The Blueberries. Isn’t it a funny name for an Uruguayan band? This young group have been making people dance with their songs ever since they released their first album for free through their website last December, with raw riffs, sticky melodies and a familiar Mersey beat. They could be compared a bit with Vampire Weekend, but we’d rather let the music speak for itself.

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We checked in with Aussie band, The Black Ryder, and asked them whether their new album, Buy The Ticket, Take the Ride, was a labour of love or if it fell into place really quickly. Aimee Nash, one half of the duo, replied that ‘it was definitely a labour of love considering we wrote, recorded and produced the entire album ourselves. Some songs were easier than others, and some took over a year to complete. Scott engineered the album yet we produced everything together so there were many tireless hours spent at the studio desk’. Said Scott Von Ryper, the other half of the group: ‘Most of it fell into place really quickly and then took over a year to refine it all. Some songs were written and recorded in a night, and then we just kept layering and tuning it until it sounded the way we dreamed it should be. We got told many times that early versions we were playing to people sounded ‘finished’, but we couldn’t help ourselves. The production side of creating music can be very enjoyable as well, so we took our time to explore it’. [Read a Secret Playlist by The Black Ryder]

If you ever happen to find yourself riding across the mid-west on horseback with an iPod jangling about in your holster, be sure to let Calexico soundtrack the experience. They’re cleverly fusing a range of genres, mixing some good old country with US indie, a bit of jazz and even, in 2003’s Feast of Wire, some smatterings of electronica. Lead singer Joey Burns gives a healthy amount of cowboy twang and the soaring orchestral background and sweet country guitar licks add a real atmosphere to the music.

Listen to the Calexico song, Convict Pool.

The indie, electronic pop duo Plastic Operator paired up whilst studying audio production at London’s Westminster University. In 2004, they released their first three track EP. Their music reminds me of bands like The Fashion, Crystal Castles and Cut Copy.