Dels feat. Joe Goddard & Roots Manuva – Capsize (Entrepreneurs Remix) by Entrepreneurs

Well that is my relationship with pet fish.

Naming your band, like Binko Swink have done, after your pet fish might be a better way to remember your little scaly friends.

Lyla Foy and Dan Bell have made music under many various guises, more recently as Oldwick, who I came to know a couple of years ago after playing at a gig with them at the Half Moon in Putney. When I saw them again this year with a new lineup, style and songs as Binko Swink, I was amazed at how much more I loved their music.

With accomplished song-writing, serene and charmingly nonchalant lead vocals from Lyla as well as some perfectly judged lead guitar solos from Dan their music has taken a drastic leap forward. I’m excited for them.

Their first single Patient, is an intricate mid-tempo pop number which focuses perfectly on the song and the intimate vocals. It’s refreshing for a record made at home not to try and use every filter and button they can in their pro-tools rig. You don’t need to try and hide your music in layers all the time.

Patient by Binko Swink

Here’s the video:

Patient is being released by Adventure Club Records on 12 September 2011 – they’re having a single launch party on Battersea Barge.

Don’t you find when the sun’s out you can’t beat strutting down the street listening to an awesome tune feeling pretty fucking good about yourself?

So my tune for a summery ego filled weekend is by Fitz & The Tantrums which I just came across at Mad Macrkel.

Founded by Michael Fitzpatrick in L.A., this six piece are quickly becoming known for their soul tapping tunes. They’ve recently toured with the rather lame Maroon 5 – but don’t let that put you off, they are far better than any pseudo soul pap. They have real soul.

So whack on your headphones, walk down the street take pride in the fact that you’re so effortlessly amazing you Don’t Gotta Work It Out.

Fitz & The Tantrums – Don’t Gotta Work It Out (mp3)

You can buy their album Pickin’ Up The Pieces from their own store and you can follow Fitz & The Tantrums on Twitter

I wouldn’t say that Bill Majoros, otherwise known as The Foreign Films, is anything like Kitano, or Japanese films, but his music would can certainly fill my time like Kitano did.

Marjoros’ former band Flux A.D. included Julie Fader (Feist, Great Lake Swimmers) and Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck) and has toured much of North America in various guises. Now he’s montaging all his experiences and sounds into a new soundtrack of his life as The Foreign Films.

Out of Marjoros’ songwriting skills and crunchy compressed vocals comes forth a mix of jangly 60′s guitars, 80′s new wave and soul bass riffs. It’s a refreshingly infectious summery feeling that will hopefully take him as far as the land of the setting sun.

He recently released the EP Fire From Spark which features appearances from Kori Pop and Alex McMaster (Arcade Fire). Courtesy of Bill, here is my highlight from the release, Lucky Streak, a catchy number which oozes class, so much so that it wouldn’t go amiss on a James Bond soundtrack…

The Foreign Films – Lucky Streak (mp3)

You can buy Fire From Spark from Bandcamp and follow The Foreign Films on Twitter

Brendan Angelides more commonly known now as Eskmo is an electronic experimental producer and recording artist based in San Fransico.

I’m sure that Entrepreneurs has taken a ton of inspiration from Eskmo. His bleeptastic hip hop soundscapes are impressive monuments created with grit and dirt. There’s so much going on, and it all comes together in some kind of harmonic thrust propelling you back 100 yards.

As I’m at a stag do I’m going to miss 4 June’s gig with Eskmo and Dels at Village Underground in Shoreditch. This makes me well up inside, but I’m sure by the time I’m at karaoke singing Stand By Me I’ll be drunk enough to forget all about it.

Here are a couple of tracks from his self-titled album Eskmo:

Eskmo: Moving Glowstream (Ninja Tune 2010) by Eskmo

Eskmo: Color Dropping (Ninja Tune, 2010) by Eskmo

You can buy Eskmo on Amazon and follow Eskmo on Twitter

The musician come graphic designer from Ipswich, Dels (born Kieren Dickins), is in a three album deal with Big Dada and can proudly include Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard amongst his fans. He is, like Gil Scott-Heron, a real innovator. Dels is a musician who happens to rap.

Dels’ first album GOB, is an experimental explosion of synths, beats and rhyme. ‘I am the architect of my thoughts where unicorn shit glitter are welcome aboard‘ is declaimed within the first 30 seconds of the record which pretty much somes up the rest of it. At the moment, GOB is leading my album of the year list – and would recommend listening to it now to really understand what Dels is all about.

You can find out more about him in his interview on my favourite podcast: Guardian Music Weekly. Here is one of the singles from the album, Trumpalump which features none other than Joe Goddard. Listen and you can see why he wanted to work with Dels and why I’m writhing with excitement every time I put this record on:

Trumpalump Featuring Joe Goddard (Hot Chip) by DELS

You can buy Gob on Amazon and follow Dels on Twitter.

Fishing is the experimental electronic pop duo Russell Fitzgibbon and Doug Wright from Sydney. Like the Avalanches they make big beaty tunes that turn your frowns upside down.

Their current single OOOO is a testament to their sunshine sound, and despite being full to the brim with ideas, samples and melodies, it all manages to merge into a happy and harmonious cacophony.

You can buy the LP and get a bonus EP with it. In the meantime have a listen to the OOOO and the b-side from the LP, Pee Green Bote, and give yourself a smile.

OOOO by FISHING

Pee Green Bote by FISHING

British rock has taken a slump recently, there’s nothing new getting too far, but lets hope that changes. We’re due a new pop rock band soon. Actually what was the last great pop rock band? Arctic Monkeys I guess.

The Van Doos are a London based group and one of the rare breed that are not stuck in the gradually grating dickhead East London vibe. Maybe it’s cause one of the members is from York, like me. Don’t worry though, they don’t sound much like the only musical greatness from York since the medieval ages, Shed Seven.

Well they’re very new, so their isn’t much out there about them at the moment, so I’d say the best way to get to know their music is to listen to their new release, Is This The One, which I’m addicted to already:

The Vand Doos – Is This The One (mp3)

Download Is This The One for the price of your email address

Their first track, another great pop rock number Tenterhooks, is on soundcloud – oh and here it is:

The Van Doos – Tenterhooks by The Van Doos

The adrenaline hit from watching horror films is not something I enjoy. Why spend a couple of hours stressing out. So do I like horror techno bassline dubstep tracks? Turns out I do.

Figure, a.k.a. Josh Gard, from somewhere in the Midwest, USA is terrorising my Friday afternoon. Massive dub tracks all about Zombies and Werewolves. I’d love to hear this in a massive club. At my desk trying to work I think I’m missing out on some of the ambience.

You can find a ton of his scary beats at Figure’s SoundCloud page.

Here is one of his latest tracks which can download for free as well. It’s proper hectic dubstep with a fantastic Shostakovitch style violin solo to open.

By the sounds of it I reckon Figure could mix the music from Bambi into something so hectic, even Jason Statham wouldn’t be able to keep up with it.

Figure – The Werewolf (Dubstep Mix) FREE DOWNLOAD! by Figure

Here’s a sneak peak of whats on offer with their new video for Lotus Flower. Thom Yorke dances in it. A lot.