Strangely, this time around the bass is my least favourite thing - but that’s not to say the Blacks Keys aren’t slowly drawing me in with the next release from upcoming album Turn Blue.

This, the title track, has the Keys shifting further away from the big-venue rock of El Camino towards a soundtrack for a slow drive down the main drag. The guitar is expressive but tight, the beat is simple, and that insistent (annoying?) bass keeps the song swaggering along. There’s no radio-conquering chorus, but the band has produced more than their fair share of those in the past: this is the Black Keys exercising their well-earned right to make music the way they want to, and the strategy looks set to continue producing quality results.

Just under a month to go.

‘Haunting’ is probably a music reviewing cliché, but this guy is basically playing his song dressed as a Sith lord in a dark room full of flickering lights. I’m not sure why. When you hear his voice, I’m sure you’ll agree it doesn’t matter.

‘Lights’ is the haunting (deal with it) new track from London-born, Vienna based producer Christopher Taylor, who goes by ‘SOHN’. It’s a slow-building, blippy slice of electronic goodness, and Taylor’s ghostly vocals smooth it all off nicely. The skilfully-shot live video sees the song’s rises and falls matched by a dizzying light show, and is an impressive showcase of SOHN’s talent.

Debut album Tremors is out already.

I’m not sure how I’ve missed him until now.

The dragon in their name is the only little thing here - these Swedish synthpop deities look set to release one of the biggest albums of 2014. BBC Radio 1’s Zane Lowe has Nabuma Rubberband pinned as the hottest record in the world right now after hearing only two singles, but nobody’s arguing.

“Little Dragon” is taken from the nickname given to singer and percussionist Yukimi Nagano on account of her in-studio temper tantrums, but the band has persevered to win global acclaim. All is forgiven, it seems, on the basis of Nagano’s musicianship and the raw energy she injects into the band’s live shows - and it can’t hurt that she happens to be in possession of one of the sexiest voices in modern music.

Nabuma Rubberband is out May 13. A radio rip of new single ‘Paris’ can be found below.

Play it loud.

This is beautiful.

The video explains itself.

In a strange kind of reverse-selling-out manoeuvre, Kishi Bashi wrote the chorus of this track for an advertisement before deciding it was worth fleshing it out into a full song for his fans - or so the story goes. If it’s true, we should be thankful he did. ‘Philosophize!’ is three-and-a-half minutes of pure pop bliss, and you will be reaching for the replay button before it’s even finished.

Having studied classical composition and being a trained violinist himself, Kishi Bashi’s strings-heavy arrangements have a classical bent to them, but his songs tend to sit comfortably inside an alt-pop classification, and this one is no exception.

Kishi Bashi is a fountain of relentless optimism, and ‘Philosophize!’ is the perfect cure to a sleepy Saturday morning.

In today’s indie scene, popular artists have been reminded that it’s possible to combine insightful lyrics with rock instrumentation. Multi-dimensional, meaningful lyricism isn’t incompatible with radio-friendly indie rock, and the success of bands like Alt-J and Arcade Fire proves that it still sells to get listeners’ minds moving, as well as their feet. British trio Little Comets would roll their eyes at such observations - they’ve been doing it for years, and doing it well.

The Gentle EP gets its hands dirty with an array of controversial themes. ‘The Blur, the Line and the Thickest of Onions’ hits out at perhaps the world’s most hated pop star and the empowerment of misogyny in the music industry, while ‘Coalition of One’ decries the majoritarian agenda of those privileged leaders who callously pursue profit at the expense of the few. ‘Little Italy’, below, is the first track on the...

The Neighbourhood have mastered their own particular brand surging, moody pop with a hip-hop flourish, but it’s when they open up a little and let the light in (see hit single ‘Sweater Weather’) that their music really catches my ear.

‘Honest’ is another stellar example; in the band’s own words, “change can be amazing”, and this change of tone hits all the right buttons. Sure, it’s still about a relationship gone wrong, but this is a parting shot of the positive kind, with Jesse Rutherford offering his best wishes to a lost lover. The chorus is refreshingly clean-shaven and, well, honest, and the dynamics are as tight as ever.

What hasn’t changed, of course, are the sophisticated hooks and the band’s signature black and white aesthetic - the new single has been released as a monochrome lyric video, which may sound tiresome but will surprise you. Therein lies the greatest of these...

It’s been a long 3 years since Wye Oak’s fantastic album Civilian propelled them onto the international indie stage, and the band has obviously been busy.

On our first glimpses of new record Shriek (out April 29), they return with a brand new guitar-free sound that has the internet abuzz. In this blogger’s opinion, they’ve proved themselves gifted and evocative songwriters regardless of the instruments in their hands. ‘Glory’ struts along over a forthright, danceable beat and boasts not only a floor-filler chorus, but a wobbly and wonderful synth solo to boot.

Share in the newfound confidence of two very talented musicians below.

Arguably the best of the current wave of artists pairing downbeat, atmospheric pop music with soaring female vocals, London Grammar have risen to even greater heights by covering an INXS classic in a trailer for television classic in the making Game of Thrones.

I could join the dots between the themes of the song and the series; the aptness of ‘words as weapons sharper than knives’, the way the game draws out the devils in even the noblest of players (remember when Arya stabbed that kid in the stomach? Yeah.) and how the song’s dynamics mirror the show’s relentless build-up towards the next explosive crescendo. I could draw connections between Hannah Reid’s formidable voice and the plethora of strong female leads in GOT, because we’re still supposed to find strong female characters kind of, you know, surprising. But really, the only important thing is that Game of Thrones is back, with...

Climb the stairs, find the door, cross the hall, pay your entry fee. Take to the polished wooden floor. It’s a dance; we know the moves.

Sylvan Esso’s stunning new music video takes us from a community hall to a somewhat sleazy house party to a softly-lit lawn at night in an uplifting ode to the freeing power of two feet moving in time. A simple beat and sparse instrumentation guide Amelia Meath’s lilting vocals gently through the maze of the clip’s goings-on, and the result is at once soothing and invigorating.

The track is the first single from Sylvan Esso’s self-titled debut album, due for release on May 13. If the rest of them are like this one, it’ll be well worth a listen.

Get up, get down. It’ll do you good.