Tycho - Montana

We've been fans of Tycho for a long time here at Sound Influx since his breakout record 'Dive' in 2011, a beautifully lush album that takes you to a whole other place.

New track Montana is more of the same, cascading beautiful synth harmonics and tender guitars lay at it's heart building majestically into something rousing and damn-right inspiring. His new record is set for release on the impeccable Ghostly International on March 17th and looks set to take Tycho's elegant textures to the next level.

Toby McCarron

Shigeto - Ringleader

Shigeto's output thus far has been absolutely stellar; last year's 'Lineage' mini-album skirted between tender and being just downright impressive and intricate, as you'd expect from an artist on Matthew Dear's Ghostly label. And his remixes have been nothing short of jaw-dropping, my particular favourite being his beguiling reinterpretation of Sufjan Stevens' heartbreaking 'Futile Devices'.

Expectations are high (for me anyway) for his new record coming out soon on Ghostly, and this new track 'Ringleader' with its chopped'n'screwed beat and chimes, serves as a warm reminder as to just why Shigeto is so magnificent at what he does.

Toby McCarron

Magic Eye - Japan (Space Echo Version)

Edinburgh four-piece, Magic Eye, made up of band-members Alex, Bek, Roma and Francis, first wound up on our stereos this time last year in the form of 11 track EP cassette, Shreddin’ On Heaven’s Floor. The EP, released on record label Animal Image Search, introduced the world to Magic Eye’s unique guitar-based brand of dream pop with tracks such as ‘Flamin Teenage,’ and their impressively experimental cover of Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game,’ screaming psychedelic ambiance  Not unlike Fleetwood Mac’s Tango In The Night, though with added poignancy created by palpitating drums and Roma’s captivating vocals, Shreddin’ On Heaven’s Door established the band’s synth-laden, atmospheric musical direction. Taking reverb and guitar riffs to the extreme, and featuring a touching level of melancholy sentimentality across the expanse of its tracks, the EP set the foursome apart among an ever-growing crowd of repetitive and hollow dream pop artists. Somewhat quiet since then, the quartet’s recent release of the Space Echo version of their three and a half minute long oriental wonder ‘Japan’, has whole-heartedly reignited love for the band’s ethereal, indie pop, ‘aquarium rock’ style.

‘Japan (Space Echo Version)’ is an elaborate development on the original EP version of the track, which takes synth-loaded reverberation and echoed byzantine beats to another level entirely. The re-working of this track, already powerful in its chiming orientalism, encapsulates the group’s quietly enigmatic melodies and striking meaningfulness. I highly recommend this awe-inspiring track, and the others featured on Shreddin’ On Heaven’s Door, which are available to stream on SoundCloud, and are guaranteed to give you that uplifting level of transcendence that only the best tracks can. So take a listen and renew your passion for the spiritual musical-stylings of this band, or if you’re a Magic Eye virgin, kick-start your obsession now. 

Rosie Ramsden

Drenge - Backwaters

If the bludgeoning 'Bloodsports' hasn't been enough to keep you tided over from Drenge, then new track 'Backwaters' should do quite nicely. After witnessing an incendiary set at last weekend's Great Escape in front of a packed Brighton corn exchange, it's hard to see how the DFA1979 meets QOTSA pummeling guitar/drums duo won't blow everyone's minds, and ears this year.

Toby McCarron

Braids - Amends

With Katie Lee leaving for the equally dazzling Port St. Willow, and Raph focusing on crafting the excellent 'Untogether' record under Blue Hawaii earlier this year, it was difficult to see which direction Braids might delve into. 

Having established themselves as exciting figures in the Canadian art-pop scene back in 2011 with the mini album 'Native Speaker', it would appear that Braids have morphed into something altogether more atmospheric and grand. Work with Blue Hawaii has clearly carried over and colours the bands a new tint, with the electronic stutters in the vocals, and the sense of stillness conjured in both the instrumental and Raph's now less emotive delivery.

'Amends' builds on the foundations of sprawling experimental pop songs that Braids have done so well before, with the incorporation of a more electronic angle and a whole new array of musical experiences for the band members, and it's by all means, great.

Braids' new album is set for release this Autumn on Arbutus Records. 

Toby McCarron

Beyoncé - Bow Down / I Been On

Her Superbowl halftime show proved that no-one can do a grand show quite like Queen B and her ‘Mrs Carter Show’ sold out in minutes even as her decision to tour under her hubbies’ name drew the ire of some critics so it’s no surprise that the ‘Independent Woman’ singer has come out fighting on these two new tracks released ahead of next month’s live dates.

‘Bow Down’ is produced by Hit-Boy, erstwhile beatmaker for Jay-Z on his millionaire’s playground ‘Watch the Throne’ but it’s mostly likely to garner attention for the line ‘bow down bitches’ seemingly targeted at the likes of Rita Ora. The intro’s chop shop sampling gives way to a dramatic Beyonce intoning “I know when you were little girls/You dreamt of being in my world” and “I took some time to live my life/Don't think I'm just his little wife”. Insights into her life aside, the trap influenced beat and pitch shifted samples do Beyonce few favours and make the track feel a little cluttered but by re-asserting her place at the top of the food chain it hints that she’s coming into her fifth record more fired up than ever.

‘I Been On’ features a beat from super-producer Timbaland, fresh from reintroducing Justin Timberlake to the world, but unfortunately this can’t salvage a track which makes the bizarre decision of dropping Beyonce’s voice by several octaves until her rap sounds as if it’s being delivered by a twenty-stone professional wrestler locked in a trunk and dropped in the sea. It’s dire.

Max Sefton

Little Boots - Motorway

Much as I despise the phrase, Little Boots’ debut album ‘Hands’ was the definition of a guilty pleasure. By matching shamelessly poppy choruses to punchy production from an array of hip almost-indie collaborators and fronting it with Victoria Hesketh’s cute as a button Goldfrapp impression it won fans both sides of the alternative music barricades and presaged the wider eighties revival of the last couple of years.
 
She’s waited four years to deliver a follow-up but ‘Motorway’ is our first taster of Hesketh’s elusive second record ‘Nocturnes’. In interviews she’s hinted at a darker, spookier experience and ‘Motorway’ opens with menacing synth washes and a bassy ambience that demonstrates the dance music influence at work here. The enormous piano chords come straight from the early nineties and the aftermath of Madchester but Hesketh’s cooing vocals sounds like one of Florence’s Calvin Harris collaborations. The percussive taps of the verse give way to huge head rush of a chorus, but the lyrics are disappointingly generic.
 
It’s a brave move and one which will undoubtedly serve as fuel for remixers but somehow it just lacks the quirky charm of her early releases. 

Max Sefton

Shlohmo & How To Dress Well - Don't Say

With new track 'Don't Say' electronic virtuoso Shlohmo takes a turn for the tender. 

Enlisting the exquisite and often heartbreaking vocal services of Tom Krell (aka How To Dress Well) 'Don't Say' takes precedent as an understated and foreboding track, sounding decidedly distant with Krell's brittle vocals shifting in and out of legibility, yet simultaneously personable and haunting with the signature falsetto of Krell sighing out lines to the tune of "You can't be afraid of what they do" over sleek and stuttering production from Shlohmo. 

For what is essentially a rather bleak track, there is a subtle warmness here as there is to most of How To Dress Well's music, making for an endearing listen. It's also a palpable taster for Shlomo's forthcoming EP 'Vacation' released on March 5th.

Toby McCarron

Lone - AM Portal

Fresh from his frenetic 2012 electronic opus 'Galaxy Garden' is producer Lone with a new free download. 

AM Portal is by all means gorgeous. The most obvious and immediate comparison to make is Boards Of Canada, with the discordant synths and sparse atmospherics. But crucially the track erupts half way through with one of Lone's trademark beats and LCD Soundsystem reminiscent cowbell, setting it apart as a more personal proposition from the UK producer. It's a little more restrained than you might have expected from Lone, but the smoothness of the track is quite obviously the draw here and the whole piece is wonderfully crafted. Lone certainly sounds accomplished and with the preparation and dedication he clearly pours into his music, and may well be ready to take over the world with his R&S label comrades this year.

Toby McCarron

Justin Timberlake - Mirrors

It looks like JT’s been taking a leaf out of Frank Ocean’s book, and that’s in no way a bad thing. While tonally, “Mirrors” is a lot closer to Timberlake’s previous work such as “What Goes Around Comes Around”, it’s 8 minute length, featuring several twists and turns, is all too reminiscent of Ocean’s recent “Pyramids”. Really though, this can only be a good thing. Timberlake’s been away for a long time and it would be all too easy for him to slip back into music and make song after song based loosely on the same melody, and still have it sell millions and top the charts. But instead, he’s all about change – clearly he’s been listening to the artists that have been bridging the gap while he’s been gone, and has been inspired by them. He’s always been an artist that’s taken risks – just look at “Cry Me a River” and “Senorita”, two very different but very good songs – and as usual; it pays off with this song. While it has it’s moments of feeling like any old predictable chart-topping hit, and may not be as instantly catchy as his comeback single “Suit and Tie”, Mirrors is, to put it simply, a smooth jam for the ever-changing world of music. If the first two singles are anything to go by, then Timberlake’s definitely making a comeback.
Grace Barber-Plentie

James Blake - Retrograde

James Blake has never been one to stay in the same place for very long. A pattern seems to have formed in Blake's musical output - EPs tend to lean towards his producer side whereas albums showcase his more soulful side. Whilst fans of the former might be hoping for more of the same due to Order/Pan and Enough Thunder being the last non-album output since his self-titled debut, Blake has gone back to what turned a lot of people onto him in the first place when hearing his breakout single Limit To Your Love. 

'Retrograde' has more of an r&b tinge to it than the material on his debut full-length, showcasing his impressive, smooth vocal range to full effect with the kick-drum/mechanical stomp combination accompanying. It's almost exactly what you would expect from Blake's new material, a sign of progression but a preservation of his distinctive sound at the same time. 

Aurora Mitchell

Youth Lagoon - Mute

Following on from the arresting 'Dropla' released earlier in the year, Trevor Powers aka Youth Lagoon has released another track from his forthcoming follow-up album to 2011's 'The Year Of Hibernation'. The album, for those of you that don't read pitchfork, is to be titled 'Wondrous Bughouse', and so far is signalling a big league shift for Youth Lagoon.

Like 'Dropla', new track 'Mute' is encouragingly intelligible vocally, marking a change from the reverb Powers often hid behind on 'The Year Of Hibernation'. It is this added clarity that should make Youth Lagoon a pretty big deal this year, he's certainly got the emotional songwriting chops required for indie adoration, and with 'Mute', instrumental ambition is accomplished too, most impressively with the song's Brian Eno like scale and sprawling climax, filled with warped synths and mesmeric guitar lines. 

Toby McCarron

The Haxan Cloak - The Mirror Reflecting (Part 2)

For those that find other Tri-angle records artists like Holy Other and Vessel a bit tame, or not really gloomy and dread-enducing enough, then fear not The Haxan Cloak has arrived.

With his record 'Excavation' dropping on the 15th April, the new high priest of doom and despair has unveiled an affecting marvel of a taster with 'The Mirror Reflecting Part 2'. The synths are set to drone, and the atmosphere of the track hangs across its seven minutes like a corpse in the gallows. It's a relentless expedition void of respite, which has the power to stop any listener still in their tracks.

If you can stomach the gloom, The Haxan Cloak may just be the most mesmerising figure in electronic music at the moment. 

Toby McCarron

Doppelgänger - Hate The Things You Love

The kind of impression you get when seeing a band like Doppelgänger live is analogous to when you see a lot of the bands with the same temperament perform. Taking inspiration from bands like Refused, Reuben, The Fall Of Troy, Bastions and Biffy Clyro (when they’re at their most moshiest), they do wear their influences on their sleeves, but that is by no means to diminish them; it’s what they do with it that makes them so enjoyable. You can see the energy fly out them, and you can hear it in the production of their recorded work. Having dropped their first EP ‘Playground Songs’ back in 2012, the band return with a new single. A little bit more straight forward than their previous material, that does not mean that they have lost the meat off their bones.

This song has many elements to it; the flaying guitar around the 1:15 mark is tense as fuck. A band like Doppelgänger understand the quality of a mosh-heavy riff, implementing at least three separate head-banging breakdowns throughout. And due to the tip-top production, duel guitaring and their bad-ass amp setup (i’ve seen it), the fullness of their sound definitely isn’t an accident. 

Eliot Humphreys 

The Men - Electric

Looking for something to bludgeon your face in this spring time, along with the new Iceage album? Well, lucky for you The Men are back to follow up their 2012 opus 'Open Your Heart' with new album 'New Moon' on Sacred Bones (presumably not an ode to the twilight book of the same name).

The first track to be previewed from the album, titled 'Electric' is just as dizzying and thrilling as you'd expect. Pummelling guitars and their trademark badass sentiment take precedence here, in a way that could make anyone inhibited enough completely lose their shit. March 5th can't come soon enough.

Toby McCarron

David Bowie - Where Are We Now?

It would appear that this morning the world woke up and simultaneously all went on Twitter to declare “OMFG NEW BOWIE SINGLE?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!”. ‘Where Are We Now’ is taken from ‘The Next Day’, David Bowie’s first album in 10 years, also announced today to coincide neatly with his 66th birthday. The single is an astonishingly beautiful lament to Berlin, a place where Bowie spent a considerable amount of time back in the 70s and clearly holds dear. His voice sounds older, in many ways better, but is still recognisably that of the man who first hit mass popularity over forty years ago. Slow, drenched in synths with a melancholy piano, and a mind bending video just to round it all off, one thing is clear; Bowie’s back. And it’s brilliant.

Jessy Parker Humphreys 

Iceage - Coalition

Back with the follow up to their critically lauded and brutal debut 'New Brigade', are everyone's favourite Scandinavian punks Iceage with a new album titled condescendingly 'You're Nothing'.

This new cut previewed on their blog 'Coalition' is just as snarling and snotty as we've come to expect, with frontman Elias spouting in a slightly more comprehensible manner than in the past. However, the ramshackle element of the debut has been streamlined somewhat into something more accomplished and cohesive, the song may be a barrage of noise, but it is obviously a very well put together one. Hopefully this won't lead to Iceage completely compromising the raw emotion that makes them so exciting, but 'Coalition' is full of energy and a hell of a lot better than anything any other modern punk bands have been coming up with.

Toby McCarron

Fuzz (Ty Segall and Charles Mootheart) - This Time I Got A Reason / Fuzz's Fourth Dream

Will someone tell me why the fuck we’re still enabling Ty Segall? The man makes lowest common denominator garage rock and nothing else, cover features and think pieces will never change that. Supposedly Fuzz were intended to be an anonymous project, with Segall and whoever else is responsible for this shit keeping their identities under wraps. Artists who choose to keep schtum about who they are often are the ones who make music that’s attempting to be modern or forward thinking, but remaining anonymous while making shitty rock music for people who like their nostalgia delivered by smug asshats who have an understanding that what they’re doing isn't some reverential homage to the guitar-shredders and pissed-off small-town dreamers who made garage rock into an escapist art form isn't a knowing nod to the facelessness of that bygone era, it’s a misguided attempt at making some of the least interesting music to ever surface a sheen of respectability.

In a feature on Segall in the Guardian’s G2 magazine, the writer of the piece stated that the live show he had just witnessed was the kind of gig that made kids go home and start up a band, and I don’t know if it’s the thought of an artist this witless holding that kind of power or the thought of an army or moronic garage rock bands being allowed a sheen of legitimacy is a more terrifying prospect. Even though Segall and his myriad recording projects all succeed from appealing to people’s nostalgia, he represents a very modern concept: he is the human embodiment of the culture of constant content. He churns out this muck and people keep on listening, not because it offers anything of value, but because people can’t resist constant newness.

Ned Powley

The xx - Sunset (Jamie xx Edit)

The xx’s Coexist was a funny thing, what with its moments of gorgeous clarity being fogged by a miasma of tedium and its apparent reluctance to fully engage with the stylistic shifts it looked certain to make. The tragedy of the band threatening to release an album that merged a club sensibility with the minimalist intimacy of their debut and the resulting record being a collage of beige hasn't really worn off (and neither has the irony of its best track being the least danceable song they've ever produced). But out of this genteel car crash has emerged something quite brilliant.

Though not a huge departure from the original in terms of melody and structure, by putting the emphasis more firmly on the deep drum pattern (and by giving it a stronger 2-step feel) the whole thing becomes at once more beautiful and miserable. The vocals no longer take centre stage, but they feel like a more cohesive aspect than they did in the original, which relegated them to being a dampener for whenever the beat’s warmth threatened to push through and spoil all the fun Romy and Oliver clearly weren't having. If nothing else it’s a pertinent reminder that Jamie xx, for all the talk of his significance to the group, operates far better when he’s off in his own little world.

Ned Powley

AlunaGeorge - Diver

It's been a pretty impressive day for r&b duo AlunaGeorge today. Voted number 2 on the BBC's annual and influential Sound Of 2013 list, and releasing a cut from their summer-bound debut, 'Diver' (via The Line Of Best Fit). The album's title track is more laid-back than we've come to expect from from AlunaGeorge's highly danceable 2012 singles 'Your Drums, Your Love' and 'You Know You Like It', yet sounds distinct to the duo with swathes of synth, Aluna's trademark nonchalant and bordering on sexy vocal style and another stuttering pitch-shifted hook like on 'Your Drums...'.

If the rest of their 2013 output is on this level, AlunaGeorge could well be an international musical force to be reckoned with. And even if it isn't, this will still do quite nicely. 

Toby McCarron