If You Seek Britney...

• OOPS she did it again - Britney has released yet another cheeky, catchy electropop single sure to ride high in the charts.
The new track, If You Seek Amy, is the third single to be taken from her latest album Circus.
• Dani Harmer, best known for her role as CBBC’s Tracey Beaker, has a debut single out this month.
Free, the theme tune to Dani’s House, her own sitcom, is an infectious catchy pop rock track.
• King Cannibal has teamed up with French rappers Face-A-Face for a brutal new single.
Virgo mixes King Cannibal’s fidgety dubstep and drum and bass with a vocal assault from the female vocalists.
• These are The Days, the next big pop rock band to attack the charts.
The Devon-based band have released a new single, Never Give Up, this week, ahead of their debut album’s release later this year.
• Freak folk band Our Brother The Native have released their new album.
Sacred Psalms is a dense collection of tracks which mixes experimental, orchestral, folk and post rock influences.
• The summery sound of Harrogate-born, Barbados-raised singer Livvi Franc is captured on new single Free.
The single, out on May 11, a mixture of pop, R&B, folk and the West Indian reggae with an underlying Soca beat.
• Minus IQ are hoping for a positive response to their debut album.
Home Cinema, which is out now, is an enthralling mix of rock, electro, dance and indie.
• Singer Lisa Hannigan, best known as the female vocalist on Damien Rice’s O and 9 albums, has released her debut solo album.
The ethereal Sea Sew is out this week in the UK, after going Platinum in her native Ireland.
• A little bird has told me that Sparrow And The Workshop are set to release their first material.
The three-piece release country-tinged alt folk single Devil Son/The Cold-Hearted Twist on May 11, before releasing a mini album, Sleight Of Hand, on May 25.
• If all of this is music to your ears, you can read more from the pop world online at www.echoisaacashe.blogspot.com

Take a Fantasy Ride with Ciara

• GOODIE! American hip hop singer Ciara is back, sexyback, with a saucy new single.
The raunchy Love Sex Magic, a duet with Justin Timberlake, is in stores, ahead of her new album, Fantasy Ride, which is out on May 4.
• Baka Beyond, a project which fuses Cameroonian pygmy songs with English folk instrumentation, releases Beyond The Forest on May 4.
The album is the result of recordings made in the Cameroon rainforest of tribeswomen’s singing, overdubbed with studio work by Martin Cradick.
• Flaming hot new girl band Fenix release their debut single on May 4.
The pumping Lady Baby is a remake of R&B classic My Boo by the group, who have recently supported N-Dubz on their nationwide tour.
• New wave electronica band Burn The Negative have released their new album.
The throbbing synthpop of In The Atmosphere, the Carlisle band’s debut offering which features the single Wonder Why, is in stores now.
• Bradford based band White Light Parade have put a new single out, the mile-a-minute Wake Up.
The track is also featured on the group’s new album, House Of Commons, which is out on May 4.
• Get your filthy mitts on a copy of Jo Webb And The Dirty Hands.
The power pop rockers’ new album, Acrobat, is out on April 27.
• If you haven’t bought a copy yet, you should be dashing out to pick up a copy of Summon The Heroes, the debut from The Rushing.
The sturdy metal album by the Reading rockers has been mixed by Mike Fraser, who has been at the helm for Biffy Clyro, Metallica, Led Zeppellin and AC/DC previously.
• One woman band Alessi’s Ark release a new single this week.
Over The Hill, the latest track by the 18-year-old Alessi, features on the forthcoming album Notes From The Treehouse.
Alessi is also playing at Birmingham’s Rainbow on May 7.
• If all of this is music to your ears, you can read more from the pop world online at www.echoisaacashe.blogspot.com

Forecast is good for Merriweather

• DANIEL Merriweather, famous for his work on Mark Ronson’s hit version of The Smiths’ Stop Me and Wiley’s Cash In My Pocket, releases his debut solo album next week.
The Australian R&B singer’s album, Love And War, is out on April 27, featuring the single Change.
• Dance sensation Kris Menace has released a three-CD debut album this week.
The excellent Idiosyncrasies features a double album of original house and techno, alongside a compilation of Kris Menace’s best remix work.
• Nutty popsters Noisettes release their debut album this week.
The indie rockers from London’s debut album, Wild Young Hearts, features the massive smash Don’t Upset The Rhythm.
• Manchester band Sonic Boom Six are not a band to be pigeonholed.
Their rip-roaring new album, City Of Thieves, steals from metal, rap, jungle, ska, punk and even glam rock.
The group will be touring in May, coming to Birmingham’ Asylum and Nottingham Maze.
• Hip hop experimentalist Prefuse 73 has released a new album
The sprawling Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian is an imaginative mixture of old school hip hop and futuristic ambient dance.
• Northern Irish singe Eoghan Colgan has released his first single.
Dream Satellite is the first taste of hotly-tipped Eoghan, who rose to fame winning the O2 Undiscovered 2007 competition.
• Rude boy pop group Kid British released their street smart new single Sunny Days this week.
The debut album from the group will be released in June.
• Blick Bassy, a soul singer hailing from Cameroon, has released a new album in the UK.
The singer, guitarist and percussionist’s LP, Leman, is a chirpy mixture of African music and uptembo bossa nova and jazz.
• Production duo Garry Hughes and Andrew T Mackay, AKA Bombay Dub Orchestra, have released their cosmopolitan new album.
3 Cities sees the duo mixing traditional Indian instrumentation with Western chillout beats.
• If all of this is music to your ears, you can read more from the pop world online at www.echoisaacashe.blogspot.com

The Virgins pop their album cherry

• FRESH new talent The Virgins pop their album cherry with a self-titled release on April 20.
The album by the New York rockers, tipped for success by both NME and MTV, features their current single, Rich Girls, which hit stores this week.
• Wymeswold indie band The Wave Pictures have released their second album in as many years.
The follow-up to last year’s Instant Coffee baby is the Leicestershire band’s most polished and pleasing work to date.
• Inspiration Information, out this week, is a collaboration between African bandleader Mulatu Astatke and London-based jazz dance collective The Heliocentrics.
The experimental album was described by Astatke as “a nice experiment”.
• One to grab a copy of is Hijak Oscar’s excellent new LP, BlackSheepMoneyBox.
The blues band, which features Ashby-de-la-Zouch’s Carl Hetherington on keys, rose to fame on Channel 4’s Mobile Act Unsigned TV talent show.
• The stunning Royal Family-Divorce is the new album from 11-piece Icelandic post rock band Storsveit Nix Noltes.
The album sees the group, who include msuicians from Mum and Sigur Ros, take on a handful of traditional Bulgarian and Balkan folk tunes in a raucous fashion.
• Hipsters, flipsters, and fingerpopping daddies, we give you Run Devils And Demons, the best of world music and dance fusers Transglobal Underground.
The two-CD compilation is an excellent retrospective of two decades of the ethno-techno group’s groundbreaking work.
• Up-and-coming US pop soul diva Jessica Clemmons releases her debut album, Permanent, on May 4.
The title track from the album is also set to be released as a single on April 20.
• A cracking collaboration between hip hop producer Mr Scruff and top British rapper Roots Manuva has been released.
The download-only Nice Up The Function is now available online.
• If all of this is music to your ears, you can read more from the pop world online at www.echoisaacashe.blogspot.com

Pink gives new single the green light

• COLOURFUL popstar Pink is set to release the latest single from her latest album, Funhouse.
Please Don’t Leave Me, the follow-up to chart-botherers Sober and So What, hits stores on April 27.
• The fourth album from alternative rockers Hundred Reasons has been released this week - for the second time!
The supurb album, Quick The Word Sharp The Action, was available for just 10 days last year before their record label was bought out and the album was taken off the shelves.
• Dance pioneer Tim Exile, best known for his work in drum and bass and IDM circles, has released a new album.
Listening Tree is sure to root Exile’s reputation as one of the most accomplished experimental dance producers around.
• Also tickling ravers’ fancies this week is Moondance, a massive three-CD compilation of classic dance tracks.
The set features early-90s classics such as Nomad’s I Wanna Give You Devotion, Rebel MC’s Tribal Bass and SL2’s On A Ragga Tip.
• post rock band Spokes have released a taster EP while they work on a full-length debut album.
The Manchester band’s effort, People Like People Like You, has seen the group likened to Mogwai and Sigur Ros.
• Glaswegian duo Big Ned release their self-titled Americana album this month.
The group have described their influences as David Lynch, Chris Isaaks and Satan.
• For all fans of UK hip hop, I’ve got Two Fingers for you.
The group, whose eponymous album is out this week, is a collaboration between renowned producers Amon Tobin, Joe “Doubleclick” Chapman and rappers including Sway.
• Expecting to make shockwaves on the music scene are electro newcomers Thunderheist.
Their single Jerk It is out this week, ahead of their self-titled debut album’s release on Monday, April 13.
• Take another look at Scottish rockers The View next week, when they release a new single.
Temptation Dice is the latest cut to be taken from their sophomore album Which Bitch?.
• If all of this is music to your ears, you can read more from the pop world online at www.echoisaacashe.blogspot.com