Anyone who saw Blur farting their way through a greatest hit set at the Brits recently, looking and sounding like a bunch of middle-aged pub rockers, wouldn't really be holding high hopes for a Damon Albarn solo record right now. Yet on this project, a recording about the 16th Century magician and alchemist John Dee, Albarn find's himself in restrained form, working his voice delicately around traditional Tudor instruments and choral music. Apparently the record, titled 'Dr Dee' will be spiced up with modern African sounds, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who's followed Damon's post-Blur work.

Anyway, the snippets of tracks played in the trailer below sound reassuringly good, and the whole project seems actually quite interesting.

Not quite baggy revivalists, these Brummie lads, but they've got that loose fit beat. Even if it comes all covered in the goth-lite stylings of recent Horrors-fare it somehow ends up sounding a bit Echo and the Bunnymen, only if they went out to parties instead of just sitting in the dark being morbid. Is goth-baggy a genre? It sounds like it'd be terrible, but maybe Peace are onto something?

FOLLOW BABY by P E A C E

Out on Deadly People in April.

We all got bored of that bad of that faux-naive lo-fi thing ages ago, right? Then why am I so enraptured with Captured Tracks' latest signing Mac DeMarco? His press shots feature the man behind these bedroom jams smeared in lipstick and eyeliner. The video for 'She's Really All I Need' is a work of utter bizarreness, taking in badly done green screen footge, multiple layers, bad effects, dodgy miming, dodgy dancer, and Mac himself singing along with a plastic bag on his head. I can't work out why, but Mac's brilliant.

Mac Demarco - She's Really All I Need from WALTER TV on Vimeo.