Blog: Eclectic Eavesdroppings

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Fixers: Iron Deer Dream (RAC Mix) The most prolific remixer in the game adds some special electro-pop stardust on this gem of a song

The folk-pop/rock scene has exploded over the last couple years with the success of Mumford & Sons in particular. There are a handful of similar bands out there, but some of my personal favourites are English outfit called  Fanfarlo . It’s been three long years since they released their under-appreciated gem of a debut -  Reservoir in case you somehow missed out - but thankfully they’ve returned to the fold with another great piece of work. Fanfarlo: Tighrope [live] Rooms Filled With Light is the new [...]

Some artists command your attention from the very first listen, others take a little longer to win you over. In my case, New Orleans based rapper G-Eazy forms part of the latter category. In this ocean of hyped blog rappers, he’s curating his own style with some very retro vibes. I was initially put off by his corny name but his beat selection and distintive voice are working in his favour. Sample the track Marilyn below which deals with the highs and lows of an intense relationship. If your ears like what they’re hearing, it’s worth checking out [...]

I finally got round to setting up a Facebook page for Eclectic Eavesdroppings . Give it a ‘like’ and you can keep up with the latest posts via your favourite source of procrastination. Click HERE to be redirected.

Straight outta Brookyn, Tanlines are double team with a knack for creating simmering electro-pop jams. Their second album Mixed Emotions (out March 20th) was made with summer in mind and will undoubtedly get a lot of rotation in the car stereo. All Of Me is the excellent follow-up single and is full of sexy world-beat influences, tropical drums and synths galore. And if it somehow passed you by, the lead single  Brothers and can be downloaded over  HERE . I’m very excited about what these guys have to bring to the table.

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Mausi: Sol Tropical pop with a DIY feel from Newcastle. Your summer anthem came early this year [ mp3 ]

Reptar are no newcomers to Eclectic Eavesdroppings [ HERE ] but they’re back on the map again as they prep the release of their debut album Body Faucet on May 1st. Out of the 12 catchy jams on offer, the boys from Georgia, USA have chosen Sebastian  as the first single. The song gets better as it goes on and features their trademark quirkiness and irreverence. If this is a sign of things to come, this will be a good year for the guys.

AlunaGeorge - You Know You Like It Having managed to avoid the spotlight for so long,  AlunaGeorge were noticed by the pretentious ponces at Pitchfork  last week and have been riding a little wave of hype ever since. The UK double-team is made up of Aluna Francis (singer) and George Reid (producer) who make some very sexy music together. Their lead single  You Know You Like It is a fusion of electro pop with a hint of old-school R&B, merged with a filthy bass-heavy beat. It might sound like an odd mixture, but [...]

Music just comes easy to some people and English four-piece  Theme Park  appear to be some of those people. Having formed only last year, the band - made up of two brothers and two mates - have been churning out quality singles like no other.  Milk  [ video ] got the ball rolling with fun and tropical vibes. The Londoners play guitar based indie-pop/rock as many others do but there’s a real restrained energy to their music. New single  Two Hours  [ video ] will drop April 7th and should help spread the buzz.

After a casual four year hiatus, Santigold is back in game and has a new album on its way. The much anticipated May 1st release is called Master Of My Make Believe and will feature the first cut  Big Mouth and this tasty new single  Disparate Youth [ video ] embedded below. Big Mouth has been described as a bouncy dancehall banger but in all honesty, it doesn’t do much for me. Disparate Youth on the other hand features that genre-bending swagger that brought the Philadelphia singer to fame in the first [...]

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Compton native  Schoolboy Q is on a fast-track to fame if his latest album/mixtape Habits & Contradictions is anything to go by. The rapper is signed to Top Dawg Entertainment and is affiliated with the likes of ASAP Rocky and Kendrick Lamar. In actual fact, ASAP is featured below on the anthemic song  Hands On The Wheel [ video ]. The track is based around Lissie ’s great cover of Pursuit of Happiness and features the two rappers exchange bars about ‘weed n brew’.

Josh Ritter: Love Is Making Its Way Back Home My all time favourite singer/songwriter Josh Ritter has returned with a new EP called Bringing In The Darlings . The collection of songs are odd-bits that didn’t fit in with the other material for his upcoming album. So he’s released the six songs to the masses and commissioned a cool music video featuring 12,000 pieces of construction paper.

Unless you’ve been living beneath an enormous rock for the last few months, odds are you will have heard of Lana Del Rey . The American chanteuse has been causing something of a stir since she surfaced yesteryear with the brilliant Video Games . She’s been accused of a lot of things (an industry fabricated persona, plastic surgery, backing from her millionaires father etc.) and there have been times when she hasn’t helped herself with contradicting stories in interviews but it’s all been taken too far. Pigeons & Planes , one of the better music blogs out there, wrote [...]

Young Magic: Melt Early entry for the ‘cover art of the year’ competition

MIA: Bad Girls Fresh from her controversial appearance alongside Madonna at the Super Bowl, the ever polarising singer MIA has returned to our radars. Her fourth album will hit shelves sometime later this year and in anticipation we’ve got the lead single Bad Girls and its accompanying visuals. The video is excellent but I’ve always had mixed feelings when it comes to MIA as a person. On the one hand she’s this creative thinker conjuring up her own unique blend of musical chaos, but then there are all these confrontational and contradictory messages regarding [...]

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Wildcat! Wildcat!: Mr Quiche So good they decided to name the band twice: dreamy electro-pop to wash away the winter blues [ mp3 ]