Royal Thunder are a female fronted psychedelic doom metal band from Atlanta, who mix big crushing riffs with the more accessible edge of progressive music. There are similarities that can be drawn with other bands such as Barroness and Kylesa as well as bands like The Mars Volta and Space Ritual.

Blue is taken from last years CVI album which was released to a high critical acclaim from around the world. Blue is 9 and a half minutes of awesomeness, right from the off they hit with sort of psychedelic guitar riffs and pounding rhythms that make me feel like as if they are about to carry out a pagan ritual.

Its deceptive in the way that Royal Thunder build up melodies, there is constant feeling that they are going on some sort of journey. There is an element of The Mars Volta’s The Widow in the way the guitars just seem to scream. The vocals feel very bewitching, it’s almost like as if they have placed a duffel bag over my head and about to beat me senseless, because when they hit hard they hit very hard.

Ok I will hold my hands up and say I don’t know anything about this Ghost Carriage Phantoms, other than that they are a collaborative effort between singer songwriter Michael James Hall and producer Mark Estall. I don’t actually know how i came across the album but since this album’s release late last year, I’ve found myself finding solace in this album, whether it’s something about the lyrics and the vocal delivery.

Its clear from the off that this guy can really sing drawing shades of Future Islands and Bobby Conn, it almost feels like as if he is really letting his spirit go with moments of Mark Almond and Anthony Hegarty thrown in at his most warbling best. I guess that what also caught me was the range of influences that GCP play around with.

There is indeed a very delicate balance that they strike, one that is built on personal anecdotes with in the lyrical play. Videotape has the feel of a very personal letter to his mother,. There is an overall sense of yearning that I get from this album, almost talking of fantasy worlds. It is in my opinion one hell of an interesting listen.

Scotland is not a country that is well-known for its hip hop but there are some exceptions and Young Fathers are one of those such exceptions, capturing the attention of Anticon Records with their fresh beat production and Irreverent wordplay.

I saw these guys last night in start The Bus and they were full of explosive energy, with each one of the MC’s breaking into frenetic dance routines as well as spitting out beautifully poetic lyrics that draw on really touching subjects such as love, loss, social upbringing and War.

From the off you can see why Anticon picked up on Young Fathers because they show real innovation with nods towards fellow Anticon artists such as Why? and Doseone mixed together with the Das Racist. The tracks have an interesting mix to them taking elements of psychedelic afro beat, dub fusing them together with a very lofi grime infused production.

Young Fathers are less about fast spitting then they are about the slow but careful lyrical delivery! This really is great stuff!

here the stream for their 2nd tape!

One of the many delights to hit these ears whilst over in Barcelona for Primavera Sound festival. It’s always a joy to discover Catalan bands whether you understand what they are actually saying or not and the fact that the festival had Spanish bands opening up most stages.

In the perfect setting of Parc Cuitadella I happened across Violeta Vil, a female fronted Catalan shogaze krautrock band.

Right from the off there are hedonistic drowsy vocals that draw on influences such as Broadcast and Warpaint. It has very much a subdued hazy feel with a mix of electronic processed beats.  It feels like as if it was made ion a cauldron, there is something utterly bewitching about this songs.

There seems to be one things the Catalan bands know how to do very well and that is drones, and that is what makes this song so witching to these ears. Right from the off there is a fuzz tone like a crackling of a vinyl record. This entire song is built on gradual melodies giving the ears more and more layers before fading into a wall of reverbed up guitars.

Coming from Gainsville Florida this 5 piece create really beautifully tender folktronica, kind of like Cocorosie, Flying Lotus, Fever Ray mixed in with the likes of Tuung and even the early strains of Warpaint are all mixed into a gentle brewing pot. Simmering with lush  rich melodies that overlap and build textures.

I saw Hundred Waters opening up for Alt-J and Princess Chelsea at the Academy in Bristol. Its fair to say I was really taken back by the sheer beauty of how they were playing  multi layered melodies. I found it hard not to get carried away in their ethereal dream like melodies  The uses of Flute and xylophone mixed in with tables of synthesizers.

With Hundred Waters have spent time conjuring up the kind of images that that Minnie Ripperton first brought about in the 70′s with very vibrant colours and multi layered emotions. There are lost of subtleties that they have captured both on record and the way they perform. It has echoes of every classic Warp records release.

Hundred Waters début album came out on OWSLA (the label set up by Skrillex and his mates) records sometime last year, and I have to say fair play for signing Hundred Waters because their debut is really quite stunning.

Every now and again there will be band that will come out of nowhere and take people by surprise people. This is something that seems to have happened to have been a bit of trend that has happened this year, especially with the overwhelming success of the Hookworms and Parquet Courts albums. Well now I can add to that list Minneapolis indie pop trio On An On, who absolutely blew my mind when they played at The Louisiana earlier this week, i havent seen a show in The Louisiana which has used big projection like they did in ages.

All The Horses is taken from the band’s debut album Give In, this was one of the main highlights during their set. You know when ever you go and see a band that you don’t know, but you are enjoying them and there is what a define as a magic moment? Well this was On An On’s real magic moment. Having 3 different vocals that they somehow have managed to caress into harmonies that float along in a dream like fashion, along with reverb drenched melodies.

It Feels like On An On have managed to find a sound that manages to bridge Postal Service’s lofi melodies and the dreamy psychedelic elements that MGMT tried and failed to capture. There’s an element of Grizzly Bear, especially Grizzly Bears cover of the Annie Song. Ultimately it is big a sumptious sounding indie pop music with many layers to it, infact the deeper you delve the more you find.

Give in Is out now!

One of the more interesting characters in pop music over past couple of years has been that of Janelle Monae who nearly took the world by storm with her debut album in 2010 Archandroid winning numerous nods for album of the year and helping her become a house hold name in the states and is possibly one of the biggest names on Big Boi records, a label that she has been signed to since she was about 15 ( she can be heard doing backing vocals on Hey Ya) .

She has gained a reputation for being the female alternative to Prince, and with aplomb she pretty much sticks this up Princes Booty filled Jacksie. big funk driven breaks that hit right from the off recalling a Nile Rogers Chic style production, full of synthed up hand claps and squidgy keys lay the foundations for Monae’s vocal hooks.

It’s an interesting progression for Monae, it kind of screams of early Baduism era Erykah Badu who’s vocals offer a hefty lift on the chorus. it very much has the feel of an artist very much on the cutting front foot. It’s not quite the foot stomping of Tightrope or Cold War but something much more interesting.

I don’t know much about the Pearl Harts other than that they are a female 2 piece from London, that could quite easily rival that of Deap Valley. All I know is that the bands has only just started giging around the London area. I don’t even know quite how I came across them. i think it was through someone from one of the multi million bands I have come across from London was playing with them and I got an accidental Facebook invite from my millions of friends. So I can’t really go into great detail about knowing these girls a great deal or into knowing them personally. But from the two or three songs I’ve heard from this band shows a lot of potential.

Right from the off Wolf Eyes feels like the spirits of Joan Jett And The Runaways have been cobbled together in these two ladies. Right from the off theres is the big guitar sound that dry humps these ears and blasting drums give the kind of electric energy that only Joan Jett could really deliver. Her voice has real  holler with a real whiskey stanched feel and a killer bad ass attitude.

I think it’s really interesting how they kind of tone down the chorus lulling you into a false sense of security, and just when you think its going to fade away they smack you in the face with guitar riffs the size of venus dragging these ears back in

Along with the recent arrival of Deap Valley it very much feels like as if these girls are readying themselves to give it the double barrel gung-ho style performance. Anyway this is really good. a definite band full of promise!

One of Bristol’s best kept secrets are a band that have been gaining a pretty fierce live reputation The St Pierre Snake Invasion, a band who pretty much specialise in writing songs politically incorrect song titles and hilariously sarcastic song lyrics.  A band who happily fall somewhere between the boundaries Mclusky and Pulled Apart By Horses, or the tasteful or the tasteless. Trust me they have got a song that they dedicate to the loving memory of Micheal Hutchins and David Caradine called Hey Kids, Do The Choke Stroke And their take on Saville cover Sex Dungeons And Dragons. No subject is really too far a cry for these guys.

So Last Words Of A Bent Cop see’s the band take a quite frankly hilarious slur on the music industry, the media around it and most importantly of all Razorlight.  The synical sarcasm is something that very few will ever delve into, largely because of the fear of loosing any sense credibility, not that this ever really bothered The St Pierre Snake Invasion as they gleefully sing out I Wish I Was As Good As Razorlight.

It does blast of early Mclusky especially Light Sabre Cocking Sucking Blues you can pretty much hear it in the guitars. Also these guys remind me of a couple of bands that used to do the rounds in Bristol a couple of years ago, 3HoestwoMexicansandaTinofSpanners and Ivory Springer and listening to the St Pierre does sometimes make me long for the return of those bands, just so the kids could hear them.

But St Pierre say things that many will be too scared to say, or put into a comical context. anyway Last Words Of Bent Cop is taken from their debut ep which is out next week. Go and dig it!