She’s been tipped, constantly I should add, throughout this year as being the best thing since slice bread. Sliced bread aside, Florence’s talent for a melody is one thing that puts her a few rungs further than quite a few “tipped” artists emerging this year.

With this in mind I thought I would skip the opportunity to tell you “how good she is” and let you just hear the song and decide for yourself if she warrants the hype.

The single “Dog Days Are Over” will be be out on December 2nd via IAMSOUND Recordings. I suggest you buy it!

myspace: myspace.com/florenceandthemachinemusic

This is Tunbridge Wells singer/songer Klaus Says Buy The Record performing live infront of the judges for Channel 4’s ‘Orange Unsigned Act’.

Make a date with Radio One tonight at 9pm (UK) and I promise you will not be disappointed.

Tonight is the night that we will finally hear the Maida Vale session recorded by Tom Williams And The Boat last month. This comes on the same day that the band release new single ‘Doing My Best’ as a free download.

This band NEVER fail to impress me, ‘Doing My Best’ is yet another brilliant song and shows further progression from them. It comes from their forthcoming ‘concept’ EP due out in January 09. According to Tom ‘this song is the climax of the narrative, where everything kicks off’.

We’ll have more on the EP in the coming months.

You can listen to ‘Doing My Best’ as well as ‘Train Station Car Park’, ‘Wouldn’t Women Be Sweet’ and ‘Got Fuel’ tonight on Huw Stephens show at 9pm on Radio One.

If you’ve miss it, you can get it for up to seven days on the iPlayer.

Get More: myspace.com/williamstommusic

Holy Fuck are currently supporting Foals on their UK tour and in celebration of this meet each band have covered one of the other’s songs.

Foals have covered ‘Super Inuit’ and Holy Fuck have covered ‘Balloons’.

If you caught them on tour you could have snapped one of these bad boy 12″ along the way or you can buy one buy clicking here for a fiver.

Foals seem to have played just about every festival going this summer but iIf you haven’t seen them live then try and blag yourself a ticket for the last few days of their UK tour.

Listen To:
Holy Fuck - Balloons (Foals Cover).mp3
Foals - Super Unuit (Holy Fuck Cover).mp3

Foals On: Myspace // last.fm
Holy Fuck On: Myspace // last.fm

JLP

Over in the US, the Copyright Board Of America decided that the amount publishers and writers get from each download is to stay at 9cents. The board discussed raising the royalties rate to 15c per download, a move that forced Apple to state they would scrap their market leading iTunes store if it stopped making a profit. iTunes serves 85% of the market making it doubtful that any increase to their 99c rate would damage their business.

London Record Store To Remain Open
Meanwhile, my favourite CD shop in the west end has been sold. Sister Ray went into administration back in July but has now been rescued by an unnamed independent individual who has “music retail experience”. The W1 premises will apparently stay put and all staff will keep their jobs. The new owner has a lot to do to keep this business floating amid strong competition for the last remaining hard-copy music buyers.

Dirty Pretty Split

Dirty Pretty Things have announced their split, after completing their tour this month.

Read it all..

Wirral 3-piece The Rascals have cancelled the remaining dates on their UK tour. The cancellation follows a string of cancelled gigs culminating in yesterdays announcement that all further gigs are to be re-scheduled.

The brief statement reads:

We regret to announce that the remaining shows of the U.K tour have been cancelled. All of the shows are being rescheduled for December and we will announce the new dates on Monday. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. We promise to more than make up for it in December! Thanks and see you soon, The Rascals

A bit of digging around revealed, via the support band Twisted Wheel, that singer/guitarist Miles Kane has laryngitis. I was due to see the band play at London’s Scala this month, but that particular gig is now set for December.

Miles Kane’s other band, The Last Shadow Puppets are supposed to kick off their tour on October11th in Wolverhampton, UK. These dates still stand which is a relief as I’m seeing them too, in London, on October 26th.

Listen to: The Rascals - People Watching
[audio:http://www.likesounds.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/the-rascals-people-watching.mp3]

I’m always eager to hear new material from bands be it covers or their own stuff.

This month I was lucky enough to come across one of each from one of my favourite bands Vampire Weekend, Fleetwood Mac cover ‘Everywhere’ & new track ‘Ottoman’.

Ottoman features the same line from latest single ‘Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa’ “Feels so unnatural, Peter Gabriel too” although this is rumoured to of been a line from Ottoman before CCKK…

Not being a big Fleetwood Mac fan myself I had nothing to compare this version to the original with; however whilst on a roadtrip to Portsmouth ‘Everywhere’ came onto the playlist, my friend (a BIG Fleetwood Mac fan) told me that Vampire Weekend’s cover definately did the song justice, so smiles all round!

Listen To:
Vampire Weekend - Everywhere (Fleetwood Mac Cover).mp3
Vampire Weekend - Ottoman.mp3

Vampire Weekend On: Myspace // last.fm

JLP

2 albums in one year and after not having much to say about their debut ‘Hold On Now, Youngster’ i wasn’t holding out much hope for their second release. However, it’s catchy, it’s full of energy, it’s witty and i really like it!The sound is easier on the ears and feels like they’ve taken their time on producing the final copy.

‘We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed’ shows definite progression from Los Campesinos! and if this is the way the band are heading then i’l definately be on the look out for future releases.

Los Campesinos! kick off their latest tour in Brighton on the 14th October hitting Liverpool, Leeds, Dublin, Glasgow, London, Bristol & Manchester along the way.If you weren’t a fan of ‘Hold On Now, Youngster’ then don’t let that be enough to put you off these guys, download ‘We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed’ from October 13th 2008.

Listen To:
Los Campesinos! - All Your Keyfabe Friends.mp3
Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed.mp3

Los Campesinos! on:Myspace // last.fm

Pre-Order Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed at Amazon for £9.99

JLP

If you are one of our many new visitors, chances are you don’t know about the likesounds.com love for Tunbridge Wells band Tom Williams & The Boat.

They are a band that in the year since they’ve formed have written and recorded 3 EP’s, the latest being Got Fuel, totalling 21 tracks. They’ve also played the biggest free festival, BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Maidstone. And, as if that’s not enough, they’ve recently recorded a session for Huw Stephens at the legendary Maida Vale Studio’s in London.

And despite singer/songwriter Tom’s impending University course the band are still finding the time to write and record even more new material. The band are working on a ‘concept record’ which will be ready early next year.

The band are back in the studio recording 24 and Concentrate have a listen to the demo’s below.

Tom Williams & The Boat - 24 (demo).mp3
Tom Williams & The Boat - Concentrate.mp3

And there’s tonnes more free stuff @ www.tomwilliamsandtheboat.co.uk and at myspace.com/williamstommusic

I’ve been living with this album now for a good week. I’ve got the download and the gorgeous 12” too, which I only get if an album really means a lot to me.

There is so, so much hype about this band, but what makes all that weird is the way it’s been manifested in the press. Basically in the form of pompous grandiose statements like ‘the best band, EVER’. The kind of statements you’d usually expect to be describing all out ballsy rock and roll groups like Led Zep, or to a lesser extent, oasis.

What we actually find underneath everyone else’s posturing however, is a band with massive production, a poet at the helm, and one of the best collection of songs we’ve had in a good while.

Read it all..