2010 Who's Who: Talking Pictures

Once the leaves are back on the trees, the sheep have finished impregnating each other and hosepipe bans are being enforced, it can mean only one thing; summer is quickly approaching. It's around this time that Talking Pictures will be everywhere.

Solid information is pretty scarce right now, but the demos that I've had the pleasure and privilege of hearing thus far indicate that TP are a cut above most of the other overly polished synth-pop (the new indie landfill?) contenders that have been congesting the blogs for the last year or so. The reason for this is pretty simple; they have the material to do some serious chart damage.

Soon to break free from the confines of the studio, where they have been working with a host of producers including IT favourite The Aspirins For My Children, they will be performing a showcase at The Boileroom in Guildford on the 23rd of this month.

Check out their demo Back In Time for only a glimpse of things to come.

Talking Pictures - Back In Time (Demo) (YSI)

2010 Who's Who: Velo

Keeping things London-based for the second band in our 2010 series, moving from a basement studio in the East, to one in the North, and from GFJM to the glorious pop of Velo.

Led by Sie Medway-Smith and Pete Cochrane, Velo are that rarest of breeds in that they seem totally at ease matching electronic production with organic instruments while maintaining a 24-carat ear for a hook and radio-friendly chorus - a sound the French, Swedish and Australians have had locked-down for years but somehow escaped us, until now...

A combination of gorgeous melodies and lifting choruses, mixed in with inescapably tight bass, pounding drums and soaring synths saw industry vying for their scribble within weeks of their emergence, and with a seemingly never-ending supply of even stronger material and whispers of imminent deals, Velo are a safe bet for huge things.

Currently rehearsing with a full band in preparation for their live debut this February at one of London's biggest club nights, Sie and Pete have also just completed work on a devastating remix for a certain Miss Goulding's major-label debut single, as well as finding time to remix a host of 2010's other great white hopes; all demonstrate the duo's midas touch to fullest effect, and are sure to surface soon in all the right places, so keep both eyes wide-open. In the meantime, take a dip in the sublime Trading Alibis.

Velo - Trading Alibis (YSI)

2010 Who's Who: Gold Future Joy Machine

Let's start the hyperbole off with a band that I've been attempting to pin down since March last year, Gold Future Joy Machine.

Lead by frontman Johnny Kenton, the five-piece are almost a law unto themselves. Having spent most of 2009 recording an album's worth of demos whilst holed up in their makeshift basement studio in Hackney, and simultaneously hosting their own invite only warehouse parties to test them out on friends and followers, they have basically refused to play ball with anyone outside of their inner circle.

The fact that they've done everything on their own terms and devoid of outside influence is both something of a rarity in current times and something that I have the utmost respect for, and it definitely seems to have paid off.

They now have the entire music industry at their mercy and have managed to build a team of people around them that will hopefully do them justice. I'll be posting a lot more about them in the coming months, but for now check out Pariah.

Gold Future Joy Machine - Pariah (stream only)

2010 / 730 Days Old

Today is a triple-whammy in that it's a New Year, a new decade and it's also 2 years ago to the day that Illegal Tender began.

2010 is going to be an exciting and eventful year for the blog and beyond. It will be the year that UK bands re-emerge as a worthy adversary to do battle with the unrelenting wave of female artists that have dominated the hearts and minds of 2009 and the recent crop of lo-fi US bands that have captured everyone's attention.

Rather than emulate the BBC's Sound of 2010 list, which is predictably the release schedule of the majors, XL and Rough Trade from now until April bar a few exceptions (Joy Orbison, Gold Panda), we will be posting the 10 unsigned artists/bands that we think will shape the rest of the year and beyond throughout January.

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In Motion: Sunshine, All Around

Late of the Pier - Blueberry

So I'm three days late on this, which in blogging time to real world time is about a month, but I've been busy and I only need half an excuse to post something Late of the Pier related so shut up and watch it, alright?

For new single Blueberry, it sounds like Sam Eastgate holed himself up in the studio with Revolver and the Berlin Trilogy and set about creating a homage that sits midway between the two before typically climaxing in a trademark crescendo of darkness and distortion.

With Erol Alkan on production duties once again, it's also being released through his label Phantasy Sound. Only available digitally for the moment, it will soon be released on limited 12' along with B-side Best In Class in the new year.

Purchase the mp3 from Juno here.

Plug: Read Between The Lines

After being blogged back in March and receiving love from Steve Lamacq on Radio 1 and Tom Robinson at 6music, unsigned UK Hip Hop duo Surreal finally got around to self releasing their debut single Distance on Monday.

The paranoid lyrical delivery of Allen, interwoven between Rowkins' schizophrenic distorted basslines and melancholic guitar work, encapsulates their musical mantra of "all is not as it seems upon first glance" perfectly.

Head over to their Myspace or their Soundcloud to listen for yourself and you can purchase the single from Amazon here if you like what you hear.

Surreal - Crystal's Breath (YSI)

Exclusive: Give You The Crown For A Fool

It's pretty obvious to the regular reader that one of my favourite Hype's of the year has to be Wolf Gang. Since coming across them in February and catching one of their earliest shows at The Great Escape, I've seen them develop over the latter half of the year to become one of my tips for mainstream stardom in 2010.

You've watched the video for their second limited single through Hit Club and now it's time to unleash the grandiose classical-meets-dubstep hybrid mastery of Kid Adrift, with a remix that simply destroys every other The King And All Of His Men remix I've heard previously.

Wolf Gang - The King And All Of His Men (Kid Adrift Remix) (YSI) EXCLUSIVE

Hype: Let Us Keep Laughing In The Dark

You know when you wake up at 3:00am, and you don't know which weighs the more; the dark of the night or the dark of your mind? And your only hope for peace is dawn? And then the feeling when that first crack of light appears through the blind, and suddenly you're calmness incarnate?

That's {Psychologist}: a London-based art graduate who just happens to be producing some of the finest Hour of The Wolf music around right now. Channelling Massive Attack and early Portishead through Burial, {Psychologist} - a.k.a. Iain Woods - sings of "heartbreak and loss, but always with a strand of hope..." in a voice so fragile you almost fear for his life.

When Particles Collide is one young man's lament about death and the philosophical idea of eternal return, and is just about one of the best things I've heard in a long while. Initially skeletal and bare, the sparse beat and melancholy keys eventually crack, giving way to a chorus so warm and soothing it drags you up by the lapels and let's you soar - it's the sound of something breaking, and of healing. All underpinned with a gloriously wobbly bass line... "The soundtrack to the soul leaving the body once and for all" is how Iain himself describes it - I guess soul music is perhaps the only fitting description; spilling over from one, soaked up by another.

I hear the live show is like a rave cabaret, with original tracks remixed with loads of 'old and weird vinyl'. Add to that a scratch DJ and two violinists, and you have a show I'd say you'd do well to get involved with...

You can peep {Psychologist} on the 14th of January at Brixton Windmill, and at Barden's Boudoir on the 11th of February, with more shows to be announced soon.

{Psychologist} - When Particles Collide (YSI)

Competition: You're One Of Me, I'm One Of You Winners!

So it's been just about over a week since I said I'd post the winners of the Young & Lost Club vinyl bundle competition, for that I apologise.

So the winners are...

Jules Gilchrist, Surrey
Laura Seaman, Nottingham
Liam Bryan, Birmingham

Who all answered...

Q: What is the name of the band on the release YALC0008?

with...

A: Fear Of Flying

Congratulations and your prizes will be posted shortly!

Hype: I Think They Call It Chemistry

I honestly never thought that I'd post anything directly involving Kissy Sell Out (he's just not my bag, sorry), but that went straight out of the window when I heard he'd been working with Zimbabwe-born and Hackney-raised Tinashé.

Signed to Island, Tinashé effortlessly juggles left-field arrangements with huge pop-hooks and manages to do so without even a hint of contrivance. Adding Kissy's hyperactive production and enthusiasm to the mix and it all seems to come together quite nicely.

It's a bit of shame that this didn't see the light of day in the summer really, but I guess we'll have to make do with dancing around in our thermals and jumpers, hot chocolate in hand.

Kissy Sell Out & Tinashé - Come on Over (YSI)

Catch Tinashé performing tomorrow night at Cobden Club (London), or next month as part of Y&L Club's pre-Christmas acoustic night at The Lock Tavern (London) on 3rd Dec and Hideaway Acoustic (London) on 19th Dec.