HYPE

I still can't make my mind up about Annie. There's no denying that Anthonio was amazing, and the Fred Falke remix made a nigh on perfect pop song even better, but I think as a whole her collected body of work is rather hit and miss.

Of course anything I think or feel about an artist is instantly reset when I see the words "Produced by Paul Epworth", a man I have almost as much respect for as the lead singer of the band he helped create the perfect album with. You know exactly what I'm talking about.

Anyway Epworth has co-produced with a bunch of other people that I couldn't care less about Annie's new album, Can't Stop. He took the reigns for one such track, All Night.

All Night is roughly about as poppy as it can get before I switch off and disregard it, but Annie has always had this widespread indie appeal, something impossibly hard to attain for a pop artist but invaluable once it's there. As immediate as her work is, she'll never be a Gaga or a Minogue.

Also, I'll include her upcoming single Songs Remind Me Of You. Stop me if i'm wrong but the instrumentals sound almost identical to New Order's Blue Monday, minus the earth shaking bass. Bit dodgy that.

All Night - Annie
Songs Remind Me Of You - Annie

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Now for something completely different, Cage The Elephant. An Indie-Rock band from Texas, their track; Ain't No Rest For The Wicked has this iconic blue-grassy quality that would sound perfect during the opening for the movie in your mind you've always planned on making. Truly an amazing song.

Ain't No Rest For The Wicked - Cage The Elephant

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LCD Soundsystem created this track; Big Ideas, for the card-counting casino heist film, 21. It's classic James Murphy, who clearly has the recipe for brewing and bottling triple distilled cool. This song is all rise.

Big Ideas - LCD Soundsystem

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Here's a track from Hey Today! called If I Was Wonderman. Recently Featured on the Bang Gang 12 Inches compilation. Reminds me of Daft Punk before they switched from space-disco-loving-party-throwing-future-robots to inevitable-machine-uprising-human-race-ending-psycho-robots. Robots that refuse to release any new material! Getting real sick of waiting.

Hopefully this will ease the pain.

If I Was Wonderman - Hey Today!

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Diminishing Returns is a new song by Ali Love, channeling 80's power ballad heartbreak induced love songs. Has a really smooth, laid back feel to it. Very cool.

Diminishing Returns (Extended Edit) - Ali Love

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Ra Ra Riot's album; The Rhumb Line, is hardly new. If you don't have it go out and get it. This track, Ghost Under Rocks, is probably the best I have heard from them so far. At times you can see how comparisons can be drawn to Vampire Weekend, but this song sounds so much more textured than the stripped down sound the other is known for. The strings that kick in near the end are a really great touch.

Ghost Under Rocks - Ra Ra Riot

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Buy the music that these people slave over. They don't do it for the love of it, they do it to get money, power and chicks, so help them out.

HYPE

Here's a few tracks, new and not so new, to check out.

Gloves, the electronic solo project from (the now defunct) Damn Arms' Yama Indra, is finally delivering some original material for us all. Gloves has been very busy touring and remixing for a whole bunch of artists, including huge names such as Van She. Seems like Modular's recent acquisition of Bang Gang 12 Inches has really got the ball rolling for the artists involved, with both Ted & Francis and now Gloves releasing singles within a month of each other. Either way I'd be lying if i said I haven't been watching everything Indra has been doing since i first heard the Damn Arms' epic swan song, Destination, last year.

This track, Too Much To Dream, is the b-side from his new single PYX. If you liked Destination this song is very much in a similar vein, chill electronic with catchy vocals.

Too Much To Dream - Gloves

Here's a track from Lupe Fiasco's upcoming album, said to be due December this year. The album, titled Lasers, is reportedly part one of a 3 album project, and by the sounds of it, is going to carry on exactly where The Cool left off, lyricism focused Hip-Hop with a strong focus on great collaborations. As such, this song, Shining Down, features Matthew Santos, who is best known for his guest vocals in Fiasco's hit single from The Cool; Superstar. Fiasco seems to have gone the auto-tune route here, with parts of the song sounding uncannily like Kanye West's latest LP, 808s & Heartbreak.

Shining Down - Lupe Fiasco

Discovery is a collaboration between Ra Ra Riot's Wes Miles and Rostam Batmanglij from Vampire Weekend. Unlike both of their regular stuff, Discovery takes a very electronic, vocoded approach. I must admit I picked this album up without actually knowing any of this, having only heard their cover of the Jackson 5's I Want You Back. It was one of those times when the album cover and artwork really sold it to me, with the inside booklet featuring a really cool graphic direction, colourful pixel art and interesting typographic work.

This track is called Osaka Loop Line, from their debut album, LP, juxtaposes distorted beats with very delicate vocals. It's definitely an interesting sound.

Osaka Loop Line - Discovery

And finally, a song from Cut Copy's first EP, which, if memory serves, was back when it was just Dan Whitford. The EP, titled I Thought Of Numbers, is a pretty interesting indication of how far Cut Copy have come from those early days. The song is Rendezvous, definitely a stand out on the release.

Rendezvous - Cut Copy

More to come.