Blog: When The Gramophone Rings

We love Freelance Whales. Yup. Love 'em. We named their debut album the 8th best of 2010 . That's why we are very excited to say that they are back, armed with a brand new record and a spanking new single. Dulivia will be released in October, but if you can't wait until then you can hear 'Locked Out', its first cut, below. While not as instantly sugary as anything on Weathervanes , 'Locked Out' is a little more complex and takes a little more time to ahem, unlock. [...]

A few weeks ago we called 'The City', the new single from Manchester four-piece The 1975  "a huge, beat-orientated slab of post-’Dominos’ indie rock. The throbbing bass and shimmying shards of guitar that poke through all add up to a genuine stop-what-you’re-doing song." Well now we have a video for it. Shot in black and white it's a pretty no-nonsense affair, but it is another excuse to listen to this beauty again. Their debut EP, Facedown , is out on 6th August.

The xx's Coexist has to be one of the most anticipated records of the year. Having just dropped its first single, 'Angels', you can see why. A gorgeous, lo-fi ballad that boths serves as a reintroduction and bold statement, it is quite beautiful really. It's hard to fault. Coexist will be released on 10th September, just over three years since their 2009 debut masterpiece cast them as one of the most innovative and exciting bands of recent years. Listen to 'Angels' below.

You can't fault Green Day's work ethic can you? After two gigantic concept albums in American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown , the trio have decided to release not one, not two, but three albums pretty much back to back over the space of 5 months. Starting with ¡Uno! , the first single has been released onto the ol' interweb today and it makes for pleasant enough listening. Slower than expected with a slacker love song vibe to it, it's certainly not trying to save the world like their previous efforts were. [...]

It's been a long while since we've heard any music from Bloc Party. For a while we wondered whether we would ever get to hear anything from them again. But, here they are with their first piece of new music since 20082s Intimacy . 'Octopus' is the first single from their new album Four , which will be released in August, and it's markedly different from the dancier, electrofied band that left us in 2009. This sounds far more like their earler, Silent Alarm -era work than we expected. We're currently trying to [...]

If 20082s Day & Age saw The Killers try to slip back into their dancing shoes after the dirt and dust of the guitar heavy Sam's Town , then Runaways, the first single from fourth album Battle Born , is again the sound of a group taking an about turn. The photo says it all. Two of them are wearing leather jackets. The others, denim. The track opens very much like many of the tracks from Brandon Flowers's solo record before the whole thing lifts off into true bombast and Flowers swears [...]

Back in April Kanye West released 'Mercy', a new song that featured guest spots from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy alums Big Sean and Pusha T. And now comes another newie, this time courtesy of just West and Pusha T. Set to feature on the forthcoming G.O.O.D Music collaboration album, 'New God Flow' sounds very promising from the get go, with West and T trading verses on top of a big beat and grainy piano. Just days ago, West performed the song at the BET awards. Listen to 'New God Flow' below.

"We started playing music in our garage and went to a lot of punk shows growing up..." - Jessie Clavin. Let's get things straight from the beginning: Bleached are rad. Having risen from the ashes of the demise of pop-punkers Mika Miko in 2010, Bleached are just two girls. Two sisters in fact - Los Angeles sisters Jennifer and Jessie Clavin. Their racket is more finely tuned than that of their previous outfit, specialising in short, sharp blasts of trebley, suagary riot grrrl powerplays. Channeling both The Ramones and The Ronnettes and, more recently, Best [...]

Today, Blur performed two new tracks by the way of a live stream. Let's say that again: today, Blur performed TWO NEW TRACKS. If you missed that however, we have both tracks for you, in their entirety below. First of all, anyone expecting another Song 2 of Beetlebum will go away dissapointed. 'Under The Westway' is a forelorn piano ballad with Damon Albarn's croon cutting through some bleak yet tender sounds. 'The Puritan' is a little more upbeat and features an unrelenting synth motif. Both songs will be available to download and [...]

Back in his native Australia Matt Corby's last EP, 20112s Into The Flame , went quadruple platinum, not bad for a 22-year-old who finished second on Australian Idol in 2007. Boasting model looks, a voice that could melt butter and being backed by the ever-wonderful people at Communion we're gonna state the obvious and say the future looks incredibly bright for Mr Corby. With a sound remiscent of both Wild Beasts and Bon Iver, 'Made Of Stone' - the title track from his most recent EP - is a tidal wave of stark emotion and deep, instrumental [...]

Last month we gave you 'In Retrospect', the first ever snippet of recorded material by Sydney four-piece Battleships, calling it "a delicious slice of guitar driven dream-fuzz that snaps into full life in its final third after a mesmerising crescendo." Less than four weeks later we now have more! 'Your Words - yup, you've guessed it, their second ever snippet - is a driving, moody beast that continues 'In Retrospect's' snapping psych-rock while adding superior melodies and greater depth than their first tune. Recorded, produced and mixed by the group themselves, [...]

After a couple of triumphant sets at this year's Dot To Dot festival , Watford songstress Kyla La Grange has readied the release of her forthcoming debut album by unleashing a video for standout live track 'Walk Through Walls'. While comparisons to the haunting rock of Florence and the Machine are not entirely unfounded, 'Walk Through Walls' is perhaps the song that draws the greatness likeness. Huge, cavernous drums and arena guitars swell and crash around an emotive, empowered vocal courtesy of La Grange. It's got us very excited about the release of [...]

When it comes to producing captivating indie-rock, Scandanavia has been on a role for.....well, a damn long time really. And there's more! Norwegian new kids on the block Snøskred have just released 'We Are', their debut single out into the ether and its a surging mix of churning pshyc-rock and floaty dream-pop. They all sing, they all play numerous instruments, they are as fresh-faced as a freshly-shaven choirboy and they are bloody wonderful. 'We Are' is being released on small Norwegian record label Riot Factory. Listen to it and watch the video below.

Having released their debut single, 'Falling' earlier in the year, Bristol quartet Seasfire are now readying it's follow-up, the rather gorgeous 'Heartbeat'. Having gained recognition and a BBC session for Steve Lamacq off the back of 'Falling' for its haunting, late night spookiness that pitched the group somewhere close to the West Country's answer to The Weeknd, 'Heartbeat' is another slab of noirish, glitchy modern rnb. Not, in all honesty, the type of music you'd expect to see coming out of four rather bookish young white men. The bleakness in the music brings to mind fellow [...]

It's now been almost three years to the day since we first heard 'I And Love And You', the charming lead single from the album of the same name that swept The Avett Brothers out from underneath the table marked 'potential' and into the bright, airy spaces of the room named 'big deal'. What better time then to give us some new tunes? 'Live and Die' is taken from the September-released The Carpenter , the group's seventh studio album, and continues I And Love and You 's knack for a razor sharp melody and clever accompanyment, [...]

Manchester four-piece The 1975 are adopting the less is more approach to pre-release publicity. If the few grainy photos posted to the group's tumblr page are anything to go by then they're rather randy little buggers, but they also happen to be dropping their debut EP on 6th August. Most importantly though, from what we have heard, they sound very promising. Single 'The City' is a huge, beat-orientated slab of post-'Dominos' indie rock. The throbbing bass and shimmying shards of guitar that poke through all add up to a genuine stop-what-you're-doing song. The group have also [...]

We wrote recently that the Communion label have been delivering some damn fine music of late and having heard the latest single by Pale Seas, a group the label are behind, you'll agree that there isnt any sign of this trend stopping. To be released as part of a double A-side single in September, 'My Own Mind' is a lovely slice of analogue trip-pop, blending Fleet Foxes 'oooohs' with straight up folk-pop melodies. It's accompanying fuzzy, black and white video is also rather brilliant. We'll have more on these lot soon. For now, you [...]

While carrying the name of their New York City based singer-songwriter Maddy Wyatt, Wyatt are in fact a band that possess a very west coast sound, owing much to the sun-drenched FM pop of Fleetwood Mac or, more recently, Rilo Kiley. She didn't have to look far for her band, with brothers Paul and Alex taking half the remaining spots. Together they've recorded a debut EP that is bursting with the healthy glow of plenty of vitamin d. We'll have plenty more on that in the next few weeks, for now thought enjoy the [...]

Birdy is undeniably brilliant at singing other peoples songs. Mumford & Sons are incredibly good at writing songs that millions and millions of people adore. Are you thinking what i'm thinking? LET'S GET BIRDY TO SING A MUMFORD SONG! WE'LL ALL BE MILLIONAIRES! Pixar's new film Brave provided the platform for these two artists to hook up and we're quite glad it came about because the two - Birdy's delicate vocal, Mumford's chest-thumping wallop - blend very well together. It's pretty.

Last month we brought you 'Henrietta', the ruturn of Brooklyn three-piece Yeasayer, who are following up their brilliant 2010 album Odd Blood with this year's Fragrant World . We said of 'Henrietta': "It’s a pretty icy pop song, cold slabs of synth and chilled melodies sit alongside beats. It’s very good to have them back..." Well now we have more! 'Longevity' continues the group's near perfect record for crafting wonderfully wonky RnB. There is something incredibly removed about it all, not necessarily a bad thing when you're dealing with robo [...]