I must admit that I've felt a keen sense of loss since LCD Soundsystem disbanded a couple of years ago. James Murphy and his merry band of disco punks are still making waves in the music world (Reflektor being a prime example, in Murphy's case) but it's still difficult to come to terms with the fact that we'll never have a new LCD Soundsystem album. MS MR have soothed that pain considerably though with a stunning cover of LCD's now-classic tune 'Dance Yrself Clean' and you can listen to it above.
When the Pixies released Trompe Le Monde in 1991 I don't think anyone expected that we'd be waiting until 2014, in all likelihood, for the band's next full length release. Newly reinvigourated, and with a brand new bass player in the shape of Kim Shattuck, Pixies returned a few months ago with the excellent 'Bagboy' and it's been firmly stuck in my head ever since.
William Daron Pulliam, AKA Darondo, died in June of this year and took with him a reputation for being one of soul music's more hidden gems. His song 'Didn't I' is a genre classic and has shown up in a gaggle of movies and TV shows, Breaking Bad included. And it's bloody brilliant.
Leslie Feist is the owner of one of music's more refined voices, capable of raising hairs on the back or your neck with moments of subtle genius. Recorded after a period of isolation from the music business where she said she was "emotionally deaf", Feist returned Metals and the New York Times subsequently named it as the best album of 2011.
'Master Hunter' was the first single released from Laura Marling's fourth record Once I Was An Eagle and it demonstrated a fiercer approach than anything we'd seen from the English singer up until that point. A focused, chunky acoustic number, 'Master Hunter' harnesses Marling at her most snarling and represents another high water mark in her already outstanding career.
