Warning: Smoking Ban inspection during Friendly Fires on Wednesday 18 May 2011

Since 1 January 2006 it has no longer been permitted to smoke in public places, so not in AB either. After consultation between AB and the Federal Department of Public Health, Food-Chain Safety and the Environment, there will be a number of inspections carried out in the AB over the coming months by the Public Health department.

The next inspection will be on the during the Friendly Fires concert on Wednesday May 18th 2011.

CMJ or the College Music Journal showcase festival, New York, 2008. Your AB-man on the spot notes vehemently in his notebook: ‘Friendly Fires, a fantastic live band consisting of 3 musicians and a frontman/singer worth the name. Danceable, jumpy pop with a great deal of hit potential. Note of this name because it's sure to turn up again’.

Fast forward to 2011. Friendly Fires has indeed won the world with their untitled debut from 2008. Their edgy dance-pop managed to comfortably nestle itself in the short-list of well-reputed British best-album-chart the Mercury Prize, with singles like ‘Paris’, ‘Jump In The Pool’ and ‘Skeleton Boy’. They later also figured prominently at the Brit Awards in the categories Best British Group and British Breakthrough Act. That their music appeals to live-music aficionados but can just as easily turn a club in Ibiza upside down (listen to their Bugged-Out mix-CD) is a big bonus.

Successor ‘Pala’ will be out mid-May via XL Recordings (that recently proved to have a good nose for music with M.I.A. and The xx) and single ‘Live Those Days Tonight’ from it is the first sign of life.

Canadian art-rockers Braids were one of the highlights of the recent SXSW showcase festival in Austin, Texas. The foursome plays experimental dream-pop with a dash of shoegaze. ‘Braids plays knotty, dense pop songs that feel like re-imaginings of Feels-era Animal Collective songs spruced up with shimmering female vocals’. (Time Out New York) Their album ‘Native Speaker’ is out now.