White Lies New Single - 'Bigger Than Us'

London's White Lies are back with a bang with this greatly anticipated new single. There was a feeling of grandeur with ‘To Lose My Life…’ (the album), and the new single should stir up similar emotions. It tells of ill-starred romance, and features gripping tremolo guitar chords. ‘Bigger Than Us’, the first single from White Lies’s second album, is available digitally on iTunes now and will be available physically on the 3rd January 2010 from Fiction Records. ‘Ritual’ the album follows on 17 January 2010. You can catch the trio on tour in February.

"It's about love with a bit of religion in there as well – a lot of religious imagery," frontman Harry McVeigh said of the album. "Things like that, they're all rituals. Things you associate with your day-to-day life, but they're also habits." (NME)


Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/whitelies

Video of the Week - Hurts - 'Stay'

By now, it doesn't take a musical genius, or even someone of high intelligence to see that HURTS are not the most commercial act out there. In fact, they're probably so un-commercial right now, calling them any kind of 'act out there' would be nothing short of optimistic. Their first single 'Better Than Love' failed to get promoted and despite being their best single to date, underperformed at #50. Then, upon releasing 'Wonderful Life', whose protagonist was a pre-suicidal man, they gained more recognition, but still failed to make the Top 20, charting just outside, at #21.

Their latest single 'Stay' is set to top both of these, with features on many popular TV shows such as 'Hollyoaks' to promote it, and already over a million hits on Youtube.

Chromeo feature La Roux's Elly Jackson on new track

Canada's finest electropopfunk poutfit Chromeo and La Roux have reshaped Chromeo's 'Hot Mess' track into an awesome floorfiller oozing with dancefloor destruction potential.
'Hot Mess' is featured on Chromeo's latest album Business Casual, which was released a few months ago.

Check out Chromeo here:
http://www.myspace.com/chromeo

My VIP tickets to the NME Awards Tour have been confirmed - Thanks Alice Glass!

Full review will be coming up in February! Hopefully I'll get chance to ask the duo a few questions too.

Video of the Week - Bat For Lashes - 'Trophy' (Lollapalooza 2009)

Taken from the album 'Fur and Gold', 'Trophy' is one of my favourites. The solid bass line throughout teamed with Natasha Khan's soft vocals gives this track an eerie, dark, yet beautiful feel to it.

Track Review - Wild Beasts - 'The Devil's Crayon'

As much as I don't understand the random squeaks and squeals Wild Beasts produce vocally, I do like this track. The vocals are some what White Lies-eqsue when the lead singer sings properly. The bands popularity has seemed to increase lately, even though they released their first single, 'Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants', on Bad Sneakers Records back in November 2006. Their current album was also Mercury award nominated. Personally I'm not a fan as I'm put off by the high pitched vocals - I find that they spoil most tracks that could be really good, however this track is more pleasing than the rest. The moderately up-beat tempo teamed with a catchy twinkled melody in the background make this track very hard not to be on a "to download" list.

Check them out for yourselves!
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/wildbeasts

NME Awards Tour line up announced

Crystal Castles, Magnetic Man, Everything Everything, Vaccines for NME Awards Tour 2011

Tickets for February gigs go on sale Wednesday (Nov 10).
The four acts will hit the road on February 3 and tour the UK until February 19, when they play London's O2 Academy Brixton. The NME Awards 2011 will take place on February 23 at the same venue.

The NME Awards Tour 2011 calls at:

Glasgow O2 Academy (February 3)
Manchester Academy (4)
Newcastle O2 Academy (7)
Nottingham Rock City (8)
Leeds O2 Academy (9)
Norwich UEA (11)
Birmingham O2 Academy (12)
Cardiff University Great Hall (13)
Bristol O2 Academy (15)
Bournemouth O2 Academy (16)
Brighton Dome (17)
London O2 Academy Brixton (19)

Tickets go on sale from NME.COM at 9am (GMT) on Wednesday. To check the availability of NME Awards Tour 2011 tickets and get all the latest listings, go to NME.COM/TICKETS now, or call 0871 230 1094.

Joy Division to realise new vinyl box set '+-'

A new Joy Division box set of seven-inch vinyl discs is set to be released next month. The set, named '+-', will feature ten discs, some of which have been released previously and some that have been created for this release. The tracks have been remastered by Stephen Morris and Metropolis Studios' Frank Arkwright, while the box features new artwork from the band's long-time visual collaborator Peter Saville.

'+-', out on December 6, is limited to 5000 copies, with numbers one to 500 coming individually numbered and featuring a piece of art by Saville. There will also be a digital release via iTunes, while anyone buying the physical edition will be able to download MP3s of the tracks free.

See Rhino.co.uk for release details.