2012 February | Prince Baron Records

For the first time in Osale Rooms short history there is a phenomenon tonight that has occurred never before – an under-18′s night.

Now let’s get things straight, I’m not a fan of under-18′s nights. There’s many reasons for my disdain, but mainly because that the audience for these tween gigs will have an average age of about 15 or 16. Since I am 23, this does not look good for me attending such specialist gigs. Mostly though this usually means that alcohol isn’t readily available. I am not a fan of this rule.

So will Osale Rooms, and headliners 7 Day Weekend change my mind?

Well the night begins with all ticket-holders being asked their age, if you are over-18 you get a wristband which enables you to buy alcohol from the first floor bar. This is a win so far. So now that I’ve had one problem quelled, will the bands be able to show that they can rub shoulders with the big boys of Warrington? Well there are no less than 4 support bands on tonight, so 7 Day Weekend are clearly ambitious. I arrive to hear ‘The Thought Police’ playing. They sound good, Billie-Darian Hollyhead is particularly impressive with her thunder-drumming skills and they attract a fairly decent crowd. Their songs aren’t world-beating but they have enough talent that with time and experience, they can definitely become a great band. However their cover of the Oasis classic ‘Morning Glory‘ needs to be changed for something else. The music is perfect, but frontman Ryan Geraghty’s vocals just don’t have the rasp that’s needed to cover a song of that magnitude well. Still though, a definite one to watch in time to come.

But alas at around 9.30 pm 7 Day Weekend take to the stage, and Osale Rooms’ top floor begins to fill dramatically. There is a sizeable crowd gathered. The young audience came for some pop-rock and that’s exactly what they’re treated to. Anthemic guitars and verses with drums, bass and vocals are littered aplenty throughout their songs. And it’s all very…ok. 7 Day Weekend perform well to what their music is, and their audience loves it. But it simply doesn’t work that well for me. This is not to say that it’s bad music, it just doesn’t fit that well for me. Still, I’m particularly impressed with 7 Day Weekend’s playing ability. It’s tight, there are hardly any lost notes in their arsenal. They actually perform too, with included synchronised po-going. Frontman Calan Nickle is energetic, and commands the crowd well.Their finale, a cover of Taio Cruz’s ‘Dynamite’ is perticularly inspired. So it’s not at all bad.

So has this gig convinced me that under-18′s gigs are as good as adult gigs? In a word, no. But it does show that you can do a lot worse than see 7 Day weekend live.

3/5

Posted by Mike Glover on February 22, 2012
7 Day Weekend, The Thought Police

Prince Baron Records is pleased to present the very first Prince Baron Radio pod cast. We have put some of the best unsigned, unheard, new music together for you to listen to here on the site. Presented by Paul Darlington and Produced by Chris Roane, this week the show brings you a wide variety of genres along with Northern banter!

Komla- We belong together – www.facebook.com/komlamusic
Bee in the bonnet – Stuck – www.myspace.com/beeinthebonnet
7 Day Weekend – Hide – www.facebook.com/7dayweekend
Alpha road – Giants – www.facebook.com/alpharoad
Cielo – Summer of love – www.facebook.com/cieloofficial
40Dubstreet – Settle down www.40dubst.com

Click on the link below to listen. Go on, you know you want to…

http://snd.sc/xOi8w1

Posted by Mike Glover on February 15, 2012
7 Day Weekend, Alpha Road, Bee In The Bonnet, Cielo, Komla

Lana Del Rey’s meteoric rise in the 5 short weeks that 2012 has been kind enough to give us so far has been nothing short of phenomenal. She’s already been tipped by many publications as a one to watch for this year, even my fellow colleague here at Prince Baron Paul Darlington has been singing her praises.

So I clearly must be missing something, as for the second time Lana Del Rey has released a single which I have just found ridiculously dull. Just like ‘Video Games’ before it, it’s not that the song is bad it’s just so very…nice. But not in a good way. It’s nice in a way that you would say when you’re indifferent to something and you can’t really think of anything better to describe it. Maybe that reflects more on me, but I’m not hyped as the greatest thing since sliced bread, so I guess we’re even.

Lyrically the song is fine, with a chorus which is particularly good at painting the image of doomed lovers in the rain. But a song cannot be made by lyrics alone, it needs good instrumentation in this genre we call pop, and in some ways it hits home. The music is beautiful to listen to, you cannot fault that, but Miss Rey’s hushed-delivery over the top just sounds boring and thus drags the song down with it. Whereas her contemporaries such as Adele and Florence Welch can evoke emotion through their voices, Lana Del Rey just seems to go for the same delivery each time, like she doesn’t quite care. Maybe it’s just me.

Sorry internet (and Mr. Darlington), I just don’t get Lana Del Rey so far.

2/5

Here’s the video, see what you think

Posted by Mike Glover on February 5, 2012
Lana Del Rey

Share on Facebook, and send us your music!

At Prince Baron Records we are constantly on the lookout for new bands to feature on our website. We aim to mix our reviews of popular artists with those of new and up and coming local bands to help give them exposure to a wider audience.

We have over 1000 viewers to the site on a daily basis as people come to the site in search of the latest reviews and music videos, and the next review on the site could be one of your band. We’re even more likely to include it if you have a YouTube music video of your music, or this could even be of one of your main influences if you haven’t made one of your own.

Our Facebook page is also taking off with over 600 likes so far, and any reviews or articles we publish on the site get submitted to our Facebook page – exposing your music to a large audience.

If you have a band Facebook page you can like then share our page, via your band page, or like the page using your personal account then share it with your friends. Think of this as one of those gigs where you have to sell a certain amount of tickets so all the bands are playing to a new audience – but the advantage here is that your fans don’t have to pay a ridiculous price. The more people you share our page with – the more people who get to hear new, local upcoming bans such as yours.

Click here to visit our page and start sharing your music to a wider audience.

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A link to a YouTube video of your choice – one of your own is preferred but if not one of your influences will do.

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Posted by princebaron on February 4, 2012

Here at Prince Baron records we like bringing you the brightest upcoming artists around, well it’s the new year so that means we have a whole twelve months of new music and great songs to look forward to. So without further ado, I’ve gathered a little list together of which artists are going to be hot property in 2012.

King Charles

If you’re looking for a new indie hero for 2012 look no further than the English, singer-song writer from West London.
Now I’ve really been excited about this artist for a while after hearing the single ‘Bam bam’ back in December and have been hooked ever since. The look of King Charles is…hmmm…how can I say this… tremendous! Bigger hair than Marge Simpson and a moustache only outdone by Tom Selleck. However his striking appearance is only second to his great music.
Charles formerly of the band Adventure playground, toured with Noah and the whale and Laura Marling before disbanding in 2008. King Charles music is fun, upbeat and melodic. Full to the brim with catchy backing vocals for you to sing along to as well as beautifully crafted lyrics such as;

“You’ve the strength of the Greeks,
You are god’s master piece,
You are every triumph, every victory,
I believe in every breath you breathe.”

Surely though this is to be expected from the 2010 winner of the international song writing competition and classically trained singer.
With an upcoming album recorded in Hollywood expected to be released in early spring, King Charles will surely reign the Indie charts of 2012.

Daley
Singer -song writer Daley 22 from Sale, Manchester has one truly amazing voice, so very powerful and full of soul.
I came across Daley when listening to The Gorrilaz track ‘Doncamatic’ in which he features and I was blown away by this unique voice. Daley has gone on to feature in a number of musical cameos for such artist as; Emeli Sande, Wretch 32 and Estelle. However this year I believe he will receive the credit he is due from his solo work.
In august last year he released his 10 track mix-tape via his website for free download. I think it’s a great piece of work and well worth a listen, with a special mention for ’let it go’ which is possibly the coolest track not on your I-pod.
Another artist with big hair and big talent, I expect things only to get better for this guy, and he thoroughly deserves it. Go check him out!

Goyte

Much is anticipated from Wouter ‘Wally’ De Backer aka Goyte in 2012. The Belgian Born – Australian act had major success with ‘Somebody that I used to know’ released back in July 2011. The single went to the top of the alternative charts in 2011 and has stayed there since, and rightly so. A great piece of refreshing music which unites many different music fans in its appreciation. With this success I believe Goyte will be able to create many more hits for us in 2012, plus we can all expect more exotically, beautiful and darn right strange videos to accompany each hit.

Lana Del Rey
The beautiful American singer -song writer is set to own 2012 in which her debut album Born to die is released. The excitement of New Yorker, Del Rey within the music world has been somewhat ridiculous in recent months and she has been dubbed as a ‘self styled gangsta Nancy Sinatra’ lets just hope the talented artist can live up to the hype!