Jack Robert Hardman – Lights of London

Impact date: OUT NOW on iTunes

jackroberthardman.co.uk

twitter.com/jrhardman

‘Lights Of London’ is the second single by 22 yrd old singer-songwriter/producer Jack Robert Hardman through Pleasant Pursuits / Essential Music.

Packed full of pulsating rhythms and intricate melody lines, ‘Lights of London’ tells the tale of a relentless desire to reach the bright lights of the big city. Fusing Hardman’s distinctive vocals and trademark production style, the song paints a dreamy picture of life in London, looking from the outside in.

Since releasing debut single ‘Famous’, Jack’s quirky pop music has attracted great excitement and interest from music scene luminaries such as  Huw Stephens (Radio 1), Tom Robinson (BBC 6music), John Kennedy (Xfm), and his local BBC Introducing presenter Linda Serck.

Quotes: listen to what Huw Stephens has to say about Jack below…

“His sound and writing have grown in range, and daring every time we’ve heard him”
Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music

“Harks back to happier days like a pleasing meld of Belle & Sebastian and The Postal Service”
Middleboop

“Jack Robert Hardman should come with a warning label: his insanely catchy pop will stick in your head pretty much forever. He’s a supreme talent with a unique voice and take on life.”

BBC Berkshire Linda Serck

You can also listen to a sampler of Jack’s album from our SoundCloud page:

 

Jack Robert Hardman ‘Famous’

Impact date: 13:02:2012

www.jackroberthardman.co.uk

22-year-old Jack Robert Hardman writes and records his own brand of quirky pop music from his home studio in Ascot, UK. His intention of pushing the boundaries of production each time he records a new track has certainly been realised. You may have heard how, in the summer of 2011, Jack made his track ‘Sorry to George’ available as a free download. It attracted great excitement and interest from the blogosphere, being described as ‘dangerously addictive’ and ‘fantastically appealing’ by Eclectically Challenged ; support from radio came from John Kennedy (Xfm) and the BBC’s Tom Robinson , Huw Stephens and his local BBC Introducing presenter Linda Serck. See Music Week The Tastemakers below.

‘Famous’ is the first official single and is set for release through Pleasant Pursuits / Essential Music and Marketing. An acoustic blend of distinctive vocals and folk guitar melodies, the track’s intelligent juxtaposition of simple musical style with a lyrically complex theme showcases Hardman’s creative sensitivity at its best. The song tells of a youth’s insatiable desire to make something of their life, without any real plan on how to do it. In Hardman’s words “Famous captures the blissful naivety of youth that leads us to believe we can achieve anything.” You can check out the video below.

News:

BBC Introducing Masterclass:

Jack has been invited to the prestigious BBC Introducing Masterclass 2012 on Thursday 19th January at legendary Abbey Road and Maida Vale Recording Studios. In attendance will be; Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), Wretch 32, Magnetic Man, Maverick Sabre, Jamie Cullum, Frank Turner, Brian Higgins (Xenomania), high profile music industry professionals and BBC Radio DJs:  Zane Lowe, Huw Stephens, Steve Lamacq, Tom Robinson, Jo Whiley, Rob Da Bank, Pete Tong, Tim Westwood, Ally McCrae, Daniel P Carter and Jen Long.

Music Week: The Tastemakers 13.01.12

Quotes:

“His sound and writing have grown in range, and daring every time we’ve heard him”
Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music

“Harks back to happier days like a pleasing meld of Belle & Sebastian and The Postal Service”
Middleboop

“Jack Robert Hardman should come with a warning label: his insanely
catchy pop will stick in your head pretty much forever. He’s a supreme talent with a unique voice and take on life.”
BBC Berkshire Linda Serck

You can also stream “Famous” from our SoundCloud page:

You can also listen to a sampler of Jack’s album from our SoundCloud page too:

City Reign – Numbers for Street Names EP

Impact date: 28/11/11

http://twitter.com/CityReign

http://www.cityreign.net

Picture this: Four twenty-something guys from various parts of the UK meet at a Ryan Adams gig in Manchester and decide to start a band. City Reign were born (did the Ryan Adams fans among you notice the reference to his track ‘City Rain, City Streets’ there)? Next, BBC 6Music’s Steve Lamacq picks up on and plays ‘Making Plans’, noticing the Idlewild influences. He then invites the band on air for an interview and hails them as a band to look out for, along with The Heartbreaks and Driver Drive Faster. Not a bad start for a DIY single.

Another previous single ‘Out In The Cold’ is included on the ‘Numbers For Street Names’ EP, which received a raving recommendation from The Independent (see quote below and the video on http://www.cityreign.net).

To complete the EP, there are three brand new tracks recorded at Blueprint studios. As singer Chris Bull says, “We’re extremely proud of these 5 songs. It’s a good mix of the punchier pop songs like the singles Making Plans and Out In the Cold, alongside bigger sounding songs like ‘The Line’. It closes nicely with a new song called ‘Anywhere Anyway’ recorded at the 11^th hour, that we knew instantly where had to close the record. Although the song is stripped back, the vocal layers give it depth and it shows the attention to detail we put into everything we do.”

‘Numbers For Street Names’ will be released on the bands own label Car Boot Records on CD and digital download. It will be available to pre-order via the band’s brand new website www.cityreign.net from 1^st  October.

Track listing

1 Making Plans (GBK6T1000001)

2 Sleep Easy (GBK6T1000004)

3 The Line (GBK6T1000005)

4 Out In The Cold (GBK6T1000002)

5 Anywhere Anyway (GBK6T1000006)

Quotes

“Fans of Yuck and Dinosaur Jr will approve of City Reign’s anthemic, grunge. A million failing garage bands will ask why.”

The Independent

“‘Making Plans’, I do like that.”

                                                                                                                                                                 Steve Lamacq BBC 6 Music

“I’m really digging the wistful lyrics, powerful guitars and pounding drums. It couldn’t be a better slice of English city life if it tried…it all makes for something very atmospheric”

                                                                                                                                                                               There Goes The Fear

Murky guitar atmospherics, emote an almighty passion and power.

  Manchester Evening News

 This independence of mind can be heard in their driving guitar rock sound, unphased by suggestions that the guitar band is destined for the musical scrap heap.

    Music Week

The Manchester-based band’s third single manages to hit all the right notes.

One’s to watch. 9/10

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Shout4Music

                                                                                                           

Tour Dates

Oct  26^th – The Ruby Lounge – Manchester supporting The Birthday Suit (former Idlewild Rod Jones)

Nov 5^th – CC Muziekcafe – Amsterdam

Nov 7th – Ram +Shackle – Manchester

Nov 12^th – The Bay – Glasgow

Nov 15^th – West Street Live – Sheffield

Nov 19^th – Bull & Gate  – Camden, London

Nov 26^th – Gullivers – Manchester

Dec 3^rd – The Live Lounge – Blackburn

 

The Narrows – Able Danger

Impact date: 07/11/11

http://www.thenarrows.bandcamp.com
 http://www.twitter.com/thenarrowsband 

The Narrows’ second single, Able Danger has already garnered rave reviews from the likes of Tom Robinson, who had the guys in for an interview on his BBC 6 Music Introducing show. This was on the back of their T in The Park performance in August (25:08:11) where they completely wowed the audience, as you can see in the video footage below, which outstripped the views of White Lies and Everything Everything‘s performances.

Utilising a laptop and guitars (and no live drummer), the track is pulsing with 80s electro-pop or, ‘dark futuristic electro pop’, as the band describe their music. “It’s a three and a half minute frenzy of loud guitars; synths that sound like broken computers; and snake-like drum-loops that keep threatening to go mad and eat someone! It is about fear, government, panic, terror and secrets. A mix between the electronic side of Radiohead, Kraftwerk and Queens of the Stone Age – a real pop song for right now.”

Radio 1’s Huw Stephens and Zane Lowe both tweeted about The Narrows: Zane saying he liked the video to their last single, ‘Initials MM’. Let’s hope he tweets the same about their new video too!

QUOTES:

 Mike Joyce: (BBC 6 Music/East Village Radio)

“I like the fact they don’t sound like they are from Manchester!”

HIGH VOLTAGE:

“Here, right here, we could have the makings of another Manchester legend. Like Delphic run through a dark ambient wringer, or Johnny Greenwood playing session on a Portishead record comes the Narrows’ debut, and it is fucking ESSENTIAL… Manchester’s best dark alternative band… when it comes to current Manchester bands, The Narrows really are leading the pack”

MANCHESTER MUSIC:

“…consistently, utterly brilliant…they have precisley no contemporaries”

M.E.N /CITYLIFE:

“…one of the most original, provocative and iconoclastic new Manchester bands of 2011.”

MUSIC FROM RAINY SKIES:

“The Narrows’ sound almost transcends era pigeon-holing… the lyrical content is every bit as confrontational as the music… piercing lyrical genius, fantastically commanding… The Narrows will take over the world.”

Soft Toy Emergency – Critical

Release date:

9th November 09

Having already secured support slots with the likes of Friendly Fires and N.E.R.D. ‘Critical’ has already become an underground hit with Radio One plays of the band’s performance at this year’s Reading/Leeds Festival, courtesy of Nick Grimshaw and Huw Stephens, which where they were the highlight of the BBC Introducing Stage.

With huge support for the single coming from 4Music, Clubland TV, NME TV, The Box, Kerrang Radio and Gaydar Radio (and not to mention being championed by the likes of Steve Lamacq, Nemone and John Kennedy), ‘Critical’ looks set to take the band in to the mainstream.