What: Calibro 35
Where: Hoxton Underbelly
When: 12th July
Reviewed by: Sam Mcgovern

They say Italian’s do it better and that is definitely the case when it comes to Calibro 35. The Milan based band remake 60’s and 70’s Italian film soundtracks and they do it with such energy and skill you can almost see the car chases happening before your eyes.

For a Monday night the Hoxton Underbelly is relatively busy and it didn’t take long for people to warm up and get into the swing or should I say funk of the band. Multi tasking and talented keyboard/sax and flute player, Enrico comes across as the bands front man – stepping up to introduce the band a crack a little joke.

They kick off with spooky track Milano Odia, setting the scene for the rest of the show. But it’s the funky tones of Summertime Killer and Piombo in bocca that draw the crowd in and get them moving. Things then take a twist as the whole band bow their heads and cover their faces with dark, sinister balaclavas… the menacing tones of Trafelato kick in. This seems to have a strange reaction amongst the audience provoking a few squeals from the ladies and a flurry of photographs.

The mood takes a lighter turn when Enrico swaps the keyboard for a flute, this doesn’t last for long however as the guitar heavy Gangster Story speeds up the mood once more and this is how it will stay…

Thing are rounded off with the epic L’Uomo dagli Occhi di Ghiaccio and what a track to end on. The music slowly builds to create scenes of first romance then speeding up to the obligatory car chase and climaxing in a flurry of saxophone, drums and guitar.

(7/10)

Listen to more from Calibro 35 at Myspace

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Reviewers: We are being contacted by Promoters to feature live reviews and albums on the site, if you would like to get involoved with attending shows for us all over the UK and/or reviewing albums/ singles for us, Please get in touch via gettothefront@gmail.com

GetToTheFront: Lets start of by talking about your smooth sexy singing voice. When I was doing my reading on you I couldn’t believe you started as a rapper. With a voice like yours, did you get taken seriously as a rapper?

Mike Posner: I was never really a rapper. I dabbled when I was a kid in high school but I wouldn’t say I was ever really a rapper.

GTTF: People may think you are a new artist but you have been releasing your music for years, do you get annoyed with the ‘New Artist’ tag?

MP: Not at all, that was always a part of my plan to build a following from the ground up. I am blessed to have a lot of people who have supported me before I had a single out, before I had a music video and now I do, I have a lot of solid legs under me. A lot more people are finding out my name now but if they look deeper they know I have been around for a minute.

GTTF: You were recently in the UK recording - did you get to work with any UK artists?

MP: I worked with the UK producer, Labyrinth he produced Tinie Tempers, ‘Pass Out’.

GTTF: It seems everyone wants to work with Tinie Temper at the minute. Are there any UK artists that you would like to work with?

MP: I’m a huge Florence [Florence and the Machine] fan.

GTTF: What are your favorite Florence and the Machine tracks?

MP: All of them but ‘Cosmic Love’ is really great.

GTTF: Your latest single ‘Cooler than me’ is cooking up a storm in the states. Do you have a UK release date?

MP: The single will come out November in the UK.

GTTF: Are you excited by how the single has been received in the States and are you surprised at all?

MP: Definitely, it’s been going really, really great but I’m not surprised as the song is over a year old, I recorded it in my dormitory when I was still a student at Duke University with a very cheap microphone. I have been singing the song on stage for about a year and I knew once I gave it to radio it was going to do great. It’s special for me to hear it’s doing as well as it is doing as I recorded it the cheap way (Laughs).

GTTF: That is definitely something to be proud of. Would you say ‘Cooler than me’ is a good indication of what we can expect from your album ‘31 Minutes to take off’?

MP: Definitely, but don’t expect all the songs to sound the same by any means as it’s a very complete album and it’s called ’31 minutes to take off’ as something happens 31 minutes into the record but I’m not going to tell you what happens, you have to listen for yourself. I can safely say that it sounds like nothing else out there and I couldn’t be more excited for people to hear it.

GTTF: You are a talented guy you produce, write and sing. Where would you say has been the strangest place that a concept for a new song has popped into your head?

MP: Let me think about that first, good question (Laughs). I’m going to have to look at my album now. I have a song that I wrote in seat 6A on an airplane and titled it after the flight number, it’s the second to last track on the album.

GTTF: Being a super talented guy we are guessing you must have a pretty special party trick, what is your party trick?

MP: Did you say party trick? What is that?

GTTF: Something you perform at a party it’s something different you do to entertain everyone. You have to pick something other than singing, as obviously that’s not fair.

MP: (Laughs), do you have one?

GTTF: I can lick my elbow, that’s pretty different.

MP: My fingers are all double jointed so I can bend them in all weird ways.

GTTF: That’s pretty freaky, I must admit that is pretty strange.

MP: (Laughs), I’m sorry did I freak you out?

GTTF: Just a little but don’t worry we will move on. What is the most played song on your iPod?

MP: Easy, ‘Humans’ by The Killers.

GTTF: What would you say is the most embarrassing track on your iPod?

MP: James Blunt, ‘Beautiful’.

GTTF: What was the first gig you ever went to?

MP: The first gig I ever went to was The Roots. My big sister took me to see The Roots when I was twelve years old

GTTF: Have you always been into music as a kid, was it bought up in your family, through friends or did you find it on your own?

MP: My sister is six and a half years older than me and I remember being in first grade and my sister letting me listen to her Nirvana album, so I grew up listening to Kurt Cobain. Also, Motown music runs in my blood.

GTTF: Can you tell us one fact that no one knows about you yet and we want it to be interesting?

MP: Im trying to think of something really juicy…

GTTF: Come on give us a good one for your UK fans…

MP: I wear eye covers on the plane like an old lady (Laughs).

GTTF: Do you buy them or do you get the free ones that come with your flight?

MP: I got my own!

GTTF: Finally, what have you got coming up for the rest of the year?

MP: Im on the Warped tour right now, when I have finished the Warped tour the record will then be released in the U.S. I will then be touring over here and then I will make my way over there to you!

‘Cooler Than Me’ will be released in November with his debut album to follow early 2010.

Listen to more fom Mike Posner at Myspace

Artist: Charlee Drew
Single: Sugar Rush
Label: Lab Records
Release: July 19th
Reviewed By: Amy Jo

On July 19th, singer/songwriter Charlee Drew releases his debut single and if the mood of his music matches the weather then we are all set for a heat wave next week. The song’s called “Sugar Rush” and it’s a perfect summer tune with it’s catchy but not too cheesy chorus.

The song’s instrumentation is made up of acoustic guitar and piano, both aiding the soft and soulful sound. The voice of Charlee himself also gives off the same warm feeling; his distinctly English accent is something rarely heard in mainstream music today. His voice also sounds real and raw which offers a welcome change from the over-produced sound of many today.

The title of the song matches perfectly with it’s lyrical content as some of the words are definitely sickly sweet but in this case that’s not a bad thing . This song is not claiming to be anything more than a cheerful pop song and if you want a song that will make you smile in the summer sun then this is the one for you.

(8/10)

Listen to more from Charlee Drew at Myspace

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Reviewers: We are being contacted by Promoters to feature live reviews and albums on the site, if you would like to get involoved with attending shows for us all over the UK and/or reviewing albums/ singles for us, Please get in touch via gettothefront@gmail.com

Artist: Sky Ferreira
Single: One
Label: EMI
Release: August 22nd
Reviewed By: Nicole Tiernan

From the country that brought us the likes of Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift now introduces us to a new voice in amongst the mainstream of the names mentioned. Sky Ferreira is the newest singer-songwriter hailing from Los Angeles and at only seventeen, this young lady has already shown so much potential especially in her new and debut single ‘One’.

Produced by Bloodshy & Avant ‘One’ has a slightly futuristic sound and suggests a love story about an individual feeling as if they’re a robot who can no longer hear words or speech, but still can hear this constant beat of another.

The song’s story is reflected by its suggestive lyrics ‘Something’s wrong between the two of us I’m not a robot but I feel like one’ as well as ‘Head to ground I don’t ever want the beat to stop’ which complements the addition of the somewhat futuristic dance music twist as the backing throughout the track.

Sky may only be seventeen but if ‘One’ is anything to go by, a track like this could easily make the likes of Bass Hunter or Cascada green with envy. Additonally if this track is an indication to what Miss Ferreira has in store for the future then I am certain that this young lady will go far indeed.

(9/10)

Listen to more from Sky Ferreira at Myspace

< Back to Reviews

Reviewers: We are being contacted by Promoters to feature live reviews and albums on the site, if you would like to get involoved with attending shows for us all over the UK and/or reviewing albums/ singles for us, Please get in touch via gettothefront@gmail.com

Artist: Stars of the Search Party
Single: Lost in the Dust Part II
Release: Out Now
Reviewed By: Amy McLellan

Originally released in December 2009, Stars of The Search Party offer a re-release of ‘Lost In The Dust Part II’.

The Surrey six-piece open up their 3-track EP with ‘The Culprit’, a song made up of catchy guitar riffs and sounds purposely written to be played live. With it’s chanting choruses, you can instantly see an entire crowd’s hands and heads raised to sing a long. As the track goes on it builds up into throat vocals which seem far better justified than those included in the later tracks on this release.

The second track is ‘Ignorance At It’s Best’ which proves the playing skills of the band with a 50 second instrumental introduction which doesn’t feel a second too long. However there is something displeasing about the way the mood suddenly jumps to screams in the middle of very enjoyable tuneful playing.

The final track ‘Questions’ doesn’t tackle the issue much better either. Just as the escalating guitar raises to the chorus-expect level, listeners are instead ‘treated’ to unnecessarily aggressive throat vocals. Thankfully the guitar soon returns with melody but then once again there are throat vocals which seem forced to make the music sound heavier than it really is.

Underneath the vocals, the songs and instrumentation are strong but Stars Of The Search Party need to learn that you don’t need throat vocals to rock.

(6/10)

Listen to more from Stars of the Search Party at Myspace

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Reviewers: We are being contacted by Promoters to feature live reviews and albums on the site, if you would like to get involoved with attending shows for us all over the UK and/or reviewing albums/ singles for us, Please get in touch via gettothefront@gmail.com

Gettothefront: Your debut single ‘Cause An Effect’ is released on July 12th could you tell us a bit about the track and the inspiration behind it?

NFA: I wrote the song with a guy called d-bridge who is a UK based producer. The song has a real anthemic feel to it, it’s a real song to get the people involved, with the ‘through your hands up’ chorus. I wanted to take it further than just a great chorus though. There is a message involved too, it’s about getting up and getting moving. The lyric about dirty cops I didn’t mean as it sounds, not all cops are dirty! But you get bad cops, when those ones tell you to freeze it is a lot scarier!

GTTF: Your friend Heath ledger produced your video for ‘Cause An Effect’ what was it like working with Heath and as a friend what would you say was your favourite Heath Ledger film and why?

NFA: Working with him was awesome, it was fun, it wasn’t stressful, it was easy. He knew what he was trying to get from everything. It was like being in a fast car and knowing you have got a really good driver. As for my favourite Heath film, there is two actually, definitely Dark Night but also a film that not many people saw called Four Feathers. I thought he really stepped up in that. It’s a really great film.

GTTF: What was the first song that really caught your imagination?

NFA: Probably Thriller. I was pretty young, there was a lot of music that caught my emotions and soul but that really caught my imagination, it used to really scare the s*it out of me!

GTTF: What posters did you have on your wall as a kid?

NFA: I had all the posters my brother didn’t want anymore. Stuff like LL Cool J, Run DmC, a magic Johnson picture, he was the best!”

GTTF: What was the first gig you went to as a paying customer?

NFA: When I was a kid I used to hang around with some of the older kids, i’m not really sure why, I think I was their mascot or something.I went to see Ice T and Public Enemy, it was insane, I must have been about 12 years old!

GTTF: What is the Most embarrassing track on you iPod?

NFA: Tonight’s Gonna Be A Good Night, actually no I don’t have that on my Ipod, to be honest I can’t even remember what is on my Ipod.

GTTF: Name the one song you think everyone should hear.

NFA: Other than ‘Cause An Effect’! ‘No Woman No Cry’

GTTF: Dead or alive, what 5 acts would you have play with you at a festival?

NFA: Rage Against The Machine, Big Daddy Kane, In XS, Burning Spear and Leave Us Alone (The Band).

GTTF: You have toured with the likes of De La Soul, LL Cool J, Linkin Park and Arrested Development but which tour was the most fun to play on and why?

NFA: Arrested Development was pretty fun because they were really great guys and the whole crew were really nice and made you feel at home. They would come and watch my shoes too. The crowds were better on other tours but that was the most fun.”

GTTF: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

NFA: When you are on stage don’t look at the ground, you have to stare those mother f*ckers in the eyes.

GTTF: Finally what have you got planned for the rest of the year?

NFA: Keep building those blocks towards world domination, and try to stay happy.

Listen to more fom NFA at Myspace