Shinyshinynew

Icarus is the first ‘proper’ single shockingly talented French teenager Madeon’s released. He dropped a few mind-blowing remixes last year but this all new single is where he really comes to life. A surging electronic ode to ambition its pretty epic. Get some spins in before Radio-1 plays this to death.

This new Drums track will be released as the B-side to Portamento single Days. Sitting at the darker end of The Drum’s spectrum its an engaging, if somewhat brooding, listen.

Despite this being one of the strangest/least effective music videos I’ve come across in a while the song itself is getting me seriously exited about this anonymous bunch of English artists. Theirs is a dark and brooding sound punctuated with moments of sudden clarity and surprisingly airy vocal lines. They also, like WU LYF before them have an almost quasi-religious edge to their tunes which only adds to the layers of intrigue thrown up by the bizarrely named tracks they’re been giving away for free for the last few months. Its hard not to see No Ceremony// getting some serious hype building around them in the coming months.

Mafia Lights, probably our favorite band straight out of Surrey, are finally getting a physical release. ‘Spiriting’, a song we’ve feature here before, is full to the brim with weird synth, heady vocals and a psychedelically ethereal vibe that’s near impossible to shake off after the first listen. The 7″ vinyl drops via LuvLuvLuv records. It’s also severely limited so if you want a copy head over to their Facebook ASAP.

We’re pretty smitten with this epic 8 minute long remix of David Lyre’s ‘Heartbeat’. A light footed shuffling re imagining it never drags despite its rather massive run-time and, as testament to 2 Bears handling of the remix, feels suitably distant from the original to warrant some serious replays.

We did this lot a bit of a disservice a few weeks back by comparing them slightly too closely to Alt-j (∆). For while this London based unit certainly share the Leeds based band’s fondness for witty lyrics and quirky musical arrangements they spin a slightly murkier thread. New track ‘They Hate Me’ is a perfect example of this merging sing-song vocals with anxious lyrics and some very solid percussion. They have a new Lp out soon which should be worth keeping an ear out for.

One of my favorite, and somewhat secret, band obsessions are a group called Hilltop Hoods. They’re a bunch of Australian rappers who have some of the most ridiculous yet ridiculously excellent songs going anywhere on the internet (Rap in an Aussie accent is one of life’s greatest hidden joys), anyway in a vague connection this London twosome (who somewhat surprisingly aren’t a Boy/Girl acoustic duo) sound a little something like them. They have the same hectic, percussive feel to their lyrics and, in a quite a refreshing change, seem to have none of the arty pretense that’s seeped into the fabric of up-and-coming bands these days. Not that I don’t don’t love art-school pretence as much as the next blogger but still, changes are always nice. Give it a spin.

Vacationer’s ‘trip’ was one of my favorite tunes last year. This remix by Body Language (who also released a few fairly awesome tracks last year) does nothing radical with the song but adds a bit of texture here and there for those who like their tunes a bit more, er, tactile.

Weird Dreams are back, not that they ever really went anywhere but still, with music this liltingly melodic any gap between songs feels like far too long. Luckily for us they’re dropping their debut Lp, Choreography, on April the 4th so we won’t have to wait to long for the mother-load.