“I’m With You”, the tenth studio album from the Red Hot Chili Peppers was released at the end of last month and hit number one in virtually all of the national album charts. With Red Hot Chili Peppers Tour Dates already announced throughout Europe and another epic world tour planned, it’s going to be another busy period for the band.

I’m With You sees John Klinghofer on guitar after Frusciante’s second departure from the band. This reshuffle gives I’m With You a slightly dirtier sound than previous albums with a healthy dose of crunch distortion on the guitar. Many of the tracks are still punctuated by Anthony Keidis’ trademark staccato spoken word style but I’m With You takes a step back from that definitive, archetypal Red Hot Chilli Peppers sound.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers have, somewhat surprisingly to most, been going for 28 years now and are truly one of the legends of rock ‘n’ roll. I caught them at Reading festival in 2007 and they’re definitely a band you have to see live with their intricate bass lines and enormous stage presence. Previous Red Hot Chili Peppers tours have been renowned for their stamina with the band’s “3 weeks on, 2 weeks off” tactic and with this current tour projected to last from 2011 to 2013, I’m guessing it will be the same.

The band have already been playing warmup dates since July 27th 2011 through Japan, Europe and America and are set to officially start the tour’s first European leg on October the 7th. Be sure to visit this page for an up-to-date list of Red Hot Chili Peppers Tour Dates as the band make their way across the globe.

A preview of what to expect was offered to fans on August the 30th where over 900 cinemas around the world showed a 90 minute long live recording of the band performing the whole of I’m With You in order. The performance, recorded in Cologne, Germany, saw The Flea playing piano in ‘Happiness Loves Company’ after recently studying music theory at the University of Southern California. He feels that his newfound knowledge has added a new dimension to his music and has plans to reveal an instrumental solo album in the future.

They’ve clearly still got it if they can fill the O2 arena in London three nights running and this is definitely one of those bands you simply have to see.

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.

Tre Burt and a Big Gust of Wind is to put it simply really quite amazing. It’s essentially a one man and a guitar act (bar a couple of tracks with banjo) as shown in the somewhat humourous artist name but this certainly doesn’t stop him from creating some of the most engaging music I’ve heard in quite a while now.

There’s a soothing quality to Little Mornings, something to listen to forget about the rain outside. This 13 track masterpiece certainly has a lot of potential for mainstream success but this is someone I can’t see selling out for a mobile phone company advert and even better, Little Mornings is currently available for free download from his bandcamp.

Towards the end of 2009, Tre Burt and a Big Gust of Wind also released the ‘Paraplui’ EP. I wish I’d discovered this gem earlier now because it also definitely deserved an IMF feature. Listen to and download Paraplui for free now on bandcamp.