3 NEW pre-orders up today… JoFo, FTA and MFT!

I’ll be focussing more on these indivdual releases over the next week or so, but it’s with abnormally HOT pleasure that I’d love to tell all you sweet, charming poppers. THERE’S 3 NEW PRE-ORDERS UP FOR YOUR PERUSAL TODAY! Thinking it might be nice to stick ‘em up together you know, to save postage and stuff – let me introduce them all briefly in no particular order….

Freeze The Atlantic – Waking Up EP

Oh man, this has been a LONG time coming, and by god it’s worth the wait. Personal revered heroes of mine from Reuben and Hundred Reasons have come together with other talented champs, smashed a whole load of finger-dented genius through their instruments and *BANG* – Freeze the Atlantic are born. This EP is glorious, 3 tracks of melodic balls out rock-pop genius – and all complete in its own Colour by Numbers sleeve, complete with wax crayons to literally colour it in by numbers! Stay in the lines though yeah…

My First Tooth – Sleet and Snow EP

A band who epitomise all things Alcopop! They’re our longest-serving, and it’s no surprise – because from the moment I heard Ross’s melodic vocals harmonising over a medley of folk-pop genius and met these tender champs from Northampton, I fell head-over-heels in love. My First Tooth are put simply, wonderful! This, their last single from debut LP Territories is a tour de force… And available to you for free. Seriously, no cost and all physical product. We just need this in your lives!

Johnny Foreigner – Are Cursed Frisbee EP

I’ve been wanting to do this for sometime now, a straw poll on Twitter showed me that Frisbees were way cooler than beach balls, so we’re getting all fun again with JoFo… Birmingham’s absolute finest (fuck yes!) These jet black Frisbees are white printed with ghostie print, 4 Trk CD is attached underneath – and imagine how cool you’ll look on the beach! Remember those bullies you still simmer resentment against cos they kicked over your sandcastle when you were a kid? Well you > them!

All available in the shop now, with a cheeky little deal on all 3 if you should be so inclined. See you in the shop yo? xxx

2,500 followers on Twitter = Gifts for all :-)

Oh my! Just realised last night we were a mere 7 shy of 2,500 followers on Twitter… And so, with the magic of the night time and a few new followers (including the awesome @jackhayter – ex violinist of Hefner and current solo star on Audioantihero Records)… we’ve only bloody gone and got there!

Seems reason enough for a celebration to me – so being a penniless indie who don’t have the resources to print 2,500 gaudy tees proclaiming you’re in the pop gang, we’ve instead procured an exclusive track from Stagecoach (Giles remix by Rob Lintott that sounds like a spicy lemon jelly!!!) and got a rather tasty 15% discount voucher for you for the PoP Shop from this link here - just in case you fancy a flutter on any of our fine goods over the next couple of weeks. Plus the first 5 orders we receive today will all snare themselves a 4 track Candle Thieves Sunshine Song promo.. Just for fun you know

But the main thing today – is just to thank you all for being involved. We really appreciate your support, love and continuous kindness towards the label.. Rockin

Pulled apart by Matt Emery!

You know PoP favourites Stagecoach right? Well if you don’t get yourself into this shop and make good that mistake right away … If you do, you’ll no doubt be aware of delicious little Matty Emery – a charming gent from Dorking who not only hits things, but sings like an angel and plays the guitar/piano like an angel as well. Well – see, he’s been all sorts of busy of late and has put out this rad Pulled Apart by Horses cover album – where he’s covered some of their biggest hits, and looks like Andrew WK on the front cover.

That works for me – and you can download it for free here… Nice eh?

He’ll make you dance with his balls of fire!

Freeze the Atlantic Waking Up Video

Won’t you take a little gander at what’s just dropped! How awesome is this this… Freeze the Atlantic kicking out the jams, with the EP coming in slightly less than a month! Eek, we’re all sorts of excited. For starters, see below -

Aloud.com tell PoP where to go – Festivals wise

As festival season slowly creeps up on us it’s time to start thinking about which ones will be worth a look this year. I was all set to write a beautiful long and winding post to help out, but then the web editor of Aloud.com got in touch to help me out. She writes for a living, so we thought – yeah, lets go Callie! Her selection is strong, though she unfortunately missed Southsea, ROTW, Sothport Rocks, SWN and Alcopopalooza (ahem) which will all be ace. For now though, try these bad boys!

The Great Escape

This Brighton festival is in its sixth year now, remaining to be a culmination of the best new talent handpicked for your festival pleasure – seriously, it’s everywhere. Undoubtedly you’ll discover some new fave bands, new fave albums and maybe even have time for a cheeky ice cream by the seaside…

The acts I’d be most excited about seeing at The Great Escape this year are Warpaint, Niki & The Dove and The Heartbreaks… But the entire line-up will be completely awesome, and with tickets pricing from £45 for a 3 day weekender pass you might be able to choose one (or two?!) other festivals from this list too… Also at the Unofficial Great Escape look out for The Alcopop/This is Fake DIY stage at The Patti Pav which will be ace!

So if you fancy Escaping Greatly on the 12-14 May this year then check out Aloud.com for tickets and more info.

Camden Crawl

Taking place in Camden, London (obvs) you can definitely expect a bit of a messy bank holiday weekend with the Camden Crawl. With a line up including the likes of Johnny Foreigner, Frankie & The Heartstrings and Dananananaykroyd you can expect a couple of days of mayhem, soundtracked with some awesome tunes.

Plus, you never know, Noel Fielding might pop along for a pint (unless that puts you off – then he probably won’t).

The Camden Crawl will be the 30th April – 1st May this year and weekend tickets are priced from £54. You’ll be able to get your Camden Crawl tickets at Aloud.com.

Truck Festival

Truck Festival is having a go at it’s 14th year on July 22nd, 23rd and 24th 2011. Previous artists include The Futureheads, The Young Knives, Ute (yes!) and These New Puritans so you know you’re in good company. Originating as a respite from the predictable line ups of mainstream festivals it has grown in popularity year by year and definitely won’t disappoint anyone looking for a bit of an alternative music scene.

The line up already includes ace acts such as Fixers and Trophy Wife, with more being added all the time – so keep checking up for more announcements! Steventon, Oxfordshire might seem slightly out in the sticks, but you get a lot of wicked bands for your £99 weekend ticket meaning you won’t be parting with your savings too painfully…

Check out Aloud.com for Truck Festival tickets.

Redfest

This Surrey-based festival has a pretty impressive history of good bands ranging from Blood Red Shoes to Laura Marling, White Rabbits to Enter Shikari. Weekend tickets are £45 with camping included, and it’s also just on the outskirts of London – easy peasy to get to.

With a dance tent, an introducing stage, a main stage which will feature Jumping Ships, (and a beer tent) there will be something brilliant right up everybody’s proverbial alley. Catch it this year on 22nd and 23rd July.

Go to Aloud.com for more info, news and Redfest tickets.

Green Man

With folky Fleet Foxes headlining this years Green Man festival I’d definitely recommend this one. In the depths of Wales, the Brecon Beacons to be precise, you also get a bit of a country retreat thrown in for good measure too.

This festival has a proper hippy vibe to it with all night bonfires, literature readings and beautiful scenery enhancing your weekend of music. Ute are playing too! This year you’ll need to head down to Glanusk Park Estate on the 19th, 20th and 21st August to enjoy the Green Man eco-friendly festivities.

So if you fancy heading over to Green Man Festival get your tickets from Aloud.com.

Thanks Callie – cheers for that!

FREE 7 Track Alcopop compilation on 7 Digital!

Good old 7 Digital! Handsome folk galore there no doubt, and they’re really excelling themselves this week with their free download and competition… Cos they’ve got all Alcopop! – and decided to give away our latest compilation (made specially for them) called ‘We’re Always Looking for Something to Hold On to. We’re With Our Friends, They’re the Best Thing We Can Find!’ (10 indie cool points if you get that reference) – and it’s all free to you, and your pals – and your grandfather if he should so desire it.

The tracklisting goes a little something like this… Actually, I lie. It goes exactly like this. Crack on over here to pick it up.

Headbangers Ball by Stagecoach
Who Needs Comment Boxes When You’ve Got Knives by Johnny Foreigner
Silent Spring by My First Tooth
As Dew In Aprille by Screaming Maldini
Sounds of the Stereo by The Attika State
The Whole Truth by Jumping Ships
Bunker by Ute

Plus – for all you coolest kids who already have everything this compilation delivers, there’s a pretty rad competition too where you can win a whole load of PoP stuff. Get involved if you fancy a bumper load of post coming through courtesy of those 7 Digital lot.

Yes!

Jumping Ships – Heart and Hope

So the pint-sized Brighton pop-kings Jumping Ships released their first single with Alcopop on Monday. Smashing times were had at the launch show at the OBL, and we’ve barely recovered… Much praise has been received for it from across the blogosphere – and you aint gonna believe the review it got in Rock Sound (more to come on that)….

Both new songs are outstanding said Ambassador Beats, Snapshots and Snippets called in Anthemic! Music in Oxford got a little confused about radiators but seemed to like it nonetheless, whilst Eclectically Challenged were ‘proper charmed’. Shout 4 Music gave it 8/10 and Keep Pop Loud reckon it’s HUGE! They’re not wrong.

And just in case you need any more convincing? Listen below to the 3 track single (including a remix by Alex R Winter which is ACE. Available fairly cheap on iTunes, or from our shop even cheaper (with the option of an awesome T-Shirt single too!)…

Choose Life… Choose My First Tooth B Sides

Yesterday evening I spent ages crafting a really ace blog post about Ross from My First Tooth in which I beautifully bought across his demeanour, put together an (only slightly) falsified duologue between the two of us where he wept over a burrito whilst I brilliantly stepped in to sort out all his problems with a hearty viking smile.

Unfortunately, due to the crapness of the Oxford Express wi-fi it has all been lost, and I can’t bring myself to wirte it again. Therefore, Let me just say thus!

MFT ARE RELEASING SLEET IN SNOW IN APRIL, AND THEY WOULD LOVE YOU TO HELP THEM CHOOSE THE B-SIDE – SO TELL US YOUR FAVOURITE TOOTH TRACK, AND THEY’LL MAKE THE WINNER HAPPEN (ALL LOVELY AND ACOUSTIC) AND DEDICATE IT TO ONE OF THE PEOPLE WHO ASKED FOR IT….

I haven’t actually checked this is OK with Tooth, but I reckon we’ll probably dedicate it to you on iTunes if you win! How cool will that be yes – Tooth… We’re doing it Enter today by leaving a comment in the box below, or emailing us on ilovealcopop@googlemail.com