looking for something specific? search our archives:
Biffy Clyro Announces North American Tour
Oooo shit yes your girl is having a Biffy Birthday™️! After dropping a phenomenal album last year, the fellas are coming to the states with O'Brother to melt our faces off.
ickets go on sale at 10am local time this Friday, January 13th here: BIFFYCLYRO.COM/SHOWS
Who's gonna come sing along with me and Sprout at Irving Plaza!?
Time to start practicing your air drumming and sing-a-longs!
Biffy Clyro 2017 US Tour Dates
03/24 Las Vegas, NV Vinyl @ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
03/25 Phoenix, AZ Crescent Ballroom
03/26 Los Angeles, CA Belasco Theater
03/28 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
03/30 Seattle, WA Neptune Theatre
03/31 Vancouver, BC Vogue Theatre
04/01 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theatre
04/04 St. Paul, MN Turf Club
04/05 Chicago, IL House of Blues
04/07 Detroit, MI St. Andrews Hall
04/08 Toronto, ON Phoenix Concert Theatre
04/09 Montreal, QC Café Campus
04/11 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
04/13 New York, NY Irving Plaza
04/14 Philadelphia, PA Theatre of Living Arts
04/15 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
[2016 Recap] A Few Of My Favorite Things
bless Topsters for assembling this graphic infinitely easier than prior years
Surpriiiiseee!! I'm going to do my year end wrap up differently than most of the ones I've seen. Mostly because I have so many to share, but mostly because I like to let the music do the talking and help you get better connected to the artists themselves. Instead of recaps of each record, I'm going to point you to my favorite tracks so if any of these are new to your ears you'll have the best starting point I can give you.
Personal Observations for 2016
This was a weird year for me in terms of listening/discovery habits. Instead of fighting against music consumption trends, I decided to play along. I dove head first into my Discover Weekly playlist. I even followed some of my friends' in order to see what I would find and set up an IFTTT recipe to archive everything recommended to me so I could go back and reference it later if I wanted. I barely touched my SKOA inbox, which probably upset a lot of publicists. Anyway, according to Last.FM's data (since Spotify never ended up sending me mine), I listened to 1,919 new artists this year, which is ABSOLUTELY INSANE. But really when you think about how much music Discover Weekly puts in front of you, it's really less than what everyone had the potential to check out (which is 1,560 if you figure we get 30 new tracks a week for a year). I am in the 98th percentile in music listening per Last.FM (meaning I listen to more music than 98% of people who still scrobble to Last.FM) and I found myself panicky and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of music that Spotify thinks I can get through on TOP of the music I already love and want to enjoy, or the random rabbit holes I end up falling into that typically bring me great new baby bands. I guess most people approach Discover Weekly differently than I do, letting artists come and go as they please, but knowing the transformative power that music possesses, I'm always wary of passing on an opportunity to be affected and share those experiences with others.
It's crazy to think that 20% of what stuck with me this year was randomly generated by The Algorithm and not delivered to me by humans. I almost said that the human delivery was through cosmic forces, but really, if music finds its way to your ears/hearts by friend or by Algorithm, both are cosmic in a way, no?
This is my struggle at present. I value the connection that happens when a humans experience music together, whether it be by recommendation or attending shows together. I worry this experience will continue to be diminished the more we silo ourselves into our algorithm-based echo chambers. I really hope I'm just out of touch and someone will point me to where this is the opposite, but I can't ignore how self-serving shows feel now every time I treat myself to a Night Out. This has been on my heart/mind too much lately to ignore it, so expect some changes to how things go down on the site (starting with making more time for this now that my new job isn't crazy busy for awhile).
What music moved you this year? Did you like some of these records but different tracks? I'd honestly love to know so please drop me a comment. Also if you want more than favorite tracks out of me for these records, feel free to bug me on Twitter I am happy to share!
My Favorite Things Of 2016
Some Kind of Awesome Radio - 07/11/2015
Typing up all the show notes this week for once because I love you, fam.
YES! I'M ACTUALLY DOING SHOW NOTES FOR THIS WEEK! #sorrynotsorry but like I said in this week's episode I've been dealing with a bit of blogger burnout and even though doing the show is very therapeutic for me when you see how thorough I intend to be moving forward you will understand why I put this off for as long as I could. Again, I really appreciate those of you who listen and never get the promised show notes. NO MORE BROKEN PROMISES! Just quality #content in addition to a bunch of other new things in the works right now.
Hope you enjoyed this weeks show! Feel free to drop a comment here or hit me up on Twitter. I'd love to hear what you thought of this week's picks!
Until next week!
<3
- Tuxedo - "Do It"
- Hitting the road for a mini tour this month! You can check out tour dates over on their site.
- Studio Killers - "Eros & Apollo"
- Ain't No Love - "Cry In The Rain"
- Dillon Francis - "Bruk Bruk (I Need Yo Lovin)"
- Hitting the road this month! Tour dates over on his site.
- This Mixtape Is Fire drops on August 14. You can pre-order it if you're into that.
- Vowws - "The Great Sun"
- Shows in July and August. More info over on Songkick.
- Ratatat - "Club Amnesia"
- Magnifique is out July 14th. You can stream the album in full via NPR.
- The Kickdrums - "Breathe Again"
- Monarchy (feat. Dita Von Teese) - "Girls & Boys (Blur cover)"
- Few shows lined up in the next month or so.
- ReVision out now. As is Abnocto.
- Caribou - "Silver"
- On tour now so get on it! Tour dates here.
- Interpol - "My Desire"
- On tour now! Sprout and I will be heading to the show in Broooklyn at the Prospect Park Bandshell. Will we see you there?
- Tame Impala - "Cause I'm A Man"
- The video for this song is super fun and full of puppets.
- Currents drops on July 17 - CAN YOU EVEN HANDLE IT BECAUSE I CAN'T. #zerochill
- Tour is in full swing and dates are selling out fast so GRAB THEM WHILE YOU CAN.
- Hot Chip - "Love Is The Future"
- They just upped these really fun Peanuts shirts in their merch store. I think I want the Snoopy one? idk
- Very much on tour right now.
- The Streets - "Two Nations"
- Fairly quiet in the Mike Skinner camp other than that single he did as The D.O.T. last year. Sigh.
- VHS or Beta - "Can't Believe A Single Word"
- Weaves - "Tick"
- Kenna - "Karma Is Coming"
- Things are in the works in Kenna camp! He just posted a series of videos on Facebook explaining his Land 2 Air Chronicles series. I know more because I'm awesome but can't say just yet. KEEP YOU'RE EYES PEELED FOLKS!
- Maiday - "Wish You'd Met Me First"
- More on Maiday in the coming weeks as I get to the bottom of this woman and her bru-tiful jams. Also getting into one of the producers on this track. More on that next week. :)
- Big Black Delta - "It's Ok"
- NEW ALBUM COMING SOON. Open your hearts and wallets and PLEDGE YOUR BRAINS OUT. (hey buddyyy!) Dude deserves this to get the crap funded out if it considering all his gear got stolen and his dad passed away. Rough year for Jonathan Bates but It's Ok.
- For now you can grab "It's Ok" over on Soundcloud.
- Kate Boy - "Midnight Sun"
- Do not ask me why you cannot buy this yet in the United States of America. I don't get it either. Take it away, UK!
- Few random tour dates if you're in other parts of the world.
- Don Diablo (feat. Emeni) - "Universe"
- I can't keep up with this dude. He's already gearing up to release another single called "On My Mind" which drops on July 27. This teaser for it has got me wanting to dance in space.
- Voting is open for Top 100 DJs so get to voting so my chocolate chip cookie recipe can have more street cred since they're Don Diablo (and Mama Diablo) approved.
- Lily Allen - "Close Your Eyes"
- Animal Kingdom - "The Art of Tuning Out"
- ANAMAI - "Lucia"
- Few shows coming up.
- Dangermouse & Sparklehorse / Dark Night Of The Soul (feat. Julian Casablancas) - "Little Girl"
- Until The Ribbon Breaks - "Taste of Silver"
- Biffy Clyro - "Stingin' Belle"
BONUS JUST FOR YOU FAM! I'm also making playlists on Spotify for every single show. NO SHUFFLE THO BECAUSE THAT'S CHEATING! Additionally, as the shows become available on iTunes I will update each post with a link to the show for your listening pleasure. Enjoy!
[Watch] Biffy Clyro - "Sounds Like Balloons" (Live Video)
I've gone off on numerous rants on Twitter regarding people at gigs that seem to watch the entire show through the 3 inch screen of their phone instead of watching the big picture that's happening right in front of their very face a few feet away. Take a quick snap if you like, and then be done with it. Don't spend the entire gig filming shoddy low quality video that you're never going to use. Chances are you're at the gig with people you'd show the video to anyway so just stop it. Cheers. Anyway, Biffy Clyro have taken my pet peeve and used it to their advantage by having fans send in clips from their UK arena tour and used them to compile a live video for "Sounds Like Balloons" patched together with some pro-shot footage. It does work pretty well at giving you a snapshot into what it was like down in the crowd on the tour and all in all, it carries across the energy too. I'm still not a fan of the ever growing use of phones at gigs but it's the times we live in. Check out the video above and be sure to check out one of my favourite albums from this year, Opposites, which came out back in February.
[Watch] Biffy Clyro - "Victory Over The Sun" (Official Video)
It's fair to say Biffy Clyro have a pretty loyal fan base of both old fans and new. I don't know if I'd go as far as to say it's a cult though but in the visual for their new single "Victory Over The Sun" that's what it appears Simon Neil is the leader of. The track is taken from the bands fantastic double LP, Opposites, that went number one in the UK back in February. Check out the fire filled video below and be sure to pick up the single from September 8th.
The band will headline Leeds and Reading festival in late August.
[Listen] Check out three new Biffy Clyro tracks from their 'Opposite' EP
We've sand Biffy Clyro's praises for a long time and this year I feel like we've mentioned them a hell of a lot. Their latest album Opposites was a double disc journey through the trials and tribulations of the band. A record that's still getting heavy play in my house. It was their first number one record in the UK and has taken them onto playing their first arena tour around the UK and this summer they'll headline Reading and Leeds Festival. This week they released an EP simply called Opposite and it featured the previously heard single of the same name along with three brand new songs. Below you can check out "Sorry and Thanks", "A Tragic World Record" and "Wooden Souvenir". To pick up a copy of the EP jump over here.
[Listen] Biffy Clyro - "Get Lucky" (Daft Punk Cover)
It's fair to say that over the last few months, Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" has been almost impossible to escape. It's been used on adverts and TV Shows along with having multiple daily plays on almost every radio station imaginable. Let's add a new direction for the track then shall we as Biffy Clyro chose to cover the infectious track while on Dermot O'Leary's BBC Radio 2 Saturday slot. Check out their acoustic take on the track below or re-listen to the entire show and interview over here.
[Watch] Biffy Clyro - "Black Chandelier" (Live in London)
I have a habit of playing music I love far too much. This year I've done it with a few albums already. This image kind of sums up my feelings towards music in general. Anyway with that in mind I've seriously given Biffy Clyro's latest studio release, Opposites, some heavy play. Multiple plays on a weekly basis and when it was released it was pretty much all I listened to for a month. I'm not kidding. Yet I still absolutely love it, and it's nice to see Biffy still offering up fans new stuff for fans on the regular. At the start of the month they released a live video of them performing "Different People" live at London's 20,000 capacity O2 arena, and today they give us a peek at them in the same venue rocking through "Black Chandelier" . Check out the video at the top.
Opposites is out now.