I recently checked out the Canadian band the Arkells at the Bottom Lounge in Chicago. The show was as good as the album. And it was like having a personal concert because the place was empty. I know that this was a rare opportunity; this band is going to blow up. I am still listening to their album Michigan Left on repeat. Addicting and upbeat. Highly recommended.

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‘It’s like if four 19-year-old Japanese kids who really like 1980s/1990s American rock n’ roll formed a band.’ This is how a friend of mine described the band Hausu to me. Despite hailing from Portland, Oregon, there is a definite Eastern presence in the quartet’s music.

Combine that with sad tales about missing home and ex-girlfriends, and you get the ethereal tones of Hausu. After two years of EPs and 7”, their first full length Total will be released by Seattle label Hardly Art on June 25. Here’s the promising first single, Leaning Mess.

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Do not be fooled by the name. Master Musicians of Bukkake are no joke. Coming out of their priceless Totem trilogy, Master Musicians of Bukkake are about to drop their next full length, Far West. The Seattle mystery group is composed of various established artists from the Northwest shrouded behind shamanic garb. Pulling the listener into a Siberian mystic trance, the release of the new video, White Mountain Returnm hints at a slight mix of Western digital influence.

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Do you play in a modest band for next to nothing at your local pub for the ‘exposure’? Are you waiting for your lucky break? Does the thought of millions of people around the world actually listening to all that One Direction trash keep you up at night? Come over to Twitter now and follow the Self Righteous Band — you’ll love it.

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The National has shared the video for their Trouble Will Find Me opening track, Demons. In the clip, Azar Kazimir, Creative Director at the Michelberger Hotel, paints a mural of the cover artwork on a wall, filmed using time-lapse techniques. The Brooklyn band will release their highly anticipated album on May 20 in Europe and May 21 in North America via 4AD.

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Foals recently dropped by Studio Brussel in Belgium, where they performed a mellow version of their second single My Number. The band is currently embarking on a world tour in support of their third studio album, Holy Fire, released in February.

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Have you ever seen that trick where somebody flips an alligator upside down and it puts the alligator into a completely blank-eyed frozen state? That’s exactly what happens to our brains every time we hear Prefuse 73′s song Choking You from the album One Word Extinguisher. The ability of that entire album to convey deep emotion with robotic glitchy beep-boop sounds has made it one of my very favorite things in the whole world.

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This is a retro homemade sound. If you’re suffering from an overdose of X-Factor radio, I advise two helpings of Sea Pinks to relieve symptoms of cover songs and auto-tune. These two tracks, Japanese Knotweed (above) and Fountain Tessarae (below), got me into Sea Pinks, but the man behind the magic, Neil Brogan, is a one man manufacturing machine, so there should be plenty to keep you going for a while.

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I probably met Shakey Graves in a divey venue in Los Angeles with a few people in it, but I can’t be sure. It seems the most likely. Needless to say, I was an instant fan of his music. Totally lo-fi, unique and undeniably badass. A great live show and a swell fella.

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The new album Stories from Tokyo math-rock fourpiece Zazen Boys is an extension of the same progressive-funk mania that characterised 2008′s Zazen Boys IV but is perhaps even better. This track, built solely around an undeniable twitchy groove, occasionally sounds like a nervy, modern Japanese XTC. Go forth.

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To all the bands out there wondering how you’re going to make money, tour, and have a career, here’s an accurate glimpse into the economics behind the truth. However, I wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that you should quit, or that there’s no chance for you to have success. The reality is that the music industry is actually a young one, and it’s based on one specific thing: the fact that creators like you exist. Without you, there is no industry.

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Brought to you by London-based agency Penney Design: names of famous music acts that defy spelling or grammatical correctness, put to a spelling test. Er, all this sez is that musicians either don’t know how to spell, or are free to soar above creativity-crippling mundanities like — pfft — literacy.

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It’s been just four weeks after feminist icons, the members of Pussy Riot, were arrested. Now, there’s an ebook being released containing letters from prison, closing courtroom statements by the defense attorneys, poems, the punk prayer, and new translations of  courtroom statements. The ebook, PUSSY RIOT! A Punk Prayer for Freedom, will feature tributes by Yoko Ono, Johanna Fateman, Karen Finley, Justin Vivian Bond, Eileen Myles, and JD Samson. All of the proceeds from this ebook will support the Pussy Riot legal defense team.

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