I haven’t tried to disguise how I feel about the modern singer songwriter. I don’t hate the Joshua Radins, the Ingrid Michaelsons and the William Fitzsimmons’s's…’s that produce those saccharine, emotional, Scrubs soundtrack overtures which makes women weak at the knees. It’s hard to hate them, at least from a purely aesthetic standpoint, but by the same token it’s hard to love them with so little to grab hold of. Here and now though, we’ve come to a place where the winning voice of the singer-songwriter is being combined with something more interesting than an acoustic guitar.

James Blake – ‘Measurements’

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James Blake – ‘A Case of You’ (Joni Mitchell cover)

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[FREE DOWNLOAD]

The genrebending James Blake has a whole swathe of largely electronic EPs out that you’ll appreciate if you’re into diffused dubstep but what I really want to draw your attention to is his self titled full length. Wikipedia tells me it came out in February but I’m all but positive it came out earlier. Perhaps it was just prerelease bloghype I was seeing. Whatever the case, it’s a record you need to own. I mean it. Get on itunes and buy this record before your dad realises that you’ve still got his credit card hooked up to that thing.

I won’t attempt to talk too specifically about the record because Blake is one of those artists whose fanbase is so aggressively possessive that any attempts to label, classify or describe his music is met with venom. Read some of the comments left on his youtube videos and you’ll feel me.

Remember these cats? Back in September last year, you and I bonded over how much we really liked ‘Surrounded By Your Friends’ by Hooray For Earth. You downloaded it (without charge) and we all agreed that when you turned 18 you’d make the DJ that your dad hired play it at your party. Well reshuffle that playlist, friend, because Hooray For Earth are at it again. ‘True Loves’ is the first single from their soon to be released album of the same name. The record will be out on June 7 and it seems like it’ll bridge the gap between bands like Foster the People and Animal Collective.

The accompanying video clip is a mishmash of hyper-era costume and smouldering romance. You’ll dig it, audio and video alike.

The Smiles & The Frowns were obviously on an acid trip when they decided on a name but it sounds as if their music has been made with a clear head, AMIRIGHT!? Nice. This American duo have been dropping a few 60s throwback tracks over the past few years without gathering a whole lot of steam. This however, could be their turning point as my 389 days of experience breaking bands to the masses finally bears fruit for this American outfit. Sure, some might say I’m not on top of things when The Guardian are beating me to the punch by a solid 9 months but sometimes you’ve got to let a track simmer before you write about it. And that’s what I’ve done. What I haven’t done, is hear this track about 4 days ago and pretend to have known it for months. That’s what I haven’t done, you can know that for sure. Here is a picture of Keith Urban so that you know I’m being honest.

The Smiles & The Frowns – ‘Cornelius’

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You can buy some physical CDs by clicking here. If you want to buy some physical CDs that have actual music on them then though, you’ll have more luck here. If, and I’m thinking this might actually be what you wanted from the outset, you wish to by CDs with music by The Smiles and The Frowns on them then you should click here. Or just click here to download them on iTunes.

It’s well understood that I’ll write about anything that Freelance Whales do. I know it, you know it, they know it. They put out one of the better records of 2009 and have gone on to release a few off the cuff tracks that have suggested that their next record might be moving in a different direction to Weathervanes. Now they’ve covered Devo’s Girl U Want. It won’t rattle any cages but it will make you say “this song is a nice song”.

Freelance Whales – ‘Girl U Want’ (Devo Cover)

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The first thought I had when I saw the name of this artist was of course, “you are not”. Then I reconsidered. “Perhaps he is oak”, I thought. There came to me the flittering thought that I may have been about to listen to the music of a treant. Then, an even more exciting prospect came to mind. What if – and this was a pretty special ‘what if’ – an enchanted oak was felled in the forest of Kaz’nekrem on the eve of a lunar eclipse and the stars aligned as a master-craftsmen, on his death bed, created one last piece of carpentry: A magical xylophone that played itself. Yeah, I know. Awesome.

I Am Oak – ‘On Trees And Birds And Fire’

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Suffice to say you’re probably ashamed of yourself, having initially written this band off for what you thought was a silly name. Don’t worry, I’m also a little embarrassed, but now we know better. In the unlikely outcome that this artist is neither treant nor xylophone then he’s probably the Dutch singer-songwriter Thijs Kuijken. In 2008 Kuijken self released his Sou Ka EP and the full length Ols Songd. Last year he dropped On Claws which featured the above streamed track ‘On Trees and Birds and Fire’. On the 13th of May, 2011 he’ll be releasing his next record titled Oasem.

To purchase Souk Ka head here, to purchase On Claws get on this.