The four piece’s debut album ‘Dark eyes’ is due out in the UK this July, with the first single ‘Full Circle’ already doing the rounds on Radio 1.

Having already been handpicked to support Mumford and Sons on their European tour earlier this year, Half Moon Run are embarking on their own small UK headline tour starting in June, including a date at The Haunt on June 26th which will surely be one not to miss.

The band has been heralded by the NME as their ‘Radar band of the week’ but you can decide whether or not they live up to the hype as the album is streaming here.

Singer, Devon Portielje has a wide vocal range and blends together a variety of tones in such a way that is rarely heard in modern Indie music. He can effortlessly switch from a Fleet Foxes style folk vocal one song to an ethereal Jeff Buckley-esque croon on the next, such as on ‘No more losing the war’. The musicianship is equally as varied with guitars, percussion and keys combining to produce a beautiful backdrop of noise.

This is a special band indeed.

The Fresh And Onlys are one of those bands that sound like they’ve been plucked straight out of a 60s American suburb, having been fed a diet of Beach Boys harmonies and scuzzy, Californian pop. In fact, they are relative newcomers who put out their self-titled debut album in 2009. Hailing from San Francisco, they embody the relaxed, anything-goes vibe of the City by the Bay.

Although they have a retro feel to their songs, it’s hard to pin down their influences. There’s a bit of punk, rock, country and enough sardonic lyrics to give Nick Cave a run for his money.

The principle songwriter is Tim Cohen who writes songs about lost, found and lost again love. Last year’s album, The Slow Dance, cemented their reputation as purveyors of melodic guitar-pop with enough hooks in songs like 20 Days and 20 Nights and Dream Girls to hopefully create a mass sing-a-long when they play the Haunt in June. They don’t come over to these shores often, so this is a gig not to missed. The Fresh and Onlys are the type of band you stumble across and end up happy to be immersed in their little world. Join in.

Musically Ulrich fuses early shoegaze song writing elements with electronic instruments.. The result is beautiful textural music with an epic blissed out quality. The instruments may be entirely electronic but Ulrich fills his compositions with raw emotion, something that is all too rare in electronica.

To date he has released a number of critically acclaimed albums such as 2001’s breakthrough “Far Away Trains Are Passing By” with it’s lush title track here or 2003’s “A Strangely Isolated Place”. This current tour follows the January release of his latest album “A Long Way To Fall”. Additionally Ulrich is a prolific remixer having lent his nous to acts as diverse as Depeche Mode and Death Cab For Cutie. But perhaps the pinnacle of his remixes is Love Movement for Justin Robertsons Revtone project. To this listener it’s quite possibly one of the most beautiful electronic records ever.

Live you can expect a full AV show and tracks that build layer upon layer into swirling intense walls of noise. I caught Ulrich in a tent at Bestival a couple of year back and it was a truly mind blowing experience. This Green Door store gig in June should be similar.

I persevered through tales of bittersweet matrimonial bliss down under to find a band (or vehicle for Craig Dermody, an actual Aussie turned New Yorker) well worthy of the effort. There is a set of frenetic guitar driven pistons that push this sound along and this, along with Dermody’s desperado vocals put me right on edge, like I was waiting for something terrible to jump out on me. Nothing bad happened. What did happen was that I got to listen to a few more tracks that slopped poppy pain and abandonment into my outstretched bowl. Evoking the spirit of The Cure at times, SACW play pop like we used to have, pop that actually gives a shit about pathos and pointless angst, two treasured values of all of us (surely?).

Listen to Footscray Station and Wiseman At The Station

What they are doing is playing a debut UK show, showcasing themselves and their tracks from a new album ‘KLSHNKV’. Hailing from Skiptvet near Oslo in Norway, this is one foreign export to these shores that fans of Guns N Roses, Lit or Buckcherry would give up the whole Great Escape to see – although they also have a punkier edge, akin to Social Distortion.

Self described as ‘Punk N Roll’, the band puts a current spin on a genre done that is a lot of the time hit or miss. They have an energy that grips you. There is something really likeable about this band – one moment pumping out a party anthem, another pulling on your heartstrings with sentimental melodic anthems.

Their debut album ‘Unbreakable’ saw them tour extensively throughout Europe and China, and they have achieved a top 10 in their home nation with the single ‘Blackened Heart’. The new album is a tune ripper – and is gonna smash it live.

The man behind Deptford Goth, Daniel Woodhouse, is a former teaching assistant. With the rise of the talented Laura Mvula at the same time, it seems former teaching assistants are all the rage in the music business at the moment. Like Laura, Daniel is a star on the up.

Don’t let the name deceive you: Deptford Goth is not actually a goth. The name just came to him one day and stuck. The music does have a tinge of melancholia about it with which goths are traditionally associated, but there’s much more to it than that. Daniel’s music takes its roots in house, garage and R&B, with digital music programmed to sound like physical instruments spliced with keyboard, piano and guitar sounds and some haunting vocals. The result is tender-sounding indie pop, with a heavy shade of the XX among its influences.

Indeed, final mastering on the Life After Defo release was completed by Rodaidh McDonald, who also worked with the XX. You can also hear the influence of some of the Britpop era bands that Daniel grew up listening to. The result is intimate and delicate lyrics, set to a hypnotic backing where it is difficult to work out where the physical instruments stop and the electronics begin.

The Unitarian Church is a fine venue for Deptford Goth’s Brighton show, providing a suitably intimate and atmospheric environment.

Wolf People are one of those bands that manage to successfully cross genres. While much of their music is rock, folk and blues-based, they have a significant following in the psych community, you can also hear jazz, country and even Kraut-rock influences infused in their songs.

Wolf People formed in 2005, when frontman and guitarist Jack Sharp recruited fellow guitarist Joe Hollick, bassist Dan Davies and drummer Tom Watt. After self-releasing a few EPs and singles in the UK, they became the first UK artist to sign with US indie label Jagjaguwar in 2010. The latest album feels like a coming of age.

Fain is a work of art. Recorded at an isolated country house in the Yorkshire Dales, this album is a fantastic introduction to the group if you haven’t heard them before, as well as being pleasing to the ears of long-term fans. Its spacious sound is full of intricate melodies and masterfully-told stories in which you can hear a range of influences, from Fairport Convention and Pentangle to Television and even Captain Beefheart.

Traditional British folk melodies have also provided a strong influence on this album, lending a bewitching quality to many of the songs, including the recently-released single All Returns. Indeed, there is an other-world feel to many of Wolf People’s tracks, as can be heard in their older releases, Tidings and Steeple.

At just £9 this gig is a bargain – you’ll find yourself paying much more for your tickets if you wait to see this band at a later date.

I also love it’s history and the fact that it never really changes. From Seapony, Beach Fossils and Tennis to late 90′s exponents Belle and Sebastian (my fave band ever btw) and Camera Obscura to the C86 explosion in the 80′s. It’s roots were firmly established in the 60′s with Wall of Sound bands such as The Ronettes and even Motown. Seemingly it was only in the 70′s that is didn’t really exist, but…Make Me Smile has just come into my head, so it did!

I’d never heard of Seapony until about an hour ago when Teen Creeps emailed me the gig. All it took was one listen to Dreaming and What You Wanted and I was hooked. This is the point of indie-pop. The albums aren’t ‘growers’, there’s no forced cleverness; it just puts a smile on your face and you want more of it.

It seems strange that there aren’t more bands doing it successfully. In Brighton we have the fine Milk and Biscuits (appearing at our next Noisenight btw) and Fear of Men but the majority of British indie bands are either just churning out bog standard sub-Oasis rubbish or trying to be too clever for their own good. Maybe good indie-pop is a lot harder than it’s apparent effortlessness makes it appear. It is all about the songs after all and good songwriting is difficult.

Seapony are a three piece from the US Midwest. Dreaming came out in 2010, they released their first album Go With Me in 2011 and their second, Falling at the tail end of last year. That’s all I know. I wish I’d discovered them sooner but I’m glad I have now (thanks Conrad).

They are supported by Leeds band, Just Handshakes. 1 minute 18 into their single London Bound when the jangly chorus kicks in tells me all I need to know. This lot are good.

Ok people it’s a couple of days after the Great Escape but all this sunnyness will soothe those aching feet. After all it was the exact same day last year when, in a packed Hope, I witnessed Lower Dens play one of the best gigs of the year.

I have to admit going to see The Self Help Group with some trepidation back in February. You see, my music taste runs a little heavier (long hair, widdly guitars and, yes, the occasional bit of spandex) however I was, to put it mildly, blown away by this band.  At the launch of their album ‘Not Waving, But Drowning‘ they began their set with a viewing of their video for ‘Needles’, a tightly choreographed vision that had us all stunned into an awed appreciation. Broad smiles adorned all, and grinning like an idiot I sought a signed copy of the CD at the regretful end of the evening, totally hooked.

The thing I think I love the most about this band is that they don’t remind me of anyone else. Their sound is all their own. These guys do storytelling that keeps you spellbound, their single Needles is a fantastically catchy track, that you’ll be humming for days but for me the real winner in their set is Prisoner, a beautifully formed song, awe inspiring harmonies that are almost uplifting but then the lyrics get you! As the band state they are a ‘Brighton band making pretty music about mostly miserable stuff’.

In brief their music is, thought provoking, unique, moving, with strongly formed lyrics, animated by the brilliance of the tight vocals, gorgeous, souring three part harmonies, gentle guitar, banjo, percussion and then drums masterfully played to compliment not overwhelm. I can’t categorise them but I guess folk/Americana is probably the closest match if you must.

Previewing them for you is a dream, but they have to be heard to be truly appreciated. They’ve received great accolades within the music industry already and I think you’d be daft not to give them a listen. Blimey if this ageing Rock Chick can have her head turned, what will they do for you?

By Kelly Farrell

Along with the even more nuts Cypress Hill, and coming along in the midst of West Coast Gangster Rap, they seemed at the time a two pronged weed-ridden attack upon and welcome release from the excesses and violence of the gangster stuff which was getting all the shock horror headlines and was; well mostly shit.

Bringing out three albums, in all honesty it is their first, the total fucking classic that is Bizarre Ride II that is their legacy. Infectious, very funny, Ya Mama cracks me up still, irreverent, supremely dance-able, Soul Flower still fills floors, Passing Me By is just perfect hip-hop. Listening to it now if this album came out tomorrow it would still have the same effect, be regarded as a classic and, most importantly wouldn’t sound dated in the slightest.

They followed it with Labcabincalifornia. Not bad by any means, it’s actually pretty good as a stand-alone album. It just doesn’t sound like The Pharcyde. J Dilla produced most of it which is weirdly part of it’s problem. The laid back, soulful J D sound is so different from the funky beat-driven Bizarre Ride II that the group seemed to have lost much of the fun and bonkers-ness that made them so refreshing.

They then went through one of the most notorious break-ups in hip-hop, the two remaining members released the best forgotten Humboldt Beginning in 2004 and that seemed to be that. But people…..it wasn’t!

They patched up their differences and reunited in 2008 and have been intermittently touring since. They even released a decent single last year, Still Got Love. Ok, it’s not quite as good as anything on Bizarre Ride II but most importantly it sounds like The Pharcyde and shows they’ve still got it. This tour is all about their classic album. It’s gonna be a banger!