New Music: The Juan Maclean- You Are My Destiny + End Of Week Wrap Up Of Other Releases & News

It has been four years since disco purveyors The Juan Maclean have released a proper song and fans of the band do not have to wait any longer with the announcement this week that they will be putting out a brand new single titled "You Are My Destiny" on April 1st via DFA.

The song is streaming now and once again the band hired their go to girl, and ex-LCD Soundsystem member, Nancy Whang to sing the vocals on the track. Listen below:





Quietly this week The Pains Of Being Pure at Heart put out a music video for their track "Until The Sun Explodes" over on the MTV Iggy site. The apocalyptic video was produced by MTV for their Artist To Watch series. Watch below:

Kurt Vile's newest song from his forthcoming release Wakin On A Pretty Daze premiered earlier this week. Watch the cute video of Vile introducing "Never Run Away" and then he plays the song while his three year old daughter plays in the foreground.

Vile's new LP will be available April 9th via Matador.

Video: Kurt Vile- Never Run Away


No firm date for the new Primal Scream album, More Light, in North America yet; however there are rumours that it will come out on May 21st. The band debuted another song off the LP today and it sounds like vintage Rolling Stones. Listen to "It's Alright, It's OK" below:





Record Store Day finally posted the full list of albums that will be available for the annual vinyl promotion- this year on April 20th. Too may records to review here, but if you have a couple of hours to spare check out the full list on the RSD website. One record that I will definitely be buying is the Ten year anniversary reissue of The White Stripes' LP Elephant.

Video: The White Stripes- Seven Nation Army


Finally, Scottish synth pop trio CHVRCHES made their North American broadcast debut on CBC's Q with Jian Ghomeshi yesterday. After seeing the band live the other night and hearing the CBC interview, I am now absolutely smitten with the group and their lead singer Lauren Mayberry. Watch them play "The Mother We Share" below:

Chvrches new EP, Recover, will be available next week, March 26th via Glassnote.

No Joy Release A Little Bit Of Happiness + Other New Music & News

Montreal indie gazing band No Joy seems to have done a 180 degree sound shift on this new track off of their forthcoming new album. There is still a hint of shoegaze, but they have traded in their wall of sound grunge for  much cleaner sounding dream pop- at least it sounds that way on their new track "Lunar Phobia".

The band were originally supposed to record their new LP, Wait To Pleasure, with the Raveonettes Sune Rose Wagner, but that never materialized and No Joy decided to work with Jorge Elbrecht (Chairlift). The result is a lot more keyboard and pianos, much cleaner production and an overall much more happier sounding group. At this rate they may have to change their name. Listen to "Lunar Phobia" below:

Wait To Pleasure is out April 23rd via Mexican Summer

No Joy- Lunar Phobia


Lots of new music, videos and news from the first few days of the week including:

French alt pop band Phoenix finally released a preview from their new album this week. "Entertainment" sees the band progress in to more anthemic territory as they try to equal the popularity of Coldplay and Mumford & Sons. Much better than those bands though. Listen below:

Phoenix will release Bankrupt on April 23rd via Glassnote.

Phoenix- Entertainment

Primal Scream finally made it official that they have recorded a new album after hinting about it for several weeks. Surprise!!! Kevin Shields does make a guest appearance, playing guitar on the lead single, "2013" Watch the creepy video for the track below:

The album is titled More Light and will be out in May.

Primal Scream- 2013

Young Galaxy have released a second track from their upcoming new album. Listen to "Fall For You" from Ultramarine which will be released on April 23rd.




Doldrums is streaming his new album, Lesser Evil, over at Pitchfork Advance. You can also download the song "Golden Calf" from the album below:




Listen to the title track, " Hit The Waves'',  from Swedish indie poppers The Mary Onettes new album. The LP will be out on March 12th.




Bat for Lashes has released a new video from her excellent The Haunted Man LP. Watch the Where The Wild Things inspired clip for "Lilies" below:

Bat For Lashes- Lilies

Jangle rockers DIIV keep on rolling and have put out a video for their Oshin track "Wait" which features a cast of indie girls, including 'it girl" Sky Ferreira. Watch the NSFW video below

DIIV- Wait

The Juno Awards nominations were announced yesterday and with it the usual parade of awful bands and singers. There are some bright spots amongst the deadwood, mostly in the Alternative and Electronic categories, including nods to Metric, Grimes, Purity Ring, Japandroids, Daphni and Crystal Castles. See the full list here:

Metric- Breathing Underwater

Jack White was named Record Store Day Ambassador. Watch a video of his acceptance over at the Record Store Day website and also read his diatribe about all things impersonal.

Jack White- Freedom at 21

Last week we told you about a new Music Festival happening in Toronto in the first week of July called The Toronto Urban Roots Festival. They have announced a few more artists that will take part including Belle & Sebastien, Neko Case, Flogging Molly and The Joel Plaskett Emergency. More acts will be annouced throughout February and March.

Belle & Sebastian- Another Sunny Day
Neko Case- Deep Red Bells

Robbie Furze has announced through his band's Facebook page that Milo Cordell has left The Big Pink. Cordell will leave to concentrate on his up and coming record label, Merok, while Robbie Furze has confirmed he will continue to work on the new Big Pink album.

The Big Pink- Crystal Visions

Finally, another week, another rock 'n roll death. This time the founding member, singer and bassist Kevin Ayers of the legendary 60's psychedelic band, The Soft Machine, has passed away. The singer died in his sleep last night at the age of 68.

Soft Machine- Moon In June

Five Star Songs: Primal Scream- Swastika Eyes

My New Years Eve this (last) year was spent with a lot of beer, Scotch, champagne and eight hours of really cool music. I don't remember much about the latter parts of NYE, but I do know that when Primal Scream's Swastika Eyes came on the stereo it turned the night into hyperdrive.

The single is the first off PS's 1999 XTRMNTR album which, if I remember correctly, topped many music critics best of lists...and deservedly so. The album was heavily influenced by the rave music scene at the time and featured many guest stars including Bernard Sumner of New Order, Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine and the Chemical Brothers who did an fantastic remix of the featured song. At the time, Swastika Eyes was the most controversial and angriest thing that Primal Scream ever recorded. Surprisingly, the anti American government electro punk song actually made it to number 22 on the British Charts. Listen to the original album track and the Chemical Brothers remix below:

Primal Scream- Swastika Eyes
Primal Scream- Swastika Eyes (Chemical Brothers remix)

And in other Primal Scream news there is a new album in the works. PS leader Bobby Gillespie has stated that the new LP will come out some time before summer of this year and will have guest musicians Debbie Googe from My Bloody Valentine and Mark Stewart from The Pop Group. Kevin Shields will not be part of the new record and the group will also be missing Mani who has left to focus on the reunion of The Stone Roses.

Buy XTRMNTR on Amazon or check your local record store.