The Knack--"My Sharona" (mp3) Here's a tricky one.  I have a friend for whom his "persona" seems to have become him.  And I have become weary of that.  And I don't really like the persona, for one simple reason:  I don't believe it. I watch him stand in front of a group and I see the bluster, I see the mock-not caring, I see the pretend-angry, and I think, this has gotten so old, the only reason that you can continue to pull this off is because of the regular turnover of your audience.  I also ...

Yesterday I was listening to the newest Noir Recommends and his 120 min set opened with “Tough Love (Aril Brikha remix)” by Sailor and I. Immediately I was enthralled with the track. The vocals resonate with a sweet sorrow, and both the Aril Brikha remix and the original track are excellent. The duo hails from Sweden and are set to release their EP in the upcoming months. I’m looking forward [...]

Shaun Hencher, ex frontman de Lovvers, inaugura Virals , nuevo proyecto musical  donde hace las veces de compositor, vocalista e instrumentista y  en el que da rienda suelta a su vena más pop y melódica, debutando con un EP de cuatro temas para el sello Tough Love Records , entre los que se encuentran el magnífico y soleado "Coming Up With The Sun" y el no menos brillante "Gloria" . Prometedor comienzo que nos deja con ganas de más.    Virals - Coming Up With The Sun by Tough Love    Virals - Gloria by Tough Love

This week's onslaught on new releases features plenty of beyond-the-grave records and DVDs. Joey Ramone heads up the former, while Dean Martin and The Grateful Dead are covered by the latter. For those more concerned with the living, there's plenty to celebrate there, too. American Idol winner Kris Allen puts out his latest, Thank You Camellia , for instance (pictured), Aziz Ansari will continue to make you laugh with a digital-only release, and there's more from The Cult , Dope Body , JBM , and more below. Release Date Artist Album Label 05/21/12 Al Scorch Tired Ghostly Town Plan-It-X ...

Email collaborations – a phrase to make any music fan shudder. Sure, the web is bringing us all closer together but in artistic terms little can top sitting eyeball to eyeball with your musical collaborator. There are exceptions, though, as newcomers Cymbals seem destined to prove. Hooking up with Tough Love, Cymbals delivered a fantastic mini-album earlier this year. All off-kilter guitar lines, shuddering, homemade electronics and surreal lyrics ‘Sideways Sometimes’ earned a place on the Clash stereo from the off. Recently taking some down time, the band parted company. Keeping in touch online, Cymbals quickly started to dissect new ideas ...

Rock band Girls Names out of Ireland have released a new single off their upcoming split 7'' with Weird Dreams titled 'A Troubled See'. The single has some definite surf-rock influences going on in it and it brings upon a more downbeat version of The Drums in my opinion. You can listen to the track below and the 7'' single with Weird Dreams will be released on June 25th on Tough Love Records. May 22nd - Night and Day, Manchester 23rd - The Waiting Room, London 24th - The Green Door Store, Brighton 26th - Le Guess Who Festival, Utrecht w/ Weird Dreams 27th ...

Since releasing their debut LP,  Dead To Me , a year ago, Belfast's  Girls Names  have gained a member, and claim to have forged a new krautrock/psychedelic direction. Whilst they haven't quite gone all Amon Düül II  on us for their half of a forthcoming split with  Weird Dreams (due June 25 on Tough Love ), there's a rather lovely dislocation of tempo on their half of the 7", "A Troubled See". Whilst the snare bounces along with an extreme case of jimmy legs, Cathal Cully's luxuriant voice sounds like Morrissey singing from a deep ocean cavern ...

Virals est le nouveau projet de Shaun des Lovvers, un groupe anglais assez cool maintenant splitté. J'ai leur album quelque part ce serait peut être l'occasion de se l'écouter... Vendu comme une "double A-side" (les anglais semblent adorer les doubles faces A) ce premier 45 tours (suivi prochainement d'un EP 12 pouces chez Tough Love ) ne ment pas sur la marchandise, les deux faces sont excellentes avec une préférence en ce qui me concerne pour la face B " comes the night " et ses faux airs de Teenage Fanclub. Pour situer on est dans un registre qui ...

Following the release of CYMBALS latest EP 'Sideways, Sometimes', out now on Tough Love Records, the band unveil a new remix for EP single 'No Bad Decisions' by US psychedelic pop maverick Lazy Hurricane, which is available as a free download. Download the track for free HERE:

Sailor & I – Tough Love [mp3 SoundCloud] sweet melancholic pop from Sweden the video was photographed by Simon Westerlund & Andreas Löf Hermansson

It certainly can't hurt to kick off about this week's new releases by mentioning the new album from Silversun Pickups . Their album Neck of the Woods (pictured) is out this week, and it's just hard to imagine a band that works harder. Overall, it's a good week for indie releases. Not only from Silversun Pickups, but also S. Carey , Royal Headache , and Here We Go Magic . Dee Snider (that dude from Twisted Sister ) has a solo record and The Duke Spirit get remixed. The only groan this week may be the fact that Chris Brown also ...

Festival season is now so close you can nearly touch it, and The Great Escape is not only one of the first, but is also guaranteed to be one of the best. This year's event is taking place from Thursday 10th May and culminates on the Saturday 12th of May. Across the three days three hundred plus bands will be providing Brighton rock, indie, electronica and more in 30 venues on the south coast. Listing all the great acts playing may break the internet but some names we’re excited about include: Perfume Genius, Niki & The Dove, Alt-J, Shabazz Palaces, Grimes, Friends, Zulu Winter and Django Django. There will be shows in the Brighton Dome, in churches and pubs around the city. Add to that an array of fringe events, club nights and a daytime conference - plus a bar on the famous Brighton pier - and you have all the ingredients for a very special time indeed. Amazingly tickets are still available and you can get them here . For a full of who’s playing and for more info visit escapegreat.com . See you there, yeah? Listen to our Great Escape playlist by clicking here . ***** Editors Picks: James Canham (Live Editor): Retro Stefson Possibly the most interesting and entertaining live act I've ever personally witnessed, Retro Stefson would need no introduction in their homeland of Iceland. Renowned on the Reykjavík circuit for their unique mix of pop ethics and peculiar, yet stunning, execution they're definitely one to catch. [ Listen ] Performances: 10th May - Latest Music Bar - 23:15 11th May - Above Audio - 14:30 11th May - Green Door Store - 19:30 Fever Fever Art punk isn't dead, and with bands like Fever Fever it never will die. On top of their fantastically literate lyrics their layers of dissonant yet raw guitar and pounding drums give the festival one of the best and most interesting performances. [ Listen ] Performance: 10th May - The Hope - 20:30 AlunaGeorge With an EP coming soon on the illustrious Tri-Angle records, and with an arsenal of future pop hits to hand, now is the time to see AlunaGeorge before they make it huge. Every song they've released so far is dredged in a fantastic drape of smooth and sexy vocals with rich synthy backing, and their near-midnight show at Coalition on the Friday is shaping up to be one of the best of the festival. [ Listen ] Performance: 11th May - Coalition - 23:30 Seams While Seams will be playing the sounds at his Corn exchange, the real reason anyone will be going is to see his fringe jumping excitedly on stage. We've loved him from the word go (especially his remarkable Tourist EP, a piece of work focused and composed from sounds heard in Berlin, the city he's now based in) and by all reports his live show is just as great as his recordings (mainly because of his fringe...). [ Listen ] Performance: 12th May - Corn Exchange - 21:30 Micachu & The Shapes Along with many others we've eagerly awaited the next move from Micachu and The Shapes . After a few interesting diversions (most notably their chopped and screwed mixtape performance piece with the London Sinfonietta Orchestra) they've finally got a sequel to 2009's Jewellery in the pipeline and, with any luck, we'll hear something new from the makers of one of the last decade's most fascinating albums. [ Listen ] Performance: 12th May - The Haunt - 21:45 ***** Alt-J Editors Picks: Wil Cook (Music Editor): As they prepare to drop one of the albums of the year, Alt-J are the band to be excited about. Engaging, melodic songs full of depth, songs that linger on longer than you expect. Remnants appear in your head for days after and they are welcome. I cannot wait to see this band play live. [ Listen ] Blind Tiger Friday 21:15 Jonquil I have been screaming from the rooftops about Jonquil since 2006 when I caught them playing in a horrible little bar in Ipswich. It's been fascinating to watch them evolve from a folk band who evidently had a bit of a crush on Boards of Canada into this massive summery behemoth of a band. I love this band more than I could ever put into words for you, which says a lot, because I love to talk. [ Listen ] Prince Albert Thursday 22:15 Green Door Store Friday 14:00 Cloud Nothings Since releasing the wonderfully nihilistic Attack on Memory earlier in the year Cloud Nothings have been on my "must see" list. It's a crunching punk rock pop fix that simultaneously restores my faith in my ability to feel alive and reverts me back to a mindset where I wanted to die. Basically, they are the hipster Nirvana. I just hope they are as ramshackle and urgent in the flesh as they are on this record. [ Listen ] Above Audio Thursday 21:45 Perfume Genius I'm not who St. Mary is, but she doesn't half know how to book a gig, last year she hosted Dustin O Halloran and Richter">Max Richter for one of the shows of the festival. This year it's the turn of Perfume Genius who plays after Loney, Dear making one of the sexiest double bills of the three days. The chance to see songs like Hood and Dirge performed in the beautifully intimate surroundings of the church is not something that you should pass up. [ Listen ] St. Mary's Church 21:15 Tall Ships One of my favourite memories from last year was the mass sing-along during Vessels, mid afternoon in the Pav Tav, it placed in my mind an idea that has been reaffirmed several times since, Tall Ships have it. They have whatever it is that every band is trying to achieve when they write songs, that feeling. Y'know that feeling when your hairs prickle up with your skin bumps as you realise that you are lucky to be alive and in a world full of potential. Yes, that is quite a bold statement, but have you seen Tall Ships play? If you haven't, then you really need to catch them soon, this years Great escape is the place. [ Listen ] Pav Tav Friday 1am The Hope Saturday 22:15 ***** Editors Picks: Tim Boddy (Photography Editor): Gang Colours The 405 have been following Will Ozanne's Gang Colours closely since the release of the violently monikered EP, In Your Gut Like A Knife , last summer. Recently the chap from Southampton released full-length debut album The Keychain Collection on Brownswood Recordings, to positive appraise. It's the kind of album that rewards enormously on repeated listens, the reflective soundscapes burying deep into the skin, and cut-up homages to garage swirl smoothy through the bloodstream. The result is rather Beautiful stuff, like if Mount Kimbie went into ballad territory - but with a very definite Gang Colours personal grace to proceedings. [ Listen ] Swords">Forest Swords Oh Swords">Forest Swords , where have you been? The solo project from Liverpool-based Matthew Barnes has been quiet of recent, following the release of 2010's gorgeous and beguiling LP Dagger Paths . Beguiling in that a myriad of differing styles are sewn into each other; Barnes' passion and knowledge ...

Following the recent release of their newest EP Sideways, Sometimes on Tough Love Records, Cymbals have unveiled a new remix for the single 'No Bad Decisions'. The remix is by US pop artist Lazy Hurricane and you can download the track below. Following the recent release of their newest EP Sideways, Sometimes on Tough Love Records, Cymbals have unveiled a new remix for the single 'No Bad Decisions'.

Ahead of their debut 12" EP Coming Up With The Sun (their sophomore release after their single on Sexbeat) coming out on Tough Love on the 21st May (7th May digital), Virals are giving away a free download of 'Gloria', a guitar riff and hook laden track that just falls shy of the 3 minute mark. It's bloody brilliant.

Ex-Lovvers frontman, Shaun Hencher, has been making a few short, sharp shocks already in 2012. His latest project, Virals, has already released a 7” single on Sexbeat in February and now, on May 7th, is releasing an EP on much loved London-based label, Tough Love (Weird Dreams, Girls Names, Male...