“There was a euphoria and excitement we didn’t always get from indie gigs, but a connection to the songs and musicians we felt was missing from club nights.”
Low Island will play on Wed 20th March 2019 at The Sunflower Lounge Birmingham. Tickets are available here.
Low Island is the collaboration between DJ/Producers Jamie Jay & Carlos Posada, bassist Jacob Lively, and jazz drummer Felix Higginbottom. You’ll never find Low Island forced into wearing a creative straight jacket. In this respect, they are truly creatures of the 21st century, seeing no contradiction in slipping between uplifting electronica and intimate ballads – or merging the two. It was a step that was both deliberate and natural.
Not only have they struck this happy medium, but their creative juices are in full flow right now, with a string of EPs and singles under their belt, a highly acclaimed immersive live show, and on going collaborations with the Fashion, Dance and Theatre worlds. Low Island belong to the now.
The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing hail from London, UK.
The Men Who Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing will play on Sat 13th April 2019 at The Sunflower Lounge Birmingham. Tickets are available here.
They sing loud punk rock songs about the Victorian era, and have been gleefully rubbing the face of present day Britain in the rotten corpse of its past since 2008, in the hope that it will learn from its mistakes (it hasn’t).
They have released four critically acclaimed albums, have toured the UK and US, played festivals like Download, Glastonbury, Bestival, Secret Garden Party, Green Man, Latitude and the Edinburgh Fringe and appeared at numerous conventions and events on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Men are:
ANDY HEINTZ: Vocals (sore), additional instrumentation (saw).
“The south London-based singer-songwriter will win you over” – FADER “A beautifully soulful voice” – Noisey “This girl is really special – R&B inflected dream pop” – Lauren Laverne, BBC 6 Music
Only Girl will play on Thu 11th April 2019 at The Sunflower Lounge Birmingham. Tickets are available here.
Hailing from South East London, Only Girl (Ellen Murphy) has been honing her own brand of soulful, understated pop with soaring R&B infused melodies, since her critically acclaimed 2014 debut ‘Feel It’. With the success of second single ‘Remains’ under her belt along with two sold-out headline shows and a highly-praised release with long-term collaborators Zero 7, Only Girl returned with the beautifully heartfelt ‘Young Blood’ EP, supported by PRS Women Make Music fund.
To date, Only Girl has picked up support from the likes of Huw Stephens (Radio 1), BBC Introducing, Lauren Laverne (BBC 6 Music), Tom Robinson, John Kennedy & Jo Good on XFM, a live session on Dermot O’Leary (Radio 2) and Edith Bowman in ELLE, as well as a whole host of online tastemaker praise from The Fader to Noisey to The 405 and DIY.”
Things are most certainly on the up for Brighton-based alt-pop quartet ORCHARDS. For anyone who might be wondering why, there’s one word that seems oddly lacking in the description of many bands, but sticks to Orchards like glue: Fun. Charming, delirious, positive, big-beaming-grin-on-your-face bundles of fun.
Orchards will play on Sun 31st March 2019 at The Sunflower Lounge Birmingham. Tickets are available here.
Friends since childhood, Sam (Rushton, guitar) and Dan (Fane, bass) met remaining members Will (Lee-Lewis, drums) and Lucy (Evers, vocals) in their first week at university in Brighton – the start of a friendship which has seen them become increasingly inseparable and has resulted in the tight, family unit they are today.
To date, they’ve released a steady stream of standout singles including fan favourite ‘Peggy’, the ‘80s summer pop anthem ‘Darling’, and their surprisingly meta ode to the worldwide bee colony collapse ‘Honey’ – all of which feature on the EP.
These tracks have seen keen support from local and national radio at BBC Introducing, Juice Radio and BBC Radio 6 Music, backed up by critical praise from press including Noisey, The Line of Best Fit, DIY, CLASH, DORK, Wonderland, Indie Shuffle and a whole host of Hype Machine blogs and influencers.
Previously described as a “glittery gateway drug” and combining left-field experimentation with startlingly prescient pop sensibilities, Orchards are following in the footsteps of luminaries Everything Everything and Foals, though their personal influences range from the super mainstream pop of Anne Marie and Dua Lipa, through to the danceable indie of Bloc Party and The Wombats, to more progressive, heavier bands like The Mars Volta and The Fall of Troy.
Approaching their new material with a heavy focus on killer melodies, the songwriting process was intentionally conscious of that vital room being left for the melody to breathe, whether that meant taming a guitar riff or simplifying a drum beat, it didn’t matter so long as the melody was at the forefront.
“There’s more to Orchards than meets the eye. The band’s whip-smart math-pop is all glistening surface and immediate melody, but beneath this chrome-plated chassis lies a complex rhythmic engine.” – CLASH Magazine
“‘Honey,’ by Orchards is a great example of Math Rock mixed with Top 40 pop elements.” – Indie Shuffle
“Math-pop brilliance.” – DORK
“Atop sharp-edged, angular collisions, Orchards managing to cram approximately 5 killer hooks into the space of a single song” – DIY
“The quartet’s delightful dabblings in math-rock and incredible hooks has manifested in an undisputed banger that you’ll have in your head for the rest of the day” – Wonderland
Hailing from Porto, Portugal, this psych punk duo Sunflowers have been pricking up our ears for a while now and super happy to get them over to play their namesake venue The Sunflower Lounge, from their early raw psych to their newest LP on Stolen Body Records (see Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Night Beats) they pack a hell of a live show.
It’s a fact that all bands have to grow up, but while ageing is inescapable, maturing is always optional. Fortunately for Manchester-based four-piece Larkins, they’ve managed both; refining and maturing their sound, while at the same time retaining the same sense of youthful optimism that’s endeared them to so many since their inception.
Don’t Speak’ proves that Stereo Honey continue to promise everything and deliver even more. If you haven’t heard them before, there has never been a better time than now. You can find the song here.
Emo/dark pop singer from Philadelphia Kississippi – aka Zoë Reynolds – and indie pop singer Tancred – aka Jess Abbott – are co-headlining a show in Birmingham on Friday 16th November 2018 at The Sunflower Lounge.
When love burst into being for Jess Williamson, it was a force so powerful that it seemed to redirect the sun, re-casting all of her life in new light. That’s how she tells her story across Cosmic Wink — her third album, and first for Mexican Summer — all of which came together in the midst of a series of transitions in her personal life.
cleopatrick frontman Luke Gruntz and drummer Ian Fraser crossed paths in kindergarten. Best friends since the age of four, it wasn’t until they graduated from high school that the rock duo formed the band. Asked about their music, Gruntz said the duo is naturally labelled as rock, but they don’t necessarily see themselves as such.
