"Running From A Gamble" is the second album from Chicago based rock band Company Of Thieves. Their sound is a brilliant mix of indie rock, jazzy soul pop and country. No surprises, as they declare themselves influenced by the likes of the Beatles, Van Morrison, Radiohead, Wilco, Sam Cooke, Fiona Apple, Elliott Smith etc.

You can listen to some Company Of Thieves' music, including first single "Death Of Communication" on their facebook page.

"Running From A Gamble" is out today on Wind-up Records, so you can get your copy now!

Kate Bush releases an unusual new album "Director's Cut" today on her own label Fish People, in conjunction with EMI.

On "Directors Cut" Kate revisits a selection of tracks from her albums "The Sensual World" and "The Red Shoes", a process that presents a fascinating portrait of an artist in a constant state of evolution. She has re-recorded some elements whilst keeping the best musical performances of each song – making it something of a director's cut but in sound, not vision.

A new version of "Deeper Understanding" has been released as a single in April. Although written some twenty years ago, the song may be more relevant today than ever…

Kate is currently working on new material although no release date has been set for this.

"Director's Cut" will be released in the following formats: Digital Album, Standard CD in a case-bound book, Deluxe CD (three disc package, including Director's Cut, The Sensual World and re-mastered The Red Shoes) in a case-bound book and two-disc vinyl. Other digital and vinyl formats will be made available on katebush.com.

I wasn't a great fan of Manchester Orchestra's previous albums, too mottled in sound and simply not interesting enough. So I approached "Simple Math" (officialy released last tuesday) with more than a doubt, just to find out that the Atlanta-based band has really grown.

The concept behind the new release ("It's a story about a 23-year old who questions everything from marriage to love to religion to sex", tells us frontman Andy Hull) has been cleverly developed with intense, more focused songs, so that MO's alternative rock gained an "arena rock with an indie soul" vibe. I mean, they're moving in Blue October's territory with "Simple Math": there's passion, there's anger, there's introspection, there's the fire and there's the lullaby.

Sure there's still a lot of way to go for Manchester Orchestra to reach the same levels of inspiration and artfulness of the texans: some tracks are still pretty annoying or not incisively crafted. But "Simple Math" is a major step in the right direction, and a very good album all told.