Following on from ‘What the Water Gave Me’, ‘Shake It Out’, ‘No Light, No Light’ and ‘Never Let Me Go’, ‘Spectrum’ is Florence’s latest single off her second album Ceremonials. As the title suggests this track both glows and grows, I hadn’t noticed it on the album but now I’ve started listening to it I…
1960s crooner Engelbert Humperdinck has spirited back into the music world with the announcement that he will be representing the UK in May’s Eurovision Song Contest. Eurovision have today released the video for ‘Love Will Set You Free’, a slow and contemplative ballad penned for Humperdinck by Martin Terefe and Sacha Skarbek, who were behind…
The Shins return with their trademark sound, lyrics and overall sunniness
The much-anticipated ‘Do Ya Thing’ is the latest installment in Converse’s ‘Three Artists, One Song’ campaign, with this editions featuring artists being Gorillaz, LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy and Andre 3000 of Outkast. The song’s glitchy and minimalist backing track repeats consistently throughout the song, forming an ample background to the exceptional foreground of hugely varying…
In my opinion it’s been a good few months since something really really exciting has been released, something perhaps to give the cliquey new music stereotype a smack in the face. This single is the second official release from Alt-J, or ∆, a band who pride themselves on unconventional harmonies, crooning vocals and intricate rhythms…
‘Gold On The Ceiling’ is the third track on The Black Keys‘ latest album, El Camino and is a vast change from the blues/surfer feel that the previous album Brothers brought. The hooks over the main melody provide a simple, yet edgy-rock-n-roll feel with pace which sounds like it’s the musical love child of The Doors and The…
With her signature side-bun piled on top of her head, and her wide smile beaming, Lianne La Havas is the new female face of soul we’ve all been waiting for since Amy Winehouse. Her chic demeanour is furthered by the casual strumming of her 1962 Danelectro guitar at the beginning of title track ‘Forget’, and…
Chiddy Bang’s ‘Ray Charles’ is a song about Ray Charles by Chiddy Bang. Got it?
The band name AWOLNATION brings to mind a sort of general misguided teenage rage at the state of world, as if the band are out to say “Argh! Society has gone AWOL – it’s rubbish!”. However, ‘Not Your Fault’ does not follow such important themes of changing society, it rather settles on being a standard pop…
The local student band have released a cover of the 1984 classic ‘Careless Whisper’.
The Darkness’s first new material since their reformation last year suggests that the band have not tried to develop their sound or delve into other genres, but rather have stuck to their winning formula of simple tongue-in-cheek rock and roll. The song features catchy guitar riffs in the verses, a singalong chorus and an onslaught…
Brooklyn-based noise-pop duo Sleigh Bells have returned with ‘Comeback Kid’, the first single proper from their impending sophomore record Reign of Terror. All the unique trademarks from the band’s first effort – the widely praised Treats – are intact, with an evident move towards a somewhat ‘cleaner’ electronic sound. Punk rock guitars collide with incessantly pounding electronic drums…
Labrinth returns with tales of his trips around the world in ‘Last Time’, the third single from the producer’s upcoming debut album.
Kiwi songstress Ladyhawke is finally back, and she is without the heavy synth sound that dominated her debut. ‘Black, White & Blue’ is a guitar-based fizzy pop song with blocky bass guitar and a chorus reminiscent of Abba, mixing the pessimistic (“no communication/wondering if you’ll ever feel alright”) with an undeniable buoyancy that seems to…