From time to time we like to come up with fancy competitions and great prize giveaways to help the music loving community feel rewarded for their dedication to the Claus, that’s right the Claus. It’s Christmas and what better way to reward your dedication than with a stocking filler from the north pole? EMI, Showbiz and Pay Pal (& Santa) have teamed up to give you a very special Christmas offer. Buy any Showbiz ticket, package or gift voucher and a magical code will be swiftly sent to your email. Use this code to score yourself a FREE album on www.theinsong.com .  This is a limited offer so grab yourself some tickets and get yourself a sweet new album on the house. Happy Christmas!

Our favourite Sydney boys Faker are back and excited to offer up the first taste of their new record; a CSS remix of the track Dangerous, the first taste of new music to come from the band since October 2008.

With the single version of Dangerous set for a June 17 release, Nathan and Nic were so excited on hearing the CSS interpretation of the track that they could not wait for fans to hear it. You can download the remix for free at faker.com.au/freedownload

CSS (Brazil’s professional purveyors of fine party) put the balloons and streamers down for four and a half minutes of emotionally charged electro pop. Dangerous takes a floor-ready turn among tinkling piano keys and warm, synthetic bass.

The remix came about after a rather fortuitous meeting on the other side of the world. Nathan, who had spent extended periods of time travelling around South America looking for creative inspiration for the new record, had decided he would love to bump into Adriano from CSS in Sao Paulo, Brazil where the band CSS are based. And the next day, in a city of 20 million people, Nathan stumbled across Adriano in a small book shop; they got chatting and, after catching up again in Australia, they got to work on this remix of Dangerous.

Over the weekend the guys also announced a Sydney all ages show with FBi headlining “Choose Your Own Adventure” on July 2. Tix are available here.

Released this morning was Leader Cheetah’s fantastically nostalgic videoclip for Crawling Up A Landslide, the first cut from their soon-to-be-announced sophomore record, due for release this June.

Created by Sydney collective The Grindhouse, directors Brent Quincy Buchanan and Justin Carey dug up some sweet Super 8 videos from the early ’50s, sourced direct from Justin’s grandparents’ collection, Doug and Bee. The dappled clip is the perfect taster from the band’s new album, and the single is available this week as a free MP3 download exclusively from the band’s website.

Leader Cheetah hit the road this June with labelmates The Middle East and the gorgeous Grand Salvo, before taking stage at July’s Splendour In The Grass Festival. Watch this space for further tasters from the band’s album, as full details are released next week.

It was a couple of years ago when a very cool Americana-meets-Adelaide Hills sound first came to be heard from the band Leader Cheetah on their debut album, The Sunspot Letters. The band is made up of singer/guitarist Dan Crannitch, his brother and drummer Joel Crannitch and guitarist Dan Pash and bassist Mark Harding, and by touring alongside Elbow and Doves they became known as a pretty exciting guitar band.

Let’s fast forward to late 2010, when the band set their watches forward a half hour and headed to Sydney Town to record their follow-up album with producer Scott Horscroft (The Panics, Little Red, The Sleepy Jackson) at Big Jesus Burger Studio. The band finished this album on Christmas Eve and it’s a beauty with thoughtful songwriting, a broader sound, and those lovely alt country touches that are quintessential Leader Cheetah. Want to get a better idea of what the album really sounds like? Well, head on over to the band’s site leadercheetah.com to download the single Crawling Up A Landslide. Easy. The song evokes the golden sounds of 70’s west-coast America, with rich vocal harmonies – oh hell, just go on and download the MP3 and enjoy. Album out soon.

Leader Cheetah will be supporting The Middle East in June – a pretty awesome double bill. Then the band plays Splendour in the Grass.

• Fri June 10 – Adelaide, The Governor Hindmarsh (with The Middle East) – tix from moshtix
• Sat June 11 – Melbourne, The Corner Hotel (with The Middle East) SOLD OUT
• Sun June 12 – Melbourne, The Corner Hotel (with The Middle East) SOLD OUT
• Mon June 13 – Ballarat, Karova Lounge (with The Middle East) – tix from oztix
• Wed June 15 – Brisbane, Old Museum (with The Middle East) – tix from oztix
• Thu June 16 – Sunshine Coast, Joe’s Waterhole (with The Middle East) – tix from musicliveatjoes.com
• Fri June 17 – Sydney, Metro Theatre (with The Middle East) – tix from ticketek
• Sun June 19 – Newcastle, Cambridge Hotel (with The Middle East) – tix from moshtix
• Fri July 29 – Sun July 31 Woodfordia, Splendour In The Grass Festival

So much packed into 7 days! Last week, Oh Mercy finished up a sold out national tour in WA, stopped in to triple j for a stellar Like A Version of ELO’s Evil Woman, and appeared on Adam Hills’ Gordon St Tonight season finale performing Gangajang’s Sounds of Then.

So embedded in the Australian psyche is the classic Sounds Of Then, that (as someone who is about to permanently depart this sunburnt country’s shores) I must admit their rendition had me well up in tears at the thought of sitting on that patio and breathing that humidity.

You can watch the on-air broadcast on abc.net.au, but far more interesting is the OM team practicing the track just prior:

You can also watch / listen / download / sway gently to their ELO Evil Woman Like A Version and Oh Mercy’s rendition of rendition of their own track Let Me Go here on triple  j online.

“Hotly anticipated” doesn’t begin to convey the level of excitement surrounding The Middle East’s debut album release…

After global praise and extensive international touring for their EP Recordings of The Middle East, Townsville’s local treasures are finally ready to announce a full-length debut – I Want That You Are Always Happy. Released on April 8, the album is dark, melancholy, thick with melody and eventually instilled with hope. In short, it’s stunning (we were lucky enough to witness many of the new tracks including Black Death 1349 and Jesus Came To My Birthday Party during an intimate album showcase in January).

And sure, you can stream album opener  Black Death 1349 below, but you can download it exclusively from www.goldenplains.com.au until March 12. The Middle East will perform at Golden Plains on March 13 and will follow their album release with extensive national tour dates throughout June. Japanese, European and North American release dates will follow shortly!

I Want That You Are Always Happy Track List:
1. Black Death 1349
2. My Grandma Was Pearl Hall
3. As I Go To See Janey
4. Jesus Came To My Birthday Party
5. Land of The Bloody Unknown
6. Very Many
7. Sydney To Newcastle
8. Mount Morgan
9. Months
10. Dan’s Silverleaf
11. Hunger Song
12. Ninth Ave Reverie
13. Deep Water

Still reeling from last year’s magnificent Gorillaz Australian shows? Need some headphone fodder to help rekindle the experience, but you’ve listened to Plastic Beach 293 times already?

Thankfully those pathologically productive Gorillaz boys have recorded an album on the road and it’s ready for you to download in full. As promised by Damon & co, The Fall was recorded and mixed with 20+ various iPad Apps whilst on tour in the USA during October and November 2010.

Courtesy of The wondrous Chemical Brothers, The Bloody Beetroots, Future Music Festival, and most importantly… US… we bring you a free download of the Bloody Beetroots remix of The Chemical Brothers’ Dissolve.

Dissolve is taken from their latest album Further. You know the one with the mindblowing visuals we can’t wait to see live?

Enjoy!

The powerhouse trio that is Swedish House Mafia (Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso) have finished up summer in Ibiza. But soon enough, you’ll be seeing the boys in Australia… Sebastian Ingrosso will be co-headlining the Stereosonic festival kicking off this November and Steve Angello is heading down to Oz for Future Music Fest in March 2011. More importantly all three will be on a silver screen in Melbourne and Sydney this December for exclusive screenings of the Take One documentary.

You may have heard about SHM’s upcoming album Until One? Well it’s also the soundtrack to the eagerly-awaited aforementioned film Take One. Directed by their mate Christian Larson, the doco follows Axwell, Angello and Ingrosso over two years, 285 gigs and 15 countries.

It takes you on a rollercoaster which goes beyond the music to show what binds together three friends, artists, and pioneers in an emotional ride to success as a singular group. It documents the trend in recent years that has seen DJs portrayed as the new rock stars (hello, you’ve seen Guetta bouncing behind the decks away in his videos!) – and where the 80’s gave birth to acid house.

As for the album.. Until One is a collection of each Mafia member’s solo work to date. It’s a sonic journey from their early club beginnings through to recent success with crossover single One (Your Name) (now 23 million YouTube views!). To preview the album we have a free minimix of Until One for you to download. Head right this way.

And for even MORE tunes, here’s one of our favorite discoveries of recent times… Foals covering Swedish House Mafia’s One (Your Name). Different, but equally brilliant!

The ethereally-voiced, Tin Tin-haired Jonsi Birgisson arrives in Sydney today after helping close out an unforgettable four days of Splendour in the Grass last night.

For those holding out for his Sydney and Melbourne headline shows, you are in for a hypercolour entrancing cross-artform collaboration with 59 Productions, who have been called “the most exciting purveyors of video for theatre in the world”. They are responsible for projection design for multi-award winning Iraq war drama Black Watch, brand new projections for Les Miserables, as well as countless operas and theatre productions around the world. The design for the show is partly physical and partly ephemeral, using a combination of set elements, animated projections, light, and shadows – which are synchronised with Jonsi’s euphoric tunes and ecstatic dancing.

The nature-themed projections continually morph… HD thunderstorms rage and flames flicker across a forest stage. Blue lakes pour out from the venue walls. Feathered sketches of wolves hunting deer, hummingbirds, and tumbling flowers float amongst his five piece band.

But truly, words can do this experience no justice. Watch the trailer of Jonsi’s live production (above) and head to jonsi.com for more live photos. While you’re there, download your free copy of Tornado from Jionsi’s debut solo album Go from  jonsi.com/tornado.