I've been enjoying Groove Armada's new album 'Black Light', good return to form guys! There's some great collaberations including Brian Ferry, SaintSaviour, The Human League, Nick Littlemore of Empire of the Sun, Jess Larrabee, Fenech Soler and surprisingly Will Young! Check out the video for the track 'I Won't Kneel' below.

We went to see Marina & The Diamonds last night at the Norwich Arts Centre, didn't know too much about them prior to going, after a terrific performance I'm very much looking forward to the debut album. You can view a couple of photos from the gig here.

It was back in May 2009 when I last gave my selection of music recommendations... There hasn't been too much around that I've really got into but here's some of my favourites albums that's been played in the Brown & White Studio over the last 6 months.

Vampire Weekend - Contra
The XX - XX
Noah & The Whale - The First Days of Spring
We Fell to Earth - We Fell to Earth
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Yeah Yeah Yeah's - It's Blitz
Girls - Album
Japandroids - Post-Nothing

We went to see Breakestra last night at the Norwich Arts Centre... the bad points about the gig is Mixmaster Wolf wasn't there on the night, I had to stop dancing an hour and half into it (yep it was that long) because I was dying to use the toilet, and my right ear drum feels very damaged today... the good point was it's easily the best gig I have ever been to... period! This has now raised the standards of gigs so high I'm concerned I will be disappointed with anything else, if you get the chance to see them, don't hesitate, get a ticket!

You can check out a few photos I shot on the night here,unfortunately I couldn't get any other angles ;)

Check out the new single and film trailer for the Noah & The Whale's forthcomig album & film. Nothing short of beautiful... I can't wait!

The First Days of Spring Official Trailer from charlie fink on Vimeo.

Below is a short excerpt from the film 'The First Days Of Spring', although it isn't reflective of the nature of the film generally, I feel like its nice as its own little piece. Its the only point in the film where the characters acknowledge the music and should be viewed in context, when you watch the full feature it will hopefully make perfect sense.

The First Days Of Spring Teaser from charlie fink on Vimeo.

In 1985, Chicago artist Nathan Wright was commissioned by Ebony to depict what he thought then Black (or more PC now African American) star’s would look like at the age of 40.  He couldn’t have been more wrong about the late great Michael Jackson, he went on to say at 40, Michael will have aged gracefully and will have a handsome, more mature look.

It's been around 5-6 months in the making but today is the launch of Sick City Club's website promoting their new video. The guys wanted an all singing all dancing flash site focusing on their new video, driven my an easily managed cms. Go check it out now!

View Sick City Club website here

I've been listening to the new self titled album The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, I think this is going to be my favourite album for June 09. I've not read any comparisons between these artists but they sound like a cross between Stone Roses & The Smiths, a lovely blend of melodic fizzy pop and swirling vocals. Check them out.

Adam Freeland is about to release his 2nd album with his band 'Freeland'. I've just heard the new track and thought it was pretty damn good. If you've not checked out their previous album 'Now & Them', I seriously suggest you get your hard earn't pennies out and go spend a few! Check out the new CD Artwork & the video for the new single 'Under Control' below:

Freeland - Under Control - Official Video from Freeland on Vimeo.

I have a lot of appreciation for this album in many ways... and every way makes it that little bit special. I don't know if Jarvis has had any input himself into the design of the artwork for his brilliant new album Further Complications, but it's very 'Jarvis' and it's brilliant. The Cover itself works on more than one level for me, It looks especially nice when viewing on my iPod Nano when flipping the screen from vertical and horizontal and vice versa. Equally as nice is the single artwork for Angela, lovely use of type and photography of jarvis toying with the scenery... which takes us to the new Jarvis website { visit here} where he just mucks around, walking back and fourth tinkering wth the set, acting like a monkey and hopping on one leg... genius :)

I'm very particular about my music, and unlike movies, it's been rather a good year so far for album releases. I'm not going to bother reviewing them, I've listed these as they are in my opinion the best music of 2009 so far. If you haven't heard any of them... go check them out :)

Brakes - Touchdown
Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications
David Holmes - The Holy Picture
Handsome Furs - Face Control
Swan Lake - Enemy Mine
Royksopp - Junior
The Veils - Sun Gangs
Albert Hammond Jr - ¿Cómo Te Llama?

Miss White & I went to see Howling Bells in March 2009 at the Norwich Arts Centre. It was a fantastic performance even though I'm not too keen on the new album. It was amusing to see lead singer Juanita get extremely frustated by the Norwich crowd as they were so quiet and rigid, we felt young at this gig which is a rarity now we've hit our 30's... I can only imagine this is the reason behind their more accessible pop focused 2nd album and image change. Regardless of all that, we met the band... apart from Juanita who seemed to bugger off rather early after the show... bought myself a t-shirt and got it signed :)