Source: theregoesthefear.com

Band of Horses, who are over here in Europe next week for a quick 6 date tour, have announced a string of three dates in early July.

The Seattle dreamers will bring their soundscapes around the UK yet again, with each tour seeing them playing bigger and bigger shows.

Tickets are £14 for London, and £12.50 for the other two dates, and are sale now.

Tuesday 8th July - London Shepherds Bush Empire
Thursday 10th July - Liverpool Academy
Friday 11th July - Sheffield Leadmill

Source: theregoesthefear.com

It seems that Scandanavians currently have one of the best music scenes around at the moment, managing to have some of the most diverse, and interesting, acts around at the moment. Denmark’s Alphabeat are set to take over the airwaves in 2008 with their unique brand of camp, over-the-top pop which makes the Scissor Sisters look tame.

Perfectly danceable, lyrically strong, and quintessentially Danish in sound, they have some of the best tunes since the Scissor Sisters with a much more European feel, and a hint of flashbacks from the 90’s too. Their self-titled debut came out last summer in Denmark, and is out this May in the UK, but is one of the most varied collections of music I’ve heard in a while - a really great album.

Fans include the Sun, the NME, and a fair few blogs and online news sites, and they have the same management as Mika - and we all know how big Mika has become, love it or hate it.

They’re currently on tour with Palladium around the UK, and I’ll be going to see them on Monday night in Oxford - expect a full review on Tuesday.

MP3: Alphabeat - Fantastic Six (320kb/s) (iTunes / Amazon)

Source: theregoesthefear.com

Somehow I missed this last week, and I’m quite suprised at myself for it. Band of Horses, the fast rising (and ace) South Carolina trio is going to be touring the UK next February.

Tickets are on sale now, priced at £11 a ticket. Expect a London date to be announced shortly.

Wednesday 20th February - Dublin Button Factory
Thursday 21st February - Glasgow ABC
Saturday 23rd February - Birmingham Academy
Sunday 24th February - Manchester Academy
Monday 25th February - Bristol Thekla

Source: theregoesthefear.com

Whilst I’m pushing the boundaries of acceptability by including the Spice Girls new tour dates in this blog, I thought I would just so we can laugh at their ridiculously easy schedule - 14 dates spread out over two months. That is, if they don’t add a tonne at each city, which is more than likely.

Sunday 2nd December - Vancouver
Tuesday 4th December - San Jose
Friday 7th December - Los Angeles
Saturday 8th December - Las Vegas
Tuesday 11th December - New York
Saturday 15th December - London
Thursday 20th December - Koln, Germany
Sunday 23rd December - Madrid
Tuesday 8th January - Shanghai
Thursday 10th January - Beijing
Saturday 12th January - Hong Kong
Thursday 17th January - Sydney
Sunday 20th January - Cape Town
Thursday 24th January - Buenos Aires

Their new press picture is to the right, with them looking distinctly airbrushed. Though thats not to say I don’t like it… and how out of place does Mel C look? She looks like someone added her in as an extra… ho hum.

Source: theregoesthefear.com

Having won the Innocent Unsigned bands talent search last year and the chance to play at their Fruitstock Festival, Londoners Scouting For Girls have had an amazing year. Signing to Epic Records on Valentine’s Day this year, they’re about to release their first EP, the incredibly anthemic “It’s Not About You” which will just grab you by the heart strings and make you think “YES!” and become addicted to them. Or you can just write them off as another bunch of Keane wannabes. You choose, but you know what I think.

Scouting For Girls are the sort of band that are perfect to open the festivals – people lounging around, feeling rough after the previous night, and just wanting some music to take them to “that happy place”. As they say themselves in their biography, they’re “unashamedly nostalgic, mottled with loss, disillusion and a poignant lamentation for innocent past times”.

Many bloggers have been very excited about their current material, with favourable reports emerging about their live shows. Needless to say, for those of you fortunate enough to be going to Glastonbury this weekend (and if so, why aren’t you there already?), they’ll be playing on Friday night at 8pm at the Late N Live Stage.

Reminiscent of both Keane (for their Piano-led pop-rock) and Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly (for Sam Duckworth’s brilliant knack of conveying feelings and images of a time and place), Scouting For Girls are sure to gain a devoted following soon.

After the jump, catch their video for “It’s Not About You”. Picture was taken from Scouting For Girls’ MySpace.