New York hip-hop trio Gorilla Warfare Tactics are making the blogosphere buzz with excitement and anticipation. If you’ve not heard of theses guys, you soon will. The young upstarts released debut song ‘Temptations’ as a free download back at the start of the year, but recent EP ‘Premiere’ is making big waves from rap aficionados and hipsters alike. Their silky soulful beats and naturally lucid rhymes make them stand head and shoulders above their counterparts.

GWT consists of twins Vivek and Vikram Nayar who take care of the beats and use a selection of equipment including M-Audio Keyboard, AKAI MPD, Technics Turntable and Logic. The brothers met likeminded lyricist Abhi Kanakadandila at NYU and they formed the group. Since then whatever these guys have touched seems to have turned to critically respected hip-hop gold.

When asked about what sets them apart from the countless other college-rap collectives, the boys said that, apart from their Indian ethnicity, it was the fact that they’re creative. Although rather boastful, this is by no means an exaggeration. Too many young artists just want to be in the music industry for the perks and status, yet lack any ability.  GWT hold a  completely different ethos though and make intelligent yet accessible hip-hop.

In a recent interview at NYU Local the group stated that J Cole, Jay Electronica, Kanye West, Jurassic 5 and A Tribe Called Quest. It is certainly the latter two artists that ring through when listening to GWT. They posses the kind of old-school quality where everything is delivered in an effortlessly articulate manner and with a smile rather than a aggressive scorn.

Much eagerness follows the boys and with tracks such as the contagious ‘Temptations’ and ‘Classics’ you can see why. These tracks are the complete opposite to the arrogant money, cash, hoes attitude that surrounds the drudge of regular newcomers. They have found the perfect mix of golden era happy vibes and scholarly vocal smarts.

With a hotly anticipated ten or fifteen track mixtape pencilled in for an August release and plenty of music industry insiders sniffing around, the future looks great for GWT. YouTube plays are reaching levels that will alert even the most out of touch a&r men. Download ‘Premiere’ today and get your ears around some of their tracks via the IndieBuzz radio player.

Indie-folk weirdos Fleet Foxes are back just in time for the warm weather and festival circuit. After debut album ‘Fleet Foxes’ dropped back in 2008, the group went on to receive mass critical acclaim and perform at some of the most renowned festivals and venues the world over. Robin Pecknold and his band of merry men return with new LP ‘Helplessness Blues’ which will hit the shelves 3 May.

The band recently stopped by the BBC’s well-renowned studios in Maida Vale and played an eight song set which included a bunch of new songs from their forthcoming album. Tracks included ‘Montezuma‘, ‘Bedouin Dress’, ‘Battery Kinzie’, ‘Sim Sala Bim’, ‘The Shrine/An Argument’ and ‘Grown Ocean’. They also squeezed in a couple of classic tracks, ‘Mykonos’ and ‘Your Projector’.

The groups new full-length is highly anticipated and is set to be released through respected indie labels Sub Pop in the U.S. and Bella Union in the UK. The album is reportedly more progressive and psychedelia in its sound and takes inspiration from Roy Harper’s album ‘Stormcock’. It was recorded back in April 2010 across a number of detinations, primarily New York and West Hurley. The group spent around two years writing the record, after the extensive touring that followed their debut.

These tracks suggest that the album will have a softer feel to it, with more rhythmic hooks and bolder exploration. It certainly appears that the guys have set out to conquer parts unknown and this has to be applauded. The instruments build upon each other and the vocals coo. These songs will perhaps take longer to get used to than their previous poppy sounds.

But, diehard Fleet Foxes fans, do not worry. They still keep their signature distinction and there’s plenty of harmonies and blissed out freak-folk. It appears that these songs have taken the route, that you would hope most bands do on their sophomore record, of keeping the trademarks that made them famous but advancing and tackling new areas and interesting aspects.

One thing is for sure, Pecknold can belt out his vocals live. Fleet Foxes are playing all over the U.S. and Europe this summer at music festivals and their own tours. You should certainly check them out, if you can. For now, before the new album drops, you can check on their session with Zane Lowe on the BBC here and below is the video for ‘Helplessness Blues’.

Awesome Wells aka Jonathan Palmer, who hails from Brighton via Nottingham in England, proves with debut full-length ‘Carry On Awesome Wells’ that the UK music scene has not been shattered beyond repair by the NME trilby tribe and smothered by radio-friendly Brit School alumni. “Carry On..” is a majesty of innovation that, if given the correct exposure, could leave the genius minds of Panda Bear et al quaking in their boots.

From The Beatles to Joy Division and plenty in between, the UK have consistently pioneered music that The States have admired and borrowed from. But, in recent years, this is dwindled to the point of a standstill. Has there been many beyond Radiohead that have truly inspired? It’s fair to say that America has been at the forefront of music for some time now. Whilst the UK, generally speaking, naively poddled along with sappy pop mush rebranded as rock (see Razorlight). But there have always been plenty of diamonds in the rough, and Awesome Wells is certainly one of those.

After 10 seconds of album opener ‘Luchadora’ Animal Collective springs to mind. With it’s twitchy loops and friendly haze, the track could have slipped straight off Avey Tare’s memory stick of demos. But once you explore the song at greater lengths, you understand that it is not just a faux-Strawberry Jam. Reading Awesome Wells’ MySpace blog, he claims that the tracks were written whilst he sat by the side of a lake in Myanmar jamming with a traditional Burmese musician and a palm reader.

‘BEARS’ and ‘Stickleback’ lead us down another path influenced by ‘hip’ American groups. This time it’s the turn of Beirut and A Hawk and a Hacksaw with their eclectic mix of European and traditional Balkan folk. The trumpets and percussion are very much akin to offerings from these artists. But this is by no means a bad thing and, let’s be honest, Beirut’s Zach Condon travelled around the world picking up his arsenal of grooves – so he hardly owns this style.

One of the strongest aspects is the eccentricity of equipment, samples and other goings on. You never quite no what to expect next and, every time you listen, you’ll spot a new sound or a backwards recording of something unrecognisable. With stories like the aforementioned ‘Luchadora’ Burma experience and instruments listed including “A stolen tuba, an electric piano found by the side of the road, a mandolin brought from a fortune teller just outside of Mandalay, twelve Burmese cigars” you would like Palmer to talk you through each track individually to fully understand them.

British experimental and alternative music has, for too long, been dwarfed by the giants from The States and Canada. Awesome Wells is certainly inspired by his counterparts over the Atlantic with his Panda Bear off-beat vocal delivery and ‘Gulag Orkestar’ instrumentation. But he is by no means a copycat. Rather, he joins in on the fun and builds his own idiosyncratic style. Awesome Wells should make the majority of UK acts blush and realise that it’s not all skinny jeans, roll-up cigarettes and power chords.

You can check out the whole album on the Indie Buzz radio player.

Record Store Day swept over the world yesterday as thousands of music fans broke the bank and rose before dawn to snap up the hundreds of limited edition releases. Did you make a complex list, attend your local record shop and get what you want? Did you queue up from the early hours of the morning nervously clutching an Americano? Did you miss out on anything that you really wanted and watch the dude in front of you smugly snap up the last Nrivana EP? Do you even care about Record Store Day?

Whatever you experiences yesterday, or lack of them, there’s no denying that RSD does great things for independent music and local stores. The indie shops involved generated loads of money and generally speaking queues formed hours before they opened and stayed there all day. In it’s fourth year, RSD just gets bigger and bigger. Encouraging people to buy vinyl and rekindling their love for the physical form of music, is without doubt fantastic for an independent music scene which is at times struggling for cash.

But what were the best releases of the day and were there any good live performances? Here we bring you the run down, in video form, of some of hottest vinyl and other bits and pieces that you may or may not have missed out on yesterday.

Nirvana – Hormoaning

6,000 copies of this legendary 1992 Nirvana EP were re-released yesterday through Geffen Records. The group undoubtedly epitomised independent music in the ‘90s with their DIY ethos and untraditional style. They popularised grunge guitar rock and Kurt Cobain became a legend for many generations of rock music fans. The record was originally only released in Australia and Japan and features tracks such as ‘Aneurysm’ and ‘Molly’s Lips’.

Big Star – Third

Cult rockers Big Star re-released their much praised but unknown for many album, ‘Third’. A much darker record than the groups earlier offerings, it has been hailed the ‘greatest break-up record of all time’ by NME. It contains a haunting cover of ‘Femme Fetale’ by the Velvet Underground as well as standout tracks such as ‘Holocaust’ and ‘Kangaroo’.

Wild Beasts Perform Live

Wild Beasts were one are one of the most exciting bands to come out of the United Kingdom in recent years. They released a limited edition pressing of their new single ‘Albatross’ as well as performed at Rough Trade East in London. Here’s a fuzzy fan video of what sounds like a song from their upcoming third album ‘Smother’ which is set to hit the shelves on 10 May in the USA and 9 May in Europe.

Tinie Tempah – WONDERMAN

One of the main success stories of 2010, the grime/hip-hop artist released his Ellie Goulding featuring track ‘Wonderman’ which was limited to just 500 copies. Last year he played in a small Kingston, London record store – little did he know that he would come to become the UK’s biggest urban music artist of the year. Highlights of his last 12 months include performing with Snoop Dogg at Glastonbury festival.

Much anticipation surrounds anything that surfaces from the Animal Collective camp these days. The build-up to the release of their last full-length offering ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’ back in 2009 caused confusion and plenty of buzz all over the internet. At one point Grizzly Bear were wrongly accused of leaking tracks and bizarre coded messages on Animal Collective’s website only added to the chaos. ‘Tomboy’, the fourth solo LP from band member Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), is the Baltimore boys’ latest release.

Away from Animal Collective, Lennox released the hugely acclaimed ‘Person Pitch’ back in 2007. This album is widely regarded as one of the finest experimental records of the 21st century. The seven track effort was simply revolutionary, sampling the likes of Lee Scratchy Perry and Kraftwek to make dreamy canvases for Lennox’s sugary summer vocals to coo over like a modern day Beach Boys. If you’ve missed out on this record, stop what you’re doing and buy it now. Go on…

So after almost reinventing the wheel with what experimental pop music is supposed to be and then coming back with ‘Merriweath Post Pavilion’ in full-band mode, what does Lennox do next? Initially – for this reviewer anyway – he slightly disappoints. Given Lennox’s position as one of the most forward thinking and innovative musicians of our generation, you almost expect him to break the same ground again and ‘Tomboy’ just doesn’t do that.

But this is by no means a bad thing. After a few spins, you begin to understand that Lennox has found his sound (luckily for him it’s one of the best sounds to have found) and he has masterfully honed and fined tuned it. ‘Tomboy’ removes the few weaknesses that ‘Person Pitch’ held; it’s much less untidy and no longer a jumble sale of reverby loops. He’s taken the unconventional side of yore and crafted more traditional pop music.

Lennox has managed to polish and sharpen his song writing craft. Although ‘Tomboy’ doesn’t have the same radical excitement of ‘Person Pitch’, it perhaps has greater songs. You get your standard Panda Bear sound of psychedelic experimentalism mixed with ‘60s folk, but all packaged neater and more grown up. If you were new to Panda Bear, it may be worth starting with ‘Tomboy’ and then working your way back through his discography.

There’s many standout moments on the record, take title track ‘Tomboy’ which encapsulates everything you want in a Panda Bear song with its repetitive melodies and droney backdrop. ‘Last Night At The Jetty’ holds an exceptional futuristic ‘60s feel, it’s like Brian Wilson has been hanging out with Stephen Hawking, travelling through time picking up mysterious nuggets from contrasting generations. It’s an Easter egg hunt of a record, where you will discover new treats the more you persist.

Although not as pioneering as we have come to expect from Animal Collective, ‘Tomboy’ is Panda Bear at in his prime and could perhaps be the strongest record of his career. Fundamental listening for AC fans and newbies alike.

If you’ve come across Odd Future’s work over the last year, then you will be well aware of member Earl Sweatshop’s online album ‘EARL’. His often violent and offensive work is being lauded as some of the best from OFWGKTA.

But one thing has been missing from the hip-hop collective since they rose to prominence at the back end of last year, Earl. He has been absent from live shows, never features in interviews, gets his name chanted by fans and the rest of the group have started a ‘Free Earl’ slogan at gigs and posted it on their Twitter pages. Questions marks surround the youngster.

But Complex have made a thorough investigation into the 17 year old’s location and have discovered that he may well be in Somoa at a centre for naughty and at-risk young adults. It has been rumour for some time that the rapper’s mother had sent him away, hence the ‘Free Earl’ slogan, but these reports where never confirmed and nobody knew exactly where he had gone.

Through some pretty serious Facebook stalking the website have discovered links to what looks like Earl at the Coral Reef Academy Samoa. They have also shown screen shots of a fellow classmate’s Facebook account who claims to be Earl’s friend and has posted links to one of his videos.

Of course this story could be completely made-up, but nevertheless it shows just how big these guys have become over the last 12 months. If this story does prove to be the real deal – something Tyler, The Creator has denied on his Twitter account – then you can imagine that there will be plenty of further effort in the ‘Free Earl’ campaign.

In other Odd Future news Tyler, The Creator’s second studio album ‘Goblin’ is set to hit the shelves on 10 May. It features tracks such as ‘Yonkers’ and is bound to make Odd Future even hugger than they already are. The group have a couple of pretty massive festival appearances this summer including Coachella and Reading in the UK.

In the meantime, if you haven’t already, you should download everything these guys have done- which can be achieved through their website. Below is Earl Sweatshop’s video ‘Earl’.

A couple of months ago little was known about The Weeknd which is the moniker of Toronto based musician Abel Tesfaye. Move forward to April though and practically every on-the-ball music blog, ezine and website has run a feature on the R’n’B genre breaker. You can download new mixtape ‘House of Balloons’ – which is being hailed as an early contender for debut of the year – free from The Weeknd’s website.

The most exciting aspect of the record is that it manages to blend the boundaries between what is ‘okay’ to like and dislike. With hipster websites such as Pitchfork giving, what is essentially just an R’n’B record, glowing reviews, it appears that it is becoming much more acceptable to enjoy an eclectic mix of musical genres – which now includes R‘n‘B. It would have previously been outrageously taboo to be spotted with an Usher or R Kelly MP3 on your iPhone, but it’s not the case with The Weeknd.

So what exactly makes ‘House of Balloons’ different to the standard dirge of generic radio fodder? Well it is remarkably forward thinking and progressive in a genre that has been swamped with bland cutesy-poo love ballads and whiney emotional puddles of boredom – contemporary Rn’B certainly needed a pick me up. But as well as the dark and often revolutionary excellence of the album, it is packed full of really good pop songs. Tesfaye’s falsetto vocals rocket over some seriously inspired beats that incorporate Beach House and Siouxsie and the Banshee’s samples amongst much else over the 9 tracks.

This is certainly not a record to play when your sister’s kids come over for a barbeque, nor one to pick when it’s your turn on the office stereo. The content is packed full of sex and drugs references, which at times verge on over-the-top and become uncomfortable to listen to. But this is all part of the charm, for too long we have been subjected to artists that hint at and use metaphors to describe their troubles with infidelity and narcotics. The Weeknd throw it straight on the table and there is no holding back.

A level of anonymity surrounded The Weeknd when the project first came to the public’s attention and with disturbing lyrical content such as “Open your hand, take a glass, Don’t be scared, I’m right here, Even though, You don’t know, Trust me girl, You wanna be high for this” from opener ‘High For This’ and many more that would be too explicit to regale here, it is obvious why Tesfay kept his identity quiet for such as long time. It also helps in building a buzz, which has certainly worked.

With acts like The Weeknd and Odd Future’s Frank Ocean, R’n’B looks set to have much more noteworthy and thought-provoking outlook than you might have predicted a few months back. Be warned though, it will come drenched in sleeze, pain and over-indulgence.

“Sometimes mistaken for Starsky and Hutch”

Southern California is a great breeding ground for melodic rock and pop, often with a tinge of dark roots just beneath the blonde highlights. Maybe it’s the sunshine, maybe it’s the bare skin, maybe it’s the Beach Boys imagery, maybe it’s the Ecstasy in the water supply. But nobody mates lyrics that rhyme with guitars that chime to produce hummable offspring like Left Coast South. Is it any wonder our state flower is the Golden (Power) Poppy?

The latest example of our unwaveringly melodic sensibilities is Apex Manor, led by former Broken West frontman Ross Flournoy. When the latter band broke up a couple years ago, Flournoy took his Big Star-meets-the-Beatles mindset and moved from ultra-hip Silver Lake to more pastoral (sorta) Pasadena and hunkered down with an unwelcome case of writer’s block. He eventually escaped the jaws of uncertainty with help from frequent collaborator Adam Vine. Inspired by an online songwriting contest for NPR (whatever it takes), Flournoy managed to pen the aptly named track “Under the Gun,” thereby unlocking the creative floodgates. Like a Guided by Voices chugging through the Rose Parade, he came up with a large batch of songs, some of them co-written with Vine, and soon they were to the Apex Manor born. The band was named after the peaceful environs of Vine’s apartment, a spot Flournoy dubbed his Los Angeles “Zen place.” This may be hard to envision if your apartment is more like “condemned place,” but that’s artistic inspiration for ya.

Apex Manor’s debut album, “The Year of Magical Drinking,” issued earlier this year on Merge Records, is chock full of indie rock-by-way-of-pop supporting insightful lyrics about romantic and life lessons learned. The opening track, “Southern Decline,” envelops you in a tumbling cascade of guitar, piano and drums, and cruises to the finish line on a bank of “ooh ooh ooh” vocals. The aforementioned “Under the Gun” is a propulsive number with lyrics like “Where were you / when I was turning blue / I tried to breath but you were gone.” “My My Mind” finds Flournoy offering romantic musings in a simple, understated growl a la Pete Yorn. “Teenage Blood” cranks up the guitar energy as Apex Manor channels its inner Strokes with the refrain “got teenage blood running through my veins” / “got teenage blood boiling in my brain.” You can practically feel the percolating hormones. On “Elemental Ways of Speaking,” guitars ring out like something from a lost Coldplay session, if Chris Martin’s lineage had been less Fab Four and more Arthur Lee and Love. “Holly Roller” is a gently acoustic ballad in which Flournoy cautions “Love is like a figure of speech /sometimes I know you can’t practice what you preach.” Then he breaks out his best Chris Isaak falsetto for the lava-like flow of “Burn Me Alive.”

Flournoy mixes plaintive yearning and joyful celebration for the feeling of an indie rock barbecue where wise hipsters frolic to a portable power pop juke box as the late afternoon sun shines through blades of freshly cut grass. There’s something in the air and it’s more than just a collection of jangling guitars, crashing symbols and welcoming vocal harmonies. Apex Manor has amassed a military stockpile of memorable melodies powerful enough to be deemed weapons of mass reflection.