SINGLE: Amadou & Mariam – Africa

Taken from the excellent album Welcome To Mali, released over 18 months ago, it’s hard not to be cynical about the timing of this release. I appreciate that Amadou & Mariam played Africa at the 2010 World Cup opening ceremony, but it seems the song’s release so long after the album’s release is something of […]
What exactly is an A&R and what exactly do they do? Apparently, A&R stands for Artists and Repertoire, and is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label. Sounds like a pretty cool job […]

SINGLE: Orphan Boy – Pop Song

SINGLE: Oriol – Coconut Coast

Keeping them coming thick and fast, Planet Mu shoots out the next bright star into the sky, Oriol. Real name Oriol Singhji, this latest addition to the planet Mu team originated from Barcelona and now resides between London and Cambridge. This EP sees his debut on the late, propped up firmly by reworks of Faulty […]
Leave your wetsuit at home, but do remember your Ray-Bans. Hailing from San Diego, Crocodiles are explorers of the darker side of Californian life. In the moody ‘Sleep Forever’, Brandon Welchez and Charles Rowell layer reverberating vocals over jagged synth to fashion a piece of retro-while-contemporary noise-pop. Elsewhere in their catalogue nods to post-punk abound, […]

SINGLE: CROCODILES – SLEEP FOREVER

SINGLE: Harper Simon – Wishes and Stars

Missing the obvious I was going to write, “Harper Simon is a fine musician who sounds a lot like Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel”, when I read the press release and sure enough: he is Paul Simon’s son. Like father like son. I know children want to plough their own furrows, usually in the opposite […]
I know that the current abiding image of Iceland is that of a country with no national bank, and an unpronounceable volcano intent on ruining our travel plans (I was in the US at the time and sadly it didn’t strand me there). But ever since a younger manifestation of myself became obsessed with “Agaetis […]

SINGLE: Ólöf Arnalds – Innundir Skinni

SINGLE: LADY GAGA – ALEJANDRO

It is difficult to believe that it is less than two years since the driven, eccentric Lady Gaga became an international force, such is the power she currently enjoys in the world of pop. Gaga fever looks set to continue this summer with the release of ‘Alejandro’, drawn from her repackaged double album The Fame. […]
It will be of no surprise to you that Bloc Party’s whining crooner has come out as a song and dance man with this debut single from forthcoming album “The Boxer”. Freed from the shackles of his behemoth band, Kele is expressing himself just as you would expect given the popularity of “Flux” – a […]

SINGLE: Kele – Tenderoni

SINGLE: Ill Blu – Bellion/Dragon Pop

A debut release from Ill Blu on the all powerful Hyperdub, feeding us more funky sounds as the UK Funky Monster continues to snowball into oblivion. With only two years under their belt, these guys have managed to make their mark through remixes of the likes of Hot Chip and Cheryl “won’t tell anybody” Cole. […]
Though it’s already starting to sound tired, the crossover from guitar-based indie to new rave to outright electro pop has been a joyous thing. It seems that few will benefit more greatly from this change than Delphic, who has achieved that rare thing which requires a large amount of skill and luck working in combination. […]

SINGLE: Delphic – Counterpoint