William Arcane

There’s something exultant about William Arcane‘s Not The Only One: listening to it leaves me light-headed and grateful as I consider all the good things in my world; leaves me thrilling at the fine and glassy and elegant sounds it weaves, all of them awfully pleasant on the lords and peers.  Along with the also-great and choppier Want Somebody, it comes from the Permanence EP, which is out on 10 June via Pictures Music.

Portia Graves

After yesterday‘s “electronic classical trip-hop”, it’s time to move things along in the form of Portia Graves‘ “electronic soundtrack classical”.  For all my sarcasm, the difference is initially compelling: where Diana Yukawa’s music was pensive and precious, Portia’s newest tune is far more fraught, far more intense.  That makes it no less enjoyable, though: personally, I feel the same thrill here as when listening to a big, bad storm.

Then again, if you do prefer things pensive, these swirly, subdued tracks (and indeed all others) from her current album Red Brick Roads will really do the trick  (Driving Down The Strip isn’t on said record)…

Diana Yukawa – My Way Home

April faded to May which petered out into June which disappeared into July which at some point became August, September and then October which re-branded itself as November which was no different to December which segued into January which morphed into February which quickly called itself March which gave way to April and then a year had gone by and still I missed her, and still I cried most nights, cried for no better reason than just to get the tears out.

If you’re not familiar with her, Diana Yukawa was a prodigal violinist, releasing her first album on Sony aged a mere 14. My Way Home comes from a new EP, Finding The Parallel, on which she adopts a terrific new sound, described as ‘electonic classical triphop’. A full, fourth album is expected at the end of 2013.

London Grammar – Metal & Dust

London Grammar caused some of the capital’s biggest music-blog ripples last year with their hypnotic song Hey Now, out just before Christmas.  Now, some two months later, there’s finally a follow-up in the form of Metal & Dust.  It starts off much more r’nb-style and stripped-down than its predecessor; but by the end, Hannah Reid’s vocals are in full, glorious flow.   Check out the Soundcloud noise graph once the song’s played out: it’s like the side of a mountain:

Metal & Dust is maybe not so initially exhilarating as Hey Now, but I actually think I might eventually end up liking it more.  Both songs will be on the debut EP, out 25 February.  Before then, check out this excellently warped Dot Major remix of Hey Now:

Public Service Broadcasting – Everest

Fusing bespectacled, bygone and thoroughly-English narrative voices with bonkers keyboard adventures isn’t an obvious route to anthem-making.  But that’s the very way that Public Service Broadcasting – who are J. Willgoose Esq. and Wrigglesworth, no less – have managed to make a blogger in Islington gasp and nearly cry with excitement.  They do so via their newest song, Everest, which is captivating, glorious and, frankly, because no other word will do here, brilliant.  Just brilliant.  It follows a WWII-focused The War Room EP, and ROYGBIV too, and is better, I think: a step up, a high-water mark.  How giddily exciting new music can be sometimes…  (Read Guardian.co.uk’s article on PSB for more.)