Pixie Lott - All About Tonight

Pixie Lott, what are we going to do with you, eh? I have to admit, I was hoping for a lott (Ha, ha...) from Pixie's new single; the first from her second album.

Her first record had been jam-packed with a veritable feast of pop treats - radio friendly, cute, and possessed with a sense that this was specifically Pixie's music.

Like the best in teen pop, it's not just about the music, but the whole package - that 'X Factor' Mr. Cowell is always banging on about. And never was this more true than with Pixie Lott - her songs were the very essence of 'her', the breathtakingly pretty girl about town that girls wanted to be and guys wanted to be with.

Records like the sublime Boys And Girls got that balance spot on - but new track All About Tonight goes too far, tumbling away off a cliff of generic-ness.

Taken with its video in too, the whole thing feels overtly glossy - a more global, commercialised Pixie, processed into a tight package of tinny-sounding synths. With massively-blatant Nokia product placements flying in one direction and a dance routine clearly designed to show as much bared-thigh as possible going in the other, there's just too much going on.

For a song that's supposed to be all about the thrills and pleasures of partying it up at night, the track feels remarkably studied. Every part of it seems to have been precisely calibrated to push all the right buttons; but with those component parts pushed together into the finished article, it just doesn't work. Something crucial is missing - the soul.

Radio and TV will doubtless lap All About Tonight up, but for me, everything that made Pixie's debut so great - the fun-loving liveliness and real heart - is gone. And for a girl who 99% of the time can look so effortlessly smoking hot, she doesn't half look like she's just going through the motions here too.

Pixie, we love you - but let's have some real 10/10 stormers on the new album too please?

All About Tonight is released on the 5th September.

(Official Video) Wonderland - Nothing Moves Me Anymore

The Wonderland girls take on a far more solemn direction in the video for their latest single Nothing Moves Me Anymore - Gone are the carefree tones of Starlight, replaced by a song wrapped up in that aching sense of loss that comes from the ruins of a broken relationship.

Through the heart of this loss though, we have lots of shots of the girls in 'We're all in this together' poses - if everything's falling to pieces around them, they still remain together, defiant to the last.

The single mix of the track has been given a few tweaks, a nice little bonus to fans - it serves to add to the big ballady feel of the whole package too. It might be the middle of summer right now, but if ever a song and accompanying video felt more suited to one of those Comic Relief/Children In Need moments, it's this one.

My favourite bit of the video has to be the carefully poised shot of someone using the 'Delete Photo' button on their iPhone to prime effect - never before has modern mobile phone technology been so dramatic!

In another key scene, two members of the camera crew filming the whole video bump into each-other, prompting giggles from two of the girls - we imagine this accidental nudge leads to a whirlwind romance and eventually marriage; a romantic tonic to the previous 'Delete Photo' scene.

It's all rather lovely, charming stuff and the Wonderland girls carry it off well. Incidentally, the band are also running a Facebook competition where you can design your own cover for the single.

Nothing Moves Me Anymore is released on the 14th August.

Mojo Fury - We Should Just Run Away

Mojo Fury stride the difficult middle ground between the unkempt power of hard rock and the intricacies of deliving into everything else on the sonic platter.

New single We Should Just Run Away initially presents itself as an electronica-tinged slab of Biffy Clyro-esque punch. It's weighty, bulky stuff, but also feels surprisingly agile - a kind of younger, Northern Irish cousin to their Scottish patrons (Mojo Fury previously supported Biffy Clyro on tour).

You get the sense that the band are fighting to stretch the boundaries at every level - but We Should Just Run Away's real charm is the good old fashioned stomp it carries itself with on the immense singalong chorus.

Fury? It's here in copious amounts; bursting from the guitar licks - but there's also a sense of community too. Like the best moments in music, Mojo Fury's sound is something to be shared with others - both massive and for the masses.

We Should Just Run Away is released on the 17th July.

Mind Museum - Rat Race EP

I have a theory that there's no such thing as too much bass in rock, and it's something Bristol three-piece Mind Museum very much subscribe too. Their debut EP positively throbs with the stuff - the tracks feel meaty; bulging, muscular creations that threaten to spill out every where.

On Seal The Cracks this comes to a peak in the track's closing minutes, the band letting loose in a physical onslaught of raw noise. Vocals are drenched in feedback and the percussion slams away like body-punches.

On the surface, the tracks give off a sheen of hard, melodic rock akin to the likes of Lostprophets; but there's an overriding sense of something far more sinister and precise here. Rat Race showcases this best in its intricate guitar-work and massive chorus.

Across the four tracks of the EP, the band keep their sound highly rhythmic, piercing even - at times it recalls the earliest days of Muse. And just as that band found glory in their Muscle Museum, here we see Mind Museum investing their music with that sense of the body - solid, energetic, powerful; it's all here.

The Rat Race EP is available to download from iTunes here.

Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks

Summery and incredibly catchy - what two better qualities could you want in a song this time of year? Bringing the sunshine over from California, Foster The People have been turning heads with their brilliant single Pumped Up Kicks.

Charting in America, the UK, Australia and pretty much everywhere else you care to mention, its appeal is universal.

Channeling much of the same psychadelic indie-pop dreamyness that made us flock to MGMT and Empire of the Sun so readily, Foster The People make a more than ample job at honing in on the sound of 'now'.

Amazon are currently offering a free download of the Hood Internet mix of the track, so what are you waiting for? Go get it!

Pumped Up Kicks and the band's album Torches are available to download from iTunes now.

Kids In Glass Houses - Gold Blood / Animals

Kids In Glass Houses are back - and boy are they sounding good. It's always a sign of supreme confidence when you launch your new album with it's own mini-site, and that's exactly what the band have done for their new LP In Gold Blood.

The record's first taster track Gold Blood was initially offered as a free download - the song sees the band taking on a far rougher, gritty sound than the New Wave-inspired gloss-pop of Dirt. Feedback screeches over guitar hooks that pickaxe their way into the senses while the chorus sees the band heading more towards the territory of fellow Welsh rockers Lostprophets.

And if Gold Blood is good, Animals is even better. Last Monday Zane Lowe played the track as his 'Hottest Record' . Thundering guitar lines and a big chorus to rival anything off the band's last two albums, Animals looks set to be a big live favourite - it's also the perfect track to announce with a bang that they're back.

If you weren't lured in by their previous material, this will be the one that really gets you - whereas the band's past singles could at times come across as fey and innocent, this new Kids In Glass Houses has been there and done it all; now they're back, dirty and bruised and with the passion set to boil.

The band described their new album as a game-changer, and if these two tracks are anything to go by, it looks a fair bet.

The new, re-invisioned Kids In Glass Houses see the band entering their adrenaline fuelled adolescent stage - wild and packing a formdible punch, it's a stage in their development we have every intention of riding with.

Gold Blood is available to download from iTunes now. The album In Gold Blood is released on the 15th August with Animals preceding it, the week before.

The Lancashire Hotpots - Achtung Gravy

You just can't beat the British for their sense of humour - and The Lancashire Hotpots sees that wonderful comic capability in fine health as they deliver their 5th studio album Achtung Gravy.

The art of parody, as simple as it might seem at times, is a very precise thing. Looks pretty easy right? Just throw together a couple of witty reposts and make it slightly relevant to current affairs? The trick is of course finding those crucial ingredients to elicit that key reponse - those deep, rumbling belly laughs that show you've worked your magic yet again.

The Lancashire Hotpots are clear pros - a career this long and illustrious proof of that. At its heart, parody in this format still revolves around good, quality songwriting, and that's here on Achtung Gravy for sure. And to be honest, the band have got me right there - before the first track has even started - with that title.

You can just imagine Bono twitching in frustration at the wryness of it all. As the man himself and his merry group of musicians took to the Pyramid stage at Glasto, the Lancashire Hotpots were simultaneously playing the Croissant Neuf stage. A neat little bit of union if ever there was one.

With their folky charms and endearing Northern accents, I'd dare anyone with a full functioning sense of humour not to at the very least break into a smile at the likes of You Could Get Hit By A Bus Tomorrow.

My personal favourite has to be album opener Mek Us A Brew, an anthem to all things 'oop North', if you will. In a hilarious assault on 'creamy lattes', this track takes on a more Brit-pop inspired sound, harking back to the likes of Wonderstuff or The Charlatans at their most poppy.

The accents, the Lulz; it's all here. You feel like the album has been cooked up in some rural pub; glass of ale in one hand, guitar in the other, rather than being spawned from any traditional recording process - and in this instance, that bears countless dividends.

With The Guardian proclaiming the band 'masters of parody' and a whole heap of other lovely praise surrounding them, Achtung Gravy is the sound of a group riding the wave of success, feet standing steady on the finest of comedy boards. Only in Britain could you have something so cheerily funny as the Lancashire Hotpots, and you can chalk that up as another point on the list of what makes this country so great.

Achtung Gravy is available to download from iTunes now.

Kasabian - Switchblade Smiles

Just look at the name of the track. Switchblade Smiles - contained within those two words is such a wonderful juxtaposition of slickly grim darkness with grinning upbeat fun. But then, isn't that what Kasabian have always done so well?

If anything, new single Switchblade Smiles is a real return to the sound of the band's first album - more electronic, more dark. Suddenly a thumping military drum beat kicks in followed by scratchy, metallic guitars, and we're away.

Chants of 'Hoo!' add to the animalistic, tribal feel of the song, as well as harking back to the band's legendary classic Club Foot. For the band to still be producing songs as good as this four albums in is a towering accomplishment, and a befitting landmark for the band, who among all the contemporaries, have always remained the most consistent.

Kasabian are well and truly back with a bang.

The band's new album Velociraptor! is out in September and if you pre-order it from their official store, you receive a download of Switchblade Smiles immediately.

The Kixx - Album preview

A few weeks ago I saw new band The Kixx supporting Olly Murs on tour at the prestigious Hammersmith Apollo and came away truly impressed by what they had to offer. Their debut single Already Gone is a fizzing, immensely energetic bit of pop/rock and a storming introduction to a group who are sure to be making waves in the music world shortly.

Listening to The Kixx's album sampler, the first thing that strikes you is the sense of energy - like a lightning storm trapped in a bottle and then suddenly let loose.

Tracks like Already Gone are at that moment of release, propelled on a jet-stream of catchy hooks and passion that was plain to see for anyone who caught them on tour. Dashing around the stage, guitars swinging, they played like it wasn't just a support slot, but their own headline show.

A real favourite of mine is Standing Where You Left Me - another massive upbeat track, full of bonkers techno synths, but also a surprisingly real grit to the vocals too.

With lyrics of 'Pretty lies are no concern, when we love we never learn', the song details a pessimistic outlook on the dangers of a fractious relationship. This isn't a Disney-fied sugar and smiles account of love and life, but rather something far more visceral and real.

Another thing The Kixx do really well? Laddy chants - they're stamped all over the album, especially on the punky There She Goes Again.

On a slower note though, there's Breathless, a lush piano ballad with real maturity to it. With a song like this, the crux of it is really believing the band means what they sing, and Breathless feels thoroughly authentic. Throughout the song, and the album as a whole, there are little quirks of melody as well as the overall scale of the sound that really help to elevate this into something truly alive.

When I saw them live at Hammersmith, you got a sense of the real benefit gained from them functioning as a complete band who all play their own instruments and who know exactly what they're doing. There's just a much fuller sound, and that's something reflected here on the album sampler too. Listening to Begin At The End, there's a satisfying throb of the bass in the verses, a real crunch to the guitar in the chorus - a musical intricacy that you just don't get with other boy bands.

A lot of comparisons have already been made with bands like Busted or McFly, but in truth the similarities don't really go much further than that they're all groups of guys playing catchy pop/rock tunes.

The Kixx's sound is their own and where they really shine is that they seem to have really pinned down what that unique sound is for them. Whereas other bands might spend their first album or two trundling along in first gear, The Kixx are already kicking it up to fifth.

Already Gone is available to download now.