The Young Republic

were the very first band I ever wrote about on this blog, so it’s always fun to check in with what they are up to every now and again. Being the busy student musicians types that they are, new material doesn’t appear all that often, but it seems that they are getting back into recording mode again. They are currently putting together a new EP which will be released soon, and will shortly begin work on their newest full-length album, which will be their biggest release to date.

‘Bows In Your Arms’ is a brand new demo, and it sounds nothing like anything I’ve heard from them previously. While most of their previous material was orchestral indie pop, this has much more of a dirty, blues rock kind of vibe going on. It felt so different at the start that it didn’t appeal to me at all, but after a few plays, I’ve warmed to it considerably. I still prefer their older, more classical twinged pieces, but there’s certainly something interesting about this. Hopefully the band will keep experimenting with their sound to see just what they can do when it comes to laying down an album.

MP3 The Young Republic – Bows In Your Arms (expired)

Old Young Republic:

MP3 The Young Republic – Girl From The Northern States
MP3 The Young Republic – Modern Plays

The Young Republic: Website || Myspace || AFoR Interview

Other stuff

There’s a nice little competition over at Nothing But Green Lights where you can win some lovely Sky Larkin artwork. Think of how cool you’ll be when you’ll be with that on your wall when they make it big.

Proving that deserving talents are sometimes recognised, Another Form of Relief favourite Kate Nash has signed a publishing deal with Universal. You can read all about it on her Myspace blog.

Those of you that haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Los Campesinos! live can get a little taster of the experience from a couple of live videos that have been posted to Youtube. Both ‘We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives‘ and ‘Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Broken Breakbeats‘ are songs that are only played live at the moment, so you can also sample a couple of new songs at the same time.

Sadly, two of my favourite music blogs have decided to call it quits over the past few days. Both rbally and Clever Titles Are So Last Summer were always well written and packed full of great music. It’s very sad to see them go, particularly given how many other great blogs we seem to have lost of late.