New releases round-up - 6th June 2011

Nicola Roberts - Beat Of My Drum

The gorgeous Girls Aloud red-head goes solo with this stunning Major Lazer-sampling track. Feisty rapped verses and a chorus we guarantee you'll fall in L.O.V.E. with. The track is already surging up the iTunes chart and with Nicola launching the single with a DJ set in Hoxton over the weekend, it looks set to do big things this week. The video also features an absolutely inspired dance routine.

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Wonderland - Wonderland

I'm a massive fan of this new girl group, who deliver a country/rock flavoured brand of pop on this, their self titled debut album. Not your traditional girl band fare, but Wonderland make the sound their own - especially on highlights like Starlight and their covers of Lady Antebellum and Adele.

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New Order/Joy Division - Total

To date, there have been many New Order compilations, but never one that included both Joy Division and New Order tracks together on one CD. With a band who's career spans as many years as theirs, there's the tendency that certain key tracks (or your personal favourites) may be missed off, but as a single-disc compilation of the two band's greatest moments, this presents the perfect introduction for a new listener to one of the greatest musical back catalogues of all time. It also includes the incredibly good 'new' New Order track Hellbent.

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Depeche Mode - Remixes 2: 81-11

It's a bit of the old and a bit of the new with this remix compilation from synth master Depeche Mode. Contemporary takes on classic tracks like the amazing Stargate mix of Personal Jesus easily make this album worth the cash - and the three-disc deluxe edition contains enough electronic wizardry to keep you happy until Christmas. It also comes in a posh cardboard box/slipcase type thing and with a booklet printed on some of the glossiest paper I've ever seen in my life.

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Candidate23 - One For You

Hailing from Runcorn on the outskirts of Liverpool and with their band name a reference to post-punk legends Joy Division, this teenage five-piece mix youthful energy with a keen sense of melody on their feisty debut single One For You.  Lead singer Will Hayes’ vocals are full of emotion; lines like “Never look back” and “Put your past away” surely striking a chord with all of us.  So often song lyrics seem cheap and disposable, a cheesy mish-mash of clichés; but here, we’re made to feel every word.   And then there’s the guitar hooks that bands twice their age would be proud of.  All the ingredients for a brilliant song are here and One For You represents a stellar beginning for the band.  They even have a fascinating link to pop royalty; drummer Jono Tringham is the cousin of Girls Aloud’s very own Nicola Roberts. Talent clearly runs in the family.

The band describe their sound as a blend between Oasis and the Stereophonics, and it’s a pretty spot-on comparison – Candidate23 carry that same boyish swagger paired with the intelligence and lyrical skill to mark them out as more than just the next bunch if indie clones.  In a world where young rock groups are ten-a-penny, Candidate23 have the skill and musicianship to lift them a cut above the rest, their songs playing loud and clear to the masses.