Belfast-born, Edinburgh-based rapper/producer, Jee4ce (pronounced G-Force) aka Ronan Cherry, is definitely one to keep an eye on. Starting to make a name for himself having spent the last while touring the UK and Ireland, Jee4ce’s skills, whilst brilliantly full of Norn Irish lingo, is far from restricted from his birthplace. With that in mind, we’re pretty damn pleased to premiere Jee4ce’s latest release, ‘Life That We Live’, taken from his wonderfully-titled Gingers Have Souls mixtape:

The artwork and tracklisting for Jack’s White’s hotly-anticipated solo album, Blunderbuss, has been revealed. Set for release on April 20 on Third Man Records/XL Recordings, the thirteen-track album features titles such as the brilliantly alliterative ‘Trash Tongue Talker’ and the fairly leftfield – by White’s standards at least – ‘Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy’. Should be interesting! Below is the full tracklisting and cover art for Blunderbuss:

Watch the video for Jack White’s latest single, ‘Love Interruption’, below:

Irish singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow released We Don’t Eat today, a five-track EP which is available for purchase at all digital retailers. Although most of the tracks on the EP have already been circulating for some time, this collection is a superb snapshot of Dublin-based McMorrow’s much-deserved rise and includes heart-rending covers such as Steve Winwood’s ‘Higher Love’ and Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game’.

Tracklisting for We Don’t Eat:

1. We Don’t Eat
2. Higher Love
3. Wicked Game (Live at Killkenny Arts Festival)
4. If I Had A Boat (Live at The Olympia)
5. We Don’t Eat (Live Killkenny Arts Festival)

Watch McMorrow perform ‘Higher Love’ and ‘If I Had A Boat’ live:

English production and remix team Simian Mobile Disco have announced that they will release their third album, Unpatterns, on May 16 on Wichita Recordings. The first single to be taken from the album, ‘Seraphim’, will released April 9. Formed by James Ford and Jas Shadow of Simian, the duo have released two critically-acclaimed albums: Attack Decay Sustain Release and 2009′s Temporary Release. Simian Mobile Disco will also be touring later in the end, with information on dates yet to be announced.

Below is is the sleeve and tracklisting for Unpatterns:

1.    I Waited For You
2.    Cerulean
3.    Seraphim
4.    A Species Out of Control
5.    Interference
6.    Put Your Hands Together
7.    The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife
8.    Your Love Ain’t Fair
9.    Pareidolia
10.  Everyday (bonus iTunes exclusive)

With their new album, Angels and Enemies, set for release on March 5, Liverpool-based rock n’rollers Sound of Guns will play Belfast’s Radar on March 15. Tipped to achieve great things in 2012 and beyond, the band have gone from strength to strength since releasing their debut album, What Came From Fire, last year. You can watch the video of their most recent single, ‘Sometimes’, below.

A definite case of “best of British”, three of the most celebrated, if not greatest, English bands of the last thirty years have been chosen to play the closing ceremony of the London Olympics: the recently-reformed Blur, New Order and ska-punk legends The Specials. Taking place on Sunday, August 12, in London’s Hyde Park, it’s hard to imagine three acts more fitting to play such a globally-recognised bill, having each written and sang about Britain and the idea of Britishness with massive degrees of success.

Unquestionably the finest exponents of the oft-misconstrued genre that is “Britpop”, headliners Blur brilliantly mulled over the representation of British culture from their second album, 1993′s Modern Life Is Rubbish right through to their most recent studio album, Think Tank, released in 2003. With Jerry Dammers, Terry Hall and Neville Staple all at hand, Covernty 2-tone pioneers The Specials played a pivotal role in achieving racial and cultural equality in late seventies/early eighties Britain. Advocating multiculturalism and equality before all else, they spearheading a sound brimming with racial and cultural idealism that resonates as much today as it did when the band first found success. Forming from the ashes of Joy Division, New Order provided a wonderfully dour alternative to the vacuous consumerism of Thatcher-era Britain. Their debut album, 1983′s Power, Corruption and Lies, provided the perfect musical context for a society otherwise undergoing cultural awakening.

Here’s the poster for the closing ceremony:

Set for release on March 16, A Plastic Rose have released the first musical offering of 2012, ‘Build From The Ground Up’. Taken from their forthcoming debut album Camera.Shutter.Life, produced at Manor Park by Neal Calderwood, the track shows a distinct compositional progression from the four-piece, with the notable additional of strings and a chorus that retains the anthemic shtick that’s seen them win over many fans over the last few years. Below is the sleeve for the single and a stream for the track:

Following the remarkable success of their Watch The Throne album release and their joint success at this year’s Grammy Awards, winning the award for ‘Best Rap Performance’ for their track ‘Otis’, Kanye West and Jay Z have announced that they will play Dublin’s O2 as part of the European leg of their Watch The Throne tour.  The twelve-date tour will also visit arenas in UK, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Belgium and Germany. Tickets for the Dublin show will go on sale at 9am on Friday February 24 priced €69.50 including booking fee and will be available from Ticketmaster.

The dates for the European leg are:

May 2012

Sunday 20 – O2 Arena London
Thursday 24 – Zurich Hellenstadion, Switzerland
Saturday 26 – Herning Arena, Denmark
Monday 28 – Oslo Telenor Arena, Norway
Wednesday 30 – Stockholm The Globe, Sweden

June 2012

Friday 1 – Paris Bercy, France
Saturday 2 – Paris Bercy, France
Sunday 3 – Antwerp Sportpaleis, Belgium
Tuesday 5 – Frankfurt Festhalle, Germany
Friday 8 – Dublin O2 Arena, Ireland
Monday 11 – Manchester Arena
Wednesday 13 – Birmingham LG Arena

Watch the video for ‘Niggas In Paris’ below:

Details of this year’s Forbidden Fruit festival, which will take place in Dublin City Centre on 2nd, 3rd and 4th of June, have been announced. Returning for another Bank Holiday extended weekend of music, art and fashion, the line-up builds on last year’s hugely weekend which featured some unforgettable performances from the likes of headliners Flaming Lips and Aphex Twin. With Manchester legends New Order (above) headlining the Friday night, pioneering electro duo Leftfield topping the bill on Saturday and Chicago alt-rock beloved Wilco wrapping things on Monday night, the festival at at The Royal Hospital, Kilmainham looks set to be right up there with one of this Summer’s must-see events.

This year will see an electronic-themed bill on Saturday, with London post-industrial band Factory Floor a stand-out; an indie/folk bill on Monday, including performances from indie-rockers Death Cab For Cutie and Atlas Sound, whilst Sunday’s line-up will sit somewhere between the two, Mazzy Star and Sunderland indie-rock four-piece Field Music being two particularly exciting prospects. Better still, having extended to three days over five stages, the non-camping festival has also added a new comedy stage. Day Tickets are €49:50, Two Day Tickets are €89.50 and Weekend Tickets are €115. Early Bird Tickets on sale 9am Wednesday, February 22. Available from usual outlets nationwide and Ticketmaster.

The current line-up for the festival is:

Saturday 2nd

Leftfield
Bloody Beetroots DJ Set
Booka Shade
The Field
Factory Floor
Bear In Heaven
Le Galaxie
Toby Kaar

Sunday 3rd

New Order
Death Cab For Cutie
The Rapture
Death in Vegas
Modeselektor
Atlas Sound
Austra
Grimes
Rarely Seen Above Ground
Kool Thing

Monday 4th

Wilco
James Vincent Mc Morrow
Beirut
Mazzy Star
Andrew Bird
Field Music
Julia Holter
Windings

Widescreen indie rockers The War On Drugs have released a new music video to coincide with their impending tour of the UK and Ireland, which calls at Whelan’s in Dublin on Friday night. The sepia-tinged clip for ‘Brothers’, a track from the Philadelphians’ acclaimed Slave Ambient album, plays out as a dark mini-Western, like a scene from a Coen Brothers movie.

Tour dates:

Unquestionably one of the finest stand-ups around at the minute, black comedy master Doug Stanhope has announced details of a forthcoming DVD, ‘Before Turning The Gun On Himself’. Set to be released on Roadrunner Comedy – the sister label to Roadrunner Records, metal fans – the DVD will also come with a bonus audio CD (itself set for release few weeks in advance of the DVD’s release on March 5).  And as if that wasn’t enough, Stanhope fans, to coincide with the DVD’s release – the comedian’s tenth – he will be hitting the road for an extensive UK tour in March and April. Love or hate his dark, twisting and super-confrontational shtick, the future looks very bright for this so-called “visionary douchebag”.