Music Filch

Glasto-A-No-Go?
Every year it would be the same – you'd know at least one smug bastard who was lording it up because they'd managed to get their grubby mitts on Glastonbury tickets. They wouldn't stop until YOU knew how cool THEY were for finding that magical secret passage past the engaged tones and unhelpful crashing websites. And there never seemed to be a decent-enough comeback that would stop all the facetious bragging. Not even "well, I am going to Reading?"

Blitzen Bop
The self-styled teeming Oregon-based musical clan that are Blitzen Trapper are on their way back to Britain next month for a spattering of dates nationwide. The eclectic Americans last dazzled fans this side of the pond back in November as part of a successful stint on the road with Two Gallants, and it appears that they enjoyed it so much that they want to return.

All aboard the Boris Bus
Fear not all ye apolitical souls out there, this is not a rallying call for the impending London Mayoral mandate. On the contrary, it is the very important and equally exciting news that the Japanese punk-rock trio Boris are returning to these shores towards the end of April.

Move over Paul...
Few songwriters are capable of displaying the distinctive acerbity of Josh Weller, which makes the news that he’s heading out on the road just that little bit special. And having already gently tickled the underbelly of fans and critics alike with his lyrical treats, here’s an opportunity to indulge yourself, for Weller will be in support of The Maccabees for six dates at the end of the month.

White On Time
Rock'n'roll in it's truest, most energetic sense has been frustratingly hard to come by. Just the feeling of knowing a band is giving it some real welly is enough to warm the cockles. But instead of thrashing out power chords and lightning riffs, it's been more often the case that songwriters have preferred to reach for an acoustic guitar and dole out any old rubbish in A-minor. Thank god, the angels cry down then, that White Denim have announced that they have a debut album ready to lock'n'load.

Murder by Death - Red of Tooth & Claw (Album)
In the insidious underbelly of America’s mid-west comes a rumbling with more menace than the thunderstorms that clatter around Tornado Alley. Like some errant and deviant offspring of John Wayne, this follow-up to last year’s debut from Murder By Death lets you know that you’ve now strayed onto their turf. Here business is conducted wholly on their terms, rife with scenarios of lust and betrayal, governed by an almost biblical sense of justice and revenge; sounds intense, is intense.

Elle Milano - Acres of Dead Space Cadets (Album)
And just when you feel that life has become nothing more than adhering to a wholly dissatisfying pop culture, it’s taken three members of the potential workforce to show that the reclusive art of meticulous cynicism need not be totally dead. The echoes of eighties agit-pop may well be frittering away into ever-decreasing significance, but the angst of young partisans can’t always be quelled with a cushy office job and affable healthcare plan.