New: Sundara Karma and Vitamin

So two brand new tracks have surfaced recently and completely warrant the slightly terrifying term earworm. However, there is nothing terrifying about these brand new tunes: A Young Understanding by Sundara Karma and This Isn't Love by Vitamin.

Sundara Karma I first saw live at the Macbeth of Hoxton in November of last year. The sold out show and heaving venue demonstrated the bands trajectory and popularity. A Young Understanding premiered on Annie Mac's show on Radio 1 this week and revealed an anthemic value - a song which would soundtrack a road trip excellently. Their body of work so far suggests that an immense album is to come. They go on tour later this month and I am ready.

Vitamin is a band I came across when seeing Swim Deep live at Electowerks in 2014. Last week, Hue Stephens premiered their track This Isn't Love on Radio 1 and it did not disappoint. There is a great sense of vibrancy and energy to the track and in true Vitamin style, they never shy away from that colourful sound.

Gig: Tiggs The Author - The Woods, Shoreditch

Tiggs The Author - now this artist I saw last week at The Woods. Tiggs performed to an intimate Shoreditch audience and well and truly made an impact. The atmosphere was lifted as soon as he began his set, emitting uplifting, sunny vibes. His music has an interesting mix of jazz and motown elements amongst others - it definitely warrants a very eclectic sound. His stage presence was next to none as he brought the crowd in with his call and response technique during Run and turned it into a singular entity, jiving and swaying uniformly to the beat. 

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Gig: The Strypes and The Amazons - The Garage, Islington

Last week I made my way to Islington's The Garage for a night of music hosted by the NME Awards Show with Austin Texas. The Strypes headlined and supports Otherkin and The Amazons did their thing warming up the crowd.

Otherkin opened the show with their shouty and infectious tracks from EP 201. The Irish four piece did well to rev up a crowd using their noisy numbers. This is the first time I had heard of Otherkin and so I was glad to witness some great new music.

The Amazons are a band that I first encountered at 2015's Bushstock Festival in Shepherd's Bush at Defectors Weld. The anthemic and melodic quality of their set list really worked a treat to draw in their new, impressionable crowd. Tonight, the band excelled at hammering out songs from their EP Don't You Wanna? and raising excitement levels in the crowd to an optimum degree. Hits Junk Food Forever and There's Something In The Water were driven by distinctive vocals, loud drums and big hooks - this just highlighted that their music is meant to be played live to an audience chanting the lyrics back at them. They're showcasing huge potential and the notion that they basically headlined the show rang true for me tonight.

The energy emitted from The Strypes' set was incredibly charged and frenzied in the best way possible. Their relentless energy and the modernised, retro quality of their sound did well not to diminish their crowd's excitement at any point. The band has a boldness to their assured and confident stage presence which is completely admirable and perhaps borderline arrogant - very Arctic Monkeys - esque I thought. The performance was rounded off with their 2013 track You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover - what a winner. 

The Years In Gigs

I am slightly partial to a gig or two I think it's safe to say. Live music is something I am very avid about. One thing that I really enjoy about it is that the support sections of each show exposes you to artists that you may not have heard of before and that soon shoot to the top of your most played lists. I thought I should dedicate this post to the archive of shows I've experienced. Sometimes it's easy for past shows to evade you what with the constant influx of new music that comes our way. Today I'm reminiscing and reviving my excitement of past favourites. Here goes...

2015/2016

(From Left To Right) Tiggs The Author, The Woods - Shorditch; The Amazons, The Garage - Islington; The 1975, Hammersmith Apollo;  Sundara Karma, Macbeth Of Hoxton - Shoreditch; Years and Years, Brixton O2; Sundara Karma, Roundhouse - Chalk Farm

The Amazons, The Lexington - Angel; Wolf Alice, Brixton O2; Tora, Electowerks - Islington; Vitamin, The Social - London; Catfish And The Bottlemen, Scala - King's Cross; Ben Khan, Cargo - Shoreditch 

(From Left To Right) Swim Deep, Electrowerks - Catfish And The Bottlemen, O2 Shepherd's Bush, To Kill A King, O2 Shepherd's Bush; Little Comets, Koko - Camden; Years And Years, Heaven - Charing Cross, Alt J, O2 Arena; The Weeks, The Garage - Islington 

2014

(From Left To Right) The 1975 - Alexandra Palace; Ben Howard, Hackney Empire; Bastille, Scala - King's Cross; Wolf Alice, Scala; King's Cross, Arctic Monkeys, Finsbury Park; Cage The Elephant, Alexandra Palace, Foals, Alexandra Palace 

2013

The 1975 - O2 Brixton, Vampire Weekend, O2 Arena; The Weeks, Dingwalls - Camden; The 1975 - O2 Shepherd's Bush; Gentlemen Of The Road; Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park; King Of Leon, O2 Arena