Well, it’s finally here: Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories. While the band’s long-awaited fourth LP may not be as jaw dropping as 2001’s landmark Discovery, it has turned out to be exactly the record I’ve been wanting to hear from the Robots: a smooth, funked up tribute to disco, lost love and salvation in dance. Not only is it incredibly listenable, but it even manages to pack a few surprises beneath its shiny chrome exterior. For instance, the Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas turns what at first sounded like the most bizarre collaboration choice of the year into what just might be the album’s best track. Listen to “Instant Crush” right here or head on over to iTunes to stream the album in its entirety. Random Access Memories is out 5/21 on Columbia Records.

Ladies and gentlemen, David Bowie is BRINGING it to the music video scene in 2013. Having already gifted us with one of the year’s finest video’s so far in the form of the Tilda Swinton-featuring “The Stars Are Out Tonight”, he now drops a very bizarre, very NSFW video for The Next Day’s title track, starting Gary Oldman and Marion Cotillard. Check it out above and definitely stick around for the ending; The Next Day is out now on Columbia Records. 

Yet another lyric video from Vampire Weekend, this time for their new track “Ya Hey”. Dunno if I like this one quite as much as early-song-of-the-year-contender “Step” but chalk this up as another perfect song we can look forward to being on the band’s new album. Modern Vampires of the City is out May 7th on XL Recordings.

Didn’t see this coming: everybody’s favorite Welsh twee pop group Los Campesinos! just dropped an awesome-looking live album on their website for only five pounds. It doesn’t seem to be out until May 4th but I can’t wait to hear this thing; the track list alone is making me drool.

After a week of fake edits, it’s finally arrived: the first single from Daft Punk’s upcoming album Random Access Memories. Featuring Pharrell Williams on lead vocals and Nile Rogers playing the smoothest, funkiest guitar you can imagine, “Get Lucky” is easily the best song the robots have produced since 2000’s classic Discovery. Hell, it just might be the single best song they’ve ever done. Is it too early to be saying stuff like that? Check it out for yourself above, or head on over to iTunes to purchase the song’s four-minute radio edit; Random Access Memories is out 5/21 on Columbia Records.

Daft Punk’s new single featuring Pharrell is set to drop at any moment, so why not watch the fourth episode of the duo’s Collaborators series to see what the Neptunes leader has to say about working with “the robots?” Daft Punk’s upcoming album Random Access Memories is due out May 21st on Columbia Records here in the states.

Well, it’s finally happened: The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die, who have by now become legends of the emo scene on only the strength of two EPs worth of perfect material, have announced the release of their first full-length LP. It seems that the band will release their debut album Whenever, If Ever on June 18th via Topshelf Records. So look forward to that, and check out “Beverly Wyatt” above, a new song the band has contributed to a four way split with Tiger’s Jaw, Self Defense Family and Code Orange Kids.

Here’s “Demons”, the first track to be released from the National’s upcoming album Trouble Will Find Me. Despite the song’s chorus, this track actually feels kinda lofty; buoyant even. Frontman Matt Berninger’s lyrics are fantastic as usual; “I am secretly in love with everyone who I grew up with.” Can’t wait for this album. Trouble Will Find Me comes out May 20/21 via 4AD.

This week hit us with quite a bit of good music from plenty of big-name artists. Deerhunter gave us our first taste of their upcoming record Monomania and Tyler, the Creator debuted some pretty great beats on his new LP Wolf. The Terror found the Flaming Lips getting really sad and really weird and the Knife finally blessed us with their labyrinthian synth-laden epic, Shaking the Habitual. But what I seem to have spent most of my week listening to might just be the debut EP from a little-known band from New York City by the name of For Everest.

Fronted by Nick Pitman and his sidekick Sarah Cowell, For Everest are the latest upstart young emo band to carry on the apparent tradition of greeting the world with a flawless debut EP. Snowing did it, the World is a Beautiful Place did it, and now For Everest have done it: their first official release, the Last of the Dogstronauts EP, is nothing short of a minor masterpiece. This thing sounds primed and ready to save the life of any teenager that comes across it.

Kinsella fans and especially people who can get down to some early Death Cab for Cutie are gonna find a lot to love here. After all, Pitman doesn’t describe the band’s sound as “early DCFC with a little more caffeine” for nothing. His voice exudes a homely comfort not dissimilar to that of a young Ben Gibbard’s, and some of his lyrics would be right at home on We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes.

Cowell serves as an excellent counterpoint to Pitman, delivering two of the EP’s best choruses on “Airmail” and the climactic finale “Ready by Tomorrow”. Her voice strikes me as the pushier of the two’s; while Pitman often seems content to wander and reflect, it’s Cowell who feels responsible for driving these songs home. One can almost picture her as a voice in Pitman’s mind that speaks up whenever he needs to be pulled out of his head and back into the real world. It’s a team dynamic that not only works fantastically, but forms the heart of the record.

One would be hard-pressed to find a single aspect of this EP that falls short. The group’s songwriting is solid as a rock and they’ve got the kind of chemistry that is guaranteed to take them far. Though this may just be their debut EP, I think it’s clear that For Everest show a lot of promise and I can’t wait to see what they do next. Last of the Dogstronauts is available for free on the group’s bandcamp, I highly suggest you check it out above.

I’m really looking forward to May. Not only will we see new records from two of the most consistent indie bands currently recording (Vampire Weekend and the National for those of you keeping score at home) but we even have a new Deerhunter record to look forward to. Seeing as how Halcyon Digest is still one of my absolute favorite records of the last couple years, I’m not really expecting to be disappointed by the band’s new LP, Monomania. And if the record’s first single is any indication of what lies ahead, I don’t think I will be.

“Monomania” basically sounds like what might happen if the Strokes all died in a fiery plane crash and descended to Hell, only to be taught by a bunch of demons how to write really awesome songs again. Listen to it above or check out the band’s insane performance of the song last night live on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon”. It features a fingerless (?) Bradford Cox performing in his new “Connie Lungpin” persona, at least until he decides to leave the stage and apparently just start walking home. Monomania is out 5/7 on 4AD.