George Michael - True Faith

George Michael's version of True Faith is out today and deserves a bit of attention of its own. Based on our viewing figures over the past couple of weeks, this one song has been anticipated more hotly than the release of REM's Collapse Into Now. Perhaps that's because there wasn't much chance to preview True Faith prior to its release - the song only appeared on George Michael's official web site a few days ago.

However, now it's out and you can buy it for yourself (digital downloads today and physical CD format from tomorrow) - and you also get the peace of mind of knowing you're supporting a good cause, in the form of Comic Relief. Whether or not this coming Red Nose Day weekend will end with George at number one in the singles charts remains to be seen. Personally, I think True Faith will either do very well indeed, or not very well at all. I'm hoping for the former, but it's hard to gauge - needless to say, George has never really stuck to the middle ground during his career.

The Candle Thieves - Breathing (Just For You), out March 21st

The Candle Thieves are back this month with Breathing (Just For You), their new single on Carnival Town Records. It's a lead-in to the expected summer debut album and a follow-on from first single We're All Gonna Die (Have Fun) and EP Sunshine And Other Misfortunes.

I'm detecting traces of Eels (Mr. E's Beautiful Blues) influencing the backing music and a span-the-gap approach to 'proper' music with what can only be described as an 'infectious' pop sound. It's not quite mass-market, but it does more than just fill a niche.

You'll be glad to hear that you can make up your own mind on this one, as the video below gives you a pre-release sneak preview at the track - and thanks to it being on Sunshine And Other Misfortunes, iTunes customers can technically get their hands on the EP version of the track already...

REM - Collapse Into Now

REM's Collapse Into Now is out today in the UK and continues what has become a well-honed format for the group, whose success shows no signs of waning as the years go by. Under the stewardship of Michael Stipe, the REM sound machine has really carved its style in stone, with increasingly guitar-led compositions and lyrical points of inflexion that show why fans have stuck with the group for an impressive 15 studio albums.

With a couple of exceptions - lyrics that just repeat the song title, and the horrendous Mine Smell Like Honey (which consists in parts solely of its own title followed by tuneless "uh" sounds) - Collapse Into Now is what you'd expect from REM. Distinctive Stipe vocals, complex layered guitar accompaniment and a careful counterpointing of a fairly laid-back style with high-energy, fast-tempo tracks.

Singles Round Up: Tinie Tempah ft. Ellie Goulding - Wonderman

It's a bumper week for big-name pop singles this week, with Britney, Black Eyed Peas, McFly, Olly Murs and Tinie Tempah all putting forward releases for your consideration. We've picked through that lot, and a few of the smaller name releases to bring you some of the best, and inevitably, some of the worst new singles.

Tinie Tempah ft. Ellie Goulding - Wonderman
Bobble: This song does to Ellie Goulding what Madonna did to Bond themes - she's post-processed to the hilt and mashed up like Monday morning's bubble and squeak, but it works well. Tinie takes the lead with strong vocals but it's a well-balanced partnership and a catchy track. Good effort from both.
» Tinie Tempah ft. Ellie Goulding - Wonderman on iTunes

SpaceChem on Steam

SpaceChem has been out since the start of 2011, but just hit Steam, the iTunes-style game downloading community from Valve (who you may remember from such computer games as Half-Life...).

We took the chance to have a look at this futuristic logic puzzle and try to work out whether it's any good or not.

While any game has its good and bad points, SpaceChem manages to leave a pretty wide gulf between the two - it has excellent points, and terrible points. The gameplay itself, thankfully, is absorbing and intricate; it's mostly just the presentation that lets it down.

Weirdly, the above video does a far better job of outlining the principles of SpaceChem than any of the in-game literature. It's also a chance to hear the incredible soundtrack, composed by Evan Le Ny, which helps to keep the frustration at bay on the more challenging levels.

Jennifer Sawdon - Living the Fairytale

Following on from our review of Jennifer Sawdon's debut album Fighting the Fairytale (which you can read here), we caught up with Jennie to find out what it's like being a recording artist - and what it's like to be living the fairytale, rather than fighting it.

Jennie tells us the ideas behind some of her songs, the new inspirations in her life and why you should 'fight the fairytale' and do things your own way, instead of trying to live somebody else's dream.

Flashguns - Passions Of A Different Kind

London four-piece Flashguns have been working hard over the past months, touring with the likes of Bombay Bicycle Club, Mona and currently Dananananaykroyd to build a following ahead of the release of their forthcoming debut album. That as yet unnamed album is scheduled for release this summer, but if you can't wait that long it is preceded by this single.

Passions Of A Different Kind is a big sweeping anthem, impressive in its ambitions for a such a new, young band. The guitars have sort of Good News-era Modest Mouse jauntiness to them, but the track has more energy than something like Float On. And the chorus, which seems to take up most of the second half of the song, has been packed with more hooks than your average pirate convention.

Check out the video for Passions below, and keep your eyes peeled for Flashguns playing a venue near you soon.

George Michael - True Faith, out March 13th

Heads-up all you George Michael fans - the big guy's releasing a cover of New Order's True Faith in time for this year's Comic Relief appeal. All proceeds from the record - both George's own earnings and New Order's royalties for the use of the track - are due to go to the charity.

UPDATE: True Faith hit iTunes on March 13th as promised. Click the button below to buy it from iTunes, or you can use the Amazon link if you want the physical CD version, released on March 14th.


There's a sneak preview of George Michael's version of True Faith on GeorgeMichael.com - hit play below to listen now. If for any reason the player below doesn't work, you can still stream True Faith now - just click here to open George's official website in a new tab/window and the stream should be on the front page.


If you want the CD single version of True Faith, which is due to be released on March 14th, you can pre-order it now from Amazon here.

For any of you who don't remember the original, just hit play below for a reminder.


I'm not sure what angle George will take on this one, but it's bound to be good either way - whether he breaks the usual charity-song mould by keeping the fairly upbeat rhythm, or opts instead to push the sentiment of the lyrics, which could actually prove pretty haunting.

Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes

Lykke Li might not be quite as idiosyncratic as fellow Scandinavian songstresses Bjork or Hanne Hukkelberg, but she sure know how to write brave, brilliant, and strikingly otherworldly music. Her new album Wounded Rhymes, the follow up to 2008's Youth Novels, was conceived, written and recorded in the desert hills of Los Angeles on what Li has referred to as a retreat, to escape the "cold and dark" winter of her native Sweden.

Despite the setting though she admits it is an album of dark themes, even "psychotic" at times when dealing with the break up of a recent relationship. Much like Youth Novels it is heartbreak and despair that seem to fuel this record, yet Li manages to turn those bleak emotions into the most beautiful compositions.

Clare Maguire - Light After Dark

Sometimes there's just a buzz around an album - and it's hard to tell whether it's because it's been well promoted, or because people are genuinely excited about its release.

In the case of Clare Maguire's Light After Dark, I think it's probably both. Extracts from The Last Dance have been popping up all over the place recently, and if Jenny Frost's retweeting the news that your album's out, you must be doing something right.

Judging purely from The Last Dance, I was expecting a middle-of-the-road effort from Maguire. It's not that it sounds uninspiring - quite the opposite. The Last Dance is a laid back but energetic composition, if such a thing is possible. It's just not massively original - it has that sound you might expect from a final-hour dancefloor filler, but is not quite the last song of the night.