When I was putting together the list for [intlink id="7187" type="post"]Foxes and Convicts[/intlink] I stumbled across this fella on Leeds Music Forum called Daniel Pearson. He’s been recording at the fast-becoming-legendary Soundmill studios in Leeds with one of the cleverest producers working in Leeds right now, Ed Heaton. If you haven’t heard of Ed before, you’ve probably heard of some of his work recently, producing Hannah Trigwell, Secret Sirens, and a few more including The Finnlys… But I digress.

Daniel is right up my street – So much so I was rather stunned I hadn’t heard of him before. Anyway, if you like your sweeping soundscapes to be anthemic and heartfelt, get involved.

Daniel’s on Facebook here, and Twitter here.

He has a new single – Wishing Well – out now.

Guestblog from @JoMurricane

The opening of Fazenda injected warmth and and vibrancy to an icy cold winter night in Leeds. The gas torches on entry were a welcoming sight to the guests as they arrived, and the restaurant itself is beautifully decorated, mixing brickwork with dark wood panelling, red carpets and candles together with vibrant music, you feel both comfortable and energised at once.

The Brazilian restaurant offers a new and exciting dining concept for Leeds, and it’s one that works exceptionally well. Fazenda uses the ‘all you can eat’ idea, in that diners pay a set fee to cover their meal, but they do it with such class and style. There is a salad bar, which offers an extensive range of delicious foods including gourmet salads, asparagus, sun blushed tomatoes, stuffed peppers, cured meats, and an impressive collection of cheeses. The selection is magnificent, so there’s definitely something for everyone.

However, the truly distinctive element of this restaurant is the meat. There is a selection of 15 cuts, which are carved and served from the kebab skewer at your table. I wasn’t sure how this would work in practice, and whether I would find it interruptive, but it was a really exciting way to dine, and allows you to take time over your food, and sample an incredible selection of meats, which are all cooked to perfection. The star of the show for me was the fillet mignon. It was cooked exceptionally well, and was perfectly tender. I also tried the rump steak, chicken thighs and cured sausages, which were all amazing, and there were all set off by the explosive chimichurri sauce that you find on every table.

The gaucho chefs roast the cuts of beef, pork, lamb and chicken using traditional techniques that have been used for centuries, and this restaurant is a fantastic way to share these with us. A simple method of having a card showing red or green tells the chefs whether you’d like to be served or not, so they never disturb you if you have enough and would like to be left to dine in peace. The staff members were all terrifically welcoming and friendly, providing such a great atmosphere that I didn’t to leave at the end of the night.

Fazenda is definitely a meat lover’s dream. There are even outlines of animals on the ceiling showing where the different cuts of meat come from. I think this is brilliant, and for me the way they respect and celebrate meat is fantastic, but I would warn vegetarians that this probably isn’t a restaurant for them!

Fazenda’s opening night was an exceptional success. All the guests seemed to be having a brilliant time, and the chatter and laughter in the room was a clear sign that the owners had struck exactly the right tone with this new venture. Fazenda has brought some Brazilian tradition and warmth to Leeds, and this new dining experience is one not to be missed.

Can you honestly say your weekend was better than… THIS?

From the Hope and Social Snowball

My BettaKultcha presentation has been uploaded!

If you’re having trouble seeing the slides, here they are, just click on the right hand side of them every 15 seconds!!

This month we have a real treat for you. A full interview and session from Yorkshire based “Living Bluesman” Tom Attah!

Listen in to hear how this ridiculously talented guitarist got started, and hear an exclusive Foxes and Convicts Session track of the first song he wrote: “How Long Has It Been?”

If you like the podcast, be sure to subscribe in iTunes, and for goodness sake, tell your friends!

Want to hear more? Come along to Milo on Wednesday 17 Nov at 8pm – it’s free in, too

Terms like “Feel-good event of the year!” get littered around far too liberally. However, last week at the Brudenell one of the most heartwarming gigs I’ve seen this year took place.

After winning the Glastonbury Emerging Talent competition this year, and being picked for the Leeds and Reading BBC Introducing stages in 2009, their EP release is long over due – but worth the wait. This is proper, great songwriting, and the four tracks are packed with emotion and respectfully produced.

The EP “Launch” – despite the EP having been available for a fair few months – was a really wonderful affair.

First up, Sam Airey. I listened to his Whiska’s-produced Season’s Change EP, and was very impressed, but that wasn’t a patch on his live set – looking totally natural and at ease with guitars on who-knows-what tunings, his voice was reminicent of a young Nick Drake.

I was wondering for a while why The Travelling Band sounded so familiar, putting it down to the catchyness of their tunes, which along with their spot-on harmonies and assured musicality made for a great set. It turns out that we (March of Dimes) supported them last year in Manchester. Oops. That said, it was a tremendous set and they’re clearly getting better and better.

A slightly weather-worn troupe of Escapades came on stage, with Ellen fighting that nasty throat infection that’s going round, and bassist Andy just about recovered from some ghastly sounding thing that took him out of action for the first half of the tour. Andy was, I am reliably informed, admirably replaced by Gary Stewart, despite not being tall enough to reach the tuning keys at the end.

As soon as the music started though, you’d never know. The stage at the brudenell – which generally looks like some of the places I woke up in during my student days after particularly hefty houseparties – was made all the more cozy with lamps, rugs and fairy lights.

I had only heard four or five tracks by Ellen and the Escapades through the EP and an online vid, but every song sounded both fresh and like an old favourite. An hour of great tracks flew by, showing that not only is the EP well worth getting and listening to over and over, but there’s plenty more great material to come too.

It was great to see so many faces from the Leeds music “scene” there too – Adam and a couple of the girls from LeedsIndieRadio, Gary Stewart (who’s album I finally bought, and sounds brilliant too – but more about that later), Charlie Barnes (who, as always, is working on some really interesting and exciting stuff), Chris Selman (almost unrecognisable in his day-guise as Teacher rather than Popstar… I mean how cool a teacher is THAT to have?) and a whole bunch of other people besides.

It’s clear there’s a lot of love for Ellen and the Escapades right now, it’s rightly deserved, and I do think we will see plenty more of her before long.

www.ellenandtheescapades.com

All photos ©2010 JoMurricane

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Hello all,

It’s all about the cuts today. Just in case you’re wondering about the lineup for this months Foxes, well, it’s been cut. We’re having a month off to get ourselves sorted out for the next, frankly wonderful, set of gigs.

If you’re heading to Milo anyway tonight, they’ll still have some bands on – always good value from them!

Next month we’ll have a bumper Foxes of exceptional quality, and you’ll get a nice invite about it very soon. I’m TRES excited about it. And you should be too.

Much love,
Sean & Jon
x

Last night at Foxes and Convicts we hosted the amazing Water Tower Bucket Boys! Thanks for the video, @Vahva!

Yet more good local new music for your eardrums – This week it’s Secret Sirens.

Secret Sirens are Narelle Frances and Andrew Siron. They both appear to have been knocking about in various different projects for a while, but this latest collaboration seems to have something a bit special about it.

Through the seemingly never-ending stream of guitar-guitar-guitar-boring-boring-boring acts that are always on the bubble, it’s nice to hear someone doing something a bit different… They’ve clearly spent some time building a nice atmospheric, layered sound.

New bands need to be told there’s no shame in sounding poppy!

Their new single, Black Heart, is out next month, so have a listen to a sample here:

And if you’re in Leeds, they’re playing Elbow Rooms tonight at 8:30!

Friday bonus: Here’s a clip from the remix of the single, also available next month:

http://www.secretsirensmusic.com

Secret Sirens on Facebook & Twitter

Sometimes, a place is just so nice to you, they deserve to be shouted about.

Last Friday, I was playing the Cockpit with March of Dimes. You might have heard me mention it once or twice.

Wondering around, Jon, Gordy and I needed a bite to eat quickly, and we popped by Viva. Wondering if we had enough time to get a bowl of pasta, Gordy asked very nicely if they could rush us through as we had a gig to play… Quick as a flash we were sat down, some very nice bruchetta was brought out and, what seemed a couple of minutes after we’d ordered, a plate of very tasty pasta.

We were in and out in 20 minutes, had some really great food at a great price, and left (being waved and hand-shaken by pretty much the entire staff) really happy that this is somewhere like Viva in Leeds. Proper Italian hospitality.

If the true measure of a place is how they deal with out-of-the-ordinary requests, Viva has to be one of the greatest examples of customer service in Leeds right now.

Well done them!