Coming Up ..... Saturday 25th October
Indiepop_Electronica_Indiepoptronic

The Autumn Store and Robot vs. Dinosaur present MECHAKITTEN.

Bands on the line-up:
Seeland
Arthur and Martha
Arc Vel
Mexican Kids at Home

Venue: The Island Bar, 14-16 Suffolk Street (Next to the Alexandra Theatre), B1 1LT
Time: 8.30pm
Cost: £4 in
Links:
http://www.theautumnstore.co.uk/
http://www.robotvsdinosaur.co.uk/
http://www.bar-island.co.uk/
http://www.myspace.com/seelanduk
http://www.myspace.com/arthurandmartha
http://www.myspace.com/arcvel
http://www.myspace.com/mexicankidsathome

Coming Up ..... Saturday 25th October
Indie_Acoustic

444 Club present Jonah Matranga

Venue: Barfly Dragon Bar, 78 Digbeth High Street, B5 6DY
Time: 7.30pm
Cost: £7.50
Links:
http://www.myspace.com/kamikazeevents
http://www.myspace.com/jonahmatranga

Coming Up ..... Saturday 25th October
Rock_Indie_Pop-Punk

The Catapult Club present My Own Agenda + The Fakulty + Dennis + Eastern Gun Club

MY OWN AGENDA:
MY OWN AGENDA is emerging as one of the Uks hardest playing rock quartet of recent years. Building upon their energetic yet emotional and interesting songs, the group are providing powerful live perfomances which are leaving audiences with that, "next big thing" vibe.
From day one the combined efforts of brothers Matt (vocals) and Rich (drums) has been to bring to the forefront of the Rock scene their unique style of mixing heavy rock riffs with interesting melodies and thought provoking lyrics. With guitarist Rob W and then bassist Dunc joining the brothers, they are pushing the boundaries of the alternative music scene.
With their new EP - BETWEEN ROCK AND A HARD PLACE My Own Agenda continue to step across the barriers of Rock music. With the powerful guitar riffs on the opening track "Where Did You Go", to the laid back and stripped down "Song About The War", My Own Agenda continue to surprise and excite their audiences.

Eastern Gun Club:
'Eastern Gun Club have been playing in and around Birmingham for the past year now and are starting to kick up a bit of a fuss. Regulars on local mixtapes and online radio shows – their swagger is perhaps personified in the guitarist’s white boots. You’ve gotta be good to wear them and he was. ‘Back To The End’ is bass heavy – like much of EGC’s output – but laced with some sheer quality guitar work – the affect is layered and on a better set-up would create a really rounded sound. Led by the baseline once more, ‘Sink Or Swim,’ uses hooked vocals and some Strokes-esque high intensity-strumming to leave you feeling a little bit Kylie. “I just can’t get it out of my head…” “I’ll sink and you swim/This is where we begin/I’m not leaving you out but I’m leaving you in” ‘Jane’ is without question the tune of the night. Drummer Matt Bullock takes over vocal duties and proves perfect foil for regular vocalist Driver to juxtapose with. "Jane/ You’re like a fucking train/ Flying through my brain." The baseline screams early Kasabian and the simple kick drum adds such ferocious intensity I have to fight the urge to lamp my mate standing next to me. It’s arrogant, it’s bolshy and it’s definitely the direction these boys should head in.' (Gigwise.com)
"Although only formed in early 2007, eGc are busy gigging in and around the city, catching a few headlines and playing venues that include The Flapper & Firkin, The Jug of Ale and Bar Academy. Catchy melodies mixed with guitar riffs with massive hooks and driving bass lines, guarantee to get the audience going and assure that by the end of the night you will be singing along." (icBirmingham.co.uk)
"Eastern Gun Club are thankfully nothing like the current wave of cookie cutter “indie” bands that are seemingly impossible to get away from these days. Borrowing the best bits and ditching the fluff, they create an excitingly offbeat, angular-indie sound dipped in heavy distortion and feedback. They’ve got a refreshing direction and it serves them well. Complex, interesting guitar work and punchy beats combine with Jon’s strong, off-key vocal drone for something that’s hard to put into a nice tidy genre-box, but hard not to be impressed with". (Stephen Hudyba, BBC)

Venue: The Actress and Bishop, 36 Ludgate Hill, B3 1EN
Time: 8.30pm
Cost: £4 adv / £5 on door
Links:
http://www.myspace.com/thecatapultclub
http://www.myspace.com/myownagendaltd
http://www.myspace.com/thefakulty
http://www.myspace.com/thefakulty2
http://www.myspace.com/bewithdennis
http://www.myspace.com/easterngunclub

Coming Up ..... Friday 17th October
Punk_Rock_Soul

Coldrice presents Black Diamond Heavies + The Solomons + Coldrice DJ’s playing Rock’n’Roll, Punk, Blues, Garage, Trash & 60’s Soul

The Black Diamond Heavies:
The Black Diamond Heavies hail from the southern States of America but spend most of their time in a blue Van or a white van unleashing their punk-ass bues all over the world "This Tennessee-Hailing Duo have produced a debut of filthy Southern blues that makes the Black Keys seem like choirboys" --NME . . . "the Heavies like to keep things as raw and ground-up as dirt - drums with a trashcan rattle that sound huge and far away (like they were recorded in a wide-open space down the street) and overdriven Fender Rhodes. That’s all there is to it, but then again, there’s so much more." --Phoenix New Times . . . "Gospel-blues-punk preacher-isers John Wesley Myers and Van Campbell baptise you in beatific raptures of Hammond, Rhodes and Drums, literally stripping the sound down to its scantily-clad soul. Almost too perfectly Myers is the literal son of a (Baptist) preacher man, whereas Campbell descends from a Bourbon-distilling family. As it is, you can absolutely bloody tell too, such is the whiskey-swilling testifying herein. Voodoo shuffles its sinicious way through..." "... swigging, swaggering and setting the VU meters swinging right through the red like a shamans trance-eyes for the entire ceremony till the closing corpse-raising broadsides you with it’s mutant Tina Turner chicken-dancing on a Motown mamba mantra. Funky cactus-caressed wagon-train blues...." "... aren’t so much like Canned Heat as they heat yer can, violate viscera and turn your pupils to pulp direct from the pulpit. "...draped in ditch-dirt and paying the tab at the Devils Inn with small change from the confession box, while swabbing woulds with sandpaper." -- Stu Gibson

Venue: Barfly Dragon Bar, 78 Digbeth High Street, B5 6DY
Time: 9pm - Late
Cost: £6
Links:
http://www.myspace.com/coldriceunderground
http://www.myspace.com/blackdiamondheavies
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=98238258 (solomans)

Coming Up ..... Friday 17th October
Indie_Punk_New Wave_Electro

Chicks Dig Jerks / Tight Fit present Hawnay Troof + Mirror! Mirror! + You Love Her Coz She’s Dead….!!

Venue: The Sunflower Lounge, 76 Smallbrook Queensway, B5 4EG
Time: 8pm
Cost: £4
Links:
http://www.myspace.com/chicksdigjerks
http://www.myspace.com/hawnaytroof
http://www.myspace.com/youlovehercozshesdead

Coming Up ..... Friday 17th October
Live Electronica

Robot vs Dinosaur present Line + Cyan341 + Kone-R (DJ Set) plus DJs playing the likes of Aphex Twin, Battles, Matmos, The Postal Service, Amon Tobin & Venetian Snares

Venue: The Island Bar, Suffolk Street, Queensway, B1 1LT
Time: 8.30pm – Late
Cost: £3 Entry, £1 if dressed like a robot or a dinosaur
Links:
http://www.myspace.com/robotversusdinosaur
http://www.robotvsdinosaur.co.uk/

Coming Up ..... Friday 19th September
Electronica_Experimental_Progressive



Robot Vs Dinosaur will be back at Island on Friday September 19th. Sounding a little like Autechre and Mouse On Mars after having been smashed together at 99.99% of the speed of light, Brum’s own Jade One will be bringing his unique brand of mangled abstract techno to the party plus we’ll also have a repeat performance from Mancunian laptoptronicist QXTC, of whom the elephant-minded amongst you may remember kicking off the proceedings at our very first night back in Feb- has it really been so long?
And as per usual DJs will be playing the likes of aphex twin, autechre, battles, the books, broadcast, ceephax acid crew, chris clark, cornelius, cylob, dntel, the flashbulb, four tet, germlin, holy fuck, matmos, max tundra, mouse on mars, the notwist, OOO, plone, polysics, polygon window, the postal service, prefuse 73, pulseprogramming, ulrich schnauss, squarepusher, stereolab, amon tobin, to rococco rot, tortoise, venetian snares, luke vibert, xiu xiu, susumu yokota and whatever else we can find knocking about in the dark corners of our hard discs.

Venue: The Island Bar, 14-16 Suffolk Street (Next to the Alexandra Theatre), B1 1LT
Time: 8pm
Cost: £3 or £1 if dressed like a robot or a dinosaur
Links:
http://www.myspace.com/jadeone
http://www.myspace.com/robotversusdinosaur
http://www.myspace.com/namemequixotic

Coming Up ..... Friday 19th September
Indie_Punk_Alternative_New Wave



Chicks Dig Jerks present Tight Fit with Televised Crimewave +Untitled Musical Project + Teeth + DJ sets from Chicks Dig Jerks + Mirror! Mirror!

Untitled Musical Project:

When it comes to mixing brain and brawn, Untitled Musical Project are in a deafening league of their own. Nice." - NME
"This freshfaced threesome bring you punk in its original, snotty form, smartened up and spat back into your grotty parents faces. Let them show you their land of wicked temptation, just dont expect to ever want to come back." - Drowned In Sound
"I'm happy to give Untitled Musical Project the title of My Favourite New Noisesome British band." - Play Louder
"You want noise? Energy? Electricity? Untitled Musical Project are almost without doubt the most exciting live prospect in the country right now, and have them all in abundance." - Art Rocker
"Best live band of the last 12 months then?" - Play Music
"It's not often you come across a band that can combine a punk aesthetic with cutting Widean-esque insight. Untitled Musical Project make it look effortless." - The Stool Pigeon
"Untitled Musical project offers some of the best stripped bare, no nonsense three piece action weve heard in some time." - Ozbeat Music

Venue: The Sunflower Lounge, 76 Smallbrook Queensway, B5 4EG
Time: 8pm
Cost: £4
Links:
http://www.myspace.com/chicksdigjerks
http://www.myspace.com/televisedcrimewaveuk
http://www.myspace.com/untitledmusicalproject

Coming Up ..... Friday 19th September
Rock_Indie_Alternative



444 Club presents Electric Animals + This Love Affair +The Filthy Habits _The Lucky 27’s

…and afterwards it’s the last ever Tuck Shop between 11pm – 4am

This Love Affair:
THIS LOVE AFFAIR are: Lee Weston (singer/guitar), Jayme Tovey(drummer/backing vocals), Daniel Tovey (guitar/backing vocals) and Andrew La Touche (bass). The quartet formed in 2005 when Lee and Andrew’s, and Jayme and Daniel’s previous bands, ‘8 Days Late’ and ‘McAlister’, respectively, disbanded.

With a new name and bolstered new image courtesy of stylish photography from NME photographer Dean Chalkley, the band’s re-launch as ‘This Love Affair’ is in full swing.

Fresh from these new beginnings comes their stunning new EP, ‘For The Greater Good’, a collection of epic standing on the edge of the world sized pop gems, formulated amidst swirling guitars and ethereal vocals.

From the hard hitting, anthemic opener ‘Brothers & Sisters’, through to the EP’s brooding closer ‘Vultures’, the lyrical content of all four tracks displays the considered maturity of the band’s heroes, who they cite as ranging from Radiohead to Paul Simon.

Whilst a political conscience is evident in track ‘Brothers and Sisters’, it is not an angle the band peruse relentlessly, and it is a broader consideration for human relationships that is the overriding theme of the four tracks. ‘She’s My Enemy’ is a tongue in cheek account of a relationship’s intricacies and the penultimate track ‘Turn the Page’ is the embittered account of love lost.

Venue: The Rainbow Pub, Digbeth High Street, B12 0LD
Time: 8pm – 4am
Links:
http://www.myspace.com/kamikazeevents
http://www.myspace.com/electricanimalsmyspace
http://www.myspace.com/thisloveaffaironline
http://www.myspace.com/tuckshopbirmingham

Coming Up ..... Friday 15th August
Electronica_Electro_Emotronic



Robot Vs Dinosaur will be returning to Island Bar on Friday August 15th, with live services resuming following July’s free entry DJ-only event.
This time ’round we have a headline set from ex-Plone and current ZX Spectrum Orchestra/Modified Toy Orchestra mainstay Mike In Mono, a man who’s passion for bubbling analogue synth-pop and gorgeous vocodered vocals is matched only by his unswerving penchant for binary and hexadecimal numbers.
In sharp contrast, Milton Keynes-based Girljoy’s cute yet nerve-shredding chipcore assault will be coming at you like a goomba on fire, taking us back to the good old days when high-scores meant everything and (more often than not) you had to blow into the cartridge to get it to work.
And as per usual we’ll also have DJs playing the likes of aphex twin, autechre, battles, the books, broadcast, ceephax acid crew, chris clark, cornelius, cylob, dntel, the flashbulb, four tet, germlin, holy fuck, matmos, max tundra, mouse on mars, the notwist, OOO, plone, polysics, polygon window, the postal service, prefuse 73, pulseprogramming, ulrich schnauss, squarepusher, stereolab, amon tobin, to rococco rot, tortoise, venetian snares, luke vibert, xiu xiu, susumu yokota and whatever else we can find knocking about in the dark corners of our hard discs.

Venue: The Island Bar, Smallbrook, Queensway, City Centre
Time: 8.30pm
Cost: £3 or £1 if dressed as a robot or dinosaur, with free pin badge on entry
Links:
http://www.robotvsdinosaur.co.uk/
http://www.myspace.com/monoinmike
http://www.myspace.com/girljoymusic

Coming Up ..... Friday 15th August
Rock_Alternative_Acoustic

Platform Promotions present Two + Understar + Boomshadow + The Tricks

Two:
With sparkling nods towards the rock n roll greats, diverse music and cultural influences, TWO bring together rocking guitar riffs, soaring melodies, thundering bass lines and funky powerhouse drumming. All wrapped up with a contemporary cool new sound.

The art of writing classic hook-laden songs is what TWO are about.
United by a passion for creating great music combined with a huge respect for each other’s musical talents and capabilities, Ray Loverock and Tiff Bryan have created the ultimate band.

TWO add colour back into our bland musical landscape and are a formidable live band, delivering stunningly energized and electrifying shows where they play as a three piece with excellent drummer Dan Guest, who completes the live sound of TWO.

Rock ‘n’ Roll greats with a loved-up pop sensibility....Welcome to the unique sound and look of TWO.

Boomshadow:
Four men. From (near) Birmingham. A rock experience. Formed from the heart of the earth when the world was but young, these titans of rock have now come into your mortal realm. The fires and magma have formed them into purest rock. Or something like that anyway. Its not just four men having a bit of a blast or anything.

The Tricks:
A wise man once said, "Give a man a fish and he will feed his family for a day. Give him the means to catch his own fish and he will feed them for life." Albeit they'll probably be sick of fish after a week or so. I don't think the wise man was from Wolverhampton. Had he been, he may have said,"Give three friends some beers and they'll be happy for the afternoon. Give them drums, guitars and a shedload of beers and they might make it to the end of the week..." Well it's been a long week and The Tricks have emerged from the darkness (Birmingham) armed with a handful of songs and a thimble full of enthusiasm. Little did they know that these three wise guys were about to embark upon the journey of a lifetime, taking them from epic highs to unfathomable lows, from frantic to insanity via melancholy to their final destination of happy, happy joy. Fresh from the South of Bilston tour, The Tricks were decisive that they needed something else. Something that would take them to the edge. What could it be? Of course, a lead guitar player, that would bring soaring lead lines, virtuoso soloing and signature riffage - What they got was Russ. Now world domination was that little bit closer..........

Venue: The Spotted Dog, 104 Warwick Street, Digbeth, B12 0NH
Time: 8pm
Cost: £4
Links:
http://www.myspace.com/platform_promotions
http://www.myspace.com/twoonline
http://www.myspace.com/bandboomshadow
http://www.myspace.com/thesneakytricks

Coming Up ..... Friday 15th August
Indie_Rock_Garage_New Wave_Acoustic

444 Club present Escobar + The Joe Fox Band + The Abbots + Barnesy + Tuck Shop DJ’s.

The Abbots:
Just as Cardiff says "all we wanna do is play our music to people who wanna listen, and have a good fuckin' laugh along the way" and in that sums up the agenda behind the band! The Abbots are a three man outfit with Chris Woodley blasting out strained Vocals, Bass and Occasional Lead Strummings, Tim (Cardiff) Jones on Lead/Rhythm Guitar (and all the high bits that sound fuckin' mint!), and the newest addition to the band is Chris Newman (yeah, another fuckin' Chris) who comes in on sticks to push the band forward. Undoubted influence comes from the Stone Roses, Hendrix, Oasis and a good stiff Brandy.

Venue: The Rainbow, Digbeth, B12 0LD
Time: 8pm
Cost: £4 adv, £5 on the door
Links:
http://www.myspace.com/kamikazeevents
http://www.myspace.com/tuckshopbirmingham
http://www.myspace.com/escobartheband
http://www.myspace.com/thejoefoxband
http://www.myspace.com/theabbots
http://www.myspace.com/barnesyboy86

Coming Up ..... Friday 18th July
Indie_New Wave_Rock

The Go! Club presents The Funhouse Robots + Panda Pop Culture + Golf Sale

The Funhouse Robots:
The Funhouse Robots want to entertain. The Funhouse Robots play short (most of the time), catchy rock n roll punk songs, about a world of sci-fi glam, along with several truly unique and disturbingly inspirational covers. Any deep meaning to their lyrics is entirely accidental. Their secret is not to ruin a good song by trampling it to death with their egos. Performances are exhausting for the band, but exhilarating for the audience! Well, worth going to see at the least. Their biggest accolade is being the band that other bands want to be (or at least that’s what they tell them)! A bit of history; the band rose as the phoenix from the ashes and embers of Fantastics, a quite similar rock n roll space punk band who played in the Birmingham area a few years ago. Mark (vocals and guitar) and George (bass) spent several years attempting to form a new band after the demise of Fantastics, before finally putting up a scrap of paper towards the end of 2006 in a local studio requesting musicians. They had toyed with the idea of putting a request on the web, but wisely realised this would only delay their efforts by at least another couple of years. They soon had a response from Chris the drummer. Very fortuitously, Chris knew all of The Fun House Robots’ material, as they would be playing the same stuff that Fantastics used to play, and Chris was Fantastics old drummer. Chris’s contact was soon followed up by a call from new boy, Nigel (guitarist), who liked the CD he was sent more than just a little bit, thus injecting the new band with the enthusiasm needed to make it happen. With the players in place, let the performances begin.

Panda Pop Culture:
Formed in mid July 07’ and give and take a few members we are simply four friends intent on writing melodies and telling tales from a bedroom hidden away in sleepy Sutton Coldfield. Our songs are recorded with a 16 track recorder and, where “LIVE” we have basically used one microphone from outside the bedroom (low-fi but quick). We are looking to do proper recordings of our better songs as soon as our A-levels die down but for the mean time here we are.

Venue: The Old Wharf, Oxford Street, Digbeth, B5 5NR
Time: 8pm
Cost: £FREE
Links:
http://www.myspace.com/thegoclubmusic
http://www.myspace.com/thefunhouserobots
http://www.myspace.com/pandapopculture
http://www.myspace.com/golfsaleband

Coming Up ..... Friday 18th July
Indie_Rock_Alternative

Humbucker presents ***FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE*** with Galleon Ryders + The Dandilions + SaturdaySunday

Galleon Ryders:
Galleon Ryders are a band with the focus and determination to strive forewards making the music they love to write and perform. Based near Birmingham, Danny, Jason, Dave and Luke managed to start playing music together as a four piece around summer 2007 after originally meeting each other at a local music festival and have since started to turn a fair few heads in this crazy industry. With explosive guitars, thunderous drums and melodies that will keep you endlessly hummimg along, the band continue to strive forward in meeting new people and making friends with the other bands along the way. 2008 is an exciting year for Galleon Ryders and have recently been a featured band on Clint Boon's XFM exposed show!

The Dandillions:
Ignatious Read and Bonsey had been playin and writing together for a few years before they were walking through highfields and heard bob marley being played proper loud. they followed the sound and came across a portugese bloke sitting on the floor jamming along to it on an old bass guitar, shortly after oli and sam asked him to join the band and began to add loud basslines to their hybrid poetry and melody. after a long search 4 a drummer the boys stopped by outside an old burlesque house 2 skin a j, they noticed sum guy struggling to get a drum kit down a set of stairs, the lads decided they would help him as they were feeling quite peacefull after their ..... as the geeza was putting the drums in his van they blindfolded him and took him away to officiate him as a dandilion.the rest is the present.

SaturdaySunday:
Arriving in August 2007, SaturdaySunday are 4 lads in their 20's who are the best things to come out of the Yardley and Chelmsley Wood areas of Birmingham since illegal dogs and hooped earrings.

Venue: The Sound Bar, Corporation Street, City Centre, Opposite Aston Uni
Time: 9pm
Cost: £3
Links:
http://www.myspace.com/theiconspresentsoundbar
http://www.myspace.com/galleonryders
http://www.myspace.com/thedandilionsband
http://www.myspace.com/saturdaysundayband

Coming Up ..... Friday 18th July
Electronica

Robot vs Dinosaur:

“So, it's the summer, the sun's shining, and seemingly every electronic act in the country's currently on holiday! Consequently, we're fucking off live stuff this month in favour of a free entry DJ party.
Taking place at Island Bar on Friday 18th July, our crack team of DJs will be playing chart-topping '90s indie anthems from the likes of aphex twin, autechre, battles, boards of canada, the books, broadcast, cylob, the flashbulb, four tet, germlin, holy fuck, hood, kid 606, matmos, max tundra, mouse on mars, polysics, the postal service, prefuse 73, squarepusher, stereolab, amon tobin, tortoise, venetian snares, luke vibert, xiu xiu, susumu yokota and whatever else we might have lurking about in our record collections. We'd also like to know what you've got lurking about in your collections too, and what you might like played on the night- drop us a comment if you have any requests, either below or via our proper website which can be found at http://www.robotvsdinosaur.co.uk/. ”

Venue: The Island Bar, Suffolk Street, Queensway, City Centre
Time: 8.30pm
Cost: £FREE
Links:
http://www.myspace.com/robotversusdinosaur
http://www.robotvsdinosaur.co.uk/

Coming Up ..... Friday 20th June
Electronica_Experimental_Electro

Robot Vs Dinosaur returns on Friday 20th June with live electronics from Bristol's finest purveyors of Roy Castlecore Portmanteau, plus a set of exquisitely rhythmic electroacoustic delights from Brum's very own Arc Vel.

And as always, They 'll also have DJs playing the usual selection of chart-topping '80s funk greats featuring the likes of aphex twin, autechre, battles, boards of canada, the books, broadcast, cylob, the flashbulb, four tet, germlin, holy fuck, hood, kid 606, matmos, max tundra, mouse on mars, polysics, the postal service, prefuse 73, squarepusher, stereolab, amon tobin, tortoise, venetian snares, luke vibert, xiu xiu, susumu yokota and whatever else we might have lurking about in their record collections...

Venue: The Island Bar, Suffolk Street, Queensway
Time: 8.30pm doors
Cost: £3, or £1 if dressed like a robot or dinosaur (Free pin badge on entry)
Links:
http://www.myspace.com/robotversusdinosaur
http://www.myspace.com/0portmanteau0
http://www.myspace.com/arcvel

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Coming Up ..... Friday 20th June
Alternative_Rock_Electronica

444 Club presents Old School Tie + The Hoi Polloi + Talk + Colonel Fabien

From the Old School Tie Myspace:

OST are 4 young musicians creating a live and organic form of dance/ electronica music. Now based full time in Birmingham, they are busy writing, gigging and recording for a spring/summer album release and tour.....

We are an independent act, we have released 5 self funded and produced EP's, created the legendary small, green, ethical 'Fieldview Festival' and continue to make music we believe in and hope others will enjoy and appreciate.

As a group we have gigged throughout the South of the UK, gracing many epic house parties, jamming and breaking many things. We are fortunate to have played twice at the University of Birmingham's Vale Festival, graced a cold cold stage at Kingston's Green Fair in the horrible summer of 2007, provided soundtracks for independent film and have been honoured to share bills with the likes of The Infadels, Oceansize, Blackbud, Shy FX, The Mexicolas, The Anomalies, 360 and other talented and not so talented musicians....

From the Hoi Polloi Myspace:

The Hoi Polloi have been together for 3 years. The Band consists of 4 musicians from the blackcountry in the West Midlands Who have locked themselves away in a rehearsal room until they felt that the time was right to try and gain exposure and industry attention. The Band have a huge sound but are also able to create an ambience that can cross over to a wide audience, This has been true at recent high profile supports with bands such as Ghosts among others. The band have produced accomplished recordings to but should be seen live for music lovers to fully appreciate the passion, sweat and raw emotion that this band delivers from song to song. All of the Hoi Polloi's Music is learned through life and played from the heart!! We hope you enjoy the tracks. We will be uploading more tracks in the future and watch this space for thehoipolloi.com coming soon. You can also review this band at channel4.com/music they are located on the mymusic pages. All three tracks were performed by The Hoi Polloi and they were mixed and produced by George d'Rosa and Simon Weaver at Arcadia studios Birmingham.

From the Talk Myspace:

Having spent what seems like forever in our studio, meticulously placing beats, tuning analogue synths and rescuing long forgotten chord organs, we are ready to release our debut album 'Reset, Start Again'.
Allow us to introduce ourselves. We're Talk, an eccentric mix of inclement electronica, post rock and ephemeral indie. Recluses by nature, we have on occasion been spotted venturing out from our studio, the lab. Primary reasons being to purchase more electricity to power our vast synth collection or, just as important, to play our material live.
Performing has taken us as far a-field as Holland where we represented Radio One at Eurosonic festival. This rewarding jaunt was the result of us winning the title of 'best electronic fourpiece' on the Huw Stephens show, also leading to us playing at In The City for the BBC. Subsequently we performed on Radio One with a live session, which received fantastic and encouraging feedback. We released 'Bypass Control' from the new album to critical acclaim from both national and regional press including 'single of the week' on London’s XFM and coverage on ITV.
You'll hear a definite evolution to the Talk sound and progression of ideas on the new record. Don't simply take our word for it though, take a look at a few of the exceptional words said about us in the press recently:
"a delicious slice of hypnotic electronica"_ BBC OneMusic
"Post Millennial Radiohead, windswept moans, processed electronica, tricksy jazzoid time signatures and eruptive angry space-punk guitar"_ UNCUT Magazine
"The Debut album by Talk is one of the most perfect albums to emerge in ages...and in terms of the indubitable quality of the songs, Reset Start Again is up there with the very best records."_ Fact Magazine
"Talk have achieved that rare thing of coupling experimentation with tunes. Byp/Ctrl is highly accessible to staunch indie-fans, whilst will also satisfy the minds of the arty electronica set. The EP see's rich sonic landscapes and hypnotic electro-beats over a back-drop of deep pulsing rhythms. Vocals and standard indie guitar styles are both violated and lovingly-massaged by dynamic instrumentations. This is Kid A with tunes, the perfect balance between analogue and digital sounds"_ National Student Magazine
"a five tracker of ethereal new age cosmic pop headed up by the airy Motion Sickness, a deceptive little chameleon that relaxes you with Simon & Garfunkel breathy 60s folk before the guitars start getting all worked up in a psychedelic riff lather and early Pink Floyd Ummagummaisms"_ Whats On
"byp/ctrl features five cuts of softly wandering psychedelic hymnal electronic/guitar pop, ., chiming chords loop curvaceously arcing amid celestial climes to create euphoric landscapes that a partly upbeat but grazed by a weary sense of tearful melancholia. Favoured cut is the awesome opener 'Motion Sickness' what initially ambles out to pass for a serene slice of updated Simon and Garfunkel soon erupts and cuts up into a psychotically fucked up charge of frazzled and frenetic lead riffs that implode in on themselves al a Mr 'Radiohead' Greenwood c. 'Paranoid Android' - the dogs bollocks without doubt. Single of the Missive."_ Losing Today
"It’s as if the back of my head has been opened like they do in Being John Malcovich, a little stairway erected and a huddle of slightly bald scientists have entered, teasing and tugging at my brain - Genius!"_Subba Cultcha

and finally…..Colonel Fabien are an experimental jazz trio.

Venue: The Rainbow, Digbeth
Time: 8pm
Cost: £4
Links:
http://www.myspace.com/kamikazeevents
http://www.myspace.com/oldschooltie
http://www.myspace.com/thehoipollo
http://www.myspace.com/commutermayhem
http://www.myspace.com/colonelfabienwantsu

Coming Up .....Saturday 17th May
Electronica

Robot vs Dinosuar is back upstairs at Island Bar on Friday 16th May with live electronics from Datassette and Lone, plus the usual full-spectrum totaltronic DJ selection featuring the likes of aphex twin, autechre, battles, boards of canada, the books, broadcast, cylob, the flashbulb, four tet, germlin, holy fuck, hood, kid 606, matmos, max tundra, mouse on mars, polysics, the postal service, prefuse 73, squarepusher, stereolab, amon tobin, tortoise, venetian snares, luke vibert, xiu xiu, susumu yokota and whatever else we might have lurking about in our record collections...

Admission is £3, or £1 if dressed as a robot or a dinosaur! Doors open at 8:30. Free pin badge on entry! Full selection of cocktails available! Any requests? Drop them a comment! (link below)

Venue: The Island Bar, Suffolk Street Queensway, City Centre
Time: 8.30pm start
Cost: £3 in or £1 if dressed like a robot or a dinosaur

Links:
http://www.myspace.com/robotversusdinosaur
http://www.myspace.com/datassette

http://www.myspace.com/lonemusic

Coming Up .....Saturday 17th May

Global Psych_Freak Folk_Turf Surf_Kraut Schlock_Electronik Mud_Glam Jams

The Monthly B music nights has DJ’s Andy Votal + Dom Thomas + The Judge & Mac (Senseteria Katusi).

Live Magnetic music comes from Twinkranes (Dublins delayed response to Neu and The Silver Apples) + Seeland (Tim Felton / Billy Bainbridge)

Also Secret Cinema screen an undisclosed vintage freak film

Venue: The Hare and Hounds, High Street, Kings Heath
Time: 8pm – 2am
Cost: £5 on the door

Also on the night in the other room:
VIVA BRAZIL! Live Samba / Reggae Drummers & DJ's with Oya batucada

Check out this link for more information:
http://www.myspace.com/oyabatucada

Coming Up .....Saturday 17th May

Indie_Beats

Chicks Dig Jerks Club Party – Check the myspace for line-up (link below)

Venue: The Rainbow, Digbeth
Time: 9pm to 4am
Links:
http://www.myspace.com/chicksdigjerks

Coming Up .....Saturday 17th May

Punk_Hardcore_Metal

Rehab present The Fortunate + Redeye Militia + Serpion (As Hope Dies Tommorrow) + As Worlds Collide

Venue: The Black Horse
Time: 7pm - Midnight
Cost: FREE ENTRY

http://www.myspace.com/redeyemilitia1
www.myspace.com/hopediestomorrow
http://www.myspace.com/asworldscollide
http://www.myspace.com/thefortunatex

Coming Up .....Saturday 17th May
Indie_Rock_Punk

It's been one hell of a year for '10 lives' who invite you to celebrate with them on their first birthday at The Flapper.

To celebrate the line-up includes Dirty Soul who are launching a brand new ep only available at the gig, Gravity Crisis, Augustine, The Solomons and Ipkins

And if you've not seen or heard the bands here are what people are saying about them

Dirty Soul:
'DRUM SKINS AND GUITAR STRINGS AREN'T HIT, THEY'RE ATTACKED WITH THE CONTROLLED FEROCITY OF A PRIZED FIGHTER'- BBC. CO. UK
'SPINE-TINGLING' - THE FLY
'THE SOUNDTRACK TO A HUNDRED THOUSAND NERVOUS BREAKDOWNS' - MEDIA ASSASSIN
'EVERY MOVE,WORD AND RIFF IS BURSTING TO GET OUT'- POWPOWPOW

Gravity Crisis:
"Certainly the best demo to land on my desk this year"
Steve Lamacq - BBC6 Music
"Punchy, golden era indie choruses weave and then soar from a super heavyweight backing. TGC are a wrecking ball, riddled with pop hooks, that you'll want your face to be smashed in with over and over again"
THE FLY
"Like Graham Coxon if he'd been raised on Motorhead instead of the Kinks"
NME
"How the Midlands awakes! The Gravity Crisis will be in danger of kick starting an exciting scene. For once the NME hit the proverbial nail. Certainly this twin guitar four-piece fires along like a rock'n'roll McLusky or English and artrock Pixies. Perhaps a tad more straight ahead (but also hooky) than the post-punk from Leeds and the North East (Forward Russia and Dartz!) but equally abrasive and flat-out. No releases to date but lets hope Artrocker Club dates help change all that ! I'd almost be tempted to mention 'old school' ... as in Detroit Garage Rock, Scandinavian art-punk (International Noise Conspiracy stylee) and UK punk-pop (Mega City 4) - any way it's full-throttle.
ARTROCKER MAGAZINE
"An epidemic in the waiting"
MEDIA ASSASSIN

Augustine:
"Augustine are one of the most spine-tingling, wonderful bands on the Birmingham circuit at the minute... Unmissable."
Emma Lilley / The Fly
"A band to look out for are Augustine – they should have a hit with their very catchy synth-rock Emergency Song."
Ciarán Ryan / bbc. co. uk
"They were my band of the night, and in my opinion a band that will be a household name in a year or so. That good! If you see them on a gig line up, go to this gig!"
Tom Glibbery / Last. FM /
"The squat Flapper & Firkin is pretty packed tonight and the bill lives up to the anticipation. Augustine hit us with a chiming, swaggering fop-pop that has a close-shaved spikiness."
Jenny Gilroy / Skif

Heres what they say about Ipkins
"A lovely lad' - Sammy's Mum

It's all for a measly £4 and they're sure the lovely gaffers at the flapper might throw a cheeky vodka shot on entry to the gig, so it probably works out at £2.80 for 5 fantastic bands, can't argue with that.

The first band will be onstage at 8pm and not to be missed, so get there early.

Venue: Flapper and Firkin, City Centre (Nr NIA)

Time: First band 8pm

Cost: £4

Links:

www.myspace.com/dirtysoultheband
www.myspace.com/thegravitycrisis
www.myspace.com/augustinemademecry
www.myspace.com/thesolomons
www.myspace.com/ipkins

Coming Up On.....Friday 18th April
Electronica



Robot vs Dinosaur is back upstairs at Island on Friday April 18th with live performances from Domestication Of The Dog and Ickis, plus our usual full-spectrum totaltronic DJ selection featuring the likes of aphex twin, autechre, battles, boards of canada, the books, broadcast, cylob, the flashbulb, four tet, germlin, holy fuck, hood, kid 606, matmos, max tundra, mouse on mars, polysics, the postal service, prefuse 73, squarepusher, stereolab, amon tobin, tortoise, venetian snares, luke vibert, xiu xiu, susumu yokota and whatever else we might have lurking about in our record collections...

The monthly extravaganza showcases the cream of the UK’s electronic underground. Hippocamp records main man Domestication of the Dog will be laying down some deft and minimal abstract techno, whilst Warwick-based Ickis will be wringing some beats out of his old tower PC.

DJs Seb Lenton and Ben Washbrook provide the tunes, playing an electronic monster mash-up taking in everything from Brian Eno to Venetian Snares.

Robot Vs. Dinosaur aims to play the most eclectic mix of electronica in the city with beats ranging from ambient to breakcore, taking in blip-hop, indie/folktronica, chipcore and the odd bit of post-rock on the way.

Again, it’s at the Island Bar, admission is £3, or £1 if dressed as a robot or a dinosaur! Doors open at 8:30. Free pin badge on entry!

Coming Up On.....Friday 21st March




Robot vs Dinosaur presents a night of some seriously slick Electronica. Live performances come in the way of Calika and Scrubber Fox, definitely worth checking out their myspaces. DJ 's will also be playing....well check out the flyer above - it's all good.
It's upstairs at the Island Bar, starts at 8.30pm and is £3 in, unless you dress like a robot or a dinosaur then it's £2.
I wonder if you would get in even cheaper if you dressed like a robotic dinosaur?