Elbow’s ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ has been named the critics’ album of the year according to HMVs Poll of Polls. Based on the end of year polls by the popular music press, national media, and online media also; ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ has been named critics’ choice, seeing off some tough competition in the process.
‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ was released on March 17th through Fiction Records, and as well as being named the critics’ choice, also won the Mercury Prize in 2008. All in all; 2008 has not been too bad a year at all for English rock band Elbow, and having been together since 1990 it could well be said that 2008 has been the band’s best year yet.
Elbow head into 2009 with a UK tour all set to begin on February 28th at Brighton’s Dome. The band will then end the tour on March 14th at Wembley Arena before heading on to play the V Festival in Sydney on March 28th, Gold Coast on the 29th, and then Melbourne and Perth on April 4th and 6th respectively.
2008 has certainly been a brilliant year for Elbow, and 2009 looks set to be yet another busy one for the band. Incredible success has come for Elbow this year, and the band’s spirits will surely be at an all-time high as we enter into 2009.
The following is a video of Elbow performing the track ‘One Day Like This’ live at Glastonbury Festival 2008.
The initial line-up for the Warped Tour 2009 has now been announced, and although there are many more artists still to be confirmed; there’s already a huge number of bands set to appear on the tour.
Old favourites such as Bad Religion, Anti-Flag, and NOFX are amongst the bands named so far, and there’s also plenty of fresh talent to feast your ears on also.
The Warped Tour has been held every year now since 1995, and as ever there is an eclectic mix of bands set to rock the tour in 2009. Venues are yet to be announced, but the Warped Tour 2009 is scheduled to take place between June and August 2009.
The following is the full list of bands announced so far:
3OH!3
A Day to Remember
A Skylit Drive
Alexisonfire
Anti-Flag
Bad Religion
Bayside
Big D and the Kids Table
Black Tide
Bouncing Souls
Breathe Carolina
Brokencyde
Cash Cash
Chiodos
Dance Gavin Dance
Dear and the Headlights
Dirty Heads
Escape the Fate
Every Avenue
Flogging Molly
Gallows
Hit the Lights
I Set My Friends on Fire
Jeffree Star
Less Than Jake
Lights
Meg & Dia
Millionaires
NOFX
Outernational
P.O.S.
Saosin
Scary Kids Scaring Kids
Senses Fail
Shad
Silverstein
Sing it Loud
Streetlight Manifesto
Tat
The A.K.A.s
The Architects
The Ataris
The Devil Wears Prada
The Maine
The White Tie Affair
There For Tomorrow
Therefore I Am
Thrice
TV/TV
Underoath
Valencia
Westbound Train
There’s a healthy amount of rock music present in the top selling albums of 2008 for the UK. Kings of Leon, Coldplay, The Killers, and Scouting For Girls all figuring in the Top 10 with their respective album releases of 2008 (2007 in the case of Scouting For Girls). Duffy may have topped the list, four rock bands present in the top ten is still incredibly impressive however, and the fact that two of them are from the UK just goes to show the supreme strength of UK rock artists at current.
In total six of the ten artists making up the top ten are from the UK; it stands to reason really that this should be so given that it is the top selling albums for the UK after all, American artists often dominate the charts however, so it is nice to see such a high percentage of UK artists breaking the overall top ten for 2008.
This is the full list of the top ten selling albums of 2008:
1. Duffy - ‘Rockferry’
2. Take That – ‘The Circus’ 3. Kings Of Leon – ‘Only By The Night’
4. Leona Lewis – ‘Spirit’ 5. Coldplay – ‘Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends’
6. Rihanna – ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ 7. The Killers – ‘Day And Age’
8. Girls Aloud – ‘Out Of Control’
9. Pink – ‘Funhouse’ 10. Scouting For Girls – ‘Scouting For Girls’
The following is a video of Scouting For Girls performing the track ‘Heartbeat’ live at V Festival 2008. It’s catchy tracks such as this one which cemented Scouting For Girls place in the top ten selling albums of 2008. ‘Heartbeat’ was released as a single on April 7th 2008, the third of five singles released from the bands ‘Scouting For Girls’ album.
Due to the supreme popularity of Jacksonville’s Shinedown; the band’s scheduled January 21st The Underworld gig has now been moved to the Islington Academy. Demand was so high for tickets that the venue has been changed, and fans of the band will now have to travel to Islington rather than Camden to see the fantastic rock band that is Shinedown in action.
Shinedown is playing in London as a part of a four date UK tour, the full January 2009 tour plan is as follows:
January 21st - London, Islington Academy
January 22nd - Birmingham, Barfly
January 23rd - Glasgow, King Tut’s
January 25th - Manchester, Academy
The band’s third studio album ‘The Sound of Madness’ is to be officially released in the UK on March 2nd 2009, it is however available now as a US Import from the vast majority of online and in store retailers. HMV.com currently has the eleven track US Import version of the album available at a price of £8.99 (including free UK delivery). Buy ‘The Sound of Madness’ now and I can assure you that you’ll not be at all disappointed with what you hear.
Originally five and a half minutes long; ‘Showdown’ has been stripped down to three minutes fifty for its commercial release as a single. The opening track from the band’s ‘In Silico’ album, ‘Showdown’ fuses drum and bass with rock, and Pendulum really produces an incredibly powerful sound here. The track has a real kick about it, a lively, energetic atmosphere about the music at all times.
Every second of the track is packed with excitement; ‘Showdown’ is arguably the best track from the band’s ‘In Silico’ album, and the decision to release it as a single really does make a lot of sense. Although not as good as past pulsating Pendulum anthems such as ‘Slam’ and ‘Tarantula’; ‘Showdown’ is still a pretty decent effort from Pendulum, and the best the band has released as a single in a long time.
The video to the track is almost as excellent as the music itself; the video works incredibly well and really does combine brilliantly with the music. Directed by Nick Bartleet, the video for ‘Showdown’ is one of the very best I’ve seen in a long time; it’s a powerful piece of video, and the fast cutting really does work well. Separately the music and the video are both excellent; combine them though and this really does provide for an absolute masterpiece.
For artists combining components of drum and bass and rock; you won’t find any better than Pendulum. Admittedly there are some absolutely terrible tracks on the bands ‘In Silico’ album, there are also some absolute gems on there though, and ‘Showdown’ is most certainly one of them.
Whilst ‘Showdown’ is an excellent drum and bass/rock crossover track though; Clipz remix of the track most definitely isn’t. Clipz awful clownstep remix of ‘Showdown’ is without doubt the worst drum and bass track I’ve ever heard. Clipz remix of the track really needs to be heard for its badness to be believed, and as it’s currently available to listen to from Pendulum’s MySpace page; a trip to the band’s MySpace page is most certainly recommended if you’re up for hearing a comedicly bad drum and bass remix.
Pendulum’s ‘Showdown’ is a great crossover track, not the best that the band has ever written, but a very good four minute effort nonetheless. It probably won’t be remembered in years time as a classic of its genre, if you’re looking for a fast and fun piece of music though then ‘Showdown’ will most certainly deliver. The Nick Bartleet directed video is provided below, and I highly recommend watching it as it really is very impressive.
‘Showdown’ will be Pendulum’s 14th single release, and is to be released through Warner Bros. on January 5th 2009.
Elbow’s ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ has been named the critics’ album of the year according to HMVs Poll of Polls. Based on the end of year polls by the popular music press, national media, and online media also; ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ has been named critics’ choice, seeing off some tough competition in the process.
