Melee sound like Ben Folds. There’s no denying this but there’s also something different about their certain brand of catchy-as-hell poppiness and the addition of rocking guitar lines tweaks Folds’ regular drum / bass / piano formula in a way that’s most inviting. The piano is less crucial to the sound and more an embellishment of insanely good pop songs that, if they were played on the radio all day, everyone would be super happy. Except maybe metallers. ‘Frequently Baby‘ is sort of retro in its sound and its driving, ridiculously camp chorus is so smile-inducing that you may need muscle relaxants to wipe the smile away again. You’ll be singing along from the outset. There’s just no stopping the singalong with tunes like this. A vital summertime discovery, if slightly of the cheese variety.
Melee are off on tour with the old Folds-meister and Counting Crows in a couple of months. Imagine the hero worship that’ll be happening right there! It’ll be like the master and his protégés just chilling. I wonder if he’ll be giving some sort of masterclass…
Winegums
Billy Corgan of Chicago’s Smashing Pumpkins is suing a fellow Illinois filmmaker.
Lykke Li will be releasing her brand new single ‘Breaking It Up’ on 25th August. 
Black Lips have announced that they will be playing a one off UK show next month.
If the sound isn’t up to your standards then things can, and often will get dirty. Butthole Surfers‘ frontman, Gibby Hayes was led offstage by security at their New York gig on 29th July.
I love The Stupids. There, I’ve said it. I’ve got it off my chest. My love affair started long ago in the mid-80s and of all the punk bands I first stumbled across, the Stupids were the ones that I connected with the most. For a start, they were fun and fun was not high on the punk rock agenda in those days. These were angry times, Conflict were leading an assault against the system and the system was fighting back but the Stupids blew Kool Aid flavored raspberries in the face of police oppression and got right down to creating hyper-speed yet addictively melodic American influenced hardcore punk, the like that had not surfaced from the UK before. They were bratty, obsessed with trashy American culture and carved their skateboards through the 80s music scene, leaving a slew of classic records (all recently reissued by 
As each song charges by the band get more comfortable and hit their stride (despite Tommy suffering from a tragic case of drum slippage) as the classic pop-thrash of the likes of ‘Skid Row‘, ‘Fridge‘, ‘Memory Burns‘ and a ludicrously fast ‘This Is The Norm‘ charges by.
Ida Maria has recently revealed the dates of her first headline tour in the UK
TV On The Radio have just announced the tracklisting of their forthcoming album, ‘Dear Science‘. 
Overlords of sampling, The Avalanches have announced that their long awaited second album is on the way!