Tim Osboune is a journalist who likes going to gigs. A fortunate combination.

When he offered to write for ANBAD, I immediately said ‘Yes!’; when he offered to write the article on Camden’s music scene, I said, ‘Oh, go on then,’ because, even though it’s been discussed before, Tim’s view is very different… 

An (Unpretentious) View From… Camden

Camden Town in London scores highly in the hipster stakes as a small melting pot of fashion and music culture that has bred international superstars like Amy Winehouse. That said, the music scene around Camden is often criticised for its plethora …

Remember Record Store Day? It was only a week ago. Has it changed your shopping habits?

Will you keep buying your exclusive, 1000-only, limited edition, 7″ glitter-flexi-disc vinyls from your local shop now? Or will you continue to order it off the internet like you did before?

Record Store Day enjoyed its highest-ever profile this year. Stories about eager music fans queuing to buy one-off singles featured in the news on non-music radio stations, and every newspaper trundled out someone capable of writing a thousand words on the joys of purchasing a CD without hesitating to think …

No Flash are a band. They’re a band in Manchester, a city full of other bands, gloomy gigs, shifty promoters, and people who like to tell you how all of those things mean much more to them than they do to you.

It can be hard to be heard above the din.

Being in a new band is tough – and that’s partly why bands are bands: you may well be penniless and frustrated, but at least you’re all penniless and frustrated together, right?

I spoke to No Flash, a band who are steadily and determinedly grinding their …

The Midweek Mixtape has evolved into a happy routine of: 1) Highlight something ridiculous from the week’s music news; and then 2) Listen to new music to escape from exactly the same thing.

As the weeks slide by, I often find myself worrying that nothing dumb enough will happen to fill the slot, and then, out of the blue, a ludicrous statue of Michael Jackson will be erected outside of a football stadium or something, and all is well again. Drebin is celebrating by listening to some of the least choice cuts from Jacko’s Cato(logue).

MIXTAPE!

FIRST! Mouthful Of Snow…

***Advertorial***

ANBAD is more than willing to champion anyone who also champions new music, especially when it’s an initiative that is not only enjoyable but also explores the music world to a little more depth than usual: providing musical Edutainment, if you’ll allow such heinous terminology into your life.

That closer peep into new music is to be found in the AllSaints Basement Sessions – a minor treasure trove of videoed live performances from new bands; lectures and discussion groups on new music; and, perhaps most interestingly, interviews with musical movers-and-shakers that are bold enough to progress beyond the usual …

Today, a rarity:  an ANBAD live review. It’s one of an interesting gig for those interested in new bands, though: the NME Awards tour, which provides a helpful snapshot of what is deemed to be now in the UK by both the NME and the teens that treat it as the music bible.

The Shockwaves NME Awards gig at Manchester Academy drew curious punters from across the social spectrum, but for the hoards of teens, it was Mecca. Finally, the bands they have only read about, or listened to online, or squinted at garbed videophone footage were playing for …

FYI: ANBAD is away for a few days R&R, and will return refreshed next week. That’s three Initialisms in one sentence, BTW. Wait – four. FTW!

ANBAD spends most of its time blah-ing about very new bands that make no money from their passion, but who do it in the hope that one day they will. When they do, they’ll make most of it from live ticket sales – the one side of the music industry that actually makes any money now.

Suddenly, tickets sellers are richer than ever - and to keep the swimming pools on their yachts …

Before thoughts turn to further gluttonous over-consumption during the forthcoming New Year’s celebrations (and before you have to wade through acres of tedious ‘Hot Tips For 2011′ articles), how about one final glance back over some of the writing that was on ANBAD, but not directly about a specific new band?

Here, then, are the pick of the various articles written by me and the generous contributors over the course of the year:

A Triple Threat of articles first; a quasi-provocative couplet of articles in the shape of:

The Trouble With Live Gigs [Part One and the even less …

Now that you’re lying comatose in front of the fire and pondering on the fact that your intestines are now 80% solid Turkey meat, why not drag yourself away from the dull repeats on the TV, and read some excellent repeats here on ANBAD?

Wait – unless it’s Die Hard on TV. Watch until the end of that, and then read on.

There was a glut of interviews with exciting and thrusting young bands this year on ANBAD, all of which gave us a glimpse into the thrills of belonging to a new band. Here are four of the best:…

Isn’t it nice to be nice? Isn’t it nice to find out your favourite band of 2010 is nice?

Thus, prepare to feel appropriately festive as you are smothered with pleasantries in this exclusive, nice, and exclusively nice, interview with ANBAD’s Band of 2010, Youthless.

To prove that they are such good sports, they answered all of my overwhelmingly facile questions with good grace, a sense of humour and with stories about nearly upending whole buses…

Youthless, you’re ANBAD’s favourite band of 2010. How has 2010 been for you?

Alex: 2010 has been excellent! Gig-wise my highlights have …