Shaking the Leaves

Thee Oh Sees - Ghosts in the Trees

Digging for Diamonds at the Bottom of the Sea

The War On Drugs - Taking The Farm

Hailing from Philadelphia, The War On Drugs blend the harmonic rhythm of Arcade Fire with the hippy/happy leanings of Animal Collective and look set to gain a much wider following by the end of the year, in the US at least. Their debut album ‘Wagonwheel Blues’ is not out until June but several tracks can be found on their myspace and are well worth checking out.

Much of The War On Drugs’ music conjures up images of 1970s-era America with folky song structures inspired by the likes of The Eagles and Bob Dylan. ‘Taking the Farm’ may even be a nod to Dylan’s performance of ‘Maggies Farm’ at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival when he famously went electric.

The track ebbs and flows as it rides the crest of a wave of distorted guitars and filtered effects, similar to 2007s ‘Bros’ from Panda Bear. It’s an ode to standing on your own two feet, a call-to-arms and a modern-day anthem for the American Dream; Fievel goes west and lives happily ever after.

There Is No Other Place

Portishead - Machine Gun

In contrast to the previous post, Portishead’s ‘Machine Gun’ is more suited to post-midnight listening than Summer. It’s not so much a shade darker as a completely different part of the spectrum - the colour of darkness consisting of deep blues and swirling purples.

Two sparse drumbeats play throughout in almost a call and response style with Beth Gibbon’s fragile voice trapped in between. The machine-gun-like percussion elements dominate the track just as on Prodigy’s ‘Spitfire’ only without Juliet Lewis screeching over the surface. The haunting vocals are instead submerged deep down within, creating a sense of dread that surrounds like smoke.

Someone You Did Long to Meet

Build An Ark - Love Sweet Like Sugarcane

A blissed out summery tune perfect for hot hazy August afternoons with bare feet on grass, eyes closed, mobile phone (and brain) switched off. Just press play and for 3 minutes even rainy April will feel like Summer.