Janice Graham Band - Murder

Remember The Dead 60s? That's who I thought about when I heard the Janice Graham Band.

Not that I'm having a go at the Janice Graham Band, I thought the former where much underrated. I'm just throwing in a reference point for the new signings to Acid Jazz. The first single, Murder, sounds like an update on The Specials take on ska (not unlike what the Dead 60s did), but with some modern day indie, a bit of old school funk, some aggression and an Arctic Monkeys-style regional vocal thrown in for good measure (but swap Sheffield for Manchester).

New band: The Broken Vinyl Club

Yesterday, I reviewed the new Hipsters 2 compilation on Acid Jazz, with a track by The Broken Vinyl Club being one of the highlights. So we're highlighting this very band, who might well be big news later this year.

Just one 45 so far on the excellent See Monkey Do Monkey label, with the Cardiff-based band set to sign up with Acid Jazz full time. A new single should be out in June, with an album in September. Indeed, there's a gig to celebrate that signing at Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff on May 27th (with Eddie Piller DJing), plus another at the Camden Monarch as part of the relaunched Liar Liar club on June 9th.

Check those out if you can or check out the video for the first single over the page, a tasty late 60s beat/pop/garage groove with a Dylan-esque vocal. Think copies are still available.

The Broken Vinyl Club on MySpace

Miles Kane - full album stream

We featured Miles Kane in our new bands section a while back, mentioning that he had a debut album coming out in May called Colour of the Trap. Well, it's available to hear right now online.

If you head to the NME site, you can stream the entire thing (legally), as it's been uploaded to Soundcloud. Alternatively, you can wait until May 9th, when you'll find in on the shelves of your local record emporium. Or download site.

Anyway, it's there to hear right now if you need some sounds to get you through the working day.

Miles Kane album stream

New band: The Shook-Ups

Nice to discover an interesting new band by accident, as I just did with The Shook-Ups (with a little help of a gig I was sent to plug!)

The band are out of the Liverpool / Wigan area and are made up of ex-members of local bands Moco, The V.C.s, The Stags, Filthy Romance and Doktor Combover. The V.C.s are a band I saw live some time back and were superb. The new band could be just as good. They specialise in noisy (but tuneful) 60s-style garage. If that sounds like your thing, check out the Soundcloud page for a set of tunes, including a nice take on The Magic Touch.

Or see MySpace for upcoming gigs. One of those is flyer'd above, The Go-Go! 11th Birthday Bash on Saturday 7th May. It's Downstairs @ Studio 24, Calton Road, Edinburgh, with Tall Paul & Big Gus! playing garage, soul, mod, freakbeat and girl group sounds. Admission is £7/5, £3 before 11pm and the band is on at Midnight.

Magnus Carlson & The Moon Ray Quintet

Strangely, this had passed me by, despite me owning a single by the man himself some years back (a great version of Beggin'). I'm talking about ‪Magnus Carlson & The Moon Ray Quintet‬.

The band was actually mentioned on the forums, offering up some modern-day jazz with a touch of soul, predominantly playing covers of classics in their very own way. Soul standards from the likes of Nolan Porter and the Young Holt Trio to material from The Doors, Paul Weller and even Nick Cave.

Check out the Magnus Carlson & The Moon Ray Quintet album from 2009 on Spotify here, as well as the more recent Echoes EP. Alternatively, see this video for that Nolan Porter cover.