From Kurt’s 2009 album ‘Childish Prodigy’. Have a great weekend you freaks.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra were back in town this evening to play the Rockfeedback night at XOYO in London’s bustling Shoreditch. The New Zealand / Portland three piece weren’t without their share of technical difficulties (broken strings, malfunctioning pedals, etc) but the ramshackle nature of the show did nothing to hide the brilliance of this band, as they tore through tracks from their self-titled, Fat Possum released, debut album.

Frontman Ruban channelled his inner Led Zeppelin for some immense shredding, this combined with Beatles vs. Ween psychedelic vocals, hip hop beats courtesy of prodigal teenage drummer Julien and Krautrock bass lines from producer come bassist Jake. Sound like too much to get your head around? You  need look no further than their two recent singles ‘Ffunny Friends’ and ‘How Can You Luv Me?’ for enlightenment. There’s a lot more to them than just those tracks though, so do delve deeper. Take a gander at this live version of ‘Thought Ballune’, shot with this unsteady Mule hand, for a start.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjG6oowdO_I

This is one of the most beautiful versions of one of the most beuatiful songs you’ll hear all year. If you want to dig deeper you’ll find the original version of ‘Civilian’ on the album of the same name from Baltimore duo Wye Oak. Thanks to www.hauskonzerte.com for capturing this rendition of the track back in February. Catch Wye Oak at Hoxton Bar & Kitchen on June 16th if you’re in London and lucky enough to get a ticket.

‘The Directors’ (as they are simply referred to) of the video to ‘At My Heels’, Twin Shadow‘s latest single from his superb debut album ‘Forget’ (4AD), have made a Directors’ Commentary. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry and not just because you can’t get your hair like the big man.

You can get a free download of ‘At My Heels’ from this dedicated website and we also strongly advise reading the press release for the video!

Twin Shadow plays Scala in London on May 11th (ticketweb).

This Friday two more reasons to love Gruff Rhys (as if Super Furry Animals and Neon neon weren’t enough). First up his new (free below) solo single Shark Ridden Waters - the coolest song of the year happily married to the coolest video. Then delve deeper for reason number two - Gruff’s clepto’ inspired new album Hotel Shampoo comes to life.

Shark Ridden Water is taken from the new Gruff Rhys album Hotel Shampoo, it features the genius French actor Roxane Mesquida and is a Godard inspired Mediterranean meditation by director Peter Gray, depicting a distracted man lost in a world of social networking.

This is Hotel Shampoo being built:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZLUS7rnzFQ

Check out the faux-3d wonder that is the video for U.S./Wales/Scotland 3-piece Sparrow and the Workshop‘s new single ‘Black To Red’. The song itself is a rousing guitar tune lead by the formidable vocals of Chicago’s Jill O’Sullivan. Be nice and vote for them on 6 Music’s Rebel Playlist too.

For Fans Of: The White Stripes.

Despite being fans of Here We Go Magic since picking up a promo of ‘Fangela’ from the band’s 2009 eponymous debut, we’d annoyingly managed to miss the bands numerous live performances rather prolifically up until yesterday. Last night though all was finally set right in Hoxton Bar & Grill, a regular haunt for us and Spectrals (who also opened up for Harlem) of late. So, how would Here We Go Magic fare with the weight of their new Thom Yorke seal of approval on their shoulders?

Here We Go Magic @ Hoxton Bar & Grill, Sep 7th 2010.

Luke Temple (guitar/vocals) takes to the stage looking like a Panama hatted, moustached version of Greg Kinnear and is joined under the bright lights by his tight knit band consisting of easy on the eyes pair Kristina Lieberson (keys/synth/backing vocals) and Jennifer Turner (bass/backing vocals), Peter Hale (drums) and Michael Bloch (lead guitar).

Temple immediately informs us that American scientists say the moon is going to drop into the Pacific in the near future! A comforting thought but not even that can stop the warm groove of ‘Moon’ from getting the crowd swaying. Then to our delight the previously mentioned ‘Fangela’ gets an early airing as the New Yawkers begin to slip into their stride.

‘Hibernation’ is the first track to showcase the thicker full band groove of the new album, with Temple’s gorgeous high vocals sitting above an irresistible, finger picked bass line courtesy of the dexterous Turner. ‘Only Pieces’ then serves to cast its creeping hypnotic trance over the unsuspecting audience. The band never look back from there, growing with intensity with every track it would seem and by the time their biggest hit of sorts ‘Collector’ comes around, the crowd are eating out of their Magic hand and surfing the song’s woozy psychedelic wave into a welcome oblivion.

There’s no backstage at Hoxton Bar & Grill so you have to walk through the crowd and out of the front door to leave which doesn’t bode well for the “Will they, wont they?” encore tension we’ve all come to love! So after a thankfully brief faux exit the band respond to the cheers and return to play a beautiful rendition of a beautiful song. Namely a more tender number from album one entitled ‘Everything’s Big’ which thankfully we don’t have to describe as we’ve captured it on video for you at the top of this very post.

A fact you’ll doubtless be hearing again (perhaps right now) is that after seeing Here We Go Magic at Glastonbury Thom Yorke proclaimed them the best band of the festival. On this evidence, who are we to argue? The Bestival crown is the next up for grabs then.

London 4-piece Sissy and The Blisters are the first unsigned band in a while to really turn our heads. Their pop-noir aesthetic will please fans of latter day The Horrors and their music too draws on the 80s sounds of Echo & The Bunnymen and The Cure. But throw also into the mix the rumbustious delivery of The Fall and even some Kills-esque blues riffing and you’ve got quite a heady mix. Check out the excellent video to ‘The Wolf’ and look out for news of a new single in October.

For Fans Of: The Cure, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Fall.

Video by bennycrime.

Christopher Owens of Girls kindly just sent over some footage of the band out on the road during their July tour. You’ll find snippets from the band’s set at Pitchfork Festival in Chicago as well as some great World Cup footage from Espana during the European leg of their tour. The soundtrack comes courtesy of London band The Field Mice’s ‘Star Of David’ taken from their 1991 album For Keeps.

Venture inside to catch the supremely entertaining video for Music Mule favourite Darwin Deez‘s upcoming single Radar Detector, due out April 5th on Lucky Number. The video was shot by Darwin and Ace Norton in New York a few weeks ago. Does everyone in New York have this much fun? We hope not. Deez is in the UK next week, see our calendar for details.

For Fans Of: Throw Me The Statue, Miike Snow, The Cure.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pbdLqTh_x4

pre-order: Darwin Deez  - Radar Detector 7″ (Rough Trade)

Darwin is then heading out on the NME tour with HURTS and Everything Everything this very April! Dates as follow:

Glasgow King Tuts (April 26)
Preston 53 Degrees (27)
Manchester Academy 3 (28)
Stoke Sugarmill (30)
Middlesborough Uni (May 2)
Oxford Academy 2 (4)
Bristol Thekla (5)
Wrexham Central Station (6)
York Duchess (8)
Portsmouth Wedgewood (9)
London KOKO (10)
Norwich Waterfront (11)
Northampton Roadmender (12)