Saturday, June 30, 2012

Watch: Elton John Vs PNAU Video For 'Sad'

The collaboration between Elton John and Australian dance band Pnau has now a video.

The track, which drops on July 16 and is the first song from their new album 'Elton John Vs Pnau – Good Morning To The Night' is a rework of a number of the 65-year-old’s classic hits from the 1970s. The full album will be out also on July 16.

Check out the video below.

Blur Unveil Artwork For 'Under The Westway'

Blur have revealed the artwork for their new double A-side single which will be performed live via an exclusive stream on Twitter next week.

The tracks 'Under The Westway' and 'The Puritan' are set to be performed live by Blur at a secret London location from 6.15pm on Monday, July 2nd, and will then be available to download immediately after. The physical single will follow on August 6th.


See the 'Under The Westway' artwork below.

Friday, June 29, 2012

Watch: The Presets New Video For 'Youth In Trouble'

The Presets have unveiled the video for their amazing new track 'Youth In Trouble', directed by New York based visual artist, Yoshi Sodeoka.

Youth In Trouble is the first track taken from The Presets forthcoming album 'Pacifica', released on September 14 through Modular Recordings. You can listen to the track in our regular rotation.

Watch the video below.




Tags: The Presets

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The Vaccines Unveil 'The Vaccines Come Of Age' Tracklisting and Artwork

The Vaccines 'The Vaccines Come Of Age'
The Vaccines have released details of their upcoming record 'The Vaccines Come Of Age', which will be released on September 3rd.

The band's second effort will feature 11 tracks and  has been produced by Ethan Johns, who has previously worked on albums by the likes of  Kaiser Chiefs, Kings Of Leon, Tom Jones and many more.

"I don't think there's any danger of us making the same record twice. But I think anything people found attractive about us the first time round has been retained. I'm really confident we've got the balance right." Said singer Justin Young in a recent interview.

"I wanted to look inwards with this record. Honesty goes a long way in music and it's therapeutic. There's a lot about the way I'm feeling. One minute you're a shit-kicking 21-year-old and the next you're playing a song you've written in front of 20,000 people chanting your name. But that's tongue-in-cheek too, it's not me taking myself completely seriously. " He added.

The tracklisting for 'The Vaccines Come Of Age' is as follows:

1. No Hope
2. I Always Knew
3. Teenage Icon
4. All In Vain
5. Ghost Town
6. Aftershave Ocean
7. Weirdo
8. Bad Mood
9. Change Of Heart pt.2
10. I Wish I Was A Girl
11. Lonely World

Monday, June 25, 2012

Bloc Party Unveil 'Four' Tracklist

Bloc Party have unveiled the tracklisting of their fourth album 'Four'. Check out below.

1. So He Begins To Lie
2. 3X3
3. Octopus
4. Real Talk
5. Kettling
6. Day 4
7. Coliseum
8. V.A.L.I.S.
9. Team A
10. Truth
11. The Healing
12. We're Not Good People

'Four' will get released on the 20th August through Frenchkiss Records, with the band releasing single 'Octopus' (which is already in rotation at www.koolrockradio.com) on the 3rd July.

They have also revealed tour dates scheduled for October.

OCTOBER
12 Newcastle O2 Academy
13 Leeds O2 Academy
14 Glasgow O2 Academy
15 Birmingham O2 Academy
17 Southampton Guildhall
18 Bristol O2 Academy
19 Manchester, WHP
20 Cambridge, Corn Exchange

Friday, June 22, 2012

TOY Announce Debut Album Details

TOY have announced details of their debut album release.

The London band will release their self-titled album on 10 September 2012 through Heavenly Recordings and was recorded earlier this year in South London with Dan Carey (Hot Chip/Chairlift/The Kills). 

The track-listing for the release is as follows:

1. Colour’s Running Out
2. The Reasons Why
3. Dead & Gone
4. Lose My Way
5. Drifting Deeper
6. Motoring
7. My Heart Skips A Beat
8. Strange
9. Make It Mine
10. Omni
11. Walk Up To Me
12. Kopter


And here's the Artwork.




Watch: Juveniles New Video For "Through The Night"

Electro-pop French band Juveniles have unveiled the video for their new single "Through The Night", the title-track on their recently released EP (June 11).

The song is part of our current playlist www.koolrockradio.com.

The video was directed by Edward Housden. Watch it below.




Thursday, June 21, 2012

Watch: Alpaca Sports Share Video For "She'll Come Back For Indian Summer"

Swedish duo Alpaca Sports have shared the video for their new catchy single "She'll Come Back For Indian Summer", out now through Luxury. The song is part of our current playlist www.koolrockradio.com.

The video was directed by Carl Jirestedt. Watch it below.


Buy your Copy of  "She'll Come Back For Indian Summer" on iTunes.

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti Unveil Tracklist and Artwork

Ariel Pink will release new album 'Mature Themes' on August 21 in the US and August 20 in the UK through 4AD, the follow-up to 2010’s Before Today.

In a recent interview, Pink said: "Sonically, it's comparable (to Before Today). There are definitely not any links to my lo-fi origins. It's so diverse but so different from anything I've done before. In a sense, it's really the record I wanted to make back when I made Before Today, but couldn't due to pressures and different factors. We had time to let our hair down and try new things."

The first single released from the album will be the cover of Donnie and Joe Emerson's 'Baby', which also features guest vocals from Dâm-Funk. The song will also be released on July 10th as a limited edition one-sided 12".


Check out the artwork and tracklist below.


Mature Themes Tracklist:

1. Kinski Assasin
2. Is This The Best Spot?
3. Mature Themes
4. Only In My Dreams
5. Driftwood
6. Early Birds of Babylon
7. Schnitzel Boogie
8. Symphony of the Nymph
9. Pink Slime
10. Farewell American Primitive
11. Live it Up
12. Nostradomus & Me
13. Baby


Tags: Ariel Pink

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

The Presets Announce New Album 'Pacifica'

Australian electro duo The Presets have announced they'll release their third album, Pacifica, on September 14th.  

Pacifica will feature "ten prismatic, synth-laced songs" and was produced by the band - Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes - and mixed in Los Angeles with Tony Hoffer (The Temper Trap, M83, Foster The People).

The album can already be ordered as a limited-edition version featuring CD / Vinyl / digital download code coupled with "a hardcover book filled with expanded artwork plus a limited edition lithograph that is numbered and signed by the band. All this housed in a 12" case with a lenticular cover."

Here's the cover.



The Presets were also just announced as part of Australia's annual Parklife festival.


Tags: The Presets

Two Door Cinema Club Announce New Album 'Beacon'

Two Door Cinema Club "Beacon"
Two Door Cinema Club have announced that they will release "Beacon" as their second studio record on September 3 through Kitsuné.

The trio - Alex Trimble, Kevin Baird and Sam Halliday - spent April in Los Angeles recording with Mr Jacknife Lee, the man behind the likes of Bloc Party, U2 and REM, for the follow-up to their platinum-selling debut 'Tourist History'.

Speaking of the experience of working with Lee, Trimble comments, "Working with Jacknife Lee was a joy and a pleasure. He shared our goals and played a huge part in putting the pieces together in the right way. This is an exciting time for us and we can't wait to share the songs with everyone."

"Beacon is a much more intimate record than our first, but at the same time, it's much bigger and more inclusive. Trying to find that balance has been our goal for a long time and this record takes us one step closer to the band we've dreamt of becoming."

Check out the tracklisting and album trailer below.

1. Next Year
2. Handshake
3. Wake Up
4. Sun
5. Someday
6. Sleep Alone
7. The World Is Watching (with Valentina)
8. Settle
9. Spring
10. Pyramid
11. Beacon

Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan Frustrated By Fans

Billy Corgan
In a recent interview, Billy Corgan talked about his frustration at fans wanting to hear his band's older tracks at their live shows.

"We met this wall resistance like, 'It's nice you guys want to move forward, but can't you just play the old songs?'. I've had five years of 'Can't you just play the old songs?' The whole time, all I've done is put my head down and try to make new music."

"You reach a point of literal frustration where you start going 'maybe this is never going to move forward? Maybe the vague 'they' out there will never accept The Smashing Pumpkins of this time?"

He also reveals plans to tour new album 'Oceania' without touching much of their back catalogue. 

"That was always the plan from the beginning. We made the album with that in mind. Everybody is out playing their old album. Now, it's created a thing where people expect that. Being The Smashing Pumpkins, we're going to play an album, it's just going to be our new one."


"We want to play the album and then play some classics to go with it. I have to give some credit to [Pink Gloyd's] David Gilmour. I saw him on his solo tour in 2006, and he did that. He came out and played a couple of 'The Dark Side of the Moon' songs. He played his whole new record. Then he did 'Echoes', 'Comfortably Numb', and all of that stuff. It was awesome. It was a really cool thing, and you felt like he was honouring where he was at and did this idealised set afterwards. That's what we're shooting for."

Monday, June 18, 2012

MGMT, Washed Out, The Kills For Fleetwood Mac Covers Album


Fleetwood Mac – whose former member Bob Welch recently passed away – will be honoured by a tribute album that features MGMT, Washed Out and more. 

Currently untitled, the Fleetwood Mac album comes produced by Randall Poster, who also handled Rave On, a Buddy Holly tribute album released last year and featuring Florence + The Machine, Julian Casablancas and more. 

The tribute will include covers of famous Fleetwood Mac tracks like 'Albatross', 'Rhiannon' and 'Dreams' as well as lesser known songs by the hugely succesful band.

The album will be released on September 14th via Hear Music/Concord. Check out the tracklisting below.

01. Entrance Band – Green Manalishi
02. Crystal Ark – Tusk
03. Best Coast – Rhiannon
04. The New Pornographes – Think About Me
05. MGMT – Future Games
06. Marianne Faithful – Angel
07. Antony Hegarty – Landslide
08. Ranaldo and Mascis – Albatross
09. Trixie Whitley – Before the Beginning
10. Washed Out – Straight Back
11. Super Wolf – Storms
12. The Kills – Dreams
13. Gardens and Villa – Gypsy
14. Billy Gibbons – Oh Well
15. Lykke Li – Silver Springs

Thursday, June 14, 2012

The Raveonettes Celebrate 10th Anniversary With New Album 'Observator'

The Raveonettes are set to celebrate their tenth anniversary with the release of new album 'Observator'.

The Danish duo's new album will be released on September 10th through their own label Beat Dies Records and it was recorded at the Sunset Sound Studios with Richard Gottehrer (Blondie, Go-Gos, Richard Hell), who previously worked with them on their 'Pretty In Black' album.

Sune Rose Wagner outlines what the band's intentions were during the recording process.

"When you start to record a new album, people always ask you what you think it will sound like. It's almost impossible to talk about music that doesn’t exist but when we started work on our sixth album late last year, I thought that for once, I had a pretty good idea," he said. 

"Put simply, 'Observator' was supposed to be our Los Angeles album. At least, that’s what I imagined it to be in my head. As much as I love New York and feel almost constantly inspired by the noise and confusion here, the allure of the west coast has always loomed large for The Raveonettes. When it came time to start work on this album, the warm Pacific pull had become irresistible."

Continuing, the guitarist emphasised the influence of The Doors over recent album sessions. "The fact that I was listening to The Doors constantly only added to the seductive draw of the drowning sun" he said. 

"I wanted to get back to that classic verse-chorus-verse style of song writing that The Doors managed so well on their best singles. It's a very specific and evocative feel that I wanted to achieve, and going out west seemed the best way to capture it."

"It was during these sessions that a new dimension to the Raveonettes began to develop; it's the first time we've ever used the piano and what a glorious, gloomy sound it makes. We knew immediately that it was something we needed to expand on. But make no mistake, Observator is still a gorgeous guitar album."

No tour plans or tracklisting have yet been revealed.

Watch: Passion Pit New Video For 'Take A Walk'


Passion Pit have unveiled their brand new video for 'Take A Walk', directed by David Wilson.

The song is part of our regular rotation and it comes from their forthcoming album 'Gossamer' which is set for release on the 24th July through Columbia Records.
The clip was made in partership with The Creators Project using newly developed helicam technology.

Watch it below.


Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Watch: Thieves Like Us 'Maria Marie' Video

Thieves Like Us have unveiled the video for for their latest single "Maria Marie", taken from their new record Bleed Bleed Bleed released on March 2012. It is one of our favorite songs on the record. 

In a recent interview, Thieves Like Us talked about who is Maria Marie. 
"Oh, I think we were going to sing Berlin Berlin, but in the end the song is a bit about my mother... I was having a fight with her. But her name is Janice. Maria or Marie... I thought it was a pretty popular name on the planet... She could be anyone and everyone."

Watch the video below.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Watch: The Griswolds Unveil "Heart of a Lion" Music Video

Sydney indie pop five-piece The Griswolds have unveiled the video for their new single "Heart of a Lion", which will be out tomorrow (June 13). The song is part of our current playlist.

Watch the colorful video for the summery pop tune below. It was directed by Chang&Cox.


Monday, June 11, 2012

Pet Shop Boys Announce New Album 'Elysium'

Pet Shop Boys will release their 11th studio album Elysium in September via Parlophone. An exact release date has yet to be announced.

According to the band's website, the album was produced in Los Angeles by Andrew Dawson and Pet Shop Boys.

To give us an idea of the Elysium sound, they've released a music video for the song "Invisible" that was directed by Los Angeles-based artist Brian Bress. Like several tracks on “Elysium”, "Invisible" features backing vocals by singer/songwriter James Fauntleroy and veteran singers Oren, Maxine and Julie Waters

Watch the video for new song "Invisible".

Thursday, June 07, 2012

Last Dinosaurs Unveil 'Andy' Video (One of the Best Hits of the Year in Kool Rock Radio)

This song was one of our best hits from January to March on Kool Rock Radio, and now has a video clip.

Australian four-piece Last Dinosaurs unveiled the video for "Andy", taken from their debut album "In A Million Years" released in March 2012.

Watch it below.



Monday, June 04, 2012

Bono: U2 Have To Do ‘Something Very Special’ With New Album

Bono has claimed that U2's latest recording sessions have been among the band's best ever.

In an interview with an Irish TV programme, the U2 frontman revealed that the band have had 'the best three weeks in the studio since 1979', as work begins on the follow-up to 2009's 'No Line On The Horizon' album.

Bono and his bandmates are well aware of the need to produce 'something very special' with their thirteenth studio effort. 

"I think they are very aware that U2 have to do something very special to have a reason to exist right now," he said.

The band were the highest-grossing touring act last year and were estimated to have earned $231.9m (£150.1m) for their 34-date 360° tour since January 1, 2011, drawing in a total of 2,387,535 fans.

Friday, June 01, 2012

Band of the Month June 2012 - CUT YOUR HAIR


Cut You Hair is a post-punk, dream-pop band formed in 2010 in Barcelona, Spain. The band consist of Sergio, Aleix and Ed. The three of them went to the same school and decided to form a band because they believed that their souls were connected, just like their vision about music. 

About their music, lead singer Sergio had this to say: "There must be a soul in everything we do, if we don't feel a song, we just won't play it. I woulndn't have any sense to us. I reckon it is too early to label our music yet... So I'm just going to call it all pop by now". 

The band released their debut single "Utah In Pictures" through the spanish label Mushroom Pillow Records on 30 April 2012. The single includes two B-sides: "I Wish I Was Stoned" and "I Just Need Another Friend." 

"I was tired of the place I was living in, so I just went on the internet to check out some cites from wherever… like planning what would be in the future for me. And I bumped into this page with pictures of Salt Lake City. It looked sort of decadent in a way, it inspired me, I knew I had to write the song." Sergio said.

The band is currently planning their second single. 

**Cut Your Hair's catchy single Utah In Pictures peaked at #1 on our Most Played list for 3 weeks (April 2 - April 16 2012).