THE DRUMS - SUMMERTIME! E.P.

No doubt you will have heard of The Drums by now as they have been written about in every blog/magazine/music website around. I thought this blog summed them up well so far...http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=15&title=the_drums_back_in_the_uk_full_numerical_&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1...plus now they've been added to the foot of the bill on the NME Awards Tour next February, which I'm looking forward to. It's easy to see where the 'surf pop' label comes from; the whistling, the clicking, the singing about holding hands, summer and even, yep, surfing. What's interesting is the 'surf' element mixed with occasional darker lyrics and early Joy Division style guitar underlying the songs. All six songs are great, I don't know if it would be a bit tiresome on a full album but I'll just have to wait and see, just like we'll have to wait to see how it will work in a big venues like Manchester Academy.

Listen: http://www.myspace.com/thedrumsforever

Buy: http://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/11608966/Summertime/Product.html?&_$ja=tsid:11518|cc:|prd:11608966|cat:Music+>+CD+>+Indie

THE MACCABEES FT. ROOTS MANUVA - 'EMPTY VESSELS'

Played on the 11th November on Zane Lowe's radio show as 'The Hottest Record In The World', 'Empty Vessels' is the name of the collaboration between this years indie giants The Maccabees and the UK's best loved hip-hop statesman Rodney Smith, aka, Roots Manuva. The track is a mash up of The Maccabees first single from this years 'Wall of Arms' album, 'No Kind Words' with added lyrical grime brilliance from Roots Manuva. No download has been made available as of yet so you can listen to the track from the BBC website below;

You can also grab tickets to next years Shockwaves NME Awards Tour with The Maccabees themselves headlining, with excellent support from Bombay Bicycle Club, The Big Pink and The Drums. See if it's coming to a town near you next February;

Newcastle O2 Academy (4)
Glasgow Barrowland (5)
Manchester Academy (6)
Leeds O2 Academy (7)
Nottingham Rock City (9)
Norwich UEA (10)
Birmingham O2 Academy (11)
Cardiff University (13)
Bristol O2 Academy (14)
Brighton Dome (15)
Bournemouth O2 Academy (16)
Portsmouth Pyramids Centre (18)
Cambridge Corn Exchange (19)
Brixton O2 Academy (20)