Less than a week til Leeds!

Yes indeed, it is less than a week until the Leeds and Reading Festivals kick off. The New Sound. will be attending the Leeds Festival and we cannot wait! From Friday to Sunday, hundreds of good bands will be playing the festival, including a handful of really awesome ones like Rage Against The Machine, Bloc Party and Queens of the Stone Age, to name a few.

Of course, for Leeds attendees, the music starts a day early with a handful of bands from the superb Leeds-based record label Dance To The Radio playing, including the brilliant Grammatics. Last year Dance To The Radio brought the likes of now-defunct Shut Your Eyes And You’ll Burst Into Flames, Sky Larkin and Grammatics to support ¡Forward, Russia! and they were all superb (except The Wallbirds who were really boring).

If you’re going to Leeds (or Reading), have a great time! I know we will!

autoKratz, MSTRKRFT and Download news

Just a few pieces of news form around the web.

autoKratz – free mp3

you can get a free mp3 from autoKratz via their label Kitsune here

MSTRKRFT remix Usher

MSTRKRFT‘s remix of Usher’s latest hit single Love In This Club can be heard on their myspace here

Download in good band shocker

The Haze have been added to the Download Festival line-up. Listen to them here

The New Sound. x

The New Sound. Recommends @ Glastonbury

With more bands being added to the line-ups of Glastonbury, Download and Leeds & Reading recently, The New Sound. has been picking out some of the best bands from the three festivals that we recommend you go see. Next up, it’s Britain’s most famous festival…

Glastonbury

Glastonbury is a very diverse festival, and you’ll already know whether or not to say the big names (Jay-Z anyone? The Hoosiers? James Blunt? No?) so we’ve been delving into the depths of the line-up poster to find the bands you mustn’t miss on the smaller stages.

Other Stage

Neon Neon

Super Furry Animals and Boom Bip man Gruff Rhys’ new project is two-piece Electro-pop outift Neon Neon. Debut album Stainless Style was a good listen, and if you’re digging their electro styles, I’d recommend taking the time out of your festival experience to experience their chilled pop first hand.

MP3: Neon Neon – I Told Her On Alderaan

John Peel Stage

The Ting Tings

Salford-based Boy-girl indie-pop duo The Ting Tings have swooped to indie stardom very quickly, with cracking singles Great DJ and That’s Not My Name. Check out Jules and Katie perform on the John Peel Stage at Glasto and you won’t regret it. Unless you call her Stacey or Jane, she doesn’t seem to like that.

MP3: The Ting Tings – That’s Not My Name

Band Of Horses

Formerly known as simply Horses, (name changed to avoid confusion with HORSE the band, personally I don’t think it helped that much), Band Of Horses are aptly located in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. Their music is, pleasant, beautifully constructed indie-pop balladry. Often compared to My Morning Jacket because of the vocals, Band Of Horses are signed to Sub Pop records, home of atheist-punks The Thermals and The Shins, The Go! Team and many more.

MP3: Band Of Horses – The Funeral

MP3: The Thermals – No Culture Icons

Holy Fuck

Radio-friendly experimental electro band Holy Fuck are sure to be one of the more interesting bands to watch on this year’s Glastonbury line-up. Expect lots on buttons and knobs, and buttons with knobs on, as these four Canadians construct their powerful electronica for your listening pleasure.

MP3: Holy Fuck – Lovely Allen

Honourable Mentions

These are some more bands that are playing Glasto that shouldn’t be over-looked, but I’m going to end up with an EPIC post if I write about every band on this line-up that’s worth seeing, and quite frankly, I don’t have the time. Here are the pick of the bunch from the rest of the festival:

The Duke Spirit, MGMT, The Automatic (screamy guy out + youcodenameis:milo guy in = good trade), Seasick Steve, The Holloways, Captain, Elbow, Hercules and Love Affair, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, The Whip, autoKratz, Our Fold, and many many more…

The New Sound. Recommends @ Download

With more bands being added to the line-ups of Glastonbury, Download and Leeds & Reading recently, The New Sound. has been picking out some of the best bands from the three festivals that we recommend you go see. First up, it’s Donington metal festival…

Download

Friday:

Disturbed

Disturbed will be bringing their own brand of novelty techno-infused-metal to Download this year, and a performance from these brutally cliché metal-heads is bound to be worth a see. Everybody’s favourite singalong-metal song Down WIth The Sickness will be worth the effort on its own.

Rise Against

Political punks Rise Against are one of the best bands on the Download line-up, which is one of the more “specialized” (restricted) line-ups on the festival circuit. They’re more interesting than most of the samey inbred punk metal bands at Download, and should not be missed.

The Dillinger Escape Plan

New Jersey hardcore band The Dillinger Escape Plan are another must-see band on the Download line-up. They’ll be headlining the third stage, meaning they’ll clash with Simple Plan and KISS (bovvered?).

Saturday:

Incubus

Incubus will be playing the main stage, just before The Offspring headline, and some might say they’re more worthy of that headline spot. I would. The Offspring are fun, but Incubus are just amazing. Pistola, Megalomaniac, Drive? These songs blow every scene metal band in Donington out of the water.

Skindred

Got reggae-metal? Download do in Newport’s own Skindred. If you’re not going to Download, you can also check them out on their May UK tour that begins in a couple of weeks. Once you hear Skindred, you won’t forget them. Ever.

Sunday:

Coheed and Cambria

Coheed and Cambria‘s music/anime comic combination idea freaks me out a little, as I don’t understand the whole story behind the music as a result. Luckily, the music is good enough on its own that I don’t really care. They’ll be worth checking out, just before our next two recommendations.

Jimmy Eat World

According to an interview I read somewhere, Jimmy Eat World weren’t exactly sure what Download is about when they signed up, but promised to play “their metal songs” to suit the occasion. Somehow I suspect they’ll stick with the impeccable pop-punk that made their name. After Jimmy Eat World, the headliners are:

LostProphets

We saw these welsh rockers at Leeds last year, and they are real performers, and that’s what you want in a festival headliner. Great tunes are a must, and are present with these guys, but for entertainment value, frontman Ian Watkins adds a little extra with his ramblings. Worthy headliners, and one of the few bands on this line-up worth seeing.

Stay tuned for our recommendations for Glasto and Leeds & Reading.

The New Sound. x