Albino - Brand New Fear
Distinctly English, inner-city folk music created by a half-Australian, a half-Somalian, a scouser and a bouzouki-slash-trombone player from Hampshire. Brilliantly slick urban shanties from a band you'd just love to stumble across in a back-alley ale house, with lyrical themes ranging from post-apocalyptic human re-evolution to an ode to Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Recommended!
Greatmountainfire - Crooked Head
A delightfully uplifting single from the Belgians, coming across like a mix of Jonsi's whimsically bright solo work and Mumford and Sons' gift for a good melody. Reminiscent of the kind of music doing the rounds on camera and smartphone adverts at the moment, this is a bright, summery tune for those lazy, hazy days.
LAC - Borstal Boy
Kicking off with acoustic ramblings on the A-Side and complemented by a couple of great B-Sides that up the pace with some lively indie rock, LAC combine the gritty British socio-political musings of Billy Bragg with the mod-drenched melodies of The Jam. Excellently executed and clearly possessing an ear for melody, these southerners have found inspiration in the most downtrodden aspects of British society and harnessed it to create some fantastic music.
Friday Club - All I Wanna Do Is
Catchy, driving indie rock yet with a slightly generic sound, Friday Club play a slick, charismatic brand of indie rock that is bound to win over audiences and fans of the genre.
Holocene - Flaws In Us All
A chilled-to-the-max take on indie rock from the Birmingham 4-piece, swaying through dreamy guitar licks and frontman Bishan Davies' distinct vocals. Possessing quite a unique sound and already making quite a name for themselves, Holocene make for great sunny day fodder and are definitely worth a listen.
Princess Chelsea - We're So Lost
Coming across like a warm, hazy daydream with the tiniest hint of a dark, lurking fear, New Zealander Chelsea Nikkel provides a taster for her impending second album with new single We're So Lost; a fascinating tangle of dream-pop, dainty soundscapes and just plain weirdness. Almost Disney-like in its innocence yet with enough of a creepy fairytale twist to drive it in a more art-house direction, Princess Chelsea is well worth a listen.
OneGirlOneBoy - Wasted
Playing the kind of dark and claustrophobic indie rock that put Garbage on the map, Nottingham-based duo OneGirlOneBoy combine yearning, driving melodies with a warm production to create a sound that has already earned them a spot on BBC Introducing, and has seen them tipped as ones to watch in 2013.
Valentine - Chucky
A sassy, all-female grunge trio from down-under, Valentine's graphic retelling of a hangover-induced spewing session through snotty pop rock is executed with effortless, simplistic style that brings to mind Green Day at their most obnoxiously carefree, with the slower, heavier B-Side showing a different side to their music. Having been described as "a snotty bratty version of Republica", their cheeky brand of bubblegum grunge is certain to win them further success overseas as well as in their home country.
The Rattlin' Doors - In A Tree House
If Ian Dury and the Blockheads had been a psychobilly band, this is probably what they would have sounded like. Scuzzy, bluesy, countrified folk rock with a comical twist, The Rattlin' Doors are fairly ridiculous, but in all the best ways. Now grab that flagon of cider and do a kind of ska-skanking country jig that'll make you look ridiculous but make you feel... equally as ridiculous.
Hjaltalin - Crack In A Stone / Halo
Warm, fuzzy, intelligently-crafted electro-pop from the Icelandic seven-piece, awash with subtle beats and intricacies that pop out all over the place. The B-Side is a clever reworking of Beyonce's Halo, slowing it down and adding dreamy soundscapes to great effect. Full album Enter 4 is set for release later this year.
Taffy - Tumbling / Boys Don't Cry
No, they're not Welsh. Hailing in fact from Japan, Taffy are a charismatic, female-led indie-pop band who sound equally as shoegazey as they do poppy. With a six-minute, slowed-down, buzzed-out cover of The Cure's Boys Don't Cry thrown in for good measure, this double A-Side release is set to turn heads in advance of their second album Lixiviate out later this year.
Folks - We're All Dead
After a busy-but-successful eighteen months on the road on the back of their debut album I See Cathedrals and having supported the likes of Miles Kane, Noel Gallagher and Band of Skulls, Folks are back with a brand new song to tantalise fans in advance of album number two. We're All Dead is a bittersweet anthem, reminiscent of The Verve at their very best whilst adding the band's own unique finishing touches.
T.W.I.N.S. - Found A Flat
Hilariously surreal lyrics about, well, looking for a flat in East London, T.W.I.N.S. Laurence and Hugo provide a backdrop of bouncing electro-beats to this truly bizarre mix of eccentricity and trumpets. B-Side Ride The Horsey is equally as bonkers, and would fit perfectly inside The Mighty Boosh's weirder than weird world.