Fall Out Boy finish M A N I A and reveal track listing

After months of waiting and the band teasing about the new album, Fall Out Boy's M A N I A is finally finished.

The band set up IsManiaDoneYet.com, which boldly said NO once the page opened. However, the band tweeted the link yesterday and urged fans to open the webpage again, revealing that the album was finished. Not only that, but the site also shows a picture of the track listing as well - exciting!

The full track listing for M A N I A is:

1. Young & Menace
2. Champion
3. Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea
4. Hold Me Tight or Don’t
5. Last of the Real Ones
6. Wilson (Expensive Mistakes)
7. Church
8. Heavens Gate
9. Sunshine Riptide (feat. Burna Boy)
10. Bishops Knife Trick

The album is due to be released on January 19th through Virgin EMI UK/DCD2 Records. The original release date was September 15th, however the band pushed the date back after explaining that they were not fully happy with the quality of the album at that point.

You can listen to Last Of The Real Ones, the most recent single to come from the album, below:

Photo credits: Kerrang!/Fall Out Boy

'God's Favourite Band' return - Green Day announce new album

Pop-punk legends Green Day have announced the details of a new greatest hits album, entitled God's Favourite Band.

You'll only have to wait a little longer for the album, as it is set for release on November 17th.

The album will include 20 of the band's previous hits, including 'Wake Me Up When September Ends', 'Basket Case' and 'When I Come Around', as well as a multitude of others spanning the band's impressive career.

The album will also feature two new tracks: 'Back To The USA' and a new duet version of 'Ordinary World' with Miranda Lambert. The band have also posted on their Twitter that there will be a new music video, although they don't specify for which song.

God's Favorite Band https://t.co/z3DCs0Vyke pic.twitter.com/5dBRwK0cjx

— Green Day (@GreenDay) October 12, 2017

This will be the band's second 'best of' compilation, as they also released International Superhits in 2002. There was also a DVD entitled International Supervideos that followed, so here's hoping they do the same with God's Favourite Band (perhaps 'God's Favourite Videos'?).

The full track listing for God's Favourite Band is:
1. '2000 Light Years Away'
2. 'Longview'
3. 'Welcome To Paradise'
4. 'Basket Case'
5. 'When I Come Around'
6. 'She'
7. 'Brain Stew'
8. 'Hitchin' A Ride'
9. 'Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)'
10. 'Minority'
11. 'Warning'
12. 'American Idiot'
13. 'Boulevard Of Broken Dreams'
14. 'Holiday'
15. 'Wake Me Up When September Ends'
16. 'Know Your Enemy'
17. '21 Guns'
18. 'Oh Love'
19. 'Bang Bang'
20. 'Still Breathing'
21. 'Ordinary World' (featuring Miranda Lambert)
22. 'Back In The USA'

If you're having Green Day withdrawal symptoms and can't wait for the new album, pass (a small portion of) the time by listening to one of my favourites!

Photo credit: Unknown (please let me know if you know who to credit for both the photo and artwork)

Fall Out Boy have announced three UK/Europe headline shows

Fall Out Boy have announced three 2018 headline shows for the UK and Europe for their upcoming album, M A N I A. 

The dates, which are "only the beginning" according to the band's website, are:

January 8th - Lido, Berlin
January 10th - Debaser, Stockholm
January 11th - Brixton Electric, London

The band have also explained how to get tickets:

London, pre-order the album here. By Tuesday, 19th September at 4pm BST to get a unique pre-sale code to access tickets before anyone else on Wednesday, 20th September at 9am BST. If you live in the UK and already pre-ordered a bundle in our webstore, you’ll be sent a code. Not able to pre-order the album just yet? Sign up to the mailing list by Tuesday night to get access to the mailing list pre-sale on Thursday. Mailing list code will be sent on Wednesday by the end of the day.Stockholm + Berlin, your pre-sale starts on Thursday, 21st September at 9amBST/10am CEST. Sign up to our mailing list by Tuesday night to get the code sent on Wednesday by the end of the day here.

 No doubt there will be a lot more UK/Europe dates once the album is released on January 19th. In the mean time, why not listen to the newest song to come from the album, 'Last Of The Real Ones'.

Picture credit: Kerrang!

Critics announce new EP, Woodwork

Keep September 7th in mind folks as that's the day Critics release their upcoming EP, Woodwork via Spotify and Apple Music.

Woodwork will be the band's second EP release, and is the highly anticipated follow-up to 2016's EP, Spilt Milk.

The band's sound is very similar to that of Panic! At The Disco's recent releases and takes a new approach to the rock/pop overlap. They supported SayWeCanFly when he played in Manchester back in May and are fantastic live.

Vocalist Lynn Paighton wrote on the band's Facebook page about how Woodwork came to be:

"We've had an incredibly tough couple of years both as a collect unit and as individuals. Personal issues plagued our ability and desire to not onlycontinue making music, but to continue progressing in general when it came to pursuing our respective life paths.

Far too often I've been waking up in the morning only to dread the thought of making it through the day. Things got so dark at the start of this year that I couldn't even sleep without consuming a memory-erasing amount of alcohol. It got to the point where I was willing to give into the ghosts of lost friends, loved ones, depression and alcoholism once and for all. I was ready to quit music and abandon everything I believed in, as it felt like I had already lost so much and gained so little.

But despite the pressures, the loss, and the ever-consuming emptiness - for some crazily illogical (but inspiringly unknown) reason - here is 'Woodwork'." 

The track listing for Woodwork is:

1. Key Lime Pie
2. What Are You Waiting For?
3. Throw It Away
4. Soldier In The Sky
5. If Only I Had My Way

And check out the artwork:

Critics will also be playing a headline show at Thousand Island, London on October 25th where they'll be playing songs from both Spilt Milk and Woodwork. You can grab tickets here.

To get you excited for the Woodwork's release, why not watch the music video for 'Key Lime Pie', the opening track on the EP.

Photo credit: Gaby Deimeke

Labyrinth Original Soundtrack limited edition vinyl

I know what you're thinking, another Bowie thing?! Yep, it's obvious that I'll never have enough!

This time, it's the limited edition green Labyrinth Original Soundtrack.

The story of this one isn't as glamorous as the Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust one. In all honestly, I only found out that this vinyl existed after stumbling across a Facebook post advertising it (it would appear that Facebook now wants to help my Bowie hoarding habit).

I clicked on the link on the Facebook post and saw that there were two colours of the vinyl being sold: the green one and a purple one. Unfortunately the purple one had already sold out, but I was more than happy to manage to bag the green one before that undoubtedly sold out.

The wait for today felt like forever even though it was only just over a month!

I bought the vinyl from a company called uDiscover Music, and I'm so impressed. I had an email from them yesterday evening telling me that it had been dispatched, but I honestly wasn't expecting to receive it on the release date. They've got a tonne of amazing merchandise on their site, as well as also publishing music news and features.

The beautiful cover design is one of the promo designs for the film and features all of the characters, although I can't find William The Worm (you know the one - 'nah, I'm just a worm'). I'm certain he must be on there, I'll probably spend the evening with a magnifying glass trying to find him!

It's got every song from the film, including the ones that are more background music. The obvious highlight is 'Magic Dance', and that sounds divine on vinyl. It's also lovely to hear the full studio versions of 'When The World Falls Down', 'Underground', and 'Within You' with all the extra parts that don't feature in the film.

This has added an extra bit of magic to my vinyl and Bowie collections, and I feel the need to have a day dedicated to Labyrinth.


All photos are my own.

Fall Out Boy release Champion music video

Fall Out Boy have released the music video to accompany their latest single, Champion. The single will feature on the band's upcoming release, M A N I A, which will be released on September 15th via Virgin EMI/DCD2 Records.

You can watch the video below:

You can also pre-order M A N I A from Amazon by clicking here.

Photo credit: Kerrang!

Hyundai Mercury Prize 2017 nominations

And the nominations are...


It's that time of the year again folks, the Hyundai Mercury Prize nominations shortlist have been released.

As always, it's a mixed list with the obvious candidates alongside artists you probably don't know all too well. It's a great way of praising those artists that have so far musically dominated the year (Ed Sheeran, I'm looking at you...) and exposing the perhaps lesser known artists who have worked equally as hard to get where they are.

The prize itself recognises the best album from the UK and Ireland over the last year.

The shortlist was announced this morning (July 27th) at an event in London. Check out the full list below:

Alt-J: ‘Relaxer’
Blossoms: ‘Blossoms’
Dinosaur: ‘Together, As One’
Ed Sheeran: ‘Divide’
Glass Animals: ‘How To Be A Human Being’
J Hus: ‘Common Sense’
Kate Tempest: ‘Let Them Eat Chaos’
Loyle Carner: ‘Yesterday’s Gone’
Sampha: ‘Process’
Stormzy: ‘Gang Signs & Prayer’
The Big Moon: ‘Love In The Fourth Dimension’
The xx: ‘I See You’

The Hyundai Mercury Prize Awards Show will take place at Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith on September 14th.


Photo credit: Getty Images