Kid Canaveral is a really nice indiepop quartet from St.Andrews, Scotland, who have made my ears happy with several good singles. My career as a fan started with the brilliant “Left and Right EP” from 2009, one of my absolute favourites last year.

Their new single, “You only went out to get drunk last night” is released today, and their debut-album, “Shouting at wildlife“, will be released on the 5th of July. The single will be available on very, very limited edition cassette and all major download sites, probably also on the band’s bandcamp page (link below).

The single is the best I have heard from the band so far, and it’s one of the stronger singles I have heard so far this year. It’s a lovely upbeat melody, with really strong and powerful vocals from David MacGregor. The arrangement and the production is ace, and I can’t praise the female backing-vocals enough. It’s probably the vocals of guitarist and songwriter Kate Lazda + bassist Rose McConnachie we hear, but it sounds like a full choir, and it adds so much to the song. It’s beautiful!

The single has 3 tracks on it, all versions of the same song. I’m rarely impressed by remixes, but this time the band and the remixers seem to have collaborated closely, and we get versions that are so different from the original that they stand on their own as new compositions. The first one, Kwaing Creasite remix (I guess you can see who has done it), takes the original down in mood and tempo, and adds a folky feeling to it.
The kwaing remix has the original vocals in the background and new specially sung vocals by Kenny Anderson/king creosote/kwaing creasite.
“Kwaing Creasite” has done a total transformation of the song, and it’s a fantastic version. The other mix, “Becky Becky Parentheses Remix”, has more rhythms and the remixer has done clever things with the before mentioned female choir.

Amazing!

If you want to dive into the world of Kid Canaveral, all of their releases are available on their bandcamp-page. On Bandcamp, you can also download the first track from their upcoming album for free:

This song has been stuck on my brain today, – so catchy!
It’s “come with me”, from ceo‘s upcoming album “white magic”. ceo is Tough Alliance member Eric Berglund‘s solo project, and he will release his debut-album on modular recordings on june 28th (UK/EU), june 29th (US) and july 2nd (AUS). You can download this song on modular’s website.

Alcopop is a small label who have released good music from bands like The Candle Thieves, My First Tooth, goFaster>>, Stagecoach and several others. Their new release is from Elephants, – a two track single with the songs “Strong Arms” and “I still remember”. The single will be released officially on 31st May, but you can already now preorder it in Alcopop’s shop or get it as mp3s from the same place.

The band Elephants were formed in Kent only 18 months ago, and have already managed to create some buzz in the UK. BBCs Steve Lamacq and Huw Stephens are said to be fans of the band. Their music is quite energetic and youthful, with sharp guitars, edgy riffs and powerful vocals.

The physical version of the single is strictly limited to 100 copies, each single is fronted with a totally 1-off, hand-shot Polaroid.

Here’s a non-single track from the band:

Elephants – For Laika

Club 8 recently released their new album “The People’s Record” on Labrador Records. They’re ready to release a new single from the album now, and it’s “Shape Up!”, – a very upbeat song with a cool afrobeat and interesting tempo-shifts.

Club 8 – Shape Up!

Tigercats is a new band from London, with Duncan Barrett of Esiotrot on vocals. They have a single out on Haircut Records soon, “Konny Huck”, and will be recording a new one in a couple of weeks. The band has played gigs with Tender Trap, Hexicon and Dum Dum Girls, and I expect great things from these people. You can listen to all the three songs from the single on myspace, and the lead track is available for download on Soundcloud.

Here’s the video, and a download-link is below:

Konny Huck by Tigercats