Sunshine Underground

FINALLY! I have finally managed to buy tickets to go and see The Sunshine Underground. I have wanted to see them ever since I hammered their first album Raise The Alarm. To hear the amazing and excellent tracks Commercial Breakdown and Borders live is just going to be immense. They've got a new track out on Vinyl - I have now idea what that is but it sounds retro and no use to music fans who actually want to listen to music rather than put it on their wall. Luckily you can listen to it on Soundcloud above and if you follow the Soundcloud trail there is a remix version that you can download for nowt.

Frank Hamilton - Summer

Frank Hamilton, he of #OneSongAWeek fame has take one of those said songs, polished it up a bit and added a video ready for a proper single release on 7th October. It certainly polishes up well and with a name like Frank you can't help comparing him to Mr Turner.

It's a nice track, but releasing it in October he really will have to "wish it lasts forever", no matter how good a summer we've had in the UK it's not going to last that long, is it?

Rumours - Cash Machine

I rarely get chance to trawl through the endless emails that are in What's Wrong With The Mainstream's inbox but this morning I had a listen to a few artists as I wrote some posts for my cycling blog. This artist and track stood out so I thought I'd share it with you.

It's got the right mix of pop, strong female vocals with an upbeat tempo. Maybe a bit of Feist in there? Anyway 'Like' their Facebook page and get the track as a free download. Go on then, what are you waiting for.

White Lies - Getting Even

White Lies new album has just been announced and will be released 12th August this year and they're giving away Getting Even off the album. You can download it on soundcloud. The first proper single from the album will be There Goes Our Love Again which will be out early August.

I Keep Me Eyes Fixed On The Sun...

Sometimes I don't post as there's nothing new that I'm listening to that I want to post about, sometimes it's just I don't have time (as you probably suspected). At the moment I can't get this song out of my head - and I don't want to! A snowboarding friend of my told me to check out Dual Snowboards, anyone in to snowboards should check them out. They're everything that's good about snowboards and skis rolled in to one. The tricks look awesome and you can run on the snow in them!

Anyway back to the song, Shake Me Down by Cage The Elephant. Listen to this song and you'll be like me, Shazaming it so you can download it straight away. Check it out.

Local Natives Are Back

Remember these guys? How can you not? We've mentioned them a few times in the past. I can still remember coming across Airplanes in my inbox. What a track. Local Natives were one of those bands that made me really grateful I'd set up this blog. Not only did the band contact me but the band, and Taylor in particular were happy to chat by email. Well I don't know how it passed me by but they released their second album, Humingbird last month. So I dug out that old email address and pinged off a couple of questions to see if it still worked. Would they now be big time charlies and ignore my emails? Well Taylor fired back a response:

hey john, sure would be happy to answer those for you. 

How does this album differ from the last? 

It's expanded, both outward and inward. There are the most direct, bare songs we've made but also the most layered and orchestrated. 

How does it feel different from 3?! years ago with the debut album. Any other other exciting info I could pass on about what the band are up to?

We've just embarked upon a horizonless, year long tour. It's been fun to play all these new songs on the road and integrate them with the old. There's a lot more subtlety to our concert now. Played Liverpool last night.  

Check out their upcoming gigs here, they hit Bristol and Sheffield late October if anyone fancies it?

So there you have it, For those who are unaware of this band, they released their debut album first in the UK despite hailing from L.A.. Gorilla Manor was a good debut and it will be great to get my hands on their follow up (now ordered). Check out Airplanes below and scroll down further for a free track off their new album.

Want A Good Valentine Present?

Well if you preorder Cloud Cult's debut 'Love' you can get it way ahead of its released date. Instead of getting it on March 5th you can get it, yes you've guessed it, on Valentine's Day. Not only that but you get tracks to preview before even that date. Surely a must for any fan of the great band.

Strokes: Free Download

Yesterday we brought you The Pigeon Detectives new track and news of an album but who would have thought The Strokes would be back again so soon after their much welcomed return in 2011? One Way Trigger certainly suggests they're not just back to make up the numbers. This shows that they still see The Strokes as a vehicle for progressing their music. We wait with baited breathe for the full length. You can download the track here but be quick, it's only available for a limited time.

Pigeon Detectives: Free Download

It may have passed you by but The Pigeon Detectives' third album came out quite a while back and in fact they're back with their fourth album. I know it's quite unbelievable, it doesn't seem five minutes since their second album came out. To win you back the Detectives are giving away single Animal from their new album just visit their home page to claim yours.

Unreleased Britpop Gem Unearthed

Sometimes when blogging about music you get an urge to share some music straight away with the world, like if it waited until tomorrow it would be too late and it wouldn't be quite the same. Today, is one of those days. While just doing some minor maintenance on the blog I looked at the blogs we link to and something caught my eye from the excellent Sheffield Blog. Posted four weeks ago was "Found:Sheffield's Lost Britpop Album". Ooh intriguing. What could it be. Well it turns out it is from a band called Speedy, a 1990's band who hit us with the guitar based pop anthem that is Boy Wonder. While the band released singles they never got to release their album as shortly after recording the album they were dropped by their label and understandably split up.



I personally discovered Boy Wonder through the excellent compilation CD series Shine, the track appearing on Shine 7 along side Suede, Cast, Gene and fellow Sheffield bands Longpigs and Pulp. Looking back at the tracklisting now it really was a golden age for indie pop / Britpop whatever you want to call it. It was my area and when I really got in to music. Every track on those Shine compilations was gold and for the likes of smaller bands such as My Life Story, Silver Sun and Speedy to make it on to there they had to be at their best. To now discover an album that transports me back to that time that I (and most people) have never heard is just amazing and a real strange feeling.

The album has been brought to the masses by Say It With Garage Flowers and subsequently the excellent Britpop Revival managed to interview the lead singer of Speedy, Philip Watson, who had this to say "I'm flattered that people have somehow found, like and now want to share this album. Also slightly embarrassed. But only slightly. It's alright."  Alright? It's more than alright. It's a golden nugget of Britpop, right here, right now.The weird thing is that somehow the original post was put up three years ago but only now can we hear it. Check it out below.

Speedy - News from Nowhere by Britpop Revival on Mixcloud