Nothing like the early new year wave of new releases to inspire a recently lackluster blogger. And early as it is, I am confident that Diagrams’ debut album is gonna go the distance and be recognised as one of the best of 2012. Essentially the work of ex-Tunng man Sam Genders, Diagrams is so much more than a solo project, and it is surprisingly sharper and more succinct than his previous band’s material would have suggested.  If it retains anything of the proggy experimental nature of Tunng, it does so in easily digestible bite size chunks, aka pop songs. In this respect I was immediately reminded of Field Music, unlike other reviewers who draw comparisons to Hot Chip and Elbow. Frankly this music  is far more interesting than anything Elbow have released and has a warm beating human heart unlike the work of Hot Chip.

The combination of real instruments and programmed beats places the album somewhere between a live band sound and that of a bedroom musician, surely the ideal place for experimental pop on record.  There is a joie de vivre quality to the melodies in keeping with reports that Genders took some time out to reassess and rethink his musical place in life. In Dylan terms it has a New Morning feel. Like the album title suggests, lyrically he plays with the seemingly opposing nature of human experience. There is no black and white, and if there is black, then it too is light. Rhythmically angular and sonically clean the sound comprises strange shapes which add up to wonderfully unified wholes. Diagrams as it were.

Diagrams: Tall Buildings

Is there a void left in your musical collection the wake of a new release from Menomena and the band’s many side projects including Lackthereof or Ramona Falls?

Well I think I’ve found the answer – Matt Sheehy’s  new band Lost Lander and it’s no surprise there’s quite a similarity between all the bands. Sheehy plays bass for Brent Knopf (ex Menomena/current Ramona Falls) and in turn Knopf has taken over knob twiddling duties for the band’s debut album “DRRT” which was funded by a “telethon” campagin. Indeed, it seems a bit like Portland musical incest but it’s definitely a good thing.

You can download Cold Feet by just visiting the band’s official site here in exchange for your e-mail.

Cold Feet:

Last week we caught up with Oklahoma band Other Lives after their Academy gig in Dublin for a quick interview. We first heard their new album “Tamer Animals” during the summer and with hints of The National, Grizzly Bear to their cinematic sound – they were already on our favourite album of the year list.

The Same Thing:

Pre-order the album from Domino here

The warm and blissful bass synths rise like fog beneath the klaxon fanfare that heralds the arrival of Midnight City, the first single from the forthcoming album by French electro dreamer M83. Fireworks erupt fast and bright and the drums roll like distant thunder across the neon city skyline. The intoxicated vocal washes over us like a head full valium. The fog recedes, the air is thinner and the verse floats weightlessly on the bounce of a muffled snare. By the second chorus we have fallen headlong, lost in woozy rapture. All good things that must end should do so with a shimmering sax outro like this, sending us home giddy with our heads reeling. This unmistakably French sound is unashamedly indebted to the best that the 80′s had to offer, but M83 aka Anthony Gonzalez has always reveled in such delights. The single is available for free now and the double album Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is released October 18th on Mute Records. Hurry Up, We’re Waiting!

We are delighted to announce that the new home of the Needle Hits The Groove radio show is RTE 2xm. Shows will air Mondays at 16.00 and be repeated on Sundays at 22.00. First show is Monday coming August 1st . Lots of great music and discussion, and a look back at the Madchester music scene and its legacy. You can listen online at RTE 2xm, on DAB or on the telly on UPC channel 944.

Ah Twitter. I still don’t really know what to use you for rather than shameless self promotion, sarcastic observations and odd revelations such as “I appeared at the back of a news report on my parish priest who locked himself in his house for 10 days”. Like any social media tool however, music fans use it as a recommendation service and when you follow a host of our favourite bands, labels and journalists you are sure to find a few gems, although you still have to ween out all the links to someone’s boyfriend’s friends’s aunt’s mother’s hairdresser’s latest tune.

Scott from Frightened Rabbit tweeted a link to this band ‘Milk Maid’ who have just signed to Fat Cat and as you will hear below – it is anything but a dud. Yes there are playing into the whole 80s/90s revival sound of the moment but there’s a Ramonesy energy to their Pavementy slobbishness that is quite infectious.

Milk Maid: Not Me

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It has been sixteen years since Gavin Friday’s last solo album Shag Tobacco. In the interim he has been busy with film scores and soundtracks, including Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ the 50 Cent biopic with Quincy Jones. He has also been embracing his theatrical side with the The Royal Shakespeare Company and of course there was his unforgettable starring role in Neil Jordan’s Breakfast On Pluto.

He returns now with new album ‘catholic’, released today, Good Friday. Ken Thomas‘  lush and ambient production provides Friday’s lyrics, delivered in his seasoned sleazy growl, with a rich cinematic soundscape. Loss and death are the central themes, but they are examined from a vantage point, where the fog of grief has lifted and a new day is dawning, gently peaking its head above the horizon. It is an album that rewards repeated listens, slowly revealing its warm and intimate charms. Below is an interview we recorded with Gavin recently.