Prodigy release new album

• ELECTRO geniuses The Prodigy are set to take over the charts with their new album.
Invaders Must Die, in stores now, sees the group returning to their rave roots in spectacular whistle-blowing, shape-throwing fashion.
• Also on a dance tip, remixers Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve have breathed new life into some of the best singles of recent months.
For Re-Animations Volume One, the duo of Erol Alkan and Richard Norris have reworked tracks by groups ranging from the Chemical Brothers to Peter, Bjorn And John to Franz Ferdinand to Late Of The Pier.
• One to ponder - the sparkling Katy Perry has released a new single, Thinking Of You.
The track, the third single from hit album One Of The Boys, is the first ballad to be released by the singer.
• Ready to give the charts some stick are Hockey, who released their debut single on March 2.
The band, from Portland, Oregon, make a sound similar to LCD Soundsystem playing Strokes numbers on single Too Fake.
• Brighton-based band The Brakes have released new single Hey Hey.
The track is the latest to be taken from forthcoming album Touchdown, out on April 20.
• Singer Nikka Costa, the daughter of Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jnr producer Don Costa, has released her new album.
LP Pebble To Pearl showcases Nikka’s mixture of soul, blues, funk and pop.
• Skint And Demoralised have released a new single, This Song Is Definitely Not About You.
The harmonic indie jangler is a precurser to the full album, Love And Catastrophes, which is out in May.
• To celebrate a successful 2008, Scouting For Boys release a free four-track EP from their website on March 9.
Vocalist Roy Stride said: “This is all down to our fans, so we want to thank them.”
• Oddball hip hop collaboration XRabit and DMG$ introduce themselves with their latest LP, Hello World.
The album is available to buy from March 9.
• If all of this is music to your ears, you can read more from the pop world online at www.echoisaacashe.blogspot.com

A few more I love yous for Annie Lennox

• DIVA Annie Lennox is set to release her first ever solo retrospective, The Annie Lennox Collection.
The former Eurythmics singer’s compilation, out on March 9, features tracks from her four solo albums including Little Bird, No More I Love Yous and Walking On Broken Glass.
The album also includes a new track, Shining Light, which is out as a single on March 2.
• Nudge, nudge - Josh Wink, the dance DJ behind the smash hit Higher State Of Consciousness, has released a new album.
The fruity uptempo dance album, When A Banana Was Just A Banana, is in stores now.
• If you like your R&B singles big, then look no further than new compilation Massive R&B Spring Collection 2009.
The two-disc compilation, released this week, includes hits from artists including Ne-Yo, Solange, N-Dubz, The Game, Rihanna and Akon.
• Proving that Africa Got Soul are South Africans Abavuki, whose album is out on March 2.
The project, the first by the group of young musicians from the country’s deprived townships, sees unique covers of soul classics such as Papa Was A Rolling Stone, Say A Little Prayer and I Heard It Through The Grapevine.
• Spirited release Roomful Of Ghosts, the latest album by American Samm Bennett, is now out.
The CD, available to by online from website CD Baby, sees Americana mashed with world music influences and experimental sounds to stunning effect.
• Soulful new songstress Laura Izibor is no bore on her new single Shine, which is out this week.
The track showcases the Dubliner’s classic R&B style which has been compared to Roberta Flack and Aretha Franklin
• Northern Irish alternative rockers Fighting With Wire release a sweet new single on March 2.
Sugar is the third track to be taken from their debut album, the fantastic Man Vs Monster.
• The Long Lost, husband-&-wife Alfred “Daedelus” Darlington and Laura Darlington, will soon be found on shelves.
The group release their oddball electronica-meets-acoustic self-titled album on March 2.
• If all of this is music to your ears, you can read more from the pop world online at www.echoisaacashe.blogspot.com.

Spaceman blasts off

• LAS Vegas band The Killers are hoping to rock it with their new single, Spaceman.
The track, in stores now, is the latest cut from their impressive third album Day And Age.
You can also catch the group live this month at Birmingham’s LG Arean, or at the Nottingham Arena in March.
• Classical composer Hauschka, real name Volker Bertelmann, releases an EP of his work with a modified piano this month.
The Snowflakes And Car Wrecks collection of outtakes from last year’s Ferndorf album is available from February 16.
• You probably know them by their trail of critically acclaimed albums - the imaginatively-titled ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead have a new LP out on February 23.
The release, titled The Century Of Self, is the band’s sixth studio effort.
• Upstarts Kid British have released plans for a summertime release of their debut album.
The time of year should bode well for the group, who mix ska inflections, classic pop and hip hop elements into their good time indie rock romps.
• Metal group Shinedown release brutal new single The Sound Of Madness on February 23 and brutal new album The Sound Of Madness on March 2.
Crazy.
• Swedish folk sibling duo First Aid Kit’s Drunken Trees EP is sure to be plastered over the airwaves.
The calming collection of seven tracks is released on February 23.
• LA punk band The Bronx release a new single next month.
The raucous Young Bloods, taken from their latest LP The Bronx III, hits stores on March 2.
• Soul sensation Lemar has a new single, Weight Of The World, out on March 2.
The track, taken from his fourth album The Reason, is out ahead of a tour taking in dates at Birmingham NIA and Nottingham Royal Centre during March and April.
• If all of this is music to your ears, you can read more from the pop world online at www.echoisaacashe.blogspot.com.

Erasure rewind

• YOU can’t have enough of a good thing - so Erasure are releasing a new expanded version of their classic compilation album Pop!
Total Pop!, a supurb two-CD set of their first 40 hits, hits the shops on February 23, just weeks after the release of Pop! Remixed, which saw classic hits such as Always and A Little Respect reworked by artists including Jeremy Wheatley and Komputer.
• Up-and-coming trio Sky Larkin released their debut album The Golden Spike on February 9.
The group’s album, which features the single Beeline, sounds like Bjork fronting a punk band, and has seen the group compared to The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Violent Femmes.
• Power pop band The Days, who are just finishing their first headline UK tour, release their debut single any day now.
The track, No Ties, hits stores on February 16.
• Inexperienced New Yorker The Virgins are hoping the public will embrace their latest single Teen Lovers.
The track, out on February 16, is the second to be taken from their forthcoming album The Virgins, which is scheduled for an April release.
• Two new New Rhodes releases are pencilled in for February.
On February 16 the group release new single The Joys Of Finding And Losing That Girl, and then on February 23 the new album Everybody Loves A Scene is out.
• FatCat Record’s 130701 imprint, which features atists such as Max Richter and Hauschka, releases a chronological compilation of its first releases on February 23.
The 11-track voyage through the label’s experimentations in classical music, titled Floored Memory... Fading Location, features a number of previously unreleased tracks.
• Here’s one to get your hands on - UK garage trio DMT release their single Touch You on February 23.
The track samples the number one Rui Da Silva trance track Touch Me.
• If all of this is music to your ears, you can read more from the pop world online at www.echoisaacashe.blogspot.com.