Craig Finn, front man of the critically acclaimed The Hold Steady, has confirmed the release of his debut solo album, ‘Clear Heart Full Eyes’ on Full Time Hobby Records.

Earlier this year, Finn challenged himself to write a new song every day in his Brooklyn apartment. “I had written a bunch of songs that were outside of the norm for The Hold Steady, a little quieter and perhaps more narrative,” says Finn. “I wanted to gain some experience and insight into the process of making a record by working with new people”.

In July Finn travelled to Austin, Texas, removing himself from all familiar surroundings, to record the album with producer Mike McCarthy of Spoon and Trail of Dead fame. Of the album’s title, Finn says: “It’s a juxtaposed reference to Friday Night Lights, a TV show that excited and moved me and also happened in Texas. Furthermore, Clear Heart signifies honesty and transparency, and Full Eyes suggests experience”.

Craig Finn tours the UK with The Felice Brothers as follows:

March: 13 – London, Macbeth, 14 – Birmingham, Institute, 15 – Dublin, Academy, 16 – Belfast, Spring & Airbrake, 17 – Glasgow, ABC, 18  – Manchester, Academy 2, 20 – London, Koko

Followed by a couple of Headline shows:

March: 28 – BRIGHTON, Coalition, 29 – London, Hoxton Bar & Kitchen.

Amadou & Mariam will release their new album ‘Folila’ through Because Music on 2^nd April. Featuring appearances by Santigold, Theophilus London, TV On The Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Bassekou Kouyaté, the album is the follow-up to 2009’s acclaimed ‘Welcome To Mali’. A single ‘Dougou Badia’ will be released on 19^th March.

New single ‘Dougou Badia‘, which features Santigold, can be listened to here:

Amadou & Mariam, who will perform at the annual TEDx event in March, have confirmed a Shepherd’s Bush Empire show on 13^thApril. The duo will also take part in the Artangel ‘A Room For London’ programme at Queen Elizabeth Hall in May.

Fri 13^th April London O2 Empire Shepherd’s Bush

‘Love Interruption’, the first taste of Jack White’s forthcoming debut album, Blunderbuss, is available exclusively to Third Man Records’ Vault members to hear now. It will then become available to the public as a free stream at www.jackwhiteIII.com in 30 minutes  Want to hear it first but not a member of The Vault? Go here to join:  http://modlife.com/thirdmanrecords/signup

Blunderbuss will be released on 23rd April  on Third Man Records / XL Recordings.

The ‘Love Interruption‘ single, featuring exclusive non-LP B-side ‘Machine Gun Silhouette’, will be released as a 7″ on 7th February by Third Man Records, but is available now for pre-order at www.jackwhiteIII.com and www.thirdmanrecords.com.

Deer Tick is proud to announce the UK release of their new album ‘Divine Providence’, available on April 2^nd via Loose Music.

‘Divine Providence’ is the Rhode Island quintet’s fourth album in just five years, and is the first release recorded in their home state. It’s a follow-up to their fantastic ‘Black Dirt Sessions’, which New York magazine called “flat-out great,” and inspired the Late Show with David Letterman to give the band its network television debut.

After years of critics mainly praising them for their “folk” and “country” sounds and not touching on their other musical styles, the band wanted to make a record that was true to their live set (which has gained some notoriety): raw, loud, heartfelt, and completely uninterested in whatever the hell the rest of the music industry is up to. The results are unlike anything you’ve heard on a Deer Tick album.

The band will be embarking on a European Tour throughout March with a London date confirmed for The Garage on April 4^th.

Clock Opera will release their stunning debut album ‘Ways To Forget’ on 9th April 2012 on Moshi Moshi / Island Records.

Producer, remixer and Clock Opera mastermind Guy Connelly seeks out his musical building blocks in the most unlikely places.  A World War II ammunition case slams on a car park floor; a bouncing basketball thuds in a reverberant school hall; shoes squeak on a squash court.  Tin cans, pots and pans, hand fans, old springs and other things of metal. Lighters, glass, cocktail flasks, trains that pass, harps in bits, guitars from skips, woodwind, brass, everything made slow and fast.

In support of their debut album release of ‘Ways To Forget’, Clock Opera will also embark on their first headline tour of the UK.

April: 11 – O2 Academy 2 – Newcastle, 12 – Little Rooms – Sunderland, 13 – Fibbers – York, 14 – King Tuts – Glasgow, 15 – Cockpit – Leeds, 17 – Harley – Sheffield, 18 – Rainbow – Birmingham, 19 – 10 Feet Tall – Cardiff, 20 – Boiler Room – Guilford, 21 – Portland Arms – Cambridge, 22 – Cellar – Southampton, 24 – Scala – London, 28 – Cellar – Oxford, 29 – Green Door – Brighton, 30 – Registry – Portsmouth.

June: 02 – Dot to Dot Festival – Bristol, 03 – Dot to Dot Festival – Nottingham, 04 – Dot to Dot Festival – Manchester

January 16^th 2012 saw the eagerly awaited release of Tribes debut album ‘Baby’ on Island Records, critically acclaimed across the board the LP went straight into the UK’s Top 20.

The Camden quartet will be joining Two Door Cinema Club, Metronomy and Azealia Banks for the NME Awards Tour in February and are pleased to announce their own headline tour of the UK throughout April and May. (full dates below).
Headline tour:

April: 21 – Brighton, The Haunt, 22 – Norwich, Arts Centre, 24 – Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms, 25 – Bristol, Thekla , 27 – London, Shepherds Bush Empire, 29 – Leeds, Cockpit, 30 – Glasgow, Oran Mor.

May: 01 – Manchester, Academy 3, 03 – Liverpool, Academy 2, 04 – Dublin, Academy 2, 05 – Belfast, Stiff Kitten , 07 – Sheffield, Leadmill, 08 – Nottingham, Rescue Rooms, 09 – Birmingham, Academy 2.

After 2 years of making East London a sunnier, happier, better-looking place, the mighty Fair Ohs (Matt Flag – bass, Joe Ryan – drums and Eddy Frankel – vocals and guitar) are ready to release their next single, ‘Salt Flats’ via X-Ray Recordings.

The single will be released on flexi-postcard (that’s a postcard that can be played on a record player) & digital formats and is available as of today. Each flexi-postcard will come with a bonus download of an exclusive B-Side track called ‘Gold Hill’.

Listen to ‘Salt Flats’ here:

Order your copy for £3 from: http://xrayrecordings.bigcartel.com/product/fair-ohs-salt-flats

Brighton-based duo Laura-Mary Carter and Steven Ansell will return this year with their 3rd album ‘In Time To Voices’ out on March 26^th  and a new single ‘Cold’, released on March 19^th via V2/Co-Operative Music. The band will also be hitting the road throughout the UK for an April and May tour.

Since the release of their debut almost 4 years ago, the duo have embarked on a gruelling, unrelenting tour schedule, seeing them travel the four corners of the globe and earning them an international fanbase.

Touring heavily throughout 2011, this year sees the band back on the road with no signs of slowing down with a full worldwide tour planned and UK dates confirmed, detailed below:

April:

27th Concorde 2, Brighton, 28th Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth, 29th 02 Academy 2, Oxford.

May: 1st Trinity, Bristol, 2nd Waterfront, Norwich, 3rd Heaven, London, 4th HMV Library, Birmingham,  5th Academy 2, Manchester, 7th Zanzibar, Liverpool, 8th Cluny, Newcastle, 9th Tunnels, Aberdeen, 10th King Tuts, Glasgow, 12th The Cockpit, Leeds, 13th Rescue Rooms, Nottingham.

Pre-sale tickets go on sale from www.crowdsurge.com on Wednesday 25^th January at 9am. Tickets go on general sale at 9am on Friday 27^th January.

The Sacramento-based rock duo Middle Class Rut is gearing up for a run of dates with Chevelle and Janus. Beginning February 24 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the band will make their way around the Midwest and East Coast, with stops in New York, Providence, Atlantic City, Nashville, and more.

Middle Class Rut is touring in support of their debut album, No Name No Color,which spawned the smash radio hit ‘New Low’ – reaching #5 at Alternative Radio. The anticipated new single ‘Are You On Your Way‘ will impact around the start of the tour.

Middle Class Rut tour dates with Chevelle and Janus:

February: 24 – Grand Rapids, MI @ The Orbit Room, 25 – Fort Wayne, IN @ Piere’s Entertainment Center, 26 – Niagara Falls, NY @ Rapids Theatre, 28 – Portland, ME @ State Theatre. 29 – New York, NY @ Irving Plaza

March: 02 – Providence, RI @ Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel, 03 – Atlantic City, NJ @ House of Blues, 05 – Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live, 06 – Norfolk, VA @ The NorVA, 08 – Knoxville, TN @ The Valarium, 09 – Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works, 10 – Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room at Old National Centre, 11 – Springfield, MO @ Gillioz Theatre, 13 – Wichita, KS @ The Cotillion, 14 – Omaha, NE @ Sokol Auditorium, 16 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Diamond Ballroom.

Chances are if you went to a festival in 2009, you’d have seen Southend post-punkers Baddies – they did 32 of ‘em. 2010 was spent working on second LP ‘Build’, which drops March 5. They’re touring it next month, on a schedule we can only assume was drawn up by someone who can’t read maps (Southampton thenLeeds?)

FEBRUARY

3/2  The Green Room,Welwyn Garden City, 4/2  Aldershot West End Centre, 6/2  Southampton Joiners,

7/2  LeedsEscobar, 8/2  ManchesterAlter Ego,  9/2  KingstonNew Slang

and rounding it off with a hometown show – 10/2 Southend Chinnerys 

MARCH

5/3,  London, Garage (Upstairs)   16/3  London, Koko (Club NME)

Given the price of petrol these days, we reckon their new single – ‘Bronto – out on Monday 30^th Jan – should probably cost about 20 quid, but they’re letting you download for nowt from here: http://baddies.bandcamp.com/

Oh, and here’s the moving images bit for it too.