Directed by Philippe Grenade, ‘I Was A Bomb’ is the debut music video of the band Silent Rider, a downtempo, bass heavy group.

The black and white narrative, shot on the RED in New York’s Appalachia, follows a man and woman as they trek the landscape in search of some enigmatic form of nourishment. After what seems like a dreary and fruitless journey, they stumble upon what they’ve been tracking, culminating in a haunting sequence of events.

Broken Cities are precisely what this blog is about. They released their debut album ‘Flux’ under a Creative Commons licence last year and haven’t looked back. To anyone who’s not familiar with Creative Commons licences, it basically means that the band actively want you to download, copy, remix and share their music. It’s the way to go for any small unsigned acts that just want to get their music out there.

Flux is a 7 track album and is instrumental in its entirety. I’d be lying if I said this album didn’t sound a little bit too much like the second half of Sigur Rós’ () but this doesn’t take away from the fact that this album is an outstanding achievement for an unsigned debut. Riddled with crescendos and whirring guitar riffs reminiscent of early Bloc Party, the dynamics in Flux show an unrivaled maturity in their music.

Broken Cities have already put together a music video for The Godfather, the 4th track on Flux.

With 6 albums in their back catalogue, Death Cab For Cutie have taken a bold new step with their seventh entitled ‘Codes and Keys’. The album was recorded at 8 different studios in two week bursts and heavily features vintage keyboards. Digital modification in aspects such as beats and guitar effects seem to play a larger role than in their earlier more organic sounding albums. Codes and Keys is definitely different, and I wouldn’t even say necessarily for the better but it’s certainly refreshing.

Frontman Benjamin Gibbard has admitted being somewhat embarassed about the dark nature of earlier album ‘Narrow Stairs’ and hinted that the lighter nature of this album came from living a more stable, married life. ”I’m so proud of this album that at this point I don’t care if people don’t like it.”

“I don’t feel like we went all ‘Kid A’ on everyone. But there are moments on this record where we looked at each other and said, ‘Oh, man, fans of ‘The Photo Album’ are going to wonder what’s going on here.’”

Released 31st May 2011.

Delooze are destined for something big. Their latest singles ‘Too Heavy To Stand Up’ and ‘We Are Transient’ feature a blend of electro and hard rock with almost gothic elements to it. This mainly comes through due to the choice of classical instrumentation and dramatic feel and it’s like nothing else around at the moment.

We Are Transient isn’t officially released for another 2 months so only the first 57 seconds can be heard on bandcamp at the moment (pretty uncool). However, I’ve embedded an earlier single entitled ‘Big Love’ that was released in June 2010 which has been made available for free download (pretty cool).

It’d be fair to say We Are Transient has a much heavier feel to their earlier singles such as ‘Big Love’ and ‘Out Of The Rabbit Hole’ in which electro aspects featured more predominantly in the music and had a streak of Crystal Castles or even The xx about them.

Any Londoners reading this, Delooze will be playing at 93 Feet East on the 14th of July.

Released 11th July 2011.

This video of Weezer’s recent cover of Radiohead’s 1997 classic ‘Paranoid Android’ is something I expect will attract a large number of comments from both sides of the Atlantic. When I first saw the video description I was hesitant to open Pandora’s box but during the first 20 seconds I was actually pleasantly surprised. However, Rivers Cuomo’s vocals just don’t fit this song at all.

Some could argue his voice is just different to that of Thom Yorke but you really have to think carefully before you attempt to cover one of the best songs from one of the greatest albums of all time. It’s definitely worth a listen to make up your own mind but a simplified review from me; musically very good, vocally wrong.