This week sees experimental LA noise purveyors HEALTH release their second album ‘Get Color’. After establishing themselves as an essential live act over the past few years, supporting the likes of Nine Inch Nails, Of Montreal and Crystal Castles – who remixed the bands single ‘Crimewave’- Health have continued to deliver. Never ones to ignore their fans, HEALTH are running a unique sweepstake with the album’s release. Inside a few lucky copies of the album are different colour tickets, each with a different prize. These prizes range from standard stuff like t-shirts and autographed vinyl, but also include wacked out one-off items like the band’s childhood toys and even HEALTH’s actual fingerprints. The lucky winner of the Golden ticket will get to fly out to LA, courtesy of the band, and hang out with HEALTH for three days. While not wanting to detract from the album’s musical content, which is a worthy reason to purchase it alone, it’s great to see bands interacting with fans in this way. For a taster of the album check out the above single ‘Die Slow’ and for more information regarding the prizes, plus Health’s tour dates, visit their MySpace.
This week Jason DeRulo storms to the top of the US Shazam Tag Charts with his debut R&B smash, ‘Watcha Say’ – putting a stop to Jay Sean and Lil Wayne’s five week domination of the chart. Meanwhile, new additions come this week from Flo Rida and Pitbull.
While the four girls above who make up Plasticines may look all sweetness and light, make no mistake, these’s girls take their cues from the likes of Karen O rather than Miley Cyrus. Having just become one of the first bands to be picked up by the ultra hip Nylon label, Plasticines will tonight play their first London gig at infamous club night Smash & Grab. While the band originally hails from France, their energetic upbeat punk songs are delivered in English. Their debut single ‘Barcelona’ instantly smashes any preconceptions you may have about four young girls in a band. Opening with a grabbing hook that Jack White would be proud of, the record then gives way to a mind grippingly catchy chorus. After appearing on the über popular show Gossip Girl, it seems fairly likely that this lot will be on many ‘to watch’ lists next year. Check out ‘Barcelona’ below and click here for their MySpace.
Swedish duo Air France got their proper debut album nearly ready, after last year’s compilation of their first two EPs ‘No Way Down’ earned them an international following among the cognoscenti and a publishing deal with XL.
The band anticipates the release with a brand new website where they offer a love letter to their city, Gothenburg, in three parts: The proper letter; the free download only single ‘Gothenburg Belongs to Us’ and its teaser video.
The single is another shimmering example of the current Balearic House revival among Swedish artists, in the same vein of the duo’s former highlight ‘Collapsing At Your Doorsteps’.
Although she may not have won the Mercury Music Prize last night as many industry insiders predicted, there are still no signs that Florence Welch’s rapid upward ascendancy will slow down anytime soon. Her debut album ‘Lungs’ has spent over two months in the national top 10 and her soon to be released single, ‘Drumming Song’, has been supported by all of the key industry tastemakers. Now, after enrapturing audiences on the festival circuit over the course of the summer, Florence And The Machine announce their biggest tour to date – the highlight of which sees Florence headline the Brixton Academy a year after she first played the venue as part of her debut NME Tour.
Florence And The Machine Tour Dates December: Sun 06 Belfast Ulster Hall Mon 07 Dublin Olympia Theatre Wed 09 Glasgow 02 Academy Thu 10 Manchester Apollo Fri 11 Lincoln Engine Shed Sun 13 London Brixton Academy
In their latest video Domino’s Wild Beasts retreat to the woods for ‘All The Kings Men’. The short recalls the ethereal beauty of Lord Of The Rings and ends with a bonfire dance that wouldn’t be out of place in the eerie classic The Wickerman. It juxtaposes perfectly with the Kendal foursomes sound and the single marks what has already been a great year for the band. Their second album, ‘Two Dancers’, completely raised the bar on people’s already high expectations for Wild Beasts. After playing to a packed tent at this weekend’s Offset Festival, the band take to the road at the end of the month for a UK Tour. For more info head to their MySpace.
Last night rank outsider Speech Debelle scooped this year’s Mercury Music Prize which awards the best British album from the last 12 months. Opinion was largely divided in to three camps in the Shazam office on whether the winner would be Florence & The Machine, Friendly Fires or The Horrors. However one fairly vocal lone voice in the office continually insisted Speech Debelle would win, and who’d have thought it, her opinions were rightly vindicated.
Anyway, congratulations to Speech Debelle, as you can see from the below video, it’s not just her fans that were assured of her success…
In our endless search for the newest sounds across the globe, this week we have a look at the world of Asian Indie pop through some interesting recent releases. We begin in South Korea with EE, a boy-girl duo, currently earning rave reviews as one of the country’s best electro-pop acts. About to unveil their debut album ‘Imperfect, I’mperfect’; an eighties retro, techno pop feast that include such highlights as last year’s debut single ‘Curiosity Kills’ or the track that anticipates the record ‘High Collor’. Their highly kitsch videos, exploring the typical visual excesses of the decade they revisit, are a big part of their charm. You can watch and listen to some more EE tracks here. Read more…
Mini Viva are the latest pop starlets to surface from the house of Xenomania; the production and writing power team that have delivered career defining hits for Girls Aloud, Sugababes and Alesha Dixon and who have incidentally scored more UK top 10 hits than Christian Aguilera and Britney Spears combined. Their latest protégés are 19 year old Frankee and 20 year old Britt, a pair of British pop darlings already tipped for big things by know-it-all pop music bloggers, Popjustice.com. Their lead single ‘Left My Heart In Tokyo’ is a riotous mish-mash of swirling dance synthesisers, sweeping disco strings, Daft Punk bass work and stomping house beats. Stylistically the record sits somewhere between the cooler electro pop of Stuart Price and the unashamed mainstream house of The Freemasons; placing Mini Viva in a very promising position considering the music buying public’s affection for electro pop diva’s (La Roux/ Lady Gaga) and radio friendly dance rhythms (David Guetta/ Black Eyed Peas). Remix duties are covered by Fred Falke, who applies his considerable ear for a cross over hit to an already peppy pop track. Released this week, this could well end up being yet another Top 10 it for the all conquering Xenomania team.
Vancouver’s Japandroids today release their debut album ‘Post Nothing’ giving us a fresh blast of guitar music to start the week. The duo have been catching the attention of several rock taste-makers and are now heading to the UK for their debut tour. Their brand of lo-fi skuzzy garage rock is sure to translate well live and as the below video shows, despite being a two piece, the band can more than make up for their lack of numbers by creating a barrage of feedback drenched melodies.
For more info and tour dates head to their MySpace.
