CIRCLE PRESENTS: LOOM - DARK, SINISTER MISFITS COVERING NIRVANA SOUND

If you thought Savages‘ Jehnny Beth had the iciest stare in new music, think again. LOOM‘s Tarik Badwan has the art of gloweringly eyeballing crowds perfected already, making the aforementioned first lady of noir-punk seem about as scary as your nan. Debut single ‘Bleed On Me‘ encapsulates that brooding terror in its Misfits-by-Nirvana judders and yelps, a dark, sinister but exhilarating introduction to a very promising new band.

‘Bleed On Me‘ was released on Heart Throb Records on 3rd December. 

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CIRCLE PRESENTS: THE HEARTBREAKS - MODERN 80S NEW WAVERS GOING FOR CHRISTMAS NUMBER 1

The Heartbreaks are giving away for free a very special Christmas cover song ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)’. 


The band are set to release a brand new EP, ‘Hand On Heart’, on February 4th and features a selection of newly recorded material with strings arranged by the legendary James Banbury of The Auteurs (U2, Depeche Mode, Bloc Party etc.)


Matthew, vocalist of The Heartbreaks explains the motive of the new release, “We’ve always had a kind of intrinsic sense of drama, but with the addition of strings we were able to truly articulate a feeling of being widescreen, cinematic.

Rather than merely ‘sounding big’, we wanted to make music that, like those great Scott Walker, REM and Bunnymen records, was melodic, bold, elegiac… Something conceptual that would, even if just for an EP, take our music beyond its usual guitar and bass sound”

theheartbreaks.net

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CIRCLE PRESENTS: HUSKY RESCUE – STUNNING AND ETHEREAL SOUND FROM FINLAND

Listen to the amazing ‘Deep Forest Green’ EP by exciting and forward-thinking Nordic experimental pop band Husky Rescue.


Husky Rescue’s Marko Nyberg, Anthony Bentley and Johanna Kalén) stunning and ethereal ‘Deep Forest Green’ EP, is no. 1 on iTunes Electronic Chart in Finland, is released on their own recently launched El Camino label and is one of the best EPs of 2012.






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THE NEIGHBOURHOOD PREMIERE ‘A LITTLE DEATH’ – ANOTHER DARK POP GEM FROM LOS ANGELES

Check out Los Angeles band The Neighbourhood’s ‘A Little Death’ the splendid B-side to the already excellent ‘Let It Go’, both taken from their debut EP ‘I’m Sorry’.

Formed by five friends in August 2011, The Neighbourhood are set to release their debut album, which was recorded in L.A. during the summer of 2012, in the spring of 2013.

The Neighbourhood are: Jessie Rutherford (vocals), Jeremy Freedman (guitar), Zach Abels (guitar), Mikey Margott (bass) & Bryan Sammis (drums).

The Neighbourhood are just one of the exciting new bands ready to break out in 2013.

thenbhd.com

PETE DOHERTY REVEALS HE'S USING AMY WINEHOUSE'S LYRICS ON NEW ALBUM

Pete Doherty has spoken about his plans for his new solo album and has revealed that he is using lyrics written by Amy Winehouse on one of the tracks. 

Speaking in an exclusive interview, Doherty has revealed that his new album will feature a duet with singer Suzi Martin named 'Bird Cage' with lyrics written by Winehouse. An acoustic version of the track will also be played over the credits of Doherty's new film Confession Of A Child Of The Century. 

The album, which Doherty is currently recording with producer Adem Hilmi, has six other confirmed song titles, which are 'Down For The Outing', 'Siberian Fur', 'Nothing Comes To Nothing', 'Shine A Light On Your Misery', 'Ba Ba Ba' and 'Dust On The Road'. 

Speaking about recording is progressing, Doherty said: "We've been cracking on. I've got a hard drive full of new songs and a few of them have taken more of a definite shape. Things that were ad libs and off the cuff, we're putting more into traditional song structure."

The album will be Doherty's second solo effort, after his first effort 'Grace/Wastelands' came out in 2009. 

albionrooms.com

JACK WHITE WAS THE YOUNGEST OF 10 CHILDREN

Jack White felt like a 'kid in the '40s from Europe' growing up.

The former White Stripes frontman has recalled his challenging upbringing. He came from a large family, being the youngest of ten children, and was raised in a lower middle-class neighbourhood in Detroit, Michigan.

'My mom's Polish and she was born in the Depression. I was raised by people who were senior citizens, along with nine brothers and sisters. So I was really raised like a kid in the '40s from Europe, plucked in the middle of blue-collar America,' he told the January edition of Esquire magazine. 'We'd go to Catholic school and that was a decaying religion in Detroit at that time because there were no white people left ' they'd all moved away ' and Detroit was already decaying as well.'

Although Jack had a tough childhood, he says his early years had a huge impact on his desire to pursue a career in music.

'But all of that showed me the beauty of music, song-writing structure, family, folk, culture. All those were involved in constructing how I looked at the world,' he explained.

The 37-year-old musician struggled to connect to children in his neighbourhood. Jack had very different interests to most of his school mates, and also admits he was heavily influenced by his older siblings.

'I went to an all-Mexican school and graduated to an all-black high school, and I'm coming home and watching The Godfather and listening to Hank Williams and reading about the Second World War, and at school everyone's doing none of that!' Jack laughed. 'You don't really know what's cool any more, and I had so many older brothers and sisters and I cared what they thought so much. I was indoctrinated to assume that if I was ever going to attempt anything new in my life, it had to be approved through that committee.'

whitestripes.com

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DITA VON TEESE STARS IN MONARCHY’S ‘DISINTEGRATION’ NEW VIDEO

We can’t wait to check out Monarchy’s new video for ‘Disintegration’ featuring splendid muse Dita Von Teese

After seeing Monarchy perform at Coachella in 2011 Dita Von Teese started tweeting about them. The first one was “Currently listening to Monarchy and Cut Copy. What music are you listening to that doesn’t suck?”.

They began emailing. Dita described herself as a “super-fan”, and she invited Monarchy to DJ at one of her private events in London in October 2011. They chatted for an hour.

It’s late December 2011 and Dita invites Andrew from Monarchy to spend five days over Christmas with her and her friends, staying at her flat in Paris. Less than 24 hours later, Andrew is stepping off a plane in Charles De Gaulle airport. These invitations don’t come every year.

The days consisted of private tours of Musee D’Orsay, dinner up the Eiffel Tower, the circus, Crazy Horse, and Christmas day with the likes of Diane Pernet, Ali Mahdavi, Mr Pearl, Catherine Baba and Eric Szmanda along with various other designers, artists and a dominatrix.

It was during those Christmas days that the idea was hatched for Dita to feature on a Monarchy single. It would be the first time she has provided vocals on a release.

Returning to London, Andrew and Ra wrote a track for Dita called ‘Disintegration’.

It’s a song about losing the self in a moment, in a love affair, in a partner, drawing from a metaphor of “le petit mort”, that post sex moment where the mind goes blank, as a symbol of the larger loss of self in a relationship.

The video is shot by Roy Raz, who previously directed Monarchy’s “I Won’t Let Go” video, and features Dita extensively as the classic 1950′s housewife escaping the monotony of her marriage through sexual fantasy.

The voice over introduction is provided by Eric Szmanda, who initially introduced Dita to Monarchy’s music, and is one of the lead characters from CSI. The photos are taken by Ali Mahdavi, the former creative director at Crazy Horse, and an exceptional fashion and portrait photographer.

Monarchy ‘Disintegration’ digital release Jan 14th/ physical release 11th March 2013 

monarchysound.com