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KITTY-YO.COM: Say Hello to Chikinki and their latest album 'Lick Your Ticket' out now on Kitty-Yo. Robo-punks playing glam-racket electroclash krautrock while wearing space-age sunglasses... fucking great! So catch their release and catch them live. Check their current tour dairy at www.chikinki.de.

DOCOPENHAGEN: What a great video. Apparently made with a 500$ budget by Rachel McIntosh who is also one of the two bandmembers in The Sad Little Stars.

Eagles of Death Metal is a side project's side project---longtime pals Jesse Hughes and Josh Homme together under the rubric of playing riffy, cartoonish Motorhead biker-metal with all of the deadly seriousness and blatant irony that comes with it. Mainstream rock hasn't been even remotely threatening for about 25 years, and Hughes knows that; the devil horns that have long been relegated to the same pop-cultural recycling bin as the safety pin and mohawk once again adorn the new EoDM album cover, and EoDM's music remains the minimalist, grinding greaser approach to hard rock long ago established by Eddie Cochran and periodically revived, but never this well. The first video (dir. Akiva Shaffer) from new record Death by Sexxy, for "I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News)" is a grin-inducing paint-by-number rock-cliche-fest. The song, complete with ubiquitous baritone voice of authority, is a direct descendant of Cochran's "Summertime Blues", with elements of George Thorogood (whom I believe has a copyright on the word "bad") and Loggins and Messina's (by way of Poison) "Your Mama Don't Dance". The riffs are as tight as Hughes' jeans, which combined with the handlebar mustache and aviator shades channel Rob Halford, which makes it all the more hilarious when he blows the clothes off a girl with a guitar solo. Cameos from Jack Black and Dave Grohl should be expected at this point; both have established themselves as the dual-headed saviors of all things Hard Rock and Metal. It's great that something this supposedly tossed off is bound to be one of the best rock records this year.

CONTACTMUSIC.COM: One of the great Radiohead tracks and drummer Phil Selway’s favourite song on “The Bends”, “Just” combines self-loathing lyrics, a particular viscous guitar riff and middle-eight to die for. For his cover Mark Ronson not only enlisted the help of the formidable Daptones horn section (The Dap Kings) but Alex Greenwald, the lead singer of Phantom Planet (best known for “California”, the theme to “The OC”). A dynamite combination of snappy horns and dusty drum breaks, “Just” belongs to the cover canon of Quantic Soul Orchestra’s “Get a Move On”, Alice Russell’s “Seven Nation Army” and the Daptone’s own “What (Have You Done For Me Lately”. The man behind “Just” is one of the most sought after DJs in the world and, as one half of AllIDo Records, Ronson is currently working with Chicago rapper Rhymefest, Australian soul singer Daniel Merryweather and fabulous pop goddess Christina Aguilera. His cover of “Just” won early support from Gilles Peterson, Zane Lowe and Jo Whiley on Radio One as well as Eddy Temple-Morris on XFM, making this one of the most exciting BBE releases in years.

CONTACTMUSIC.COM: Hard-Fi’s meteoric rise continues apace wit the release of a new single, Better Do Better on Necessary / Atlantic on 10th April. Better Do Better has become a huge fan favourite over the past twelve months, and its release follows an incredible start to 2006 for Staines’ favourite sons. With their debut album Stars Of CCTV topping the album charts in January, Hard-Fi were also nominated in the Best British Group and Best Rock Act categories at this year’s Brit Awards while Stars Of CCTV sailed past the double platinum mark (600,000+ sales). Meanwhile, Hard-Fi’s May UK tour recently sold out within minutes and they are due to follow in the footsteps of The Clash, The Prodigy, Bob Dylan and Massive Attack to become only the fifth act ever to play five consecutive nights at London’s legendary 4900 capacity Brixton Academy, The band have also announced further headline gigs at Leeds’ 7000 capacity Millennium Square on 21st May and a bank holiday special at the 5000 capacity Brighton Centre on 26th May. They will also headline the Hi Fi Festival in Winchester on 27th May and the Newcastle Evolution Festival on 29th May.