This week we’re paying homage to another musical legend who has graced our stereo not just through one of our favourite bands but four; Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Assembly and Erasure.

All hail King Clarke.

In their short career, Rawcuss one of the freshest, most original bands on the current Manchester music scene have already rocked many of the city’s top venues – The Academy, The Roadhouse, Band on the Wall, Ruby Lounge and Night and Day but to name a few spreading news of their unique sound dubbed “a tantalizing mix of The Kinks and The Buzzcocks.” Count us in.

In October last year the guys were invited to Abbey Road studios in London to meet with Rob Cass who has worked with more artists and producers than we’ve had hot dinners from the likes of Estelle to John Leckie of Radiohead.

On our doorstep we took the opportunity to hook up with Gareth, Dan and Seamus to find out what all the fuss was about. We weren’t disappointed.

Check out their new 4 Track EP ‘Feelings’ right here.

We can’t quite believe it, but this year marks the fifth year of the mighty Boomtown festival hitting us up with the finest in reggae, dub, funk, punk, swing, ska and bass music in the land.

Sold out year on year this is possibly the fastest growing festival to date multiplying like rabbits from just 1,000 dedicated ravers in 2009 to 28,000 of us rocking up with a pocket full of beans and a bag full of tins in 2012.

This year this ever boundary busting music phenomenon will unveil even more craziness for the ladies and gents of Boomtown town. Including a 300 ft moving magic carpet ride offering visitors an amazing view of the entire camp and saving tired feet for late night partying, a 15 meter high Lion’s Den Mayan temple and The Spider of Arcadia who will be stomping his way through the seedy streets to stake his claim and dub the centre of Downtown the hottest party destination in town.

Excited is an understatement, weird and wonderful and jam packed with some of our favourite DJs and artists ever including Stantion Warriors, DJ Hype, David Rodigan, Dirtyphonics, and more. Roll the fuck on August we say.

Get your tickets here: BOOMTOWN 2013 TICKETS 

Leeds boys Craig, Stuart, Matthew and Scott aka The Sunshine Underground or TSU if you’re seriously cool, released their debut album ‘Raise the Alarm’ back in 2006. With it they toured the European festival season and the response to their unique mixture of punk, funk and indie vibes was phenomenal.

Throughout the coming years both their following and the shows they sold out got bigger and bigger in size and including an impressive list of festivals to rival some of the biggest bands around; Glastonbury, T in the Park, Leeds and Reading but to name a few.

A few years later and another successful album under their belts – ‘Nobody’s Coming to Save You’ in 2010 and the guys continue to gain popularity by being fucking cool wherever they go. We met up with them to take an exclusive dig into what goes on in the world of Sunshine underground and find out what they’ve got hidden up their little sleeves for us in the coming months. Keep it locked on our cool as fuck blog propaganda – the only place serving up the latest and greatest around.

Get yours here: Maliboom. Pull on, wear in, rock out

FLY53 have crossed paths with 2013 NME Radar Winner The Child of Lov to bring an exclusive collaboration to the market. TCOL has been heating up the airwaves with his white hot new album featuring Damon Albarn and MF Doom amongst others, penned for release in April.

To celebrate FLY53 has teamed up with TCOL to provide his new single launch party with exclusive VIP tees on the night, as well as exclusive signed posters for the people that are lucky enough to attend. The single is entitled ‘FLY’ so we jumped aboard in a heartbeat.

If you didn’t get to the launch event we have released an exclusive, limited edition Graphic T-Shirt available to buy now at www.FLY53.com. These are strictly limited to 100 and will not be repeated again. They showcase the images we worked on with T.C.O.L. and his own logo, in our style. This is a chance to own a slice of history and not to be missed.

American singer, songwriter, Ian MacKaye is best known for being the epically cool frontman of this amazing list of influential hardcore punk bands – ‘Minor Threat,’ ‘The Teen Idles,’ ‘Embrace,’ ‘Fugazi’ and ‘The Evens.’

On top of all that he is also co-founder and owner of Dischord Records an independent record label based in Washington and producer responsible for releases by the likes of Q and Not U, John Frusciante, 7 Seconds, Nation of Ulysses, Bikini Kill, Rites of Spring, Dag Nasty, and Rollins Band among others.

Quite a list but perhaps the most impressive part? He did it all without being off his face on smack, crack and dope. In fact the man coined the term ‘straight edge’ by promoting independent thinking and rejecting the stereotype so many of his contemporaries had fit (being found dead at 21, drugged up to their eyeballs, in a messed up hotel room in NYC).

Despite never intending to start a movement in quite the way he did, he showed upcoming musicians who idoloised his work that getting off their head was not the only way to get their kicks.

Despite in lifetime failing to to find the mammoth following he so deserved until after his death in 1974 he has been named one of the biggest influences and inspirations to the likes of Robert Smith, David Sylvian and Peter Buck.

Signing to Island records at the age of just 20 (whilst still a student at the University of Cambridge) Drake released his debut album and within three years had released three albums, Five Leaves Left, Bryter Layter and Pink Moon. None of which sold more than 5,000 copies on initial release, but were later to be considered gems.

Suffering from acute depression Drake struggled to sing comfortably in front of a crowd and found social interaction awkward and uncomfortable. Eventually after years of refusing to be interviewed or perform live, he became a complete recluse, and took to hiding out in his parents house in Warwickshire.

On 25 November 1974, Drake died from an overdose of amitriptyline, a prescribed antidepressant; he was 26 years old. Whether his death was an accident or suicide has never been resolved.

But his music lives on, his back catalogue was released and he’s since been credited as one of the most influential, interesting and intellectual artists of our time.

Randall William Rhoads aka Randy Rhoads was one of the greatest American heavy metal guitarists of our time.

A pioneer of his craft Randy spent the first half of his life, a devoted student of classical guitar and the second using what he’d learnt to change the face of heavy metal and play alongside the likes of Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot.

Sadly in 1982, when the world was still only just beginning to appreciated his musical talent a tragic plane accident cut his life short and the man that Ozzy called a ‘saint’ and an ‘angel’ was taken to a better place.

Despite only giving fans less than ten years worth of music with Quiet Riot and then with Osbourne, Rhoads’ impact has never slipped quietly out of his fan’s memories. He remains a major influence on neo-classical metal, inspiring and encouraging so many to get up and play.

Long may his legacy live on. He’ll always have a place in our record collection.

Having had a massive influence on the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album ‘Horses’ she gained a mammoth following of devoted fans who couldn’t get enough of the of her unique style and oozing coolness.

Dubbed the ‘Godmother of Punk,’ Patti was in fact the first woman to fuse rock with poetry forming something pretty fucking special and changing the face of rock music as we know it.

Although we sit firmly in camp Patti, it’s safe to say she’s the epitome of musical Marmite. For dissenters, she has been a joyless dragon who has been living off her old reputation for generations (they’re wrong of course). For us she is a living legend, talented, fierce, dominant and individual. All hail Queen Patti.