Monday's Here!

Can you believe it's Monday already? No? Me neither! But here it is and I defy anyone to have Monday blues with sky this, erm , blue, sunshine this bright and brand new music for your ears.

First up a little free nugget from folk rockers Mumford & Sons. They received Ezra Koenig's thumbs up for their cover of Vampire Weekend's recent hit single Cousins. You  can find the VW version on their latest album, Contra. Hit the button to here more at Stereogum.

OK, I know it's not brand new but it is a bobby bargain. So if you don't own it already then head to Zavvi.com to get all Smart Casual with Kids In Glass Houses. (FYI, it's a snip at £2.95 for the deluxe 2 disc version).

I can hear you chomping at the bit for your new music this week. Settle down. Here are my picks of the week.

My Passion are back with their loud and proud new video for Crazy And Me. Look past the emo threads, guy-liner and Jedward esque hair and you will hear a band of born performers that force you to listen to their riff-stacked, dance-punk brand of rock.



Indie-rock Yanks, Broken Bells, today had their self-titled debut hit the shelves. Combining legendary artist/producer, Danger Mouse aka Brian Burton, with The Shins frontman James Mercer, was never going to be a bad thing and this offering only proves that theory. Sounds a bit Death Cab meets, well, The Shins but with uber-cool undertones in every LA-retro sounding beat. Listen to Your Head Is On Fire, Vaporize and Mongrel Heart. Not one of the tracks on Broken Bells would be out of place in any of your favourite US dramas. Thumbs up!

Have you time for one more? Ace. Quintessential metal band Iron Maiden have revealed on http://www.ironmaiden.com/ the title of their forthcoming album. The Final Frontier is due for a summer release ahead of summer touring with Dream Theatre and headling Sonisphere. Could the title be trying to tell us something?

Have a good week! Band tips and comments welcome...
BBPD.

Happy Monday!

It's Monday. And that means one thing and one thing only. NEW RELEASES. And today pulled a corker, namely with Vampire Weekend's Contra. I'm not gonna lie, it is delightful. Think traditional Vampire lyrics combined with delicate xylophonic poppy melodies and danceable beats on top of electric blooms. Their first single, Cousins, sets the bar but with tunes like Horchata, Run and California English, Contra definitely will not disappoint.

My favourite Surrey rockers released their sophomore album today. One word. Fan-effin-tastic. You Me At Six have hit back with bold, grit and attutide to boot with Hold Me Down. With all due respect, I for one am glad Josh Franceschi and his now-girlf-again broke up before recording got underway; a happy rock album would not have been bad but this anger and frustration at life fuelled offering is the genuine article. A slight RIOT! (Paramore) undertone, not imitation, but this is to no detriment to either band or album. My Heads A Prison And Nobody Visits, Playing The Blame Game and first single, Underdog are up there as my favourites in an excellent bunch of all killer no filler. I am rife with anticipation for the forthcoming tour...bring it on lads!

They're electronic. They're indie. They're full of on-the-surface sacharine. Think Foals but fluffier and you've got Delphic. Acolyte is an anthology of tracks just chomping at the bit to help you get your glad rags on and ready for the 'floor and yet all the while patiently waiting to soothe your hangover away the next day (cup of Quickie or Atack tea in 1 hand, BP bacon butty in the other, obvs). I am loving Red Lights and Halcyon for the former, title track Acolyte for the latter and This Momentary for both situations. Get your ears ready to have those January-I'm-SO-skint blues soothed away. Thank you Delphic!

These are my faves of the day. Please comment your favourite new releases below.
Happy Monday and have a fun Tuesday (I'm off for some fun in The Don until Thursday).

BBPD

The guys over at Stereogum have compiled one hell of must-have albums list. They've not given a meek 5, 10 or even 25 but a flabbergasting 69 indie records that you simply must have by this time next year. Oh yeah, 2010 is gonna be good!
http://stereogum.com/archives/list/2010_albums_102801.html

Highlights for me include Vampire Weekend's Contra, The Avalanches' follow up to 2000's Since I Met You, MGMT with Congratulations and Los Campesinos! tell us Romance is boring. Other rightfully anticipated indie gems will be winging there way to our iTunes from Fleet Foxes, The National, Hot Chip, Arcade Fire, Of Montreal, Drive By Truckers (trust me on this one) and The Walkmen.

January 12th. You have a date at HMV with Vampire Weekend. Don't forget.

BBPD