Download Tracks of the Week

This week we’re looking at the new releases of some familiar favourites, namely, from band of the moment The Vaccines, rapper-turned-singer Plan B and Nashville's own, Mona.

The Vaccines, Post Break-up Sex.

UK indie outfit the Vaccines have only come up with a few musical tid-bits so far, but what has been released into the wild has been obsessed over. Many are saying that their forthcoming debut album will be something special, and the hype is building ever higher with each single release.

Post Break-up Sex kicks down the pace by comparison with If You Wanna and Wreckin Bar (Ra Ra Ra), while sticking with the theme of fucked up personal relationships. It shows a side to the band that we had previously come across.

We tipped this crowd when the only music they had which you could listen to was a single one-and-a-half minute song. Now they’re on the cover of NME’s January edition. We wouldn’t like to suggest that they’re copying us, but, that’s probably what happened.

The outrageously ambitious suggestion that The Vaccines might be the band to save modern music takes another baby step towards being credible.

Listen here:

Mona, Trouble on the Way.

The music-loving community has been creaming its pants over retro-rock Nashville outfit Mona’s debut single Listen to Your Love. Despite the fact that there wasn’t another shred of music with which to gauge their talent, it held enough promise to have us waiting with bated breath for the follow up.

Trouble on the Way, happily, doesn’t disappoint. It retains the 50s feel any self-respecting Nashville band would wear like a badge of honour but sounds that little bit more gritty, sharp and modern than their debut effort. From what we’ve seen, Mona’s debut album will be well worth waiting for.

Listen here:

Plan B, The Recluse.

The hits keep coming from British singer-turned-rapper-turned-singer again. After making a massive musical departure after his first album, Plan B released what has proved to be one of the albums of last year in The Defamation of Strickland Banks.

It’s been one stand out track after another in terms of singles, and The Recluse is right up there with the best.

Like many of the other tracks on the album, it showcases his pretty decent singing voice but he also breaks out the rapping ability that got him recording contract in the days prior to his debut album. This is very much a man at the top of his game.

Listen here: