July was a strangely euphoric but infuriating month here in London. There were scenes of British Scottish tennis success, sweltering summer temperatures (cold desk beers certainly help) and for some reason Boris decided to offend everyone who doesn't read the Daily Mail with his stupid van. As a nation, we were also very lucky to avoid insulting leaders when David Cameron foolishly handed them this mixtape, which is so abysmal it could be declared an act of war. There was the Royal Baby (doesn't Charles look happy (see above)? Actually this was from when he learnt to DJ in Toronto a few months ago), the trolls and there was also talk of the government blocking/filtering/censoring not just internet porn, but forums like ours. And then there was some music released...

JULY 2013: THE PLAYLIST

Here are our picks of the month, plus a few things which happened or were announced or we wrote about this month.

This playlist is also available on RDIO.

JULY'S MOST READ

At the time of writing (1pm on July 31st 2013), DiS has had 2,292,303 pageviews, and this is what you were looking at:

Record Reviews

1) Pet Shop Boys - Electric
2) Tom Odell - Long Way Down
3) Johnny Borrell - Borrell 1
4) Fuck Buttons - Slow Focus
5) Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels
6) Jay-Z - Magna Carta… Holy Grail
7) The Icarus Line - Slave Vows
8) Future Of The Left - Love Songs for Our Husbands
9) David Lynch - The Big Dream
10) AlunaGeorge - Body Music
11) Daughn Gibson - Me Moan
12) The Crimea - Square Moon
13) Maps - Vicissitude
14) Palms - Palms
15) Robbie Williams - Live at Knebworth 10th Anniversary Edition

Features/Columns

1) Ultimate Power's Top 10 Indie Power Ballads
2) DiS Does Singles: Best of 2013 so far
3) Glastonbury 2013: The DiS Review
4) Modem Life Is Rubbish #2: The Victory of the Social Network
5) First Listen: Elvis Costello & The Roots – Wise Up Ghost
6) DiS Does Singles: Chvrches, Sampha, Franz Ferdinand
7) “You can give up or you can rise up and tell everyone to eat a dick” - DiS meets Giant Drag
8) Optimus Alive 2013: The DiS Review
9) Latitude 2013: The DiS Review
10) "I wish there was a different story to tell" - Josh Homme talks to DiS

Music Forum Threads

1) Bands that everyone got exited about and then immediately got bored of after one album
2) Apparently Johnny Borrell's new album has only sold 379 copies
3) Worst album you've heard so far this year?
4) Cliches in songs that will sound really shit & dated in a few years
5) A Radiohesd thread: Nigel Godrich vs Spotify

Social Board Threads

1) A Week's Football Thread
2) Do You Turn The Setting On Fridges Up Or Down To Make It Colder?
3) Wimbledon 2013 Thread
4) Humorous Pub Quiz Team Names...
5) Who The Fuck Are You?: Part III

ALBUM OF THE MONTH

Fuck Buttons Slow Focus (ATP Recordings)

"After the joyous surge of 2009, there’s a palpable air of menace to the duo’s third album, which slows down the beats and cuts out the ravey high-end in favour of a hip-hop style tempo, rumbling percussion, and a strange, alien detachment." - 8/10, Andrzej Lukowski

...And if you love guitars that snarl and you've not heard the new Icarus Line record, you should really give it a listen at a brain-bleed inducing volume (click here to read J.R.'s fantastic review):