Just today I heard of Maximum Balloon, TV On The Radio’s David Sitek’s side project. Since last month he has released a couple of singles under Maximum Balloon, with the debut album due for August 24th under Interscope records.

“If You Return” features Little Dragon’s Yukimi Nagano. The track has toxic, funky electronic buzz with overlapping bleeps and a hard to resist synth bass. This is a type of song I would imagine robots would love to dance to. Or even humans. Yukimi’s mysterious, eccentric vocals graces the vivid electronic sound from Sitek.

The debut album will also feature other artists like Karen O, David Byrne, and Theophilus London. Will Sitek’s solo debut be stronger and more successful than Kyp Malone’s Rain Machine, who is his TVOTR bandmate? Only time will tell.

Check out the splendid video clip of this song below. It’s either a sneak peek at the music video or a promo for the album. The danseur glides across the rooftop so elegant and light, it’s beautiful.

Wavves is back better than ever. His new single “Post Acid” has been officially released, and you can even download it for free using the widget below, from Green Label Sound. His 3rd album ‘King of The Beach’ is being released in August of this year.

“Post Acid” is a great punk-pop-ish track. There’s less ‘fuzz’ in it which makes it a little more enjoyable, and less annoying. It’s nice, catchy, and non-obnoxious while staying bratty and hip. If the rest of ‘King of The Beach’ sounds more like this it would probably be one of the best albums of this year.

May 11th is a big day for M.I.A. – her new single is out and Sleigh Bells’ debut album under her label N.E.E.T. is released. Sleigh Bells’ very anticipated debut album is available for stream over at NPR. ‘Treats’ is released on May 11th (tomorrow).

Is it just me or do I spot a trend that whenever something by M.I.A. is released, Sleigh Bells releases something as well? Not surprising.

(That’s a REALLY ugly cover. I understand M.I.A.’s visual style but seriously? I made something like that when I was 5 and learnt how to use MS Paint)

After releasing a promo and hype song “Born Free”, I was left wondering what else M.I.A. has to offer with her third album. I was counting down the days until her official first single release, called “XXXO”. It’s officially released tomorrow but BBC Radio 1 played it for us a couple hours early, and the radio rip of this mp3 is now spreading everywhere.

I kind of like and dislike this track. I like it because it’s so different, something totally unexpected from her. “Born Free” was totally influenced by Sleigh Bells, but “XXXO” is in a totally different direction. It is a more pop song with synths, and there is a steady beat you can actually count to. Although her past work are catchy dance tunes, this is the most ‘club’ song she has made. I can actually SEE mainstream, normal clubs playing this song and people actually dancing to this and not people pretending they’re smoking a joint (Paper Planes).

I also dislike this track because of all of the above reasons too. Most true (comme moi) M.I.A. fans (pre-Paper Planes) don’t want to hear stuff like this. We like the original M.I.A., before she was blown up to the public and she started leaning towards mainstream music. Also, I dislike this track because it makes her sound like a hypocrite. Remember M.I.A. dissing Lady Gaga? Well, this kind of sounds like what Lady Gaga would do. Of course, mainly because of the electronica-dance club part.

M.I.A. – “XXXO”

Either way, M.I.A. is evolving and I am interested in what is next. As M.I.A. says, she’s ‘mixing things in a pot and spitting them out differently’. Hopefully old fans aren’t hatin’. This is pretty catchy!

To be honest, I’m interested in what you think. I don’t want to sound like the only crazy one out there!

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart are back with a brand new single after releasing their debut album last summer and ‘Higher Than The Stars’ EP last September. On June 8th, “Say No To Love” will be released on a 7″ sea foam green vinyl (apparently that’s something important), with “Lost Saint” as a b-side. Copies will be available while they’re on tour with Surfer Blood and Hooray For Earth.

If you’re a Pains of Being Pure at Heart fan you’ll know what to expect. Their fuzzy-warmth (the first word I thought of when I listened to this song) and shoegaze sound is displayed throughout this song and honestly, I love it.

After the end of Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor and his wife Mariqueen Maandig (who used to be in a band called West Indian Girl) has settled on a side project. They are called How To Destroy Angels, (named after the ‘84 Coil EP) and their first single is “A Drowning”, which is a 7 minutes (and 3 minutes too long). I think this almost sounds like Radiohead song with a girl singing instead. The song was also mixed by Alan Moulder, who also used to be in NIN.

Their 6 track EP will be coming out this summer.

Oh wow, this is more than a week late, I forgot to post this (it was saved as a draft).

Two Door Cinema Club covered “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga for Fluctat.net. While this might not sound the most original (there are tons of videos on YouTube like this), I like listening to this knowing that it’s Two Door Cinema Club singing this, and they tried. Download the song over at PMA.

Sleigh Bells are probably the one band that I’m most excited about this year. Although all we’ve heard was a couple of demos from them, you have to admit that they are quite amazing. Their sound is quite fresh, and ever since M.I.A. signed them to N.E.E.T., they have been working hard to produce their first album, ‘Treats’, which is out on May 11th. Weirdly there hasn’t been a ‘hype’ single or even a debut single out yet, but they gave us a first listen on one of the tracks from the album, called “Tell ‘Em”.

“Tell ‘Em” starts out with a series of exploding noises which carries on throughout the rest of the song, along with a couple of guitar riffs. (First thought when I heard this: the video to M.I.A.’s “Born Free”) Then next you hear Alexis Krauss’s voice singing, and I swear, I could marry that voice. Overall, an amazing track. You can also hear a M.I.A. influence on the track as well, which is quite nice.

Sleigh Bells – “Tell ‘Em”Link 2

I’m a bit late on posting about Crystal Castles. As most of you know, the second self titled Crystal Castles album titled leaked completely a couple weeks ago, and most of you are probably playing it on repeat (I know I am). The album was slated for a June release, however due to the way-early leak, they pushed the digital release to last week and the physical on my birthday, May 24th.

The track that stood out the most for me (other than Doe Deer and a couple other songs) was “Empathy“. It has this super rad beat to it that I couldn’t resist. I don’t know how to describe the sound, and that’s how speechless I was. I have to say that this is probably one of my favorite tracks of all time.

(NOTE:  My computer is dumb and not letting me upload the song and it’s not on Youtube so watch the video on the bottom of the post to stream)

P.S. I got a remix from 10,000 Volt Ghost of “Empathy” in my inbox today, and I thought it was pretty sweet. I LOVE the 0:08 second mark. Check it out:

Crystal Castles – “Empathy” (10000 Volt Ghost Remix)

P.P.S. I found this while surfing my fashion blogs the other day. I thought it was real for a second but I guess it’s not. It’s a pretty sick video, and I’ve got to admit that the first time I heard this track I immediately thought of ‘Voguing”, a type of hip-hop dance back in the 80s (? or 70s?) that Madonna popularized and brought to the mainstream world with her hit song “Vogue”.

“Gasoline” is an upcoming track off of The Dead Weather’s 2nd album, ‘Sea of Cowards’. This song can go both ways: either fans completely love it or hate it. The first time I heard “Gasoline”, I thought it was brutally annoying and hurt my ears. After another listen I switched to the other side of the field and my ears all of a sudden loved Allison’s screeching and thumping drums.

‘Sea of Cowards’ is out May 11th.

M.I.A. is back! After starting a record label back in 2008 and announcing her love for Sleigh Bells, her third album will be finally released on June 29th. “Born Free” is the first new song to be released, sampling Suicide. No one knows yet if this is a comeback single, but there is a music video planned for it.

Most of people’s reactions to the pop-punk-art-noise song is that they don’t like it and that it’s a horrible direction for M.I.A. I personally really like this song, it’s a fun track. However, if this were to be a single, that would be a horrible choice for her. It’s just not a ‘proper’ song for a single, and it’s all over the place. But I must admit that it is a fun song.

You can also hear a bit of Sleigh Bells influence to M.I.A.’s change of sound too, no?

M.I.A. – “Born Free”Link 2