The National's fifth full length studio album High Violet, will be released in Australia on May 7 through 4ad/ Remote Control. The album contains eleven tracks and was recorded in the band's own studio in Brooklyn with further recording and mixing at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, Connecticut with Peter Katis.


The National's critically acclaimed 2007 album Boxer made numerous best of lists for the year:





The band played stunning shows to sold out crowds on their debut Australian tour the following year, before the brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner curated the star-studded double cd benefit compilation Dark Was The Night, featuring the likes of Sharon Jones, Arcade Fire, Feist, Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projects and David Byrne and many, many more.


The first single from High Violet is Bloodbuzz Ohio due for digital release on May 1. You can download it now by heading to HIGHVIOLET.COM


DOWNLOAD: BLOODBUZZ OHIO [mp3]


Watch the exclusive worldwide performance of lead track 'Terrible Love', recorded last week on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, (available to watch here).

DAME SHIRLEY BASSEY RETURNS WITH
THE PERFORMANCE
FIRST NEW STUDIO ALBUM IN OVER 20 YEARS



Dame Shirley Bassey, Britain's most successful female artist ever, is set to release her brand new album The Performance on November 13.

The 11-track album is Dame Shirley Bassey's first full studio album in over 20 years. David Arnold, the Grammy Award-winning producer best known for scoring five James Bond films has produced the album.



The Performance features songs written specifically for Dame Shirley Bassey, by a stellar cast of contemporary artists, including, Take That's, Gary Barlow, the Manic Street Preachers, Pet Shop Boys, KT Tunstall and Rufus Wainwright. The album also features a brand new composition from John Barry and Don Black; the first new song written by them for Dame Shirley since 'Diamonds Are Forever.'

Speaking about producing the new album, The Performance, David Arnold said:

All these songs were just songs, until Dame Shirley Bassey sang them. Now they're Shirley Bassey songs - hopefully classic and contemporary, like that voice. There's something about a Bassey performance that can knock the wind out of your sails, make you laugh, make you cry, let you in on the joke or be led to a more exotic place. I tried to make a record that made the most of that voice and one that could sit alongside her other classic recordings.

There isn't a 'next Shirley Bassey', there never really was and I doubt if there ever will be. She's as unique and wonderful today as she has ever been and I hope this record will reach an audience who may never have heard her before, so they can say 'she's got it', and for her fans from the past who can say 'she's still got it'.

During a career that has included a whopping 135 million record sales, Dame Shirley Bassey has had many incredible highlights, including being the only artist to record three James Bond movie theme songs. Dame Shirley has received numerous awards including a DBE [Dame of the British Empire] in 1999.

In 2007, Dame Shirley appeared at the Glastonbury festival, where at the same event Arctic Monkeys covered 'Diamonds Are Forever'. Kanye West also sampled the same track on his 2005 Grammy-winning song 'Diamonds From Sierra Leone'.



The full tracklisting for The Performance

Almost There [Tom Baxter]
Apartment [Rufus Wainwright]
This Time [Gary Barlow]
I Love You Now [Nick Hodgson]
Our Time Is Now [John Barry/Don Black]
As God Is My Witness [David Arnold/David McAlmont]
No Good About Goodbye [David Arnold/Don Black]
The Girl From Tiger Bay [Manic Street Preachers]
Nice Men [KT Tunstall]
After The Rain [Richard Hawley]
The Performance Of My Life [Pet Shop Boys]


Dame Shirley Bassey
New Studio Album - The Performance - Available November 13