By Alex Jones (@Alex_Jonze) Oh to live in Australia, the sun, the sea, the sand…the sun again. It must be a joyful existence, I mean even their rock bands are chirpy! Case in point is four piece pop rockers The Griswolds. The quartet from Sydney tackles some pretty heavy topics on their debut album “Be Impressive”, not that you’d know it from the musicianship. Every song is bathed in a glow of pop goodness. Opener “16 Years” describes the sensation...

By Declan Roberts (@DeclanMR) Kent-based duo Teal have returned with their first new track since last years' self-titled debut EP. 'Klangfarbenmelodie' features huge crescendo riffs and driving drum beats that sees the band taking their sound in an entirely new direction. Imagine the lovechild of Jon Hopkins and Giorgio Moroder in their early stages and you're somewhere close to 'Klangfarbenmelodie', popping and dropping in all the right places. Promising stuff indeed from the duo. I caught up with Rosa Loveridge-Green (drums) and...

By Stephen Mayne @finalreel Roy Andersson’s films are so uniquely his own it’s hard to reconcile them with the world around us. Yet were anyone to venture into the idiosyncratic Swedish director’s head, I strongly suspect they would reveal themselves as a weirdly precise form of documentary filmmaking. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, the third in his loosely connected “living” trilogy, resembles a world watched from afar by a viewer not completely familiar with the ways...

Sport News 24/7 By David de Winter - Sports Editor @davidjdewinter  @TLE_Sport With England’s failure to win the first Test in Antigua last week, the debate over Kevin Pietersen’s return to the international fold has taken on even greater significance.  Never one to shirk the limelight, Pietersen announced in March that he was eschewing his IPL contract with the Sunrisers Hyderbad in favour of playing a full county season with Surrey in an attempt to force his way back into...

By Nathan Lee, TLE Correspondent  Next-generation betting exchange Smarkets has reached the one billion pound traded milestone. A strong response to the Cheltenham Festival and record-breaking interest in the Grand National built on momentum from 2014 pushing the company over the £1 billion mark. Cheltenham saw trading volume grow by 320 per cent year-on-year, whereas the response to the Grand National smashed the company’s one-day record for GBP volume traded, recording a revenue increase of 359 per cent. Revenue has snowballed in the...

By Nathan Lee, TLE Correspondent  Social media was born on ideals of friendship, but new research has found it could be doing more to dismantle our relationships than bolster it. A study in to modern friendship, commissioned by Thomas J Fudge’s Remarkable Bakery, revealed the majority of Brits (58 per cent) think that social media has a negative impact on their friendships, with nearly two thirds fearing their friendships are becoming more superficial. Researchers found 45 per cent fear they are ‘addicted’ to checking their social media...

Sport News 24/7 By Sean Simara  @Sean_FootyMad  @TLE_Sport We have finally reached the NBA playoff s.  Here’s the lowdown on the first round match-ups and who I think will get to the NBA finals.  Remember, it's the best out of seven each series and the higher ranked team have home court advantage. Eastern Conference First Round (1) Atlanta Hawks vs. (8) Brooklyn Nets The Atlanta Hawks ending up as the number one seed from the east was quite surprising.  I...

By Nathan Lee, TLE Correspondent  Four in ten renters say they don't see the place they currently live in as a proper home, according to a new survey, with eight in ten saying they felt they had ‘no choice’ when it came to whether to rent or buy. It is a common conundrum for Londoners. With average property prices now above the half a million mark many of us are left with the bleak reality of 'generation rent', which has its...

By Nathan Lee, TLE Correspondent  A study has been commissioned to discover what makes the perfect shopping trip, finding a four hour trawl around stores, a cup of posh coffee, a flapjack and a modest £131 dent in the bank balance are criteria of an idyllic day out. The poll of 2,000 Brits who shop regularly found the ideal shopping expedition would include leaving home at 10am for a 14 mile drive to a mall or High Street, ending in a purchase...