Dinowalrus

This band with a strange name, Dinowalrus (imagine what a strange animal that would be), have a spacy sound, let’s say. Guitar and vocal walls, intensive bass and drums, synths and all, they get you very quickly.

Dinowalrus is a Brooklyn band, formed by Pete Feigenbaum of Titus Andronicus and Kyle Warren. Band’s current line-up features Peter Feigenbaum, Max Tucker and Liam Andrew.

Band published a new video for Beth Steel, new single taken from their new album Best Behavior. Beth Steel is set to release on May 21 in the UK.

Directed by Robert Llauro, the visuals are pretty psychedelic. Juani Libonatti is responsible for those visual effects. You can watch the music clip below.

Best Behavior is already available in the US via Old Flame Records, while in the UK it is due out on June 4 via Heist or Hit Records.

For more info on Dinowalrus visit their official website or Facebook page.

The Temper Trap - The Temper Trap

The Temper Trap released their new eponymous album yesterday, May 18 in Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Ireland. While the most of the world can’t yet have their hands on the new record, it’s available for streaming via Rolling Stone.

New ablum The Temper Trap will be released on May 21 in the UK/Europe and June 5 in the US, Canada and Mexico. It’s the band’s second studio album, the follow-up to Conditions, and the first as a five-piece, after Joseph Greer got involved in the band as a permanent member.

The tracklist of The Temper Trap album is as follows:

1. Need Your Love
2. London’s Burning
3. Trembling Hands
4. The Sea Is Calling
5. Miracle
6. This Isn’t Happiness
7. Where Do We Go From Here
8. Never Again
9. Dreams
10. Rabbit Hole
11. I’m Gonna Wait
12. Leaving Heartbreak Hotel

The Temper Trap have planned a number of shows around the world. You can see the full list of confirmed shows on band’s official website.

Enter Shikari - Live In London NW5

Enter Shikari are giving away their new live EP for free. The release is compiled of live recording of their very intimate show at Bull & Gate in London which took place back in February. Entitled Live In London NW5, live EP can be downloaded from Enter Shikari’s official website.

The tracklist of the EP is as follows:

System / Meltdown
Gandhi Mate, Gandhi
Destabilize
Mothership
Arguing With Thermometers

Band’s latest studio album, A Flash Flood Of Colour, was released in January this year.

Watch Enter Shikari performing Arguing With Thermometers from A Flash Flood Of Colour live at Bull & Gate. This version is included in the live EP.

Matchbox Twenty

Matchbox Twenty announced much anticipated fourth full-length album. Entitled North, new studio effort will be the first one in a decade. North is due out on September 4 everywhere. The first single off the record will be She’s So Mean which is set to be released in June. Other songs to be featured on North include Overjoyed and Put Your Hands Up.

According to Paul Doucette, band’s guitarist, album title refers to band members finding their way. In an interview with Rolling Stone he said: “We went into this record with a lot of material. Many different songs that could have taken us in many different directions. It sort of overwhelmed us for a bit. But, at a certain point, we figured it out. We figured out where ‘North’ was.”

North was written last summer with producer Matt Serletic when the band, which now consists of Rob Thomas, Paul Doucette, Brian Yale and Kyle Cook, shared a house in Nashville.

North is the follow-up to Exile On Mainstream compilation, out in 2007, which included 6 new songs. Matchbox Twenty’s latest full studio album dates back to 2002 when the band released More Than You Think You Are.

Band frontman Rob Thomas has 2 solo albums on his own account – …Something To Be in 2005 and Cradlesong in 2009.

Sigur Rós - Valtari

You might already know that Sigur Rós are holding an exclusive event today, May 17, called Valtari Hour. That means the Icelandic band’s upcoming album will play in every timezone at 7pm.

The stream is happening at various radio stations, record stores and online at sigur-ros.co.uk/valtari/hour.

Sigur Rós is encouraging fans to share their impressions about Valtari on Twitter with #valtarihour hashtag.

Valtari is due out on May 28. In summer, Sigur Rós are going to play a number of live dates starting from July after three years of hiatus from touring.

IAMX

Chris Corner, aka the sole man behind IAMX, has finally announced he started working on a new album with working title IAMX5.

The announcement came in form of a blog post from Chris himself in which he promises he’ll be sharing a video blog every two weeks: “After a painfully long but beautifully reflective time hiding, thinking and writing hard, I have decided to take a huge step closer to you all this year and for the rest of my life”, the blog post reads, “This will come, initially, in the form of a bi-weekly video blog which will give you a deep insight into the making of the next IAMX album and any other creative fucked-up nonsense I get up to. My music, video making, painting, photography, sexual activity, will be on display”.

The blog post goes on hinting that some radical changes are to follow in future, but it’s yet unclear whether the changes will affect his music or the ever-unique stage acts.

Subscribe to IAMX youtube channel for the upcoming video blogs and don’t forget to check his usual blog at official website of IAMX for tickets and details.

Donald "Duck" Dunn

Legendary soul bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn has passed away in his sleep in a Japanese hotel room on May 13 after playing two shows previous night with his friend and former band mate Steve Cropper. The news of his death was announced by Cropper himself:

“Today I lost my best friend, the World has lost the best guy and bass player to ever live”, Cropper posted on his Facebook page. “Duck Dunn died in his sleep Sunday morning May 13 in Tokyo Japan after finishing 2 shows at the Blue Note Night Club”.

Donald “Duck” Dunn was best known for playing in Booker T & The MGs and The Blues Brothers band, as well as for his session recordings at Stax Records in Memphis, Louisiana. His bass can be heard in recordings of Otis Redding, Albert King, Levon Helm, Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Wilson Pickett, Rod Stewart, Tom Petty and many others. His contribution to soul and blues music is exceptional. R.I.P., Donald.

Bear Cavalry are progressive math-rock band heralding from Gosport on the South coast of England.

Their music characteristically features harmonious eighties sounds and hints of keyboards, synthesizers, and xylophones as well as superbly played drums and melodic guitar chords, on top of pleasing-to-listen-to vocals.

Their track, “Roman Summer”, from their EP Maple Trails, portrays these elements beautifully, as does their single, “Custom Hands”, both of which could compare Bear Cavalry to the quirky and eclectic, new rave and electronic-indie based bands such as Black Kids, Friendly Fires, Cajun Dance Party and Late of the Pier.

But the band also proves that their musical talent can span over other genres, as their track, “Last Night I Fell In Love With Floor 9″ has more of an eighties punk feel to it, resembling more Sex Pistols than Farewell to the Fairground, and their acoustic number, “The Word Canoe” is more reminiscent artists such as Charlie Simpson and Ed Sheeran.

The band consists of Louis Pinder, Matthew Cooke, Owen Ballantyne and Dan Kirk, and between the four of them they use seven different
instruments to create their own fusion of unique sound. Their music combines intricate rhythms with trumpets, falsetto vocals, electric
synths and even African chants! And it is this kind of individuality that has helped the band get noticed by Radio 1’s Edith Bowman, Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw, as well as BBC introducing’s Tim Robinson, who has played their tracks countless times on his show. If that’s not enough for the up and coming math-rock quartet, DJ Kissy Sell Out has even created a Kissy Klub version of their single, Custom Hands by mashing it together with Fake Blood’s Deep Red, to create a phenomenal track!

Who would have thought that their music was created and self-recorded in a home-made backyard barn studio?!

But presumably, the biggest honour for Bear Cavalry so far, must be having their acoustic version of “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” featured in dubstep hero Skrillex’s “Behind the scenes” video for his original track.

The band’s four-track EP, Maple Trails can be purchased here. You can listen to Bear Cavalry’s music on Youtube

And you can also keep up to date with the band on Facebook, and follow their blog at bearcavalry.tumblr.com.

The Temper Trap

Australian band The Temper Trap are set to release their new album in a week. Entitled The Temper Trap, new record will come out on May 18 in Australia and New Zealand, May 21 in UK and Europe and June 5 in the US and Canada.

Band’s new track off the album, Trembling Hands, debuted on Spin.com two days ago, alongside a behind-the-scenes video. Both the track and the video are available below.

The Temper Trap showcase songs from the new album on their current tour. The band has planned shows around UK, Australia, US and Europe. You can find all the dates on official website of the band.

Foo Fighters - One By One

Foo Fighters were on a rough path in 2002. The band nearly split up after not being able to finish new studio album. Eventually, they scrapped the whole recorded material and started all over again. However, after finally releasing One By One, frontman Dave Grohl talked about those demos in an interview with Spin: “We basically made what Taylor (Foo Fighters drummer) called ‘the million-dollar demos.’”

The title isn’t surprising: 2 leaked demos, Have It All and Come Back, sound great. Come Back is actually much shorter than the final version that ended up on One By One: it misses reprising part.

You can hear both demos below.

Foo Fighters released their latest album Wasting Light in 2011. They have been nominated for 6 Grammy Awards this year and went home with 5 trophies, losing only to Adele for Album of the Year.

Ultraísta - Smalltalk

There are some restless artists that always find time to do something new. How many can you count? Damon Albarn, Jack White, Thom Yorke.. Nigel Godrich is well known as producer of numerous bands, from Radiohead to Beck, also being part of Thom Yorke’s other band, Atoms For Piece.

Now what would you do if you were Godrich and had some free time? Is that even a question? Of course, form a new band!

Nigel Godrich teamed up with L.A. drummer and producer Joey Waronker (known for his work with The Smashing Pumpkins and being Nigel Godrich’s bandmate in Atoms For Peace) and Laura Bettison, an artist from London. The new act is called Ultraísta.

The band released only one song so far. Video goes with is. See below.

Visit official website of Ultraísta for social media links.

Jack White (photo by Craig McDean)

Jack White will never stop amusing, it seems, as his ideas grow stranger with each one. When approached by Interview Magazine for, well, an interview, he’s asked to be questioned by no-one else but Buzz Aldrin, an astronaut from Apollo 11 mission, second man ever to step foot on surface of the Moon. Surprisingly, Aldrin has agreed and, accompanied by Interview Magazine’s music editor Dimitri Ehrlich had quite an interesting conversation with Jack White, one of the most buzz-making musicians of our time, so to speak. You may read the four-page feature in its fullest here.

One of the key points of the interview was White’s confession about a wish to play a vinyl record in outer space. Not that anyone can hear it play in the vacuum, but engineers of White’s Third Man Records might think of ways to make things work. Oh, and the project is yet secret, apparently, though it’s something everybody’s talking about for the last couple of days.

“We have a secret project at Third Man where we want to have the first vinyl record played in outer space. We want to launch a balloon that carries a vinyl record player”, Jack said and explained that they still need to “figure out a way to drop the needle with all that turbulence up there and ensure that it will still play”.

Not that the main problem is the turbulence, of course, but the lack of gravity instead could be a tougher issue to solve, leaving engineers to handle the case. As we understand, however, Jack himself doesn’t have ambitions of going out into space and playing a DJ set or whatever there, so maybe the project can really work out?

But enough with talks of future. Buzz Aldrin managed to ask Jack the one question all of us fans were dreaming of having answered: why did The White Stripes really break up?

“Sometimes things last for a finite period, and I just didn’t feel like it was the right thing to keep playing anymore, so we had to put a stop to it”, explained White and continued, “But also, I didn’t want to go out and make solo records if The White Stripes still existed. I thought that people would be too confused by the two ideas and a lot of people wouldn’t be able to get their head around it. So, in a sense, it was something that was bound to happen one day. But I’m sad about it all the time”.

Sometimes things should end to make place for other things, and looks like this was the case with The White Stripes. But hey, aren’t you as happy to have White released his “Blunderbuss” as we are? Especially when not so long ago musician himself admitted he has another 12 songs waiting to be finished and recorded. He also is set to write, produce and perform his first ever feature film score for the remake of The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer.