Stereo Brain // 2016 Awards Results

Thanks to everyone who voted in this years Stereo Brain Awards. The public vote scores have been added to our Stereo Brain scores - here are the results!

CARDIFF AWARDS - BEST BAND

Chroma @ Gwdihw Cafe Bar 23/11/16
(Photo: Robin Norman Photgraphy)

1st Place - CHROMA

The bi-lingual 3 piece from Pontypridd have had a mega 2016. They released an excellent debut EP which has been backed up by a string of impressive live performances across the city. With support from BBC horizons, being added to the Forte Project roster for 2017 and a new single imminent - CHROMA are set to go from strength to strength and are deserved winners of this award!
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2nd Place - The Fused
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3rd Place - Local Enemy
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CARDIFF AWARDS - BEST PROMOTER

1st Place - Young Promoters Network

The Young Promoters Network (or YPN) is an organisation made up of people under the age of 25 with the aim of putting on gigs, supporting the local music scene and supporting young people who want to be involved in the music industry. This year YPN began a partnership with Forte Project, created an organisation called W.O.M.E.N and provided one of the highlights at Swn festival with the inclusion of BETSY in their line up.
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2nd Place - Luckyman Records
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3rd Place - Orchard Entertainment
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CARDIFF AWARDS - BEST FESTIVAL

1st Place - Swn Festival

Swn Festival, now in it's 10th year, triumphed musically both locally and nationally. With a wonderful array of upcoming talent from all over the country and most importantly from South Wales the festival was jam packed with absolute gems.

2nd Place - HOYfest

HOYfest, in it's first year, deserves a mention too. A wonderful line up of exciting and new indie acts. The highlights included wonderful headline sets from hotly tipped VANT and indie-funkers (who were 2nd place in last years Stereo Brain Album Of The Year) The Milk.

3rd Place - Dim Swn

BEST EP OF 2016

1st Place - CHROMA // CHROMA EP

2nd Place - VANT // Karma Seeker EP


3rd Place - Montreux Fires // Trying For The Sake Of Trying



BEST SONG OF 2016

1st Place - Blink-182 // Bored To Death

Blink 182's latest album is a step forward for the band. Leaving behind Tom Delonge they've produced, arguably, some of the best material of their career. This includes a fantastic sing along single in 'Bored To Death'.



=2nd Place - Twenty One Pilots // Heathens
=2nd Place - Biffy Clyro // Wolves Of Winter
=2nd Place - Enter Shikari // Hoodwinker

Stereo Brain // Cardiff Awards Longlist

Best Band

CHROMA

• Released an EP featured in Stereo Brain EP of the year list
• New single to be released 29th December
• A series of headline shows at Clwb & Gwdihw & notable support slots at Clwb Ifor Bach
• Secured BBC Horizons / Gorwelion funding

Estrons

•  Released an EP featured in Stereo Brain EP of the year list
• Supported Slaves on their 'Back In The Van Tour'
• Co-headline tour with The Bay Rays
• Impressive headline show upstairs in Clwb
• Secured BBC Horizons / Gorwelion funding

The Fused

• Debut single release
• Impressive headline shows at Undertone
• Perfromances at HUBfest & Hoyfest

Himalayas

• Released Ecstacy EP
• Established performances at HUBfest, Swn fest an Xpresstival
• Headlined Fireball Whiskey stage at HOYfest
• Secured BBC Horizons / Gorwelion funding

Upbeat Sneakers

• Released two strong singles
• Supported Madness amongst other notable support/headline slots
• Secured BBC Horizons / Gorwelion funding

The Broadcasts

• An excellent debut album release
• A series of notable support/headline slots around the city
• A european tour

Local Enemy

• Headlined a stage at Cardiff's legendary Swn fest and had Huw Stephens turn up for good measure
• Performance at half time at the Cardiff City Stadium
• Charity single

Best Promoter

Fuelled By Jealous Lovers

• Bringing excellent overseas bands such as Modern Baseball, Into It. Over It & Pinegrove amongst other UK acts

Orchard Entertainment

• Put on one of my favourite gigs of the year - Black Peaks & Heck at Clwb Ifor Bach
• Supporting up 'n' coming & local acts including Fickle Friends, Sundara Karma, VANT, Chroma, Parcs and so many more!

Luckyman Records

• Put on the best festival nominated HOYfest
• Brought This Feeling gigs & club night to Cardiff
• A lot of support for local bands at all of their gigs

Young Promoters Network

• Designed specifically to support acts from the South Wales area
• Booked one of the most anticipated acts of Swn festival - Betsy
• Presence at both HUBfest, Swn & Dim Swn festivals
• Continued partneship with Forte Project and their artists

Imperial Music

• Put on Cardiff's only metal festival - Throwfest
• Booked some of the best hardcore/rock/metal bands from around the UK
• Continued support for the heavier music scene in Cardiff

Review: The Fused // Undertone // 19.07.16

The music industry was not born in big stadiums and festivals. It doesn't run on huge £60+ shows. It runs on shows in tiny basements with a lineup of young raw talent and some very sweaty punters. It runs on small venues and promoters who do it for the love of music and in the hope that one of the bands on the bill might one day make it. Tonight was one of these nights.

Parish @ Undertone

The night opened with Parish, a young band with a lot of potenetial, who's insatiable energy was reflected by the crowd. Their brand of energetic indie rock went down a storm - not something you often see for a first band at a gig - with mosh pits and dancing all through the set.

They then made way for Amber who brought the same level of intensity to their set. With a slightly more polished yet still raw modern indie sound they fed off the energy of the crowd. The band from Cwmbran showcased how to be an excellent support band, whipping the crowd into a frenzy before passing on the baton. 

Next up were Wetpainttt, a slightly older band to the rest of the line up which showed as they brought a more complete sounding performance to the tiny stage. With a sound somewhere between blues and frantic indie rock they were, as the gig panned out, a breather from the fast - paced frantics of the other 3 bands. However they still maintained the energy of the gig keeping the punters sweaty, the room hot and the atmosphere buzzing.

The Fused @ Undertone

Headline band The Fused took to the stage faced with an already sweltering, worn out and sweaty venue. This is almost as much of a challenge as facing a venue with no atmosphere whatsoever and yet the band from Cardiff pushed the crowd to expel that last ounce of energy before the night was up. With clever, honest annd early Arctic Monkey-esc lyrics about life in Cardiff coupled with a sound and persona comparable to Catfish & The Bottlemen, The Fused showed the crowd that they mean business and could really go places in the future.

On the hottest day of the year so far anybody that witnessed this gig was lucky enough to see some of the hottest talent from south Wales.

The Fused announced during the show they would be playing HOYFEST in November along with Amber.

They also will play Hub Festival along with Wetpainttt.

-Luke

You can find our preview of the other acts playing HOYfest HERE and a review of the last gig we saw The Fused at HERE

Mental Health Awareness Week // Stereo Brain

For more information on Mental Health Awareness Week, go HERE

From the 16th to the 22nd of May 2016 it's Mental Health Awareness week and It's something I want to talk about. I know this is primarily a music blog but in my experience the two things go hand in hand.

Many of you who read this blog will be unaware of the origins of 'Stereo Brain'. The name, in fact, comes from the idea that there is a link between mental health and music and for me that's true. In my darkest moments and toughest days I've always turned to music for comfort and that's where 'Stereo Brain' began. 

Escaping from the world and losing myself in an album, a gig or even writing a piece became a primary way of coping with the things inside my head about 3/4 years ago and to this day partly fuels my passion for music. There's something about being able to switch yourself off and lose yourself in music that appeals to me and many other people that suffer from mental health issues which makes it an important topic to discuss.

Many people who suffer from mental illnesses turn to music as not only an escape but an outlet for their feelings. Brendan Lukens from Modern Baseball, for example, suffers from bipolar disorder and it's something which he covers in his songwriting in their new album. Frank Turner, also, is known for discussing coping with self harm and depression in his work and these are not isolated examples.

I'll talk more about this later this week in a series of articles we're writing to raise awareness of mental health and it's connections with music. In the meanwhile I want to talk about '#PickCardiffUp'.

This was an idea we launched last week in which people send us their 'pick me up' playlist/song/albums to spread the word about mental health and hopefully but a smile on people's faces at the same time. If you wish to contribute tweet us (@stereo_brain) with a link to your song or playlist and we'll add it to the playlist! So far we've had contributions from Team Up Cardiff, The Young Promoters Network and Cardiff based bands; The Broadcasts, Chroma and The Fused - check out the full playlist below.

Mental Health Awareness Week Site - HERE

The Fused // Are You Ready For A Dance?

The Fused are an indie rock band from Cardiff who are slowly establishing themselves on the live scene. We saw them support the unfathomably good October Drift and they more than held their ground on stage when compared to the established main act and other support The Broadcasts in April.

You can find the full review of that night HERE

Today The Fused released their single 'Are You Ready To Dance?' on Soundcloud and Bandcamp.

The title track of the single is an excellent example of modern indie rock incorporating elements of bands like Catfish & The Bottlemen infused with classic indie rock with a killer bassline and distinctive vocals.


The B-side is called 'The Bouncer And The Underage Teen' which is just as good as the title track. This, like the title track, reflects classic indie rock and is about, as the song name suggests, underage teens tackling a night out.

As we said in our article on their live performance The Fused have a very current and modern sound and are a band that could go on to bigger an better things. Catch them while they're hot!


The single is available to download on the bands BANDCAMP

-Luke

October Drift // Undertone, Cardiff // 07.04.16

There's always something special about experiencing an exciting young band in a tiny sweaty basement. That's exactly what fans of October Drift were treated to on a cold Thursday night in Cardiff.

The Fused @ Undertone

First up where local indie-rockers The Fused; a Cardiff band with a lot of energy and an exciting sound. Within seconds a mosh pit broke out in the venue, the ceiling only centimetres from the bouncing fans heads. The band say they're influenced by the likes of Catfish & The Bottlemen and The Libertines and you can certainly hear that indie style come through there music, however the band had moments of delving into a rockier style which kept the crowd bouncing. The Fused have a very current sound and with the energy they portrayed in their performance could move on to bigger things.

The Broadcasts @ Undertone

The Broadcasts came to the stage a man down with their guitarist at home recovering from an illness. Nonetheless the band still gave an exciting performances. They fed off the energy created by The Fused, reducing the fans into a sweaty mess. The alt rock/acoustic band from south Wales have an album out soon which will be a great listen if their live performance is anything to go by.

October Drift @Undertone

With the crowd buzzing and excitement brewing October Drift took the stage. Due to the bands recent social media storm through issues with Facebook's swear filter while trying to promote a gig in Scunthorpe and an ever increasing hype around the band, the show was nearly packed to capacity. The band bounced of the energy created by the two supports with crowd surfers and mosh pits a common place throughout the set. The band not only musically were fantastic but also interacted with the crowd incredibly; climbing amps, bouncing with the crowd and at one point getting the whole room to crouch down in a circle during the opening part of 'Lost'.

October Drift @ Undertone

These sort of displays from the Somerset band won't go unnoticed and will propel them to bigger and better things in the near future.

-Luke