Just when you thought UK hip hop was no more. You remember Homecut (a.k.a Testament, Andy Brooks) exists…

This incredible specemin of human talent has been on the scene and making waves since I can remember Leeds even having a scene. Vibing with the likes of KidKanevil (manifested DOPE), the lovely Corinne Bailey Ray, Andreya Triana and a personal favourite, Soweto Kinch (who we had the pleasure of seeing at last years Garforth Music Festival) in the latest of his musical ventures, Homecut is really making moves and proclaiming a message that illuminates the reality of life. DEEP. In fact, I feel bad that I havn’t caught up with this man’s live performance of late. THE SHAME.

Ironically, this cheers me up every time.

Believe.

Just remember I said: ONE TO WATCH. The reviews for Common Prayer’s debut ‘There Is A Mountain’ are rolling in thick and fast, with the general consensus being that it’s completely awesome. NME said of it “music doesn’t get much more care-free sounding than this” - and RISE couldn’t agree more. Great news for the UK is that Jason Russo and co are heading over to the UK for a handful of dates, starting off this Saturday and carrying on all the way into August. Full schedule below.

Last but not least, Common Prayer have made a little video in preparation for the forthcoming tour. Watch it below:

Common Prayer UK TOUR 2010 Trailer from ILL FIT RECORDINGS & PROMOTION on Vimeo.

Live Dates:

July 17 - ABINGDON, OXFORDSHIRE Truck Festival Warm-up Show, Details TBA
July 18 - CARDIFF @ Buffalo Bar w/ Dreaming Spires
July 20 – OXFORD @ The Cellar w/ the Dreaming Spires
July 22 - LONDON @ The Relentless Garage (Upstairs) w/ Neil Halstead, the Silent League / Maps
July 25 - TRUCK FESTIVAL UK with Teenage Fanclub, Mew, Fucked Up, Los Campesinos!, and many more
July 26 - KEMPTOWN, BRIGHTON @ The Coach House, Kemptown w/ Caroline Weeks (Bat for Lashes)
Aug 1 - CAMDEN @ Shhh Fest

Soap-Box is an artistic design house run by two guys, Daniel and Ben, based within the UK. They provide exclusively designed products, with runs as low as 25 pieces. Their brand uses an ‘eclectic combination of suburban, street culture and lifestyles’ to create refreshingly edgy tee and crew neck sweatshirts.

Who are you guys, where do you come from, what do you do?

We go by the very standard names of Daniel and Ben, we are both from planet Earth living in the UK and we design, create and everything in-between for Soap-Box. These can range from us doing just sketch work and illustration to 2d & 3d animated projects. We also do client based freelance work which include Graphic design, logos and album artwork.

Tell us more about Soapbox, what’s it all about?

The brand was developed in 2008 and is a design house, which is focused on delivering quality products and services, which include limited edition artwork, apparel & graphic novels. Soap-Box also stands for ‘freedom of speech’ which we put across with our clothing and designs.

How did it all start?

It all started with the idea of us using tees as another blank canvas for us to work with but to mix it with our love for oldskool video games, which is why we was working with the mantra of the Mode-7 name to begin with. This soon changed however, because we wanted a brand that would last and stand strong for years to come, so we developed the project more and kept reworking and tweaking until finally Soap-Box was born. We felt by calling the brand Soap-Box allowed us to express ourselves more within what we produced and left it open for us to experiment with many different concepts and art styles.

What’s been the highlight so far?

The highlight so far has got to be the journey itself and where we have come from to get to this point in time where we are now, meeting and working with new people as artists or client/customer is a really good feeling, may it long continue into the future.

What inspires the designs/designers Soapbox?

Inspiration comes from many sources, which include music, different cultures, comics, animation and the all-important one, life and the people around us.

Who are some of the other brands out there that you look up to, if any?

There are a lot of brands out there that are doing really good things, but to be honest we only really focus on what we our doing and how we can grow and develop our own brand and ideas.

What have you got going on at the moment, any interesting projects for 2010?

We have a few things in the pipeline including a couple of surprise collabs and extending our product range, but I would say the most interesting project we have is our graphic novel pack due for release later this year, really excited about this particular project.

If you were to do a collaboration with anyone, (celeb/artist/other designer) who would it be and why?

Hmm tough one this, as there is a lot of really good artists, think company wise it would have to be SEGA, they have such a huge back catalog of diverse and artistic characters, especially the classic works like Golden Axe, Space Harrier & Streets of Rage etc, so many things could be done with such a collab its unreal. Then as a musician it would have to be Madlib because of his unique sound and the concepts he creates within his work, which makes his distinct and abstract style stand out.

Whilst doing some even more details wikipedia stalking of Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip, I came across the promo video that was released to hype up the launch of their Angles record. And what a find it is.

MYSPACE FOR THE BOYS

With their latest album Down The Way holding the No 1 spot in the Australian charts for the second week running, sibling duo Angus & Julia Stone get set to release a new EP on April 26th. The four-track EP is available for download only and kicks off with Big Jet Plane taken from their sophomore album. Two new songs are included – Living On A Rainbow; and My Malakai, taken from the sessions from their debut album, with Julia’s acoustic, stripped down re-working of You’re The One That I Want, taken from the Grease soundtrack, wrapping up proceedings.

Big Jet Plane is accompanied by a stunning extended video clip directed by Australian filmmaker Kiku Ohe and starring AFI award-winning actress Emily Barclay which you can see above.

If you’ve never heard Irish Folk Music, get your butt on an plane, rent a car from the Dublin airport car hire, and go listen ask every person in every pub where you can go to hear their tunes 24/7!

The first tune of theirs I heard was ‘God Bless Ireland’ but they were most popular for back in the 60’s. Sometimes I wish we had more Irish folk artists…but not often.

A music video of insane proportions, packed with humour and intelligence. 5*’s without a doubt, putting to shame the tonnes of crap churned out by others every year.

Hot Chip - I Feel Better

Hot Chip | MySpace Music Videos

Mini Viva made an arresting splash on the pop world with their debut single Left My Heart In Tokyo crashing into the top ten and staying there for four consecutive weeks in September 2009. Their distinctive hi-nrgetic sound and glam look won them fans across the board. Britt and Frankee have since been putting the finishing touches to their debut album and are ready to release the absolute pop gem ‘One Touch’. Irresistibly catchy, yet still craftily knowing and with nods back to the floorfilling 80s sounds of Chicago house and hi-nrg, this is the perfect soundtrack to dancing round your living room, getting ready for a Saturday night on the town with the girls.

Mini Viva will also take to the road with everyone’s favourite dance troupe Diversity.

Full tour dates below:

Tue 23-Mar Margate Winter Gardens
Wed 24-Mar Cambridge Corn Exchange
Thu 25-Mar Rhyl Pavilions
Sat 27-Mar Manchester Apollo
Sun 28-Mar Liverpool Empire
Mon 29-Mar Wolves Civic Hall
Tue 30-Mar Glasgow Cylde Auditorium
Thu 01-Apr Newcastle City Hall
Fri 02-Apr Swindon Oasis
Sat 03-Apr Plymouth Pavilions
Mon 05-Apr Oxford New Theatre
Tue 06-Apr Leicester De Montford
Wed 07-Apr London Hammersmith Apollo
Thu 08-Apr Bristol Colston Hall
Sat 10-Apr Portsmouth Guildhall
Sun 11-Apr Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre
Tue 13-Apr Nottingham Concert Hall
Wed 14-Apr Sheffield City Hall
Thu 15-Apr Brighton Brighton Centre
Sat 17-Apr Cardiff CIA
Sun 18-Apr London Hammersmith Apollo
Mon 19-Apr London Hammersmith Apollo
Wed 21-Apr Brentwood Leisure Centre
Thu 22-Apr Preston Guildhall
Sat 24-Apr Manchester Apollo
Sun 25-Apr Bradford St Georges Hall
Mon 26-Apr Wolverhampton Civic Hall

Here is some exciting news straight out of Radio 1 HQ, that they will be releasing more and more video footage for select blogs and of course you wonderful people to enjoy. To kick things off, we’ve got some exclusive Zane Lowe Maida vale sessions with UK rapper Giggs.

The video for ‘Don’t Go There’ and goes live at 8pm tonight!

You really don’t want to miss this!

Believe.