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Programming sage Keith Fullerton Whitman has released a new studio LP of surprisingly danceable fare.

Fullerton Whitman’s had a fascinating musical journey to date. He worked across a vast array of aliases in the 1990s, playing guitar in outfits with fruity names like The Liver Sadness and Sheket/Trabant, and earned particular notoriety for his frenzied breakcore under the Hrvatski moniker. The 2000s saw him turn out releases on Kranky, Editions Mego and Carpark, with the results tilting from ambient drift through to fiercely complex algorithm-based compositions. The latter have become a particular interest in recent years, as embodied on last year’s exceptional Generators LP. His last record was Live Occlusions, released on Protracted Audio in January.

Printing press and art label Shelter Press have now issued the Split 12″, featuring contributions from Fullerton Whitman and Belgian artist Floris Vanhoof. Fullerton Whitman handles Side A, offering the four-track ‘Jardin Electronique’ suite. In contrast to the frantic bleeps and chirrups which characterise his recent work, Fullerton Whitman’s side sees him on pretty, tuneful form. Side B will feature a Vanhoof drone piece, created exclusively on analogue synthesiser. Shelter Press promises the sound of “two modular experimentalists stretching the world map”, which is more than alright by us.

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VIRALS returns from a mini US tour to release a new free download ahead of performances at a number of Field Day events this weekend.

‘Wax-Work’ is the final teaser before Hencher begins work on a full length album and has the kind of inescapable kinetic energy that has become VIRALS’ signature  over the past year or so. It’s a power-pop blowout with a motoring riff that shoots straight for the sun.

Hencher and band will play live on Friday (24 May) at the first of three FREE Field Day parties we’re hosting at the Shacklewell Arms this weekend, as well as at Field Day itself on Saturday (25 May).

RSVP to our Field Day Parties here.

Trevor Bolder, the bassist in David Bowie’s iconic Spiders From Mars combo, has died aged 62 following a battle with cancer.

The Yorkshireman came up playing alongside Mick Ronson in R&B combo The Rats in the late 1970s, and became part of Bowie’s regular backing band in 1971, contributing to Hunky Dory (1971) The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (1972), Aladdin Sane (1973) and Pin Ups (1973). Bolder went on to join proto-metallers Uriah Heep in 1976, playing with the band up until early 2013. His musical CV also includes stints with Wishbone Ash and Cybernauts

Uriah Heep have issued a heartfelt statement following Bolder’s death:

It is with great sadness that Uriah Heep announce the passing of our friend the amazing Trevor Bolder, who has passed away after his long fight with cancer. Trevor was an all-time great, one of the outstanding musicians of his generation, and one of the finest and most influential bass players that Britain ever produced. His long time membership of Uriah Heep brought the band’s music, and Trevor’s virtuosity and enthusiasm, to hundreds of thousands of fans across the world.

He joined the band in 1976 and, barring one short break, was a fixture until his ill health forced him to take a step back early this year. Prior to joining Heep he was a founder and ever-present member of David Bowie’s ...

Less than a year since Animal Collective

It has to be said that Labrador Records founder and Club 8 member Johan Angergård has an ear for taking the twee melancholia that bleeds from his homeland of Sweden and finding bands that offer intriguing, gorgeous filters through which to pour this anguish. Be it the shoegaze indie of the Radio Dept, the Belle & Sebastian-influenced story-telling of the Acid House Kings (to which Johan also contributes) or, in this case, the Robyn strutting electro pop of Club 8, anyone with a hungry heart must surely have held hands with a Labrador release at some point.

But this is not a one-trick stable or a Robyn homage, not at all. Above the City could be a lost Robyn album but it would be her side step. The moment she went twee electro, as opposed to S&M, leather and Adidas funk. Lead by Karolina Komstedt

Julian House, the man behind those beautifully retro Ghost Box sleeves, is back as The Focus Group with more broken melodies, distorted children

During promo for his forthcoming sci-fi flick After Earth, the long-abdicated Fresh Prince offered some unexpected insights into his current musical endeavours.

“We went in the studio a couple times, so I might get the bug. I’m not going to do it unless I’m truly inspired, but Ye’s been pushing me a little bit”

Watch the chat below in question below. Photos of the pair in the studio previously hit the web back in February; here’s hoping for a return to Smith’s witch house days. West will drop new album Yeezus on June 18 [via Complex]

Things have got ugly between Eminem and social networking megacorp Facebook – and Dr. Dre’s been unwittingly dragged into the mess too.  

As Billboard report, Eminem’s publishing company, Eight Mile Style LLC, has launched a lawsuit against Facebook over alleged copyright infringement. Eight Mile Style is claiming that the social networking site unlawfully copied a vintage Eminem track in an advert for its Facebook Home application. The advert, produced by ad agency Wieden + Kennedy in April, featured music with more than a passing resemblance to The Marshall Mathers LP track ‘Under The Influence’.

The lawsuit states that viewers of the video were quick to comment on the similarities, leading Facebook to hastily re-edit the advert – something the Eight Mile Style team holds up as an implicit admission of guilt. Despite removing the track, Facebook were still issued with a cease and desist order on the grounds that the company had no right to “alter the Eminem/D12 composition.”

The tone of the lawsuit gets increasingly vigorous from here on in, with Eight Mile Style alleging that Facebook and Wieden + Kennedy responded to their cease and desist with some flagrantly false counter-arguments, including the erroneous claim that Dr. Dre had produced the track – something the lawsuit claims is swiftly disproved by a “simple internet search&#822...