Linkin Park announce new single Burn It Down

It's here! Well, a glimmer of news about it at any rate. After much anticipation, Linkin Park have announced that their new single will be called Burn It Down and that it's set for a 16th April release date. The band have already talked about how their new material will see a return to a more mainstream sound after the eclecticsm of A Thousand Suns, so will this finally see a re-emergence of the Meteora/Hybrid Theory incarnation of the group? Either way, we can't wait to hear the track.

Band of Skulls – Sweet Sour

With a top twenty album in the bag, things must be looking pretty rosy for Band of Skulls right now. And the title track, Sweet Sour shows a suitable excitation to its fuzzy riffs, kind of like Led Zep distilled into the essence of a contemporary alt-rock group, with all the trappings such a fusion might entail. Sweet Sour bristles with both guitar virtuosity and ambition, a brawling hou-ha of a track that spits with an almost dangerous abandon. It’s bulked up, macho pomp and sets itself out as a fitting companion to the likes of the Black Keys recent El Camino effort.

Sweet Sour is released on the 7^th May.

Lana Del Rey - Blue Jeans

While the Lana Del Rey hype certainly isn't showing any signs of slowing down, there's a sense that it's marginally more palatable now, through sheer force of its overabundance. In essence, we've become so numb to the Lana hype that she's now like the same old faces we always see every time we pop down the pub. Part of the furniture.

And all this helps with appreciating new single Blue Jeans for what it actually is, a bloody good track. Boasting what's probably one of her strongest choruses, Blue Jeans moves away from the pretensions of Born To Die and Video Games for a more clean cut, vaguely more up-tempo pop sound. It's not the unadulterated thrill-ride that album standout Off to the Races is, but in it's indulgent 'I will love you until the end of time' refrain, there's the manifestations of Lana as a proper popstar.

And it's there, removed from the sexual posturing and drama school theatrics, that she actually functions best.

Blue Jeans is released on the 8th April as a digital download, remix bundle and exclusive 7'' picture disc.

Erasure - Fill Us With Fire

Just like its predecessor Be With You, Fill Us With Fire is classic Erasure - everything that makes their emotion-suffused brand of synth-pop so enchanting. So while Germany get disco romp A Whole Lotta Love Run Riot, the UK is set to receive the more reflective refrains of this lovely little number as the next single from the duo's album.

While less representative of the Frankmusik production of its parent album, Fill Us With Fire's strength is its contentedness to do what all the best Erasure tracks do - resting on an incredibly deft command of melody and an impassioned Andy Bell vocal. It makes you want to go back an relive their tour all over again - to lose yourself in the 'Erasure world' that keeps us coming back for more delicacies like this.

Fill Us With Fire is released on the 12th March.

Olly Murs - Oh My Goodness

The humerous cocked-eyebrow presumption would be that Oh My Goodness is the kind of thing your average Olly Murs fan might say as they engage in some kind of fictional romantic liason with the X Factor star. Or, alternatively, it could just be a statement of shock at how the bloke has actually managed to come up with a half-decent track.

While Oh My Goodness isn't up there with the electro-popping hook-heaven of Heart Skips A Beat (surely a one-off singularity of brilliance within Olly's career), it's horn-riffing snazzy rhythms recall a Robbie Williams at his prime. It's a harking back to a more innocent age of pop, and unlike the tepid Dance With Me Tonight, actually sounds like Olly's having genuine fun singing the track.

He'll have his haters, and he'll have his lovers - but at the end of the day, Olly's cheeky chappy routine holds at least a fair share of merit to it. The UK needs a big male solo star of his scale - in a market dominated by empowered female stars, there's certainly space for a shot of testosterone now and again - and Oh My Goodness is as good a record as any to do it.

When Olly first stepped up to the X Factor plate, he won the nation over with his cocky bravado-filled performance of Superstition, and here - channelling that same lad-apotheosis - is where he finds his niche.

Oh My Goodness is released on the 12th March.

Beyonce - End Of Time (Wideboys Mix)

Now here's a future dance smash in the making if ever there was one! Beyonce's already incredible End Of Time is finally getting a single release (about time too!) and the always-amazing Wideboys are on hand to give the track a re-work.

The end result is a fiery, tropical sounding clubland slayer, all skyscraper synths and a bit of Pon De Floor style stuff going on. In short, it sounds all kinds of epic, and we love it!

Beyonce - End of Time - Wideboys Official Remix SNIP by Wideboys

Jason Derulo - Breathing

After that horrific neck injury and having to cancel his tour dates, Jason Derulo's stock is at an unfortunate all-time-low right now. But musically speaking, after the 'so bad it's good' effort of Toto-sampling Fight For You, Derulo takes a plucky step towards maturity with ace new single Breathing.

For an artist that in many ways is a by-word for by-the-numbers R&B-Pop, Breathing is surprisingly adventurous. Again turning to a sample, this time an eerie snatch of Bulgarian choral music, the track is a confident stab by Derulo at creating a proper Eurodance smash.

When so many of Derulo's previous steps into club-land have been slicked with a vague notion of comedic 'is he serious?', Breathing is Derulo operating at a more earnest level, adding a refreshing new layer to an artist that so often feels predictable.

Breathing is released on the 27th February.

How lovely does Rebecca Ferguson look here...

Here's a nice picture of Rebecca to brighten up your afternoon - we think you'll agree she looks gorgeous.

What's also rather gorgeous is her new single Too Good To Lose, which we fell in love with when we first heard her album.

It's getting a single release on the 26th February and the video is coming very soon! We can't wait to see it!

Coldplay - Charlie Brown

Coldplay functioning at their best are good. Really damn good. And that's what Charlie Brown is all about - Coldplay acting up to their status as 'the world's biggest band', as their dramatic X Factor intro tape put it.

And if anything, it was that epic XF Final performance that crystallised what both the band and this song stand for - a rock band that have gone beyond any normal sense of mass popularity to a new division, a higher league of success.

In terms of bands of their generation, what Coldplay have gone on to achieve is pretty much without parallel. And that made the consistency and overall quality of new LP Mylo Xyloto all the more surprising - did a band of their advancing years have any right to make an album *this* good?

Charlie Brown pins everything around that massive, sky-piercing guitar hook - it really is a thing of sheer majesty. When the band released Viva La Vida, they unlocked the floodgates on an angelic sweeping collective of sounds that, while a move away from their former 'traditional' Britpop sounds, played perfectly into their position of the band that everyone (sometimes secretly) loves.

But with Charlie Brown, there is no secrecy needed, for a record this good, all that's required is appreciation. And if there's any moment on Mylo Xyloto that sums up the ecstasy and general sense of good-feeling that Coldplay can conjure up when operating at top-spec, it's Charlie Brown.

Charlie Brown is released on the 10th January.

Will Young - Losing Myself

If you'd have asked someone a few years ago if they'd ever have thought Will Young would re-invent himself as an angelic synth-pop artist, you'd probably have been greeted with silence.

But that's exactly what Will managed to achieve this year, and it's resulted not only in some of the best material of his career, but some of the best pop music around at the moment.

Where previous singles Jealousy and Come On felt futuristic and reflective, new track Losing Myself has its feet set firmly in the 80s. The production is pure bliss and Will's soulful vocals suit it perfectly. This could easily be something off a late 80s George Michael album, but imbued with all the maturity and electronic glory of something New Order or Depeche Mode would have been proud to call their own.

Some people dismiss electronic music as cold and dispassionate, but Losing Myself is wrapped up in such warmth, such delicacy and nuance of emotion that it packs the intensity of any hard-wrought campfire ballad. As 2011 turns into 2012, Will Young has proven yet again he stands as an artist of continuing relevancy and one of the prime examples that reality TV prodigies can be forces for good in music.

Losing Myself is released on the 19th March.

Cher Lloyd - Want U Back

No X Factor star has had quite such a rollercoaster ride amongst my affections as Cher Lloyd. When she was on the show, I properly adored her - she was a breath of fresh air that the show desperately needed. But post-show, her unfortunate, bratty, antagonising tweets became a real turn-off and I really started to dislike her.

But the real test was in her music, and against all my initial expectations, her debut album turned out to be one of the best pop records of the year. It was consistent, gloriously poppy in the best ways, and above all, it sounded like Cher herself - the kind of music both her and her fans would really enjoy.

And new single Want U Back is the epitome of that. Possessed of the same bouncy R&B-lite vibes as album standout With Ur Love, the chorus is indelibly catchy, perfect for younguns to holler away to until the early hours, bottle of WKD in hand. This is profoundly youthful music, and the best part is that it feels genuine, not clamouring for faux trends like Swagger Jagger was (and even that ended up growing on me).

The best bit of the song has got to be the spoken word 'Remember all the things you and I did first?' bits. It's here that you get the best insight into the mind of Cher Lloyd and what she's all about. It's little nuggets of teen angst and bittersweet jealousy that are the lifestuff of every young person up and down the country - and all of them with a copy of Cher's album can sing along to these lines knowing in their heart they've felt these feelings too. And that's why Want U Back, and the album as a whole, works so well.

Little Mix - Cannonball

Sometimes, everything just clicks into place. This weekend, on the X Factor, this happened to Little Mix. Taking the winner's crown with their cover of Cannonball - the first time a girl group, let alone a group, had ever done so - they crystallised the hopes and dreams of pop lovers across the nation.

Here, at last, there is the potential for a truly incredible X Factor winner, for Little Mix to take up the Girls Aloud baton and continue the UK's tradition of girl power. Long may they reign supreme!

Even their cover art looks fresh and fun, a far cry from the tired black & white 'safe' shots of past winners. Hearing them take up Damien Rice's classic acoustic number and transform it into an impassioned enormo-ballad, it was clear they were already in another league from runner up Marcus.

I'll be the first to admit I was sceptical about the group during the course of the series, but from the moment they banged out their ace cover of You've Got The Love, I knew they had what it takes.

The styling, spot on. The vocals - well, Perrie showed the whole UK exactly what she's capable of on the group's take on Silent Night. Simply beautiful, truly sublime.

This is the new face of pop, the new force for good. Yes, the winner's single isn't perfect - we all wanted a Sound of the Underground-esque up-tempo banger... but you can't have everything.

What does their cover of Cannonball have going in its favour? Well, on the most basic level, it's a well-rounded, distinctly 'pop' version of the original, erasing all the singer-songwriter trappings of Damien Rice's version. Its best moments are in the gorgeous synth flourishes, crisp R&B beat and echoey piano riffs - as the string sections surge in it all gets a bit Madonna 'Power of Goodbye' - which is a very, very good thing. But above all, it shows how accomplished the group are vocally.

We can only wait and hope that when the girls' career-proper begins, they'll deliver a pop album of genuine merit. Cher Lloyd showed it could be done, I expect even better from Little Mix.

Bombay Bicycle Club - Leave It

Indie favourites Bombay Bicycle Club, continuing their sharply defined knack of coming up with indelible pop hooks. Leave It sheds the dance influenced grooves of shuffle and goes for a more innocent, collegiate sound, full of a reminiscence for the past.

As always, their music seems suffused in a hazy half-remembered overtone of the past, an inescapable longing for lost teenage days.

What Bombay Bicycle Club achieved with third album A Different Kind of fix is to a degree a crystallisation of who exactly they are.

With its rounded consistency and near universal acclaim, it's the sound of a band walking with the utmost of ease into their role, and delivering on every expectation of those who've followed them from the start.

Leave It is released on the 2nd January.

Niki & The Dove - DJ Ease My Mind

Niki & The Dove are the latest in a prestigious line of uber-empowered female-voiced acts like Florence & The Machine and Bat For Lashes, but let that not fool you into thinking they have nothing new to offer.

Their stellar The Drummer EP was bursting with intensity, and on new single DJ Ease My Mind, they go even further into the sublime.

Her disembodied, spacey vocals float god-like over a trembling latice of threatening bass and tribal percussion. And the chorus, oh, the chorus... It's heavenly. Like the cry of eagles cutting through the cleanest of mountain airs. Oriental stabs of gilt power leap across the track like lightning - as energised as Niki's vocals themself.

A track this good manifests itself on the very edge of existence - almost alive, caught between the realms of the real and the un-made. Absolute beauty in its purest of forms.

DJ Ease My Mind is released on the 27th February.

Friendly Fires - Blue Cassette

As everyone's writing their end of year lists, it seems fitting to revisit Friendly Fires, who - in Pala - delivered one of the finest LPs of the year. New single Blue Cassette stands as a well-rounded representative of the record as a whole, no surprise then that they offered it earlier this year as a free download on iTunes.

Revolving in a twitchy vortex of reversed noises and click-beats, the track boasts all the hallmarks of the bouncy, 80s-inspired synth drive that powers Pala's heart.

What Friendly Fires proved with the album was that they were the indie sweethearts with the intelligence to not be afraid of writing bloody brilliant pop hooks, and Blue Cassette stands as one of the finest examples of that.

Anyone who flicked on the TV over summer will have probably seen some of the band's impressive Reading & Leeds sets, and with tracks like these - the epitome of crowd pleasing hooks paired with slick, trendy coolness - it's plain to see why the band commanded such ecstatic crowds.

Blue Cassette is released on the 12th December.

Niki & The Dove - Mother Protect

New Niki & The Dove single Mother Protect isn't what you'd call understated. Dripping in tribal beats and the varied his and crackle of bruised, antique vinyl, the track lurches from place to place - a veritable safari of noise.

Like a more animalistic Florence & The Machine, Mother Protect is quirky, individual pop at its most dark and shadowy. Its the stuff dredged up from the blackest of caves, raised now raw and fresh-beating.

Mid track the song reaches a jaw-dropping pitch-raising medley of sheer noise that hits you like a jet fighter. Niki & The Dove at times feels less like a musician, more like a sonic warrior, waging war with an assortment of high powered sounds - it's a formidable arsenal and one she uses to impressive effect.

With the NME Radar tour and support slots with Hurts behind her, Mother Protect makes for an irresistible continuation of The Drummer EP project.

Benjamin Francis Leftwich - Pictures

When it comes to tuneful acoustic dities, Benhamin Francis Leftwich is your go-to dude. New single Pictures is every bit as suffused with hazy, folk-tinged melodies as the rest of his album - in releasing it, Leftwich returns to his beginnings.

Originally released as part of a four track EP back in March this year, Pictures - a firm fan favourite - is here given a new lease of life, another opportunity to share its beautiful merits with the public at large. In its haunting etherealness, Leftwich presents a moving retrospective of life.

Pictures is released on the 20th February.

You can also catch Benjamin at the following tour dates next year:

20 - The Globe - Cardiff
21 - Komedia - Bath
22 - Shepherd’s Bush Empire - London
23 - Academy 2 - Manchester
24 - ABC2 - Glasgow

[Official Video] Nicola Roberts - Yo-Yo

Last week we went to Nicola's exclusive Carphone Warehouse gig and were blown away once again by her professionalism and sheer awesomeness as she treated an intimate audience to a lovely acoustic set, including her new single Yo-Yo.

One week later, Nicola's treating us again with the Yo-Yo video. In it, the Girls Aloud star tries on an assortment of stylish outfits, parties with a load of girls in a kitchen and throws plates at a guy. Just an average day in the life! What's more, three great videos in a row makes that a hat-trick!

For us, Yo-Yo just backs up all the reasons why we already absolutely love Nicola and once again proves why she's been one of this year's most exciting solo stars.

Speaking of the track, Nicola says: 'The song is about being in that position with a guy when you really don’t know whether you’re coming or going. Being in that position can make you really vulnerable. It’s the dark, desperate and doubtful side of love.'

Yo-Yo is released on the 8th of January accompanied by a live version of the track and a demo of Sticks + Stones.

The Wombats - 1996

With Techno Fan the Wombats delivered by far the best record of their career - a joyous burst of youthful exuberance by way of streamlined Pulp-esque Brit-pop. For a band that so often play on their own sense of goofyness, Techno Fan showed that when they aim for something more serious, they can really excel.

New single 1996 attempts to do much the same, this time going for a more rough and ready sound and packs in a colossal reedy synth riff in the process. The Wombats have something of a penchant for reminiscing over their childhood in their lyrics, and as far as song-worthy material goes, it treads a dangerous line between nostalgia and overly-quaint.

While 1996 fails to recapture the sugary pop sweetness that propelled Techno Fan, its rousing guitar parts, sense of ramshackle hard graft and chanty football ground vocals help mark it out as another of the group's best. It leaves only one question, why the abysmal Anti-D was ever released as a single...

1996 is released on 28th November.

Drake feat. Nicki Minaj - Make Me Proud

The anticipation for Drake's Take Care album across the internet has been more than palpable. In this age of instant gratification gratis downloads and On Air/On Sale, it's arrival seemed like an event, a day to indulge in its entirety.

Taken out of the context of the album, Make Me Proud bears less singular appeal than the title track, but boasts an equally star-studded guest vocalist in the form of Nicki Minaj.

Drake spins lyrics of his ideal woman over a choppy, tweaked spool of digital effects and big beats. For a rapper who's made a career out of lush, ambient textures, Make Me Proud sees Drake at his hardest, most biting.

Nicki positively leaks onto the track, cutting across Drake and pulling her usual cod British accent 'thing'. It's no repeat of her magnificent Eminem collab Roman's Revenge, but most crucially, it sees her fitting into the track rather than this being a predictable case of quick in and out guest role. As the track progresses, spiralling vortexes of synth rhythms cascade down over the raps, crafting a rich mix of textures that has come to characterise the classic Drake sound.

With her level of fame, it's key that Nicki doesn't overpower Drake, doesn't become the pinning point of the track - and thankfully, she doesn't; this remains 100% a part of Take Care, with Nicki's role being that of an exciting embellishment.

Make Me Proud is released on the 12th December.