Инди-рок

Record Label: Unter Schafen Records Style: Indie / Rock

Having released their debut album last year, GIRLS NAMES make a welcome return with the track, "A Troubled See", and it provides the first proper indication of where the band will be heading with their next full length, out later this year. Hinting at a shift away from their often mis-perceived surf and indie-pop roots, GIRLS NAMES more towards something more akin to Krautrock and Psychedelia, WEIRD DREAMS contribution to the split is their first new material since the just released debut album, "Choreography". Their longest track to date - an almost perverse endeavour given the format it features on - "House of Secrets" is a slow-burning, sinister lullaby, buoyed by an insistent and spidery guitar line and replete with the rich, languorous vocals characteristic of the band. Limited to just 500 copies and on coloured vinyl, it features a side of artwork from each band. Record Label: Tough Love Style: Independent

In July 2012, London label Critical Heights will be releasing the new album from DEAD RAT ORCHESTRA. It was originally recorded as the soundtrack to Intrepid Cinema's critically acclaimed BBC Documentary "The Guga Hunters of Ness", which follows the journey of ten men from the community of Ness on the Isle of Lewis as they embark on a traditional hunt for gannets. Utilising their customarily unconventional instrumentation to create precarious and powerful abstract-folk, the trio of Daniel Merrill, Robin Alderton and Nathaniel Mann have come up with a powerful score, with compositions seeded in hours of study of Hebridean folk song. DEAD RAT ORCHESTRA have become the slow burning backwater of British music; perpetually hovering on the fringes of distinct scenes, yet never fully on-board, they remain their own mutable paradigm. They perform with violins, harmoniums, logs, axes and pigeon flutes; folly snow-boxes, semi-strung guitars, home-wired glitchers and record player clunks; they use organ pipes like hunting horns, which are overblown like great whales; and with shards of metal, cast to the floor in shimmering joy. For nearly a decade Dead Rat Orchestra have effortlessly remained the most original and unconventional live act around, both challenging the traditional concert setting and bringing a powerful and innovative performance aesthetic to their music whilst never falling into the trappings of novelty. Over the past two years they have performed or collaborated with the likes of Baby Dee, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Marc Almond, Eric Chenaux, David Tibet, A Silver Mt Zion, Natural Snow Buildings, Sandro Perri, Trembling Bells and many others. Record Label: Criticalheights Style: Independent

Record Label: Finyl Vinyl Style: Independent

Melbourne based A Dead Forest Index are brothers Adam & Sam Sherry, forming a minimalist two piece. Drawing on elements centred around rhythmic pulls and washes of vocals, the guitar & percussion clatters in and around measured structures, that can end abruptly, or drift off into tapping decrescendos where the harmony does find a resolution. Antique brings to life a sound that is strikingly original and sincere. This music recalls and is homage to a by-gone era. Lyrically engulfing forms are highlighted by repetition, or isolated acapella moments, that mark this collection as a unique and important first release. A fresh new sound which should please fans of a mixture of Chelsea Walker, Einstürzende Neubauten, Bela Bartok or Dead Can Dance. Vinyl: thick sleeves; free download code Style: Independent

Style: Smooth Jazz

Style: Independent

Hailing from Denmark Sun River is a three-piece consisting of Martin Rude, Jonas Munk and Jakob Skott. Their music is based on finely woven guitar compositions and Martin's gentle vocals. With thorough eclecticism Sun River picks up various threads from the last 45 years of guitar music .There's a free-flowing, almost jazzy, vibe present on this debut album - no doubt in part due to the fact that guitarplayer and producer Jonas Munk as well as drummer Jakob Skott normally spend their time in respected instrumental psych outfit Causa Sui. But the group also finds the time to indulge themselves in delicate pop tunes throughout the album, where Martin's sun-drenched songs are bathed in chiming guitars, multilayered vocal harmonies and put into motion by Jakob Skott's distinctive and animated drumming. Overall the album is saturated by a dreamy, chilled-out atmosphere, with the production emanating a warm and natural glow, allowing the room it was recorded in a prominent place in the mix. One can almost smell the wood of guitars and drums and feel the warmth of glowing amplifier tubes when listening to this album. This is the kind of music that's perfect for summer afternoons, or for driving somewhere, or nowhere, in twilight. These nine compositions invites the listener to join the flow and roll gently towards the sun. Record Label: El Paraiso Style: Independent

Record Label: Pias Uk/Sunday Best Style: Independent

Deluxe gatefold 20th Anniversary reissue of Samiam's third album, produced in January 1992 by Goo Goo Doll's producer A.J. Petri. This album was the blueprint for the band signing on to major label Atlantic. This release was considered more accessible, with a great melodic hardcore sound. Contains the single "Don't Break Me". Artwork lovingly restored by original artist, guitarist, Sergie Loobkoof (album covers for Lagwagon, We Are Scientists, Good Riddance). The band is touring in 2012 and 2011's Samiam release "Trips" received 4/5 stars from Alternative Press. Comes on white vinyl with MP3 download codes. Limited to 1,000 copies Record Label: New Red Archive Style: Punk

GROOVE ARMADA singer with her debut album! As Saint Saviour, Becky Jones has trodden an unconventional and uncompromising path towards artistic salvation. It hasn’t always been easy. It’s a story that stretches from the workhouses of Dickensian London to the arena house concerts across the globe. But throughout it all, and with her spectral and hypnotic debut album, she may just have emerged as one of the defining solo artists of her time. Perhaps best known until now as co-writer and de facto front woman for Groove Armada, Stockton-on-Tees born Jones took her traditional music background and harnessed it to a burgeoning love of electro and production skills inspired by the works of Factory Records and the seminal producer Martin Hannett. Uniquely crowd-funded through PledgeMusic Union – released on Surface Area in June – has one foot in the proud lineage of female electric pioneers like MIA and Robyn, the other pulling along the line of classic songwriting like Scott Walker and Carole King. It is by turns bewitching, challenging and delightful, as Becky’s dancing soprano twists and turns around a collection of songs, both electronic and organic entirely written, A&Red, produced and performed by herself. While she has always vowed to never write from a personal romantic perspective, the music is unquestionably raw and keenly felt. “I never ever write about my own experience, my family life or relationships. I’m not really interested in badgering on about my own life, I’d rather write about daydreams and the news, stuff that’s important rather than being self-indulgent.” Fallen Trees is concerned with global warming where Becky “wonders if we are designed to destroy ourselves or whether someone will come and make the world work properly.” Other times, she is inspired by history and her surroundings. On the gorgeous, spectral Reasons, she contemplates the history of her surroundings in central London, having delved into a local cemetery used as a pauper’s grave for prostitutes in Dickensian times. The song concerns “imagining being one of these prostitutes, looking through the window of a workhouse, knowing that your child’s in there and you have to get them out. Everyone thinks it’s a love song, but it’s actually about something horrible!” Even her nom de plume came from that very workhouse, Saint Saviour’s. I Call This Home – which deals with the “complicated relationship you have with your roots and when you try to escape them” – sees insidious drums piling over a shimmering backdrop and building to a heady sense of transcendence. The Rain Falls On The Just mines the best traditions of early Eurythmics to power its moral soul-searching . Elsewhere on the album, the propulsive Domino – about “surviving the production line of pop” drops angelic vocals over plucked, dancing strings before Ampllify Dot pierces the reflection with an aggressive rap. On the Mazzy Star-ish Mercy it’s Becky’s gentle soprano that does the piercing with Fight proof of Becky’s mastery of the most classic songwriting. This songwriting is teamed with compelling live performances – extravagant, theatrical costumes, projections and set ups and a visceral stage persona. UK audiences will get an opportunity to see Union showcased a number of shows currently being lined up for the summer. Record Label: Surface Area Style: Independent

Style: Independent

Style: Independent

Porcelain Raft's "Drifting In And Out" is the opening track to his debut full length, Strange Weekend. It's the Italian born singer's anthemic, gauzy and chiming cavalry call to arms. The 7"s b-side, "Chain", astutely balances melancholy and wistfulness. Remiddi does his best heart string pulling to date as he sings "and I feel something/something I cannot deny/half my life behind. Record Label: Secretly Canadian Style: Independent

Style: Pop

METRIC has revealed further details surrounding the release of their fifth, full-length studio album Synthetica. Strong beats and futuristic, yet organic sounds propell this new album forward. Record Label: Pias Uk/Metric Style: Independent

Style: Independent

Iron & Wine covers George Michael and Lowell George's Little Feat on the limited edition Two Sides of George 7". The single will be available as part of Suicide Squeeze's single series and will be limited to 750 copies worldwide. The 2012 series boasts an impressive array of talent that also includes the likes of King Tuff, White Woods, Nobunny, Wax Idols, Cloud Nothings, and Julianna Barwick Record Label: Suicide Squeeze Style: Independent

Style: Independent

Style: Independent