Love, love, loving this from You Say Party! We Say Die!
Archive for the 'Music' Category
Erykah Badu’s new album New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh), follow-up to the stunning, off-head R&B slouch that was New Amerykah Part One (4th World War), is finally on the way. By way of celebration, here’s the video for Part One’s glorious single, Honey. Genius.
New Cold War Kids single, Audience Of One. Couldn’t get into the last album at all. This one sounds like it may well make up for it.
Jamie Lidell returns with Beck, Feist and Nikka Costa. Reasons to be cheerful, one, two, three (and indeed, four).
My new favourite video. Mirrorkicks cover of Bleedin’ Love + cheerleaders = future video classic.
Also worth noting that Mirrorkicks are in the process of making a video to accompany ever track on their brilliant, forthcoming album. More bands should do the same.
This is the video for The Prodigy’s new single, Warrior’s Dance.
From now on I want all music videos to be as good as this.
If you’ve not got nasty little warrior men made out of cigarette packets setting fire to things, I don’t want to see it.
I am now officially to be found on RocksBackpages.com.
For those who don’t know RocksBackpages.com is the biggest and most prestigious archieve of music journalism to be found anywhere on the internet. Which means that I’m now sharing server space with some of the finest words from the likes of Lester Bangs, Nick Kent, Danny Baker, Felix Dennis, Nick Logan, Nick Hornby, Neil Tennant – yes, that Neil Tennant – Toby Young, Will Self, John Robb, Charles Shaar Murray, Andrew Mueller, Stuart Maconie, Dorian Lynskey, Paul Morley, Steven ‘Swells’ Wells, Phil Sutcliffe, Paolo Hewitt and saucy Loyd Grossman. Distinguished company I’m sure you’ll agree, although I like to think I hold my own.
Over the coming months my features, interviews and reviews will be added to the RocksBackpages.com library, making it the most exhaustive record of my journalism online and as if that wasn’t reason enough to pay the site a visit and sign-up for a reasonably priced subscription, I’ll also be posting witty, insightful and well argued music related pieces on my RocksBackpages.com writer’s blog – or more likely rambling semi-coherently about the twin and not completley incompatible joys of pop and downtempom cinematic jazz.
How could you even think of missing it?
I am a big fan of Prince. This is no secret. I went to see him 8 times when he played his 21 nights in London in 2007 and would have gone more had it been physically possible. At his best he’s a genius and at his worst… well we forgive his worst for all the times that he’s a genius. Fan that I am though, I’m not sure even I can stump up the $77 to join his new website/music experiment www.lotusflow3r.com.
For that handsome sum subscribers get a t-shirt, concert ticket offers, photographs, videos and all the other stuff you’d expect from a fully functioning Prince website, plus, crucially, you’ll be instantly able to download all three of his new albums, Lotus Flower, MPLSOUNDS and Elixir.
Most people will obviously be paying their $77 (£55) to download the albums, making them roughly $25 (£18) a piece – although they will be available in the US via Target stores for $11.99 each. No news yet as to physical availability outside the US. The thing is, what if the albums, all three of them, are rubbish. I mean, with the best will in the world, and as I said I’m a fan, it’s not beyond the realm of possiblity. $25 (£18) is a lot for an album. Especially a rubbish one. Maybe their all three works of absolute mind blowing brilliance, but you won’t know until you’ve signed-up and paid $77 (£55) for them.
I’m all for Prince’s experimentation when it comes to finding new avenues of distribution, and new business models, but they should always include the opportunity for fans to hear what they’re going to buy before being asked to fork out for them. To make them pay up blind – and the one track samples of each album on the site don’t count – is unreasonable. And it’s not like you can take it back like in the good old days and pretend that you got two copies of it for your birthday, when really you just didn’t like it.
Still, even those determined to go ahead and hand over their $77 (£55) have been struggling to do so, because to sign-up to the site you first have to prove your true devotion to the purple one and answer a riddle – he really does make it hard to be a fan sometimes. For those who are currently finding it all very confusing and just want to sign-up, click on the ticket on the cliff edge – towards to right of the screen – and in the two fields enter 1986 and Los Angeles.
You’re welcome.
Let me know if it was worth the money. Maybe I’ll change my mind.
Can’t wait for the Gorillaz rock-u-mentary? No me either. Looking forward to it even more now that I’ve seen the trailer. Listen out for the line about Pink Floyd. Couldn’t agree more.
Groove Armada’s new single is ground breaking. Not because it’s released as part of their deal with Baracardi instead of via a traditional record label, but because it’s really good.
I’ve made no secret of the fact that I think the last 12 months in music have been duller than dull. Well, finally, it looks like things might be on the up.
First there was the superb Chunk Of Change EP from Passion Pit 
.
Now comes the stunning (not a word I use lightly) debut, Fine Fascination, from The Red Light Company . Think: big arena with The Killers performing just their best songs.
All hope is not lost after all.
So, tomorrow night is the Brit Awards. I almost forgot. Which isn’t good. I’m a music journalist after all. If I don’t care, and I’m paid to, who the hell will? Still, it’s hardly surprising that The Brits 2009 is a contender for the most irrelevant two hours on television. Just look at the nominations for Best Male Solo Artist.
Ian Brown – with the best will in the world, love him, Best Male? Hardly George Michael is he?
James Morrison – music’s answer to woodchip.
Paul Weller – how long can you trade on your backcat? Next they’ll be nominating Sir Two Thumbs Up McCartney for Best New Artist.
Streets – Mike Skinner must surely be the only viable winner, and even then, probably belongs in another category.
Will Young – see Ian Brown.
Compare that to the best International Male category – Beck, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Neil Diamond, Seasick Steve – and British music doesn’t exactly look like a hot bed of creativity, glamour or even memorable music.
With Duffy, Adele and Coldplay confirming 2008 as being one of the least exciting years for music in living memory, it’s no wonder the music industry is tanking. The always overblown U2 are opening the show, the ever stylish Pet Shop Boys are closing, but there’s a good hour and a half in the middle there that won’t have anyone on the edge of their seat.
Considering Prince practically pioneered the digital distribution of music via his now defunct NPG Music Club, his claims last year that he was finished with the internet – following a brief but damaging war with three fan sites over cease and desist orders regarding unauthorised ‘fan’ pictures – didn’t exactly ring true. From claiming the net was the future to saying that he never wanted anything to do with it again was quite a leap.
A year on from his then site www.3121.com being taken down and replaced by a blank, black page, he’s finally back making his little purple online presence felt. New site, www.lotusflow3r.com will apparently be integral to the launch and distribution of the three new albums he’s planning to release in 2009. At the moment it includes four sections Videos (represented by a TV), News (that’s the newspaper cutting), Gigs (click the concert ticket to join the gig mailing list) and Music (a ghetto blaster with three tapes you can put in to play one new track from each of the forthcoming albums). All three are promising. The club ready electro strut of Disco Jellyfish in particular could kick Lady GaGa’s underwhelming excuse for synthpop all the way from here back to the ’80s.
Watch this video of The Veronicas, Untouched. Starts off Goth. Quickly turns ’80s synth-pop. Then the guitars come in and it’s Euro-Goth-Rock. After the first “I go ooo, ooo” of the verse though, you know it’s full-on, spangly electro-pop. Until the chorus, where it turns into Avril Lavigne. It’s also very, very annoying.
But I kinda like it. Or maybe I just like them.
Do feel free to share your thoughts.
“Pop music’s not gonna die/It just has no direction.” Bis, Action & Drama.
So true.
French Horn Rebellion. Up All Night. Best pop song I’ve heard in ages. This should be No.1. Or at least No.2.
New rap website HipHop.Com launches next month. As a taster they’ve just posted an inaugural address from Chuck D re: the election of President Obama. Brace yourselves.
MirrorKicks’ debut single, “Podium”. Love it, love it, love it. Can’t stop playing it. I’m playing it so much I’m even starting to annoy myself. There’s a higher resolution version of the video over at Facebook, but for some reason I couldn’t get it to embed. Which is odd because I am usually a technical whizz.
I’ve long maintained that Lemar is an amazing talent desperately in need of a good song. I’ve also long maintained that the mark of a good song is working in any genre. Am I right or am I right?
Great track from Free The Robots. Even better video. If only all the world’s conflicts and crises could be settled with such style and politeness.
