Bloc Party have announced another indefinite hiatus, to begin following their summer tour dates. Before they leave us, they will add a new EP Nextwave Sessions to the party. The first single is “Rachet”, which brings to mind the offbeat rhythms we heard on their Silent Alarm debut. They are planning six different festivals this month. By Bruce Rave
Bloc Party 
(Official)
* Links and playlists from Rave’s weekly new music show can be found on his blog and be sure follow Bruce on Twitter too!
National Anthem artist (CHVRCHES, Haim) Josh Record releases “The War” the title track from his upcoming follow-up EP to his brilliant “Bones” EP. Already anointed a “Hottest Record in the World” by Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe, “The War” is stunning in its sparkling simplicity & beauty. Spare slightly-reverbed guitar arpeggios and Josh’s 100% committed vocal (& fine falsetto) highlight here a track that is clearly the work of an artist, writer & arranger of the highest ability and order. “The War” EP is out August 12th.
Josh Record 
(Facebook)
Rating: 8.3
Listening to UK rapper Context’s new track “Small Town Lad Sentiments” is a little like having one foot firmly in sort of classic garage mid 90’s time-warp (and a very well-executed fresh approximation of that sound at that) and one being pulled at unflinchingly 20 years into the future; the rhymes, the feel of the track all sound very progressive, modern and futuristic (and we don’t mean “futuristic” in the future garage sense, we mean july 4, 2033 is tomorrow futuristic).
Context – Small Town Lad SentimentsContext (Facebook)
Rating 8.1
Really this review could begin and end with a “Fuck yes.” but here are a few details about “Drops”, new from UK artist(s) Jungle. Space beats, space soul, soul w/ panache, pop w/ panache, pop that moves you; “Drops” is that soulful beats-driven modern pop that will absolutely move you at your most basic and most complex and will grab at you, addict you, make you feel a part of it. That is (roughly) how strong/powerful a track “Drops” is. “Drops” is a double-A w/ previously b3 rec’d “Platoon” and will be released on the very cool Chess Club Records, July 15th
Jungle (Soundcloud)
Rating 8.4
Ah yes, Tinie Tempah. The UK grime MC turned global superstar returns with his first solo release since his breakthrough Discovery LP, with (and just an indication of how far his star has risen) the Diplo-produced and 2 Chainz-featuring “Trampoline”. We would expect the gritty club-ready “Trampoline” to do nothing short of eviscerating charts from the UK and beyond all summer.
Tinie Tempah (Official)
Rating 8.1
Russ Chimes’ nonstop tour of world-beating jams rolls forward w/ his latest melodic house mix for UK band Clean Bandit. If you know Chimes you will love this remix; if you don’t know Chimes then for the sake of your own humanity and humanity at large you should sort out pronto (also you will love this remix). Chimes 100.
Russ Chimes (Official)
Rating 8.4
“Be All Be Easy” goes down easy with an always classic makeup of soothing harmony and folk rock roots music. The NY collective Woods will release the song as a new single on July 9 and be sure to catch them on tour throughout this summer and fall. Sample “Be All Be Easy” below along with a B-side cover of “God’s Children” from The Kinks.
Tour Dates
Fri-Jul-12 Hudson, NY – Half Moon
Sat-Jul-13 Boston, MA TT – The Bears *
Sun-Jul-14 Portland, ME – Space 538 *
Mon-Jul-15 Burlington, VT – Signal Kitchen *
Tue-Jul-16 Montreal, QC – Il Motore *
Wed-Jul-17 Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern *
Thu-Jul-18 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Tavern
Fri-Jul-19 Chicago, IL – Pitchfork Music Festival
Mon-Jul-22 Louisville, KY – Zanzabar *
Tue-Jul-23 Charlottesville, VA – Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar *
Wed-Jul-24 Philadelphia, PA – Morgan’s Pier *
Thu-Jul-25 Baltimore, MD – Ottobar *
Sat-Jul-27 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom #
Thu-Aug-01 Berlin – Berghain Kantine
Fri-Aug-02 Katowice – Off Festival
Sat-Aug-03 Vienna – Flex
Sun-Aug-04 Nürnberg – Folk im Park
Mon-Aug-05 Hamburg – Aalhaus
Tue-Aug-06 Köln – King Georg
Wed-Aug-07 Sibenik – Terraneo Festival
Sat-Aug-10 Helsinki – Flow Festival
Sun-Aug-11 Amsterdam – MC Theater
Wed-Aug-14 Luxembourg – Exit07
Thu-Aug-15 Paris – Plage de Glazart
Fri-Aug-16 St. Malo – La Route du Rock
Sun-Aug-18 Powys – Greenman Festival
Mon-Aug-19 London – Hoxton Bar & Kitchen
Mon-Sep-16 Vancouver, BC – Electric Owl %
Tue-Sep-17 Seattle, WA – Barboza %
Wed-Sep-18 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios %
Fri-Sep-20 San Francisco, CA – The Chapel %
Sun-Sep-22 Big Sur, CA – Woodsist Festival @ Henry Miller Memorial Library
Wed-Sep-25 San Luis Obispo, CA – SLO Brew %
Thu-Sep-26 San Diego, CA – Casbah %
Fri-Sep-27 Los Angeles, CA – Center for the Arts Eagle Rock %
Sat-Sep-28 Pioneertown, CA – Woodsist Festival @ Pappy and Harriet’s %#
* = w/ Parquet Courts
# = w/ Alex Bleeker and the Freaks
% = w/ The Fresh & Onlys
Woods 
(Official)
Rating 8.3
New jam. Panama ring in the sunniness sounds of “Cape Town” (yes, both the track and the place) with this latest remix of the stellar Clubfeet track. Catch these two acts together on tour in Australia this summer ahead of Clubfeet’s new AA-side single release for Everything You Wanted/Heartbreak (July 15) and new full length album Heirs and Graces expected this September. In the meantime, get your daytime disco dance-on to this fresh take of “Cape Town” below.
Clubfeet – Cape Town (Panama Remix)Panama 
(Facebook)
Rating 8.3
Smooth Hound Smith, the male/female duo out of Venice, CA, ably connect the roots of rock and soul to the more modern palette with their just released debut self-titled LP. A favorite of ours (of many) from the album is the stomping, compact, blues-in-motion sound of “Get Low”. You can stream stream Smooth Hound Smith in its entirety on bandcamp.
Smooth Hound Smith 
(Facebook)
Rating 8.5
Amason, a Swedish indie supergroup of sorts (the Stockholm-based band features members of Miike Snow, Idiot Wind & Little Majorette), make their B3 debut w/ the compact rhythm-driven indie pop of “Went To War”. The track ticks the boxes (quite well actually) of being great melodically and conceptually as well as lyrically but is particularly memorable for it’s excellent set of horn-led hook-sealing counter melodies (you will recognize them instantly when you first hear them) that are of a quality characteristic of the best songwriters (like Miike Snow’s Pontus Winnberg).
Amason (Facebook)
Rating 8.3
Duke Dumont’s maturation into a full on star of indie dance music continues with new single “Hold On”. Featuring Rudimental collaborator MNEK (& “Need U” co-writer), “Hold On” walks a neat juxtaposition between the immediacy of the track’s club ready beats and bounce and the more sobering spiritual for the 2010’s vocal and instrumental stylings. “Hold On” is a most definite win for Duke Dumont.
Duke Dumont (Soundcloud)
Rating: 8.3
Major Major Major a new rock and roll duo out of Austin score major B3 points with the 60’s pop-informed crunch of awesome debut single “Scream Queen”. Get into Major Major Major before all yr friends (inevitably) do RIGHT NOW.
Major Major Major 
(Bandcamp)
Rating 8.3
