After a delightful bank holiday weekend of ale, cakes, movies and April foolery, we nearly forgot that March was over and done with. This here then, is our monthly digest of what you were reading and should have been listening to that was released in March 2013.

Photo of Paramore by Gary Wolstenholme at Leeds 2012 (Gallery)

20 Most Read Things Posted on DiS in March

Of the 2,682,428 pageviews we had on DiS in the month of March, this is what you (727,679 visitors) were all reading (or at least what thousands of you were choosing to click on):

1) Interview: "We channelled Prince's energy!" - Paramore discuss their 4th album
2) Review: Hookworms - Pearl Mystic
3) Review: The Strokes - Comedown Machine
4) Review: The Flaming Lips - The Terror
5) Archive Feature: Where to start with... Jason Molina, Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co
6) Review: David Bowie - The Next Day
7) Review: Stereophonics - Graffiti on the Train
8) Review: Gold Panda - Trust
9) Thread: LATITUDE 2013 - a discussion and excitement thread
10) News: Music Fans: A Moment of Your Time, Please.
11) Thread: Longest Run Of Mediocre / Poor Albums Before Calling It Quits...
12) Stream: Low's 10th album The Invisible Way
13) Review: Suede - Bloodsports
14) Review: Daughter - If You Leave
15) Thread: Bands Whose Songs All Sound So Identical, There's Literally No Point To Having Written More Than One Song.
16) Review: Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience
17) Tribute: Jason Molina: Farewell Transmission
18) Review: John Grant - Pale Green Ghosts
19) Thread: What Do You Think's The Standout Track Of The Year So Far?
20) Thread: Glastonbury 2013

---

Spotify playlist

This month's covermount-like playlist takes in a few things we've reviewed, some things mentioned above, there's a blast of NiN who were confirmed for Reading/Leeds, and it ends with Autre Ne Veut who've been getting a lot of love on our messageboards.

---

March's Must-Hear Album

HOOKWORMS Pearl Mystic

A 10/10 for a little known 5-piece from Leeds? Yes, this rare recommendation is why DiS was set-up, and why despite our competitors boring on about 'hot new things', we try to keep a lid on our enthusiasm, waiting for something truly special to come along that blows one of our writers head's off, as Pearl Mystic did to Dom Gourlay.

"...ingrained in the independent philosophy of improvisation and self-regulation... embodies perfection. Throughout its nine individual pieces there's no room for improvement.... Forget the hyped buzz bands: this is the sound of the past, present and future all rolled into one. A timeless artifact steeped in reference points yet so instinctively fresh and vibrant as to leave everything else around it gasping for breath on the hard shoulder. It's a record capable of making bodily hairs stand on end from top to bottom.... A band where the term 'collective' means so much more than ten letters of the alphabet spread across a single piece of paper...

...Without dwelling too much on the band's influences - and let's not forget Hookworms stating in numerous interviews about their shared love of US hardcore - comparisons to the likes of Loop, Hawkwind, The Grateful Dead and Spacemen 3/Spiritualized are almost inevitable... Rather than re-inventing wheels it begs the listener to loosen the axles and throw them away. Who needs wheels? Indeed. The sound of the past welded to the present to form a blueprint for the future aka the sound of perfection."

Read Dom Gourlay's full 10/10 review

---