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ANY OTHER BUSINESS NUS News
A round up from the national voice for students.
NUS joins forces to rally for young people NUS and UCU will be joining the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to organise a mass protest and rally in Manchester on Saturday 29th January, A Future that Works: National Rally for Young People. The protest will act to highlight youth issues, including access to education, the scrapping of the education maintenance allowance (EMA) and youth unemployment. Manchester has both the largest further education college (Manchester College) and higher education institution (University of Manchester) in the country, and sits in a region in the UK with the highest rate of youth unemployment. It is important to ensure that not all our activity is based in London, and so staging a national action in a region with such high levels of youth unemployment, jointly alongside the TUC and UCU is a positive and constructive development at this time. Aaron Porter, NUS National President will join trade union leaders to speak on behalf of NUS. NUS will also be mobilising for the TUC National Demonstration on Saturday 26 March, which will be taking place in Hyde Park in central London. NUS President Aaron Porter said: “Mobilising for both these mass protests and rallies will act to both highlight and build upon the widespread popular opposition to the cuts agenda. The savage cuts to the further and higher education sectors, the tripling of tuition fees and the move towards a market-based approach within our universities and colleges are all widely recognised to be profoundly unfair, unsustainable and badly thought out. And, what is worst, this is all against a backdrop of staggeringly high levels of youth unemployment. “It is now more important than ever that we stand together to strongly make the argument for investing in our young people, and in our future. Despite the obvious challenges we face, I remain confident that together, we can win.”
that over-recruit meaning that it is likely that we will see a repeat of the 2010 chaos as hundreds of thousands of qualified applicants missed out on university places. The announcement means that University budgets are being slashed for successive years leaving students with a poorer experience and risking staff jobs. Aaron Porter, NUS President, said: “Last year David Willetts was right to attack the Government for sneaking out an announcement that affected the lives of thousands of people studying and working in universities but his decision to try the same trick, with the same policies, this year is further proof that students are being treated with contempt by every corner of this Government. “These fines will see hundreds of thousands of highly qualified students, who we should be investing in to secure our economic recovery, missing out on places and being left between a hostile jobs market and tripled tuition fees if they dare to reapply. “Students and their families are not prepared or willing to pay more for less, yet these cuts will in combination with a tripling of fees look set to damage the student experience. University heads must make sure that that experience is protected by cutting costs without cutting contact time or staff/student ratios.”
Students unite to save the EMA Thousands of students took part in protests, stunts, petitions and written to their MPs to show their anger and raise awareness of the consequences of scrapping of the EMA.
Sneaking out cut in teaching funding shows government policy is incoherant The Government’s decision to sneak out the announcement about levels of university teaching grants immediately before Christmas demonstrates that they know their plans are incoherent and are hoping that no-one will notice. When last year’s letter about teaching grants was released immediately before Christmas, Universities Minister David Willetts MP, then Shadow Education and Skills Secretary, accused the government of “hoping to smuggle this announcement out at Christmas when no-one will notice.” The statement also reserves the fines, criticised by Willetts last year, for universities
The proposals, put forward by the coalition Government, would get rid of the £564 million of funding the initiative provides each year - a lifeline for 635,000 young people in further education. The save the EMA campaign caused a stir on Twitter, where it was the second most talked about subject on the social networking site, with thousands of people tweeting reasons why the EMA should be saved. Students from Warrington Collegate, where 61 per cent of students are dependent on EMA, showed their local MPs just what EMA means to them – by giving them their socks. The stunt demonstrated how the Government is taking everything away from young people. “Education is a human right and not a privilege for the rich” said Alistair Worrall a BTEC sports student from Warrington Collegiate. While another student, Amie Colligan, says she will suffer severely from the proposals. Amie said: “£30 a week is hardly enough to get me to college already, losing this will mean I have no choice but to find a job and forget about going to university.” Vice President Further Education Shane Chowen said: “There is significant momentum growing across not just the FE sector, but also the wider educational community, that scrapping EMA is a massive mistake. Now is the time that the Government listens to those who know best in this instance, college principals, student representatives and indeed students themselves.”
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UNIVERSITY STUFF... Moving Off Campus
Now we are in the new year it is the time for some people to start thinking about the next academic year and moving off-campus, and there are a number of things which need to be taken into consideration. For many people this is the first time that they will be living completely independently and have not been through this process before, so below is a guide to help make this as simple and easy as possible. When moving off campus there are a number of different things that you need to consider: • Finding a trusted and respectable Landlord and suitable property • Signing a tenancy agreement • Paying a deposit • Budgeting for moving in • Budgeting for the year ahead • Paying bills • Insurance • Living in the local community • Knowing who to talk to if you have any issues or concerns when living off campus
Student Pad Student Pad is the best way to find property off-campus. All landlords and properties that are advertised have been approved by Roehampton University and have met a number of University set requirements. Not only is there a search engine facility to look for properties under your chosen criteria, there is also useful information, including terminology and general help and advice. This is the recommended way to find a property off-campus ww.roehampton.ac.uk/admissions/accommodation/offcampus/ index.html
Being a Tenant There are a number of things which need to be taken into consideration when becoming a tenant.You now have a number of responsibilities, such as paying rent each month on time, paying bills (water, gas, electricity and TV license), sorting out council tax exemption forms and keeping the property and local area tidy and respectable. By moving off campus you are moving into the local community, and you need to make sure that you take other people living in the area into consideration. Noise is one the biggest issues that tends to occur every year. It is important to make sure that you
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take all neighbours into consideration when living off-campus. This needs to apply to a whole range of things, such as any house parties, general noise (TV and music playing late etc) and coming back from events. Students do make up a large portion of the local community, however there are a number of other residents who range in age who will not appreciate being woke up in the early hours of the morning. These noise issues do get reported back to the University and to Wandsworth Council and can have serious repercussions. Please be Noise Aware!! NB. Remember to print out your council tax exemption forms and send them off to Wandsworth Council. These can be printed off of your student profile on MyZone. It is important that you do this asap once you have moved into the property otherwise the Council will be expecting you to pay Council Tax and if they do not receive this they may take legal action.
Budgeting Budgeting is an important part of living independently, not only once you have moved in, but when you are in the process of moving in. As with anywhere you will be living you will be required to pay a holding deposit on the property which you will be asked to put down as soon as you have chosen a property you want to live in. When you move in you will be required to pay one months rent + the equivalent of another months rent (minus the holding deposit amount). This additional money is the full deposit that you pay on the property, which providing the property is left in a good state and all rent has been paid, will be paid back fully at the end of your tenancy. This deposit is variable depending on landlords.
you have no insurance cover, so it is important that you take out a policy, which again protects your contents in case of theft or damage. As well as offering insurance on your property, Endsleigh also offer a number of other policies, such as key cover. This policy means that if you get locked outside your house and you need to call out a locksmith to get back into the property Endsleigh will cover this cost for you. Endsleigh are a student friendly insurance company, and offer competitive rates of insurance, and are recommended by RSU and NUS. For more information on Endsleigh, and their policies and prices please go to www.endsleigh.co.uk
Crime Prevention and Personal Safety Crime Prevention – as with living anywhere you need to make sure you keep the property safe and secure. It is important to make sure that windows and doors are not left open and that nothing valuable is left out on display as this may make you a target for thieves. As students you are a target group for thieves as they know that you will most likely have expensive things such as laptops and iPods in your possession. It is important then when items of value such as this are not being used that they are put away properly and are property marked. The PCSO’S are on-campus regularly and can be found to help you with property marking, as well as give you guidance if you may have any concerns. Personal Safety - at all times you need to be aware of your personal safety whether you live on or off campus. This can be done by taking a few simple precautions, such as not walking about on your own at night, not engaging with people that you don’t know or recognise, not having items such as laptops and iPods visible on your persons and letting your flat mates know about your whereabouts (where you have gone, when you should be coming back etc.) All of these are common sense, but are important to remember. Please remember that the PCSO’s are able to give advice and support to anyone who has any concerns relating to crime and personal safety. Please go to www.roehamptonstudent.com for contact information for the PCSO team, as well as dates that they will be on campus.
“Student Pad is the best way to find property off-campus because all landlords/ properties have been approved by Roehampton University”
When you live on-campus you are asked to pay your accommodation fees at the beginning of each semester (timed with your loans), however living off campus means that you will be required to pay your rent on a specified date each month. This is something that you need to budget for with your loan, so you need to make sure that you have enough to last until your next loan instalment. Bills are also something that need to be taken into consideration. You will be required to pay bills for gas, electricity, water and TV license. (depending on the property gas and electricity may be on a payas-you-go top-up meter or a quarterly bill which is sent through, though your landlord will go through this with you when you move into the property, and your tenancy agreement will state which bills you are responsible for). When living off campus you may decide to get extra things (which are not a necessity) such as broadband and a landline phone, so make sure that you have budgeted for this extra expense. The best thing to do is to use a ‘Forward Planning’ budget planner from the Money Doctors. This gives practical steps in how to time and money manage finding a property to live in for the next academic year. You can pick up copies of this from Becky Aston (based in RSU). To contact the Money Doctor, Nicky Reid, please email moneydoecotrs@roehampton.ac.uk or call 0208 392 3199
Insurance It is important to make sure that you have insurance, whether you live on or off-campus. When you live in halls of residence you do have basic block insurance, though this does not cover everything that you own, and a further insurance policy should be taken out to make sure that items such as laptops, phones and iPod’s are covered in case they go missing or get damaged. When you live off-campus
Welfare and Contact Information VP Welfare and Community (RSU) – Becky Aston Ext – 3736 Email – becky.aston@roehampton.ac.uk
Off Campus Accommodation Officer – Maxina Pattison Ext – 4451 Email –maxina.pattison@roehampton.ac.uk Digby Stuart College SWO – Will Cooper Ext - 3204 Email – w.cooper@roehampton.ac.uk Froebel College SWO – Anne-Marie Joyes Ext – 3304 Email – a.joyes@roehampton.ac.uk Southlands College SWO – Belinda Stott Ext – 3402 Email – b.stott@roehampton.ac.uk Whitelands College SWO – Ejiro Ejoh Ext – 3502 Email – e.ejoh@roehampton.ac.uk If you have any questions about moving off campus, or are having difficulties with this, then please do not hesitate in getting in contact. Becky Aston
www.roehamptonstudent.com
? S S N e h t s i t So, wha The National Student Survey or ‘NSS’ is conducted by an independent company Ipsos MORI and is funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HE and FCE) and has been running since 2005. The idea behind the survey is that all final year undergraduate students across the country are asked a series of 22 questions on the service that they received at their respective University or Further Education College. Questions range from teaching and assessment to learning resources and more personal development. The results are then put into a league table, pitting institutions against each other. This table is open to anyone’s eyes, meaning that press, lecturers, politicians and more importantly, prospective students can see where we are placed. An important point about the NSS is that it is not run by the University themselves, but the government. In the past, those who have not filled out the survey have been subject to follow up phone calls and emails asking them to complete it. So please bear in mind that it’s not the University or the RSU behind this. Our advice remains the same, get it done ASAP! As someone leaving the University, it is a great method to feed back to the University on what you did and didn’t enjoy about your experience. In the past it has prompted the University to change its ways and to improve facilities and services. Therefore, the NSS is an effective way of provoking change within Roehampton University and with a bigger and better Summer Ball, there is no greater incentive to complete the survey, and to shout about it to al of your friends, flat mates, and coursemates.
Changes prompted by the NSS in the past: - Opening of Wired cyber café - Opening of RoeAct ive fitness at a cost of over £300,000 - Range of new faci lities created includ ing the MUGA (Multi-U se Games Area) at a cost of ov er £140,000 - 100% of student be drooms in halls no w fully networked. - Welcome Centre cr eated. - Extension of cateri ng hours to make lif e easier for postgrad uate, PGCE and pa rt - time students. - Now 365 open acce ss computers availa ble across campus.
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VOLUNTEERING AND WORK EXPERIENCE FAIR 2011 ALL STUDENTS WELCOME! TUESDAY 22 FEBRUARY 2011, 11.30AM–2.30PM ADAM AND TERRACE ROOMS, FROEBEL COLLEGE
Q Q Q
Find out why volunteering is good for you Meet local organisations who are recruiting volunteers Advice to help you get a volunteering position
Workshops on the day include Q Tailoring your CV to gain volunteering experience Q Volunteering matters!
For full details and to book your place contact Julie Powell on j.powell@roehampton.ac.uk or 020 8392 3573 www.roehampton.ac.uk/careers National Student Volunteering Week
Fresh Newspaper
FLYING HOME FOR XMAS...
Travel Misery for International students as viewed on Facebook
I at least didn’t spend the night curled up on the highly polished Terminal 1 floor. I think most people did make it out by Christmas Day but having seen those that had gone through such Christmas misery you realise it’s not much fun. To all students that complained when their £20 train was marginally delayed by the snow- shame on you. To the international students that spent more than their fair share in an airport terminal- I salute you.
We had heavy snow mid-December and once again the UK airports freaked out. Transport died and children laughed. Students thought they’d be enjoying it too but cancelled and delayed flights were a real kill-joy especially for international students returning home. While most of us were worried that our £20 train ticket, taking us home, would be delayed there were others that were not sure their £400 (or more) plane ticket would get them home by Christmas! With a third of all flights grounded at Heathrow for several days Roehampton’s international students faced a tense wait.
Jack Bentley
Every Facebook status at the time seemed to be a day-by-day update on either weather conditions, flight cancellations or the miracle story of getting home. A successful journey home would unfold on Facebook like this: “Lots of prayers and crossed fingers for my flight home tomorrow!” Then a day or two later: “After a long journey: bus, tube, and 11 plus hour flight (which was a little delayed) I am finally home safe and sound :)”. That’s nice but what about the more unsuccessful travellers? What about the failed journeys that are actually interesting to read about? “Stuck in London. Forever.” is how the updates began, while another one simply read: “Cancelled”. In terms of unlucky travellers I didn’t see a worse update than this: “I’m FINALLY back home :D ..after two cancelled flights, more than 24hrs at the airport and then having to switch airport! What a mission...”. I am not writing this from a distance while pitying all those who were unlucky enough to have slept in an airport over Christmas. Instead, 48 hours after the snow came relentlessly, it was me trudging through Heathrow equally worried that my Christmas plans were about to fall flat. I saw the sleeping stranded, no beds; just Terminal 1 as their private shelter. Sleep, though, must be at a minimum when your bedroom is shared with thousands of travellers, many sleep deprived and all completely hell bent on leaving the country. I was a lucky one and able to fly out the same day my flight was scheduled and though it was a little delayed
Keep calm and carry on snowing. Not being from London makes going home interesting. It involves two buses, the Picadilly line, two airports and a lift from a parent. That’s my standard journey back to Belfast and I had hoped that going home for Christmas this year would be no different. I had booked my flight for the 20th and told mum I would be home on the 22nd, my dad and I were planning to surprise her and we did just that.
have gotten the whole thing for £46 from Stenaline if I had of known. I realized that with my train leaving at 5:39am I wouldn’t have enough time to go home to my nice warm bed and back to Euston as the tubes would be closed. So I spent the night in Kings Cross station with Crystal Ann and her husband Mohammad. As well as 13,000 Euro Star passengers.
I got to Kings Cross, bought Nandos and I am afraid to say I nicked a knife and fork from them as there weren’t any plastic and I was too tired to ask. Shoot me. I sat cross legged on the floor eating chicken and counting down the hours till 5am when the coffee shops opened again. I was quite happy until I realized how quickly the temperature was dropping. Kings Cross is the only station to leave all it’s doors open 24/7, I never did find out why. But luckily the Red Cross came over and offered us blankets. If you’re like me then the closest you’ve ever come to a charity donation is a Trocaire pen or the bucket at the till.
“Two buses, the Picadilly line, two airports and a lift from a parent. That’s my standard journey back to Belfast”
In the week leading up to the 20th BA cancelled flights and there was lots on the news about people being stranded, I however was drinking four bottles of wine with Stephen and making snow angels in Froebel. I turned up at Heathrow and waited in the queue of Irish trying to get home. I met Aisling going to Shannon, (that’s in Limerick for you Brits) and Andrea going to Belfast, between us we queued for four hours taking it in turns to run to the loo or scavenge whatever remained on the food shelves at Boots. We were told four times that our flights were scheduled, all the while I grew steadily more concerned I would end up stealing the space of that poor sod over there under the christmas tree on the green mat.
Finally at 8pm we were told our flights were cancelled and what ensued was a human stampede. I grabbed a space in a corner, ripped out my laptop and rang my dad. We booked a ticket to Stranraer from Euston and a ferry to Belfast, the grand total? £225. I later found out I had been had, I could
I have never loved an inanimate object more in my life. I wore that blanket for 16 hours straight. I was wrapped in it at 5:45 on the platform waiting for the delayed train, I wore it on the bus from Ayr to Stranraer, and I was wrapped in it when I walked out of the ferry terminal towards my dad who was in stitches at the sight of me. I even tweeted my gratitude to the British Red Cross on twitter who replied hoping I got home safe. Aww. The virgin train was delayed getting into Glasgow and the only advice we were given was to run and catch the train to Ayr. I hope no-one reading this has ever been to Ayr, you would remember it, imagine 15th century Scotland and you’re close. We were then all provided with a bus to take us to Stranraer where we waited for an hour (in the cold) for them to open check in. All I know is that when we finally got on the ferry at 5:30pm I got fish and chips and a bottle of Magners and fell asleep on a sofa somewhere. Best thing that had happened to me (apart from the blanket) in over 24 hours. When I was finally delivered to the other side my dad was in tears of laughter at my sorry state, I bundled myself in the car and we drove home in the fog with a dirty window and frozen wind screen wipers. When we finally got to Banbridge we parked in the spar and dad and I donned wellingtons and dragged my suitcase up the ridiculously steep hill to my house. My mum’s face was a picture, I’ve never seen her so shocked. I stood at the front window and just waved, then she came running to the front door in tears and hugged my dad. I mean, come on. Then she grabbed me and continued to cry. I put the kettle on. I was finally home for Christmas. Becca Newton
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Snowhampton: the best photos, taken by you.
Photos: Jonathan Carter, Laura-Liz Partoon & Gloria Gaspard.
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* At regular menu price. Only valid with medium or large pizzas. ** Free pizza must be of equal or lesser value than the regular priced pizza. Double Decadence and Dominator bases are charged as extra. Valid on Tuesdays only. Not valid with any other offer. Please mention offer when ordering. Valid for a limited time only and at participating stores. Subject to availability.
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CAMPAIGNS
Gearing to Go Greener! Hey everyone, Us lot up at RSU Towers are psyched for the upcoming Go Green Week in Febuary. We’ve got so much planned; we’re going to blow last years’ GGW out of the water! Check out what’s going to be happening! Meat Free Monday Try being veggie for the day! With the college canteens serving greengoodness all day, and us signing you up to our part-time carnivore group, you can pick between 6 options of reducing the amount of meat you eat. You can sign up at http://roehampton.parttimecarnivore.org to get a kick start on things. We’ll also be sorting out cheap, tasty and green recipes for you to give a go too! Tunes-Day Music and culture galore, our very own Union Bar with be hosting a live music night featuring artist MIDI and a load of others. Drinks offers will be on especially for you all and is set to be an amazing night! Keep an eye open for posters around the uni. Spirituality Wednesday A chilled out day of talks by Green Peace and our very own green-team! Transport Thurrrrsday Roehampton BUG will be hosting a Critical Mass Bike ride for us – a perfect excuse to get on your fancy dress and toddle around the uni and our beautiful Richmond Park on a bike! This was really popular last year and so much fun, come! We’ll also be chatting about ways that you can cut down on the amount of petrol you use and the greenest way on travelling everywhere. Energy and Recycling Day of Action To celebrate the Energy and Recycling Day of Action, the fashion society will be hosting workshops to redesign you old clothes, and to make those things at the back of your wardrobe look amazing! We’ll also be having a Top-Shop Swap-Shop style jumble sale for anything you don’t want anymore and a Do The Green Thing photography contest! Keep an eye open for the details of our Can Film Festival too – bring a can to recycle instead of paying to watch an awesome movie! We’ll also be hosting a Can Film Festival - bring a used can for us to recycle in exchange to watch a film for free! Keep an eye open for details! So excited! Fern, Jesse and the Green Team!
R.A.G. Week: The shortlisted charities and how to vote Hello, R.A.G. Week 2011 is coming up quick and fast, and I’m very excited about what we’ve got planned for you lovely lot! Firstly a bit about RAG, it stands for ‘raising and giving’ and ‘R.A.G. Week’ has been a long running tradition in Roehampton and every year it gets bigger and better. The deal is we give you amazing events and activities and you give us (or the chosen charities) your lovely hard earned cash in return! Its all for a good cause and it helps three amazing charities. During Refreshers week we will have a voting system in place allowing you beauts to pick the charities you want. This is very easy to do, simply visit www. roehamptonstudent.com (or there’s a clever little link on the studentzone page) and choose away! No hassle! The other way you can vote is at the National Student Survey stall in The Union where there will be a ballot box and paper with the charities to put your magic little tick next to, and you’re all done! There are three catgories and two in which to vote for. The shortlisted charities are:
International: The Childrens Trust, Right To Play, UNICEF National: Broadway, Broken Rainbow, CAFOD, Celia Cross Greyhound Trust, C.L.I.C Sargent, Crisis, Cystic Fibrosis Trust, Debra, Guide Dogs, MENCAP, Meningitis Trust, MIND, Noah’s Ark, NSPCC, P.E.C, Seva Mandir, Young Carers, White Ribbon Campaign. Local (no voting): Regenerate I’ll give you a cheeky little teaser as to what to expect in RAG week, just to tantalise your taste-buds with the sweet taste of charity! Firstly, we have a brilliant ribbon campaign to show your support, so look out for noisy (but friendly) volunteers with buckets and orange ribbons. Next we have daytime events for everyone to get involved in, and maybe even a naughty bit of Krispy Kreme action will grace the university one day… And of course we have the nighttimes events- FEZ is going to be a cracker with a brand new theme- GRANNIES! Granny pants at the ready and a load of talc powder in your Barnet and your on to a winner! Then there’s acoustic night, with your lovely student union sabbatical team up for grabs for a night out on the town- have your money at the ready, because Alex Murray is going for big bucks! To polish off this charity filled week, is a beautiful R.A.G. Ball, so dust down your finest wear and prepare for a R.A.G. Ball with an exciting little blow up package inside! Looking forward to seeing you at all of these events and don’t forget to vote for the charities in Refreshers Week! Happy New Year fellow students Agnetha (your RAG officer) P.S if you want to boost your CV, get involved in volunteering during the week just email me at addisona@roehampton.ac.uk
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MUSIC Tips for 2011 Fresh Newspaper
I
.............t’s 2011, so which musical acts do we expect to become ..... successful this year? Yes, this is yet another ‘Tips for 2011′ post, but, quite frankly, I don’t care; I love trying to predict the future of music. Here’s who some of our writers think will become huge this year: Eugenie Johnson predicts great things for...
James Blake
Katie Wilkinson predicts success for...
Bear Driver
I watched them play a gig at The Bull & Gate in Kentish Town a couple of weeks ago and can indeed confirm that they are the future of indie pop with their sharp, yet light and pleasant melodies. Their music is just so beautifully ear-pleasing and could never fail to put you in a great mood; their music is just so uplifting it’s difficult not to like it.
Blake may have lost out, predictably, to Jessie J for the Brit Critics’ Choice Award but he’ll still be making waves in 2011 with his unique way of sampling, singing and producing pretty haunting, yet brilliant tunes. ‘CYMK’ was a slowburning explosion of beats and sub-woofing that wouldn’t have been out of place alongside Joy Orbison and Magnetic Man and ‘Limit To Your Love’ put an entirely new spin on Feist’s original with a soulful piano and slicing slow beat that makes listening to it both amazing and unnerving at the same time.
Niki And TheDove
It’s a shame that with all the awe-inspiring music that Niki put out in 2010, she still hasn’t found a record deal. Still, a small buzz is forming around the Swede which can only lead down the road of success. Her work does sound a little DIY for electro-pop but there’s enough darkness embedded in it and her voice is typically enigmatic. Recent song, ‘Mother Protect’, was filled with jungle rhythms, beats and an element of mystery. In these times of auto-tune and transatlantic voices, it’s just nice to be able to find someone like Niki who is at ease with their unique voice and can construct a soaring tune to go around it.
Summer Camp
With the album release next year and a heavy tour schedule planned, they will achieve mass recognition in 2011, for sure. They’ve already played all of the 2010 summer festivals and supported Local Natives and Slow Club. Their music is romantic 80′s tinged pop at its best. Ex- Platform Magazine Editor, Elizabeth Sankey, and Ex-solo artist, Jeremy Warmsley certainly make an excellent team as their voices complement each other so well. I predict a lot of success for them in 2011.
The Naked & Famous
Some might say that their blend of shoegaze guitars and synth-pop elements is just a rip-off of MGMT in their 2008 heyday but after repeated listens the true glory of this five-piece from Auckland really starts to shine through. They stand out well amidst the wave of Brooklyn bands that we’ve been awash with and have some killer tunes to back up the hype; ‘Bells’ even sounds like a Björk song with some big beats behind it. If you were seriously disappointed by the posturing of Congratulations after the brilliance of Oracular Spectacular then you’ll be very pleasantly surprised by The Naked & Famous.
Too Young To Love Hailing from Madrid, Spain; I’d say that this band is a more diverse choice. Their music is a mélange of witch house, indie, shoe gaze and classic pop. Thus, giving them the sound of The Big Pink, mixed with These New Puritans, mixed with Fever Rey, mixed with Hurts; whom they’ll be supporting on their Italian tour next year.
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www.roehamptonstudent.com
Alex Yau plots critical acclaim for...
and Ben Mercer says it’ll be all about these guys in 2011...
Warpaint
Oberhofer
The Fool was a showcase of celestial psychedelia that was entrancing and blissful. Not necessarily a bad thing, Warpaint had a delicate frailty behind the vocals but the combination of enveloping rhythms, malignant melodies and explosive epiphanies created a visceral and exciting experience.
Chapel Club
Chapel Club manage to evoke ecstasy through their sonic guitar sweeps whilst their heavy, polarising bass lines point to darker designs. Their sound is one that rings and resonates through your head like an alarm. The album is set for release next year and I imagine it will be pretty spectacular.
Oberhofer is the brain storm of Brad Oberhofer. His songs stylistically doth their cap to the likes of The Dodo’s and in them display an emotional honesty, his voice roar, creaking with a kind of nervousness. They still pack a man-size portion of punch though, shrieks and ‘oOOoO’s’ propel their way through the tracks creating some great hooks. He put out a bedroom produced EP all by himself earlier this year and he’s currently still unsigned. But he has a lot of hearts on hype machine and is heading out on a supporting tour with Tapes’n’Tapes in the America, so a deal is inevitable really. www.myspace.com/oberhofermusic
Funeral Suits
Beach House
This band has the ability to transport you to a tranquil paradise that you can’t help get lost in. It’s a world in a strong reverberant state and you can’t help but lay down, close your eyes and let everything go. Sam Kirby went close to home...
Redtrack
Redtrack hail from my hometown of sunny Southend and already have a lot of credibility in the music scene. They played last year’s Reading & Leeds festivals, have supported The Buzzcocks and released their debut album ‘Whole Town’s Heart’ in September last year. They have been a band that I have known since I was sixteen and i’ve seen band members come and go, and even after a large number of years as a three-piece they are now a well established four-piece with the inclusion of an occasional keyboardist. They started out as a bit of an adventure in slippers, by this I mean that they were great fun but never seemed to venture too far into musical genre’s or, to brutally say it, had much depth, but the more they settled as a band and the more popular they became through out the country this soon changed and the additional guitarist has pushed them heavily along the way. Singer and songwriter Billy Wright tells stories charmingly to a quirky indie-punk sound about girls, drinks, and niuickly gave them a fan base that would follow them to every gig without fail. I think soon, you could too,they’ll be causing a right old mischief in the year to come. Go to: www.redtrack.co.uk to hear more.
No, not Funeral Party – Funeral Suits; an Ireland-based 3 piece quietly beavering away making delicious lo-fi indie grunge. Delicious tracks like ‘Colour Fader’: smashed up samples echo in a plodding beat, guitars swirl in reverb, the vocal hook repeats with gusto and all build to an emotive yet stripped-back climax. The hypnotic pace is deceptively addictive, once the songs left you it lingers in the system for some time. They are working on an album that will drop sometime this year, their up for a brief American excursion soon, which will of course include SXSW. I like them. You should like them too. www.myspace.com/thefuneralsuits
Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble are an indie/ borderline psychedelic outfit from Toronto, Canada. They are a fun band that makes fun music; it’s disgustingly upbeat in fact. They appear to write songs high on a sugar induced rush which is then sent though a blender of electronic mess, to produce an oddly addictive mulch of melody and beats. Want some other bands that they sound like? Okay, one of my bestest tracks of 2010, ‘Lawn Knives’ combines elements of MGMT, Penguin Prison and, to an extent, the cut up stylings of Four Tet. Their live shows look like buckets of fun too, so naturally, I implore them once again to come to England and play some music. www.myspace.com/ leatherjowels
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