Blog: The 405

In December 2011 a young rabble of teens called Howler from Minneapolis, USA released their first album America Give Up on Rough Trade. Since that release and a UK tour supporting the Vaccines there's been plenty of hype being thrown around the press about them becoming saviours of rock n' roll or perhaps the next Strokes. With such brash notions in the midst I was intrigued to see how they would translate to the live stage. The show was an all ages one that sold out at the Lexington in Angel, wristbands were [...]

This weeks top videos come from Diplo, Cults, Kindness, St. Vincent & Niki & The Dove. We've got animated foxes, a couple of cray internet sensations, a giant St. Vincent, people on fire and super skits. Enjoy.

Odd Future man Domo Genesis has teamed up with Wiz Zhalifa on a track called 'Ground Up' - which you can hear below. If you have something to smoke, we suggest you light it up now.

With many more festivals announcing some stellar line ups (Bestival and Parklife are looking particularly special) - the winter of the music world is quickly thawing. However amongst this blur of announcements I hope you all managed to catch the Superbowl half time show, in which Madonna's magnificent performance (bare in mind she is 53) has been overshadowed by ne'er-do-well M.I.A, who stunningly showed tens of millions of people the middle finger. However let us return once again back to our favoured grass roots and explore the best new music we here at the 405 have received in the past [...]

We're big fans of 'Family' by The Cast of Cheers as it's everything an indie track should be: catchy, interesting and fuelled by pop sensibilities. The video for it is also pretty awesome too ( watch here ). Royal Scams have thrown the majority of those elements out of the window, leaving behind just the jagged quality of the vocals, which they've placed on top of gigantic electro beats, lazer attacks and cosmic swirls. The single is released on February 20th through School Boy Error/Co-Operative Music. [...]

Movies generally have a soundtrack. It's essential post-production fodder in the film industry; most flicks wouldn't be complete without one; it keeps the action rolling, and raises certain expectations: slow 80s beats or string quartets can get us and our on-screen friends a little hot under the collar; whilst the crashing of a symbol might make us think of something a little more 007... A film's soundtrack, however important whilst viewing a movie, is often left from the all-important post-film-pub-analysis. And therein lies the definition of an ingenious soundtrack: It's worth talking about over a pint. There's [...]

Kitsuné have a new compilation coming out on February 13th. It's called Parisien II , and the first song featured on its tracklist will be 'So Long My Love' by Tomorrow's World - the side project of Air's Jean-Benoit Dunckel and keyboardist Lou Hayter of New Young Pony Club. Pushed by Hayter's vocals through a noir drum machine loop, lots of fuzz and kraut samples, it sounds like a missing piece from Winding Refn's Drive OST. Stream it below, and get Parisien II here .

Following on from the news that Best Coast would be appearing at Isle Of Wight Festival on June 22nd, the band have announced they'll also be playing a few shows around the UK in the lead up to their festival performance. You can catch the band at the following dates (tickets go on sale Monday Februray 13th): 16 Glasgow ABC 2 17 Manchester HMV Ritz 18 Birmingham Academy 20 London Shepherd's Bush Empire 21 Brighton Coalition 22 Isle of Wight [...]

The first taster of the forthcoming new album from Maps & Atlases Beware And Be Grateful , has been unveiled, and it's pretty damn good. 'Winter' represents the overall feel of the album quite well, with a driving/joyous quality filling every possible space. The album is released on April 16th through FatCat Records, and we suggest you mark that in your diaries, as it's a great album.

2000trees have announced the first five acts to play the festival this year. Imperial Leisure, Tellison, Tall Ships, Straight Lines and The Cape of Good Hope have been announced to play on the Thursday night, which is a day used to showcase the fans' favourite bands from previous years. The festival, which won the Grass Roots Festival award at the 2010 UK Festival Awards, takes place at Upcote Farm near Cheltenham 12-14th of July. More info can be found by heading to www.twothousandtreesfestival.c o.uk

"We never wanted to be part of a scene, we always thought our band was good enough to stand on our own and not ride on the back of anyone's coat tails. We've seen so many bands come and go over the past few years. The growth of this band has been very natural and I just think it's because we're honest and we're not trying to be anything we're not." The Twilight Sad have always been a band set apart from trends. Their debut Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters [...]

The Dandy Warhols have announced they'l be returning to action with a new album this April. It will be followed by a brief tour of the UK/Europe. The band will release This Machine on April 14th, then head of on a tour starting in Bergen on the same day. Saturday, April 14, 2012 = Bergen Norway Ole Bull Sunday, April 15, 2012 = Oslo Norway Rockefeller Wednesday, April 18, 2012 = Dublin Ireland Vicar St Thursday, April 19, 2012 [...]

If you ever imagined what it would be like to travel through space on the back of a unicorn, then you're probably a bit weird like us. It's never gonna happen man. The closest we can get to that feeling is to listen to this Robotaki remix of '123 Forever' by Apparat Organ Quartet . Close your eyes and imagine the unicorn is speaking those robotic words right in your face. Good, huh? Nine other remixes of the track, including ones from Foals and Dreamtrak, will be releases on February 27th. You can hear the original [...]

According to Amazon Japan/ FACT magazine, James Iha is set to return with a solo album this March. The original Smashing Pumpkins guitarist - who went on to play guitar in A Perfect Circle, start a record label (Scratchie Records), produce records, remix a bunch of people and score various films - is set to release Look To The Sky on March 14th through EMI. The tracklisting is as follows: 1. Make Believe 2. Summer Days 3. To Who Knows [...]

To celebrate the announcement that Hardly Art are putting out the new album from K-Holes , titled Dismania , the label have unveiled the first single from the album, 'Rats'. It sort of sounds like Cloud Nothings if they had an interest in Saxophones, and played at a faster bpm. Take a listen to the 'Gruelling Sax' and let us know what you think.

Last week we announced that Cate Le Bon would be releasing her new album, CYRK , on April 30th through Ovni, but now the Welsh singer-songwriter has unveiled a bunch of tour dates to coincide with the release. You can catch her at the following dates: April 23rd – Album launch party @ Village Underground, London 24th – Soup Kitchen, Manchester 25th – Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh 26th – Harley, Sheffield 28th – The [...]

Rustie has beaten the likes of James Blake, Katy B and The Vaccines to win the Guardian First Album Award for the wonderful Glass Swords . Guardian's Online Editor Tim Jonze had this to say about the album: "More than any other album on the list, Rustie's Glass Swords felt like it summed up the state of music in the last twelve months – a sensory overload of sound to represent our attention-hopping, information-soaked age. But it was more than just a technical feat, and the judges praised its emotional [...]

Containing the trend of recent music-themed Barack Obama news stories (you saw that Al Green video , right) - the US president has unveiled a Spotify playlist of tracks to soundtrack his forthcoming presidential campaign. No surprises that Al Green made the list, but Ricky Martin? Anyway. Have a listen to the playlist here . We give it a 4.5/10. Tracklisting 'Different People' – No Doubt 'Got to Get You Into My Life' – [...]

Diplo favourite, Abdecaf has dropped another instrumental tune. 'Turn Arithmetic 'up on full blast and at times it feels as though you've been plunged, ears first, onto a bad ass level of Tron. The Ukrainian producer works head nodding grooves into manic electro-dance madenss.

Today's Mix/Cover/Live includes Antony And The Johnsons, Mount Kimbie and Fixers.