Madonna's Disappointing New Single

Again, I'm disappointed. Madonna used to be innovative in her sound, but this sounds like a rejected Britney B-Side...

Polly IsSheGood?

Well I think so! Please Don't touch is playful in that kind of skipping child way, reminds me of Jesca Hoop meets Cassie from skins. I can see how her experimental vocals could be somewhat agitating, but hey it's a marmite situation. Worth a listen anyway, It's not deep, but fun. :)

Stuck on THE KILL

Please note, sacrilege will ensue.



Oh, and because I promised myself I'd limit posts on these guys, I'm gonna include this too. It's a La Roux track I haven't heard before but it is subtley different from the others. The tinny drum isn't as defined:

More 'Hidden Tracks'

Now I've discovered that a 'Hidden Track' isn't just my own little neologism, and is an actual phenomenon. I discovered a further two artists have used these, Little Boots with her 'Hands' and Laura Marling with 'Alas, I Cannot Swim'.
Obviously a part of musical fashion has surpassed me...

Rabbit Heart Meaning

Apparently the lovely Florence + The Machine's 'Rabbit Heart' refers to her entry into the music industry.

"I must become a lion hearted girl,
Ready for a fight,
Before I make the final sacrifice"
She must be brave to survive life in the limelight?

"This is a gift, it comes with a price,
Who is the lamb and who is the knife?"
She has the gift of music, but it comes with a price.
Who in the industry can she trust?

"Midas is king and he holds me so tight"
Midas is a mythical king noted for his ability to turn all he touched to Gold, hence
"And turns me to gold in the sunlight"

This would fill a lot of blog space if I did it every week!

The Magic Numbers!

The Magic Numbers are coming back apparently! I don't know anything more than this, but according to some newspaper picture I picked up at the Blur festival they are! There was a picture with all their happy smiling faces beaming at me, they honestly look like the happiest most honest group ever.
The set of siblings sat up give this band's sound a really close-knit feel, almost as if everyone was contributing! I think it was actually my dad who introduced them to me.......... *que tumbleweed*

I guess this band suits my dad though, because they too look as if they are still in a different, carefree era! Their debut cult album sound-tracked my 2005 summer, their close to perfect 'Love Me Like You' sounds like the sound equivalent of evening sunshine. Perhaps one of my favorite tracks of theirs is 'Hymn for her' , a hidden track starting at 7.17 on the track 'try', the last 3 minutes of which are a musical, glockenspiel-y epiphany.

(Note: 'In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes secret track or ghost track) is a piece of music that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, vinyl record or other recorded medium in such a way as to avoid detection by the casual listener.' - Wikipedia)

Their second album, 'Those the Brokes' didn't achieve quite the same success that the previous reached the same sucess of the previous one in single sales, so I am imploring you to buy their new album and singles when it is finished. LOVE!

22 - Lily Allen

Video for new single, improvement on the disappointing video for the last single, and a very clever idea. A mirror imposed juxtaposition between 22 lily and 30 lily.

Lungs - Florence + The Machine

Florence and the Machine. Nu hippie goddess, magical weaver of spellbinding music.
Florence this year has been a 'watch' point for almost everyone this year, and it is not suprising given some of the outputs of this woman.

1. "Dog Days Are Over" - 4:12
2. "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)" - 3:52
3. "I'm Not Calling You a Liar" - 3:05
4. "Howl" - 3:34
5. "Kiss with a Fist" - 2:04
6. "Girl with One Eye" - 3:38
7. "Drumming Song" - 3:43
8. "Between Two Lungs" - 4:09
9. "Cosmic Love" - 4:15
10. "My Boy Builds Coffins" - 2:56
11. "Hurricane Drunk" - 3:13
12. "Blinding" - 4:40
13. "You've Got the Love" (Bonus Track) - 2:48
14. "Swimming" (iTunes Bonus Track) - 3:22

The album opens with a lutey dreamy, if not improvised-sounding calmer, that dives into a determined killer chorus, 'Dog Days Are Over' (Subtle name change.) It's a shame this track didn't climb higher on the UK charts, because it is perfectly deserving. It is reinforced by the instant classic, 'Rabbit Heart' , which is wonderfully layered and produced, 3.52 of a solid screamingly catchy song. 'I'm Not Calling You A Liar' and 'Drumming Song' are perhaps the closest we get to a low point in the album, at times you feel like saying, "OK dear, you've told me already, I get the message", but it is at least enjoyable on a background level.
'Howl' is one of my favourites of the new track, and contrasts with the previous by getting straight to the point. It's dramatic enough to be a fantasy film chase scene sountracker and it's chorus will soon be a singalong favourite. I'm thinking fifth single? Kiss With A Fist is to Lungs and White Light was to 'Demon Days', a minimal feel-good clanger to momentarily break the spell. Girl with One Eye feels so Bluesy and I genuinely think it'll become one of those classic songs that get passed down by cover after cover (points to Hallelujah and American Pie.) I get shivers whenever I hear that screaming 'CRY' towards the end.
'Drumming Song' is to be the next single and there is something beautifully catchy and fulfilling about the lyrics 'Louder than silence, Louder than bells, Sweeter than heaven and Harder than Hell.'
'Cosmic Love' has made it to number two in Ireland despite not being a single, and Hurricane Drunk is a Park-bench anthem. I have had the privileged experience of listening to much of florence's accoustic work on a friends (also called Florence weirdly) burned CD. I think the only thing that this album lacks are some more accousticy, less-produced songs (i.e. Girl With One Eye, kiss with a fist) because at a certain point in the album, it all seems too much to deal with!

A huge highlight is 'You've Got The Love', a cover of the Source's dance track. I love this, it dosen't just do justice to the original, it's better! I don't think it deserves to be just a cover!
To top it all off we have 'Swimming', which is an amazing finisher ... Like an epic Jefferson Airplane. There are some earlier more upbeat recordings as well which are worth a listen to.

BUY

Elly Unplugged

Ebony Bones

I have been fortune enough to have been brought up spending every Christmas in the warm confides of Antigua and every time I visit I observe how incredibly energetic and upbeat a-feeling atmosphere the Island gives off.

This energy is perfectly captured by a Miss Ebony Thomas (Ebony Bones), who I have had the recent pleasure of listening to. She writes, produces and records her own music in her bedroom, but is not to be mistaken with this years breed of 'bedroom-pop' campaigners. After Zane Lowe gave her single We Know All About U the position of "The Hottest Record In The World Today", Bones became the most played unsigned artist on Radio 1. What to call her genre? It simply cannot be categorized with such a demeaning title as 'Carnival Pop!

The first record I heard by this entirely new type of diva was 'The Muzik', a tinny but contrastingly fiery track. One of the track's themes is defiance, and those united by oppression. The song listens more like a sermon or a Battle speech than anything else, the video cleverly uniting people from all over the world through 'The Muzik'. It has this weird stirring effect in the depths of your soul, Wonderful!



While, We Know All About You manages a funky, but very intimidating emulation of a 1984 world. Ebony Bones could possibly be something COMPLETELY NEW on to the pop culture scene.

Remember this? The CSS video competition

MEMORIES!

My article about Fleet Foxes reminded me of SubPop Record's weird knack of finding talent before anyone else. CSS sprung to mind, I looked up a few of their videos for a memory moment and low and behold I remembered the video contest for their single 'Alcohol'.
For those of you who were not familiar with this, the band and QOOB, whether or not it was out of sheer laziness started a competition to create the singles promo-video.
The winner was a Jared Eberhardt, who triumphed with his stop frame 'bunny' representation of the band.



Creepy or no? Anyway, this contest sparked so many original videos, I thought it was worth remembering;

Subpop Strikes Again

Fleet Foxes are my late discovery, having heard their names so many times before, but only just latched on to them.
This 5 piece band appeals to me not only because of their truly lovely melodies, but also reminding me of the joy I had listening to 'The Magic Numbers' debut in 2005[?]
Have a listen,



Yes, truly, deeply Lovely

The Synthpop Arguement

It seems that the main, if not only thing I seem to be writing about anymore is the emergence of synth pop female stars, and it is true that the 'emergence' has been drastically over-hyped.
So I was delighted to read an amusing review in the Guardian by Alex Miller that muses;

' Wouldn't it be great if Florence had a cock? Or La Roux had foreskin? Or Little Boots had huge balls? Then maybe we wouldn't have to suffer under the weight of endless editorials about the "re-emergence of women in pop". '

Almost perfectly on time, I received a comment from an anonymous user referencing the following article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/may/26/little-boots-la-roux

The article reads,

'Little Boots and La Roux don't speak for synth pop : For all their intelligence, Little Boots and La Roux look and sound like polished pop stars. And they are not forging openings for stranger, more interesting electronic music.'

The main points made are true, these two artists lack 'the abrasive edge, the awkwardness' of their more underground counterparts, (indicates to 'Fever Ray' , The Knife spin off.) It implies that artists such as these are preventing their colleagues from making appearance.

Hang on, I swear the whole point of this genre was that you don't have to be edgy of 'awkward' to be important in music. This is the centrepoint of the movement, creating music that appeals to the public is not a boundary, mainstream music is not necessarily created for a mainstream audience. 'Mainstream' is not a genre, it is just music that happens to allure to the majority of people. 'Abrasive' music is however specifically created to appeal to the sort of people who wrote this article.

I quote Little Boots herself, "There's room in popular culture to do things that are creative and not exactly straightforward, Just because something has got the possibility to appeal to a mainstream audience doesn't mean you've got to be bland." She never pretented to be anything but a ditzy pop-princess.

People have got to stop this anti-hype mechanism; the theory that all music that is pushing the boundaries, but still popular should have been created pre-naughties. This just isn't realistic, attention can only be good for the scene! That sort of view belongs to the 'landfill indie' which this 'Little / Roux' genre is campaigning against.

Critisising these artists for not being underground enough? We might as well critisize Britney for not having a guitar or Madonna for not sounding raw enough!

La Roux Straight To The Number One Spot

This is the time where I can gloat about how La Roux has triumphed once again. Bulletproof is possibly even catchier than her last single and once again, the zinc remix is PERFECT!

There is also a slightly more diverse remix, with a thumping baseline, (that however much I love La Roux, she lacks) :
http://hypem.com/track/849036/La+Roux-Bulletproof+(iamxl+remix)

Something's Wrong

We've so much amazing music at the dawn of the new year... But you only have take a look at the current iTunes top 10 to realise there is obviously something wrong...

1. Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas
(The black eyed peas, quite frankly BORING comeback with Fergie's cringe attempt at vocals)

3. Kiss Me through the phone - Soulja Boy Tellem (NO! WHY?!)

4. Number 1 - Tinchy Stryder
(Responsible for keeping la roux from the Number 1 spot, and is blatantly an attempt to rival Bittersweet Symphony, and even sounds pretty much the same!)

8. Tiny Dancer - Ironik
(This could just lose all of Elton John's credibility!)

WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

Alex Roots....Has been scouted

Kelly Klarkson headbanging chorus... and Cyndi Lauper creepy backing vocals? Toyah and lene levich?
I hate it, and it's not what I should like...
BUT I LOVE IT!

Jamie T - Sticks and Stones

The cheeky little bugger is back with a new single that at first listen sounds as raw as his original work and just as musically pleasing! It even feels a bit 'Just Jack'-y at times (in a good way though!)
It dosen't quite measure up to the anthem factor of sheila, but after a few listens, it might become just as fun!

Little Boots vs. La roux

2009 heralds new steps for electro-indie, perhaps even further in progress from Nu Rave two or so years ago. This is an all out battle against the retro acts; The Wombats and Hooisers of this world, the dreadful offspring of a genre which has been done to death.

Leading this army into the sunset are the two lovely ladies of this years music movement are the likes of Little Boots and La Roux. Little Boots' hypnotic, almost epic sounding spacepop first made it on to the table last sumer, posting her jimjam videos on her youtube channel. The first I heard of her was September's mention of her in Mixmag's 'Introducing section.'

In interviews, she stated "I want to change people thinking that because it's a poppy thing that a record label's pressed a button on the giant songmaking computer and this popped out at the end."

Intereting! A few jumbled records became available and an iTunes EP was released. Her first REAL single, 'New in Town' is due for release this month.

La Roux had no such build up, and her wionderfully (if anything) shrill voice first penetrated my cranium after a single giveaway by the lovely NME! It was love. Much of her music is reminiscent of what I imagined would happen if Prince decided to swallow Depeche Mode.

Oh! And the hair! By Jesus, I've seen her live, and I really don't know how it manages to stay up!

However the Boots' sound is so deep, some tracks even resemble soundtracks from a children's fantrasy film, something very new sounding. She has something which La Roux lacks; track variation. Her sound ranges from deep club aimed sounds, the Hot Chip produced 'Stuck on Repeat', with a repettitive baseline that does exactly what it says on the tin, and Greg Kurstin produced 'New in Town' has a traditionally cheesy pop chorus, but her sound prevails and pulls it off perfectly.

Jowever, La Roux delivers a much more upbeat sound than Boots, energy which is perfectly presented for the dancefloor. Her album is full of those agonisingly catchy hooks that makes you want to hurt yourself when you're not listening to them. Despite thier similarities, the 'When Doves Cry'-esque 'In For the Kill' and 'Quicksand'. In 'Bulletproof' La Roux briefly dumps the high voice andseems almost angry . AND IT'S WONDERFUL.

You can't pit these two artist against each other. Yes, they're both birds with keyboards, but their sounds are so non-interchangable, it's not worth it.

Space Disco and Futurepop.

La Roux (Again...)

As I consider how many times I should allow myself to reference La Roux in one blog, I also cannot resist mentioning her new single which I had the privilege of viewing live. It was immense, and so is this soon to be chart topping single!

New In Town - Video!

I like to feel that I've been with Little Boots right from the beginning (I know that's not true, but it helps me sleep at night) mag article, I even feel like I know her personally (it's not stalking... YET!) I can hardly contain my exitement when I announce how far the Boots has travelled, when I present you with her new video single. It may be tramps dancing around with trolleys, but hey, Little Boots' unique style makes it look close to glamour!

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=56329368