Whilst “This is my house, this is my home” in its original form built and built on despair until a crescendo denoting the rebellion of youth, it has now been turned into the hauntingly beautiful last gasps of that era of life. The idea of rebellion has been relinquished, laid to rest with string movements and the tinkling piano weeping over its loss.

The whole EP reflects this change in outlook. The focus hasn’t moved away from the isolation of youth, but the reaction to it has. Rather than railing against it, they have have embraced it, embraced the melancholy that comes with age and regrets, all “with the benefit of hindsight” as titled track four.

The track we’ve got to share, “A Far Cry”, demonstrates their transition as it still keeps heavy drums central to their debut which garnered them so wide critical acclaim, but now opens them up to a wider emotional condition and raises the anticipation for their next full length offering.

We Were Promised Jetpacks – The Last Place You’ll Look

Pre-order the EP for those in the UK/Europe or buy it now if you’re in the US

You can stream both Thieving Magpie and the b-side Friend of Mine over on TTMAD’s SoundCloud, but we’ve got the mp3 of Get Set Go which was actually part of TTMAD’s last compilation release and is a great way to get introduced to these guys.

The ABC Club – Get Set Go

The release is limited to 500 vinyl copies so get in there quick and buy it at Rough Trade

…and a well deserved hat tip to the consistently brilliant Abeano for finding these guys whilst I was on exam hiatus as well

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. | MySpace | Labrador

The Radio Dept. – Heaven’s on Fire

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 and ready rock-pop bliss and driving Depeche Mode-esque electro pop. As hard as I try, I can’t pigeon-hole these two into any genre at all – all I can say is that whatever style you call it – it is pop perfection and catchy as fuck.

Their first single is due to drop in a few months on the consistently impressive Hit Club.

The Shimmer – Lover’s Void
The Shimmer – No Surprise At All

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 to Greenland to Congo.

…and the best part? All the proceeds go to Amnesty International and their campaign for human rights across the globe and you can choose how much you want to pay/donate (minimum €2) And you don’t have to listen to Bono’s whining! If that has wet your tastebuds then we have a few MP3s to share to prove how good the music is on this thing.

Marissa Nadler – I Love My Man

The Antlers – Two (Buffetlibre Remix)

The Requesters – Breakin’ Up

Ivri Lider – Mike

Here’s the full line up so far…

USA: Micah P Hinson, Steve Wynn, Crocodiles, Dan Deacon, Voxtrot, Marissa Nadler, A Place To Bury Strangers, The Antlers, Asobi Seksu, Spinto Band, Port O’Brien, Bart Davenport, Dent May, Ki:Theory, Mike Viola, Flashmen, Her Space Holiday, Pretty & Nice, Ra Ra Riot, Sic Alps, Blacklist, DeLeon, Gala, Jeffrey Lewis, United State Of Electronica, Gregor Samsa, Thao + The Get Down Stay Down, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Still Flyin’, Plushgun, Softlightes, Princeton, Odyze, This Will Destroy You, Cruel Black Dove, Avian X
JAPAN: Ryuichi Sakamoto
COLOMBIA: Frankie Jazz
BRAZIL: Bonde Do Role
ISRAEL: Ivri Lider, Tamar Eisenmann, Karni Postel, Nico Teen, The Bitting Sheep
ISRAEL/FRANCE: Keren Ann & Shlomi Shaban
UK: Marc Almond, 4hero, Mogwai, Dubstar, Patrick Wolf, Si Begg, frYars, Gyratory System, Darren Hayman, Cicada, GoldieLocks, Lucky Soul, Official Secrets Act, Frankmusik, The Ultrasonics, Trouble Over Tokyo, A Certain Ratio, The Boy Least Likely To, You Love Her Coz She’s Dead, Gala, Catherine AD
CHINA: The Pet Conspiracy
SENEGAL: Malick Pathé Sow
CHILE: Javiera Mena, Francisca Valenzuela, DJ Raff
FRANCE: Tahiti 80, Black Strobe, The Toxic Avenger, Titi Robin, The Delano Orchestra, Amelie Les Crayons, Outlines, Saï Saï, My Broken Frame, Debmaster
BURUNDI: Eric Baranyanka
CANADA: Apostle Of Hustle, Buck 65, Malajube, The Hidden Cameras
BELGIUM: Vive La Fête, The Neon Judgement, Girls in Hawai, King & Svenson
TUNISIA/ALGERIA: DuOud
FINLAND: Jori Hulkkonen
AUSTRIA: Fennesz, A Life A Song A Cigarette
AUSTRALIA: Jeremy Fowler, Aeons, Sarah Blasko, Operator Please, Birds Of Tokyo, An Horse
ALGERIA: MHD & Starlight, Maghrebika, Baäziz
HONG KONG: The Marshmallow Kisses, Tramgirl Karaoke Club feat. Maskopet
NEW ZEALAND: The Veils, The Phoenix Foundation
CUBA: Martha Galarraga
REPUBLIC OF KOREA: EE
GREECE: Marsheaux, Mikro
NORWAY: Rockettothesky, Ane Brun, Ingrid Olava
GHANA: Wanlov The Kubolor
GERMANY: Stereo Total, Ascii Disko, Console, Escape With Romeo, Jeans Team, Kissogram, Maral Salmassi & Zero Cash, Kitbuilders, Locas In Love
LEBANON: Abaji
GREENLAND: Angu
DENMARK: Cartridge, The Broken Beats
MALI: Vieux Farka Touré
ITALY: Dusty Kid, Amari, Amycanbe, Le Man Avec Les Lunettes, Perturbazione
IRELAND: David Kitt, Mundy, Hystereo
UGANDA: Seby Ntege
INDONESIA: Mocca, Efek Rumah Kaca, White Shoes & The Couples Company
INDIA: Motherjane, menwhopause, Shaa’ir+func
RUSSIA: Tesla Boy, Cut2Kill
ICELAND: múm, Amiina
HUNGARY: We Plants Are Happy Plants
EGYPT: Allen Walker, Bikya
SWEDEN: I’m From Barcelona, Sally Shapiro, Peter Von Poehl, Napoleon, Air France feat Jack Wilson, Lacrosse
SPAIN: Miqui Puig, We Are Standard, Olimpic, Boat Beam, The Requesters, After After Hours, The Pinker Tones, Triangulo De Amor Bizarro, Elastic Band, Undo, The Amplic, Mendetz, 4t1a, The Requesters
SOUTH AFRICA: DJ Mujava, 340ml
FINLAND/GERMANY: AGF/Delay
SERBIA: sevdahBABY
IRAQ: Aida Nadeem, Salaam, Aïwa
PORTUGAL: X-Wife
BOLIVIA: Surfin Wagner
PALESTINE: CultureSHOC, Khalas
TURKEY: Gooseflesh
NEDERLANDS: Don Diablo, Kraak & Smaak, Perquisite, a balladeer
ARGENTINA: Entre Rios, Manosanta
MEXICO: Mexican Institute Of Sound, Sussie 4, Hello Seahorse!
TIBET: Karjam Saeji, Lotem Namling, Ngawang Choephel
CONGO: Kiala
THAILAND: Cyndi Seui
VENEZUELA: Kid 606, Fordelucs
SINGAPUR: sonicbrat
SWITZERLAND: Heidi Happy (feat Paul Niehaus of Calexico), Low Motion Disco

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 now) – but with a first single as good as this they should do very, very well indeed.

Baby Monster – She Comes Alive

There are only 350 copies of this being formed into 7″ vinyl so get in there quick and buy it now.

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 the Dandy Warhols, or even the good parts of Kasabian – they’ve got swagger,  catchy tunes, and that dirty rock n roll drive. Enough of that, in fact, that you expect them to be waking up with a bottle of Jack and a fag for breakfast, and falling home with a different groupie every night.

There next single, a double a-side I Love You But Don’t Touch Me Cos You’re Sick / Move Like Royalty will be released for free along side their album, Let’s Get Sued, on 01/03/2010. And they have been good enough to offer up the stems for Move Like Royalty on their SoundCloud for remix purposes.

Black Daniel – Look Away Sancho

Black Daniel – I love You But Don’t Touch Me Cos You’re Sick (Stream)

Black Daniel – Move Like Royalty (Stream)

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 in their heyday. But behind her, Jack Armando brings in the sometimes sinister but always provocative guitar, which along with some some simple, thudding drums makes the sound whole.

They’ve got a new EP called A Thousand Voices which will be the best buy you make this month. Seriously.

My Gold Mask – Violet Eyes
My Gold Mask – Your Coo Ka Choo
My Gold Mask – Bitches

They have since taken this fantastic live event around the UK, which is well worth catching if you can, but now have also curated a compilation album of some highlights of this folk scene they have helped nurture. We’ve been featuring a handful of these bands here on TBW over the past couple of years from Johnny Flynn to Jay Jay Pistolet, but Communion have created a community and this is the recorded product of that. And it’s amazing.

You can pre-order the double disc vinyl now before its official release date on 01/03 but the MP3s get sent over straight away – time to get on it me thinks. If you weren’t excited enough – here’s the tracklist:

And a sampling of MP3s from some of the artists that have played at Communion over the years:

Noah and the Whale – Instrumental III
[Homepage] [MySpace] [Buy]
(NATW – not on this record but mainstays of the London folk scene and Communion itself and are in are writing their new album as we speak in a converted Synagogue in East London! This track is taken from their film “First Days of Spring”)

Johnny Flynn – Drum
[Homepage] [MySpace] [Buy]
(Johnny Flynn is playing live around the UK this month!)

Beans on Toast – The Country’s Gone to Shit
[Homepage] [MySpace] [Buy]
(Beans on Toast is playing SXSW this year for you yanks!)

Kurran and the Wolfnotes – Here To Fill You In
[Homepage] [MySpace] [Buy]
(KATW will be the main support for The Kissaway Trail on their upcoming UK tour!)

Marcus Foster – I Don’t Mind
[Homepage] [MySpace] [Buy]
(Marcus Foster is back to London in March so get your tickets now!)

They will be releasing a single called ‘We’re All Gonna Die (Have Fun)’ on March 29th which you can listen to here and we have a free download of the ballad Breathing (live) to download right now.

The Candle Thieves – Breathing (live)