Meet Apparat, Berlin’s answer to Radiohead. His latest track, ‘Ash/Black Veil’ has notched up over 90,000 plays on Soundcloud, with its soulful and melancholic leanings. The German electro artist’s latest record, ‘The Devil’s Walk’ is actually his sixth studio album, but his first on new label, Mute.

You may know Apparat, or Sascha Ring as he’s referred to at home, as a former member of the electro supergroup Moderat, consisting of him and his maverick pals Modeselektor.... read more

Melbourne’s Owl Eyes is probably best known for her appearance on Illy’s track It Can Wait but she’s fast carving out her own niche in Australia’s singer-songwriter scene. Somewhere between Megan Washington, Kate Nash and the female-fronted Alpine, Owl Eyes (real name Brooke Addamo) serves up a hefty slice of quirky, catchy, keys-driven pop. Addamo, a former Australian Idol finalist, follows in the path of fellow Idol alumni Matt Corby and Lisa Mitchell... read more

Meet Kreayshawn, the latest artist to be swallowed up by the blogosphere. Her new video recently hit the net for single ‘Gucci Gucci’ featuring more than one Odd Future cameo, which (it has to be said) lends her a certain amount of instant cred, really.

We first saw Kreayshawn in that weird Lil B video, sharing a spliff with him while listening to Soulja Boy. A Berkeley Digital Film Institute dropout, the artist’s... read more

!With a dwindling number of live venues and a fickle audience, Sydney is a tough nut to crack for new bands. The Conics are no strangers to these stumbling blocks; having released their first single they’re off to a great start and are most definitely up for the challenge. John Treadgold spoke with Nick Vodicka and Sam Bratby from the band. “We met in high school and started off as a Blink 182 cover band, we’ve had a few line-up changes since then and our sound... read more

The Japanese Popstars are Gary Curran, Declan ‘Decky Hedrock’ McLaughlin and Gareth Donoghue; three lads from Northern Ireland who have made a name for themselves remixing the works of Depeche Mode, Gorillaz, Beyonce, and Kylie Minogue, to name a few.

They’ve been kicking it together since 2007, released a debut album, and are also on the new Tron remix album, Tron: Legacy Reconfigured alongside... read more

The warm months are well and truly behind us, as another cold winter approaches; lucky, therefore, that the fuzzed-out, summer-soaked debut EP from Massachusetts trio Dom has just been unleashed. A blissful, seriously lo-fi effort that sees the band drawing together the disparate elements of surf-rock and synthpop; it’s a seemingly odd combination, but Dom manage to pull it off and, in the process, create a bunch of songs that you wish had been around during those endless summer days. It’s... read more

! Gold Fields are, quite simply, one of Australia’s brightest music prospects. Based in that ever more fertile musical breeding ground of Ballarat (also home to Hunting Grounds (formerly Howl), Yacht Club DJs, Neon Love and more) Gold Fields prove once more that Aussies seem to have an innate knack for producing catchy, soaring, gorgeous synthpop. Sitting somewhere between Cut Copy and Friendly Fires, but infused with a jungle/tribal feel, it’s an exciting and... read more

Ghostpoet is already well on his way to higher places, with a debut album just out and praise from the likes of Mike Skinner of The Streets for his unique take on modern British life. The closest comparison one can make is perhaps Roots Manuva, with Ghostpoet’s laconic presence spinning tales of love and life in London, and a kind... read more

For May we shine the limelight on: Redcoats

Producing a bluesy-rock calling to mind Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath, Melbourne’s Redcoats sound like they’ve been together for a lot longer than they have. A powerful, gutsy rock’n’roll that, by all rights, these newcomers have absolutely no right to be making, Redcoats are a punchy, distorted, tearaway group that may very well be the heirs to Australia’s vacant rock throne. It’s as though someone has found... read more

Another new proposition out of Europe is the seemingly deliberately intriguing Wu Lyf collective, for whom writing and recording music seems to be only one string of a quality multimedia bow.

Beyond all the smoke and mirrors, behind the cloak and daggers is Heavy Pop, their first release, an ecstatic and cathartic enough almost shoegaze track on it’s own to warrant your interest and even you cash. Whether they can transform the intrigue into an interesting album is another thing entirely,... read more