Niki N. Phaser

              Indochine are releasing yet another single from last year’s successful album, La Republique des Meteors, and their choice is quite good: Un Ange à ma Table. Though I was still rooting for Republika, it is great that this track received the special attention of being the fourth single. It’s a fast-paced rocky kind of tune, but it’s still the careening sounds of chorus synths that will stick to your mind. The French idols will be touring their homeland this spring, starting with March, the climax being a monster gig at Stade de France on June 26.

UN ANGE ICI

            Your favorite virtual, animated band of anti-heroes is making an official return. Gorillaz are to release their third album, Plastic Beach, this March. This will be the follow-up to the groudbreaking Demon Days, that had the world shakin’ it to the hit Feel Good, Inc. and pretty much everything else that was on that album. The new 16-tracker will feature an eclectic congregation of guest singers, like Mos Def, Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, of course De La Soul and plenty of other guests (more than ever). Lead single, Stylo, will be available for download in a few days. It’s quite a retro-jem, filled with catchy rollerskate-disconess and a synth bassline which will have 80′s veteran breakdancers, “the Fred Astaires of the street”, dust their tank tops. Listen at Gorillaz’s:

OFFICIAL SITE

                  Smashing Pumpkins have premiered a new single, Widow Wake My Mind, through MySpace. The song is the second installment in Billy Corgan & co.’s 44 tracks project, entitled Teargarden by Kaleidyscope. It’s quite a different kind of tune than first single, A Song For a Son, which was made available as a free download last month. Maybe it’s just the infectious hopeful sound of this new track, but this diversity promises an interesting project. It is not set yet, but if this will be a one-by-month kind of venture, Smashing Pumpkins might become a favorited show, though waiting 30 days for a new episode is a bit frustrating. Anyway, it’s nice to always have a little pleasure to look forward to. Like the rest of the tracks which Teargarden by Kaleidyscope is comprised of, Widow Wake My Mind is a free download.

LISTEN TO THE WIDOW