There Goes The Fear are so super duper excited to be hosting their first official gig this coming Saturday (March 20th), we could actually, explode… Blog Off! will be taking place at the Roundhouse studios in Camden Town, London. You can grab all the details, such as ticket prices and starting times here.

Among the act’s playing on the night include indie synth superstars, Starlings (who we first introduced earlier in the year), as well as infectious electro pioneers Jazica.

We’re are also proud to be featuring upcoming duo Victoria & Jacob, on the bill.

Hailing from London, Victoria & Jacob are a robotic pair, making glacier electro with an ice creamy edge. The slow paces of the tin-foil synths have an edge of drowsy melancholy to them. The fairytail, bouncy vocals meanwhile (which NME quite correctly compared to a drunken Joanna Newsom!) allow for a silky contrast, resulting in an atmospheric morse-code mass of sound which is both ambient as well as eclectic (listen out for the temper-fuelled screams of Megadeath, if you don’t believe the latter choice of word!).

And remember to check out Victoria & Jacob, as well as Jazica and Starlings, live at Blog Off! this coming Saturday at the Roundhouse Studios, London. It’ll be ace.

Many, many years ago I had a young girl’s dream of becoming a singer. Long story short: for a multitude of reasons, it never happened, but as a result, I’m very critical of female singing voices upon hearing them for the first time. Most of the time, I am displeased (that’s putting it mildly) by what frivolous and unimpassioned warblings some girl is passing off as quote music unquote. I’m happy to report that last week I was pleasantly surprised and even a bit stunned upon hearing the band I am about to describe to you.

The anti-folk foursome Erin K and Tash is fronted by, yep, you guessed it, two angelic, incredible-sounding singers named Erin Kleh and Tash ter Braak. The two met in August 2009 after ter Braak, a talented pianist, answered Kleh’s ad for a backing vocalist for her burgeoning amateur band. The two hit it off right away and have been writing and performing together ever since with Paul Durbin (percussion) and Nicolas Cornu (guitar).

Check out the funny and evocative ‘Sorry I’m Not Black’ (mentioning American basketball star Dennis Rodman and English party girl singer Amy Winehouse) for an example of their lyrics: witty, humourous, and a breath of fresh air. The songs are delivered with such sweetness than the first thing that came into mind upon listening to a gorgeously spare version of ‘Oh Well (without noise version)’ on their MySpace, I thought of Emmy the Great.

The sultry ‘Jiggy Miggy’ reminds me of the great Mama Cass of the Mamas and the Papas. It’s a great example that even though female voices can be angelic, these women are real women; they feel emotions like love and lust like the rest of us and aren’t afraid to sing about them in a thoughtful way that we normal people can relate to, not at all in the distasteful way that seems pretty much par for the course for female, mass-marketed pop singers these days. So I say to Erin K and Tash, hip hip hooray!

This unsigned band is based in London and plays in venues around town. Here are some upcoming dates taken from their MySpace.

Sunday 21st March 2010 – London Islington Old Queens Head
Thursday 15th April 2010 – London Gladstone (free gig)
Thursday 22nd April 2010 – London Earl’s Court Troubadour
Monday 10th May 2010 – London 12 Bar (Blang! night)
Saturday 22nd May 2010 – London Leytonstone Library Hall

With a name like ‘The Crookes‘ one might stereotype a band as a scruffy angst-ridden bunch sputtering on about drugs, sex and violence. One should know better. What you get this Sheffield-based band is a good dose of sunshine, love and peace. And what better way to welcome spring in than with “Chorus of Fools”, a poppy, and jingle-jangle tune topped with indie-folk and a strong influence of English kitchen-sink literature.

“Chorus of Fools’” comes off “A Colliers Wife” EP, and echoes slightly of ‘50s doo-wop and girl groups from the ‘60s, and with such comparisons, one might simply pigeonhole the four member band as outdated.

Yet again, one should really do better than to judge. The lyrical creativeness captures something akin to The Smiths, Orange Juice, The Coral and yes, even perhaps early day Libertines.

With the continuous flood of new wave synth acts seemingly coming far and wide, The Crookes offer a refreshing change that is not only catchy and poppy but simple – in a highly likeable way.

I clapped my hands together rather gleefully when I first stumbled upon LYREBIRDS last week. The Brighton band proved an instant hit with me and I knew straight away that I had no choice but to share them with TGTF readers. So here I tap upon my keyboard enthusiastically, mighty excited to tell you of one of my favourite discoveries of the year so far.

It would appear guitar gloom is the way forward this 2010, with the likes of TAPETHERADIO and Chapel Club (who LYREBIRDS recently supported) all embracing those stormy, brewing sounds. And yes, this Brighton five piece we introduce today are really, no different, taking on those big, bad tunes which provoke the same old ‘Joy Division’ and ‘Echo and the Bunneymen’ comparisons. But hey, when you possess that deep, dark vocal drawl, Curtis and co are truly inescapable in print.

Amid all this name-dropping, I may as well mention White Lies while I am at it, because it’s undeniable, LYREBIRDS’ sound is incredibly similar to that of the Ealing trios’. But this certainly isn’t a bad thing – ‘To Lose My Life’ was one of my highlights of 2009. And anyway, I can pretty much guarantee that future material will distinguish LYREBIRDS from such comparisons.

But going on what we do have – I can already hear this isn’t one big White Lies tribute. You only have to listen to the wonderfully psychedelic ‘Human Symphony’ to realise this. Starting off like a humble acoustic version of ‘Space Oddity’, an onset of crooked guitars and explosive, near operatic harmonies ensue, truly blowing the house down with epicness. Believe me, if you listen to one song today, listen to this track!!

But it’s not just me digging LYREBIRDS. The band recently sent their demos to the demigod that is Stephen Street (yeh, yeh, that one that helped someone called Morrissey once, and that pair, erm, Albarn n Coxon or something?), who, upon listen, agreed to produce the band’s first single ,’Closer’. So, they’ve got a thumbs up from me and they’ve got a thumbs up from Stephen (who, come on, has pretty good judgement when it comes to new music), so seriously, hit LYREBIRDS MySpace page now! You won’t regret it.

England has made a habit of adopting talented Americans that have for whatever reason not made it big yet in the States. Bluesy songstress Lauren Pritchard is poised to become the next artist to benefit from this tradition. Originally from Madison County, Tennessee, after “6 years, 5 tattoos, 4 electric tea kettles, 3 cities, 2 tours and 1 Nord keyboard” and stops in Beverly Hills and New York, she has finally settled in London.

Pritchard exhibits subtlety and control in her soulful voice that’s rare these days, especially for such a young artist. Luckily for us, she’s already making connections in the London music scene that will serve her well. Forthcoming single ‘When the Night Kills the Day’ (see the video below) is a “haunting, bluesy shuffle” that was co-written by singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt and features the eerie and elegant playing of Marcus Mumford (of Mumford and Sons) on piano. In fact, Mumford chose this track to be the first he has ever produced, along with band member Ted Dwaine.

I hate comparing up-and-coming artists to music legends, as it gives them something impossible to live up to and doesn’t allow their music to stand on its own merits, which Lauren Pritchard’s certainly can. However, she’s said to sound like “Janis Joplin meets Karen Carpenter meets Carole King with a 2010 edge,” which can only be a good thing. With a gorgeous voice, lyrics like “I don’t see you like they see their men / they only see saints or sinners / and everybody seems to think it’s fun to be free / but you can keep your freedom / ‘cos I’ve got what I need,” and some of the best collaborators that London has to offer, it’s fair to expect that we’ll be seeing big things from Lauren in the future.

Lauren Pritchard releases her debut EP, ‘The Jackson Sessions EP,’ on 05 April in the UK.

TAPETHERADIO are an infectious indie trio from Deptford. The band have already supported Athlete, and are recently hot off the road having toured with Stereophonics in January. Now, look, I know that ‘indie trio’ and ‘Stereophonics’ doesn’t exactly send excitement rushing through the veins, but honestly, I urge you to read on…

…Because, despite that cliché genre bracket I just hit you with, this band are really, pretty good. Think the dry darkness of Chapel Club (who we introduced a few weeks back), mixed with the electronically epic riffs of The Editors, the nostalgia of The Cure and Joy Division, with one final pinch of fun ala Futureheads, and we’re nearly there with these Deptford darlings. Comparisons (and woah, I just made a lot of them!) aside, TAPETHERADIO genuinely create awesome tunes which, quite frankly, would fill an indie club dancefloor quicker than you can say ‘The Maccabees’.

They have an epical edge to them, too, which we always appreciate here at TGTF. The bass can really pound through a song, the drums are pretty damn slicing, and the soaring vocals really reach some super heights of passion at certain points. The chorus of Save a Life – “If I was with you tonight, I would save a life! Save a life!” – is just waiting for a packed Reading tent to sing along with it, while the White Lies-esque opening riff of The Message needs a huge starry lit stage to be truly appreciated.

So yeah, I really do like these guys, and it won’t surprise me if you will be hearing TAPETHERADIO on a, er, radio near you sometime soon. If I was incredibly rich and owned a record company, I would certainly consider signing these promising lads up, so, EMI, go listen yes?

It’s all about the young guns this 2010, with the likes of teenager Daisy Dares You pitching uber high on ‘ones to watch’ lists across the board. Today, we’d like to introduce a similarly small, soon-to-be-huge pop star in the form of 17 year old Sky Ferreira.

Hailing from California, despite her young age, Sky is already making massive waves. She signed to EMI last year, and is swiftly being hailed as a young Katy Perry in waiting. But, to be frank, I truly believe Miss. Ferreira has more depth to her than the I Kissed a Girl singer. With the dreamy electro distance of Ellie Goulding, mixed with the crunchy disco beats of Lady GaGa and the attitude-spilling punk of Daisy Dares You, oh, plus a pair of genuinely decent lungs (which Miss. Perry certainly lacks in my opinion), Sky’s eclectic music is pretty much set on appealing to a huge audience of ears.

Ferreira also seems to be down with a number of celebrities while she’s at it – her MySpace page boasting pictures of Sky alongside the likes of Taylor Swift and Will.I.Am. Oh and guess what, she even grew up with Michael Jackson (at least according to the anecdotes I’ve read in several interviews with Ferreira). On top of all that, there are even whispers of Sky having blagged a collaboration with the pop goddess that is Britney Spears – not bad for a 17 year old kid that hasn’t even released an album yet, huh?

Hey, I guess I’ll let her off for her, interesting, rendition of The Beatles’ ‘Happiness is a Warm Gun’ (unpleasingly mixed with Dr. Dre), because you know what, Ferreira’s spunky-pop pretty much makes up for it.

Last year saw the resurgence of indie gloom as the brilliant White Lies stampeded onto the musical circuit with their melancholic mass of an album, ‘To Lose My Life’. Today, we’d like to introduce Chapel Club, a super hip quintet similarly embracing said glum side of the guitar (yet contrastingly distancing themselves from the completely unavoidable White Lies comparisons, I’m quite sure).

Chapel Club basically consist of the following elements : epic drums, scuzzy guitars, Peter Hook bass lines (Factory Records would have certainly considered pressing this lot had they existed back in 1980) and haunting vox spouting tragic lyrics of love like a young Scott Walker. Yes, there is an undoubted air of pretentiousness hovering around this upcoming quintet, with ‘Machine Music’ ending in a spoken word recital, and founder Michael Hibbert claiming to derive influence from “vintage natural history illustrations and stop-motion film shorts”, but hey, at least their misty music is pretty damn great. So, if you like your Harry McVeighs, and you like your Chapman Familys, I recommend you hit Chapel Club’s MySpace page to hear more.

While you’re here, check out the official video to ‘O Maybe I’, below.

Sunbirds are a relatively new London-based band that we discovered recently. The band’s formation isn’t textbook ‘we met in university/school, had similar musical interests, and started a band’: this is evident by their band members’ varied origins of London, Los Angeles, and France. I imagine the sheer variety of their personal musical formative experiences combined makes them a standout in the music scene today.

The term ‘throwback’ may be used to describe this band’s sound, because the nods to ’60s classic rock (their sound could be likened to SoCal’s Beach Boys and St. Albans’ Zombies) are obvious. Check out the vocals and guitars on ‘Roses are Blue’ and ‘Love Today’ on their MySpace, and you feel like you’ve been transported back in time. Their track ‘Farewell’ nearly made me weep with the guitars and harmonies that reminded me of very early Beatles, back when the music game was simpler yet bands were sonically able to hit every pleasure point in your ears. Brilliant. They also list songwriters/starmakers (Gerry) Goffin and (Carole) King as an influence too, so you know they’ve got terribly good taste. But if anything approaching ’60s music turns you off, note that they’ve also been compared to newer psychedelic acts like MGMT and the Coral. Music Week have called them ’sun-splashed guitar pop twang with a British twist’ and I agree. Check them out!

Even though people say MySpace is ‘past it’ compared to Facebook and Twitter, yes: I still trawl MySpace for ‘the next big thing’ and it’s still where I usually find new bands I like. Y LUV is an unsigned SoCal band I found last summer and am only now finding time to write about. (Trust me, you’d be similarly delayed with as busy a gig list such as mine.) Their MySpace lists Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, Kings of Leon, and the Clash as influences, so I’m imagining many readers of TGTF agreeing with me that based on that list alone, this band merits a listen. Chris Ballew of the Presidents of the United States of America (remember ‘Lump’ and ‘Peaches’?) said of them, “I like the energy Y LUV is putting out. They have an interesting way of taking a fresh look at the typical rock song and turning it on its head enough to make it new again.” Quite high praise and not bad at all for a couple of university lads.

When I first ‘found’ them, I was struck by the sunniness of the vocals and guitars in ‘1, 1, 1′ and ‘Nothing Matters’. I hate to say it because it’s such a cliché, but they sound so ‘Californian’. This is not music that could have been made in chilly New England. This is how music should sound when a band is having fun making it – and with palm trees, sandy beaches, and the beautiful people within arm’s reach. By the way, the ‘Nothing Matters’ EP is available for free on the band’s Web site, and their next EP entitled ‘So I Play’ will be available on iTunes everywhere on 1 February.

In hindsight, it was probably good that I waited to write this because in the meantime, the band – comprised of University of Southern California university students Freddy Janney (vocals/guitar), Sam Nardella (vocals/guitar), Luke Hanna (vocals/bass guitar), and Marcello Dubaz (drums) – have been busy. They’ve been in the studio with Chad Bamford, the producer behind Weezer’s ‘Maladroit’ and ‘Make Believe’ albums. I’m really digging their song ‘Ok, All Night’. It’s the kind of song you can see people singing arm in arm in stadiums, having a grand old time. Or maybe they’ll be playing air guitar instead. (Yes, okay, I admit it. Yes, I do a little faux axe-wielding to this song. No shame in that.) Let us know what you think.

MP3: Y LUV – Ok, All Right

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If you need further evidence of their charm, here is the video they made themselves for an older song called ‘Let’s Waste Our Teenage Years’. Yes, it’s silly, but the music in this video is way better and the video sure feels more sincere than that overplayed Asher Roth promo for ‘I Love College’.

In early November 2009, Y LUV won the Southern California Region Finals of the National College Battle of the Bands and were given the distinct pleasure of opening for ’90s electronica masters the Crystal Method. They will next battle it out in the Western National Semifinals in San Francisco in the spring, and I wish them the very best. And just remember…I found them first!

Y LUV’s ‘Nothing Matters’ EP is available free on the band’s Web site. Their next scheduled release, an EP entitled ‘So I Play’, will be available on iTunes everywhere on 1 February.