Disco queen Donna Summer has died at the age of 63.

The Boston-born star, famous for such hits as ‘I Feel Love’ and ‘Hot Stuff’, passed away after a battle with lung and breast cancer, according to reports.

Summer received five Grammy awards over a span of 20 years, and was best known for her work with producer Giorgio Moroder on pioneering disco tracks during the 1970s. She had a Top 40 hit in the American Billboard Hot 100 every single year from 1976 to 1984.

Her family paid tribute to the late diva in a statement, saying: “Early this morning, we lost Donna Summer Sudano, a woman of many gifts, the greatest being her faith.

“While we grieve her passing, we are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy. Words truly can’t express how much we appreciate your prayers and love for our family at this sensitive time.”

Summer is survived by husband Bruce Sudano and daughters Brooklyn, Amanda and Mimi.

Amy Bell

Ex-Queen Adreena member Melanie Garside’s electronic pop duo Huski have revealed the video to their new single ‘Sleep’s Over’.

The sister of fellow grrrl noisenik and Queen Adreena star Katie Jane Garside has teamed up with Pike Galloway to unleash some very danceable tunes with a slightly gothic edge. And to wear some very stunning false eyelashes in the vid – you’ll see what we mean below:

‘Sleep’s Over’ is out on May 28, with its accompanying album H released on July 2.

Amy Bell

Texan singer-songwriter Kimmie Rhodes will be heading out on a Scottish and Irish tour from this week.

With multi-instrumentalist and son Gabriel Rhodes in tow, she will be picking the best from her extensive back catalogue and revisiting a three-decade career that has taken in shoals of honky-tonk nights, movie soundtracks and musical theatre.

The Rhodes will be playing a venue near you from tomorrow (well, sadly not if you’re in England or Wales just yet) – find out where below:

May 18 – Glasgow CCA
May 19 – Bangor Ty Golchi
May 22 – Rathfriland The Brontë Centre
May 23 – Belfast The Black Box
May 24 – Omagh Strule Arts Centre
May 25 – Sligo Hawk’s Well Theatre
May 26 – Naul Séamus Ennis Centre

Amy Bell

Dance-pop duo Chew Lips will be releasing a new single next month.

‘Do You Chew’ is a typically Lips track – all electronic sass, catchy chorus and slick beats, making it a more than worthy follow-up to previous singles ‘Solo’ and ‘Salt Air’.

The track will be released on June 11 through the band’s own Family Records, but they have also very kindly made it available for free download via the Soundcloud player below:

Chew Lips – Do You Chew? (FREE DOWNLOAD) by Chew Lips

The pair are currently out on tour – so, if you fancy a darn good night out, catch them at one of the following dates below:

May 17 – Liverpool Red Bull Studios @ The Garage (Sound City)
May 25 – Manchester Chorlton Weekender
June 4 – London Coppafeel! @ Queen Of Hoxton
June 7 – London New Slang @ Kingston Hippodrome
June 15 – London Fred Perry Subsonic Live @ The Garage
June 17 – London Lovebox Festival (Dalston Superstore Stage)
July 21 – Sheffield Tramlines
July 27 – Cornwall Leopallooza Festival

Amy Bell

Bloom, Beach House, Sub Pop

Though they’ve been around for eight years, it feels as though on the music scene Beach House are barely saplings, deemed by the blogosphere as indie darlings and suddenly thrust into the direction of our collective wayward gaze. Their 2010 album Teen Dream put them on the map, the unexpected affections of Beyonce & Jay Z towards them led to whispers in circles not ordinarily associated with scaled back dreampop duos and with the release of their appropriately titled new album, Bloom, their success is set to grow.

Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally make up Beach House, a Baltimore duo for whom the word “unassuming” was probably invented. Their set up of electronic organs, keyboards, programmed drums and slide guitar may not inspire thoughts of greatness but don’t imagine for a second that the same can be said for their music. It’s hard to articulate an endless swoon but the girls are will do our best to sum up our feelings on this album

The album’s single, ‘Myth’ is the opening act on Bloom. Instantly arresting, it sees guitars, modest beats and keyboard tinkering assemble into something magical as Legrand’s voice- steeped in character and memories, unmistakably mellowed and curiously older than its years- intones “Can’t keep hanging on/to what is dead and gone”. Soft and solemn, it cascades along on a wistful tone into the gentle, surfy guitars of ‘Wild’ with its lament to lost youth and the tragically inevitable complexity that adulthood brings. By ‘Lazuli’ the girls are struggle to keep our hearts from physically melting and Legrand’s chanting of “Like no other you can’t be replaced” reminds us that for all their apparent simplicity, neither can Beach House.

‘The Hours’ is the voice of a woman fearful of surrendering to love and layered to choir-like effect while revolving around an achingly gorgeous guitar riff. On ‘Wishes’ Scally leads into a breathtaking Cure-esque guitar part while Legrand ponders “Wishes on a wheel/How’s it supposed to feel?” which has more than a touch of the Sylvia-Plath-Hopeless-Existential-Crisis about it. ‘On The Sea’ is a piano-led lullaby that bobs and waves in onomatopoeic fashion set to beautiful sliding melodies that layer over one another comfortingly. Quietly sombre organs slide into a piercingly beautiful death knell for closing track ‘Irene’ which sounds like the sad reflection that meets the end of a perfect day and a fitting end to a near-perfect album. Or what could be the ending, but one which fades back into a hidden track of bending Hawaiian guitars and unspoken oceanic echoes.

‘Other People’ and ‘Troublemaker’ are not quite as dynamic as the rest of the tracks but still retain merit so nothing negative can be drawn from them and there’s little point in dwelling on them. The obvious notion that can be lingered on while considering this album is that it is utterly bewitching. The magic of Beach House is a strange one, with a style they cling religiously to but one that is absolutely magnetic and encompassing, it weaves a warmth and wistfulness that is hard not to relent to. Melancholia is a well-leafed book but Beach House employ it in songs that somehow leave you in a state of bliss. As part of one big, fantastical dreamscape, these songs are disarming with their sheer splendour and the careful web of sounds is almost celestial.

A perfect title for an album, Bloom tells stories of blossoming love, blooming hope and wilting sadness and, according to Legrand, relates to the fact a bloom is “only temporary…a fleeting vision of life in all of its intensity and colour, beautiful even if only for a moment.” In fact, it’s an hour’s worth of moments as that’s the duration of the album and there isn’t a word strong enough to describe its pure loveliness. Bloom is a shimmery delight of an album; the sounds of the longing in the deepest recesses of your heart come to fruition, a (teen) dream of a record. Needless to say, our love for Beach House continues to flourish.

Emma Smith 

Manifest! Friends, Lucky Number, 4 June

OK. There just has to be something in that East Coast water. For Manhattan and co., it seems commonplace to bear some of the finest fruits to fall from the trend tree. Does JD Samson quite literally sit around all day in some chic studio pad overlooking Madison Avenue banging out rhythmic hits with the Phenomenal Handclap band? No doubt, Deee-lite are still grooving in the heart with their club cool sounds further down the hallway whilst Grandma Funk is rapping at the door with some feisty spats and mama-knows-best guitar licks. It’s one hell of a party but a party that Brooklyn’s freshest and sassiest quintet, Friends certainly conjure up through such a virtuous debut.

Not to be mistaken for another troupe of New York based companions, Manifest! is no coffee shop soundtrack. 6 Music staple and swaggering single, ‘Friend Crush’ is heavy with lust and giddy snare trills. ‘Sorry’ skips blissfully towards a more hazy chillwave air as front femme Samantha Urbani pleas with us to ‘come over to her house’ with a luring and lurching cowbell as the perfect percussive accompaniment.

Follow up A-side single, ‘Friend Crush/Feelin’ Dank’ showcases Urbani’s husky coo with hints of Neneh Cherry-circa-Raw-Sushi lapping at the singer’s soulful melody and the elastic jazz bass.  Yet, it is the latter section of this record though where the band really come into their own sound and a sound that combines some of the greatest aspects of so many tropi-cool pioneers before them; ‘Va Fan Gor Du’ is a clattering call and response straight from the Concrete schoolyard with the zealous and sprite of Sao Paulo’s multi ravers, CSS and soul staccato guitar licks of R&B juggernauts, Kool and the Gang. The samba drums that play out for the last refrain of ‘Mind Control’ are met with Urbani’s effortless NY tones as she muses over ‘the right to be cool’. Coming straight from the streets of one of New York’s trendiest boroughs and with a debut like this, really, was there ever going to be a fight?

Ditch all your thoughts of 90s flat based goofs and a will-they-won’t-they love match on the cards because these are the real NY friends and their season’s only just begun.

Chéri Amour

Beaux Saunders @ Love Shake, 3 May 2012

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Photographed by Gem Hall for the girls are.

Garbage @ Troxy, 9 May 2012

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Photographed by Emli Bendixen for the girls are.

Electro-popsters Helium Robots have released the next single from their debut album Voltopia.

‘Silver’ is a stunning, drowsy lament with the rather unnerving refrain ‘Robots will walk the Earth’ (we’re kind of looking forward to that day…) Listen to the track below:

Helium Robots – Silver by PurplePR

Remixes of ‘Silver’ by Picture House and Youpidou are forthcoming, as is Voltopia, out on June 11 (available on iTunes from May 28) through This Is Music. ‘Silver’ is available now.

Amy Bell

Atlanta folk-pop quartet Girlyman have announced a UK tour in support of their new album Supernova.

Supernova was born out of a period of uncertainty and transformation, following bandmember Doris Muramatsu’s diagnosis with leukaemia in 2010.

Rather than being a dirge, however, the record is tinged with hope for the future – as Muramatsu, who has now gone into remission, says: “A supernova may be a dying star – but as it turns out, it also gives birth to new stars.” We think that’s pretty darn sweet and rather apt, don’t you?

The band will be bringing their gorgeous harmonies and striking melodies to a venue near you from tonight – dates are as below:

May 16 - Hereford Out In The Sticks Festival @ The Courtyard
May 17 – Basingstoke The Forge @ Anvil Arts
May 18 – Kingston The Black Robin
May 19 – Kingston Barn
May 20 – London The Slaughtered Lamb
May 22 – Milton Keynes The Stables
May 23 – Bristol The Hen And Chicken
May 25 – Glasgow Stereo

Amy Bell