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


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