Beacons Festival 2013

Oh Beacons, last Summer you found a special place in my heart, remember? One of my favourite weekends of 2012 it certainly was and what better way to get over the January blues than the fabulous first line-up announcement that these guys just dropped this morning?! Running from 16th-18th August this year with Mercury-nominated Django Django showcasing their psychedelic pop for a suiting Sunday night headline slot, other names added to the bill include reggae legend David Rodigan OBE, the folk-turned-haunting-grunge of London's Wolf Alice, Birmingham's boys Jaws, Local Yorkshire natives Hookworms AND some of the UK's best electronic producers of the moment such as Bondax, Eats Everything and the master that is Ben UFO. Also coming along for the ride will be tents sponsored by the likes of Noisey and Resident Advisor. Are these guys for real?! Only a portion of the acts have been announced so far with two headliners still to be revealed and I'm getting nostalgically excited already; I SALUTE YOU BEACONS TEAM, bring on the mud! 

For more information visit www.greetingsfrombeacons.com 

Words by Yours Truly X

Feature // Manchester Reborn #3

My third installment of Manchester Reborn for Artrocker is now live! I changed direction this week and strayed away from the usual guitar-driven pieces (all is explained in the article...) to delve into why Manchester has some of the best kept dance nights in the country, with residencies including Lone, Krystal Klear, Joy Orbison and Ben Pearce. Aren't we the lucky ones! Also, if you've got any ~tips~ or subjects you think I should cover for future Manchester Reborn articles, hit me up at the email on the right. HAPPY FRIDAY!

Words by Yours Truly X

Bleep.com

If you know a thing or two about independent music, then you'll know about Bleep.com. Born out of Warp Records, Bleep is known as one of the UK's first legal download businesses and has now extended to full online retailer, with releases from a whole host of labels worldwide. I'm super proud to say that I'm now penning blurbs for their new releases online, so whenever you spy a record that takes your fancy, you can read my words of enlightenment to give you an idea of what you're getting into! This week I wrote about Outboxx, Jaap Ligthart, Wizard Of and Matthew E. White, go check it out and purchase some sweet music! Oh and shoutout to Raj who you can catch doing a wicked three-hour Boiler Room mix of Bleep's top 100 tracks of 2012 over here! Can someone get me a sold-out TNGHT beanie, pretty please? I'm now going to eat my weight in sushi and attempt to shake off this two day hangover thanks to finally catching Boddika and Dusky live followed by a coach full of Manchester debauchery post-staff do...PRAY FOR ME.

Words by Yours Truly X

In photos // Kendrick Lamar @ The Ritz

How have I not posted since last year?! I'm sorry dear blogsphere, I'LL NEVER ABANDON YOU AGAIN! Now that deadline season is no longer (REJOICE!), my Artrocker column will be back next week and more interviews are on the way along with exciting writing news for moi, sit tight! In the mean time, Kelly and I went and caught Kendrick Lamar's debut Manchester show last night and I took some shots of which you can see below- BIG thankyou to Stephanie at Universal for getting us in, you are a god among (wo)men! It was amazing, overwhelming, humbling and Kendrick is just absolutely off the scale, no debate...

Words and Images by Yours Truly X