Being an instrumental band, the naming of songs can be a bit indirect and somewhat haphazard. ‘It’s Ryan Giggs’ is regarded by the band as their worst song title which despite being funny at the time has since been renamed as ‘Slow News Day’. The name of the band itself even has a somewhat unusual tale as it was randomly selected from a list of scientific journals.

Sad Xmas Present has been made available as a free download from today onwards from the Advances in Mathematics bandcamp where you can also get Sad Xmas Present as a limited edition CD for a mere £3.50 that comes hand wrapped and is one of just thirty copies.

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.

The first single from the album ‘Live Those Days Tonight‘ will have a universal appeal and is just downright danceable, even more so than their earlier material. Pala brings us at times a really unusual blend between indie rock, 70s disco and even a tropical sound in places.

Competition to win 1 of 1000 limited edition vinyls of the Friendly Fires cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘Strangelove’ here.

Tickets went on sale for the UK tour yesterday and there’re still plenty available. Definitely one of the best live bands out there and well worth seeing. The North American tour is currently in progress up until the 10th of June and you can still find tickets if you know where to look.

Thu 10 Nov – Bristol, O2 Academy
Fri 11 Nov – Birmingham, O2 Academy
Sat 12 Nov – Southampton, Guildhall
Mon 14 Nov – Nottingham, Rock City
Tue 15 Nov – Newcastle, O2 Academy
Thu 17 Nov – Manchester, O2 Apollo
Fri 18 Nov – Glasgow, Barrowlands
Sat 19 Nov – Leeds, O2 Academy
Mon 21 Nov – Cambridge, Corn Exchange
Tue 22 Nov – Lincoln, Engine Shed
Fri 25 Nov – London, Brixton Academy

To me, this latest single lacks the drive and edginess we saw in their earlier stuff from the ‘Strange House’ and ‘Primary Colours’ era. It’s still a decent sound though and I’m pretty hyped about Skying being released in July as you so often can’t judge an album from the first single, especially with a band like The Horrors.

The track listing for ‘Skying’ has since been announced and the band have a couple of lined up over the next couple of months across the UK and Europe.

01. Changing the Rain 02. You Said 03. I Can See Through You 04. Endless Blue 05. Dive In 06. Still Life 07. Wild Eyed 08. Moving Further Away 09. Monica Gems 10. Oceans Burning

The reason I think this EP is worthy of a feature is because these artists have done what any good remixers should, they’ve made the song their own. You can really hear their own unique musical stylings in each of these tracks from Hong Kong In The 60′s stripped out (almost MIDIish), yet detailed, wistful sound emanating through in ‘Air Filter’ to ‘Shooting Horses’ big beat, somewhat tropical feel being applied to ‘Croydon’, a song with an entirely different time signature to the original. It’s easy to see that a lot more work has gone into these remixes than someone sampling away with their computer in a bedroom one evening as we’re so often seeing at the moment.

It’s taken me a while to get around to this one (released 22nd November 2010) but it’s still an awesome remix EP and it’s still free to download at 320kbps from bandcamp.

A lot of the imagery surrounding this band consists of archive clips and washed out pictures of mountain ranges and this comes through in the music. Unlike the math-rock big boys Foals, Tall Ships’ tracks remain gravelly and bring a welcomed dose of crunch distortion to the math-rock scene. The tracks are incredibly tightly performed but there’s an element of graininess to the sound; this is a band who aren’t afraid to leave a bit of mud on their mushrooms.

You might be wondering how a three piece band producing a track with so many layers and complex driving rhythms could possibly recreate the sound live. Well Tall Ships seem to have mastered the art of live tape looping in Hit The Floor. Don’t believe me? See for yourself whilst they tour the UK extensively this summer supporting Three Trapped Tigers or at Bestival.

With 2 EPs and another single ‘Plate Tectonics‘ now in their back catalogue, I’m now eagerly awaiting their debut album.

Released 6th June 2011.

A band I’ve been meaning to feature on this blog for well over a year now, Hong Kong In The 60s finally released their debut album ‘My Fantoms’ digitally on the 2nd of May and will also release it physically on June 6th. Influenced by early electronic pop, 1960s Chinese music and European film soundtracks, the 12 tracks include bittersweet pop songs, dreamlike instrumentals and even excerpts from a mouse opera for children.

Hong Kong In The 60s have made a song from the album ‘You Can Take A Heart But You Can’t Make It Beat’ has been made available for free download from here.

This music platform is also offering you the ability to simply make both iPhone and Facebook apps as well as maintain a digital and soon to be physical store (12% commissions)  along with mailing lists. Oh and not to forget the real-time statistics get-ctrl is supplying on their services, possibly the most entertaining and dangerously addictive invention of recent times. Also, get-ctrl make it possible and actively encourage you to attach a private domain name to your site with a simple tool in the settings section giving your band’s web presence that added edge.

get-ctrl has been produced by a wide array of people who’ve been making band websites for 10 years; they know exactly what you want in a service like this. And don’t forget, all of this is free, get-ctrl’s business model is based around a relatively low 12% commission on the online stores they provide to you so they only make money when you do.

Still not convinced? Check out the new official website of the IMF regulars Reachback. And have a listen to their new single ‘No One Else’ while your at it.

Throughout the next seven days the special release, which demonstrates a rare acoustic side to this often diverse indie quintet, is being offered for free (no email required) and on a pay-what-you-like basis before it will be removed from their website – so if you don’t want to miss out on this limited-time opportunity be sure to go and download your copy now!

Known and critically acclaimed for their extraordinary creativity and attention to detail after showcasing their 14-minute “mega-single” which is currently still available for free download, Spring Offensive have not only created another brilliant piece of art for their loyal fanbase, but have also taken the pay-what-you-like model one step further. Their proposal states that listeners who contribute an amount above just £4.00 will, in return, see their full names credited on all physical copies of their upcoming full band single ‘A Stutter & A Start’. That single is due out for release in April- of which each and every contribution for ‘Between Me & You’ will help record, release and promote.

Between Me & You’ showcases five tracks in all: stories of companionship, guilt, confrontation and decisions. A record that deals with the realisation of two people growing slowly apart and the increasingly emptier void between them.

Whether you choose to pay-what-you-like and have your name included on their upcoming single or even if you just download it for free, make your decision quick because it’ll only be available for this one week!

Fuses, along with B side The Elitist, is a precision engineered track. The music sounding like it was written from a mathematical formula; in a good way. With clear influences from Foals and Bloc Party, Rapids have definitely thrown something new into this relatively new sub-genre that is somewhat affectionately referred to as ‘math-rock’

See them at the Hoxton Bar and Grill on the 27th of October supporting The Answering Machine.

Released 8th November 2010.