Industry news & advice blog

Loose Articles - ‘Chaos’

Rapidly accumulating a strong following of fans and industry tastemakers alike, across the UK and beyond, Manchester based quartet Loose Articles are striking a mighty chord with their turbulent, adrenaline fuelled punk. An outlet for angst and discord, the band are also keen to poke fun and channel levity throughout their music. As they put it themselves; “Our music speaks to all those determined to get through the age of austerity with tongue in cheek, pint in hand and two feet firmly on the dancefloor.”

Since releasing their debut EP Orchid Lounge in 2019, the four-piece have steadily unveiled new material throughout the pandemic, steadily charting their growth. Current single ‘Chaos’ is an irresistible merry-go-round of energy and discord.

“The tune was inspired by a particularly warm winter, when we were sitting around in beer gardens way too early in the year and all feeling a bit guilty for enjoying ourselves in the knowledge that the weird weather was definitely due to man-made climate change and not some kindly weather god giving us northerners a well deserved break from the cold & rain.”

There have been highlights a plenty for Loose Articles so far, and no doubt many more to come; featuring in NME’s 100 list, appearing on BBC One’s Football Focus, airplay and support from Steve Lamacq, Tom Robinson and the rest of the BBC 6Music camp, plus gigs at Left of the Dial Festival in Rotterdam, Manchester International Festival, Cloudspotting and more.

The band have already announced a string of headline dates and festival appearances for 2022 including Gold Sounds Festival, Beat-Herder, Stag & Dagger, Get Together Festival and Stockton Calling. And this summer will also see them drop their second EP on Alcopop! Records. Watch this space!

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Tunnel Visions - ‘Lazy Eyes’

Not afraid to experiment, carve new sounds, and basically throw the rock rulebook out of the window, 7 piece band Tunnel Visions are certainly making a striking impact with their blend of surf-rock, heavier psychedelic rock, and post punk, not to mention a sprinkling of mid 60s Spaghetti Western guitar tracks too.

With heavy opening riffs akin to Black Sabbath, don’t start headbanging too soon as ‘Lazy Eyes’ takes one of its many twists and turns in pace and style, before settling into a melodic, jangly and buoyant groove.

“The original version of Lazy Eyes was written as a slow and moody Pixies-esque track back when we were teenagers but naturally evolved over about 5 or 6 years, when the intro and second half were spliced in. As with a lot of material from our debut EP, ‘Lazy Eyes’ is essentially a medley, combining elements from multiple originals into one track.”

Speaking of their EP, ‘Clear Skies’ was unveiled just last week. Recorded, mixed and produced entirely from frontman Andrew’s bedroom, the five-track EP comprises an interconnected track-list of songs. The band celebrated the launch of ‘Clear Skies’ with a headline show at Brighton’s Hope & Ruin. Touring the EP will be a priority for Tunnel Visions for the rest of the year, along with adding the finishing touches to their conceptual debut album ‘Foggy Moon’.

From their beginnings as a 3 piece in Plymouth to their evolution as a Brighton-based septet, the band have been steadily growing their following, and have racked up over 100 plays on Amazing Radio, plus airplay from BBC Introducing South West and placement on Spotify’s Release Radar.

To mainline the Tunnel Visions adrenaline buzz, grab your copy of ‘Clear Skies’ out on Sour Grapes Records now.

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Amy Fitz Doyley - ‘Eye of the Needle’

Described as a ‘one-woman musical army’, Amy Fitz Doyley is definitely an impressive talent who takes a boldly intuitive approach to music-making, whilst experimenting with her voice and a variety of different instruments and sounds.

Her latest single, ‘Eye of the Needle’, is a collaboration with Stew Jackson (Massive Attack producer & co-writer), and those trademark Massive Attack sounds resonate and build throughout the song; the calming piano which simultaneously sits atop an unsettling undercurrent of heavy guitars and heartfelt moods. All magnificently complimented by Amy’s powerful and stunning vocals.

Amy studied at the prestigious BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology, and over the following years she has performed across the globe, including a performance for Sofar Sounds. Other significant triumphs along her journey so far include being selected as one of Fender’s Undiscovered Artists, being championed by tastemaker Georgie Roger on her New Music show on Soho Radio London, and most recently, tipped as a Fresh Fave by Fresh on the Net.

With Amy’s star swiftly rising, we’re sure there’ll be more recognition and reward headed in her direction. Keep your eye out for a new music video on its way soon, plus live performances to be announced in the coming months!

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SHEAFS - ‘En Route Distress’

Coming off the back of a recent string of support dates for The Buzzcocks, and getting signed to label Modern Sky, Sheffield quintet, SHEAFS have much reason to be in high spirits. Their darkly propulsive sound, inspired by the gothic and post punk music of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, is certainly causing a commotion, and their latest single ‘En Route Distress’, recorded with Grammy award-winning producer Adrian Bushby, has further galvanised their appeal since the release of their debut EP ‘Vox Pop’ in 2020.

Frontman Lawrence tells us; “It was the first track Chris and I sat down to write during the first lockdown. Chris showed me the instrumental and we both concurrently felt like the track was the start of something. We have this procedure-styled approach of listening to it first and describing how it made us feel. We then landed on the idea of driving at night and En Route Distress felt suited to it.”

SHEAFS have been building radio airplay upon each release, with support across BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music, Amazing Radio, Radio X and Virgin Radio, as well as rave reviews from the likes of Gigwise, DIY and Dork.

Aside from The Buzzcocks, the five-piece have landed more support slots than you can shake a rather big stick at, ranging from The Slow Readers Club, The Coral and Greta Van Fleet to Squid, IDLES and The Amazons. They’ve also honed their craft live at numerous festivals including Reading, Isle of Wight, Live at Leeds, Dot to Dot, Y Not Festival, Tramlines and The Great Escape.

So it stands to reason that you really should not miss SHEAFS on their upcoming headline tour, the first they’ve embarked upon in over 2 years. Check out the links below for full details of the UK dates kicking off in Edinburgh this May.

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Sweet Giant - ‘Til You’re Blue’

The first single to be taken from Sweet Giant’s latest EP of the same name ‘Til You’re Blue’ is a calming and carefree song, complete with a nostalgic American-esque lilt. Hardly surprising given the trio’s love of the classic ‘70s songwriting of Creedence Clearwater Revival and Fleetwood Mac, not to mention country music.

And what better way to transport yourself away from the bleak reality of UK lockdown, which is when Sweet Giant began working on this release. Recorded and self-produced by the band and mixed by Callum Barter (Courtney Barnett/Kurt Vile), creating their EP seems to have been a liberating experience on many levels: "The songs were a product of the time spent during lockdown and a need for escapism from the world we were experiencing. We decorated our little box of a studio with colourful materials, pictures and plants to try to make it feel like we were somewhere far from the grey of north London. We spent most of the pandemic in that room experimenting with demos, teaching ourselves how to record and produce our own music for the sound we wanted to create.”



The band have enjoyed some impressive accomplishments under their previous guise of ‘Big Peyote’ including a sold out headline show, airplay and coverage from BBC Introducing, Soho Radio, She Shreds Magazine, plus performances at BBC Introducing Live showcase and Sofar Sounds.

Sweet Giant will be set to return to the festival stages with slots confirmed at Frogfest in early May and Valley Fest in August. They will also be drip-feeding one single per month from their EP between now and June, so make sure you keep an eye on their socials and be the first to hear their new material.

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