Sunday 27 January 2008

Pandora is dead, long live Pandora!

Well, it's not often I find myself even remotely wanting to write a newsletter, but lots of events lately have made me feel the need to get typing and letting you guys know about them. So here is the first (of probably not many) Indie meetup newsletters.


NEWS
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Pandora is dead, long live Pandora! This month saw the death of Pandora for anyone outside the USA due to legal reasons. However some clever bloke has made an identical copy, now called Global Pandora which is quite possibly an inside job by someone at Pandora...who knows how long it will stay up for.

If you're ears are still yearning for more then there's a few other sites floating about. Last.fm is 'okay' for their radio service but it's much better to just keep tabs on what you've been playing on your i-tunes. Then there's Seeqpod which does a good version and searching down music and streaming it to you.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have relased a brand spanking new website going down the 'our mate made it for us' look, even though they probably spent a few grand on the website. Check out the shop section for some truly awesome looking t-shirts.

For those of you that are old enough to remember them, Mix tapes are sorely missed, though I quite enjoyed getting sent one this week and rummaging around to find my old walkman to try and play it. However the bright folks at Fuzz have created a virtual mix tape online, allowing you to add 12 tracks from either their own library or by uploading your own, you can then style how your mix tape looks and send it to all your mates who don't need to worry about spending 2 hours trying to find some AA batteries to listen to it.

Here's my first mix tape attempt.

Make your own and post them up on our facebook group discussion.



UPCOMING
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Tickets are already out for the Fields festival, which I was quite gutted about not making to last year. Based in Victoria park it's one of the few festivals you don't need to travel outside of the M25 to get to. The line up has yet to be announce but keep checking the website for more info. Tickets from ticketweb.

NME shockwaves tour have come around again, showcasing those 'about to be big any moment now (promise)' bands. Playing Brixton Academy on the 22 Feb.

For something a little sooner why not try New Young Pony Club @ koko on the 12th Feb.

or

Sohodolls play at the debut night of BLITZKREIG BOP! @ Sin on the 2nd Feb.

Then there's the Foals Antidotes album due to be released on March the 24th, which is oh-so-long away in my books, but available to pre-order.




MEETUPS
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The Jan meetup is Tomorrow...Amersham Arms, tickets are all sold out but there will be some avalible on the door if you want to take the risk. More info @ meetup and facebook

Vice Tour Live is on at the begining of March. It's free too, though we'll have to que early to make sure we get in. More info @ meetup and facebook

Just a heads up about the March meetup, we'll be going to Button down Disco @ KOKO, BDD have been well known for doing secret monthly club nights at venues all around London, but have now taken up residency at koko. For about a year i've wanted to do a meetup at BDD but due to the last minute details have never been able to, but now with their new residency means they're releasing the which nights they're doing well ahead of schedule.



STUFF YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO
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http://www.myspace.com/lesacvspip - Scroobius Pip made a big splash with Thou Shalt Always Kill last year, however there's a free track from him and Dan le Sac on their myspace page.

http://www.myspace.com/samisaac - I only found out about Sam Isaac because my friend ended up being tagged in a music video on facebook..very random I know. Check out the Sideways video. It's really good, but kinda makes you want to eat cake though.

http://www.myspace.com/operatorplease - A fantastic band from down under. Yes Yes Vindictive is a great album, and i'm very thankful for my Aussie friend for sending it to me in the post. While the CD might not be available over here just yet you can get a taster of them from myspace. They're even playing in Brighton on the 25th of Feb.



END
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Thats it for now..quite a big email really, hope you made it to the end. - Phil