If you've lost your faith in love and music, the end won't be long.

2016 is shaping up to be a good year for music.

I know, I know. 

So many people have said this it's cliche but I'm excited. 

First up, we can look forward to a new Royal Blood album. That fabled second album that can propel you to the next level or leave you in the bargain bucket. The rowdy duo were lauded for bringing dirty rock and roll back and I'm not ashamed to admit that I got giddy at the sound they created. I caught them support the Arctic Monkeys at Finsbury Park when I had never heard of them and I'm constantly kicking myself that I spend half the set in the queue for the bar. Nevertheless they were on fire. 

Beyond that I have several gigs booked over the next few months that I can't wait to tuck in to. Later this month, I'm going to get my first live experience of Nathaniel Rateliff and the NightSweats. Their brand of messy upbeat music is something that caught my attention when I first heard S.O.B whilst surfing around on Youtube. I'm seen some footage of them performing and I get the feeling this will be a great show at Rock City, Nottingham. 

This is where it get's interesting. I've been fortunate enough to get hold of tickets for the Milburn reunion.

Now. 

These may not be a huge household name. However, I grew up in Chesterfield and spent lots of my youth at gigs in Sheffield and these guys were everywhere. These were the band that the Arctic Monkeys were seeing when setting out and you can hear so many similarities in the first album from Turner and Co to that sound that Milburn were championing. I once watched Arsenal vs Tottenham with the drummer and bassist in the Forum in Sheffield. Lovely bunch of chaps. But that's for another time. 

They are playing two dates at Sheffield City hall and the atmosphere will be one of nostalgia and mindless teenage recklessness. 

In May, I head to the city hall to see the Last Shadow Puppets. I'm very excited for the rebirth of this act as the new single seems a far throw from what the first album was. I caught them at Leeds festival first time round and was blown away by the chemistry Turner and Kane had as they quipped their way through a 30 minute set. This was prior to the first album and so felt thrown together but that kinda added to the spectacle. 

And finally, PostModern Jukebox return to the UK. It's no secret. I love these guys. They play pop music from the back of a Tardis. Best sellers of today played in the style of best sellers from yesterday. The musicians and singers that get together to offer us this are beyond talented and I'm crazy excited to travel back in time once more. 

Hopefully, there will be plenty more gigs to come and I'm always looking to catch local bands. This is why 2016 promises to be a  great year for me in music. 

Let me know who you're seeing this year and who you think will own 2016. 

Till next time.

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HepkattFM 

Taking over .....LIPPY KID

Taking over with... is a new spot where you'll see musicians and musos take the reigns and let us in to their world. I asked LK what 2015 was for him and what 2016 holds.

Get your Brain Dusters ready.

Here's Lippy Kid.

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So 2015 has come to a close, and on refection, from a musical perspective, what a year it’s been. I entered into the year with a head full of unfinished ideas. Time to focus and think about a direction. The immediate, outside world was becoming an increasingly gloomy place, so I’d started to spend more time looking wider afield. Carl Sagan’s ‘Pale Blue Dot’ had started to resonate strongly. Our relative significance. I wondered, if asked, what would the world of Social Media start to say if I presented them with a simple query……

‘We search the world to find……’

There response was amazing. Hope for a better planet. A daughters aspiration, the comical, the reflective. It was incredibly moving and filled my heart with optimism. From that moment, completing my musical ideas became a downhill task and ‘Echoes and Answers’ was born.

The reception for the album surpassed my wildest expectations. Fantastic feedback and reviews (a particular review by Simon Tucker for Louder than War stunned me completely). Amazingly, and totally unexpectedly, the album even got picked up by one of my favourite 6 Music DJs, with Mary Anne Hobbs featuring ’24 Hour Reboot’ on her ‘6 Recommends’ show. 

As a completely independent musician, it’s hard to describe the feeling you get when you self-produce something and receive so much love in return.

The remains of the year was spent putting in place new projects, new foundations for more ideas and collaborations. It was lovely to produce a track with Helen Mort, Derbyshire’s poet laureate, for the Dark Outside broadcast. I’ve been a huge admirer of Helen’s for some time so it was a real honour to work with her. Also, to find our track featured alongside work from artists such as Plaid, Martyn Ware, Grumbling Fur, Pye Corner Audio, Scanner, Ben Salisbury, Chris Carter…pretty amazing really.

There have been many people I’ve been discussing projects with towards the end of the year, and hopefully these will materialise with something worth sharing with everyone.

To reflect on an inspirational year, I decided to close it off by releasing a track I’d been previously working on for the ‘Echoes and Answers’ album. It seemed appropriate somehow:

https://soundcloud.com/lippy-kid/spatial-nature-of-thought

So to 2016…..

Well this year has started off in the most surreal way possible. Like so many people, the news of David Bowie’s death came as a devastating blow. From initially being introduced to Ziggy as a slightly awkward, introverted eleven year old, Bowie was the shining light and a huge inspiration to me. I did find it a little difficult to comprehend. And only days after releasing one of the finest albums of his career. I guess it was only in the days that followed that we were able to truly understand the poignancy of its content. 

I’d like to feel the key things that I did learn from Bowie’s career was to keep exploring, be bold, be true to yourself and never fear collaboration.

So who knows… Each year I seem to meet more and more creative and inspirational people. I’m currently working on a number of new ideas with some of those I met last year. On the immediate front I’ve been pulling together a collaborative mix with my very good friend ‘Mixless’ aka Antony Theobald that will be broadcast on Nick Wlkinson’s ‘Inner Depths’ show on Future Music FM. The show will be broadcast Feb 29th, something we’re both looking forward to. After that…well there’s a number of other ideas, things I’ve said I’ll aim to look into, ideas of my own…plenty to keep me busy.

I guess all I can say is watch this space, but thanks, as always, for the incredible love and support, and as David once said…

“Tomorrow belongs to those that hear it coming…."

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http://www.lippykidmusic.com

https://soundcloud.com/lippy-kid

https://twitter.com/lippykidmusic?lang=en

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Thank you to Lippy Kid for taking the time to write this. If you want to take over HepkattFM and have a guest spot, get in touch!

Until next time.

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HepkattFM