The sophomore album from the English band is a raw, unflinchingly passionate display of pain, suffering and a longing for something more. Speaking to Atwood Magazine last year frontman and songwriter Jacob Slater discussed the song ‘Superman’, he explained the meaning behind the person fabricated within the song. “In reality, he’s just working late in an office somewhere, in a job that he hates. But in his head, he’s drifting up through the air vents and going up into the night, and flying through the night sky.” For me thai captures perfectly the feeling you get listening to the tracks on ‘Midas’. The sensation of disconnect from reality, the unfathomably common feeling of being unhappy with regular, 9-5 life. I think that’s why people appreciate the album so much, the visceral lyricism and the nakedness of the music.

The group took to Instagram to thank fans this morning, captioning the post, ‘‘One year of Midas. What a ride. Thank you x’’. 

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A post shared by WUNDERHORSE (@wunderhorse_)

Fans on the mailing list also received a link to a voice message from frontman Jacob Slater. He said  “Hey, it’s Jacob from Wunderhorse, our record ‘Midas’  came out a year ago. I just want to say thank you to all the fans who’ve stuck with us over the years or joined us along the way. We hope to see you all at a show very soon.”

Wunderhorse were limited to intimacy in 2024 playing academy’s and student unions, but what this gave birth to were intimate sessions of discovery leading to thousands falling in love with a band they could call their own. The raw talent and the bona fide emotion was infectious, the booming vocals and the crashing, chaotic synchrony of the four men on stage left no doubt in my mind Wunderhorse were on a one way track to stardom.

Last year you would have been in a crowd of around 1,500, so seeing them less than a year later play to around 10,000 dedicated supporters at Alexandra Palace was in many ways incredible, but in no way shocking.

The group have since released single ‘The Rope’, which could mark the paving of a more hopeful path for Wunderhorse’s sound and lyricism. The limited edition vinyl sold out in minutes, and the song was even compensated with a live performance on ‘BBC’s Later with Jools Holland’, alongside a band by the name of Pulp… not bad company.

The next stop for the band is Auckland in early September as they take their chaos down under. With regards to new music, Slater hinted in an interview at Glastonbury that there are “a few ideas flying around, but nothing concrete yet.”

In light of the ascension post-‘Midas’, 2026 could well be the year of the horse.

The album, which features the singles “Lived A Lie” and “Fresh Start Fever”, was released January 27, 2014 and marked the band’s first record to reach the number one spot on the UK’s official album chart.

The Surrey-based rockers, joined by fellow English alternative band Deaf Havana, will be hitting the road next February for an 8 date stint across the UK, starting in Wolverhampton.

YMAS UK TOUR 2024 CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF CAVALIER YOUTH PLUS MORE
We’re so excited to be bringing along good friends @deafhavana Sign up to our mailing list by 6pm tomorrow for access to our artist pre-sale, 10am Wednesday. General sale 10am Friday. pic.twitter.com/2vW55DQV4b

— You Me At Six (@youmeatsix) November 27, 2023

In an Instagram post by frontman Josh Franceschi, he informed fans this tour would be the “only UK shows next year other than our appearance at Slam Dunk.” The 33 year-old also prepared fans for the shows by saying: “With Cavalier Youth turning 10 we’ll be playing a bunch of that as well as some other heat.”

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A post shared by Josh Franceschi (@joshfranceschivi)

You Me At Six’s latest release and eighth studio album Truth Decay, dropped on February 10, 2023, and saw the band celebrate their career as one of the UK’s biggest modern rock bands. Discussing the album, Franceschi said: “We are at our best when all five of us are on the frontline, living it and breathing it, all five of us swinging, putting our creativity into it. That’s what Truth Decay gives you.”

In other news, You Me At Six were recently announced as headliners for 2024’s Slam Dunk Festival alongside acts such as The All-American Rejects and I Prevail, with Pale Waves, Funeral For A Friend, Asking Alexandria, Waterparks, The Wonder Years and many more acts joining the lineup.

Fans who have signed up to the band’s mailing list by 6pm on Tuesday, November 28 will be eligible to get tickets in a pre-sale. The pre-sale will become available at 10am on Wednesday, November 29. General ticket sale will commence on Friday, December 1 at 10am. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

Tour dates:

09/02/2024 – KK’s Steel Mill – Wolverhampton
10/02 – UEA – Norwich
11/02 – O2 Academy – Bristol
13/02 – O2 Academy – Oxford
14/02 – Town Hall – Middlesborough
15/02 – P&J Live Hall C – Aberdeen
17/02 – Mountford Hall – Liverpool
18/02 – Guildhall – Portsmouth

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The group will be heading over to the UK for a 6 date run of shows to commemorate their album with fans.

D12 was formed in 1996 by rapper Proof, who assembled other rappers local to Detroit, Michigan to be part of the ensemble. The group originally consisted of Proof, Bizarre, Mr. Porter, Kuniva and Bugz.

Global superstar Eminem later joined the group in 1999, along with Swifty McVay, following Bugz’s death. However, only Swifty McVay and Kuniva will be present on the upcoming tour.

The supergroup were signed to Eminem’s Shady Records and released two albums. Their debut, 2001’s Devil’s Night, launched them to success by reaching the number one spot on the US Billboard 200 chart and sold 372,000 copies in it’s first week. The album also saw D12 become an award winning group, as they were celebrated as the Best Hip-Hop/Urban Artist (International) at the 2002 ECHO Awards.

D12 followed this with their second and final album, D12 World, which turns 20 years old next year. The lead single “My Band” was a smash hit, which led to the LP also landing the number one spot on the US Billboard 200 chart.

“My Band” reached the top spot in Australia and on the US Rhythmic Top 40, the Top 5 in the UK and Germany, and Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it a fan favourinte, and one of the group’s most successful songs to date. “My Band” is certified platinum in Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom, and gold in Germany, Norway and United States.

The group disbanded in 2018, just two years after founding member Proof tragically passed away in a shooting in 2016. Many believed this to be the cause D12’s split, and Eminem soon confirmed this in the form of lyrics in his 2018 song “Stepping Stone” from the album Kamikaze. The rapper mentions D12 multiple times in the track, which includes lyrics such as “‘Cause the truth is, the moment that Proof died, so did the group“, and “It’s not goodbye to our friendship, but D12 is over”.

Tickets for the D12 World 20th anniversary tour will go on sale Friday 22nd September at 10am. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

Tour dates:

06/12/2023 – O2 Ritz – Manchester

07/12 – XOYO – Birmingham

08/12 – Electric Ballroom – London

09/12 – SWX – Bristol

11/12 – Tramshed – Cardiff

12/12 – Engine Rooms – Southampton

The tour will feature five UK dates and five European dates, with the UK leg starting at St Luke’s in Glasgow on September 14th and concluding at Chalk in Brighton on the 18th, while the European leg kicks off at La Maroquinerie in Paris on September 21st and rounds off at Hole 44 in Berlin on the 25th.

The entirety of their well-received fifth album Wild Light will be performed in full during the tour, and will be followed by, as mentioned in a press release, a ‘second set of other bits and pieces‘, which may leave fans of the experimental outfit hopeful of new material.

The press release has also stated that the group, best known for combining noise rock, experimental rock and electronic rock throughout their years of existence, has also announced a new project, the so-called Wild Light Decade, that will, in the months leading up to their string of live shows, see the outfit release ‘never heard before‘ recordings that were made during a period between 2010 and 2013 and what is now known as the Wild Light Sessions.

The releasing of these previously unheard recordings will be available on the band’s patreon page on a subscription basis for five pounds a month. The patreon page can be found here.

65daysofstatic were formed in Sheffield in 2001 by instrumentalists Paul Wolinski, Joe Shrewsbury, Rob Jones and Simon Wright, and released their first album, The Fall of Math, in 2004 to widespread favourable reviews. The band’s sound with their debut LP focused on math and noise rock, and this fitting of the post-rock genre continued with two of their subsequent releases, One Time for All Time (2005) and The Destruction of Small Ideas (2007).

Watch the music video for ‘Retreat! Retreat!‘, from 65daysofstatic’s first album, The Fall of Math, below:

With the release of their fourth album, however, in 2010, the band shifted, musically, to a more electronic sound. We Were Exploding Anyway featured more dance elements, including more dance beats and electronic bass and drum tracks. Their fifth and sixth albums (Wild Light, 2013, and replicr, 2019) feature a combination of their earlier post-rock and noise rock sound with the electronica sound inspired in their fourth release.

Listen to ‘Unmake the Wild Light’ below:

The tour dates in full can be found below:

14/09/2023 – St Luke’s – Glasgow
15/09 – New Century Hall – Manchester
16/09 – Electric Brixton – London
17/09 – Trinity – Bristol
18/09 – Chalk – Brighton
21/09 – La Maroquinerie – Paris
22/09 – Trix – Antwerp
23/09 – Paradiso – Amsterdam
24/09 – Knust – Hamburg
25/09 – Hole 44 – Berlin

You can purchase tickets for the live shows here.

After their homecoming gig at The Alban Arena in August, the trio will be touring across the UK in late November/ early December performing in Nottingham, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, London, and Brighton. Friendly Fires will also be appearing at Connect Festival in Edinburgh and Victorious Festival in Portsmouth in August.

Tickets go on sale Friday 26^th May at 10 am BST. For tickets and more information see here.

Friendly Fires previously played their debut record in its entirety during a two-day residency at HERE at Outernet in London. Last week the party-loving band continued the celebrations and played two more gigs in Norwich and Hull.

The band took to social media on the 22^nd May to announce that they would be extending their tour further writing, “We‘ve had such a ridiculously fun time playing these first album shows that we‘re going to spread the love to some more corners of the UK.” They continued, “Join us to raise a glass, and have a dance- it’s gonna be special.”

A special 15th-anniversary re-issue of the vinyl edition of Friendly Fires and the “Paris” 12 inch including the Aeroplane remix in silver and gold respectively has also been made available to pre-order. For more information see here.

Ed Macfarlane, Jack Savidge, and Edd Gibson met at St Albans School aged 13 and formed the post-hard-core band First Day Back covering Green Day tracks and the like until they left for university. Post-uni the lads regrouped and took a new musical direction taking inspiration from the German techno label Kompakt, Carl Craig, and Prince to form the dance band Friendly Fires.

Their sophomore single “Paris” gathered attention from critics receiving single of the week in The Guardian, NME magazine, and on Zane Lowe’s BBC Radio 1 show. With their infectious sunshine and upbeat energy, it’s no surprise the singles from Friendly Fires became favourites for soundtracking TV commercials and television series – “On Board” featured in Nintendo’s Wii Fit commercial, and “White Diamond” can be heard in the second season of Gossip Girl.

Watch the video for “Paris” below:

In 2008, the album was released becoming a favourite for former indie sleaze party kids. Friendly Fires was certified double gold, nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, and led to the band being nominated for Best British Group and British Breakthrough Act at the Brit Awards in 2010.

For Friendly Fires’ UK tour dates see below:

24/08/23 – Arena – St Albans
25/08 – Victorious Festival – Portsmouth
26/08 – Connect Festival – Edinburgh
23/11 – Rock City – Nottingham
24/11 – O2 Victoria Warehouse – Manchester
25/11 – O2 Institute – Birmingham
28/11 – Beckett Students Union – Leeds
30/11 – Troxy – London
1/12 – Dome – Brighton

The band has unveiled their plans for four consecutive dates at The Garage in London from Sunday the 12^th November to Wednesday the 15^th November and a residency at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn in early December.

Tickets for the London dates go on general sale Friday 26^th May at 10 am BST. See here for tickets and more information.

Celebrating 30 years of “Where You Been” in London 11/12-11/15 and NYC 12/1-12/3 & 12/5-12/8

Tickets for both shows go on sale this week. Artist presale for NYC is on sale tomorrow.

Sign up for the email list (https://t.co/iMmfjSlXJY ) to receive the access code pic.twitter.com/H4VQduBwxx

— Dinosaur Jr (@dinosaurjr) May 22, 2023

The noisy, raw, yet melodic Where You Been arrived on the (freak) scene in February 1993. After J Mascis largely recorded Green Mind himself, Where You Been was the beginning of Dinosaur Jr.’s new lineup with Murph returning on drums, the newly appointed Mike Johnson on bass, and J Mascis leading the trio. “It’s the first time we’ve felt like a band for maybe six years, or something,” Mascis mumbled to MTV’s 120 Minutes in 1993, “[Johnson] adds a lot, just having someone that I can get along with musically and personally. It just makes the record better having all the people there contributing something, rather than the last one.” Watch the interview below:

Where You Been became the band’s most successful record up to that point reaching number 50 on The Billboard 200 and number 10 on the UK charts. Receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews, the album was listed on several music publications’ best album of the year lists and on Select Magazine’s best of the 90s tier list.

Watch the video for the single “Start Choppin'” below:

The band reissued a remastered and expanded edition of the influential album in 2019 including B-sides and peel session recordings on blue vinyl.

J Mascis, Lou Barlow, and Murph have been the new Dinosaur Jr. lineup since the band’s reunion in 2005. The unit’s most recent record, Swept Into Space, was released in 2021 through Jagjaguwar. Produced by Mascis and the laidback psychedelic singer-songwriter Kurt Vile, the band’s 12^th studio LP won over critics and fans, proving the band is still masters of alt-rock.

The three-piece have a packed schedule ahead of them with plenty of US festival and tour dates from June until September planned.

See below for Dinosaur Jr.’s UK shows:

12/11/23 – The Garage – London
13/11 – The Garage – London
14/11 – The Garage – London
15/11 – The Garage – London

The announcement came to fans via twitter yesterday, with the singer-songwriter explaining that he will be playing the album “from start to finish in it’s original order at a few BIBLICAL venues“.

As it’s 30 years since DM was released nxt year I’m gonna be playing the album from start to finish in it’s original order at a few BIBLICAL venues LG x

— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) May 11, 2023

While it is not yet known where these so-called biblical venues will be located, one thing that is abundantly clear is that these shows will sell out and sell out fast, given Liam’s, and Oasis’ in general, tremendously huge fan base and the popularity of the seminal LP.

Recorded at Sawmill Studios in Cornwall in January 1994 and mastered by Owen Morris later on in Manchester, Definitely Maybe was released later the same year by Creation Records on 29th August to immediate widespread critical acclaim. Following the release of singles “Supersonic“, “Shakermaker” and “Live Forever“, the album went straight to number one in the UK Albums Chart and subsequently became the fastest-selling debut album in the UK at the time.

Watch the music video for “Live Forever” below:

Definitely Maybe thereby cemented Oasis’ position as one of the best bands in the UK at the time, and helped instigate a surge in popularity of the britpop genre. The LP continually ranks extremely highly amongst fans and critics of the band alike and ultimately set Oasis on the road to attaining rock and roll legendary status.

In addition to Liam’s live shows, his brother Noel, last month, too expressed a wish to celebrate the anniversary of the release, this time by way of a 2024 reissue of the album. The reissue will feature acoustic, never heard before versions of “Live Forever“, “Supersonic” and “Slide Away“, and the prospect of both brothers celebrating the 30th anniversary next year, albeit in different ways, will surely leave fans salivating at the idea of a possible reunion.

Noel, however, undoubtedly piling on the misery to fans persisting on a reunion, unfortunately quashed hopes of the band performing together again in announcing the aforementioned reissue, claiming, in an interview with NME, that there “won’t be a tour” and that “we won’t come back to play them together“.

Watch the music video for “Supersonic” below:

Regardless, Oasis fans can find solace in the fact that both brothers will be doing something, at least, to celebrate one of the group’s finest and most successful albums.

The album is one of the most influential ones from that era as it made shoegaze a genre, even though it reached No 11 in UK Charts.

The Ride’s tour has been delayed due to pandemics and will now kick off on 21st April in Sheffield and up in London’ Roundhouse. Also next year, the band’s planning to release their catalogue albums via Wichita. More details on that matter are to be confirmed.

Ride are playing a Nowhere 30th anniversary UK tour in April 2022.

The tour pre-sale starts on Wednesday 20th October at 10am BST. Please head to https://t.co/55MMGGvCdu and input the code Nowhere30 to get your tickets. @andybebop / @markgardener / @doctorloz @stevequeralt pic.twitter.com/Oep0Qy4gIl

— RIDE (@rideox4) October 18, 2021

After the Ride’ last album of the 90’s Tarantula, the band reformed and released Weather Diaries in 2017. The album was produced by Erol Alkan and received great critical acclaim, reaching No11 in charts. The bad reunite with Dick Green and Mark Bowen from Wichita Records, who worked with the band at the beginning of their career. 

Latest Ride’s album from 2019 This Is Not A Safe Place reached No7 on charts, their highest chart position. It also showed “the sound of a band embracing their new found creativity and rejuvenated dynamic“. The band once again worked with producer Erol Alkan and sound engineer Alan Mulder, who helped with a few other Ride’s productions: Weather Diaries,  Going Blank Again and Nowhere.

The Ride’s sixth studio album release has been announced with a first single “Future Love” on 23 April 2019. It received critical praise with four stars from NME calling it full of “wealth of creativity and experimentation“. In their 6.5 mark review, Pitchfork said: “is not, in the end, the classic Ride Mark 2 release that its first three songs so casually tease. But it has enough joy, verve and invention to suggest that Ride could get there one day”.

“If we let it, music can take us anywhere we want it to; it can affect us as we desire: music can douse the flames of anger, clear the clouds of sadness, make us whole. Since their reunion in 2014, Ride has surrendered to the influences that made it one of Britain’s top acts of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, and with it brought back a quality sorely missed in music today“. You can read the full mxdwn review of the album here.

Tickets for the tour go on sale on 22nd October at 10 am BST.

The ‘Nowhere’ tour dates are as follows:

21/04/2022 Foundry – Sheffield
22/04 Waterfront – Norwich
23/04 O2 Academy – Oxford
24/04 Marble Factory – Bristol
26/04 SWG3 – Glasgow
27/04 Boiler Shop – Newcastle
28/04 O2 Ritz – Manchester
29/04 The Roundhouse – London

Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean and Pras Michael live shows will launch in November in Chicago and will make stops across the globe, before finishing in Africa. 

Before that, however, they will play a special intimate gig in New York on the 22nd of September at an unknown location. The tour is their first in 25 years and first show in 15 years. Fugees first public performance is supported by Global Citizen Live, “a once-in-a-generation global broadcast event calling on world leaders to defend the planet and defeat poverty“. The band’s charity fund and Global Citizen will work together throughout the tour. You can help with the initiative and win the tickets here.

Lauryn Hill commented in a statement: “The Fugees have a complex but impactful history. I wasn’t even aware the 25th anniversary had arrived until someone brought it to my attention. I decided to honor this significant project, its anniversary, and the fans who appreciated the music by creating a peaceful platform where we could unite, perform the music we loved, and set an example of reconciliation for the world“.

Wyclef Jean added: “As I celebrate 25 years with the Fugees, my first memory was that we vowed, from the gate, we would not just do music we would be a movement. We would be a voice for the unheard, and in these challenging times, I am grateful once again, that God has brought us together”. 

Fugees was formed in the early 90′ releasing their debut album in 1994, Blunted on Reality. The Score that came out two years after, is one of the best selling albums of all time thanks to successful covers of “Killing Me Softly” by Roberta Flack and well-known singles “Ready or Not” and “Fu-Gee-La”. After that, the tension between the members was high and they all focused on solo projects before officially disbanding in 2005. 

Tickets to Fugees tour are on sale from Friday 24th September here. See tour dates and cities below, some of them are still to be confirmed.

22/09 – Venue TBA – NYC
02/11 – United Center – Chicago, IL
07/11 – Oakland Arena – Oakland, CA
12/11 – The Forum – Los Angeles – CA
18/11 – State Farm Arena – Atlanta – GA
21/11 – FTX Arena – Miami – FL
26/11 – Prudential Center – Newark – NJ
28/11 – Capital One Arena – Washington D.C.
04/12 – La Defense Arena – Paris – France
06/12 – The O2 – London – UK
TBA – Venue TBA – Nigeria
18/12 – Venue TBA -Ghana

Photo credit: Press/ B+