A Week in Music featuring: Poor Moon, Fast Years, General Fiasco, Friends, Joey Ramone & Much More!

Track of the Week... Poor Moon share personnel members with Fleet Floxes (Christian Wargo and Casey Wescott), as well as a penchant for melody. This track is taken from their recent 'Illusion' EP and the band have a self-titled album scheduled for release on August 27, 2012, via Sub Pop. 'People In Her Mind' is a neat display for the band's love of 60s guitar pop, rich with harmony and warm guitar lines.

The Week in Video... Fast Years have gone for the simple approach to video-making for 'Young Heart,' with a simple set up a in a derelict looking warehouse, nothing but a vintage microphone and a disinterested bystander for company. They'll be relying on the power of song to carry them through then and they're armed with a song that possesses a hook as classic as the microphone they're singing into.

General Fiasco are a pop-rock band from Northern Ireland who have been kicking around since 2006 and 'Bad Habits' is one of their most anthemic tunes to date. Full of fire and passion, this black and white video shows the band in a dimly-lit basement, stomping out 'Bad Habits,' which is somewhere between a love song and a call to arms.


The Week's Album Reviews... Friends are a band on the brink, right now. Last year, 'I'm His Girl'

caused a huge stir on the UK indie airwaves and the music industry have been waiting patiently to see what the band will do next. Andrew Lockwood has given 'Manifest' a listen, after we chatted to the band at Field Day festival last week and describes their debut effort as "a vibrant, virile and volatile mixture of Pop, Funk, Disco and electro
sensibilities . that is all wrapped up in fabulous package of twelve stirring tracks that combine brilliantly to happily defy pigeon-holing." In fact, he says, "if all pop bands were this good, there would be no decline in record sales." High praise, indeed.

Josh Osho - L.I.F.E... Another debut album; this time from Josh Osho, the man that so impressed Ghostface Killah that he decided to work with him.With L.I.F.E. he enlists the help of some high caliber hip-hop contemporaries, such as Ghostface and RZA but even without them, the album stands up on its own.

"In a day where Osho's talents are likely to be ignored in favour of the next darling of mass-production, it comes as a breath of fresh air to know that big labels are still more than willing to put their necks out for genuine talent."

Ya Know? is the second posthumous release under Joey Ramone's name, since he passed away in 2001, losing his battle with lymphoma. Definitely one to file under 'collector's item' this album is a collection of unreleased recordings, featuring a whole host of guest musicians, such as Joan Jett, Stevie Van Zandt and Cheap Trick's Bun E. Carlos. Whilst some of the tracks feel a little superfluous to requirements (to all but the super-fans, perhaps), 'Going Nowhere' and 'Party Line' are deemed "sublime."


Music in the News... UK music fans were rewarded for ignoring the football last night. The crowds at the pre-Olympics Hackney Weekend concert were treated not only to Rihanna performing live onstage but also to seeing her joined by none other than Jay Z. He was returning the favour, of course, as Rhi-Rhi had helped him out with his own set the previous evening. Jay Z joined Rihanna onstage for a rendition of their track 'Run This Town' as well as a version of one of her biggest hits, 'Umbrella.'

The Isle of Wight festival turned out to be a total wash-out for many music fans. The UK weather has been far from festival-friendly for the last few weeks and the heavy rain had taken its toll on the festival site for the Isle of Wight Festival. The festival is held on a small island off the south coast of England and this year was held on the same weekend that Glastonbury would normally have taken place. They may not have got Glastonbury-sized crowds, but they certainly got Glastonbury-sized raindrops. And of those crowds that did make their way there, several thousand were left stranded, unable to get onsite.