Blog: Some Kind of Awesome

With less than ten days to go until Daft Punk 's long-awaited fourth album Random Access Memories arrives, the duo are bringing "The Collaborators" video series to a close. Including interviews with Giorgio Moroder , Todd Edwards , Nile Rodgers , Pharrell Williams , Animal Collective's Panda Bear , Chilly Gonzales and DJ Falcon , we finish things off with famed songwriter Paul Williams . During the eight-minute clip, Williams explores the anonymous nature of the duo, as well as his time spent in the studio working on [...]

After already previewing " Prancer " and " When I Lost My Bet " from their new album, One Of Us Is The Kille r , The Dillinger Escape Plan have premiered another cut from the energetic sounding LP. A little more down tempo and melodic than the previous few previews, "Nothing's Funny" is every bit of Dillinger filled as you'd expect. Crazy riffs, punishing drums, bass to shake the contents of your apartment loose and wide ranging vocals from Greg. It's damn good. [...]

L.A.'s Goldroom , the moniker of Josh Legg, gives his shimmering summer single " Only You Can Show Me " the visual treatment, and it's just as fun as the song. The camera focuses on a number of pastel-clad individuals (as well as guest vocalist Mereki) dancing their hearts out to the song. It's retro, it's fun. Makes you want to dance, doesn't it? Check it out below.

You know what I enjoy even more than the UK's biggest festivals? The smaller ones. Last year I ventured back into my home county of Derbyshire to hit up Y Not festival , a homegrown, grass roots built from the ground up festival. Boy did I have a good time. The likes of The Wombats, We Are Scientists, Pulled Apart By Horses, Roots Manuva, Little Comets and a host more across numerous stages graced the fields. This year promises to be even bigger, and with the winning the best small festival award last year, they're going to [...]

Smith Westerns have always had a carefree attitude about them. Their music gives you the feeling that life is fleeting, so enjoy it while you can. Director Alan Del Rio Ortiz perfectly captures that in the video for the band's new single "Varsity," which follows the dream-like love of two twentysomethings. Watch it below. "Varsity" is the first single from Smith Westerns' upcoming third album Soft Will , due out on June 25th. The band has also announced 2013 tour dates, which you can check out after the [...]

The National will later this month release their new album Trouble Will Find Me , the follow up to their highly acclaimed . Now in preparation for that and to get us all a little excited for the release, they've released the video for "Sea of Love". It see them performing in a tiny room with the help of a little dude on air guitar. It's fun to watch and pays homage " to one of our favorite punk rock videos" as they call it; Zvuki Mu and their track "Grubiy Zakat". You can watch their version [...]

We've already heard " My God Is The Sun " and " I Appear Missing " from Queens of the Stone Age 's highly anticipated follow up to Era Vulgaris , . ..Like Clockwork . The band also yesterday took part in a little in-studio session for a Belgian Radio station performing two previously unheard cuts from the record. Below you can listen to the radio rips of " I Sat By the Ocean" and "If I Had a Tail", both of which are getting me so excited that I need to take a break and go for [...]

• gregoryalmond - Queens of the Stone Age - I Sat By The Ocean - Live From Studio Brussel, Club 69
• gregoryalmond - Queens of the Stone Age - If I Had A Tail - Live from Studio Brussel, Club 69

They're back and as ridiculous as ever. The Lonely Island are preparing to release their new album The Wack Album , and what better way to get us all excited for the hilarity that awaits that a weekly video range called "Wack Wednesdays". Every Wednesday leading up to the album's release, the guys will debut new music videos, tracks, and announcements via their YouTube channel . First up we get "Spring Break Anthem" int he shape of a video that starts off as an episode of Zach Galifianakis' [...]

Deftones ' latest record Koi No Yokan grabbed you by the neck right from the very start with it's huge sound. The album opening track that did just that, "Swerve City", has now been given the official video treatment with a western style clip. The beautifully shot clip even features a cameo from the band's own Chino Moreno right at the end so stay tuned. The band will play extensive dates over the rest of 2013, all of which can be found over here .

Biffy Clyro this year launched themselves into the stratosphere of UK rock arena status with the release of their double album Opposites . They played their largest headline tour of the UK too playing the likes of Manchester's MEN Arena and London's O2 Arena. The latter of which seems to have been recorded. Stereogum have premiered a live video for my personal favourite track from the new record, "Different People". Rocking the 20,000 strong London arena like no other, they put on a fantastic show and the flashing imagery of the recording gives you a [...]

So I'd firstly like to apologise for my lack of interaction recently. I've recently changed internet providers and apparently there's a "10 day period" in which you will have absolutely crap coverage that drops and rarely comes back. I know, sounds bogus right? Cause it is! I live in a major UK city and can't even get reliable bloody internet?! Anyway, back to business. Over the weekend while you were probably in a drunken bank holiday rampage (just me?), Queens of the Stone Age dropped a brand new track accompanied by a dark and twisted animated visual. Called [...]

This year marks the 12-year anniversary of the James Murphy , Jonathan Galkin and Tim Goldsworthy-founded DFA Records, one of the definitive record labels of the dance-punk scene over the last decade. Red Bull Music Academy has released a rather fascinating short documentary in honor of the occasion. Titled 12 Years of DFA: Too Old To Be New, Too New To Be Classic , the film chronicles the history of the label and its founders, as well as its artists (including Murphy's now defunct LCD Soundsystem ). Watch it below.

As the May 21st release date of Random Access Memories approaches, I've been digging into all my old Daft Punk records in anticipation. That also includes all of the duo's side projects, like Together and Stardust. Seems like I'm not the only one doing so. San Francisco producer Giraffage takes Stardust's famous single "Music Sounds Better With You" and gives it a fresh spin, turning what was originally a disco-inspired house banger into a chilled-out atmospheric cut. Consider this classic track revitalized.

• Giraffage - Music Sounds Better With You

Stephen Bruner (aka Thundercat ) gives us another sampling of his upcoming sophomore album Apocalypse with the awesome, funky jam "Oh Sheit It's X." It's a great track underlined with a groovy bassline and spacey synthesizers, as well as some solid vocals from Bruner—"Oh shit, I fucked up." The title alone is fantastic. Stream it below. Apocalypse is out digitally on June 4th and physically on July 9th.

• Thundercat - Oh Sheit It's X

Deerhunter 's experimental new album Monomania is out today, and fans can indulge in what the band calls "a very avant-garde rock & roll record." If you've been aching to see the band live, you're in luck. Following a summer of European festivals and a performance at New York's Governors Ball , Deerhunter will be touring across North America. Starting on August 23rd, the tour will take the band across the continent for a full month, giving eager fans plenty of chances to catch Bradford Cox's Connie Lungpin persona in the flesh. Check out [...]

Daft Punk 's longtime friend Stéphane Quême (aka DJ Falcon) is the latest Random Access Memories collaborator to be featured in "The Collaborators" video series. Following interviews with Giorgio Moroder , Todd Edwards , Nile Rodgers , Pharrell Williams , Animal Collective's Panda Bear and Chilly Gonzales , Quême discusses his lengthy history with the robotic duo, their collaborations in the early '90s and the development of French house. He also revealed that NASA provided him and Daft Punk with audio recordings of past space missions. Looks like we'll be hearing [...]

In the midst of a tour supporting his sophomore album Overgrown , James Blake was invited to the Late Show with David Letterman . During his visit to the Ed Sullivan Theater, Blake performed his gorgeous Overgrown single "Retrograde," showcasing his ability to masterfully loop his voice amidst haunting intsumentation. This is just a taste of what Blake's live performance is like, and if you get the chance to catch him on the road don't pass it up. Check out the performance below, and peep his full tour schedule here [...]

If Yeah Yeah Yeahs ' goal this morning was to unsettle those fearful of bugs, they sure as hell succeeded. Their new video for "Mosquito," the title track from their latest album, focuses solely on the hand of an unfortunate mosquito victim, and as blood is drawn from this unaware young boy the mosquito grows with vibrant psychedelic colors. That kid sure has something special in his blood. Check out the clip below. Yeah Yeah Yeahs' fourth album Mosquito is out now. Stream it here .

Vampire Weekend 's third album Modern Vampires of the City arrives in exactly one week, but the New York quartet are feeling kind today. Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij, Chris Tomson and Chris Baio are streaming their newest work in its entirety, giving you a chance to decide for yourself whether or not it's worth purchasing. Head over to iTunes and let us know what you think. Modern Vampires of the City Tracklist: 01. Obvious Bicycle 02. Unbelievers 03. Step 04. Diane Young [...]

Given the fact a year ago nobody knew who The 1975 were I think they've done damn well to get where they are now. They've announced a string of ever bigger shows and have already released an impressive array of EP's ( Sex , Facedown , Music For Cars ), and later this year will drop their first full length. Today, ahead of their new EP IV 's launch, Hunger TV have got the exclusive stream of "Haunt // Bed" which follows up the impressive new version of "The City" let loose last [...]

• The 1975 - Haunt // Bed