Another busy day here at TGTF. Expect things to slow down over the end of this week and next week, as I have to have about half of my university dissertation done by next Friday, and frankly I’ve done next to nothing on it so far. I’ll also be roping in some of you lovely readers later in the year to help out with some of my research – I’m looking at corporate sponsorship in the music industry, something I’m sure you can all relate to and have strong opinions on!!

Moving on to the more day-to-day stuff (and what you’re probably all here for: MP3s!).

Now, I know I said last year that here at TGTF we wouldn’t be featuring many of the festival lineups. At that point, I hated festivals. Not gonna lie, I hadn’t been to one and was too frightened of getting my feet muddy. Then we went to Hydro Connect, and fell in love with the concept, so expect a bit more festival coverage this year.

Field Day have announced some of their lineup for Saturday 1st August this year. They’ve got the amazing Mogwai headlining, along with Four Tet and James Yorkston (pictured right) and a few more artists to be announced. Sounds pretty good, might well see if we can wander down. Tickets are on sale now, priced at £29.50 each plus the obligatory booking fees, bah humbug. It’s in Victoria Park, London from 11:30am – 10:30pm. Fun.

In other festival news, local lads to me here in Oxfordshire, Supergrass have announced that they’ll be playing Wychwood Festival. The event, which runs from Friday 29th – Sunday 31st May at Cheltenham Race Course will see the Oxford brit-pop stars will headline the Saturday night, and BBC 6Music DJ Tom Robinson will be curating his very own evening line-up on Wychwood’s third stage. All sounds good, and very local to me.

You all probably know that loud mouthed Lily Allen has a new album out shortly, and I’ll be honest – I quite liked her last one, in a guilty-pleasure sort of way. At least she has more talent than Kate Nash. She’s made an album megamix available for download, so enjoy it before you get your grubby mits on the new album.

MP3: Lily Allen – Album Megamix

Stumbled across an amusing video interview of Goldie Lookin’ Chain earlier today (yes, I should have been working) – words fail me to describe it well, so wander on over to Don’t Panic (which seems like a great student run magazine from a quick look), and watch and enjoy.

One last MP3 and we’ll go. Hockey, who are off on tour with the AMAZING Passion Pit in late February have given us a free MP3 to give to you guys. It’s pretty amazing, a bit of electro pop is always good to get you warmed up for a Saturday night!

MP3: Hockey – 3am Spanish

Oh, and stumbled across the below video for T-Mobile. No, we’re not being paid to have this up, I just quite liked it.

Supergrass have announced a string of UK dates for mid March following the complete recovery of their bassist Mick Quinn from a broken back last summer.

Tickets are on sale now. Catch them at the following dates:

Tuesday 11th March – Edinburgh Liquid Rooms
Wednesday 12th March – Liverpool Carling Academy
Thursday 13th March – Cambridge Junction
Friday 14th March – London Roundhouse
Friday 11th April – Birmingham Carling Academy
Saturday 12th April – Glasgow ABC
Sunday 13th April – Northumbria University
Tuesday 15th April – Nottingham Rock City
Wednesday 16th April – Leeds Met University
Thursday 17th April – Lincoln Engine Shed
Friday 18th April – Manchester Academy 2
Sunday 20th April – Bristol Carling Academy
Monday 21st April – Norwich UEA
Tuesday 22nd April – London Astoria

Photo of Supergrass taken from Groovehouse’ flickr stream.

I go away for four days to San Francisco for thanksgiving, and what happens? Only half of the major 2008 tours go on sale that I haven’t covered yet. Great.

First up is Supergrass. After having to pull out of the job of opening the new Oxford Academy due to a freak accident, they’re back playing two nights at Oxford’s Town Hall. Expect new material to be debuted,

Tickets are on sale now for Thursday 20th and Friday 21st December, at £17.50 each.

Photo of Supergrass taken from Groovehouse’ flickr stream.

XFM have announced details of a string of Winter Wonderland UK Tour dates, with all sorts of megastars lined up to play some sensational gigs.

As with previous years, all dates are in aid of Shelter, the homeless charity.

Tickets go on sale next Friday (9th November) at 9am, but many of the headlining bands and XFM members can get them as soon as next Wednesday or Thursday by pre-registering or such like.

Sunday 9th December – London Brixton Academy -
Bloc Party, Supergrass, Kate Nash, One Night Only, School of Rock Winner
Monday 10th December – Glasgow Academy -
Stereophonics, The Twang, Special Guests, Figure 5, School of Rock Winner
Tuesday 11th December – Manchester Apollo -
The Charlatans, Special Guests, The Courteeners, The Ting Tings, School of Rock Winner
Wednesday 12th December – Cardiff University -
Super Furry Animals, The Enemy, Kids In Glass Houses, Special guests, Duffy (accoustic set)

Photo is taken from Shane Bee’s flickr stream under the creative commons license

Oxford lads Supergrass have been announced as playing a special one-off home town gig to help launch the shiny new Oxford Academy, formerly the Oxford Zodiac.

One of my favourite venues, the zodiac was what every venue should be – dark, dingy, sticky floored and in a questionable location. For all of its faults you couldn’t help but love it. Since it was bought by AMG earlier this year they have announced a complete overhaul with an increase to 1,350 total capacity for the whole venue, which means some bigger bands will be coming its way. There’s an interesting debate about it over on Drowned in Sound.

Tickets for Supergrass’ show go on sale on Monday (22nd July) at 11am, and more shows are to be announced shortly.

Photo of Supergrass taken from Groovehouse’ flickr stream.