First Aid Kit // It Hurts Me Too

From the opening, longing refrain "I love you baby, ain't gonna lie. Without you darlin' I can't be satisfied", it's clear that the First Aid Kit girls have grown up. The heart warming harmonies remain with added world-worn soul, but the lilting folk of their earlier songs is replaced by a brooding blues, no doubt a product of Jack White's tinkering.

Brown Brogues // Don't Touch My Hair

There's plenty of bands, Egyptian Hip Hop, Everything Everything, Wu Lyf and Christian AIDS to name but a select few, bursting from Manchester's burgeoning new class set to steal the limelight and A&R attention from their London peers.

Add to that list Brown Brogues. Listening to the duo's two minute blasts of psych garage is akin to feeling the angst striken buzz of early White Stripes demos like Lafayette Blues or Hand Springs, as thumping drums provide the platform for scuzzy lo-fi guitar.

Before they head out to SXSW, the band's debut 7" is out next week on Suffering Jukebox. For your listening pleasure, samples of two tracks from the release are below, as well as a Manchester Scenewipe directed video for Treet U Beta.

Find more artists like brown brogues at Myspace Music

Find more artists like brown brogues at Myspace Music

Local favourites // James Blake

This BBC performance of The Wilhelm Scream offers the absolute explanation for why we still haven't recovered full consciousness since James Blake's incredible support slot for Everything Everything at the Union Chapel last month.

The first 'echo-pop' at 1.13, the blanket synths gathering at 2.21, the refreshing clarity at 4.32; a few examples of the simple beauty Blake achieves in his music, and why February 7th can't come soon enough.

Little Scream // The Heron and The Fox

You can never go far wrong with a Secretly Canadian signing, the record label home of Here We Go Magic, Yeasayer, JJ and Antony & The Johnsons acting as signpost for innovation and future genius.

It would seem careless therefore not to herald a new SC signing with some attention. Unlike her label contemporaries there's more of the traditional in Little Scream, with a lush, hushed voice that invites comparisons with Joni Mitchell, yet behind the innocent visage lies perhaps a more deviant edge, singing of showing truckers what she's got and that she would be the fox to her muse's heron.

Ok, perhaps not deviant, but there's plenty to love in this celebratory free download that certainly whets the aural appetite for her forthcoming debut 'The Golden Record' out 11th April.

Little Scream - The Heron and The Fox

Smith Westerns // Dye It Blonde

We can't get enough of Smith Westerns. Thankfully, NPR must have felt our painful anticipation of the boys' new record and are willing to indulge us by streaming the record, in full, on their site.

A little bit glam, a little bit garage, even on first listen it's got 'you will be listening to this all year' all over it. Here's a choice selection, or head to NPR for the lot.

Smith Westerns - Dye It Blond by revolutioncontemporaine

Porcelain Raft // Gone Blind EP

Every man and his dog are plugging Porcelain Raft as the 2011 big hitter, and while not one to stand on ceremony, unfortunately No Action has no choice but to be in total agreement. The lush pop dreamscapes evident on Mauro Remiddi's new Gone Blind EP are evidence enough that the man's ability to transport us away from grim, grey reality to somewhere grander are just the tonic for the new year. Here's a choice cut and video from the forthcoming release.

Porcelain Raft 'Dragonfly' from Porcelain Raft on Vimeo.

Christmas Countdown // The Maccabees :: Walking In The Air

In a valiant attempt to trump Jona Lewie's Stop the Cavalry as No Action's favourite Christmas song, perennially under-rated The Maccabees have recorded a haunting, dramatic version of Walking In The Air. Staying true to the original, it's take off at just under two minutes in is spectacular, while Orlando's voice is a perfect fit with its mix of innocence and unhinged portent.

Smith Westerns // Weekend II

Further to our post declaring Smith Western's new single Weekend as the boys' finest, shiniest pop achievement to date, they've further whetted our excitement for the new album with a quite brilliant video. A typical Western weekend apparently includes video arcades, Claire's Accessories, cheese-slathered nachos and tree felling. I know what I'll be doing come Saturday.

Arbutus Records

Prompted by the semi-religious experience of seeing Canada's foremost alt-rockers Arcade Fire at the O2 temple this week, No Action set out to discover where the new wave of Canadian music was brewing.

Step forward Outremont, Quebec's Arbutus Records. Spawned from the now-defunct Montreal art collective Lab Synthese, its raison d'etre is to showcase the DIY musical talents nurtured there and offer a home to the weird and wonderful Quebec pop community. Here's a sample from but three of said talents.

Grimes - a debut EP good enough for GvsB's top 30 says it all for the year Caroline Boucher, aka Grimes, has had. Geidi Primes is a record full of unexpected joys, a study in understatement and psychedelic samples, followed up by a second record, Halfaxa, of ethereal wonder.
Grimes - Rosa by Arbutus Records

Silly Kissers - If you thought that Kisses made the best electro pop record of the year with a snogging related band name, you'd be wrong. It was, infact, Silly Kissers. Precious Necklace is but seven songs long, but each is brimming with playful John Hughes film score synths and playground love lyrics.


Silly Kissers - Treat Me Like You Do by Arbutus Records

Sean Nicholas Savage - If Sean Nicholas Savage had room for more middle names they'd be Pop Troubador. Stripped to its bare bones without excess or distraction, Savage's infectious, melodies and lyrical flair are bonafide genius. Warning: If you listen to the video below, from Savage's Mututal Feelings of Respect and Admiration LP, you will be singing it all day.


Sean Nicholas Savage - Disco Dancing by Arbutus Records

Christmas countdown // The Futureheads :: Christmas Was Better in the 80s

A fact, which I firmly refute on the grounds that it only serves to confirm my own rapid aging but that their PR insists, is that The Futureheads are 10.

To celebrate both this anniversary and that of Jesus, the band are putting out new single Christmas Was Better in the 80s via their own Nul Records. Sounding firmly like The Futureheads have for the last 10 years, all likeable art-rock and four part harmonies, but with a twist of Christmas jingle, it's a satisfying reminder both that the band still have the verve they delivered on their debut and that not all Christmas songs are rubbish.

Callers // How You Hold Your Arms

What better way to follow Here We Go Magic than with another offspring from the ever fertile womb that is Brooklyn, New York.

Three piece Callers released acclaimed new record 'Life Of Love' in October on Western Vinyl, which offered up the heart-breakingly sparse new single How You Hold Your Arms. Sara Lucas' vocals take on a tragic loneliness given the bare, jazz influenced arrangements, making the 'look' she gives you at the end of the accompanying video-within-a-video all the more haunting.

Here We Go Magic // Casual

From one of the best records of 2010 comes the most unpredictable video of 2010. If you were exoecting that, perhaps you should sign up for the next Here We Go Magic single.