Linky Link

Makes Perfect by Cloudboy on Mixcloud

Anchorsong - At The Hyatt
Kelpe - Cola Mine
lethemusicplay - Space
Kingdom - SFX
T Williams - Malfunction (feat Alix)
T Williams - Synthia
Walsh - Tribal Dance
The Nomad - Perilous Times (feat. Rayjah45)
Kelpe - I Felt Fuzzy (Native Machine Remix)
Jekyll - Drainpipe
Line Runners - Means To Me




The hollow snare and atmospheric guitars that sound like they've travelled across an ocean, hit the horizon and bounced back are the most alluring thing about this track. 


Last week we featured a track for El-P's own forthcoming album, this week we have another track produced by him, this time for Killer Mike featuring Scar, off an album called R.A.P. Music, also forthcoming.

My appreciation of this tune has more to do with the environment and circumstance in which I first heard it (something I think very important when listening to music) than anything actually musically tangible. Do not underestimate the impact the other senses can have on the way we interpret sounds and how these sounds affect us. So important are these factors that I have a vast list of tunes to which I could describe the situation in which I first them to the very last detail, what I was wearing, who else was present and in one memorable example, the last time I showered based on the memory of my unsavoury odor; students!

Environment and mood has a lot to do with how we understand music, certain elements of the track seem to exemplify or soundtrack the world around us and can therefore become engrained in the very fibre of you memory in relation to that specific song. With this relationship established in your memory, the opposite is also true, music has the ability to trigger memory, with specific sounds holding the key to unlock not just the memory itself but the emotions, smells and spirit of that time.

This exact process occurred with this track, the aural and visual experience bouncing of each other to ensure the whole experience was drilled firmly into my mind.

Picture the scene, I was strolling down the road on one of these gorgeous sunny days we've been having, feeling pretty euphoric as it was, high off the vitamin D my winter starved body has been deprived of for so long. Ahead of me was a blossom tree, the wind blowing briskly across it so the petals were floating off the branches towards the other side of the street. With the affect of gravity also working on the petals, they fell at a downward, diagonal angle, running across the road like a sparkling ray of sunshine and, this is were it gets weird, falling like some enlightened shard upon this perfectly dressed old man, the oldest man you could possibly imagine, suited like it was his last day on earth tie, waistcoat and polished Brogues. As this shard of blossom fell on him, it followed his movement like a spot light, chasing him as he rode his bizarrely feminine fold-up bike at some pace along the pavement, swishing his head back and forth like he was the star of some O.T.T. shampoo advert.

Truly, it was one of the most surreal things I have ever seen but I have to asked myself; would it have been so surreal without the music or would the music been so surreal without the old man acting as if his new medicated Head and Shoulders was a gift from heaven?

This song is so dam good, it begins in the eighties with that ever acending synth line and unashamedly 808, electric drum machine, then the vocal and synth pads sneak in and bam, the tune seems to open up like some kind of space time continuum between then and now, being both direct and as expansive as that concept sounds. 



When it comes to having her finger on the pulse of popular culture, no one knows better than my mum. Okay, not in every respect, but when it comes to highlighting the lazy nature of certain trends within the industry, no one is more astute. 


She has never been more right about the insane, over exposure given to Florence Welch and her machine. It seems as if the BBC and it's army of blinkered disciples, have latched onto this voice and chosen to run with it till the moment people start to loose interest, where presumably, they'll reluctantly get off their backsides and play something else for a change. Well, until they find the next cash cow anyway. 


Don't get me wrong, she's great, but seriously, not that great, there are other musicians out there making equally good if not better cathedral safe, howling-vocal-over-an-overly-elongated-chorus music.


Anyways, I couldn't ignore her voice and how well it seemed to work with the ever excellent production of Clams Casino, and there wasn't even a bloody harp in sight! Can you believe it? As noted by Gorilla vs Bear, who posted this initially, the last section in this is really quite extraordinary, it will have most of her current fans bleeding through their ears drums.


Any new material from Nas has to be welcomed with open arms and this doesn't disappoint once the embrace is established, such a distinctive voice and style, with production from the late Heavy D and the not so late, Da Internz.

Atmospheric stuff from Airhead, sounding like one to many whiskeys in the piano bar at the end of the universe, the band staying on after hours to play for a melancholic straggler.





This feels like music that might feature in Gran Theft Auto were it to have an African version or the intro music for a pretentious game that feels it's far more dramatic, like one of those gaming titles you always see on TV which have some outlandishly epic record soundtracking a stunning CGI sequence, small printed by the words 'Not actual game play.' This is not actual game play, it is unbelievably sick, the vocals would be enough on their own but instead they are funnelled into a bell jar of greatness though a wonderfully subtle bass line, muffled bassy kick drums and searching guitar licks. Outstanding. 




New release on it's way from Pearson Sound, the artist formally known as Ramadanman. I have always been a fan of his stabbing bass sounds and the build up on this release embraces that dynamic.



Check out this feature on Line Runners, who were featured here a few weeks back, over on kmag. Just heard one of their newer tunes as well, it is seriously big. 


http://www.kmag.co.uk/editorial/news/line-runners-line-up-debut-single.html



When I first heard the lyric, which exposes itself within seconds of the opening line, 'Did your heart shake like this song,' I thought, you arrogant little bastards, what makes you think your music will mike my heart shake? Has my heart ever shaken from music? Probably, there's some pretty good musicians out there but by the sounds of it, you ain't one of them, come on, a bloody piano and a vaguely Cat Spehen's-esq vocal ain't going to move me any time soon. Then it all started building, with overlapping reverberating vocals, church like harmonies, weird angelic sounds and god dam it, my heart did shake a little. Well done you smug scallywags, you win. 


http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=15&title=for_bad_dream_hotline_album_stream&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1


Foe, who's single Cold Hold Rock was featured here before, has her debut album out now and it's receiving really great, well deserved reviews, you can stream it via the link above. I'm enjoying the bleak title track and the brilliant, Christina referencing, Genie in A Coke Can, attitude pop at it's best.





The 140 tempo and rumbling dub step like bass line give this tune so much swagger, brooding, ominous ,like a war's about to break out spearheaded by LE1F, who's fed up by all the twitter beef over who's the best rapper alive. Setting out on a remorseless rampage in which he'll take out all those mouthy paper tigers, proving that he might not be the best rapper but certainly the best at not taking shit from no one, the most frightening thing about him, is that he just does't give a dam. 


http://soundcloud.com/messandnoise/nick-cave-deborah-harry-the/s-LBflM

Oh my god, oh my god, Nick Cave and Debbie Harry have done a song together! A gorgeous cover of Gun Clubs 1987 song, The Breaking Hand in memory of the bands late front man, Lee Pierce. 




Lots of good stuff going on in this track, especially percussion wise, plenty of strange noises. 

Frontier Sounds Singes Selections

That was the slightly frightening but altogether gripping, rumble noise duo Severin, with a track called High Shot taken from their debut EP called Everything Breaks out this week on Tip Top records. 

Also out this week is a sneaky single from Orbital's latest record Wonky, their first in eight years, which was released at the beginning of the Month and has been heralded as a return to form for the two brothers who are widely credited as being pioneers of the electronic music scene. It is refreshing to hear modern influence and use of technology being embrace in characteristic style by these relative OAP’s of dance, modern and relevant now in comparison to the dated sound of their debut. This is New France feat Zola Jesus. 

If my next track was released on any other week then it would defiantly have been my single of the week, a fantastic vocal, building into and anthemicaly tuneful chorus, if only I understood the words enough to repeat them, bolstered by beautiful electronic strings, rhythmic bass drums and expansive guitar, this is Amadou and Mariam featuring the ever excellent Santigold, with Dougou Badia.

Absolutely no doubt in my mind what the best single of the week was this week. When not listening to Radio Frontier, I often listen to the excellent London based Rinse FM and it was on here that I first heard this tune and it made me instantly turn the speaker up to full and start popping. So good it was I actually tweeted in to ask what song it was and thankfully I got a response, otherwise I might have gone a bit loco. It has such a progressive, addictive ascending and descending synth lead that instantly transports you to the good times with your mates in the club. This is representing UK Funky and the genre at it’s finest, T Williams with Synthia taken from his Can We EP also out this week. 

Frontier Sounds SoundCloud Selections

The term The Blues seems entirely inappropriate when describing something as powerful as that, music this passionate is responsible for starting revolutions, toppling regimes or a very least making people such as myself feel pretty dam happy. That was Big Boss Man from American blues five piece Moonshine Society, a fitting name for a tune that sounds like Emi Lou Harris discovered a batch of papa’s home brew distilling under the stairs and proceeded to do shots of it through her eye balls till her backing band called her onto the stage to let loose in an infectious, raucous but entirely comprehensible rage. 

To a young producer who is fast earning the respect of many including the main man himself Lou Reed, who chose one of his remixes as runner in up in recent remix competition for which he was judge. We have another one his remixes for your approval today and like our previous track it is available for free download from SoundCloud. 
  

On the subject of remixes, I found a really interesting one whilst trawling through SoundCloud the other day, always refreshing to hear something that bares almost no resemblance to the original, this a completely new take on N.E.R.D.’s Rockstar by Tall Timber.

I was trying to be all neat and come round full circle with a smooth connection to our opening blues track and my selection of the week and I thought I had found it in a track by Peggy Sue called Parking Meter blues, get it? Obvious I know, but then I heard this track Horror Movie Marathon and knew we were onto something very special indeed, a unique raw sound, unusually gripping, full of passion and ironically for this, ended up giving it more in common with the other track anyway    

Hey Shortie

I know I mentioned her last week but I've had this EP on repeat, especially this song, it just rings with haunting nostalgia. Get your free copy now from www.fabianapaladino.com




I have a certain friend who will take a disturbing delight to how close the word Gang and Spoon are to each other in the widget above. I take not such a disturbing delight to how rhythmic this song is. Good male voices seem to be a theme this week, this one accompanied by a fantastically anthemic backing track.






Damon Albarn and Richard Russel showing a deafness of touch working the buttons here, in the process introducing the voice of Bobby Womack to a whole new generation of listeners. The beat is subtly modern, the synth accompanied with a more traditional piano which gives Womack's old world, blues style a modern interpretation. 




Very promising to think that Kathryn Bint has a full length coming out in the not too distant future called Into The Trees, beautiful voice, really elegant arrangement. 




If Tropic Thunder taught us anything, and it taught me so much, it's that as a professional actor, you should never go full retard. The history of cinema is littered with examples of stars doing exactly that to the united cringe of everyone else. 


It is quite astonishing that they even make it to the set, with a team of paid publicists, advisors, pet dog's toilet cleaners and what ever other over inflated titles they invent to justify hiring more staff for the purpose of extrapolating their own sense of self importance, someone should have advised them not to. I can only image that they allowed it to happen out of some united sense of injustice, a collective disgruntlement born from having to find exactly three fresh Seville oranges to place on the breakfast table every morning.


In steely unison and trying not to laugh, the team agreed, that they all thought it would be a great idea to do that film with the 'special' character in. It will do wonders for your philanthropic image they say, really showcase your range as an artist. Whilst on the subject, we think you should join the Church of Scientology, become a vegan and argue it's merits without once sounding like you know the facts. Get involved in politics, even better, the politics of other countries, you definitely have the right to tell other people how they should live. 




Nothing disgusts me more than Dolly Parton's 9 to 5, except when Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 is played in the twilight minutes of a cheese night. All the good looking people have copt off with each other, the sober people having either done the sensible thing and left, or done the even smarter thing considering they've actually been dumb enough to pay cash to get into this shit hole excuse for a good time in the first place, and drunk themselves silly in the hope they might forget all about it tomorrow. 


Too drunk to write a flirty text message, let alone operate a condom packet, both sexes have separated, the objective to pull scuppered; the only feasible excuse anyone sound of mind can actually have for going there in the first place. The blokes have condensed into a pack of self proclaimed "Lads," arms locked, some distantly homoerotic shit going down with some tuneless chanting along to the lyrics in the belief that this is what is expected of them at this time. 


The girls looking scared of this sweaty huddle, adopt the classic failsafe handbag circle, trying to dance seductively, whilst simultaneously pretending that they'd always been out on a "girlie night,""girl power," and "who needs men anyway," gets bantered about a bit, the lyrics of the song condoning this display, supporting their cause, although secretly they're thinking wow, 9-5 makes me think, maybe we didn't deserve the vote (before you accuse me of being sexist I actually paraphrased this off a female comic called Carid Lloyd who first said it about watching an episode of Loose Women.).


This track samples 9 to 5 is the relevance to all that above.






Sometimes all you need are a couple of electric guitars, some drums and a uniquely coarse voice like the lead singer of Captain Kennedy has, it's so gravely and yours to own for free. 




Great to hear the fantastic voice of Beth Ditto back, I really thought the first album was great despite how annoying Standing In The Way of Control got but it wasn't their fault it got overplayed. This is the first taster off A Joyful Noise out on the 22nd May on Colombia. 






Another fantastic producer to emerge from Russia producing some deep, moody, atmospheric dub step, haunting stuff and definitely one to keep an eye on.



It's electro fuzed with rock n roll like Jerry Lee Lewis jumped into a shelter during the cold war and we only just remembered to tell him it's okay to come out again. Excellent. 

Frontier Sounds Singles Selections

The wonderfully unique voice of Liz Green in that fantastically moody song, Bad Medicine, sounding like a grounded teenager, devastated because it’s the night everyone from school is going to the park, the tall guy with a premature beard finally got served at Tesco and has brought some home brand vodka for everyone and if he were drunk, he may well just have a chance with that girl he likes but who is several leagues out of his. 

Our next single is the continuation of our hormonal hero’s story, contemned to stay in and angry at opportunities missed, he turns to music to express just how bloody unfair his parents are. What would annoy them most he thinks? If I make’s music as loud and as brash and as brilliant for it like Paw Prints by Tango In The Attic.  

A house funk crossover track now from Black Diamond Bay, a name taken presumably from the outstanding Dylan track of the same name. As mentioned, it’s hard to pin down We Are Lovers, an air of mystery and intrigue which provably gives more weight to the track than the sum of it’s parts deserves, listen for yourselves.

I’ve gone for something a bit more mature and sensible as my single of the week to counteract the angsty start, a beautiful track from Australian singer songwriter Steve Smyth called Endless Nowdays.

Frontier Sounds SoundCloud Selections

 

The deeply atmospheric Fading Memory, the Dominic Ridgeway remix of the Synth Sense original featuring MC Fave. Dominic Ridgeway, a London based producer, is one to keep an eye on as his SoundCoud page will testify his productions keep getting better and better, recording and manipulating his own range of samples that I feel is really giving his tunes a unique, niche quality. 

To another outfit perfecting it’s sound, the Leeds based duo Line Runners. They've been producing together for a number of years now, having met through a shared passion for drum and bass, they are now poised for their first release forthcoming on Trust In Music. Means To Me, as the sleeve notes quite accurately say, sounds like a futuristic spacecraft scanning a post apocalyptic wasteland. Imagine David Cameron and Nick Clegg, as punishment for reeking the damage in the first place, being sent like bourgeoisies Budgerigars to survey the damage wrought by Langsly's misguided health reforms, their guilty faces and dunces hats just visible through the tiny slit windows.

To Germany now and a really interesting find in the form of a musician called Fotobakadi who makes really engaging tracks built on live stringed instrumentation, fused with electronica and all no longer then about two minutes in length. This is the suspiciously close to my surname, that it makes it look as if I typed my own name into the search box when scouting for tracks this week but I didn’t I swear, Oliveiro.

My SoundCloud selection of the week comes from Berlin, although it could easily have come straight from the streets of Boston. There are so many exciting things going on with this beat, that it would have made track of the week even without the tight rapping. As always there are more delights to be discovered on Zoenjae’s SoundCloud.

Toy Story

Toy Story by Cloudboy on Mixcloud

A brand new mix made with my brand new toy, track list below or head over to Mixcloud, start following and see exactly when each track comes in. I go to sleep every night with that Queensway track in my head, it's haunting and a free download!

Milyoo  - Hides In Yo

Kebra Katz x Boyfriend – W8WTF (Chaos In The CBD Mix)

Jon Phonics x BUG – Jack Duckworth (Ghost Mutt Remix)

Katy B – Witches Brew (DIPLO Mix)

Milyoo – Down To Love

Korallreven – Sa Sa Samoa (Elite Gymnastics Remix)

Kebra Katz x Boyfriend – Winter Titty (Wheez-ie Remix)

II0 – Rapture (NFIFTYFIVE Remix)

Queensway – Darlin

Sevin – Missing

Sunchase – Moulded (Fade Remix)

Shemo Neat - Maria In The Sky With Lentils (RayGayThom Obessions)

A collaboration between these two was never going to be bad was it? This is a fantastic example to producers out there going down the soundscape route, that it is possible to include melody in the mix, making it far more interesting when the two are combined. I think too much love is being sent the way of producers making deep layers of hazy, muffled, distorted sound, I don't find it particularly clever or interesting, although I'm sure it takes work, i'd listen to it in the context of film but pretty much no where else. This is far more beautiful, on so many different levels and does't sound like someone's been sampling the back end of a fridge, passing it through hundreds of filters and labelling it as music. 






A free, three track EP from this fabulous singer songwriter is available from her site http://fabianapalladino.com. Great voice, gorgeously elegant composition which resists the temptation to over layer itself. 




This is the first release from Lushlife's forthcoming album Plateau Visions and is stacked to the rafters with hip-hop collaborations, in this case a massive change in direction for Styles P, with Lushlife himself delivering the double speed verses later on. 




Familiar Creatures are from London, England according to their SoundCloud. I think someone is telling porkies! This sounds like a damm good knees up in a County pub in Ireland, where a bus full of touring brass, on route to play a passing out ceremony up north somewhere,have coincidently stopped in for a quick authentic Guinness, only to discover the 'real party,' jumping on the bar and starting to jam with these good time Irishmen. Invigorating stuff, even if they are liars.




I have already pre-ordered this little gem, another for my non existent decks but I just see this as a necessary 12 inch come the time I do have enough money to buy some. What I find most endearing about this track is how it develops into a regimentally fun number with the melody bubbling away in perfect time with the percussion, it has the effect of amplifying both elements to form an unstoppable head bouncer. 




This feels like such an appropriate number for a day when the is rain running horizontally across the pane of my window. As bleak as it is outside, this water is important and the earth is celebrating as it soaks up this life giving moisture in an attempt to avoid the already inevitable drought. It's a bit odd in England when we claim a drought is on when all we really mean is that Mrs Johnstone down the road won't be allowed to water her chrysanthemums for a few weeks; we need to come up with a new word in context of the UK. For farmers in actual drought prone areas the easing of this baron dryness does feel as euphoric and as important as this song, for Mrs Johnstone, it's putting on that Cliff rendition of Singing In The Rain. 


Also available is this loveable one below.

Apart from having an amazing stage name (wouldn't it be better if it turned out to be his real name? Go on, change it, I dare ya) our lad Rufio has a fantastic voice, so good that all it needs to accompany it is a couple of lively distorted gutars and the odd backing vocal. His voice is bold and lively like the dead on a Russian election day. This isn't a one off either, plenty more tracks on his SoundCloud, which with their simplicity showcase the strength of his voice.Free downloads as well, so show this man some love before desperation sends him to X Factor, where he'll get to the final six and loose badly because the "public," don't feel suitably emotional towards his sob story that surrounds his pet gerbil that died unexpectedly when he was eight.




The last band you'd expect to do a decent cover of a Beyonce song but there you go. 



Congratulations to Kwes, who has just fulfilled a lifetime dream by signing to Warp, at age 24. I'm not jealous at all. It is almost stupid how talented this guy is, having already produced for the likes of The XX, Micachu, Ghostpoet, Speech De Belle on her latest album. He's released singles on XL and Young Turks, worked with Damon Alburn, played with Jacke Penate and formed several band amongst my favourites, the under rated and brilliantly named, Bono Must Die. Again, he's achieved this all by 24. A a result I want to hate this but it's really, really, really quite good. 



It's like, totally so worth waiting for the chorus on this one. It sound like it's been recorded in a cathedral built on the crest of the highest peak of The White Cliffs of Dover. 


Keep Shelly in Athens - Our Own Dream from Thanasis Tsimpinis on Vimeo.

More of that melodic soundscape stuff I was banging on about in the beginning but dare I say it, this is even more beautiful.


[The author of this blog has been removed by a gang or record store snobs and locked in their basement till further notice for crimes against Burial]



One of the class mates of Cloud Toy favourite Grimes and recommended to us when she took over Gorilla Vs Bear a few weeks back. This is from their forthcoming debut Tender Opposites. 

Angry Noise

Bitterish Allsorts by Cloudboy on Mixcloud

My latest multi genre mix, track list below or if you head over to my Mixcloud account then it will tell you exactly when each track begins, although with my shabby mixing I doubt that will be necessary.

1) Who Made Who - Below The Cherry Moon

2) Marco Resmann & App - All I Can Think About

2) Before Dark - Baby (Brenmar Remix)

3) Zkosta - Trigger Step

4) Oliver Huntemann - Wahnfried feat Ane Trolle

5) The Weeknd - Same Old Song (Paper Diamond Remix)

6) The Jane Doze - Replacement Ros

7) Akira Kiteshi - Teraohm 

8) Etienne De Crecy - Am I Wrong (The Shoes "Slo-Mo," Remix)

9) Cursa - Deep Response 

10) Bazil - Infrastructure 

11) Fostec - Bon Voyage 

12 Rebel Cause - What Lies Within

13) Shabaz Places - Swerve (Signal Path Remix)

Such a beautiful piece of music from Olafur Arnalds, an artist who it is no surprise to hear is also a film score composer, so much depth in this.

 

Roll up roll up this is the Roll UP!!!!!!!!! of the Blu Mar Ten tune All Or Nothing, stems put up for grabs in the latest Kmag remix competition. In my opinion the original sounded a little too much like an ADHD kid had been deprived of his medicine and locked in a stainless steal kitchen.This remix is the kid being calmed down, powdering up his ritalin, mixing it up with some lemon sherbet and sliding it under the door on a piece of paper. Gobbling up the mixture greedily the boy regains restraint, with focus and the smooth flexing of his limbs he's able to manipulate the door handle in such a way that it opens, allowing him to bowl out smugly to the rolling freedom of the outside world. 

Check out some more of their tunes over on their SoundCloud; they've got a very distinct, unique bass sound going on throughout.  

The jolliest song about a universal human right no longer existing that I have ever heard. If I agreed with the sentiment (you should see the frankly offensive nonsense I'm allowed to write when I get pissed and operate twitter! Seriously, I was laying into that mug (who is fast becoming the caricature of himself in Team America) Sean Penn so hard on friday) I would almost be persuaded into believe it were a good thing.

This was released digitally on the 20th, available via White On White and could easily feature in the soundtrack for any one of the hundred super hero films that is due to come out in the next few years, as Hollywood plays it safe, sticking to a formula they know works and suits the writers perfectly as it involves them not having to do their jobs and be creative. 

Picture our hero, perched fearlessly on a roof top overlooking the metropolis, thoughtful as he considers ditching his vigilante duties and going round to bang that broad he saved from a gang of drunk sailors the other night, although he's worried she might be affected by his own radioactivity, the same radiation he was exposed and that caused him to mutate and be great in the first place. Not that he cares that much for her safety, he's more worried that she might develop superpowers herself and be better than him or worse, go to the bloody press with a kiss and tell story.

The drums are so bloody nice aren't they? A great man once said "There is no good in nice," and I have always been inclined to agree with him but the start of this song had me doubting myself, can you believe it?  Thank god the niceness did the thing that it always does and encourage you to stay around longer than you should, to the point where bordem levels are so high that you're seriously considering downloading Ferne Cotton's weekly podcast so that you can hear her talk about herself all day long 

There is nothing memorable about boring, you couldn't imagine the meeting between The Drums and your grandparents being anything other than pleasant for all involved but bless em, with their mild altzimers, risk free encounters like these are only likely to stay in their consciousness till the first bar of The Arches intro. What The Drums need to do is storm in there declaring that Lawn Bowls was a game invented by a black man, mean while stealing all grandads Worthers Originals and throwing the empty box back in his face, pissing in the teapot that granny brought through on a tray now being used to eclipse the TV. 

They won't like it and they won't like them, but they sure will remember who they were and as an added bonus, the stress is likely to increase the biddies (oh sorry, as of new NHS protocol announced yesterday, "old peoples.") brain activity, which is a proven way to prevent the horrible degenerative disease that is alzheimer's (lots of coffee can reverse the affects quite astonishingly as well). 

Wasn't expecting this melodic vocal to just pop out of those regimental drums like that, pleasantly surprising.

Fast becoming one of my favourite bands for the serious amount of drama this duo are able to pack into each tune. Their debut album is out now and a must for anyone who likes things interesting and dramatic, which is anyone who isn't a bottle cap collector or Radio One listener. 

 Feel good, answer and response rock.

The relative new kid on the scene Hamilton, had me at the female vocal and then blew me away after the drop. This one is out in March and an essential for the record bag, especially when you've judged the crowd wrong and played some techy, industrial business and require a floor filler. 

Imagine being drugged and waking up underneath the spaghetti junction to find that it's fifty years later, the old roads, defunct now because of advancements in teleport and flying car technology, are being used instead for some bizarre kind of celebrity death race. 

The different roads of the Junction have been artistically joined together to form one giant loop by the clones of Roger and Lionel Penrose, created via DNA extracted from their bones. The result is the most incredible race track the world has ever seen, with grandstands looming over all sides and thousands of spectators screaming in glee as aged member of Made In Chelsea and Hollyoaks do battle to the death in futuristic, gravity defying hover craft. This is what that experience would feel like. 

Hands up who misses Le Roux? Come on, anyone? There must be one? No. I think everyone has come to realise the quality of Skream's In For The Kill remix, in that it tricked a nation full of people into believing that the woman behind the original was something special, rather than some cringing castrati who puts her ear splitting, beige woes to some Looney Toon, electronic beats. 

If only you could condense the collective shame and disappointment felt by all those who brought her album into a tonic, then you could make a fortune selling it to football clubs as a pick me up for the poor bugger who misses the penalty in the shoot out. "Don't worry Anthony Gerrard Son, at least you didn't buy Le Roux's debut album like all these mugs, here, taste their disappointment."

The one good good thing to come out of the super nova like implosion of La Roux's success, is the rise in exposure of her keyboard player Mike Norris, who produces under the name Fort Romeau.

This is a properly apt title, sounding like the Aztecs struggling to deal with the affects of modern warfare in the form of the common cold, recently inflicted upon and soon to destroy them; their immune systems are not prepared. As it takes a strangle hold on their minds they forget how to use their cooking implements, banging on them as they call in feverish song to the Gods, despairing as they've killed every virgin in the village yet nothing seems to be happening. 

Supergroups almost by ironic definition are meant to be shit, see The Travelling Wilburys, The Highwaymen and more recently The Good, The Bad and The Queen. However, this new project comprising of musical mastermind Damon Albarn, Chilli Pepper's basset Flea and drummer from Fela Kuti, Tony Allen, pisses all over that definition, pitching it just right between funky and experimental; it has such a great groove. 

This is further proof that Alburn and Co have well and truly won (if there can be a winner in a media invented contest) the extended battle of Britpop. Where as Blur have all diversified, with Coxon's very credible solo project, Alburn's musical dexterity through multiple successes such as above, James' craftsmanship in rotting milk into tasty, inventive cheese and Rowntree's, erm, credibility as a lawyer. Oasis members have stagnated. The remaining cast in the skeleton that is the band are throwing out forgettable songs that sound like an idealess Oasis and Noel Gallegher's High Flying Birds have been throwing out shit songs that sound Alex James' salad cream flavoured cheese has soured. 

Nite Jewel, who's been backed here for a while, is releasing this debut EP for sale on the 6 March.

A charming little number from this Leeds based, orchestral eight piece, Arthur Rigby. A song that just keeps on developing like a fine wine or the scandal at News International.

This is absolute sickos, out on the fifth of March, filth and rhythm.