Read The Lastest Music News/Reviews

The four-guitar Nashville punk monster Diarrhea Planet has lately cultivated a rep as one of the best, most fiery young live bands on the touring circuit. If their revolting band name is still (understandably) putting you off, their live cover of “Born To Run” with Titus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles might be enough to change your mind. And later this summer, they’ll release the sophomore album I’m Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams. The first single is the ragged, anthemic “Separations,” and you can hear it below.

Read More...

Former reality show judge will be back alongside Gary Barlow, Nicole Scherzinger and Louis Walsh

The Berlin leg of The xx‘s Night + Day summer gig series took place over the weekend, with the likes of Chromatics, Mount Kimbie, Kindness and Mykki Blanco filling the bill.

Another of the supports was Jessie Ware, who returned as day swiftly became night to perform a collaborative rendition of Stardust‘s ‘The Music Sounds Better With You’ in front of a camera phone wielding crowd.

Watch the entirely unexpected performance below:

[via Gigwise]

House aficionados take note.

Chicago house pioneer Lil’ Louis changed dance music for good when he dropped ‘French Kiss’ back in 1989. It’s one of those rare tunes that still has traction to this day, and the producer is set to bring his sound to London’s Oval Space on Saturday June 13. Providing more than ample support will be Eglo’s Floating Points, whose intricate, compositional approach to house music has put him in a league of his own in recent years.

Rounding things out perfectly is NTS DJ Moxie, who will no doubt bring her unshakable, eclectic collection of funk, disco, house and more. Moxie put together a phenomenal FACT mix for us only last month, you can listen to it here.

For more information and tickets head over here.

If you’ve got a gift for metalworking and/or LED-light programming, you may be missing your calling; you could be raking in a ton of money by helping people realizing their dreams of transforming into Daft Punk robots. A new Wall Street Journal article explores the secondary market of artisans who are making facsimiles of Daft Punk’s robot helmets. According to the piece, there’s now a small but dedicated circle of fans willing to drop four figures on eBay for the privilege of looking like the two members of Daft Punk. From the article, it’s pretty clear that Daft Punk are leaving a ton of money on the table by not selling their own versions of those helmets. The entire piece is pretty fascinating, and you can read it here, though the above WSJ dot-drawing of Guy Bangalter is clearly the best thing about it.

Charli XCX isn’t ashamed of her pop sensibilities. Heck, she even proclaimed the Spice Girls and Britney to be her biggest influences recently.

It’s no surprise, then, that the goth-pop songstress chose to cover Backstreet Boys‘ classic (of sorts) ‘I Want It That Way’ at an in-store event in Chicago.

Watch that below, via Stereogum.

FunkinGreat.

Celebrating this year’s Dimensions Festival in Croatia, Detroit techno prodigy Kyle Hall and funky Londoner FunkinEven are due to re-kindle their Funkinevil collaborative project for a special back to back set at London’s XOYO on Friday June 12. This should already be enough to get yer pulse racing at four beats per bar, but the night doesn’t stop there – Mercury Prize nominees Portico Quartet are also due an appearance, and will no doubt be bringing their unique Hang drum-led sound to a set of fresh ears.

Rounding off the night in fine style will be legendary Worldwide DJ Gilles Peterson, who has been instrumental in bringing the more underground strain of sounds to the Dimensions Festival line-up.

For more information and tickets head here.

The Backstreet Boys’ luminous ballad “I Want It That Way” is almost indisputably the single greatest song to come out of the teenpop era, and if you’re still resisting its charms 15 years later, this is a pretty good morning to reconsider. Yesterday, during an in-store performance at Chicago’s Borderline Music, the British singer Charli XCX, who released her own album of pretty amazing pop songs just last month, busted out a charmingly low-key synthpop cover of the song. There’s nothing ironic about this particular cover; she’s radiating pure love the entire time. Also, I love how she handles the key change. Thanks to Stephanie for sending the cover in; check it out below.

Read More...

Documentary is due to air on BBC Two this weekend (May 25)

Available on: Planet Mu LP

In many music scenes it

Frontman says working with big name collaborators was a 'distraction from how confusing this record was to make'

Singer also reckons he will find cooler places to hang out than his daughters

Following on from our Best Bandcamp Releases Of The Month, we’re thrilled to announced a second new column, this time digesting the best contemporary cassette-only releases. The cassette circuit is a wellspring of inventive and surprising music – and more often than not, the best releases get minimal-to-zero coverage. In the first instalment of a new monthly column, Brad Rose – boss of nonpareil cassette and vinyl label Digitalis Recordings - picks out the cream of under-the-radar tape releases from the last month or so. 

---

The number of tapes being released on large and small labels alike these days is ridiculous, and trying to wade through all of it is an impossible task.

Worse is how many of these cassettes are nice enough but generally unremarkable.  As always, though, there are a handful that stand out from the pack, yet too often go unnoticed.

This month we dig into subterranean electronics from Black Hat, the industrial grime of Lavas Magmas, Beaunoise getting his remix action on, echo-heavy Pod Blotz, New Age stealth from Discoverer, and a weird as hell tape called Shampoing and Toner.

Use your keyboard

Beyond, his debut album for Hyperdub" src="http://factmag-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/walton-hyperdub-album-5.22.20131.jpg" alt="Mancunian producer Walton announces Beyond, his debut album for Hyperdub" width="685" height="384" />

Manchester producer Sam Walton today announces his debut album for Hyperdub, Beyond. 

A contribution to Keysound’s All-Stars series aside, Walton has only ever released on Hyperdub, dropping a pair of EPs (Walton, 2011; All Night, 2012) and more recently announcing a vinyl only release for the label titled ‘Baby’. On Beyond, his productions really sparkle technically – there’s an impressive physicality to the whole album, with a woody texture to the drums creating cohesion – as he tackles 4×4 house, ghostly garage and, at times, grime. In Walton’s words, “I just wanted there to be a contrast between bright and dark, I didn’t want to stick to a specific genre either. Just a vibe.”

Beyond marks Hyperdub’s second full-length of 2013 following the instrumental version of LV’s Sebenza, with the announcement of a new Ikonika album set to follow.