Greetings loyal patrons, my name’s Duncan, and Mr. Kerrance has very kindly allowed me to post my random scrawlings on his lovely website.

From this day forth I’ll be regularly updating you on which bands and artists have been most recently rocking my world, as well as fondly remembering some golden oldies and unearthing hidden treasures you may have missed.

As far as my musical ‘background’ goes, I’m mainly a rock liker but my tastes span everything from trip-hop to shoegaze, indie to electro, hip-hop to blues. My favourite artists you ask? Well, that would be telling, you’ll just have to find out by reading my future posts!

To kick things off, I’d like to introduce one of my favourite discoveries of 2009; The Antlers. The band was originally a solo vehicle for Peter Silberman, a soulful type who cut himself off from family and friends and moved to New York, emerging after 2 years of social isolation with 2007’s ‘In the Attic of the Universe‘, a stunningly beautiful and inventive (albeit brief) record which attracted critical delight and comparisons to Neutral Milk Hotel.

Now a 3 piece, they released the new LP ‘Hospice‘ in March and were met with hysterical praise which I’m not about to contradict; ‘Hospice’ is simply mesmerising. A concept album from the point of view of a man whose lover is terminally ill, it contains some of the most beautiful arrangements and heart-breaking lyrics ever recorded; even the cover art chokes me up.

In particular, the song ‘Two’ has fast become one of my favourite songs of all time. It brought me to the brink of tears on practically the first listen, and then again when I actually listened to the lyrics.

MP3 Download: The Antlers – Two

myspace.com/theantlers

facebook.com/pages/The-Antlers/39685849097

‘Hospice’ is being re-released on the 18th August, and The Antlers will be supporting Passion Pit at Concorde 2 in Brighton on the 7th September.

Brighton night ‘Somewhere in the Universe’ is changing. They’ve become known for putting on some of the biggest parties in town with an alternative take on dance music which puts West Street to shame. Earlier on this year they played host to one of the first ever live gigs for both Little Boots and La Roux (Click here to check our coverage on that). They’ve also recently put on cutting edge acts like Boy Crisis and just-signed-to-Vice-records Katie Stelmanis (Yes, THAT Vice)

In their third year of activity it seems like they are taking a step-back from the banger-heavy house styling of yesterday and settling on a new, more mature sound. It’s a step that can only be good when they put out a most magnificent mixtape featuring blog favourite acts such as Boy Crisis, Casio Kids, Vega, Yelle, Fan Death, Yacht and Passion Pit, as well as big hitters Justice, Hot Chip and Little Boots.

You can grab the ‘Alpha Mixtape‘ from www.NewHero.co.uk

myspace.com/somewhereintheuniverse
facebook.com/group.php?gid=14249720446

‘Somewhere in the Universe’ will be relaunching in August with parties at both the New Hero Nightclub and Concorde 2. Look forward to it!