New Artist Alert: Alexander

The newest recruits to the I Am Mighty Records family are Alexander, 4-piece indie rockers from Newcastle. The band are set to release their debut album 'Say Hello' in the coming months but for now, their first single from the record will have to be enough to whet your appetite.

'You Lost Yourself', for which you can see the video for below, is a good indie-rock tune, primarily guitar-led but with some obscure drums and heavy-laden backing vocals helping to carry it along. The chorus relies on crotchet-stabs in the guitars to take the rhythm as the drums are a little less structured, and it's nice to hear the guitars open up after the second chorus. The video is simple yet effective, if likely to leave you feeling a little dizzy, with a cool concept that's done really well but it perhaps wouldn't have gone amiss to feature a change of scenery at some point. That said, this is secondary to the song itself which is a classic indie track; it's simple with no real surprises but tight and current nonetheless.

You Lost Yourself is available for download from iTunes here, along with an acoustic version of the track, and you can keep up to date with Alexander by visiting their official website. Ahead of the album release, the band will be out on the road later this month, and you can catch them in the following cities:

March 22/Rippon, The Matrix
March 24/Leeds, The Library
March 25th/Glasgow Ivory Blacks
March 26th/Edinburgh, Electric Circus
March 27th/Newcastle, Think Tank

Check out the video for yourself below. Enjoy :)

New Artist Alert: Stereoboy - Naked

Introducing electro indie pop artist Stereoboy, a Portugese duo with an agenda to create an all new kind of interesting pop with electronic vibes and guitar fuzz, to help reinstate and inspire the ideal of real garage bands and home tape-recording.

Stereoboy's debut album is set for release in April this year via PAD, and the band's first single, Naked, is available for download now. Naked is a free-floating slow-burner of a track, introduced delicately with an affected guitar-led ostinato before an electro groove helps the listener finds their feet. The track builds progressively across just over four minutes of music, as an unnerving chord change signifies the introduction of the sparse, dual-layered vocals. Musically it's rather repetitive but effectively so; it's a late-night lose-yourself sort of song signifying the transition at the party from chaos to calm. As it says on the tin, fuzz-guitar takes us into the thickest part of the track towards the end, still building cacophonially, before the music reaches a peak and everything falls over the edge of the waterfall and we're left with a quick-fade of a revisit to the intro section.

Have a listen to the track for yourselves below, and be sure to download the album when it's released. For now, keep up to date with all things Stereoboy by visiting the band's Facebook page. Enjoy :)

New Artist Alert: Shout Out Louds - 'Walking In Your Footsteps'

Announcing! Shout Out Louds, indie-rockers from Stockholm, are gearing up for the release of their latest album Optica, which dropped only yesterday. Having racked up a career of ten years in the industry, and a whistle-stop tour of plenty of sounds within that time, the quintet have settled on their most ambitious sound to date with Optica, which is finally released after over a year and a half in the making.


Walking In Your Footsteps is taken from Optica, and has a great indie feel with a little dance/electronic pop dusted over it for good measure. And any track that sets the tone with pan-pipes and a vibraslap is fine by me!

The video for the track, which is available below, takes us on a journey through light and dark; colour and shade, with a real dream-like quality that suits the song perfectly in its ambient, feel-good state. Staccato piano chords and choked cymbals raise the curtain, before classic indie-feel vocals settle the listener into the track.  A delicate female-harmony brightens the mix as the song progresses, whilst the chorus shyly sidles in unannounced; it's gentle and doesn't lift the song much but this works to the artist's credit as the listener ebbs along pleasantly. In short, it's simple but effective on the surface, yet hidden beneath are layers and layers of snatches of ideas and phrases, that all build subconsciously, taking the listener on a whimsical musical journey before placing them gently, and with two, steady hands, back on the ground.

Shout Out Louds have a US-tour planned for the Spring and, though I don't know when they'll be across the pond, be sure to keep up to date with the band via their official website. And of course, if you do live in the UK, at the very least you can get your hands on a copy of Optica, which is available through Merge Records. Enjoy :)

New Artist Alert: League

Inspired by their story of 'two students having dropped out of college to live in a tent on the beach', I was most definitely intrigued by League and interested to hear what such an experience might do to affect the music one produces. League claim that their music was inspired by their move, calling it "a primal experience that was a huge influence, that we managed to mix with a modern/urban sonority, to make a connection between two distinct worlds" and the very obvious originality in their music is testament to their lifestyle change. 'Golden Maps' relies heavily on the fusion of two worlds and, more importantly, two quite differing styles of new wave-dance which features, in my opinion, heavy influences from indie in the synth melodies, drum sounds and vocal styles. It sounds like a synthed-up indie track, but equally a rocked-up dance track so I'm unsure which pigeon hole to place it in...either way it's got a great sound that takes on an almost tribal and psychadelic route at times.

'Take My Hand' starts with an interesting synth riff that could either settle into a slow, reggae-feel, Manu Chao groove or, equally as comfortably, break into a faster-paced rock beat. The latter has been chosen upon and works well, again with the indie-rock drum sounds prominent and sounding great against the dancy-backdrop of synth and bass-sounds. The track breaks into synth-led sections, staying true to the duo's dance-roots whilst always maintaing that rock under-current, once again with the tribal influences in the chorus.

League are definitely onto something here; a really great marriage of styles brought together by a dramatic personal lifestyle-change; the next step is to hear them pull it off live. And yes, the pair are based in London and gigging. If you want to hear for yourself the psychadelic sounds featured, make sure you check out their Myspace page for music, photos and to keep up to date. Enjoy :)