British Sea Power

British Sea Power have finished recording and mixing their fifth studio and follow up to the highly acclaimed "Man of Aran".

Over the past few years it is difficult to say that BSP have changed a great deal but this is no complaint. They carry a sound like so few other bands where they can move from five minutes of atmospheric noise reminiscent of sitting by an abandoned pier on a cloudy day, to a guitar driven cacophony in seconds and make it work almost as well as Doves.

The noise in the press surrounding the band has grown over the last few years in a way almost identical to the sound they create and after their first and second albums the hype surrounding "Do You Like Rock Music" hit out as powerfully as the guitar on opening track "All In It".

I believe that with this release we could see the band push themselves in to the limelight in a simliar way as Elbow did with "The Seldom Seen Kid" and Doves did with "Kingdom of Rust" and their almost cult following deserves to grow in the same way.

Not only are they set to release the album soon but tickets for Tan Hill festival which the band organise, go on sale tomorrow. The tickets are more expensive than last year because the band actually made a loss but this year there promises to be more bands and if your not satisfied the bands guitarist Noble, is willing to buy yo a pint.

Check out the details on the bands blog here aswell as three beautiful tracks from "Man of Aran".

Bjork x Michel Gondry

As all of you out there who understand good music know, Bjork is prety much the greatest artist alive, so any news of new projects is good news. This news could only be even better when it is surrounding her working with the great Michel Gondry again.

The fact that these two are so firmly on the cutting edge within their own fields is set to be proved once again in the 40 minute 3D "science-musical" they are working on. The piece is currently in its early stages but i think it's fair to say it is going to be incredibly impressve.

Their previous works together include the videos for "Declare Independance" and "Army Of Me" and Bjork almost appreared in Gondry's sublime "Science of Sleep" until she was replaced by Charlotte Gainsbourg.



On top of this Bjork has also recently wrote "Comet Song" which is set to feature on the soundtrack for the upcoming Moomins film, which is about as fitting as Daft Punk's soundtrack for Tron 2.

The Pipettes

In 2006 Gwenno, Rose and Rebecca released, in my opinion, one of the best pop records of all time in the form of "We Are The Pipettes". Full of songs about lost love, awkward sex and girls we could only dream of speaking to. It was reminiscent of all of our teenage years and as carefully crafted as their polka dot dresses and dance routines.

So after four years without any new material this year sees them return with "Earth vs The Pipettes". The word 'return' has to be used rather lightly as the bands members have changed more than the Sugababes with Rebecca and Rose being replaced with Gwenno's sister Ani as well as two of the bands musicians leaving to join The Ghost Frequency and Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong respectively.

The sound itself however, remains the same with tunes that sound like Cheryl Cole (or should I say Tweedy) having a fight with a synthensiser on the beach in Rio. Here's the new single "Stop The Music" due for release in April with the album to follow shortly.





And for all of those who have got on to the same nostalgic kick as myself, here's the classic "Judy"

When Art Imitates Life

When Art Imitates Life is a Los Angeles-based company focused on creating fine art with musical visionaries at the helm. Headed up by Scene Four and Sway who are incorporating real Hip Hop icons and culture with classic art and coming up with some incredible results

Some of the early work they have come up with so far is genius and the best part about it is that you can actually buy these, if you get in fast enough as they are all released in extremely limtied numbers.

So far the highlight has got to be RZA's "Victory or Death" collection which shows Rza dressed as George Washington while holding his beat machine as well as this beauty which includes founding Wu Tang members RZA, GZA and Ol' Dirty.



There is plenty of great videos and info about the work the company are doing to get your peepers over including a great clip of the legendary DJ Q-Bert dropping an outrageous crab scratch over Wu Tang's 'Method Man'.


When Art Imitates Life


And if you cant afford one of those then why not try and get your hands on a pair of these, the new Nike Kobe Bryant Aston Martin 'Hyperdunk'. With premium leathers and the Aston Martin logo on the tongue, they're going to be the most sought after Nikes since the Yeezy's

Drake

Drake's mixtapes have become something of a phenomenon over the last few years from 'Room For Improvement' and 'Comeback Season' in 2007.

In the last 12 months he's also dropped 'So Far Gone', his shortest and most laid back piece, closely followed by this years 'Comeback Season II', which is 28 tracks of stone cold genius. With collaborations with Lil Wayne, Kanye, and Bun B it really lives up to the hype that caused one of the biggest bidding wars between the major rap labels in recent years.

So to the actual mixtape. The beats are exactly what you would expect from someone so closely linked with Lil Wayne and the rest at Cash Money Records. There's lots of keys and really fast drum loops and the rhymes are so tightly constructed it's impossible to find another new voice on the scene to compare him to. probably the best verse includes;

"Dropped a mixtape that shit sounds like an album,
Who'd have thought a countrywide tour would be the outcome,
Labels want my name signed by the X like Malcolm,
Everybody got a deal i did it without one."

So here's a free download for Comeback Season II

And here's the official video for 'Forever' featuring Lil Wayne, Kanye and Eminem who absolutely kills it.

Groove Armada

Another album coming out this year that I'm really hyped about is Groove Armada's 'Black Light'. Due out early this year some of the tracks have already been getting lots of attention especially on BBC radio 6 where my favourite, 'Paper Romance' is on the A-list so will be getting plenty of airtime these coming weeks.

Some of the tracks sound like they're got a much dirtier edge than you would normally expect from Groove Armada with some seriously scuzzy basslines and screechy vocals. But like all classic Armada tracks I can still see myself throwing moves around the dancefloor like a maniac to them.



And check out the tidy little remix of Paper Romance by Urchins on their Myspace.




But if that's not doing it for you, they're still churning out some pop-dance gems like 'I Wont Kneel' featuring SaintSaviour on the vocals which harks back to the phenomenal 'Song 4 Mutya'


sainstsaviour

Nas and Damian Marley

Earlier last year I heard that these two were working together on a full album and I can now confirm that 'Distant Relatives' is going to drop on April 20th this year.

Nas' previous few albums have been pretty tight especially 'Hip Hop is Dead', and Marley's 'Welcome To Jamrock' was nothing short of the genius we would expect from the son of the greatest artist of all time. So having the two work together on such a big project should be incredible.

The pair have said that the inspiration for the album comes through their shared ancestry and is especially apt for the current global climate. Marley said "the globe right now is ready for change and this is the soundtrack for that". A portion of the profits of the album are also said to be going towards building schools in Africa.

We can expect Nas' typical Queensbridge rap style along with the finest of Jamaican beats produced by Marley himself along with K'Naan rhyming on two tracks at least and a New York youth choir popping up. As always I've got a little preview for you, download 'As We Enter' to get an idea of the sound these guys are cooking up together

Gorillaz

In one of my last posts I mentioned that Damon Albarn was dropping vocals on the new Massive Attack album and said that it was going to be the most important album of the year and i may just have to backtrack on that one.

March this year heralds the arrival of 'Plastic Beach', the third album by the animated genre-mashing musical heroes that are Gorillaz. The band have also just been announced as headliners for Sunday night at the epic Coachella festival, taking the stage after Orbital, Thom Yorke and Pavement it looks like it could be the best close to a festival in recent memory.

The most exciting thing about this album has got to be the sheer quality and span of the contributing artists which includes; Lou Reed, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Gruff Rhys, Mark E. Smith, De La Soul (who have wrote two of the songs), Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, Bobby Womack, Kano, Bashy, Little Dragon, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Sinfonia Viva and The National Orchestra for Arab Music.

So for now, have a listen to the impressive first single from the album,
Stylo featuring Mos Def and Bobby Womack

Future Predator

If I was to meet a ten year old boy who understood music production I would have a little more faith in the future of our country. Now if i were to meet a ten year old boy and ask him if he knew what Dubstep was i would be astounded if he could answer me correctly.

Imagine my surprise when I came across 'Magik', a ten year old boy from Bristol who has produced this little gem. I mean it's not going to be this years best track but the fact that this guy is only ten years old just makes me depressed that my high school music lessons were spent hitting the 'Demo' key on a shitty Yamaha keyboard.





'Magnetic Man' is the first dubstep supergroup and with a combined age of much more than ten years; Skream, Benga and Artwork are producing tunes which could easily be some of the best this year. on top of that they're throwing out videos which would make Michel Gondry proud and probably push Magik into a pretty serious epileptic seizure.

Future-proof

I'm going to make one of those bold over-reaching statements i often make and can never usually justify. The only difference this time is the fact that i actually cant imagine too many of you disagreeing with me here and i can completely justify this dcision.

The best album of 2010 is without a doubt going to be Massive Attack's 'Heligoland'. Now, to justify this statemnt here are a few simple facts.

Firstly, Damon Albarn is providing vocals, considering the sounds he created with both 'Think Tank' and 'The Good, The Bad and The Queen' this can only lead to amazin things.

Secondly, Martina Topley-Bird is also providing vocals and she has also already worked with Damon Albarn in Gorillaz and her far-away lullaby voice will suit Massive Attack perfectly.

And finally, remember the best Radio Live Lounge track ever? when Elbow covered 'Teardrop'? Well Guy Garvey is also going to be dropping in on the Album.

Plus Neil Davidge and Robert Del Naja were nominated for an Oscar for their soundtrack for the mostly unknown 'Trouble The Water' in 2008.

Until February your going to have to make do with this, Joy Orbison absolutely smashing the beat.

Snoop

So Snoop ended last year on a bit of a high with his 'Malice in Wonderland' album which had some of the best new school beats of any recent hip-hop album. Considering he had Dre, Timbaland and The Neptunes all working on the production it's hardly surprising that it was his first album since 'Paid tha Cost...' to break into the billboard top ten.

'I Wanna Rock' is probably the best track on said album and when Jay gets involved on the remix he absolutely smashes it.






While I'm on the subject, you may aswell have a look at this absolute banger from last year where Snoop remixed Chase and Status's 'Eastern Jam' after he heard it on the 'Slumdog Millionaire' soundtrack.

The Return of The Knife

As we all know, Karin and Olof Dreijer have been two of the most innovative artists to come out of the always exciting scandinavian music scene and their latest work is yet another incredile piece.

'Tomorrow, In A Year' is Hotel Pro Forma's opera which is based on Charles Darwin's 'Theory of Evoluton' and The Knife were commissioned to write the music. The studio version is due to be released in March of this year.

After Karin's incredible 'Fever Ray' album last year and Olof's 'Coolof' project really taking off, it's almost impossible to take your eyes off the siblings at the moment

For now here's The Colouring Of Pigeons

Daisy Dares You

There's something downright wrong about a debut song that sounds like something Kate Nash wrote for a CBBC show, especially when its matched with a name straight from CITV's classic 'Zap!'

But when it's written by a sixteen year old girl who cites Kurt Cobain and Karen O as her biggest influences, does that make it ok?

With the appaling demise of Little Boots after so much hype last year it appears Daisy Dares You could be the natural replacement on Radio One this year and with a support slot on Chipmunk's tour and several labels fighting over her signature I can only hope she can continue in the much bigger boots of last years other female artists.

Brooklyn's new wave

Growth has to come through the roots, and so a Brooklyn based rapper who labels himself as "soul-pop-new-wave-hip-hop" seems to make perfect sense to me in the rapidly expanding world of Hip-Hop.

Theophilius London's newest release, 'This Charming Mixtape' blends all these elements and more. With references to The Smiths, Elvis Costello and even Whitney Houston, it's like Spank Rock had he gone to art-school instead of skipping class and sitting on the corner all day.

Taking into considration the last few real Hip-Hop pioneers have come from Chicago and the West coast, aswell the hold Jay-Z has had on the East coast game, it seems an ideal time for some focus to come back on to who's representing for Brooklyn.

New Year, New Music

As it's the beginning of a new year, what better time than now to look forward to some artists who are going to be grabbing our attention over the next few months.

I want to start with Manchester duo 'Hurts', whose elegant and undoubtably stylish approach to electro-pop has just been placed at number 4 in the BBC's 'Sound of 2010' poll. A position that was awarded last year to the enigmatic Empire of the Sun.

With support coming from opera singers as backing vocalists and electric violinists their upcoming gigs, set in churches and the most industrial of european cities, are not to be missed.