HULL - The Lamp
1st May - DERBY - The Royal

Is Tropical will then be joining The Big Pink on their May tour:

MAY - The Big Pink Tour

7th OXFORD - Academy
8th SHEFFIELD - Leadmill
9th GLASGOW - Garage
11th MANCHESTER - Academy 2
12th BIRMINGHAM - Acdemy 2
13th LONDON - Forum

After all this touring, Is Tropical will be back in the studio with Jimmy Robertson (Klaxons, The Big Pink) to record the follow up to their debut single When O’When."