Eden Sessions Set to Return

Cornwall's Eden Project offers one of the most unusual settings for live concerts - with the stage, surrounded by vegetation and tropical bio-domes; and the concerts will kick off this year with a performance by the Verve on 27 June.

The Verve split in April 1999 and vocalist Richard Ashcroft, once called “the greatest singer in the world” by Coldplay’s Chris Martin, forged a successful solo career with the release of three albums, but last year it was announced that the band would reform with the original line-up.

This will be the seventh year of the Eden Sessions, and previous years have featured Muse, Amy Winehouse and Pulp. Due to their setting the gigs will also be fairly eco-friendly, as they will follow Eden Project policies such as 'waste neutral', their effort to ensure everything possible is recycled or reused.

edenproject.com/arts/3280.html

Panic At The Disco to Headline Honda Eco-Tour

Details of the 8th annual Honda Civic Tour were announced today, and this year Las Vegas band Panic at the Disco will be headlining the eco-friendly gigs.

Just like the Fall Out Boy tour last year, a Honda Civic Hybrid, fully customised and autographed by the band, will be taken along to each concert, and gig-goers will have the chance to win the car at the end of the tour.

New environmental initiatives this year include a partnership with nonprofits Reverb (a leader in the "greening" of concert tours) and Global Inheritance (a champion of progressive causes). They will host fun, eco-minded interactive exhibits during the tour, and for every ticket purchased $1 will go into a kitty that will be split between the two organizations.

The tour kicks off on 10 April in San Francisco and will close in Anaheim, Ca. on 14 June. A full schedule, on-sale dates and support acts will be announced at a later date.

civictour.honda.com

Peats Ridge to be Final Green Festival of 2007

2007 has been the year of the green festival, and it was a year that green went mainstream in the music festival industry. No longer is it just the spiritual, ‘hippy’ festivals that tout their sustainable policies and power their stages with bio-diesel, but rock festivals like the UK’s Download festival have made great green efforts too – and to round off the green festival year, Australia’s Peats Ridge Festival has plenty of eco-initiatives too.

The festival, which takes places on 29 Dec – 1 Jan in a field an hour north of Sydney, lacks any big name international bands, but has plenty of choice, with over 400 acts playing on 15 stages around the festival site, a mass fancy dress New Year’s Eve party, and dozens of green activities.

The Ecoliving stage, for instance, will give festival-goers the chance to learn about worm farming, building straw bale walls or renewable energy – and around the site the festival will be showcasing a wide variety of eco-friendly initiatives.

Stages will be powered by bio-diesel and solar power, food vendors will use biodegradable plates and cutlery, the festival will use odor free composting toilets, recycled art, make use of onsite bike couriers and offer a carbon neutral ticket option.

The festival is also making an extra effort to encourage ticket holders to arrive at the festival by bike. As well as organizing a scenic, guided cycle ride to the site, cyclists will receive a extra night’s camping for free, a queue jumping pass and a chance to win an adventure cycling holiday.
2007 has been a good year for the green music festival industry, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement of course, and hopefully 2008 will be an even greener year.

peatsridgefestival.com.au

Meribel to Host Carbon Neutral Alpine Festival

The French ski resort of Meribel is set to be the location of Europe's newest music and comedy festival, and like so many new festivals, Altitude 2008, will continue the trend for eco-friendly festivals.

The event, which will take place from 5-20 April, will feature top British comedians such as Ed Byrne and Jo Brand, a host of up and coming bands and DJs and
several pro-riders will showing off their skills on the slopes.

Rather than taking in a field with a main stage, however, Altitude will make use of various venues in Meribel - a destination which was selected due to its eco-credentials.

Meribel's snow cannons, ski lifts and trail groomers all use hydro-electric power, recycling is mandatory in the resort; all radio relays are solar powered and piste cleaning parties are encouraged after the season ends. The festival itself will be aiming to go carbon neutral by offsetting travel costs and by holding their own tree planting event at the end of the festival, and two Euros from each ticket will be donated to the World Wildlife Foundation.

altitudefestival.com

Echo Festival Gets Atlanta Green

The inaugural Echo Festival kicks off in Atlanta on October 12, with three days of live music from bands including The Killers, The Flaming Lips (pictured), Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Thievery Corporation and several dozen more - but this festival isn't just about the music, as the organizers will also be aiming to spread an environmental message.

The sound and stage at the festival will be solar powered and the entire event will be carbon neutral. Festival goers have also been given the opportunity to neutralize the carbon footprint of their travel to the festival by upgrading to a green ticket for an extra $4, and a percentage of every ticket sold will be donated to Trees For The Future for green projects.

The festival is also making an effort to make sure the local environment is actually improved rather than damaged by the festival, with a clean up of the Chattahoochee River that runs alongside the festival site.

For more information head to the-echoproject.com

Oxjam concerts kick off in London

From October 1st stars including Fatboy Slim, The Kooks, Hot Chip, Jarvis Cocker and Jamelia will be squeezing into a converted 200 capacity Oxfam charity store in east London to launch the the month-long Oxjam music festival.

Despite the tiny size of the Oxjam venue, the festival will in fact be the largest music festival in the UK - but only because thousands of similar events are being put on by music lovers across the UK – from large-scale festivals to local sponsored busks.

All the events will be raising money to fight poverty around the world. Last year, around 20,000 music lovers took part in 1,100 music events, and the festival generated £500,000 for Oxfam.

The target of £1 million from Oxjam this year would be enough to provide safe water for almost 1.4 million people, 20,000 emergency shelters or essential medicines for 10,000 villages.

To find out what Oxjam events are going on in your area this October, visit oxfam.org.uk

First award winning green music festivals announced

With the music festival season in the UK heading to a close, the Greener Festival organisation has announced its first award winners.

Festivals that will receive the award signed up to Greener Festival's A-Z of twenty six green pledges and passed muster with the AGF team's on-site visit. They include in no particular order:

Leicester's Summer Sundae Weekender
The Sunrise Celebration
Latitude Festival
Big Green Gathering
The Glastonbury Festival
Edinburgh Film Festival
The Glade
Big Session Festival

Download Festival was also awarded a 'best improved' award thanks to its transformation from being the least eco-friendly festival in 2006 to one of the greenest in 2007.

A Greener Festival's co-founder Claire O'Neill said "abandoned tents were a major problem in 2007. This year's rain and mud at many festivals coupled with tents selling for under £10 meant that many festival goers left behind their accommodation - with even the most organised festivals struggling to deal with thousands and thousands of tents.

"A number of festivals trialed bio-diesel this year but there are continuing concerns about unsustainable palm oil plantations. Other issues are pollution and the carbon footprint from private cars at festivals - we are keen to push public transport and car sharing, and hope to see more local produce/suppliers being used by events in 2008, not only to reduce mileage but to help benefit local economies."

agreenerfestival.com

Leicester's Summer Sundae Weekender goes green

The Summer Sundae Weekender, which takes place on 10-12 August in the grounds of DeMontfort Hall in Leicester, is the latest festival this year to announce a range of new green initiatives.

As well as using bio-degradable plastic pint glasses and compostable plates and cutlery, the festival also be running a 'message in a bottle' competition to encourage recycling - anyone recycling bottles around the site will be able to insert a form with their name and contact details scribbled on it, and a random winner will receive a bunch of festival goodies.

Summer Sundae Weekender, which will be headlined by The Magic Numbers and The Divine Comedy, is also aiming to be the UK’s first carbon negative festival. To achieve this they will be dishing out energy saving lightbulbs to the 6000 plus festival goers.

The festival have also teamed up with ticket agency Gigantic, who donate 10 percent of its booking fees to assist with renewable energy projects across the world. (which should be a lot of money considering how extortionate booking fees usually are).

summersundae.com

Virgin music festival to 'green it like they mean it'

The second annual Virgin Festival in Baltimore, which features the Smashing Pumpkins, Amy Winehouse and the Fratellis, is aiming to be one of the greenest music festivals of the year.

The festival takes place on 4-5 August at the Pimlico Racecourse, and as well as a very appealing lineup, the festival is also introducing a wide range of eco-initiatives in an attempt to become 'near zero waste'.

Green schemes include the use of biodegradable products, such as plates made of sugarcane and cups made of corn; paper products, such as toilet paper and posters, will use recycled paper and soy based ink, and recharging stations for mobile phones, generators and light towers will all run on biodiesel.

Several of the Virgin Festival props and buildings will be also be built from sustainable materials, including bamboo, FSC-certified lumber, organic cotton, and recycled materials - and these will be reused, recycled, or donated to the local community after the festival.

The festival website even suggests several green ways to get to the festival, including car-pooling, the metro and even swimming - but here's the websites advice for swimmers:

"Currently there is no direct water route to Pimilico Race Course. However, if you are traveling overseas to attend Virgin Festival and you're an exceptionally strong swimmer, consider the idea of using the breast stroke to transport yourself from your flat in London to the festival."

virginfestival.com

Recyclable tent to offer green festival camping option

This year’s Glastonbury washout resulted in around 15,000 muddy, broken tents being abandoned on the festival site - causing a pretty large clearance headache for the Glasto organisers.

A new invention from British designer James Dunlop, however, is aiming to tackle the tent waste problem head on.

His creation, dubbed the MyHab, is a two person, recyclable tent made from waterproof cardboard and plastic walls, which will give festival campers a hassle free green option.

Festival Goers will be able to book a MyHab online, the MyHab team will then pitch it ready for use upon arrival, and disassemble it after the event - recycling the cardboard parts and keeping the plastic walls to reuse at the next festival.

MyHabs will be available to hire during the 2008 festival season, but they will also be making an appearance this summer at festivals such as the Big Green Gathering and the Electric Picnic as the Myhab team give them a full festival test.

The eco-friendly MyHabs also feature a cushioned floor, a pin activated locker and will come with a wind up torch.

Buying a good quality tent that can survive the storms and be reused year after year is still a better option of course, but the MyHab could become an ideal, waste cutting, alternative to the thousands of ‘single use’ tents that are dumped each year. Keep an eye out for them next year.

myhab.com

Climate change to headline this weekend's festivals

Music fans are set to due to get a lesson on climate change this weekend, with Live Earth events and Scotland's T-in the Park putting the issue high on the agenda.

The Live Earth events, which will take place in eight cities across the globe including New York, London, and Sydney, will also be broadcast live, and aim to spread their environmental message to an audience of millions.

T-in the Park, however, will be spreading the climate change message to a smaller, but still significant audience of 80,000 people.

Actress Katie Leung (Cho Chang in the Harry Potter films) will be taking to the stage to encourage festival goers to sign up to the Christian Aid Cut the Carbon campaign and join a Cut the Carbon rally planned for 21 July in Edinburgh’s Meadows.

The carbon neutral festival, like many of the major music festivals this summer, will also be running a beer cup recycling scheme and a battery exchange scheme - but there are no details of what they will do with abandoned tents and wellies should the weather turn bad.

These events are certain to raise awareness of what can be done to combat climate change, but we will have to wait and see if they do in fact have any lasting effect.

T-in the Park
Live Earth

2000 Trees festival to use paperless tickets

The small 2000 Trees music festival in Cheltenham will be one of the first UK festivals to use mobile phone tickets.

The service from Tixmob allows festival goers to book online and have the ticket sent directly to their mobile phone, or to their friends phones.

This not only does away with paper tickets, but also the extortionate booking fee that many ticket agencies apply to their ticket services.

The Two Thousand Trees Festival will be held near Cheltenham on 13th & 14th July and features a line up of local bands including The Novocaines and INME. The festival will also cap ticket sales at 2000.

There is no mention yet, however, whether the festival will follow the example of this year's Download Festival and also use paperless programmes by bluetoothing the lineup to festival goers.

twothousandtreesfestival.co.uk

Mini wind powered phone charger to be showcased at Glastonbury

Prototypes of a new portable wind turbine, designed for recharging mobile phones, will be on display at this year's Glastonbury Festival.

The mini turbines, developed by mobile phone company Orange, weigh only 150grams and are small enough to pack in a rucksack. Once mounted onto a tent they will store up enough energy throughout the day to recharge a phone in around one or two hours.

The turbines are not yet on sale, and there's no mention of how they'd cope in a traditional Glastonbury downpour, but they certainly have the potential of being a useful addition to any camping or festival kit list.

gotwind.org

Fall Out Boy go eco with Honda

The Honda Civic tour has been running in the US for the past seven years, and this year its Chicago band Fall Out Boy who are headlining the tour and helping to push Honda’s eco-message.

At each of the concerts Honda have been showcasing their hybrid cars, and their new natural-gas-powered Honda Civic GX – a custom version of which is being given away at the end of the tour.

The Civic GX doesn’t use petrol and produces nearly zero emissions; and the custom FOB car also features interiors made using black hemp fabrics, custom graphics and RideTones® - an audio system that allows the driver to add sound effects to functions such as locking and unlocking the doors – so it’s quite possibly the coolest eco-friendly car to ever hit the roads.

During the tour Honda have also promoted carpooling, printed the concert program on recycled paper and ran a test "Eco-village" at the concert in Buffalo, where concertgoers could sample a myriad of eco- friendly products and learn about the latest options in green technology.

Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz sums it up nicely: "It's so awesome that Honda is letting us give away eco-friendly Civics on this tour. The GX is the cleanest car on earth. Who wouldn't want that?”

civictour.honda.com

The Outsider to be Scotland's greenest festival

Unique, boutique festivals have been popping up all over the place in the last few years.

In Wales' surfers and boarders head for Wakestock every July, in England fancy dress lovers swarm to Bestival each September, and now in Scotland mountain bikers and fell runners have The Outsider Festival.

The inaugural festival will take place in Cairngorms National Park on 22-24 June, and although the festival does feature a reasonably appealing lineup - K.T. Turnstall, Idlewild, Willy Mason; it is the adventurous range of festival activities that offers the biggest draw.

Events taking place during the festival include the Merida Mountain Bike Marathon, the 12km Most Beautiful Run and an environmental forum hosted by Kirsty Wark.

Festival goers will be also able to take part in activities such as rafting on the River Spay, gorge walking, hill climbing, and workshops teaching navigation and bushcraft skills.

The environmental forum will feature debates, films, and the Dragon's Glen - a competition where contestants will be able to pitch their energy saving schemes to a panel of eco- entrepreneurs for a shot at the £1000 prize.

The festival itself will also be green, and is encouraging ticket holders to use car sharing schemes and public transport to get to the site, and recycle everything while there.

Source: outsiderfestival.co.uk

The I-junk Generation

A few years ago travelling with music involved carting around a brick sized walkman and a bag full of mix-tapes; but now travellers are able to carry their entire music collection on on an MP3 player the size of a stick of gum - with an increasing number of people digitising their music, however, it does leave one problem - what to do with all the old CD's.

Around 800,000 CDs were sold worldwide when they were first introduced in 1983, and by 2004 that figure had risen to 3.5 billion a year - but leaving unused CDs to gather dust isn't the only option for unwanted albums.

CDs, jewel cases and the inserts can all be recycled - although there are currently few facilities able to handle CDs. One organisation that does is the London based Laundry, who gather CD's sent in by post, and send them off to be transformed into coat hangers, key fobs, packaging foam and even shiny, new CD cases.

Records, CD's and cassettes aren't the only musical iJunk, of course. The rapid release of new technology means that the iPod you bought a couple of years ago is out of date just in time for Christmas, when the new range of tiny music players hit the market.

Ipods in particular have come under criticism for their short lives - with batteries prone to giving up and fragile screens cracking after only a year's use. But new EU legislation could encourage manufacturers to create products with much longer life expectancy - as they will be responsible for recycling gadgets when they die.

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive is due to come into force in the UK on 1 July 2007, and will allow shoppers to hand in old electronics, such as music players and mobile phones, at the store where they buy their new gadgets.

Read more...

The Take Back schemes could result in a new wave of electronics that use less materials, last longer and use alternative energy sources and materials; and some manufacturers are already exploring alternatives.

Sony, for instance, has been using corn-based plastics in the casings of CD and DVD players for several years. The material is just as tough as oil-based plastic, yet will biodegrade without releasing harmful toxins; but here's the catch 22 for tree huggers - this environmentally friendly plastic is made using genetically modified plants.

Hemp-based plastics are also used to make CD and DVD cases, and Taiwanese firm MFI are currently developing the world's first MP3 player with built in solar panels, but the first truly eco-friendly MP3 player has yet to arrive.

Electrical goods are the biggest growing waste source in the UK, but the future is looking brighter, and the iJunk mountain may soon begin to shrink.

Download festival gets green

Download 2006 was, by the organisers own admission, the dirtiest music festival of the year.

Over £250,000 was spent clearing up the mess left by 70,000 moshers, and so this year, in an effort to be more socially repsonsible, and to save money, the festival is making an effort to go green.

Initiatives include a national car sharing network to get punters to the festival site; instead of printed programmes festival goers will be bluetoothed the lineup, unwanted tents at the end of the festival will be donated to charity, and events staff will use bicycles and bio-diesel vehicles to get around the site.

Campers will also be able to attend eco-workshops, exchange spent batteries for new ones, rather than throw them out and recharge their mobile phones by plugging into an exercise bike and pedalling for a few minutes.

Littered cans will be given to students to create a recycled art work during the festival - which will then be recycled into new cans; and even the waste from the porta-loos will be composted.

So is this the UK's greenest festival? It's certainly well on the way to achieving the title, and with a lineup that includes My Chemical Romance, Korn, Linkin Park and Billy Talent Download couldn't be further from the hippy, folk music image of other green festivals, and that has to be commended.
Source: www.downloadfestival.co.uk

Green band Guster to tour UK

We previously reported on the John Butler Trio's green efforts, but the title of world's greenest band may belong to US band Guster, who are heading to the UK to play a few gigs in London - and spread their green message.

At each of their shows Guster invite their audiences into their biodiesel tour bus and show off their biodegradable tableware, which is made from corn and potatoes.

The band only use rechargeable batteries on stage, their album liner notes are printed with soy ink and segways were their vehicle of choice in one of their recent videos.

Their eco-activities don't end there, however. Guster singer/guitarist Adam Gardener, and his wife Lauren, are also the founders of the Reverb organisation, which has helped artists including Norah Jones, Jack Johnson and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers go green.

As well as coordinating biodiesel fill-ups for tour buses, powering the concerts with renewable energy, and setting up recycling programs at the venues, Reverb also set up eco-villages at concert sites, where fans can sample eco-friendly products, learn more about alternative energy and even take a spin in a hybrid car.

Guster won't get crowds just because they're green of course, so it helps that the four piece produce some decent tunes. Check them out at i-tunes.

guster.com
reverbrock.org

Discrevolt aiming to kill off gig CD's

New startup business DiscRevolt has created a new way of buying music at gigs.

Bands signing up for the scheme upload their tracks to the website and deisgn a unique download card - each with a redemption code on the back.

Bands sell the cards, instead of or alongside CDs, on their merchstands at gigs, and fans entering the code on the Discrevolt website will receive credits to download the band's MP3's.

The cards cost less to produce than a small batch of CD's and can be kept as collectors items, which could result in the cards replacing sampler, promo and magazine giveaway CD's, helping to reduce the amount of CD's that end up in the bin.

The service is only fully supported in the US and the moment, but could soon expand if the cards prove popular.

Source: discrevolt.com

Spotlight: The Fall of Troy

The Fall of Troy flew onto musical radars' in 2005 with the release of their first studio album, Doppleganger - a fast paced, intense record that defied pigeonholing. And now, the trio have returned with their new album Manipulator.

The group excel at producing songs that keep the listener guessing, changing direction from insanely quick pick work to rhythmical choruses and mixing up aggressive vocals with tuneful lyrics.

This is a band that revel in defying song structures and expectations. "We wanted to expand upon our band in every direction musically and attitude-wise," Says singer/guitarist Thomas Erak. "To push the envelope even further than what we’ve done before. We’ve figured out what we want to sound like and it’s a million different things. We wanted to go in different directions and see where we could take it. I think we went above and beyond that."

Fall of Troy will be heading out on a headline US tour to support the new album later this year - but fans can currently catch them on tour with the Deftones.

thefalloftroy.com

Download the album from i-tunes

Live Earth Brazil announced

Rio de Janeiro is the latest city to join the global Live Earth series of concerts that will take place on July 7th.

The 24-hour Live Earth concert series will begin in Sydney, Australia and continue across all 7 continents with events in Tokyo, Shanghai, Johannesburg, London, Hamburg, and at New Jersey’s Giants Stadium.

The Copacabana concert, which could attract up to one million people, will be the largest event and the only concert to be entirely free.

Live Earth will bring together over 100 international musicians, including a reformed Spinal Tap, to help combat the climate crisis.

Source: http://liveearth.msn.com/

Bestival invents the poemcast

The theme for this year's Bestival Fancy Dress Parade is to be announced by the innovative new medium of the poemcast.

Cleverly disguised at a Podcast and free to stream or download from iTunes or www.sundaybestpodcast.com from this Monday, the poem entitled ‘One Night On The Isle Of Wight’ will enlighten ticket holders as to the concept for this year’s show.

Bestival, now entering its fourth year, has quickly gained a reputaion as one of the most innovative and entertaining music festivals in the UK - and last year's crowd of 10,000 were treated to an eclectic lineup, a mass fancy dress party and unusual arenas such as the Bollywood tent and the hidden disco - a stage literally hidden from the festival map.

This year's festival will be headlined by the Beastie Boys, The Chemical Brothers and Primal Scream, and new acts announced today include Rosin Murphy, DJ Yoda and Coldcut.

More information on Bestival's green initiatives will be announced soon, but as one of the UK's most imaginative festivals you can guarantee it will involve more than just recycling water bottles.

To get a flavour of Bestival's style check out the flash version of their website - which must already be in running for best festival website of the year.

Source: www.bestival.net

The world's greenest band?

Australian group the John Butler Trio have always embraced eco-friendly principals and politics, and now they have announced plans for a carbon neutral Oz tour, with tickets going on sale tomorrow (Friday).

Emissions associated with the ‘Grand National’ tour, such as concert electricity generated from the shows, air and road transportation including touring party and freight, will be calculated and a reinvestment will be made into renewable energy projects.

People travelling to the concert will also be able to purchase a green ticket at the meager extra cost of 50 cents – this money will also be donated to renewable energy projects to help make the tour truly carbon neutral.

The group will also use a biodiesel tour bus, offer organic cotton merch, use 100% recycled paper and soy based inks for all printed materials and stay at hotels identified as more sustainable.

JBT aren't just green of course, they are also one of Australia's finest musical exports. This tour will promote the group's latest album, 'Grand National', which has already gone platinum in Australia, and deserves to do far better within the UK.

johnbutlertrio.com
Download the album at i-tunes

Where ipods go to die

The UK is still lagging behind the rest of Europe when it comes to recycling electronic waste, but now i-pod users have a new way of recycling old and broken units.

BuyMyBrokeniPod.com offers cash for old i-pods, even if they're broken or have cracked screens. They aim to make a profit by selling on bulk loads of i-pods to recycling plants.

With over 100million ipods sold worldwide - each with a battery life of around a year, this scheme could help reduce the amount of ipods on the landfill, but of course, repairing is better than recycling when possible.

Source: www.buymybrokenipod.com

Green festival award launched

Musicians going carbon neutral and touring in bio-fueled buses are hot topics at the moment - and a new award scheme from greenerfestivals.com hopes to continue the 'greening up' of the music industry.

The Greener Festival 2007 award will be available to any festival which can meet the minimum requirements of a sixty question check list and commit to an ‘A – Z’ of green priorities - which include suggestions such as a dedicated green manager job and using local or FairTrade caterers.

The Greener Festival organisation was founded in 2006 after Glastonbury's Michael Eavis tried to work out what to do with the Wellington Boot mountain left on his farm and the Download festival was handed a £250,000 land-fill bill.

A Greener Festival co-founder Ben Challis said: “The Greener Festival 2007 award is to promote greening practices at music festivals. We don’t expect festivals to be able to meet every single point on our check list but they must reach a minimum standard. They need at the very least to have a coherent transport and travel policy promoting public transport; they must consider ways to reduce waste and pollution; they must have recycling on site and they must protect the environment and protect wildlife.”

Ultimately we expect all festivals to aim for a ‘leave no trace’ philosophy where their festival is totally green and leaves no impact on the environment

Source: www.agreenerfestival.com

Spotlight: Aïwa

Classic Arabic musical styles meet modern Western electronica full on in Aïwa's distinctive music. The collective was founded in 1998 by two Iraqi brothers who had emigrated to Rennes in France, and bolstered by five other musicans, including the unique vocal talents of singer Severine. The group have just released their second full length album 'Elnar'- an eclectic blend of scratching, jazz, Arabic rap and electronica that brings a new meaning to the term 'world music'.

www.aiwamusic.com

Spotlight: Pigeon John

Inglewood is not a glamorous location, the LA hood shares its borders with the likes of Crenshaw and South Central; but the fact that Pigeon John hails from the 'wood hasn't stopped him injecting a little California sunshine into his hip-hop.

After honing his skills in open-mic nights in LA, Pigeon John self-released his debut solo album back in 2002, and has now released his latest album 'Pigeon John and the Summertime Pool Party', a blend of old school hip-hop with the personality of Outkast.

www.pigeonjohn.com

Buy Pigeon John and the Summertime Pool Party:

Sounds of Reykjavik

Acts such as Bjork and Sigur Ros have indelibly labeled Icelandic music as eccentric yet bold and imaginative, and now a new generation of Icelandic bands are continuing to ignore all the musical rules. Here's the Jamble guide to the Reykjavik music scene.

Shadow Parade

With winters of seemingly eternal darkness it's no surprise that Iceland produces some melancholic music, yet even with song titles like 'suicide sing-a-long' and 'dead man's hand' Shadow Parade manage to avoid slipping into deep depression. A debut album is in the works, and it is sure to appeal to fans of Radiohead and Coldplay.

www.shadowparade.com/

Telepathetics

English may be their second language, but the Telepathetics will give any British pop-rock band a run for their money when it comes to writing sing-a-long choruses and upbeat melodies. Their self-released debut album 'Ambulance' is packed full of tunes that are bound to go down well at festivals or on the radio. It's a wonder this band have not yet been signed.

www.telepathetics.com

Kimono

A fusion of different sounds, as varied as traditional Japanese strings, 80's new wave and jazz brass come together to create Kimono's sound; and every track offers something different. Their latest album, 'Arctic Death Ship' features instrumentals inspired by the Icelandic landscape, English punk and Spanish lyrics; and despite having only released it in February, the four piece are already working on new material.

www.kimono.is

A red sun rises

Don't expect to be catching A Red Sun Rises live any time soon, as this drum and bass is still knocked out by one guy and his computer. This is music that appears to be hewn from Iceland's dark and dense volcanic rock itself, and with an EP in the works, A Red Sun Rises could be converting his sound to the live stage sooner rather than later.

www.myspace.com/aredsunrises

Spotlight: Phantasm

Escaping small town life is often the main goal for young bands stuck in the sticks, but ironically it's small town life that can give a band a unique sound.

This seems to have been the case for Phantasm, a four piece from New York state that have developed a musical style that refuses to be bound to one genre.

Their eccentric sound comes packed with personality and enthusiasm, with influences such as Incubus, Mars Volta and even James Brown shining through at times.

After a mammoth US tour and the release of their album 'Cunning Clever Actor', Phantasm are sure to have the record labels beating a path to their door.

www.enterthephantasm.com/

Spotlight: Haze

Rap meets flamenco to produce Haze's distinct and fresh style of Andulacian hip-hop - and it could never be accused of imitating the US hip-hop sound.

Haze, also known as Sergio Lopez, introduced his unique urban flamenco with the release of 'Cronicas del barrio' in 2004; and in June this year released his follow up album ‘El Precio de la Fama’ - and while they have brought Haze fame in Spain, he is of course still entirely unknown in the UK.

Haze specialises in blending modern Spanish rap with traditional Sevillian music such as flamenco and rumba; and his collaborations with traditional Andulacian singers, as well as fellow emcees, help generate his distinct sound.

His lyrics feature stories of love, political commentaries and tales of life on the streets of his native Seville, yet even without understanding his lyrics, its easy to appreciate that Haze boasts one of the most unique and original voices in the global hip-hop scene.

www.elhaze.com

Spotlight: Go Cadenza

Cramming six band members and a piano onto a stage may have proved to be a serious challenge, yet it has been worth it for this Leeds based band, as they have gathered a healthy live following and picked up a record deal with an Indie label.

The six members all come together perfectly to create some simply beautiful and mellow songs, bolstered by lead singer Paul's tuneful vocals and some eccentric melodies.

Lazy comparisons to Coldplay and Bensfold Five will be inevitable when Go Cadenza start hitting the airwaves, yet the band's sound is influenced by a far more diverse range of musical styles.

Go Cadenza are certain to find chart success, and in six months time, they're sure to playing venues large enough to give them some breathing room on stage.

www.myspace.com/gocadenza

Spotlight: Halogen

Pop rock melodies mashed together with a dark, downbeat tone is the order of the day for this Aussie band.

Being stuck out in Perth, the most isolated city on earth, may have helped this five-piece develop such a personal, and at times melancholic, style; and with seven years together Halogen have had plenty of time to refine their sound.

Kiwi-ex pat Jasmin Yee fronts the band with her sugar-tinged vocals, while an atmospheric blend of simple rock riffs and rhythms meld the songs together. Influences including the Cure and Duran Duran make their presence felt, yet pockets of electronica also shove songs in new directions.

www.halogenworld.com