Features Tracks: The National, CSS, Holograms And More

This week has really spoilt us. We’ve had two (TWO!) new tracks from The National, countless other exciting musical things to freak out about, and well it’s all a bit daunting really. It’s akin to being handed a massive box of fine truffles and a stopwatch, and being told you only have a precious time window in which to. Eat. All. The. Chocolates. As much as you’d love to pig out, you just can’t do it! Besides, we know you’re busy people who can’t be glued to their desks trying metaphorical chocolates through entirely real headphones, so we’ve done the hard work instead.

There were unfortunately no actual fine truffles on hand to devour, but regardless, the DIY writers huddled together, drew pens, and had a good old debate about which tracks deserve a place in our coveted weekly round-up. If we say so ourselves, this week beats any Thorntons selection box.

SULK - The Big Blue

The only way that you can be in a band that’s cataloged as Brit-pop revival in a post-Dalston Superstars era is if you do it right. And lucky for us SULK do it wonderfully. While we wait for the release of their debut album Graceless (out next Monday, which will include the cotton candy track ‘Flowers’) they’ve given us another taste of what to expect from their refreshing interpretation of the genre.Gloomy and uplifting, like a misty sunset in Primrose Hill, ‘The Big Blue’ is a ballad with no regrets, with an overpowering The Legends meets Tim Burgess-like chorus and a butterfly guitar solo near the end where you can image Ian Brown wandering around the stage shaking a tambourine. Perfect timing for the beginning of the spring.(Carolina Faruolo)

Table Scraps - In the Ground

The sheer ferocity of this track doesn’t overpower the fact that it’s pretty damn hook-laden. You’ll soon find yourself belting the lines along to this rough n’ ready recording. A lot of bands have this garage rock shtick down to a T, but these guys are ripping the genre a new one. The guitars bite that bit harder, the vocals snarl that much louder and the drums thwack that much more aggressively than any other two-piece garage rock band you’ll probably hear all year. They are available for parties. (Jack Parker)

Holograms - Flesh and Bones

What is it with angry Scandinavians? They should, without a doubt, be battling against each other by now - to win a twisted version of the Eurovision song contest with nonsense post-punk. Iceage have already made us poop our pants this year with their scary and aggressive second album. Holograms are determined not to be overshadowed and have returned with track ‘Flesh and Bones’ which follows on perfectly from Holograms. Andreas Lagerström’s defiant vocals are like that of a threatening barman crying out for last orders, whilst the rest of this first glimpse into Forever is what getting smashed over the head with a glass bottle must feel like. The contents of this bottle; layers of surging synths, motorik beats and a lung busting anthemic chorus. This was all present on their debut, but without such an emphasis on the shimmering electronics. Holograms may still be violent and destructive punks at heart, but there are clear signs that they are maturing and enhancing their sound. (Samuel Cornforth)

Bastille - Laura Palmer

It’s no secret that we like Bastille here at DIY. We also like great music videos – especially ones involving blue lasers, quad bikes and assorted masks. This is the newly released video for ‘Laura Palmer’ telling the story of the kidnapping of front man, Dan. While the video is perhaps delving into the sensitive issue of what it’s like being on the business end of a lens night after night; the track itself is one of the many highlights on the bands’ debut album Bad Blood. They have managed to create a stadium level performance that still maintains its intimacy. Not an easy thing to do by any means, but it’s something that clearly comes naturally. An incredible song, clever video and a stunning debut album. (Joe Dickinson - @DickinsonSound)

The National - Demons

The National really have been treating us well lately, haven’t they? Yesterday, ‘Don’t Swallow The Cap’ – just in case anyone had any doubts – confirmed that The National are back with the same black humour tinged misery of The Boxer. It is the other new track debuted this week, though, that has really made people jolt to attention. Fractured and resonant with a sprinkle of sadistic wit, unmuddied lyricism like ‘I am secretly in love with/ Everyone I grew up with,’ makes ‘Demons’ simply and beautifully affecting. There’s enough emotion crouched in the corner to make even the most steadfast vision of composure weep into a glass of red wine, and come November at the Ally Pally, it’ll be a surprise to see a dry eye in the, urm, palace. (El Hunt)

CSS - Hangover

After a fairly quiet period following the tempestuous departure of their drummer, Brazilian new-rave rockers Cansei de Ser Sexy have just announced the release of their 4th album Planta. One thing hasn’t changed: they’re still singing about ‘Alcohol’, this time in future tense in the shape of a ‘Hangover’. While the desire to jump around is still present, Planta’s first single sounds like a M.I.A. rejected B-side that she might have recorded while having drinking withdrawal symptoms, and in this case I mean it as a compliment. The trumpet samba section works unexpectedly well with the Super-Mario-3-in-the-underwater-world chaotic electronic effects, and the absence of a voice melody brings to surface that sense of comfortable confusion that all good CSS tracks generate in your spine. (Carolina Faruolo)

Bwani Junction - Civil War

The calypso drumming indie-quartet from Edinburgh, Bwani Junction, are back. Filling our ears with the sound of summer – and just as Britain is thawing from its arctic spring. Great timing you lot! ‘Civil War’ is another incredibly infectious track that will inevitably leave you with a spring in your step and a smile on your face, and probably even digging out their debut album Fully Cocked from back in 2011. We are eagerly awaiting the announcement for album two’s release date, but one thing is for certain – it is on its way. No toy soldiers were harmed during the making of the video.(Joe Dickinson - @DickinsonSound)

Sharks -Sunday’s Hand

In the lead up to this month’s release of Selfhood - the follow up to Sharks’ electrifying debut No Gods - the band have revealed a brand new song titled ‘Sunday’s Hand’, taken from the aforementioned new release. They embrace the raw power of acts that paved the dawning of Punk music, with elements of The Clash and The Stooges - to name just a couple of the genre’s pioneering acts that Sharks’ sound emanates. Yet teamed with the playful spirit of this century’s Pop-Punk, it captures the buoyant infectiousness of tour mates Blink-182 and acts such as Sum 41 and Greenday. A magnificent taster for the band’s hotly awaited new album. (Jonathan Hatchman )

Jacques Greene x Tinashe - Painted Faces

The time comes during every mad night out where everyone starts looking a bit sweaty, and the cure is usually something a little bit sexy and a lot 90s housey. You know, the sort of thing that you can blissfully bob around to with closed eyes. Lord knows, after the ‘Harlem Shake’ and its ridiculous upside-down-twerking carry on, the dance floors need some relief. Jacques Greene is on hand with slinking melodies and hiccupping beats, while Tinashe gives proceedings an injection of slow-burning Rn’B. It takes us right back to dancing the night away in Bestival’s Bollywood Tent surrounded by a kaleidoscope of colour and draping fabrics. In other words, look out for this song blasting from late-night festival tents everywhere when fatigue levels start to creep up. (El Hunt)