[Listen] Bloc Party - 'Four' (Full Album Stream)

Every now and again I listen to an album and am literally blown away. It's been a while but last week when I hit play on this very album I was nervous in anticipation for what Bloc Party would deliver. The band played a big part in shaping my taste growing up through my teens. The result when I hit play was astounding, and features a broad mix of sounds but I was particularly knocked a back by the heavy sound some tracks have, particularly "Coliseum" and "We Are Not Good People". RIFF. Check it out on the bands official website in full and please let us know what you think.

Four drops next week on August 20st via Frenchkiss Records. Listen to the album here.

Their upcoming UK tour is now sold out but they have announced a huge show for the new year at Earls Court, London on February 22nd, 2013. Tickets will be on sale this Friday (Aug. 17th) at 9am. Full upcoming dates can be seen after the jump. 

Bloc Party 2012/2013 Tour

12/10 – Newcastle, O₂ Academy – SOLD OUT

13/10 – Leeds, O₂ Academy  – SOLD OUT

14/10 – Glasgow, O₂ Academy

15/10 – Birmingham, O₂ Academy  – SOLD OUT

17/10 – Southampton, Guildhall– SOLD OUT

18/10 – Bristol, O₂ Academy – SOLD OUT

19/10 – Manchester, WHP – SOLD OUT

20/10 – Cambridge, Corn Exchange – SOLD OUT

22/02 – Earls Court, London

[Watch] Norah Jones - "Say Goodbye" Live on Leno

We've already got to enjoy Alabama Shakes rocking the stage on Jimmy Kimmel Live! but as well as that last night, the beautiful Norah Jones brought her sultry vocals to Leno. Up at the top you can enjoy a performance of her track "Say Goodbye" courtesy of The Audio Perv.

Norah's new album ...Little Broken Hearts is out now.

[Watch] Alabama Shakes - "I Ain’t The Same" x "Rise To The Sun" Live on Conan

With the Olympics over the late night TV circuit has got back into the swing of things and last night we were treated to a few performances. First up for your viewing pleasure is a pair of tracks from one of the most solid live bands to come to the forefront of our attention in the past 12 months, Alabama Shakes. They performed "I Ain't The Same" and "Rise To The Sun" on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Re-watch them both at the top courtesy of our friends at The Audio Perv.

Alabama Shakes' album Boys & Girls is out now.

[Listen] New Songs From deadmau5 & Beck From PS3 Exclusive Title 'Sound Shapes'

Play a little....dance a little. At least that's what I picture myself doing if I owned a PS3 and could play through Sound Shapes myself. YouTuber xpantherx was kind enough to play through both the deadmau5 and Beck levels so we can finally hear the new tracks from both artists. We've all heard clips of, "Cities" at this point, but you can hear the song entirely via the video above. Admittedly, I'm not huge on "Touch The People" very much, but Beck definitely plucked away at my heartstrings with "Cities" and "Spiral Staircase". In a perfect world I'll be able to acquire these without having to put up with the added songs from the videogame, but considering that's supposed to be part of the experience I guess I can let it slide.

The deadmau5 songs from the game are pretty good, although it's hard to decide if they sound like songs that were made for a video game or just standard video game music.

Listen to Beck's "Cities" above along with "Touch The People" and "Spiral Staircase" below. Also included below are deadmau5' "Disasteroids", "Break-a-noids", and "Invaderoids".

Beck - "Touch The People"

Beck -"Spiral Staircase"

deadmau5 - "Disasteroids"

deadmau5 - "Break-a-noids"

deadmau5 - "Invaderoids"

[News] Death Grips Announce New Album: 'NO LOVE DEEP WEB'

Earlier in the year Death Grips released their fantastically in your face album The Money Store much to the joy of us here at SKOA. We were also very pleased to have the band promise a second album by the time the year was out and now official news has hit the net. The Sacramento band will, according to Pitchfork, release NO LOVE DEEP WEB will be released in late October) via Epic/Columbia.

In a statement the band said:

there are no features , guest collabs or outside producers.
the material is cold , bass heavy , minimal , rock & roll influenced and could simultaneously fit into a rave or dance club context.
it is essentially rap and electronic music while at times extremely aggressive.
we plan on supporting this release live internationally. 

We look forward to both the tour and the release of the LP. I was pretty bummed when the guys cancelled their UK tour dates to focus on the new album but hey, I'm sure it'll be worth the wait.

[Watch] Muse - "Survival" Live at London 2012 Olympic Closing Ceremony

Last night  marked the end of the London 2012 Olympics. I must say before it all started I was indifferent, I couldn't care less about it all. Fast forward two weeks and I've been glued to the TV more than ever watching sports I didn't even know existed and getting excited about them too. Madness. The closing ceremony took place last night and featured performances from a range of British artists including The Who, Beady Eye, Queen, The Spice Girls(?!) and Muse. It was a mixed bag in all honest and I feel that Jessie J and Emile Sande got a lot more attention than other artists there and ones that could have been. Still, Muse put in a performance of their recent official single of the Olympics, "Survival". The sound mix wasn't the best but it's always good to see these guys rock a stage, even if it was just for a few minutes. 

Check out the performance at the top and look out for more from Muse in the coming months as we await the release of The 2nd Law. Thanks to the Audio Perv for the video hook-up and what's up with NBC finishing off what seems to have been awful Olympucs coverage by cutting out Muse?! 

If you missed it at the end of last week we got to hear the track "Unsustainable" from Muse. It's the one we all dreaded: the dubstep one they previewed in the album trailer.

[Outside Lands 2012] Our Most Aniticipated Artist of the Festival

Today marks the beginning of this year's Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco, the fifth edition of the cultural highlight. SKOA will be attending the festival this year, and each day leading up to the festival we will be dishing out a feature focused on the bands set to appear at Outside Lands. Today, the final day of our preview coverage, we look to answer one important question: who is our most anticipated artist of the festival?

With such an incredible and diverse lineup, Outside Lands offers something for everyone. Stevie Wonder, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Metallica, Foo Fighers, Sigur Rós, Jack White, Beck, The Kills, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, Passion Pit, Santigold, MSTRKRFT, The Walkmen, YACHT, Andrew Bird, you name it, there is a band for each and every attendee to get excited about. For us, though, there is one band that sticks out at the forefront, and that is Australian psych rock outfit Tame Impala.

Ever since Tame Impala dropped their debut LP Innerspeaker back in 2010, the psychedelic stylings of the Perth band have never left my eardrums for more than a few days. Somehow, they have perfectly captured what was so good about psychedelic rock in the '60s and '70s, the carefree attitude and the general sense that all that needs to be done is to play the hell out of some fucking instruments and put on a damn good show. When listening to Tame Impala, it's not uncommon to feel as if you're listening to Eric Clapton, transporting you to a time when the biggest names in rock were at their peak. This new wave of neo-psychedelia has been rising since the early to mid-1990s, but Tame Impala directly utilizes the styles and sounds of the 1960s, and they pull it off so well.

For every band that is performing at Outside Lands, the collective love we have for Tame Impala trumps even the biggest names. Hearing their brand of psychedelic rock in a live setting sounds infinitely more tempting than any of the other offerings at the festival. Call me crazy, but the idea of dancing under the influence of who knows how many narcotics to the addicting psychedelic soundscapes of Tame Impala seems like an amazing experience to me. In fact, I'm more sane for thinking so.

[Watch] Prof - "Peep Show" (Video)

GAMPOS! Stophouse's (should only be pronounced with a shout) Prof is back on the prowl with his wild new video for the King Gampo cut "Peep Show" which features Russian clowns, booze, Prof being a skeezy awesome freak, glowing hand and shakeweights. Not much more to say about this other than it should be played at every strip club, even though i've never been to one. Anyways...here it is. King Gampo is out now and you download it for free here. Support it if you like it.