If you come by here often you'll have realised that Kieren Dickins aka DELS is one of my - and countless others no doubt - hot tips for 2011. We've covered his previous single Trumpalump and a remix from Joe Goddard featuring Ghostpoet that I can't recommend highly enough. His debut album GOB (artwork above) is not out until May but for now we have the title single to keep us entertained. As with some of his other tracks it starts very raw in tone; Dickins' defiant [...]
The National have come up with another brooding indie pop gem. 'Think You Can Wait' will feature on the soundtrack of Win Win , the latest effort from Tom McCarthy whose previous films include The Visitor and the brilliant The Station Agent . 'Think You Can Wait' is inspired by the film and is "about very normal and good people trying to do their best and the struggle to be good" according to vocalist Matt Berninger. The track features fellow Brooklyn, New Yorker Sharon van Etten [...]
Thom Yorke , Burial & Four Tet - names that require very little introduction. 3 of hotcakes favourite artists collaborating on a couple of tracks is exciting news! The outcome of the meeting of three great and yet very different musical minds is to be released on a 123 via Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet's own Text imprint. Hebden played the 'A' side 'Ego' during his session with Floating Points on Rinse FM and of course radio rips followed. Since then, the releases second track has hit the 'net. [...]
Time for our second Pro Green competition! This time around we're giving away a strictly limited edition A2 print (see below) signed by the man himself. For your chance to win simply like this Facebook status and we'll select the winner at random. The competition closes this Sunday 20th March so get your likes in quickly! Professor Green ft. Lily Allen - Just Be Good To Green (Joker vocal remix) [alt] [...]
If this is not enough to get you excited for Coachella and all the other comeback dates DFA1979 have arranged , then nothing is. Recorded with grainy cameras attached to Jesse's guitar and Seb's drums, it proves both the brilliance and simplicity of their music. No nonsense, just pure noise and energy. I was lucky enough to snare a ticket for their London date at the HMV forum in early May. 'Little Girl' is probably my most anticipated track to hear live. And this is why. The caption underneath the video is awesome: [...]
Head over to The Strokes' website to hear at last the full version of their eagerly awaited 4th album, Angles. The album itself drops on March 21st, so if you can hold out for a hard copy for another six days, then you're more patient than us. Initial thoughts on the album are that it is a real return to form, with the band updating their sound to add more of an electronic influence. It is quite a similar sound to Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix [...]
In January 1970, so the story goes, my Dad went to see Led Zeppelin blow away the Birmingham Town Hall as they toured Led Zeppelin II ; 41 years later, a much different proposition is in store as Iron and Wine visit the same venue to play to a busy crowd in the grand and historic venue. The stage was set then for Iron and Wine, Sam Beam to his mother, to play his brand of Americana-folk-pop to a eager audience - made up of at least 60% bearded folkies - and produce the [...]
Best known for being one half of Last of the Shadow Puppets, Miles Kane has expectation weighing on his shoulders. I would assume so anyway as people are expecting great things from the young man. With his ongoing work with Alex Turner and he's Beatles-like appearance only serving to further whet the appetites of rock and indie fans alike, we're hoping his forthcoming debut LP Colour of the Trap comes up trumps. But then why wouldn't it? From what we've heard so far he's right on the money. [...]
LIVE ON THE MOON! Wow. All without the help of an oxygen mask. She really is amazing. From her new album Wounded Rhymes .
Great start to the week! Justice , the French electro-house duo made up of Xavier de Rosnay & Gaspard Augé have announced 'Civilization' - the first single from the currently untitled and hotly anticipated follow up to 20072s † (Cross). The band posted the artwork for the single, and a 20 second teaser video clip - they seem to be all the rage these days! The artwork is the image at the top of the post. You can check out the video below and also see what you make of the enigmatic text that accompanied [...]
The eagerly anticipated second album from Brooklyn indie shoe-gazers The Pains of Being Pure at Heart is out on March 28th, released in the UK by Play it Again Sam or on March 29th in the US through Slumberland Records . Belong , the follow up to the bands self-titled debut record which brought the band a large amount of critical success, has been made available to stream. Unmistakably, the tracks belong (great pun) to the TPOBPAH shoe-gazey songbook, but there's definitely a touch more crunch in their guitar and less reliance [...]
Say hello to Wretch 32 , rapper and producer du jour and one we're likely to hear from with increasing frequency this year. You'll probably know him from his hit 'Traktor' (see below) and he's now set to release a follow-up single 'Unorthodox' next month. It's a collaboration with Example and samples the world famous riff from 'Fool's Gold' by the Stone Roses. Here though we're bringing you the remix by dubstep maestro Distance . It's an improvement on the original, featuring some delightful rolling bass and some of [...]
Natives of the motoring city of Detroit, Michigan Daniel Zott and Joshua Epstein collectively go by the name of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr . To our readers in the UK, the reference is pretty obscure. The Earnhardt family is a dynasty in the American sport of Nascar - an activity unknown to the British public until Will Ferrell's 'Talladega Nights'. Dale Earnhardt was a champion driver who's father Ralph Earnhardt had been involoved in Nascar, then came his son Dale Earnhardt Jr. who was also a champion so on and so on. You get the idea. [...]
'Ice Cream' is our first taste from math-rock experimentalists Battles second full length album. Glass Drop is set to drop (see what I did there?!) on June 6th or 7th depending on which side of the pond you're on, courtesy of Warp Records . The record is both hotly anticipated given the reaction the bands debut LP, Mirrored received all the way back in 2007, and nervously anticpated after keyboardist/vocalist Tyondai Braxton left at the back end of last year. 'Ice Cream' is an summery, stuttering, odd little [...]
Glaswegian electronic rock band Errors are set to release a 73 picture disk in April ahead of few UK dates and a wider tour of the States support fellow Scots Mogwai . The A-side is called 'Magna Encarta' has been made available and you can check out the naughty little numbers below. To me, it sounds like a twisting and turning epic post-rock track played through an electronic filter and sped up - which obviously is no bad thing! There are a few UK shows in April listed as well: [...]
This is one straight out of left-field: psychedelic, blues pop from New Zealand. So as you can imagine Connan Mockasin is not your usual artist. However, with backing from the likes of Huw Stephens and Erol Alkan, he's one to take seriously. Myself and fellow editor Chapperdeemus saw him live last night at the filming of the final Topman CTRL MX show. I have to say we came away with mixed opinions. We were blown away by the track itself (see below), it was such an unusual sound that really sucked you in [...]
Austin, Texas alt-country veterans Okkervil River have made the song 'Wake and Be Fine' available for free download. The bands 6th album proper, I Am Very Far is set to be released by Jagjaguwar on May 9th and this track is the first glimpse of what's in store. If this foot stomping rocker is anything to go by then roll on May 9th! The waltz-time sway of guitar and piano chords is accompanied by a tongue twisting vocal melody which eases into a brilliant sing along-able chorus. The full [...]
The controversial former the Smiths frontman Morrissey has announced a string of UK tour dates. Starting in mid June the gigs have been arranged to lead up to Morrisseys headlining slot at Hop Farm Festival on July 2nd. The 9 date tour stops off at some of the less obvious venues in Great Britain, with support being provided by Nashville rock'n'rollers Mona , punk band Flats and 'Gritpop', Oasis wannabes Brother . Tickets are available come Monday. Full listings are below as well as [...]
The Dodo's fourth studio album entitled No Color comes out on Monday 14th, however, fortunately for everyone, hotcakes insists on continually being an enabler to all of you so and so's out there who are too inpatient to wait. Courtesy of the Hype Machine 's exclusive stream, the album is available in all its baroque-pop glory - including some beautiful appearances by American singer/songwriter and New Pornographer Neko Case . Officially, the album comes out internationally on Wichita Records on Monday, or Tuesday in the US through Frenchkiss [...]
New York band The Antlers will release the follow up to 20092s critically acclaimed Hospice , the album will be called Burst Apart and will be out on May 10th. The band are playing American radio station NPR's SXSW gig on March 17th, and as it's a performance that promises to showcase some of the new material its great news that NPR are streaming it as part of their First Listen series. The concert takes place on March 17th at 9pm GMT. Burst Apart 's tracklisting [...]
Hotcakes
Avicii – Two Million
Scissor Sisters’ “Baby Come Home” Video: Watch The Band Get Animated
Yellow Magic Orchestra edit from Chrome Canyon
Beck – I Just Started Hating Some People Today
