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Tag "Bastille"

Bastille - Other People's Heartache

We’ve been strong supporters of Bastille (facebook/twitter) here on the Walrus since I first heard Dan Smith’s debut, FLAWS, last May and saw the band’s breathtaking live show. Since then, we’ve had the pleasure of reviewing their debut EP, Laura Palmer, featured their cover of City High’s What Would You Do on our TASTE Vol.1 mixtape, and put them forward as one of 2012′s bands to watch.

Now they are back with a free film-inspired mixtape (download) in Other People’s Heartache which includes reworkings of their own songs, covers of pop tracks from the likes of Lana Del Ray, and other delights such as a beautifully soothing acoustic version of Falling with samples from The Breakfast Club and featuring To Kill A King’s Ralph, whose Bloody Shirt Bastille previously remixed.


Bastille – Adagio For Strings (ft. Maiday)

Bastille – What Would You Do (City High Cover)

Bastille – Requiem For Blue Jeans (Lana Del Ray Cover)

Bastille – Of The Night

Bastille – Titanium (ft. Barnaby Keen Band)

Bastille – Love Don’t Live Here (ft. Rory Andrew, Jonas Jalhay and F.Stokes)

Bastille – Falling (ft. Ralph of To Kill A King)

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The Blog Sound of 2012

Every year the BBC makes up a list of what it thinks is “the definitive annual list of exciting new artists to watch out for” – as the list has been created by a number of industry “tastemakers”. They’ve been doing this for years, and I’ve been commenting at various points along the route.

This year, however, 32 of the finest music blogs around have come together to pick our favourites for the coming year. We’ve been wading through neck deep in the hype, and each picked five highlights for the next year, and these were then aggregated into the list you see below. Big shout out to all the Walrus friends and lovers involved – namely Breaking More WavesGod Is In the TVSweeping The NationThe Von Pip Musical Express, The RecommenderFaded GlamourDrunken WerewolfFlying With AnnaNot Many ExpertsUnderclassed Idle IdeasSonic MasalaMudkissThe Pop CopThe Ring MasterBoth Bars OnMusic From A Green WindowDots And DashesThe Daily GrowlAnd Everyone’s A DJKowolskiyJust Music That I LikeCruel RhythmThe Blue WalrusMusic Fans MicSeventeen SecondsEaten By MonstersSeven SevensUnpeeledNew Rave Brain Wave,PeenkoMusic Liberation and Song By Toad.

And which gems did we collectively pick as our Sound of 2012 longlist?

Houdini Dax – Psychdelic indie with a good few nods to the better parts of Brit-Pop
Houdini Dax – O.L.L. by See Monkey Do Monkey

Lianne La Havas – Soft and soulful acoustic beauty with a little tinge of jazz
Lianne La Havas – Gone (Live in LA) by Lianne La Havas

Theme Park – Tropical and danceable indie pop with a nod to the 80s [coverage]
Milk by Theme Park

French Wives – Uplifting and heart-warming indie from Glasgow
Numbers by French Wives

The Good Natured – Female fronted trio of electropop [coverage]
Video Voyeur by The Good Natured

Alt J – Groove filled, quirky, and slightly obscure but very catchy sounds from Leeds [coverage]
Breezeblocks (demo) by alt-j

The Jezabels – Soaring indie rock from Australia
Mace Spray by thejezabelsband

Lucy Rose – Sweet, subtle, and joyous acoustic beauty
Lucy Rose – Middle Of The Bed by Lucy Rose

Bastille – Soaring electropop that should get anyone to the dancefloor [coverage]
FLAWS by BASTILLE

Friends – Rhythm focused pop with an almost-carnival/ R’n'B sounds.
Friends – My Boo by LuckyNumberMusic

Meursault – Folktronica with songs built of beauty and noise [coverage]
Meursault – Flittin’ (Demo) by Song, by Toad

Daughter – Soft, slow, spacious and often haunting folk [coverage]
Daughter – Love (taken from ‘The Wild Youth EP’) by ohDaughter

Beth Jeans Houghton – All kinds of oddities rolled into an alt-folk package [coverage]
Beth Jeans Houghton – Dodecahedron by ronnierocket

Outfit – Wild Beats-esque exquisitely crafted indie.
Every Night I Dress Up As You by OUTFIT

Rachel Sermanni – Communion-supported Folk songstress with one of the best voices I’ve heard all year.
The Fog by Rachel Sermanni

This, ladies and gentleman, is a list and definitely worth a listen alongside the BBC’s own version.
Special thanks to Andy Von Pip for putting it together.

Who have we missed? Let us know in the comments.

UPDATE 02/01/2012: The winners have been announced…

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Bastille - Laura Palmer EP

Bastille (facebook/twitter) have proved themselves time and time again as one of my favourite finds of the year, and with the release of their debut EP Laura Palmer imminent – things are only going to get better for Dan Smith’s musical vehicle.

The title track, Laura Palmer, has been up on the Bastille Soundcloud for a good while now but is everything we have come to expect and love from their output – soaring vocals, shimmering synth lines and 80s-influenced electronic beats. Overjoyed is more of a pop-ballad, layering Smith’s reverbed vocals over simple piano and stuttering drums – subtle and beautiful in its own way.

Most exciting on the record though is Get Home, which has Smith’s voice put through the vocoder and owes much of its roots to The Postal Service – a band that helped bring soft, heartfelt electro-pop to the masses. It is delicate and alluring, and everything Bastille stands for.

Bastille – Laura Palmer EP is due for release on 14th November on Believe Digital

[Pre-Order] Bastille – Laura Palmer EP @ AmazonMP3
(Sign up to the Bastille mailing list to grab their debut Icarus)

Laura Palmer by BASTILLE
Bastille – Get Home (Dogtanion remix) by BASTILLE
And for good measure here is Bastille’s wonderful remix of To Kill A King’s Bloody Shirt
“Bloody Shirt” – To Kill A King (BASTILLE remix) by BASTILLE

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