As you probably know, The Twang have a shiny new album out shortly, and as usually happens with new albums, they have announced a full UK Tour for October.

Tickets go on sale on Friday (7th August) at 9am.

Wednesday 30th September 2009 – Crewe M Club
Thursday 1st October 2009 – Norwich Waterfront
Friday 2nd October 2009 – Derby Rockhouse
Saturday 3rd October 2009 – Sheffield Leadmill
Sunday 4th October 2009 – Glasgow QMU
Tuesday 6th October 2009 – Aberdeen Moshulu
Wednesday 7th October 2009 – Dundee Fat Sams
Thursday 8th October 2009 – Leeds Cockpit
Saturday 10th October 2009 – Hull Welly Club
Sunday 11th October 2009 – Liverpool O2 Academy 2
Monday 12th October 2009 – Bristol Bierkeller
Tuesday 13th October 2009 – Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
Thursday 15th October 2009 – London KOKO
Friday 16th October 2009 – Brighton Concorde 2
Saturday 17th October 2009 – Nottingham Rescue Rooms
Sunday 18th October 2009 – Manchester Ritz
Monday 19th October 2009 – Middlesbrough Empire

Before I received The Twang’s new album in the post a few days ago, I’ll be honest and say it had been a while since I’d paid their debut much attention. Suddenly I was reminded of how good  “Love It When I Feel Like This” was – its plain and simple guys ‘n’ guitars stuff, nothing too taxing and full of “hug-yer-mates” moments. No pretension, simple, memorable tunes.

So, how is Jewellery Quarter sounding? Well, it’s pretty good – it’s not going to be winning any songwriting prizes or Mercuries, however it does have its moments. The down moments though aren’t as good as on “Love It When I Feel Like This” – they’re more of a stare at the floor / sit in a darkened room than embracing nearby friends.

The worst thing? After listening to it once, there isn’t one track that I want to go back and put on repeat for days. There’s no “Either Way”, “Wide Awake” or “The Neighbour” that have that element of being great singles. Jewellery Quarter is a perfectly competent album, it’s just the poorer brother of their debut – good, but not great.

The Twang’s new album, Jewellery Quarter is released next Monday, 3rd August. Pre-order here.

The Twang have announced a series of UK Tour dates for next February.

They’ll be previewing tracks off their forthcoming album, ‘Not Tonight, It’s Monday’.

Tickets are on sale now, priced around £12.50 each.

Monday 2nd February 2009 – Norwich, The Waterfront (See Tickets)
Tuesday 3rd February 2009 – Bournemouth, Old Fire Station (See Tickets)
Thursday 5th February 2009 – Bath, Students Union (See Tickets)
Friday 6th February 2009 – Swansea, Sin City (See Tickets)
Saturday 7th February 2009 – High Wycombe, Bucks Student Union (See Tickets)
Monday 9th February 2009 – Glasgow, Strathclyde Students Union (See Tickets)
Tuesday 10th February 2009 – Preston, 53 Degrees (See Tickets)
Wednesday 11th February 2009 – Leeds, University Union (See Tickets)
Thursday 12th February 2009 – Hull, University Union (See Tickets)
Saturday 14th February 2009 – Liverpool, Guild Of Students (See Tickets)
Sunday 15th February 2009 – Sheffield, Students Union (See Tickets)
Monday 16th February 2009 – Reading, Students Union (See Tickets)
Wednesday 18th February 2009 – Uxbridge, Brunel Students Union
Thursday 19th February 2009 – Hatfield, Hertfordshire Students Union (See Tickets)
Friday 20th February 2009 – Derby, Students Union

The Twang have announced a string of UK dates next February, stopping at many of the UK’s biggest Universities and smaller theatres.

Catch them at the following dates:

Wednesday 6th February – Colchester University
Thursday 7th February – Warwick University
Friday 8th February – Northampton Roadmenders
Saturday 9th February – London Shepherds Bush Empire
Monday 11th February – Lincoln University
Tuesday 12th February – Leicester University
Wednesday 13th February – Dudley JB’s
Thursday 14th February – Frome Cheese And Grain
Saturday 16th February – Guildford University
Sunday 17th February – Falmouth University
Monday 18th February – Bournemouth University
Tuesday 19th February – Reading University
Thursday 21st February – Swansea University
Friday 22nd February – Bangor University
Saturday 23rd February – Bradford University
Sunday 24th February – Lancaster Sugarhouse
Tuesday 26th February – Edinburgh University
Wednesday 27th February – Hull University

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

The first of this week’s on sales have been announced, with The Twang, Klaxons and Athlete all announcing dates that are on sale on Friday morning at 9am, with the exception of The Twang, which are on sale at 9am on Thursday (apparently). Expect them all to sell out very quickly.

One of my favourite bands of the moment, those Brum lads The Twang, are off on their biggest tour to date. They play:

Newcastle Carling Academy – Monday 8 October
Middlesbrough Town Hall – Thursday 11 October
Liverpool University – Friday 12 October
Sheffield Octagon – Sunday 14 October
Manchester Academy – Monday 15 October
Preston Uni 53 Degrees – Tuesday 16 October
Loughborough University – Thursday 18 October
Leeds University – Saturday 20 October
Birmingham Carling Academy – Thursday 25 October
London Brixton Academy – Friday 26 October
Exter University – Wednesday 31 October

Everyone’s favourite psychedelic lovers, Klaxons, are on tour. They play:

Manchester Apollo – Monday 26 November
Newcastle Carling Academy – Wednesday 28 November
Leeds University Union – Saturday 1 December
Birmingham Carling Academy – Tuesday 4 December
Brixton Academy London – Wednesday 5 December

London pansies Athlete have announced a pretty major tour, covering most of the UK in the first half of October this year.

Nottingham Rock City – Tuesday 2 October
Leeds University – Wednesday 3 October
Birmingham Carling Academy – Thursday 4 October
Newcastle Carling Academy – Sunday 7 October
Bristol Carling Academy – Monday 8 October
Southampton Guildhall – Wednesday 10 October
London Shepherds Bush Empire – Thursday 11 October
London Shepherds Bush Empire – Friday 12 October
Manchester Carling Academy – Sunday 14 October
Liverpool Carling Academy – Monday 15 October
Norwich UEA – Wednesday 17 October
Lincoln Engine Shed – Thursday 18 October

Photo of Klaxons taken from Daniel Heaf’s flickr stream

“It’s in his nature, his behaviour, his misdemeanour” Phil Etheridge sings in “Two Lovers”. For the Twang it seems it really is about their behaviour, with their whole album a testament to their laddish nature. And it’s all the better for it.

Cheeky, distinctly Northern, and full of language that would make your Gran blush, “Love it When I Feel Like This” is looking set to be one of the strongest debut albums released so far this year.

The two singles to date from the album, “Wide Awake” and “Either Way” are each standout singles in their own right, and are perfect examples of the standard of tracks on the album. “The Neighbour” is surely single material, showing off their humour and storytelling skills simultaneously: “so I was just settling into the party, when there was a knock at the door, it was that fuckin neighbour going ‘turn down your tunes or you’ll end up on the floor’”

Reminiscent of early Oasis with the swagger, with elements of The Coral and Arctic Monkeys added for good measure, they get the perfect mix of sensitive songs (“Two Lovers”, “Reap What You Sow”) and plain and simple football ground anthems (“Wide Awake” and “Push The Ghosts”), The Twang are one of this year’s brightest new bands.

This week there’s a distinct lack of albums I’m interested in coming out, and I have a depressing amount of work to do for uni exams etc, so I’m playing Video DJ (ahh, the joys of youtube!)

I’m aware that there are new albums by the likes of Pigeon Detectives and Mumm-Ra out this week, but I haven’t had a chance to listen to them yet, so I’ve got a range of new bands that I like at the moment and put up their singles…

So, after the jump, find a selection of the best indie pop videos I like at the moment… it saves time and yet still looks like I’ve done a full post… classy Phil! We’ve got The Hoosiers, Ghosts, The Holloways, The Twang and Klaxons all with videos, and represent my 5 favourite songs of this week.

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