Alt-UK

Sean O’Donnell Announces His Intention to Leave Yellowcard

Rich Leigh — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:15:47 +0000

Sean O’Donnell, bassist of Yellowcard and formerly of Reeve Oliver, has announced his intention to leave Yellowcard due to personal reasons.

Full details of his decision to depart the band can be found on the official Yellowcard website.

You Me At Six – Bite My Tongue (feat. Oli Sykes)

Rich Leigh — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:05:41 +0000

The second single to be taken from You Me At Six’s ‘Sinners Never Sleep‘ album, ‘Bite My Tongue‘ is an impressive little offering from the band featuring guest vocal work from Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes. Given the inclusion of Oli Sykes on the track, it therefore comes as little surprise that the track has a little more bite about it than we’ve become accustomed to in the past with the music of You Me At Six. The pop punk style we’ve come to associate with the band is still very much there, and if you’ve had a chance to listen to the band’s ‘Sinners Never Sleep‘ album then you’ll have noticed that a number of the tracks continue on from where ‘Hold Me Down‘ left off. ‘Bite My Tongue‘ is one of the tracks that hints at where the band may be heading in the future however, a track that very quickly gets into its stride with some powerful guitar work and the impressive vocal styling of Josh Franceschi.

The vocal screams of Oli Sykes contrast nicely with the more clean vocal approach of Josh Franceschi. The track most definitely benefits from the presence of Oli Sykes, and it’s his vocal duties that really help to give this track an extra edge. Without Sykes’ presence this would still be a decent offering from You Me At Six, with the Bring Me The Horizon man present here however the track is really taken to another level when he makes his appearance. Perhaps one possible direction for the future of You Me At Six could be for them to add an additional vocalist alongside Josh, someone to add a few screams and growls to the music whilst Josh Franceschi continues to provide the clean vocal touch. ‘Time Is Money‘ featuring Winston McCall of Parkway Drive fame provides further evidence that this could be a worthwhile avenue for the band to consider for the future.

The music of You Me At Six certainly seems to be changing, the future looks good for the band however, and if you’ve ever been a fan of the band’s sound in the past then I’d definitely recommend checking out ‘Bite My Tongue‘. In fact, given the band’s shift towards a slightly heavier sound, even if you haven’t been a fan of the band in the past then still give ‘Bite My Tongue‘ a chance as you just might be impressed with what you find here.

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You Me At Six 2012 Headline Tour

Rich Leigh — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:47:44 +0000

You Me At Six is all set to embark on a headline tour of the UK in March/April 2012, culminating in a show at London’s Brixton Academy on April 2nd.

The following is a full list of the dates that the band is all set to play:

March
17th Leicester, O2 Academy
18th Nottingham, Rock City
20th Bournemouth, O2 Academy
21st Yeovil, Westland Centre
23rd Cardiff, The Great Hall
24th Liverpool, University
25th Newcastle, Academy
27th Glasgow, SECC Hall 3
28th Manchester, O2 Apollo 3

April
1st Birmingham, Ballroom
2nd London, O2 Brixton Academy

Acoustic Jim – Hanging Up My Cape

Tim Osbourne — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 02:47:11 +0000

Acoustic Jim is a Jason Mraz-inspired soloist from London who gained his rather unique name from a friend who shouted it at him after he took to the stage at an open-mic night for the first time.

Since then Jim has released two EP’s on his own record label and received the People’s Music Award in 2010 for ‘best male solo artist’.

The nature of acoustic music often makes it difficult to create a ‘big sound’, which may be why he drafted in The Wires to help him out on his debut album, released last week, called Hanging Up My Cape.

The album features a strange mixture of tracks; some reminiscent of Jason Mraz taking his listeners straight to the beach and some slower love-songs comparable to the works of James Blunt.

Hanging Up My Cape is a pop album at its core but with a mature edge to it and an ensemble of brass and bass instruments.

It’s a sound that grabs the listeners attention but even with the emergence of unlikely acoustic successes like Ed Sheeran, may not find its rightful place in an already crowded underground London scene.

The lead-track to the album is called Time and features a quirky ‘Bucket List’ style animated video of two characters fulfilling their dreams before they die.

As a word of warning the chorus of the track is likely to be spinning around your head for several days after listening to it, which seems to be one of Jim’s trademarks.

Skrillex ft. Sirah – Weekends

Rich Leigh — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 03:31:11 +0000

Not the kind of track that we’d normally feature here at Alt-UK, but I’m really loving Skrillex’s ‘Weekends‘ right now. Electro house at its very best.

You can currently download the track completely for free from SoundCloud and I’d most definitely recommend that you do so.