The New Forest teenager’s debut album has been a massive hit across Europe achieving number one status in both Holland and Belgium and hitting the Top 20 in the UK. It has gone Gold in the UK, Platinum in Europe and she’s had over 45 million hits on YouTube. With her performances of ‘Shelter’ and her cover of Ed Sheeran’s ‘The A Team’, Open Mic UK winner Birdy was the second most viewed UK musician on YouTube. In March 2012, she was one of the artists who contributed to the Hunger Games’ film soundtrack with her single “Just A Game”, along with Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, and Arcade Fire.

Birdy went up against 10,000 hopeful artists in the Open Mic UK national music competition. At just 12 years of age with a dream of becoming a star and sharing her music with the world, Birdy swept through the auditions into the regional and area finals to her eventual win at the National Grand Final singing her own song ‘So Be Free’. Birdy recently reminisced about the experience of playing in front of a thousand people at the Open Mic UK Grand Final as “such a cool experience” to Radio One. She explained that it showed her what she wanted to do when she was still very young.

After winning Open Mic UK, Birdy recorded her album with Gareth Henderson in River Studios which resulted in her being offered a publishing contract with Good Soldier Songs Ltd, run by Christian Tattersfield, chairman of Warner Bros. Tattersfield was previously responsible for signing artists such as David Gray. She subsequently got signed to Warner. Despite being busy studying hard for her forthcoming GCSE exams, Birdy continues to work hard on her music career and remains loyal to those that have supported her rising success, still working with Gareth Henderson at River Studios on recent tracks included on her self-titled debut album “Birdy”.

More information at www.officialbirdy.com If you want to enter Open Mic UK, visit www.Openmicuk.co.uk

Performing warm-up gigs in only three cities, Blur will head to Plymouth Pavilions on Tuesday 7 August 2012 ahead of their highly anticipated sold out return to London’s Hyde Park later this Summer.

The band will head to the seaside for a gig at the historic Winter Gardens in Margate on 1 August, followed by a return to Wolverhampton for the first time since 2009 to play two shows at the Civic Hall, and finally Plymouth Pavilions on 7 August.

‘Blur 21: The Box’ will be released on 30 July 2012. Twenty one years since the release of their debut album Leisure in 1991, the band’s body of work has been compiled and gathered together into one box. Blur’s seven studio albums are collected with over 5 ½ hours of previously unreleased material including 65 tracks, rarities, 3 DVDs, a collector’s edition book and special limited edition Seymour 7 inch vinyl.

Marketing Officer at Plymouth Pavilions, Robert Maltby said: “Once again the Pavilions punches well above its weight and clinches one of the biggest comeback tours of recent years. Plymouth is one of only 3 cities to be chosen to host the warm ups ahead of the Hyde Park gig, you could say we are very very excited!”

General tickets go on sale 9am Friday (18 May), priced £35+bf from www.eventim.co.uk Tickets limited to 4 per customer. There will also be 300 tickets available for collection in person at Plymouth Pavilions. Terms and conditions apply.

This Is The Kit – is Kate Stables playing banjo, guitar and a voice of unaffected clarity accompanied by her Wild Band creating primal and electric textures on songs of unpretentious beauty. This Is The Kit keep good company; in 2006 they partnered Animal Collective, Tunng and Vashti Bunyan on Sunday Best’s Folk Off compilation. With each contemporary going on to bigger success with their next album and Drowned in Sound saying “its personal touch is largely what makes [This Is The Kit] the British highlight, not to mention that of the compilation as a whole” it’s easy to see how Wriggle out the Restless will be Kate’s first step in the same direction.

Rozi Plain was born Rosalind Leyden, in the leafy-greens of Winchester. Since moving to Bristol she’s been working on the ferries that bob in and out of the city, along the Avon, whilst creating her own beautifully intimate music that captures life slowly floating by. With her older brother Sam (aka Romanhead), and her pal Rachael Dadd, she is a founding member of the Cleaner Records collective – a loose assortment of singer-songwriters based in Bristol. The unassuming charm of Rozi’s live show has led to tours across Europe, the UK & USA. Notable tours include supporting Devendra Banhart (who fell for her debut album, and named it one of his albums of last year), James Yorkston and Viking Moses, as well as appearances at festivals such as Green Man and End Of The Road.

This is the Kit and Rosi Plain play Miss Peapod’s, Penryn, on Sunday 24 June. Tickets £6 / £5 NUS / £8 Door from www.wegottickets.com/misspeapods

The group’s new album Shallow Bed has been a hit with indie and folk fans alike and has seen them become one of the most talked about new acts around. “I think people are surprised when they come to see us live.” says Peter Liddle, heavily tattooed frontman of London’s Dry the River and former student at the University of Bristol. “They expect us to be really calm and quiet but in some ways we’re the opposite.”

You can see why people get confused: this five-piece band has all the hallmarks of the latest folk sensation: elemental name, beards, acoustic guitars, even a violinist. But what sets Dry the River apart is a background in hardcore and post-punk bands, hence the tattoos, lyrics that read like a Steinbeck novel and a sonic palette that sweeps from gentle to giant like an incoming storm.

Liddle is joined by guitarist Matthew Taylor and violinist Will Harvey, plus Scott Miller (bass) and Jon Warren (drums). They play a sold out gig at Bristol Fleece on Monday April 30 ahead of their Bath gig in the autumn, you can also catch them at some of the summer festivals – including The Great Escape in Brighton, Isle of Wight and 2000Trees in Gloucestershire.

Tickets £8adv from www.komedia.co.uk/bath

With two gigs at Glastonbury, a number of other South West festival sessions, and a string of local appearances under their belt, the young Cornish band are determined to move forward in the music industry and the Battle of the Bands victory is a key step on their journey. Based around the Callington area, the band only started playing together as a four piece early in 2011, however they are swiftly becoming known and are gaining more gigs across the South West.

The Livewire Battle of the Bands was an intensive ten week process with Hotel Infusion up against three other local bands – Elithia, Credicide and the Badland Bandits. The teenagers won £1,000 in cash and a full set of high quality instruments and technical kit worth in excess of £4,000. They’ll use the cash to pay for a recording session at Sawmills studio so they can create a professional demo that they hope will help them carve their way in the industry. Owning the full set of quality kit now means they have everything they need to play gigs in any venue, which will also help them immensely.

Front man Bertie Ellis Dean said, “The Livewire final was truly amazing and winning means so much to us all for a whole host of reasons. We just want to say thank you to everyone who it made it possible for us to come this far already. We owe all of our fans, everyone who took part, and all the people who organised the competition, a massive thank you. We’ve all learned so much from the competition and all of the other bands, Elithia, Credicide and the Badland Bandits were super impressive. We feel totally lucky to have won.”

Hotel Infusion’s underlying aim is to defy current mainstream routes and to get their committed, unique style and blends of music heard and appreciated by other musicians and listeners. Their technical ability, and a hunger to create original material is obvious within their first collection of songs. The band refuses to perform covers and are determined to collectively write pieces with true originality that people can move and relate to.

More info HERE

Tall Firs are Dave Mies and Aaron Mullan. They have been pals since junior high school. Starting in 1990, they literally taught each other how to play guitar, wood-shedding shoulder to shoulder. Today they continue to refine a creole guitar language that is pretty much a two-man weave between those same disparate destinations. Over the past 10 years the Firs have shared stages with Thurston Moore, Silver Apples, Jeff Mangum, Shellac, Awesome Color, Emily Haines, Sonic Youth, Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks, Magic Markers, Kurt Vile, Celebration and a host of others.

The group will join the likes of The Magnetic Fields, Joanna Newsom, Low, Sebadoh, Boredoms, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and more, to play at Jeff Mangum’s ATP Festival, which takes place from March 9-11. Tickets are still available, from £175, at HERE.

Tall Firs – Fri/End (Thurston Moore cover)

Set in a shed (no shit) on a farm somewhere off the M5 just south of Bristol, the sessions have attracted the likes of Roddy Woomble, Micah P Hinson, Ellen and the Escapades, Steven Knightly (Show of Hands) and most recently Dorset singer/songwriter Jinder (see below). The shed, a former army billet, is full of trinkets and stuff and attracts touring musicians on their way from gigs in the South West up country. Acts can apply to play there too. But there’s more! The shed tours and will also feature at Frome Folk Festival next month and Bristol Folk Festival in May.

To watch the intimate, lo-fi sessions, visit www.songsfromtheshed.com Viva le shed!

No Direction Home will be the first time that this historic and beautiful setting, first mentioned as far back as the Domesday Book, will play host to a festival. A main stage is to be built by a lake with views of the ancient abbey and there will be music, merriment and new twists on everything you’d expect from the End of the Road team including a carefully crafted programme of film, literature, workshops and comedy. Musical acts confirmed for the 3-day soujourn include Andrew Bird, Beth Jeans Houghton & the Hooves of Destiny, David Thomas Broughton, Diagrams, Dirty Three, Gruff Rhys, Lanterns on the Lake, The Low Anthem, Slow Club and the winner’s of 247 Magazine’s album of 2011 prize (OK, it wasn’t a prize, it was merely prestige) The Unthanks with Brighouse & Rastrick Brass.

More information and tickets, priced £105, at www.nodirectionhomefestival.com

The first few acts have also been announced for End of the Road Festival and are Grizzly Bear, Tindersticks, Beach House, The Antlers, First Aid Kit, Jeffrey Lewis and the Junkyard
Justin Townes Earle, Robyn Hitchcock and more. Tickets for End of the Road available now from www.endoftheroadfestival.com priced £150.

The Mill’s spring gigs are held in the cosy warmth of the upstairs restaurant. It’s a magical and intimate setting for an exciting musical series featuring everything from Country Blues to English Folk, Americana, R&B, jazz and soul.

Mill co-owner Caroline Spiller said “We’re looking forward to a wonderful spring season. The Mill is a truly unique music venue, which is loved by audiences and musicians alike. It’s why we’re able to attract acts of the calibre of multi-award winning artists like Steve Knightley, Barb Jungr and Tom McConville, and why The Guardian named us “The mill that rocks.”

The first gig takes place on January 19 and features Steve Knightly, from Show of Hands. Tickets £16. On February 2, Tom McConville and David Newey take to the stage. Tickets £12 and the 9 February sees Barb Jungr singing Bob Dylan. Tickets £12. Gary Fletcher plays on February 23. Tickets £11 and March welcomes Patsy Metheson and Becky Mills (March 8, tickets £11) and Craig and Willoughby (March 22, tickets £12) as well as Mark Butcher and Matt Taylor (March 29, tickets £12.50). The Spring sessions end with Rag Mama Rag on April 5. Tickets £12.

Full details of Otterton Mill’s music listings can be found at www.ottertonmill.com The concerts take place in the Mill’s intimate restaurant setting, and music-goers can enjoy great menus of seasonal food between 6 to 7.30pm. Music starts at 8pm. (Note: ticket prices shown cover music only). Tickets can be booked by calling 01395 568521, or visiting the Mill’s craft/gift shop in the main mill building.

Otterton Mill is situated between Budleigh Salterton and Sidmouth on the River Otter. It features a one thousand-year-old working watermill, award-winning café-restaurant and food shop, gallery, craft shop and artist studio, artisan bakery, and music venue. Opening hours are 10am to 5pm daily (plus from 6pm on Thursday for Music & Food nights).

What happens when inkblots, photocopies, cardboard, angle-poise lamps, the occasional table, video technology, a laptop and a banana box meet? Part puppet show, cinema show and slide show, The Paper Cinema is a fascinating, haunting and very clever mix of live music and live animation. Don’t miss this chance to see The Paper Cinema with your own eyes!

Their big offering is Rock Charmer, running time 40 mins. The Rock Charmer is set in the round pillars of the old quarry, an old man wanders scratching at the mysteries of the rocks… calling… what have they seen, what are they, what makes them, what stories can be told by these weather blown sentinels? Unwrap geological time, explore the layers of the rock. And the shorter offering, Nightflyer, running time 20 mins, follows an unlikely hero as he crosses the night in a mysterious train, in search of the lost flying girl.

We first caught the Dorset-based Paper Cinema at Green Man Festival and were astounded by their painfully creative and brilliant live film efforts. With music By Little Boat and former Brothers In Sound member Ed Dowie this is truly a sensory treat on Sunday December 18.

Tickets from £5adv. More info at www.cubecinema.com