This legendary festival is celebrating it’s tenth year and with Sonisphere now out of the picture, Download 2012 is going to be the place to get your metal fix this summer.

The main stage this year has been dedicated to the late Jim Marshall and will see headline performances from The Prodigy, Black Sabbath and Metallica (who will be performing the  legendary Black Album in it’s entirety!).

Soundgarden, Biffy Clyro, Megadeth and Slash are only a handful of names from the rest of this star-studded line-up (see the full list here).

Weekend tickets for the massive metal-fest at Donnington Park, Derbyshire are £190 including camping and can be purchased here.

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The UK’s largest world-music festival held at Charlton Park, Wiltshire, will be celebrating it’s 30th year this summer and to commemorate this amazing achievement they have secured (what can only be described as) an incredible line-up.

Cuba’s Orquestra Buena Vista Social Club, Jamaica’s Jimmy Cliff, Northern Ireland’s Balkan Alien Sound and the Alaev Family from Israel to name only a few.

For a third year running, The Human Library provides festival goers with a ’living book’ and Children’s Workshops provide the festival with fun for all the family.

Weekend tickets including camping are priced at £135 and can be purchased here.

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Old-School is the name of the game at the Isle of Wight Festival 2012. Headlining Friday night is Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Saturday night has Pearl Jam and gracing the stage on Sunday night will be the legendary Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band.

The Voice UK’s star judge Jessie J will also be ruffling feathers, as well as current pop sensation Lana Del Rey and UK hip-hop’s golden boy, Tinie Tempah. Performances from Noel Gallagher and The Darkness should also draw some attention.

Tickets for the event at Seaclose Park, Newport, Isle of Wight cost £190 and can be purchased here.

isleofwightfestival.com

Starting off this year’s festival previews is the first festival I attended at the tender age of 14; Reading, along with it’s counterpart, Leeds are part of a rare breed of festivals, in which they run at exactly the same time and share the same line-up (alternating days).

This year they have an exclusive, main-stage headline performance from Foo Fighters, along with headline slots from The Cure and Kasabian. Other highlights include performances from; Bombay Bicycle Club, The Maccabees and The Black Keys, as well as Dance Stage headliners; Metronomy, Katy B and Azealia Banks and Lock-up Stage headliners; Social Distortion and Less Than Jake.

Weekend tickets cost £197.50 including camping and can be purchased here for Reading and here for Leeds.

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Here at inans.co.uk we love festivals and as the festival season is fast approaching, we have decided to give you a preview of some of this year’s highlights, in the only way we know how - In a Nutshell.

Whether you’re into folk, metal, pop, indie or fancy heading abroad or even with your family, there is a festival out there that is suited to you. Throughout the coming weeks, we will be showing you where to go to find the music you love, in the atmosphere you desire. Keep checking back for more information.

We caught up with John and Joe of Stoke-on-trents very own, The Control. The boys talk about their upcoming single and the release of their very first music video.

Single; Crimes of Love Dance and Music, will be released on the 8th of June.

For updates from the band visit their facebook page here.

Welcome to; Radlands, the fourth album from Mystery Jets. Written and recorded away from their home comforts, at a remote location in Austin Texas (see trailer here).

The album’s title track opens the show and is instantly more guitar based than their previous release; Serotonin, which featured a lot of 80′s style synth. Taking its name from the famous line in Jerry Maguire; You Had Me At Hello boasts an adventurous baseline and the Americana influence takes form through the introduction of Harmonica, a first for the Jets.

An early confessional arises in Someone Purer. Creating tension and bearing some of the woes dwelling the boy’s minds. “Won’t you take me down to the creek? Wash away our sins and sleep, I feel so tired as though I might not wake at all on the other side”.

Greatest Hits seems like a nostalgic retrospective on the bands previous achievements, while the lyrics suggest it’s really reminiscing about a love lost but never forgotten, leading un-expectedly into The Hale Bob, that sounds like it could easily be taken from Jesus Christ Superstar.

Sister Everett is named after a nun that tried to convert singer-guitarist Blaine Harrison on the plane to Texas. Aptly accommodating heavy organ sounds and a choir to finish.

Track-name aside, Lost in Austin strangely loses the newly acquired American twang and takes up an almost Brit-pop character, including building choruses, thrashing guitars and punchy drums.

The Jets have matured so much as a band and this overall downbeat record is the perfect example of their progress. A fine album.

Today I had the pleasure of catching up with Sim Smith, drummer of five-piece, alternative electronic rock outfit, SAFARI.

After recent successes in Berlin and having had a documentary made about them (see video below), I wanted to see what else these boys have in the pipeline. Sim commented on the status of their forthcoming album;

“We are currently writing and recording new songs to add to our album shortlist. The album, which will include our previous singles Quicksand, So I See, Doubt and Are We Ready, will be released late this year.”

The band are regulars on the London scene and last year had the opportunity to take their live shows to the next level, when they played Latitude festival. Sim mentioned that this summer will once again see the band join the festival circuit;

“In June we will be playing Chazzstock, a charity festival set up in dedication to the late Charles Haddon (Ou Est Le Swimming Pool). It’s a 1 day event being headlined by The Horrors and The Vaccines… also performing are Tribes and Man Like Me.”

Sim has said that he can’t reveal too much but he has assured that there are; “some good things yet to be confirmed”. Keep your eyes on their website here and Facebook page here for updates about the album and forthcoming shows.

Tomorrow will see the release of Lianne La Havas‘ brand new single; Lost and Found. La Havas’ voice is beautiful and her range is quite incredible, but the funeral march pace of the track and the saddening lyrics – “You broke me and taught me to truly hate myself” – allude to the fact that underneath all of the beauty, there is in fact a tortured soul. You can tell when somebody truly feels what they are singing and this is a prime example, the emotion is unmistakeable.

Lianne La Havas will be touring throughout May, June and July, with a mixture of headline dates and festival appearances. I have no doubt in my mind that she will be a household name by the end of the year. Check her website here for more details and tour dates.

Went Away is the third single to be released from The Maccabees fourth album; Given to the Wild.

The synth that has defined this album apart from its pre-decessors lays the path for Orlando Weeks’ nostalgic vocals. The White brothers introduce the trademark Maccabees pinching guitar over the top and slowly they build to transform the track into the racy little number it becomes. The line; “I never went away,” is bellowed out by a group chant in a round with Orlando’s hunting vocals and the longing atmosphere of Went Away come’s to light.

To be released on May 28th on Fiction Records.

Check out the rest of Given To The Wild to get a better idea of why this album went straight into the chart at No 4.