4AD newcomer Twin Shadow will be pimping his new wave-tinged wares in the UK with a series of live dates early in the new year, culminating in a show at Shepherd's Bush Empire in support of Warpaint on February 21.

The NYC-based brainchild of Dominican Republic émigré George Lewis Jr won acclaim for inaugural sally Forget, which was released in November and produced by Grizzly Bear drummer Chris Taylor.

Evoking the dapper melancholy of Scary Monsters-era Bowie fired through a polished chillwave lens, the record quite simply featured some of the most accomplished pop songwriting we've heard all year and begs to be heard performed live.

Warpaint, we should add, are also a formidable prospect onstage - no excuses for missing out on this one then, are there?

Andy Butler's dashing disco troupe Hercules & Love Affair returns with a second album, Blue Songs, on Moshi Moshi in the new year.

The outfit goes to London's Heaven on January 19 as first port of call on a UK tour, and that's as close to a sure thing as you can get for fans of soulful dance with an introspected twist.

Meanwhile the record's another corker, pushing the sonic envelope of its predecessor into deep house and ambient territories and unveiling a colourful new cast of collaborators including Kele Okereke of Bloc Party.

Butler spoke with us about the hook-up, for a track called 'Step Up' which appears on the album:

"I found out we had a really close mutual friend. And we went out one night in New York and it was just super-fun, almost immediately me and Kele were getting into mischief. I felt like I could say stuff to him that was maybe a little bit inappropriate, and he was OK with that.

"I came to him with a pretty straightforward, kinda Europop track. I was thinking it would be fun to do a kind of poppy house, London beat thing with lighter production. He started writing lyrics and we just hit it, we didn't really talk about anything else."

Tickets are available exclusively through www.hmvtickets.com at £16.50 a pop, but for an extra three quid you can pick up a copy of the album as well - nearly a fortnight before the official release date, January 31.

Get your ears round lead track 'My House', a kicking house jam with vocals from new band member Shaun Wright, here:

Hercules & Love Affair - My House by Freeman PR

Saturday December 4 @ Shoreditch XOYO

Tanlines bring their good-time vibes to the UK for a brief tour next month, culminating with a show at Shoreditch's go-to venue du jour, XOYO.

Comprising duo Jessie Cohen and Eric Emm, the Brooklyn outfit mixes hyperreal pop, fourth world dance rhythms and kitschy synth tones to terrific effect. They'll be in fine company, too, with DFA disco dons Holy Ghost! and a DJ set from Aeroplane among other highlights for the evening.

In addition there's an 18-track compilation, Volume On, collecting some of their best material to date - including tracks previously unavailable to UK listeners - released on December 6.

That line-up in full: Holy Ghost (live), Aeroplane (DJ set), Rory Phillips, The Lovely Jonjo, stopmakingme, Fnord

Tanlines, 'Reinfo'