Art Brut are one of those bands that remain an obscure secret to many people. When I told friends I was going to the band’s gig at Manchester Academy 3 tonight (April 27) I was mostly met with shrugs of the shoulders and the arching of eyebrows.

Once you hear of Art Brut and listen to a few of their tunes, they then become one of those bands you either love or hate - there’s no middle-ground whatsoever. Luckily, for someone who paid to go and see them play live, I’m in the former camp.

I first heard of Art Brut way back in 2004 when Formed a Band was released and the group were mentioned in the NME. But it wasn’t until I saw them support Maximo Park in 2007 that I fell in love with them. And this from a man who usually hates support acts.

Since then, Art Brut have released two further albums to follow up their debut, Bang Bang Rock & Roll. I reviewed It’s a Bit Complicated in the early days of Brit Music Scene and plan to review new album, Art Brut vs. Satan, soon.

Tonight saw them play Manchester Academy 3 as part of their current UK tour. This was the first time I’d seen them as the main band and they did not disappoint. They played a raucous 70-minute set which included many gems from their back catalog as well as many from Art Brut vs. Satan.

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Some of the bloggers here on the b5 music channel decided to record our Soundtrack For A Day yesterday. This could take different forms, be it all the songs you listened to on that day, a selection from certain moments, or a particular album.

I decided to stick my media player on random and note down the first 50 songs it played, and here is the result.

As a full time blogger who works from home, music is very important to me as it can change the mood of my day. Pressing the random button is therefore a bit of a gamble but this time it didn’t let me down.

Notice the amount of British songs in the collection! That’s not engineered in any way, just proof that that is where my big love in music lies. There are also some brilliant American and Irish bands in there too, and of course, Abba…

Stereophonics - Mr Writer
The Feeling - Join With Us
Foo Fighters - Times Like These
Art Brut - Stand Down
The Killers - On Top
Coldplay - Spies
The Kooks - Got No Love
Radiohead - Videotape
The Hoosiers - Worried About Ray
Maximo Park - By The Monument
The Jam - All Around The World
Girls Aloud - Long Hot Summer
Snow Patrol - Gleaming Auction
Jimi Hendrix - House Burning Down
Therapy? - Knives
Tricky - Ponderosa
Lily Allen - Everything’s Just Wonderful
The Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Woman
Linkin Park - Nobody’s Listening
Rage Against The Machine - People Of The Sun
Nina Simone - Feeling Good
REM - It’s The End Of The World As We Know It
The Young Knives - Another Hollow Line
Paul Simon - The Boy In The Bubble
The Specials - Too Much Too Young

See the second half of my 50 song list after the cut…

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I’ve been writing this blog for over 3 months now, and hopefully some of you are reading and enjoying Brit Music Scene. I’ve strived to bring you all the latest news, reviews, gossip and low-down on everything to do with the British Music Scene, and I think I’ve done a good job.

So in a further effort to educate my readers and bring some good music to your ears, here are 10 British music artists you should discover.

Now some of you will know all of the groups I talk about, especially if you happen to be in the UK, but some of you may not have heard of any of them.

Seeing as most of my readers are from the USA, I’d say that’s a pretty safe bet. So in my opinion here are 10 bands or singers who you should discover, listen to for a bit and maybe even grow to love as much as I do.

For your pleasure, I’ve made a play list with my favourite tune from each artist, and you can listen to it while the read the rest of the post below, you lucky so and so’s.

They are all British, they are all absolutely brilliant, and you need to hear about them right now. Enjoy…

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Art Brut, one of my favourite bands at the moment, have announced a small North American tour in support of and to promote their recent 2nd album ‘It’s A Bit Complicated’.

The English Indie Rock/Alternative Art Rock band have already supported Maximo Park on tour over various dates in bot America and Europe, and are now striking out on their own. The gigs will be a mixture of small, intimate clubs, and big state side festivals including Bumbershoot in Seattle and the Monolith Festival in Colorado.

I would urge any of my readers who live near one of the following venues to go check out the band, as they are brilliant live. And if you do, let me know, as I’d happily accept some reader gig reviews of British bands playing abroad.

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I love Art Brut. I felt I should say that before I start the album review so there’s no thoughts of a conflict of interest. I first heard of them in 2004 when ‘Formed a band’ and ‘Modern Art’ started being played on MTV2 and Radio 1. I remember ‘Emily Kane’ being released as a single and hearing snippets of their excellent first album. And then I kind of lost track of what they were up to until I saw them support Maximo Park earlier this year and the love affair was rekindled.

I love the idea of Art Brut, which is kind of just form a band, don’t think about it, just do it and see what happens. To this end, Art Brut have a lot of bands who say they formed as a result of their influence, and name themselves after the band as a kind of homage. They have names such as AB17 and AB4. American Indie rockers ‘We Are Scientists’ are actually an Art Brut franchise, AB47. Now there’s trivia for you!

I’ve been playing first album ‘Bang Bang, Rock and Roll’ on repeat over the last few months so I was uber excited to get hold of a copy of ‘It’s a bit complicated’. It didn’t disappoint, and even though on first listen I wasn’t totally grabbed, like all the best records it grows on you increasingly with each listen.

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