SEVEN DAY SLUMP

Hello. A bit late again but here goes with another round up of all the new music from the past week you need to get through this hungover Sunday.

First up, the big news. Boring By The Sea is on the long list for Best Blog at the Record Of The Day awards. If you'd like to validate me and vote then the link is here. If not then do consider the far better Transparent, Pinglewood and Abeano. On a side note, I've not been nominated for any of the writing awards which I can only assume means I am getting the Lifetime Achievement award - a bit early some may say but I'll take it.

Lykke Li is BACK. Hear her rather dirty new song 'Get Some' in exchange for an email over at her website.

Diplo has taken a break from making Blackberry adverts to promote this Gallows remix his own gang of young rebels, Rolo Tomassi. Hear that here.

Jessie J could well be huge next year, get a hold of this Jakwob remix and then track down the original because it's a lot better and a whole less 'isn't dubstep cool' if you know what I mean.



Caribou got 'Swim' remixed by a whole load of similarly amazing, technical types. Check it out below...



Girls are releasing an EP as a follow up to their 2009 record 'Album'. It's called 'Broken Dreams Club' which is already a step up from their previously meta titling process.

Esben and The Witch, what a band. Grab their new track 'Warpath' from the bands official site and pencil their album 'Violet Cries' into your best of 2011 list now.

Track of the week for me is Crystal Castles teaming up with Jo Brand, sorry Robert Smith for a remix of their cover of 'Not In Love'. This is just perfect, someone get Ethan producing the next Cure album stat.



Also worth a listen is Girl Unit's new one 'Wut'.



Yuck and La Sera have made new music videos. Both are very nice and viewable here and here respectively.

Trophy Wife, they're from Oxford therefore are a BIG DEAL in late 2010. Nevermind that though, they're great and the acoustic version of their new single 'Microlite' is rather excellent too.

If Katy B isn't having her own X Factor theme week this time next year then something has gone badly wrong, check out her new video below.



Img: Maran Celeste

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Esben and The Witch - Marching Song

Congratulations today for Esben and The Witch who have signed to Matador and announced plans to release a brand new EP in November. Here is a new video for the old track 'Marching song which sees the pretty Brighton three piece get well and truly battered.

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Esben and The Witch/// Radio 1 Session

Thanks to the BBC's not letting anyone embed their videos I can't show you this stunning session directly however if you visit Huw Stephens page on the Radio 1 site then you can watch Brighton band and blog favourites Esben and The Witch tear through a wild version of recent single 'Lucia At The Precipice'.

Esben and The Witch - Lucia At The Precipice (Live on Radio 1)

Img: Lucy Loves To Dance

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Words with... Esben and The Witch

Where some bands wear influence like a uniform and live in a world of chasing the zeitgeist others occupy a realm all of their own. Step forward Brighton’s Esben and The Witch. Ethereal might be a keyword amongst many new bands but Esben take the wistful but aimless dreamscapes and transform them into something much more majestic, something more menacing.

One of three, band member Daniel says: “We hope that our music can be enjoyed in various places and points. We try and draw upon all manner of environments and gain inspiration from different landscapes so we'd like to think that means that the music isn't tied to or overly associated with any particular location.”. Esben and The Witch formed just over a year ago and things have moved quickly for them. Daniel and Thomas worked together in the mornings and spent afternoons writing songs and working on some older material of Daniel's. This collaboration developed to a point where it seemed appropriate to seek out a singer. Rachel was an old acquaintance of Thomas' and was swiftly recruited, they haven't looked back since.

The first results of this union was last years freely distributed EP ‘33’. “The EP is five tracks which include songs from our previous two demos and a newer composition. Rachel designed the artwork and the physical copies were all handmade. I produced all the tracks and we recorded it all in my bedroom.” says Daniel. The result is a haunting and enchanted piece that conjures up thoughts of Portishead and Bat For Lashes but at the same time something that bit more twisted.

The band speak of a wish to work with Geoff Barrow and Scott Walker and are currently obsessing over their forthcoming single ‘Lucia, At The Precipice’ but it is the future which engages the band the most. Speaking of plans for an album Daniel says, “It’s important to us that an album works as a coherent piece rather than as an almost arbitrarily arranged collection of a band's work over a period of time. So whilst we continue to write songs we are doing so with vague album thoughts somewhere in our minds to ensure that, should we ever have the opportunity to release one, the result is more of a movement than a disparate mass.”

Before that though you have the chance to see them supporting either Wild Beasts or The xx on tour, two bands Daniel describes as “Totally enveloping”. Anyone going to catch the band libe will get the chance to see a unique take on Kylie Monogue’s ‘Confide In Me’ too, “There is something intriguing and subversive about the lyrics of the song that appealed to us. Somewhere within it lies a sense of uneasiness, and we felt this was something we could draw out and embellish. ”. This uneasiness is what lies at the root of all that is great about Esben and The Witch just don’t go expecting any warm, fuzzy feelings.

Esben and The Witch @Myspace
Also on Gigwise.com

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Esben and The Witch- 33

Forgive me for ignoring this band for so long. I finally got around to downloading '33' over the weekend and want to share it with you ASAP.

Similar in a vein to touring buddies The XX but with an eerier edge Esben... call to mind Bat For Lashes, Portishead and P.J Harvey.

The Guardian's Paul Lester said it best when he described the band as making,

"Quietly disturbing sonic fables"

As I'm feeling lazy I think that sums the bands music up very nicely indeed.

You can download the E.P '33' from this clever little widget below (note to all: Bloggers love widgets) and enjoy.

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