Irish rockers Bell X1 will return March 3rd with Blue Lights on the Runway, the follow-up to this year's Flock. Singer-guitarist Paul Noonan said the group started recording the new disc last November in a "big, draughty, stately home called Ballycumber House, under the beady gaze of musty portraits of the Lords and Ladies of the estate from the 15th century. We wanted to make something different, something tight and coherent from start to finish. Where we've landed is a little bit electronic, a little bit Bacharach, a little bit New Orleans Funeral March."

Judge for yourself here, with a free download of a band-new Runway track:

"How Your Heart Is Wired"
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Who: The Veronicas, an Australian pop duo named after the Archies Comic featuring twin sisters Jessica and Lisa Origliasso, who are hoping to bring their huge success Down Under into the States with a little help from the Jonas Brothers.

Sounds Like: On their second album Hook Me Up, the Veronicas make the leap from teenybopper rock to electro-pop similar to the Sounds and CSS. "That whole indie electro scene was coming up and in a mainstream way we wanted to bring that out in our music," Lisa says of the band's new aesthetic, which immediately resulted in a Number One single, Hook's opening track "Untouched," in their home continent. Onstage though, Jessica says, "Our shows are a lot more rock, we like to keep that alive."

Vital Stats:

• Over the span of only two albums, the sisters have already worked with an all-star lineup of talent including Swede pop god Max Martin, new American Idol judge Kara Dioguardi, Grammy-winning songwriter Billy Sternberg and producer Toby Gad. During their first tour of the U.S. in 2006, the Veronicas' opening act was some little known band called the Jonas Brothers. The Veronicas returned the favor, opening for the JoBros during their Burning Up Jaunt in 2008.

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Fiction Plane were on a touring tear the past year, supporting the Police (frontman Joe Sumner just happens to be Sting's son), the Bravery and, for good measure, Snoop Dogg. Now that they've finally got some free time, the band has made a video for "It's a Lie," a smooth rocker from last year's Left Side of the Brain. The clip is kind of a geriatric version of Risky Business, which raises the question: do you prefer this old dude, Heidi Klum, David Cook, David Archuleta or Kobe Bryant doing the dress-shirt-n-undies dance? Tough call. Click above to check it out.

**The Band:** Titus Andronicus
**The Buzz:** Jersey sad-sacks turn mourning into dancing with broke-down rock songs and quivery, quavering vocals.
**Listen If:** Your problem with punk rock was that it wasn't sad enough, or if you often wish Bright Eyes had a little more attitude.
**Key Track:** Appropriately, "Titus Andronicus," where vocalist Andrew Cedermark pitches and moans over blown-apart guitars and ramrodding drums.

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Who: Brooklyn's Semi Precious Weapons, a quartet of foul-mouthed, heavy-riffing glam rockers led by rambunctious frontman Justin Tranter.

Sounds Like: Tranter is like Adam Ant, T.Rex's Marc Bolan and Ziggy Stardust wrapped into one, singing lead on AC/DC's Back In Black. On the band's debut album We Love You, which features "Magnetic Baby" and "Her Hair Is On Fire," Tranter's life's-a-party lyrics and cocky swagger takes center stage over riffs ripped from the Knack's "My Sharona." "There’s 10 songs on our record and nine of them are about how fantastic I am," Tranter says. "In different settings, different time periods, different hats, things like that."

Vital Stats:

• Before signing with Razor & Tie, the band self-funded the release of We Love You with the money earned from Tranter's jewelry line, Fetty. Tranter has sold over 100,000 items of jewelry in stores like Barney's and Urban Outfitters. "As a band, we're still broke," Tranter reports, "but as a jewelry designer, no."

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Every week, Hype Monitor wades through the most buzzed-about bands all across the Internet.

The Band: Los Campesinos
Th Buzz: Wacky Wales collective spit out songs as bright and varied as day-glo paint.
Listen If: You have a serious sugar deficiency, and need songs with big hooks and indelible melodies
Key Track: The synthy rush of "We Are Beautiful We Are Doomed," where cascading keys do battle with sawing strings and big bursts of guitar

The Band: Benoit Pioulard
The Buzz: Oregon folkie makes music that's as dark and mysterious as curls of smoke.
Listen if: You have a thing for men with soft voices, or need music to drift to sleep by.
Key Track: "Ragged Tint," where Pioulard's cotton ball voice bounces atop tumbleweed guitars.

The Band: The Welcome Wagon
The Buzz: Kinfolk of Sufjan Stevens continue his quest to make banjos.
sexy, writing Appalachian gospel songs that are both spare and stirring.
Listen If: You haven't been to church in a few years, and want to make amends with a Sunday morning hoedown.
Key Track: The uber-Christian "But For You Who Fear My Name," where a gang chorus, blurting brass and twinkles of guitar make for a modern-day hymn.

Who: Bon Iver, the nom de plume of Justin Vernon, who isolated himself in a cabin during a harsh Wisconsin winter and emerged with 2008's most buzzed-about folk album, For Emma, Forever Ago, a set of nine songs adored by music critics and Grey's Anatomy fans alike.

Sounds Like: Picture Nick Drake if the Pink Moon singer pulled a Henry David Thoreau and ensconced himself in the woods. For Emma is an icy moonscape of an album, with Vernon layering vocal track over vocal track, harmonizing his eerie falsetto with itself along to chopped and spliced acoustic guitar on songs like "Flume" and "Creature Fear."

Vital Stats:

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Photo:Fredrik Wennerlund

Swedish psych-rockers the Soundtrack of Our Lives have somehow churned out a 24-track double-LP in just two weeks. The disc, Communion, is due March 3rd (it'll be out digitally January 6th on all major sevices at Yeproc.com) and is a bit of a concept album — there's a tune for every hour of the day. That makes "Flipside" (disc two, track three - hear it below) just right for 3 p.m.

"Flipside"

A message from the pint-size British MC upon the release of her glitchy new single:

Hey Hey! Just to let you know i'm alive! Today you can hear the first track "I Got You Dancing" from my new album. I'm giving it away for free at my website and myspace, call it an early Christmas gift! I just finished writing the new album in London, it's going to release on April 7th 2009. The album is the next chapter, it's a massive leap forward for mankind!!! Love, Sov

• "I Got You Dancing"
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Every week, Hype Monitor wades through the most buzzed-about bands all across the Internet.

The Band: The Hours
The Buzz: Grand, emotive, pleading pop music from — you guessed it — Britain.
Listen If: You'd like Coldplay if only they were a bit smaller in scale.
Key Track: "The Lights," which shifts from meditative piano to gleaming filigrees of guitar in the space of seven glorious minutes.

The Band: Zomby
The Buzz: London producer revisits the glory days of rave with surprisingly energizing results.
Listen If: You catch yourself sighing wistfully when you spot a baby sucking on a pacifier.
Key Track: "Daft Punk Rave," which cuts up DP's "Technologic" and scatters it across blinking-light keyboards.

The Band: Land Of Talk
The Buzz: Montreal band proves there are bands up north that don't have 900 members or a penchant for high drama.
Listen If: All you need is a cluster of nervous guitar chords and a smartass female vocal to make your afternoon.
Key Track: "Some Are Lakes," where ragged vocals and gritty guitar reveal the hidden intersection between indie and Americana.