Berlin Festival 2012 boasts an awesome line-up

Here are two questions that you will, without doubt, answer 'yes' to. 1. Do you like Berlin? 2. Do you like music festivals? See, told you. Double affirmatives all round. Well, combine the two and what have got? A pretty frickin' sweet way to spend a couple of days, that's what.

The Berlin Festival takes place at the historic Tempelhof Airport on September 7th and 8th and there are so many amazing acts to feast your eyes and ears upon. Like (deep breath): Grimes, Django Django, Dada Life, Sigur Rós, Franz Ferdinand, Orbital, Little Dragon, Friendly Fires, The Killers, Metronomy, SBTRKT, Daughter, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Clock Opera, Of Monsters And Men, Friends, Kate Nash, First Aid Kit, Nicolas Jaar, Miike Snow, Crocodiles, When Saints Go Machine ... the list goes on and on.

This years edition will also play host to the world’s biggest Silent Arena Aftershow Party. With 10,000+ headphones, ticket holders will be able continue partying like silent mentalists after the final main stage performance from midnight till 4am. There will also be an Art Village showcasing over 60 national and international artists. Urban art, murals, performances, sculptures and more will all be on show plus an art bazaar, bars, booths, and the Design & Record Label Market as well as the art prize and a costume competition.

A day ticket is stupidly cheap, at EUR 49 + bf, while a two-day ticket is EUR 74 + bf. A Berlin Festival + Club Xberg Kombiticket will set you back EUR 89 + bf. Score your tickets today and we'll see you there kiddos!

Keep an eye on the Facebook page for further announcements, and see the full line-up at www.berlinfestival.de

Zulu Winter postpone Australian tour dates but will be playing Splendour

It is with semi-sadness that we announce Zulu Winter will be postponing their Australian tour. Semi-sadness? That's right. Dry your eyes mate, because they have a bigger plan in store. After witnessing their scorching live show at SXSW, the Secret Sounds promoters have decided to keep Zulu Winter up their sleeve for a special Australian debut performance at SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS this year.

Zulu Winter will be making good use of their now ‘spare time’ in April, with their international schedule ramping up off the back of their performances in Austin. They will be heading to Europe where demand continues to increase from promoters, fans and press. After hearing rumours of their incredible live show, the likes of Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons and Kaiser Chiefs all made it down to catch separate Zulu Winter SXSW shows. It is little wonder that Zulu Winter are amongst the hotly tipped bands in the world right now. The bookish lads from Oxford’s lead single We Should Be Swimming (above) have been turning heads across the UK and US with Q Magazine naming them amongst their “Essential Listening” on the eve of SXSW, NME ticking them off as a band to watch and previous tracks receiving a Pitchfork endorsement. 

Any Zulu Winter fans who got in early for tickets to their April show will be happily refunded at their point of purchase. Stay tuned for further announcements.

Friendly Fires - Pala

Ah yes, it’s that time of year. As England enjoys the two rain-free weeks that pass for summer, its musicians are damn sure gonna make the most of it. Hot on the heels of Metronomy’s summertastic new offering is the long-awaited second record from Friendly Fires, and with it comes the carnival atmosphere we have come to expect from the St Albans trio.

Produced by Paul Epworth and recorded in Sussex, New York and a cottage in France, Pala’s sound shows steady evolution rather than any major direction change. The dancey electro-pop of latest single and opener, Live Those Days Tonight, could have nestled comfortably on their excellent first album and Blue Cassette continues in the same vein, “As I hear your voice/It sets my heart on fire,” sings Ed Macfarlane. Before the chilled, R&B feel of the record’s title track temporarily and necessarily slows the pace a little, the potential singles just keep coming; firstly through the shimmering disco and catchy high vocals of Running Away and then the pounding drums of Hawaiian Air. Sure the lyrics about taking a flight are a bit dumb, but they soon make way for a massive, euphoric, soaring, sweeping chorus that sums Friendly Fires up.

Simply, Pala further proves that all this band really wants to do is make you dance until you can dance no more. It’s always party time in Friendly Fires’ world and when they bring these songs to a festival stage near you, you know it’s going to be awesome.

Great Escape Early Bird tickets - time is running out!

At Bobbysix.com, we love Australian music and we love Brighton. Which pretty much makes The Great Escape our favourite festival in the whole world. You can forget about Glastonbury or Big Day Out, just drop us into the heart of Brighton and watch us bounce from cool venue to cool venue as some of Australia's hottest new thangs rub shoulders with amazing acts from all over the world. 

This year, a few of the many acts representing the vibrant Aussie scene are BobbySix favourites, The Jezebels, The Holidays, Cloud Control (pictured, above), Little Red and PVT. And let's not forget that NZ has its share of acts too, not least Die! Die! Die! and The Naked And Famous.

These guys are joined on the bill by some hot names like Friendly Fires, Sufjan Stevens, Young the Giant, DJ Shadow, Suuns, Handsome Furs and The Vaccines.

Anyways, to the point. If you want to get along to this epically amazing festival - and why wouldn't you? - then the exciting news is that you can still score tickets at the Early Bird rate. However, this deal runs out on the 12th April. So don't delay. Secure a ticket today.

Keep your eye on Bobbysix.com for interviews, news, reviews and pictures and all manner of other Great Escape-related stuff.

Words By Rob Townsend.

Good Vibrations 2011 line-up announced

Good Vibrations, Australia's dance-orientated Summer festival, today announced its line-up for next February's gathering.

The UK's Faithless are this year's big headliners and are joined by much loved French act Phoenix, as well as Kelis, Erykah Badu, Ludacris and Sasha. Among a host of other names are the simply brilliant Friendly Fires (pictured) - who will bring their infectious indie-dance and really weird dancing to the party.

You can digest the full line-up here.

Tickets go on sale next Thursday 16th September from all the usual outlets. Be warned, if you snooze, you lose, as last year's shows sold out across Australia.

Good Vibes will take place in Sydney's Centennial Park on Saturday 12th February, Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse on Sunday 13th February, Gold Coast's Parklands on Saturday 19th February and the Claremont Showground in Perth on Sunday 20th February

Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires

FRIENDLY FIRES
Friendly Fires

Yet more new indie/dance music from the UK. It’s a toss of a coin nowadays as to whether it’s going to be good or awful. Thankfully, Friendly Fires eponymous debut falls into the former category, as the trio from St. Albans offer up vibrant dance with pop melodies. Opening track Jump In The Pool bursts from the speakers with its samba beats and Klaxons-style vocal harmonies. It’s an ambitious and impressive start, which continues with the optimistic Paris, as romantic lyrics sit atop hectic percussion. Later, Strobe comes in, sounding like Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem frolicking together on the beach.

Ed McFarlane’s vocals are generally nicely restrained in a shoegazey way, although when he actually opens up his lungs fully on Lovesick he sounds like every anonymously generic dance vocalist you’ve ever heard. This track is one of very few weaker offerings here, and the album is strong enough to carry such fillers.

Friendly Fires recorded this album themselves in vocalist Ed McFarlane’s parents’ garage, on a laptop, laying down one instrument after the next and then recording the vocals using a crappy microphone gaffer taped to a mic stand. So it’s all the more impressive that the result sounds so well-produced.

Comparisons will undoubtedly be made to Late Of The Pier and Klaxons and, while Friendly Fires’ output is far more straightforward, the dance-floor fillers on offer here are equally appealing in their own way. Sophisticated and fun, Friendly Fires is a fine example dance music with a brain in its head.

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