UNKLE return after four years

Almost ten years on from his revered "Psyence Fiction" set, dance producer James Lavelle has confirmed details for his third studio album under the UNKLE moniker.

"War Stories" is being released July 24th in North America through Lavelle's Surrender All imprint, and will again feature a number of big-name guest vocalists. Ian Astbury features on the album's first single "Burn My Shadow", as well as "When Things Explode", while Queen Of The Stone Age's frontman Josh Homme pops up on "Rentless".

Indie band Duke Spirit contribute to "May Dax", Autolux is guesting on "Versions & Machinery", Massive Attack's 3-D can be heard on "Twilight" and rock bassist Jeordie White and Nada Surf's Matthew Caws also contribute.

UNKLE tours this summer across European and Japanese festivals before heading to the U.S. for a full band tour.

Together livens up Turnmills

Six live sets are on the bill at the next Together bash in London. Stephan Bodzin, Para One and Christopher Just plug in at Turnmills at the end of the month.

The night will be the launch of Together's new live space DiscoTechNo, which is actually just a fancy name for room two. Headlining will be trancey electro don Stephan Bodzin, who'll perform cuts from his latest album 'Liebe ist...', white gloves and all. Also plugging in will be fellow Germans Christopher "I'm a disco dancer" Just and Markus Lange.

Room one will be a noisy one too with Frenchmen David Guetta doing his party house/electro thing on the decks alongside Para One, who'll amp it up with a live set, and Together residents Justin Robertson and Anil Chawla. Over in room three, XFM’s John Kennedy is back with his usual barrage of bands and DJs. Look out for live performances from indie crews The Teenagers and the Shakes as well as DJ sets by Jamie Reynolds from the Klaxons and the ubiquitous Modular DJs.

Upstairs, Buttoned Down Disco promoters make their debut with trendy-named DJs such as Tits of Death, Dollyrocker and They Came from the Stars, I saw Them making the selections. London five piece XX Teens also put down their guitars for the night and have a stab on the turntables.

Soma Coma

Glasgow’s Soma Records are generally known for their futuristic techno and underground house. But that’s not the full story, as their latest compilation, ‘Soma Coma’ — out now — demonstrates.

Focusing on downbeat, electronica and ambience, with a smidgeon of Detroit techno and hip-hop for good measure, ‘Soma Coma’ compiles tracks for the head rather than the feet. Label head honchos Slam contribute two tracks, one a more ambient effort (‘This Is’), and the second, ‘Bright Lights Fading’, a neon-lit cyborg soul missive, augmented by the lush larynx of Billie Ray Martin.

Alex Smoke’s melancholic ‘Don’t See the Point’ is reshaped by connoisseur of all things deep, Henrik Schwarz, who transforms the track into a weird but devastating amalgam of subtle dancehall bounce and abstract jazz piano, before taking off into four/four territory. The result is a seriously lush dose of goodness that you need in your life.

The finest moment is perhaps Silicone Soul’s ‘Burning Sands’, an impossibly dramatic, filmic panorama of smouldering electroid atmospherics and subtle electric guitar. Evoking the old school computer game soundtrack ‘Shadowrun’, (for all you geeks out there!), this is epic material.

Maas’ ‘Look At Me Now, Falling’ gets the remix treatment from Mass Zoyd + Prairie, who bring the original into lazy, psyche funk territory, all humping bass and Rhodes keyboard licks. The whole compilation stands as one of the very best collections of this kind of music — like a modern version of Warp’s ‘Artificial Intelligence’ series but with its own cohesive identity. Highly recommended.

ClubClass return to Ministry

ClubClass have manged to drag superstar residents Nic Fanciulli and Paul Woolford away from the sunny shores of the white isle for thier only date in London this summer.

Taking a breather from thier Ibiza summer residency at the infamous ‘We Love’ parties at Space, the duo will join forces and descend on London’s Minisrty of Sound on Saturday 14th August for what looks to be mammoth night.

Joining them in the main room will be 20/20 Vision’s Belgian export Spirit Catcher, who will be performing a special full live set for your listening pleasure and up and coming man of the moment Deadmau5, who will be making the long journey from Canada for his UK debut.

Breakpoint are at the helm in the bar area and will be offering up a delectable platter of electro tinged beats. Joining residents Marc Hughes and Mark fanciulli will be Southern Fried beatsmith Cagedbaby and Nag Nag Nag’s queen of clubs, Jo Jo De Freq.

If that’s still not wetted your whistle, then the Baby Box will be hosted by High Tide of boat party fame, who will be making a rare venture onto dry land especially for the occasion. While the Babyshake crew will be rocking the Lounge area, so expect breaks of the phattest variety.

The club will be open from 11:00pm to 7:00am and tickets are priced at 15 pounds in advance.

Robyn - With Every Heartbeat

Robyn’s New single is called With Every Heartbeat and due for release on July 30th 2007. Many have already given With Every Heartbeat stunning reviews, it’s goose bumps and shivers record, this stunning single is set to make your heart beat a lot faster this summer.

It’s a weeping, sad break-up ballad full of regret. It’s also one of the most euphoric dance-pop tracks that you’ll hear all year, complete with a beautiful string breakdown and fuzzed out keyboards.

I have it on good authority that there is a new updated video out there for 2007. But for now, enjoy the original.

http://www.robyn.com/