“the trouble with la roux, you see, is that every track – every single one, without exception – sounds like the last one. yes, they work very well in short bursts – if la roux is re-released in a couple of decades time as a run of limited 7-Inch singles after a similarly moody be-quiffed pop star has lauded it as the defining soundtrack of her childhood, it’ll be lauded as a triumph of the musical late-noughties – but after you hear what seems like the millionth thwack of 808 snare, and realise you’re only two-thirds of the way through the record, you do start to wonder if you can stick out the whole thing...”; release – ‘09 MORE>

“i have only been aware of amazing baby since i received this album, but apparently they’ve been the recipients of much blogluv and such-like for months now. more fool me, i guess. anyway, this probably aided me in writing this review, all things considered, as i was only slightly aware that i was meant to Really Like Them And Say Nice Things Because They’re Cool And From Brooklyn, and was therefore reasonably untainted when it came to authoring the thing...”; release – ‘09 MORE>

“people have lauded the arctic monkeys’ acne-ed photos, magic-dirty-realist lyrics and apparent total disregard for aesthetic as an unshifting desire to play the game their way and not be corrupted by the pitfalls of fame. it’s not, though, because the band are clearly, genuinely, hating the game – when was the last time you saw alex turner smile, for heaven’s sake..?”; release – ‘09 MORE>

“the wave pictures’ charm is in their slackness. when they sound like they’re trying, they sound bored. when they sound like they’re winging it, they sound quite, quite gorgeous...”; release – ‘09 MORE>

night 7 of our iTunes festival coverage, and in the shape of mr hudson and kanye west, whimsical english pop has never collided so perfectly with l.a. – this morning the roundhouse bar staff will be busy putting the roof back on in time for kelly rowland and david guetta tonight. MORE>

much talked about sxsw-slayers local natives make the short trip over from california, ably supported by ex metronomy types your twenties and alt-folksters kurran and the wolfnotes, in celebration of, i don’t know, summer. MORE >

our first foray in to the world of podcasting features exclusive interviews with graham coxon of blur in conversation with dinosaur jr and the soft pack, who also perform live. tracks by the likes of the big pink, wildbirds and peacedrums and jack penate are also hacked to bits by the round table team. MORE >

“good artists borrow, great artists steal? well yeah, greg borrowed an amp and a guitar, and phil borrowed an amp... i think orville borrowed a mic from daniel who lives down the street...” MORE>

“we’ve kept playing because we haven’t found any reason to stop playing. in a way i’m thankful for it, because by going away and coming back you make all this money and it becomes so lucrative: it’s a weird thing. but we’ve got this incredible body of work behind us because we’ve just been doing it, and we’re going to continue doing it because we’re still having a good time doing it...” MORE>

the rakes, patrick wolf, chrome hoof, the warlocks, ox.eagle.lion.man and more descend on shoreditch on sunday july 26th to show off quite how good they are at music – we could be sending you v.i.p. passes to enjoy the whole event as if you were some kind of bloody king. MORE>