Chemical Bros
Melancholy Hill [single]
26/07/2010
Parlophone
Daft Punk, Lemon Jelly, M83, Lords of Acid, Crystal Method

What's to plug? No more big, headline grabbing guest vocalists in the shape of Noel Gallagher, Bernard Sumner, Wayne Coyne, Bloc Party or Richard Ashcroft for Tom and Ed - but wasn't it only ever icing on the cake? Anyway, here's the cake without additives (except E numbers clearly) or any sweeteners and it still goes down a treat. If you were in any doubt about the growing acid revival take note of this, a swelling, pulse driven beast that packs its summer clothes in a suitcase of warm, fuzzy loveliness. Remixes come from Lindstrøm and Boyz Noize.

Gorillaz
Melancholy Hill [single]
26/07/2010
Parlophone
Dan the Automator, Empire of the Sun, OMD, Stephen Jones (Baby Bird), Danger Mouse, Malcolm McClaren

What's to plug? As Pyramid Stage headliners at this year’s Glastonbury, Damon’s 2D manga ensemble may not have not gone down quite as well as say Radiohead, David Bowie or even Rolf Harris but that doesn’t take anything away from the lilting euphoria of the band’s frothy summer single, ‘Melancholy Hill’ – a snuggly, cuddly combination of OMD’s ‘Souvenir’ and just about any song picked at random from all those early Babybird self-releases. Gorillaz are on a sold-out tour of the UK in September with dates including Glasgow SECC on the 8th and Manchester Evening News Arena on the 12th. My advice? Ditch Jamie Hewlett for Rolf Harris and the job’s a good ‘un.

I Am Kloot
Northern Skies [single]
01/06/2010
Shepherd Moon
Mumford & Sons, Liam Frost, Cherryghost, Badly Drawn Boy, Don McClean, Grant Lee Philips, Will Oldham

What's to plug? Frank Cottrell Boyce - writer of 24 Hour Party People, Welcome to Sarajevo and pal of Danny Boyle calls the band's new release, 'Sky At Night' a ‘nocturnal, reflective - a wee small hours of the morning album'. And he's bang on the nail. Whilst no less confessional than previous releases, the brooding privacy of albums like 'Gods and Monsters' has been wrenched open by Guy Garvey's lavish scores, replete with orchestras and choirs, adding a whole new dimension to all that quiet and introspective stuff. Fittingly, it’s a bit like tearing off a weighty, gabardine cloak from the nighttime sky to reveal a dazzling and infinite universe. Released on July 5th, the album is preceded by the single ‘Northern Skies’, with a video featuring the ever brilliantly melancholy, Christopher Eccleston.

Cellophane Flowers
If I Was A Girl [EP]
24/05/2010
Minor Fall Records
Sons & Daughters, Get Back Guinozzi!, Altered Images, Kinks, The Cure, Fiery Furnaces

What's to plug? ‘Off-kilter pop’ – what does it mean exactly? Crud’s own experience of feeling off-kilter is having a storming headache and a dry, bitter taste in its mouth after consuming copious amounts of alcohol the night before. At a push it might even inevitably lead to a quiet night in watching ‘Gardener’s World’. But that’s about as ‘off-kilter’ as it gets – but for the likes of Cellophane Flowers it means drafting in band members from several corners of the globe and tickling out the kind of skewed and breezy riffs more commonly associated with songs about cross-dressing persons called Lola. Fronted by deliciously dew-eyed, Italian sort, Francesca Corradini, the band’s eccentric pop-art brew has already been drawing favourable reviews from 6 Music. A Neopolitan Clare Grogan: what more do you people want?

Ash
Binary [single]
24/05/2010
Atomic Heart Records
Blur, Buzzcocks, Charlotte Hatherley

What's to plug? Not quite sure why this song represents the letter Q, nor do I really understand the logic of their current release schedule: releasing singles rather than albums – but was there ever any real intelligent design behind a band as impossibly uncomplicated as Ash? Anyway, the squidgy synths provide a nice wobbly bedrock for an otherwise routine – but no less likeable Ash record. What really sets it apart is the video; a homemade ‘slasher’ affair made in 2002 and featuring Coldplay’s Chris Martin and former Ash sweetheart, Charlotte Hatherley. It’s now official: Tom Wheeler is NOT getting any older. Has to be in the top 75 now, doesn’t it?

Wild Beasts
We Still Got The Taste Dancin' On Our Tongues [single]
22/03/2010
Domino Records
The Cardiacs, The Associates, Japan, Lotus Eaters

What's to plug? Pucker up for a little of this. Incurable new romantics, Wild Beasts have just kicked-off a tour of the US in support of their stonking second album, 'Two Dancers'. You know the score by now: brutally skewed and amusing records of teenage life giftwrapped in the most flamboyant of wordplay and meted out with all the sophistication and finesse of Liberace and a Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera. With alco-pops. Marvellous stuff.

Mixtapes and Cellmates
Soon [single]
22/01/2010
One Little Indian
Shout Out Louds, British Sea Power, Sons and Daughters

What's to plug? January sees the release of new single ‘Soon’ – a tumultuous and kinetic force of nature that twinkles as brightly a bagful of magic dust and gives you the kind of giddy feeling you get when opening your Christmas presents. They were on the verge of breaking up but now they’re not, their internal problems finally being resolved after a blistering five-day stint in the band’s Grondal Studio in Sweden. The result is second album ‘Rox’ – recorded live and due for release on March 22nd.

Grasscut
Muppet - inc Nathan Fake remix [single]
01/03/2010
Ninja Tune
Four Tet, John Cage, Daedalus, Robert Wyatt

What's to plug? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer still. In fact close enough to record them droning on about your mate when your back is turned. It’s a novel idea: tape someone dissing a mutual friend and then construct a frisky electronic pop tune around it. It’s crazy, uplifting, adventurous and something that any decent mate would do in your position. This is the second single from their forthcoming debut album. It’s good to talk.

Animal Collective
Summertime Clothes [single]
29/06/2009
Domino
Ape School, Daedelus, Beach Boys, Yes

What's to plug? We all loved ‘My Girls’ didn’t we? We didn’t have a clue what it was about, but we assumed in the context of all the yummy euphoria and Beach Boy harmonies that it would have to be about something good: I mean, everybody just wants a proper house for their kids, don’t they? Anyway, I’m also sure that ‘Summertime Clothes’ got most repeats on your Ipod, probably for similar reasons. Instantly infectious and as fizzy as a bucket of Panda Pops. See the boys at Glastonbury festival (Park Stage) and at London Brixton Academy in August.

Jon Hopkins
Light Through the Veins [single]
11/05/2009
Double Six
Brian Eno, Four Tet, Morton Feldman, Sigur Ros, John Cage

What's to plug? A ‘musical shapeshifter’ - that’s how his label describe him, which makes him sound like some crazy morphing creature out of the X-Files who can squeeze up U-bends and the like whilst whistling or something. But the truth is even stranger, because if this tune sounds familiar it is because it lent its own musical shape to Coldplay’s Viva La Vida album. Remember the bit where it fades in and fades out? Just before the clanging Teardrop Explodes strings at the beginning and the really sad ‘escape’ bit at the end? That’s this tune. Hopkins is credited as the album’s ‘additional producer’ and for providing ‘colours’ (which I can only imagine is ambient noises rather than for splashing Dulux everywhere). Anyway, here it is without Chris Martin weeping all over it. New album, ‘Insides’ is out on the 11th May. After the scrap they had with Joe Satriani, it makes you wonder what Coldplay actually contributed to the album.