HYPE

Well I've finally found a band that sounds similar to Bloc Party. And no, contrary to popular belief, it's not every fucking band you can think of from England. I mean christ, I feel like Jason Segel's character from How I Met Your Mother when he is looking for the perfect burger and morons consistently suggest the most obvious places to look.

Undeserved animosity aside, We Are Tokyo, an Indie band from Bristol certainly sound a whole lot like Bloc Party's early stuff, mixed with the sounds from A Weekend In The City. They currently have a few EPs out at the moment, and unfortunately, no, they aren't anywhere near as talented as Kele and the gang, but hey, Bloc Party's pre-Silent Alarm releases were rough around the edges too.

Possibly not as exciting to anyone else as they are to me, but We Are Tokyo are definitely going on my "To Watch" list.

A Victory, I - We Are Tokyo
Perfect Hands - We Are Tokyo

MYSPACE

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Here's a pretty chill track from an artist called Baxter, if you're a fan of Anoraak then definitely check this out. Like all good songs, Proof is about the slow decline of a relationship into collapse, with silky smooth vocals and spacey synth-work. Very difficult to find information on this guy, so apologies for not being able to provide a link to his website.

Proof - Baxter

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Lo-Fi-Fnk are a Swedish Electro Duo who released an album; Boylife, in 2006 which was largely ignored by all but the most tenacious musical explorers. This is likely due to the lack of release in many countries, but don't let that stop you from ordering it online or searching yourself at any good record store. Considering the date of release, this stuff was pretty cutting edge back in 2006, these days Lo-Fi-Fnk will sound similar to a few bands kicking around at the moment, great Electro-Pop without a doubt.

Steppin' Out - Lo-Fi-Fnk
Change Channel - Lo-Fi-Fnk

MYSPACE

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Friendly Fires recently re-released their self-titled debut, and I would definitely recommend the purchase if you haven't already picked it up. For $19.99AUD I got the album, a CD of previously unreleased bonus songs and remixes and a DVD with four music videos and a live concert, Friendly Fires Live At The Forum. If you haven't heard Friendly Fires before, think of a mix between Klaxons and Metronomy; if you haven't heard Metronomy before; they are a combination of Friendly Fires and Klaxons. And if you haven't heard Klaxons before; kill yourself immediately.

Kiss Of Life - Friendly Fires
Bored Of Each Other - Friendly Fires

MYSPACE

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As always, go out and buy this music please, these songs are only for sample purposes, if you like what you hear, then buy the albums these artists slave over, if not, then delete them, the futile defence against music piracy begins with YOU!

HYPE

Here's some recent and solid tracks that might interest you.

From Red Riders' recently released sophomore album, Drown In Colour. Which is damn good by the way.

Ordinary - Red Riders

A track by Indie-Electro outfit Hey Champ. Think somewhere between Van She and Digitalism and you have an idea of what to expect.

Cold Dust Girl - Hey Champ

Van She recently released a remix EP bundled with the re-release of last year's near perfect debut LP, V. Titled Ze Vemixes, it's basically Van She Tech completely reworking most of the tracks from the album to sound like heavy techno versions of themselves. This particular track, the last on the EP, takes a completely different route.

Virgin Suicide (Acoustic Mix) - Van She

Anoraak is a french electronic artist part of the Valerie Collective, for some of you that will be information enough. For the rest, think heartfelt and meaningful electro heavily inspired by everything 80's.

Never Ending Romance Disaster - Anoraak

Bombay Bicycle Club are a UK band taking everyone by storm at the moment, they've only just left school as well so it's even more impressive how confident they seem to be at such an early stage in the game.

What If - Bombay Bicycle Club

And finally a rather old track that was remixed in 2005 for Depeche Mode's Greatest Hits album. It's remixed by Digitalism but it sounds very much like Justice or Boys Noize. It's a really cool re-invention of the song actually.

Never Let Me Down Again (Digitalism Remix) - Depeche Mode

Remember to support these artists. Buy their albums and go see them live.