With Christmas fast approaching and the time to choose my top seven albums of the year coming up, I have been listening back over a lot of my favourite records released over the past 12 months. Amidst the listening, I came across this gem...

BRODY DALLE - Blood In Gutters

Here's a recap of some music moments that have happened this past month now that it's coming to an end. I'm sure that May will have many more moments to offer us but until then...

PHARRELL WILLIAMS NEW MUSIC VIDEO "MARILYN MONROE"
Pharrell has the habit of grabbing people's attention and especially with his latest album GIRL. So when I heard that he'd released another single from it, with a video - I knew it'd be an instant sensation. Over 8 million views in 5 days...? I think I was right. Have a watch here. WARNING: That ridiculous hat makes several appearances.


ROYAL BLOOD NEW MUSIC VIDEO "COME ON OVER"
Now I know that this song was available quite a long while ago but they have just released a new music video for it and as always with Royal Blood, it's electric. Check it out here. Royal Blood have also been super busy this month, playing on Jools Holland here and releasing a video of what they got up to in March here.


LINKIN PARK BUILD UP TO "THE HUNTING PARTY" ALBUM
Over the past couple of weeks, Linkin Park have released a few snippets about their upcoming album The Hunting Party. I've heard them mention that it's supposed to be going back to their heavier (Hybrid Theory/Meteora) roots - thank God - and so I'm excited. Here is the album trailer, here is the tracklisting for it and here is the first single from it "Guilty All The Same (feat. Rakim)". Check out their Faceboook event page for more updates. Time to get excited!


AS ELEPHANTS ARE NEW SINGLE "WENT WRONG"
As Elephants Are are actually in the middle of releasing a new EP - Hand Prints - and so have been premiering new songs from the EP via souncloud for the past few weeks. This is the latest song that they have revealed to the public and it is quality! Have a listen here.


BEN DEAR NEW SINGLE "NOW IS THE TIME"
The Acoustic Shack has been helping worship songwriters put out their music for quite a while now and also making new worship music available to the public. Ben Dear's song is the latest thing that they had on their page - here - great song.


READING AND LEEDS ANNOUNCE 52 MORE ACTS
Just when I thought that the line up couldn't get any better - they went and announced over 50 new acts, most of which, have got me ludicrously excited! To name a few names - The Story So Far, Tonight Alive, Brody Dalle, Mallory Knox and so many more! See the current line-up here. With line-ups like these, all I can say is this will be an immense summer!


BEYONCE NEW MUSIC VIDEO "PRETTY HURTS"
Well technically it's not new as it came with the actual hardcopy of the album BUT it's new to the public and it is absolutely stunning. This was my favourite song on the self-titled. I will never forget the first time I heard it, it definitely struck a chord with me the first time and hearing it again accompanied by this video... all the same feelings are coming back. One of Beyoncé's best in my opinion. Watch and listen here.


LAYLA NEW MUSIC VIDEO "BLACK MUD"
Layla has released the video to the title track for her new EP just in time for the release yesterday. The video is really interesting, and if I'm honest, I'm completely shocked that not more people know about her. Brilliant songwriter and brilliant vocalist. I would definitely suggest getting your hands on her EP here and maybe pass it on to a friend after! Excluding that, here's the video - share this with your friends too!


RUMOUR HAS IT...
There have been a lot of rumours spreading around the interwebs recently - an Oasis reunion, a Pharrell and Missy Elliott collaboration and rumours of Metallica being the last headliner at this year's Glastonbury. I suppose we'll have to wait until next month to find out?!


PS: Catch up on stuff you may have missed earlier this month here.

Had a huge number of tunes from records out in March here and it's time for April to give us some more! Seeing as we're already a week into April, I've definitely missed a couple of good releases, but here are some others that you can expect later this month...



SOHN - TREMORS
I haven't really kept track of SOHN since seeing him at Latitude last year, and if I'm honest, it's because I wasn't that impressed. However, I'm all for second chances and so look forward to giving this new album a chance later today now that it's been released.






THE AMAZING SNAKEHEADS - AMPHETAMINE BALLADS
I've been talking about these lads for quite a while now since discovering them here and when I initially heard of them, nothing could be found about or by them except the one song "Tesitfying Time". Now, finally, it seems that we might have a whole album's worth of music to listen to. Get excited for the 14th of April.






THE BIRDS OF SATAN - THE BIRDS OF SATAN
Foo Fighters are one of my favourite bands and Taylor Hawkins is one of my favourite drummers Therefore, anything with either of these components in it - I am guaranteed to make an effort to listen to. Taylor has started this side project with Wiley Hodgden and Mick Murphy and I suspect that it will melt faces. Have a listen on the 15th of April.





KELIS - FOOD
I have been hearing things about this album since summer last year and it's finally here!! After all of this waiting and speculating, I'm interested to hear what this record actually sounds like. I wasn't too sure about the single "Jerk Ribs" at first but I've come to like it. Hopefully when the album drops on the 21st of April I'll like it from the get-go.





BRODY DALLE - DIPLOID LOVE
Again, favour by association. Another one of my favourite bands - QOTSA happen to be associated with Brody and I've actually been hearing quite a lot about her of late, so of course it makes sense to check her out! If she's anything like I've heard, I think I'm going to like this album on the 28th of April.







DAMON ALBARN - EVERYDAY ROBOTS
I've always kind of regretted never really listening to much of Blur's material back when they were still active. However, now that frontman Damon Albarn is moving in a solo direction, I'm using this as my chance to experience a little bit of what I've missed. Damon's solo album hits shelves on the 28th of April.





PIXIES - INDIE CINDY
YES! IT'S TRUE! Pixies' first record in over two decades is coming out this month. It's been a long journey for the group but I have no doubts that they've come out with some brilliant songs because of it. Excited would be an understatement. I expect to overplay this quite a bit when it comes out on the 28th of April.






LAYLA - BLACK MUD EP
After just talking about her in this week's music news, here, I've found out that she is set to release a new EP later this month on the 28th of April. This girl is most definitely one to watch, her songs are beautifully produced, her vocals are enchanting and she's just completely in love with music. Absolutely ecstatic about this release.





Here's a look at some other musical gems that you can catch later this month:

Animal Collective - Enter The Slasher House, Iggy Azalea - The New Classic, Odonis Odonis - Hard Boiled Soft Boiled, Fear Of Men - Loom, Eels - The Cautionary Tales Of Mark Oliver Everett, Thee Oh Sees - Drop, Mac DeMarco - Salad Days, Playlounge - Pilot, Rat King - So It Goes and Neon Trees - Pop Psychology.