Release Round-Up: Ariana Grande, Kasabian, The 2 Bears and Manic Street Preachers

By Aly Barchi | Published on Tuesday 29 April 2014

Rounding up the latest release news…

Slip-of-a-Disney-popstar Ariana Grande (pictured) has collaborated with collabs-happy rapper Iggy Azalea on a track titled ‘Problem’. The single, which is taken off Grande’s TBC sophomore LP, is available now on iTunes in the USA only, though Ariana says it’s coming to the UK soon. I’m still waiting on a post from Lorde or similar backing it against the ‘haters’. Still, it’s early days. This is Ariana Grande’s ‘Problem’:

Now it’s over to horsemeat rock fatalists Kasabian. The band have confirmed info on their fifth LP, starting with its title, ’48:13′ (also its total duration), cover-art-which-isn’t-actually-cover-art, and a nice, meaty tracklisting packed with wince-making titles. Like first single ‘Eez-eh’, which will be released a week ahead of the ‘main event’ on 2 Jun.

Serge Pizzorno, who wrote and produced the whole thing, says of it: “I felt that we had the confidence to be more direct, more honest with this album. I started to strip away layers rather than to just keep adding”.

Sticking with the same “stripped back” party line, Tom Meighan adds: “Less is more, you know? It’s direct. It is what it is. Just listen to it. We’ve had the confidence to lay ourselves bare. Serge has stripped it right back. It’s unbelievable”.

Alt-house production pairing The 2 Bears, aka Raphael ‘Raf Daddy’ Rundell and Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard, will on a TBA date in September release their new twelve-track set ‘The Night Is Young’. It’ll be lead by a single, ‘Angel (Touch Me)’, which goes like this:

Also, only nine months on from the release of their last one, ‘Rewind The Film’, the LP-crazed Manic Street Preachers have made another longform baby in the forthcoming krautrock-based ‘Futurology’. Arriving on 7 Jul, it’ll feature Scritti Politti’s Green Gartside, German film actress Nina Hoss, Welsh singer Georgia Ruth, Super Furry Animals’ Cian Ciarán, Cate Le Bon and H Hawkline.

The band’s Nicky Wire told The Quietus a little story about it the other day, saying: “During our last European tour we really reconnected with this idea of travelling on the Autobahns listening to records by Kraftwerk, Neu!, Andy Weatherall, Popul Vuh and Cabaret Voltaire. The idea of being on these endless futuristic roads but being surrounded by these ancient forests at the same time. It’s a magical feeling and it makes you think of soundtracks in your head as you’re travelling through this landscape”.

Watch the clip for its topmost single, which is directed by BAFTA-winner Kieran Evans, as it is here: