New Musick Monday

Well, what a start to 2010. Last week we took absolutely no risks whatsoever with our album selections and we were rewarded with two top 10 albums. Delphic entered at no. 8 with their debut - fresh from finishing third in both the BBC Sound of Poll, the Brits selection for Critics Choice and Auntie June's Top Ten bands who sound a bit like New Order - whilst Vampire Weekend crashed in at number 3 with Contra. The latter has since gone from 'very good' to 'officially amazing' over the past seven days so anyone who hasn't brought it bloomin' well should. Charlotte Gainsbourg's single with Beck did diddly squat, but that's OK, we forgive you.

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Hidden by These New Puritans



Thanks to the fact that HMV no longer seems to stock CDs, we were thwarted in our attempts to listen to this second album from these pasty faced young whipper snappers. From the reviews we've read - and we understand that's not the same as hearing the music, but it's the best we've got - it's a massive creative leap from their whiny debut and it will need to be seeing as they came across as repellent little twerps in nearly every interview we read last time round. The clips available online suggest the band have taken a shining to Liars, Massive Attack and Bjork and somehow found a way to weld them together. This is clearly a good thing. The first single, 'We Want War', is pretty darn good and can be heard here.

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End Times by Eels



Poor old Mr Eel. First his Dad dies of a heart attack, then his sister commits suicide and finally his mum dies of Cancer. How do we know all this? Not only has he written a brilliant book about it all, but Mr Eel also has a penchant for documenting his life via his music, usually in heart-breakingly detailed fashion. So it is with his new album, End Times, which deals with the ashes of a dead relationship. 'A Line In The Dirt' is a fragile, piano lament, whilst 'Gone Man' is a sweary hoedown, E's vocals delivered in that trademark deadpan manner that somehow makes the whole thing even sadder.

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'Norway' by Beach House



Oh, you're going to be hearing a lot more of Beach House because they're soon to be released new album is, and you heard it here first, one of the best albums of 2010. Yep, already. This single actually came out as a free download a few months ago but it's now available to buy. That's right, you can choose to pay 79p for a song that has actually been available for free since November. And they say the music industry don't know how to deal with the popularity of digital music. Anyways, the song is amazing, the band are amazing and the forthcoming album, entitled Teen Dream, is very much amazing. Enjoy.