I’ve developed a startling soft-spot for old-school hip-hop over the years, so naturally my ears locked on to this raw breakbeat as I sat eating in a Bristol harbour-side cafe.

The Eastern European waitress started pumping some 90s throwback dance moves behind the bar, and for me the mood was just so. The next step was to take Shazam and lend its digital ear to the source. I could not be sure whether my tiny iPhone would encapsulate the sound, but sure enough another one of those on-trend no-vowels band names appeared: RDGLDGRN. Well, it makes sense I guess, looking at the picture.

And that’s the story of how I discovered one of the standout hip-hop tracks of 2013. Enjoy. A couple of details below, along with the track.

There was an EP earlier this year. Dave Grohl got involved:

“That day he showed up, we go into the control room and he’s talking to one of our engineers, he’s like ‘Hi I’m Dave’, we’re like, ‘Dude we know who you are, we kind of love you, everyone knows who you are’.”

The famous Pharrell Williams vocals also feature in a song. Watch out for the untitled debut album possibly out later this year.

-James Godwin, 15th September 2013

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First off there are two videos, the standard one which can be viewed below – directed by band branding machine Anton Corbijn. The alternative is an interactive Google Chrome experiment that can be toyed with here. Viewers utilise their mouse, phone, or tablet to mess about with the video’s graphics. As if this wasn’t enough, the option to incorporate your face into the film is also available.

There is something inherently ominous about Arcade Fire’s impending assault on indie d-i-s-c-o. It’s not a quick one, there is no rush that’s for sure. James Murphy production has it’s largely practical benefits, and is well suited here, but there is also this underlying statement of long-term intent. An LCD Fire of sorts, or an Arcade Soundsystem if you will. Can this actually work? It sounds so.

The tell-tale signs began to flicker on the soaring ‘Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)‘, and ‘Reflektor’ now demonstrates a cemented direction many will welcome. But the similarities don’t stop there, oh no. Dig a little deeper and beneath the cracked surface sits an interactive video for Sprawl from 2011, complete with matching oversized papier-mâché heads!

The promotional campaign thus far has been staggering. What began with a simple message from an unsuspecting fan on Twitter who felt like tweeting “You’re my favourite”. Arcade Fire then chose to reply with “Thanks. Our new album will be out October 29th”, and the snow-flake snowballed into a viral avalanche culminating on a building in Manhattan which featured the time stamp “Arcade Fire 9 PM 9/9”. An explicit exercise in the power of social media.

-James Godwin, 10th September, 2013

Once there was a highly influential eighties punk-rock band, who showered the world with raw riffs and milk-curdling yelps.

All cult-followings aside, after experiencing your standard what-goes-up-must-come-down indifferences they packed it all in, only to stage a successful 2006 comeback tour encapsulated in their loudQUIETloud documentary. We all like to romanticise the life of a rockstar, but heck that shows what being in a band is really like. The fame. The pressure. The egos.

Kim Deal was still a member of the Pixies at that point, and unfortunately things didn’t quite work out (once again) and we were back to square one. Two weeks after Deal announced she was leaving the band in June 2013, the band released new music in the form of ‘Bagboy’, and recruited a new bassist by the name of Kim Shattuck in place of Deal.

‘Indie Cindy’ is the first track from the 4-track EP EP1, and is an apt illustration of Black Francis’ claims that “we can play loud or quiet – that’s it”. It’s a real concurrent soup of Pixies’ features that fuses together effortlessly. And it’s about time. The EP is the first of multiple mini-releases that the band will slowly drip-feed to us over the next 15 months.

Grab a limited edition vinyl release of only 5,000, here.

– James Godwin, September 3rd, 2013

Stream Alt-J’s debut album in its entirety below.

-James Godwin, May 23rd, 2012

In what is now standard internet procedure (they’ve hired an entire team to build their creations), Google will upload its latest Doodle on Wednesday.

This time, the quirky variation of the famous logo will pay homage to the electronic music pioneer Robert Moog, as he reaches his 78th birthday.

Currently running only on Google Australia, users are able to manipulate an interactive Moog Synthesizer, an instrument utilised by everyone from the Beatles to Radiohead.

The option to multi-track and record is very much available…I give it a few days till somebody somewhere creates a shocking masterpiece.

-James Godwin, May 22nd, 2012

YouTube user QuintonSung has done the unthinkable (or perhaps it’s what everyone was thinking), and made delightfully precise 8-bit renditions of Radiohead’s most career defining albums, OK Computer and Kid A, in their monstrous entirety.

It really is fantastic. Download links available in the video descriptions.

Reminds me of this little stunner.

-James Godwin, May 21st, 2012

The predictably beautiful new single from Kristian Matsson’s new LP There’s No Leaving Now.

-James Godwin, May 17th, 2012

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Probably one of the best films I’ve seen on contemporary art. Engaging, and funny. “The epic life of a world-class artist, jammed into six minutes.”

Narrated by Tom Waits.

The film was commissioned by LACMA for their first annual ‘Art + Film Gala’, honouring John Baldessari and Clint Eastwood.

-James Godwin, May 15th, 2012

Produced by FutureDeluxe & Fractured Films

Directed by Andrew Jones

-James Godwin, May 13th, 2012

The Fleet Foxes frontman is keeping himself busy with projects like this, which are quite evidently at the top of his street.

-James Godwin, May 10th, 2012

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