This week is yet another incredible seven days for the Nottingham music scene. With the launch party for a bunch of exciting new gigs, a lineup full of great varied local talent, and a charity festival!
GIG ONE
This weekend sees the start of a load of live music events going off at Lace Market Square, under the name “Lace Squared.” It’s the launch weekend as such this week, and there’s plenty of great local talent to enjoy.
On the Thursday you can expect to hear the incredibly Soulful sounds of MONIQUE HENRY. Monique has only got one tune out here on the World Wide Web, however, it’s bloody incredible. If you have a listen to “Don’t Let Your Baby Pass You By”, you’ll hear how incredibly slick Monique’s vocals are. This sounds just like early 00’s R&B at it’s very peak, and we’re very much looking forward to seeing it live!
The Friday sees plenty more soulful sounds coming your way. Kicking things off we’ll have TASHA DEAN, who brings a bit of poppy R&B flavour to the proceedings. Huge catchy choruses, and uplifting vibes a plenty, we’re sure that Tasha will bring the sun out, and have you dancing as well. Keeping you dancing, we’ll have the also ridiculously catchy sounds of BLESSING MAGORE. We recently did a session with Blessing, and since we recorded it, the entire Nusic team have been dancing around, talking about a “love revolution.” He made us feel the love, we’re sure he’ll make you feel it too!
Finally on the Saturday we’ll have two more, you guessed it, incredibly soulful artists coming your way! ROBYN HUGHES-JONES will kick things off with her sultry sounds and beautiful husky voice. Ever since we first heard “J’adore” we’ve been hooked, and we cannot wait to hear some of her new material live! Rounding everything off we have the sweet sounds of RACHEL MARTIN, who you probably recognise, as she fronts the awesomely named band that are WE ARE AVENGERS. She’s going solo for this performance though, so expect the same incredible voice, but a bit more stripped back, so you can fully appreciate her stunning vocal.
Price: Free
Doors: Varies by day.
GIG TWO
Next up on our Top Three, we’ve got five ace Notts bands at Bunkers Hill this Friday, courtesy of FRESH.
BLEACH will bring some of their heavy distorted goodness to kick the night off. Powerful riffs mix with plenty of dirty grungy sounds to make something that you just want to go a bit crazy too. We’re sure there’ll be a fair few heads banging to these fellas.
CHRIS ZWINGEL will give us a bit of his one man band Blues. Chris does something that’s quite hard to do in the genre of Blues – make it sound original. Thanks to his slick guitar licks and harmonica playing, you’ll be hooked in from the start. This is the fella that has played three hour sets before, so, he knows what he’s doing!
TOM MCCARTNEY will bring us his youthful take on the Blues, which actually, ironically sounds as if he’s a bloke in his fifties who’d been doing this for years. With tons of swagger and the tunes to match, Tom is bound to put on quite the performance.
FUSOR will be taking us down the traditional Garage Rock route – I don’t often like to quote the artists own descriptions of themselves as they can often be a bit tacky – but, FUSOR’s is short, sweet – and sums them up perfectly… you ready? “Melodic and meaningful.” Everyone loves a good bit of alliteration.
FOR THE GIRL will be bringing some of their ridiculously catchy Pop-Rock sounds to the evening, and believe us when we say they won’t be leaving your head for days. They’re the perfect kind of Summer band, they’re uplifting, will have you dancing about all over the place – and they make you feel happy, what more could you want?
Finally we’ll have those traditional Indie fellas that are THE MITHERED, bringing some of their huge anthems to round off the night. From the picky riffs that draw you in, to the honest lyrics that keep you listening. These guys define their influences as some of the Indie greats, and if they keep on this track, it won’t be long ‘til they’re on the same bill as them.
Price: 6:30PM
Doors: £4
GIG THREE
This weekend sees the two-day festival Sound Recovery take over Sobar with eleven Nottingham acts, all in the name of charity, thanks to I’m Not From London.
SATURDAY
Kicking us off we’ll have the near impossible to describe, but really bloody good IVORYSERFS. A band so hard to define, their genre on Facebook is defined as eleven different genres – you have to hear it to understand. Following we’ll have some Funky Indie Blues from the guys in LUNADOGS; known for putting on an electric live show, their huge riffs and powerful vocals are sure to draw you in. STOLEN WIVES will be up next, bringing their interesting concoction of Blues, Rock, Jazz & Funk – with some absolutely crazy guitar work, and a knack for an awesome spontaneous jam, these fellas always put on quite a performance. CHLOE CHARLEMAGNE will get everybody dancing all over the place with her slick throwback R&B sounds – she’s a master of the huge pop chorus, so expect to be singing her tunes for days! Finally, we’ll have the Honest-Pop sounds of THE BREAKFAST CLUB; it’s always a bit odd when a band that are so good at writing a catchy hook also have some, erm, “interesting” lyrics; just don’t sing these too loudly around the kids, okay?
SUNDAY
Sunday sees… THE ITES BAND, a Roots Reggae band collating local musicians who have been working on loads of different projects over the past 30 years; with proper traditional sounds, we’re sure they’ll have you skanking all over the place. Following we’ll have the funky Soul-Pop sounds of OSCAR SPEED; if you saw him at the FSN final, you’ll know this guy is pretty much the perfect popstar, and has the bloody catchy tunes to match, make sure you keep an eye out for our Future Session with him in the near future! JIALLO will be up next with their Jazzy instrumental sounds; they often end up having featured vocalists, and considering how much amazing talent will be around them on the day, we’re really looking forward to seeing how their set goes. MATT HENSHAW will be bringing his Blue Eyed Soul sounds to the festival; with a truly beautiful voice, and a knack for writing honest, relatable songs, Matt is a fine addition to the festival. LEE GOUGH will be bringing some of his Soulful Acoustic sounds along for the ride too; his material is full of catchy melodies and uplifting lyrics, and we’re sure he’ll hook you in with his heartfelt material. ALICE MACIOBORSKY will chill things out a bit with her soft Acoustic-Folk sounds; Alice’s voice is truly beautiful and quite soothing too – perfect for a Sunday afternoon.
Price: £5 for one day, £7 for the weekend
Doors: 4PM
Yours in Love of New Music,
Sam Nahirny x
P.S This Sunday sees the annual Nottingham Carnival take place at the Forest Recreation Ground, but this year, there seem to be a little less love for live local acts than usual. It’s still a great part of Nottingham’s entertainment calendar though, so we highly suggest popping down for a bit if you get the time. Make sure you keep your eyes peeled for any last minute additions!
