London five-piece The Murder Act are set to release their debut EP Traum this week. Sounding like a marriage between The Birthday Party and NEU! gone wrong, the Murder Act create a very dark, almost sinister wall of noise. Think distant vocals, drones and hypnotic synths. The band started out because they were getting bored with the music they were hearing and wanted to create something new. I must admit they accomplished that goal. The Murder Act do not allow themselves to be labelled and put in a box. Rather, they seem to bring an exciting mixture of krautrock, post-punk, minimal and no-wave.

The EP will be released on April 25th, on hand numbered limited edition 12″ vinyl and digital download. The Murder Act are also having a launch party on April 20^th, at The Victory. They will be playing alongside Old Forest and Dogfeet (ex Stavin’ Chains), while ECC and Dee Sada will be spinning some records. Make sure you come down! This is a free party, which will allow you to spend the money you saved on Traum, a must-have vinyl for everyone who likes their music flooded with feedback and distortion.

You can stream the album and pre-order your copy here, while a free download of R.A.P.E. can be found here.

Video: Drum Eyes Live at Offset Festival 2008

The truly original Offset faves Drum Eyes finally reward us all with a full length album.

After playing amazing sets at both previous Offset Festivals and with majestic reviews in Clash, The Fly, Loud & Quiet, I think you should take the last chance to preorder it and have it sent out to you early! Out on Upset The Rhythm on CD, 12″, mp3 or FLAC, preorder from Boomkat right now.

This week’s releases include Hatcham Social, The Thermals, CFCF, Navvy, It Hugs Back, Battant, Ice Sea Dead People + much more.

A fair bunch of releases that may well interest you’s this week - and a few from last week which we shamefully missed. New stuff from Hatcham Social, Dananananaykroyd, Underground Railroad, BLK JKS, This Town Needs Guns + a few more very interesting bits & pieces.

Physical releases from Offset Fest faves Kasms and Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man, as well as awesome stuff from These Are Powers, Disconcerts, Dan Deacon, Tilly & The Wall, Asobi Seksu + much much more.

This week is a pretty good one for new shit. We’ve got some exceptionally awesome stuff from The Joy Formidable, Aidan Moffat, Fever Ray, Marina & The Diamonds, Choir of Young Believers, a bit more, and hopefully we’ve given you a chance to listen to each before you shell out your hard-earned… Marina’s single is above - read on for the full selection.