Today's Hotness: Big Deal, Los Campesinos!, New War

>> Regular readers will be familiar with our coverage of London-based indie duo Big Deal. One of the more frustrating things this fall has been our inability to hear the band's new album Lights Out, which was released in the UK Sept. 5. We figured we'd be able to grab the MP3s digitally or stream it on Spotify once it came out, but no dice. Turns out we had completely forgotten that the act comprised of American guy Kacey Underwood and British gal Alice Costelloe had a North American deal in place, which is why there is at present no way to get Lights Out in North America. That will change on Jan. 24, when Mute releases the full-length to our sector of the globe. Lights Out will be preceded Oct. 25 by an eponymous EP that includes one exclusive song, "Mai Joy." The rest of the EP contains the album's main preview track "Chair," which we wrote about here last month, with the Big Star cover "13" from Big Deal's debut 2010 UK single "Homework," as well as the intense brooder "Locked Up," which was an NME-exclusive download a year ago that we wrote about here. If you need more of a Big Deal fix before Oct. 25, stream "Chair" below or watch this live in-store performance of the track, along with the album track "With The World At My Feet," filmed at Rough Trade West last month.

Big Deal - Chair by Big Deal

>> Cardiff-based indie pop titans Los Campesinos! revealed earlier this week that the lead single for its hotly anticipated new album Hello Sadness will be the record's title track; the single will be released Nov. 21. The timing is odd, because singles typically precede an album launch, not trail it, but there you go. The announcement, single art and lyrics were posted here by the band. No information about b-sides was offered, but we expect there'll be at least one, as flat things tend to have two sides. Pre-orders for Hello Sadness close Oct. 14 and the set will be released a month later on Wichita in the UK and Arts & Crafts in North America, as we reported here in August. A preview track "By Your Hand" was pushed out to the Internerds early last month and we wrote about that here.

>> The more we listen to New War's new single, the more we like it; it reminds us of Tones On Tail and Chameleons UK and other goth-tinged '80s musics that captured our attention way back when. The title track is "Ghostwalking," and the original version is wonderfully atmospheric and soporific, with a slow groove that doesn't move so much as it spreads out. Melbourne, Australia-based New War's members include Chris Pugmire and Melissa Lock, formerly of the act Shoplifting, which has released records on Kill Rock Stars. New War has inked to release music with Fast Weapons, a label commissioned by Gossip's Nathan Howdeshell. The band will release a full-length titled Calling From Inside in March 2012, but in the meantime the song "Ghostwalking" is getting the 12" treatment; it was released Sept. 27. Additional music on the platter includes one remix each by Gossip and HTRK. Better still, you can download all three songs at Bandcamp for free. Check them out at the embed below and click through for the sonic goodies. If you want the vinyl, you cany buy that right here, but there apparently aren't too many left so act fast.

Today's Hotness: Big Science, Answering Machine, Video Nasties

>> [UPDATED] Big Science, the Chicago-based indie rock quartet featuring three guys named Jason (two of whom were formerly in San Diego-based post-hardcore act The North Atlantic), will release its immaculate debut EP The Coast Of Nowhere Friday. We've been anticipating the collection since March, when the band first popped onto our radar with a handful of very impressive demos. The EP is already streaming at Big Science's MySpace dojo here, and we recommend checking in and listening you can download the whole thing for free at the band's web site here. The fully realized versions of "My Career As A Ghost" and "DNC" are even more wonderful than the demos. On the former track the sound is clearer, and there is a new countermelody in the chorus driven by clean, reverby guitar. The new "DNC" again is more potent than its precursor, with a rocked-up verse setting off the airy, surfy chorus. New (to us) tracks including the title track, the melodic, cascading strummer "Sun Sets Electric" and the stunning ballad "World Class AC" are equally as strong. We think upon listening you'll agree that Big Science is doing something that is fairly singular. Previously we cited Talking Heads and Big Country as salient referents, but now we're not so sure. There's High Life guitars and so much reverb and we don't even know what to call it, but it is great. The Coast Of Nowhere EP will be available for sale at a CD release show this Friday at Chicago's The Hideout.

>> Manchester, England-based indie pop savants The Answering Machine continue to let slip various bits of information about its debut full length Another City, Another Sorry, but the bigger news is how amazing the new tracks sound. The set is now slated for release in Summer 2009, and it will be preceded by a single in the spring. Freshly mastered tracks "​Obviously Cold"​,​"Cliffer" and "Oh, Christina"​ are already streaming at the band's MySpace hacienda right here. And we are immensely impressed, as the results are far better than we had even hoped for from the young foursome. "Obviously Cold" touts a very lyrical, Peter Hook-ish bass melody (and tone), the vocals are assured and Martin and Patrick's guitars crunch with a force that suggests the band has successfully grown beyond its Strokes worshipping into a dynamite rock act. Ditto for the rocker "Cliffer," which is perhaps the densest track the band has committed to tape. Readers will recall that we reported here in November that The Answering Machine has signed to the small indie Heist Or Hit Records. 2009 will be a huge year for the band, and we hope that U.S. tour dates are in the offing. To date The Answering Machine has issued three singles, "Lightbulbs," "Silent Hotels," and "Oklahoma." Let's have a listen to "Silent Hotels," shall we?

The Answering Machine -- "Silent Hotels" -- "Silent Hotels" b/w "It's Over! It's Over! It's Over" and "Information"
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[buy The Answering Machine singles from EMusic right here]

>> London-based quintet Video Nasties' new Albatross EP has made its way to EMusic, and the act warns in a MySpace bulletin today that "the [forthcoming] album's coming sooner than you think." In addition to the slamming and slightly twisted title track, which we first wrote about here in October, Albatross contains "Hearts And Bones," "Break" and "Man." You can stream "Albatross" and "Hearts And Bones" at Video Nasties' MySpace wigwam right here. The latter track is an arresting ballad that hints more at Chamelons UK than at our old lazy critical shorthand for Video Nasties, The Yachts. Video Nasties have clearly metamorphosed into something new, and while we will always love its early synth pop gems, this new territory is truly exciting. The band launches a two-week tour of the UK Jan. 14.