Searchlight: Superfood

Who are they?
Superfood are a four piece indie band from Birmingham. The band is made up of Dominic Ganderton (vocals/guitar), Ryan Malcom (guitar), Emily Baker (bass) and Carl Griffin (drums).

How can their sound be described?
Their music is full of energy and their lyrics are clever and witty. They have a lot of really catchy hooks and an uptempo rhythm. This sound can be likened to 90's Britpop in many ways, which is a genre that they have clearly taken a lot of inspiration from.  

What's their role in the B-town scene?
The band play quite a big role in the thriving music scene in Birmingham alongside Peace, Swim Deep and Jaws. This scene is really exciting at the moment, spawning a stream of fresh, new bands with a lot of potential. The core of this scene is Digbeth where there is regular events on that promote local talent. Dom, the lead singer from Superfood helped to produce early demos for both Peace and Swim Deep, showing the community aspect of the scene.

Review: FKA Twigs- M3LL155X (EP)

FKA Twigs (real name, Tahliah Barnett) is a singer, songwriter and producer from Gloucestershire, Britain.

She came onto the music scene with the releases of 'EP1' in 2012 and 'EP2' in 2013. She then released her debut album, 'LP1' in 2014, this received good reviews in general and gained her notable commercial success.

The five track EP opens with the track, 'Figure 8', it has a very striking beat that's very fragmented. Her vocals work well with this beat, adding a softer elements. Around half way through the track there's a deeper, rather illegible voice that marks a change as it descends into a kind of organised chaos.

The second track on the album is 'I'm Your Doll', the production on this track isn't as strong as the previous but the balance is very delicate and poignant. It then goes into the track 'In Time', this has a faster pace than the previous track and has a whomping instrumental that's very hip hop inspired. The vocals are also have a much faster pace, but they still feel very gentle against the heavier beat.

Review: Frankie & The Heartstrings- Decency

Frankie & the Heartstrings are an indie band that formed in Sunderland in 2008. The band slowly formed around Frankie Francis (vocals) and Michael McKnight (guitar) with multiple line-up changes occurring before reaching its current roster. Frankie started off as a bassist, but changed to vocals when the other members told him he was no good at playing the bass.

Decency is the bands third studio album after 2011's 'Hunger' and 2013's 'The Days Run Away'. The band have gained relative success in recent years, playing support slots for such bands as The Futureheads and The Vaccines. They have also had their own UK headline tours and played shows across Europe, New York and Tokyo.

The album opens with the 42 second long 'Peterborough Dogs'. The next track is the title track, 'Decency', this track is very upbeat and happy sounding. This is a good start to the album in my opinion, it sets the pace and tells listeners what they can hope to hear as the album carries on. 'Think Yourself Lucky' and 'Save It For Tonight' are both similarly uptempo tracks that are vocally and instrumentally very classy  and well executed. They are both riff heavy and the prior track incorporates brass into the chorus.

Review: Don Broco- Automatic

Don Broco are a rock band from Bedford, England. They formed in 2008 and consist of Rob Damiani (lead vocals), Simon Delaney (guitar), Tom Doyle (bass) and Matt Donnelly (drums/vocals). Their sound can be described as pop rock or post hardcore.

The band met at school but didn't properly form until after university. They then went though a couple of name changes before going out on tour and playing some festival slots. 'Automatic' is the bands second album after 2012's 'Priorities' which did reasonably well for itself.

The album opens with 'Superlove', this track has good parts to it, such as the chord progressions and the well executed vocals. I think that the overall sound of it is quite generic though and similar to many other tracks in the genre. The second song, and title track of the album, 'Automatic' is better than the previous track as it varies more between tempos before going into the chorus. This track is also more powerful both vocally and musically.

Interview: Best Friends

Best Friends are a garage band who formed in Sheffield. I spoke to Lewis, the singer/guitarist from the band.  

How did the band meet and how long have you known each other?
"In a pretty boring way really, we started late 2010 after meeting when we all went to uni in Sheffield. I knew Tom a little bit from Norwich as we're both from close to there, Tom lived in a flat with Ed in halls and I met Jack through skateboarding and he was on the same course as Ed. Jack left to travel the world last year so Jonny slotted in on drums nicely. Or maybe we were put together in secret on the X factor after going to Brit school. I find it hard to remember now."

What is the music scene like in Sheffield at the moment?
"From day one other bands in Sheffield helped us out with recording and helping us learn how to play shows and put things out there. We started out knowing fuck all about anything. It truly is a community of people helping each other out cause its fun. Last year Ed and our friends in other Sheffield bands built Delicious Clam studios, and now we can give back in the same way we were helped out. Delicious Clam is a collective, and its a way of being able to record each other, our friends and put them out there. Its really important when you're starting out to have that. Studio time is expensive. If we can use our little bit of success to point them in the direction of the Clam and help our friends along, its a really great thing. Listen to Long Limbs, Thee Mightees, Thumbuster, Nai Harvest, Avida Dollars, Radical Boy, Pet Rock and Fruitbomb. Toot toot!"

Review: Frank Turner: Positive Songs For Negative People

Frank Turner is a British rock/folk singer and musician from Hampshire. He started off his musical career in punk band 'Million Dead', but went solo in 2005 as the band split up. Turner has quietly become one of the most popular solo artists in the UK by playing a huge amount of shows.

Turner is now on his 6th studio album after a solo career spanning 10 years (8 years since first studio album). He has been widely praised for his ability to fuse the folk sound of a singer-songwriter with a heavier tone. This means that he's gained a wide range of fans from different music scenes.

This album starts with a track called 'The Angel Islington', this track is slow and minimalist, featuring just Frank's vocals and a guitar. This is a really sweet opening track that sets up the powerful 'Get Better' really well. This second track is an emotionally charged love song that finds the really delicate balance between heartwarming vocals and heavy guitars and drums, This track ends abruptly going into the twinkling opening riff of 'The Next Storm', then building into the full body of the song. This is what Turner does well, roaring vocals over perfectly put together instruments.

Review: KNYTE: KNYTE

KNYTE is a alternative solo artist from Edmonton, Alberta (Canada). He has had seen some success in the past from scoring and writing original songs for short films, however he has more of a desire to create things for himself. He has taken lots of inspiration from alternative, electronic and pop/r&b music to shape his sound.

According to KNYTE himself, he has attempted to create a modern art piece where image, sound and writing all fit together. He has written and produced this album himself to try and realise this vision to a greater extent.

The album starts with a track called 'The Sun', it has a cool wobbly intro that's electronic based. His vocals are well executed, and there is a catchy chorus section. This then leads into 'Neon Lights'. For me this track feels a little rushed with the vocals not quite fitting with the instrumental, this is especially the case at the start of the song.