I’ve slowly fallen in love with Oxford’s Stornoway> over the past year. Jess first introduced them, and then I caught them live and interviewed them at Swindon’s Big Weekend last May. Now they’re gearing up to release their debut album ‘Beachcomber’s Windowsill’ on 24th May, and this is the (rather ace) video to accompny the first single.

Watch, enjoy, and have an amazing weekend. We’ll be back on Monday.

(PS: Looking for something to spend some money on this weekend?! Buy yourself a Blog Off! Ticket – they’re rapidly selling out, and it’d be ace to see you there – they’re only £5 in advance, and you get to see the aceness of Starlings, Jazica and Victoria and Jacob. What are you waiting for? Go book yourself a ticket or get more info here)

Touring in support of their new album ‘Beast Rest Forth Mouth,’ Brooklyn band Bear In Heaven will hit SXSW before spending a week playing for audiences across the UK.

Tuesday 20th April 2010 – London, The Lexington
Wednesday 21st April 2010 – Brighton, Freebutt
Thursday 22nd April 2010 – Manchester, The Deaf Institute
Friday 23rd April 2010 – Glasgow, Captain’s Rest
Saturday 24th April 2010 – Edinburgh, Sneaky Pete’s
Sunday 25th April 2010 – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
Monday 26th April 2010 – London, Windmill Brixton

Tickets are available now through Seetickets.

And while you’re at it, check out their video for ‘Fraternal Noon’:

London electronic rock band Three Trapped Tigers are hitting the road this April in support of their newest effort ‘EP3′. Check out the video for ‘6′ below and go see them in a town near you!

Friday 23rd April 2010 – Cardiff, Arts Institute
Saturday 24th April 2010 – Bristol, Start The Bus (Tickets)
Sunday 25th April 2010 – Manchester, DEAF Institute (Tickets)
Monday 26th April 2010 – Edinburgh, Electric Circus (Tickets)
Tuesday 27th April 2010 – Birmingham, Hare & Hounds (Tickets)
Wednesday 28th Apr 2010 – Brighton, Freebutt (Tickets)
Thursday 29th Apr 2010 – London, Institute of Contemporary Arts (Tickets)

Talons is the support act for this tour.

If you’re anything like me, the breathtaking song ‘Blood’ from Australian folk-pop band The Middle East will stop you in your tracks. After hearing it on NME Radio as Chris Martin’s Track of the Week, I haven’t been able to take it off repeat. Tailor-made for fans of Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes, it is both delicate and powerful, subdued and joyous. With its gorgeous harmonies, tinkling bells and whistling, it’s impossible to come out of listening to it without a smile on your face. As their official bio says, ”after 5 minutes and 27 seconds of Blood you’ll be jumping with joy and brimming with excited energy, dreaming that life is all about smiles and sunshine (and great entertainment).”

The song serves as the centerpiece of their debut EP, ‘The Recordings of the Middle East,’ which is well worth a listen. Originally self-released by the band in 2008, they re-released it last year after a short hiatus, and are generating quite a buzz about themselves. They will be performing at SXSW before touring North America with Mumford & Sons. Check out the amazing hand-crafted video for ‘Blood’ below – it is the perfect accompaniment to an already fantastic song.

The Middle East will be performing at T in the Park 2010. If you were lucky enough to get tickets, make sure you check them out!

Chris Corner, lead singer of one of my favorite bands, IAMX, is famously a control freak when it comes to his art. He writes, plays and produces everything almost entirely on his own, and then brings in the band to play live. So I was somewhat surprised that he would release an album consisting entirely of remixes and re-workings of IAMX’s third album, ‘Kingdom of Welcome Addiction.’ Due out on 19th March, ‘DOGMATIC INFIDEL COMEDOWN OK,’ includes re-workings by Alec Empire, Combichrist, Terence Fixmer, Black Light Odyssey and more, and only one of the bonus tracks, ‘Church of England,’ is done entirely by Chris himself.

As someone who can find no fault with original album, I find some of the re-workings on this new album underwhelming, but the Alec Empire remix of ‘I Am Terrified’ is certainly not one of them. While the original track is sweeping and melodic, the remix has a more raw, dirty feel (aka a more old-school IAMX feel) to it that only adds to the song. Shot and edited by Chris Corner himself, the broken glass and dimly lit, voyeuristic shots fit the music perfectly. Check it out for yourself.

IAMX will be performing in London at ULU on Saturday, 20th March, 2010. Tickets available through SEE Tickets (16+ only)

‘DOGMATIC INFIDEL COMEDOWN OK’ will be released 19th March 2010, and can be pre-ordered now.

Now based in London, North Wales three-piece band The Joy Formidable have just released the video for their newest single ‘Popinjay’ off of their eagerly anticipated debut album. The track is equal parts rock and pop, with its thrashing guitars and drums and it’s catchy chorus. Directed by Adam Gregory, the stop-motion video features paper versions of each of the band members and lots of flying paper birds. It doesn’t make much sense to me, but it looks pretty cool. Check it out for yourself and let us know what you think!

‘Popinjay’ is available as a digital download now, with a limited run of 500 7″ vinyls out from April 5th.

The Joy Formidable will be touring across the UK in March and April. For more information, check out our ticket alert post.

The third album ‘Barbara’ from those loveable American pranksters We Are Scientists is on the horizon. However, we won’t be able to get our little hands on the album for a couple more months. In the meantime, we have a little teaser in the form of ‘Rules Don’t Stop’.

Per my interview with Chris Cain and Keith Murray in February about the new material, it was written for a three-piece line-up, unlike the last album, 2008’s ‘Brain Thrust Mastery’, which featured synths (a change from their original sound I wholeheartedly embraced). They took a back to basics approach with this third album-length offering, so I’m expecting ‘Barbara’ to sound more like their debut, ‘With Love and Squalor’ – you remember the cover, don’t you? The one with the cats?

I disagreed with the sentiment, but some critics complained that ‘Brain Thrust Mastery’ was overthought and unnecessarily complicated. I think these detractors will be pleased with this first single from ‘Barbara’. ‘Rules Don’t Stop’ is a punchy, barely 2-minute affair. And when I say ‘affair’, it’s an all too brief one, with a poppy melody and lyrics sung by Keith Murray with usual We Are Scientists conviction. Hearing it live for the first time in January, well before it debuted as one of Zane Lowe’s ‘Hottest Records in the World’, was a total joy, so I’m expect great things from this new album. The promo video for ‘Rules Don’t Stop’ premiered yesterday, and you can check it out below.

By the way, I’m not entirely sure what’s the deal with the band’s current citrus fixation. But I’m guessing it has to do with a creature they dreamt up that has a mirrored tile exterior and is filled with 100% juice. Don’t believe me? Watch this video of the guys hamming it up with celebs at the NME Shockwaves Awards on 24 February. (Editor’s note: there’s a slightly off colour joke question proffered by Bombay Bicycle Club, so if you’re easily offended, you may want to stop playing the vid at the 4-minute mark.)

The single ‘Rules Don’t Stop’ will be released on CD and vinyl on 5 April in the UK. We Are Scientists’s third album ‘Barbara’ is scheduled to be released on 14 June.

There has been a lot of buzz around the new Foals track which was first played on Zane Lowe’s radio program March 1st as his ‘Hottest Record in the World.’ At almost 7 minutes long, it is far lengthier and more laid-back than the Foals that we are used to (think ‘Mathletics’ and ‘Red Socks Pugie’), but it’s still pretty damn good. While some people are saying it sounds nothing like Foals, I disagree. It starts off very slow and ambient, highlighting Yannis Philippakis’ surprisingly vulnerable vocals. Subtly and effortlessly, they add layer upon layer throughout the song until it sounds exactly like Foals, albeit an updated version. And in my opinion, that’s what bands should do: they should explore what they’re capable of while retaining at least a little bit of what makes them unique.

‘Spanish Sahara’ is the promotional single for Foals’ new album, ‘Total Life Forever,’ set for release on 10 May 2010.  They enlisted director Dave Ma to create a breathtaking video for the song (watch below). In it, Philippakis sings ”Forget the horror here / forget the horror here / leave it all down here / it’s future rust and it’s future dust,” and the video is so visually stunning with it’s rich colours and its crisp, slow-motion shots that you almost forget the horror that you’re being shown (namely what appears to be some sort of dead animal in a bag). Kudos to Foals for a song and video that are as brilliant as they are unexpected.

Cambridge, Massachusetts electronic band Passion Pit have just released the video for their fourth single ‘Little Secrets’ off their debut album ‘Manners’. When I saw them live last June, this song was one of the highlights of their already epic set and had everyone dancing and singing along, so I’m glad to see they’ve brought a similar vibe to the video. At first it seems a bit eerie, with Michael Angelakos & Co. playing to a dark warehouse full of men with sad-faced paper bags over their heads. But as Passion Pit plays, they quickly “turn those frowns upside down” and a dance party ensues, complete with confetti and glitter. Check it out below and just try not to dance along!

Passion Pit are playing a string of sold out dates in the UK over the next two weeks. A limited number of tickets are still available for their show at Norwich UEA on Monday 8th March 2010, with support from Little Death and Ellie Goulding.

Known for making some of the most fantastically wacky and inventive music videos out there (remember the treadmill video for ‘Here It Goes Again’?), OK Go has done it again with their video for ‘This Too Shall Pass’. Filmed in a two-story warehouse in L.A., the band members are barely in the video, letting “the machine,” an amazing dominoes-esque contraption built over the course of two months, take the spotlight – and oh man, is it cool! This video is sure to go viral, so check it out now!

Also worth watching is this live version of the song, complete with a marching band and foliage-covered horn players!