…and we’re back in business with another fantastic prospect for the months to come in the form of a 5-piece from Leeds by the name of The ABC Club. Thieving Magpie will be the 6th release from the brilliantly bedroom based Things To Make And Do Records and offers a sound that is reminiscent of the new wave first album by The Strokes with tight drums and taut rhythmic guitars, whilst at the same time loose and easy vocals poured into each tune by singer Zandra Klievens.
You can stream both …
The Radio Dept. are finally returning with a new record in “Clinging to a Scheme” released in April on that fine purveyor of pop, Labrador – and if this is anything to go by it has been worth the wait. Heaven’s on Fire is starry eyed pop that glistens in the moonlight. Dreamy enough to distract even those most driven among us to slide into Wonderland, and containing a clever uncleared sample from Thurston Moore (ssshhh…) giving political edge, this is what pop music is supposed to be.
The Radio Dept. …
When two of my favourite blogs (namely Illegal Tender and Fucking Dance) start singing the praises of a new duo, only a fool would ignore it. And the band they have been talking about? The Shimmer.
The Shimmer are brother and sister David and Jade Hanks, who you may know as The Mono, but all that really matters is that they make punchy, dark and emotive pop wonders. Now you put them in a Napoleonic fort with ex-Clor genius Luke Smith to record, and you get a diverse mixture of rough …
The Buffetlibre duo have come up with an impressively unique concept for their PEACE compilation album that is due for release on 1st March – creating a musical atlas of the world with songs from each and every corner (or at least from more than 50 countries). These aren’t just unknown artists either, they’ve got Voxtrot from the USA, Official Secrets Act from the UK, The Hidden Cameras form Canada, The Toxic Avenger from France, Amycanbe from Italy, plus many other less recognisable but no less impressive acts from Lebanon …
The Baby Monster boys are back with a storming second single in “She Comes Alive”. This is a lighter, happier feel compared to Ultra Violence and Beethoven, but doesn’t disappoint by getting stuck in your head with a chorus that transcends the snappy electro-pop verse into a glorious and uplifting shower of aural colour.
Also exciting is that this is being released as the first single from BIGSTEREO – another blog that is turning its musical hand into a label. Congrats where its due (even if I’m a little jealous right …
Drowned in Sound may have picked Look Away Sancho as one of their singles of the week last November, but 2010 should be the year when Black Daniel (MySpace) take that grass roots internet community love a little further into the oh so popular indie psyche.
They write some distorted pop delights – catchy as fuck but with enough alt/indie sensibilities that they should be finding themselves onto plenty of the party playlists. Craig Louis Higgins Jr, Liam May, and Luke May s have written an album that is reminiscent of …
I may be a few months behind some of the hipper than thou US blogs on this one, but ever since the delicious Love Shack, Baby brought them to my attention with Violet Eyes, My Gold Mask (Bandcamp | MySpace | Twitter) have found their way onto far too many of my personal playlists and yet some how I have been neglecting them on here. Well time to set the record straight…
Gretta Rochelle’s vocal slide between soaring and screeching, with and effortless cool that reminds me a little of Blondie …
