New Music

JIM CARROLL's future sounds

Florence and the Machine: quality engineering

There’s not long to go until the fun really starts for Florence Welch. For the last 18 months, she has been limbering up in the wings waiting for this close-up.

Along the way, there have been a slew of singles, a rake of gigs, a twirl on the festival circuit (she was an Electric Picnic debutant last summer) and a gong for her mantelpiece (the Brit Awards Critics’ Choice). She’s even featured in The Ticket before, so it’s easy to forget that she has yet to release an album.

In July, the art-school dropout will release her debut, Lungs. It’s at this point that the world will make up its mind about Florence The Machine.

Welch’s music remains an oddity in this year of synths and pouts. While the album features the heavyweight production handiwork of Paul Epworth, James Ford and Steve Mackey, the boho eccentricities in her off-kilter art-pop are all of Welch’s own making.

Her exotic tall tales involve dark images, violent scenes and donkeys – and sometimes all three at once. The comparisons to Kate Bush, Bjork, Mary Margaret O’Hara and PJ Harvey have come much faster than the ones to Adele, Lily Allen or Kate Nash. This is a whole new barrel of the blues.

For Welch, the reaction to the album will be telling. “The album feels like a scrapbook of the past couple of years of my life and that has been amazing. If there’s a backlash, well, at least I can say I’ve done my best.”

- Lungsis released on July3rd. Florence & the Machine play Oxegen on july 12.

www.myspace.com/florenceandthemachine

Jon Hopkins: backroom boy

Chances are you've come across Jon Hopkins before, without even realising it. Aside from production work with Coldplay, Brian Eno, Massive Attack, David Holmes and others, Hopkins has also provided music for a Wayne McGregor dance piece ( Entity), various TV shows and a couple of ads.

But even with all these top-drawer gigs and two solo albums, you probably haven’t heard all that much about Hopkins before now. He’s the quintessential backroom boy, albeit one who probably deserves the limelight a whole lot more than some of his clients (we’re looking at you, Chris Martin).

This may be all about to change for the Londoner who combined a teenage passion for acid house and grunge with piano tutorials at the Royal College of Music. His latest album, Insides, is where Hopkins's skill as a composer, fondness for electronic shape-shifting and innate ear for fluid melodies really strikes gold.

Whereas many other electronic producers tend to follow pre-set formulas, Hopkins prefers to experiment with stroppy glitches, frowning bass and moody beats in setting the tone. Like Nico Muhly, a contemporary who also bridges the classical and pop divide, Hopkins can apparently conjure up mysterious, widescreen soundscapes in his sleep.

www.jonhopkins.co.uk

Four More

Dorian Concept

Austrian Electronic hip-hop producer Oliver Thomas produces the goods on his When Plents explodealbum

www.myspace.com/dorianconcept

Generationals

Classic woozy throwback pop with a sleek 1950s and 1960s sheen from New Orleans outfit

www.generationals.com

Lacrosse

Six-strong swedish band making giddy indie pop. The video for We Are The Kidsalone will turn you into a fan

www.myspace.com/lacrossehlm

Love Language

Meet the band Stuart McLamb put together to play his beguiling upfront indie rock and slow-burning grooves, such as Lalita

www.myspace.com/thelovelanguage