Lick The Fake Blood From Your Fingerrrr

I've been so busy lately so I won't be posting so frequently. Apologies but there's just too much to keep up with!

So, as I mentioned in my last post, Calvin Harris's new single 'Ready For The Weekend' (which I most certainly am now) received the remix treatment -already- from two pretty damn big names in club music - Fake Blood, who's identity was shrouded in mystery last time I heard, has he revealed it yet?.. and High Contrast, who has curly hair.

Calvin Harris - Ready For The Weekend (Fake Blood Remix)
Okay so, in my opinion, this one's the better of the two. It's just so much fun! Not a hell of a lot of the original has been kept in this remix mind you; sorry to disappoint if that's what you were hoping for. Some elements of the track remain but it seems almost as if it belongs to Fake Blood with Calvin Harris co-starring to raise the hype. You know what I mean? Sort of like when someone whacks a 'Where's my money?' into a song totally unnecessarily. Anyway, if you like thumping drums and bouncing bass, this is your thing. Oh and there's a cheeky little 'hands-in-the-air' trancey piano breakdown which everyone always loves, no matter how cheesy they get :) All in all, a very uplifting track.

Calvin Harris - Ready For The Weekend (High Contrast Remix)
After all my praise of Fake Blood's rendition, you might not be expecting this to be much good. It's still pretty good. At first, it seems as if we've lost the good times vibe of the original with the intro and the weird vocal tweaks but we're reassured as soon as the piano kicks in after being teased with that drum beat surfacing out of the depths. The first half of the track, in my opinion, is fairly mediocre. However, you'll (quite obviously) notice that halfway through, the driving bassline drops again and gathers a lot of more power. I found the momentum of this was satisfying enough to take me through the rest of the song without any qualms. Enjoyable.

Bonus Track:

Discovery - Osaka Loop Line

Introducing Discovery - one half is the keyboardist of Vampire Weekend, Rostam Batmanglij, the other being the lead singer of Ra Ra Riot, Wes Miles. Together, they make synth-abundant electro pop. Osaka Loop Line is my favourite off their new LP. We start off with deep, booming (yet not aggressive) synths with a dreamier, playful layer swirling about the track. Pair this with the sing-song vocals of Wes Miles and you've got a very addictive listen. Eventually, we progress into a glitchy breakdown and a melancholy conglomeration of various sounds to finish.

Wonderful, enjoy all your summers.

Kid British, Mr Hudson & Calvin Hazbags

Afternoon. You may have noticed there's been a fair amount of commercial music in my last few posts. It's not because I'm getting too lazy to search for the most indie-est bands on the globe, it's simply because there's been a stream of new releases, and now you will experience the audiovisual delights of a few of them below:



Kid British - Our House Is Dadless
Manchester-based hip-hop group Kid British's new single has a most british air about it, unsurprisingly. It's a good-times, sing-a-long tune partly due to the sampling of Madness but also because of the light-hearted, humourous verses. I'm not sure about you guys, but the video took me on a trip down memory lane when life was simpler. How nice was it to wake up on a saturday morning without bleary eyes and a headache? Just flicking on SM:TV live and eating a bowl of coco pops?



Calvin Harris - Ready For The Weekend
The scotsman's second release off the upcoming album (named 'Ready For The Weekend', incidentally) is a good few steps away from the club feel of 'I'm Not Alone' and for some it takes a while to get used to. The track's got a definitive air about it - it might be a bit too forward to call it the definitive pop sound of 2009, but it seems like a contender, what with most of pop being based around electronic equipment now.

If you were hoping for something to match the energy of 'I'm Not Alone', keep your eyes and ears peeled for remixes from Fake Blood and High Contrast, which I would post but I could only find radio rips. I'm always reluctant to post radio rips, they just seem so sloppy and corny when you've got a DJ talking about his mad night out when this beat got dropped and the club went mental; you understand what I'm getting at, I'll stop before this turns into a rant.

Mr. Hudson - Everything Is Broken (feat. Kid Cudi)
Mr. Hudson's second album, 'Straight, No Chaser' is out October 5th this year with executive production from Kanye West. The album aims to be less ornate and more direct, which is more than apparent in this track. We've got no intricate, fiddly little layers of anything and Mr. Hudson's vocal and instrumental style on this number lets us know that he understands the importance of simplicity. As he rightly explains about the album, "It's not trying to reinvent the wheel. It's straight, no chaser."

Open Up The Door

So, tonight I've compiled another few new releases for you. Same as last post, let's get straight to the meaty bits:

Arctic Monkeys - Crying Lightning
Ooooooh! The new Arctic Monkeys single! The first listen off the upcoming album 'Humbugs' is dark, moody track. Alex Turner's vocal style parallels the sinister bass with some eerie guitar effects floating in and out of the verses. A grower maybe? Perhaps, but it doesn't take long to blossom, least not for me.

Magistrates - Heartbreak

Magistrates make indie pop music of which I could use any combination of the words retro, fresh, groovy, sexual and confident to describe. Heartbreak encompasses a plethora of catchy pop hooks including indie guitar riffs, crooning vocals and old-school keyboard notes.

Miike Snow - Song For No One

Using summery to describe music is an easy way out with one of the swedish pop trio's latest, but you've got an idea of the track already, and you're probably not that far off. We've got a youthful, clinking guitar riff alongside an uplifting drum beat with light-hearted vocals on this one.

Jamie T - On The Green

My personal favourite off Jamie T's 'Sticks & Stones' EP. On The Green pairs up a jangling, bouncy guitar melody with some melancholy lyrics conveying a what-the-hell attitude when synchronised. Surprisingly uplifting and a lot of fun to listen to.

That's all for now, I really enjoyed all these tracks. Oh and these artists will be playing at Reading '09! ..Apart from Miike Snow. You'll have to see them some other time.

New New New! Lupe Fiasco! Wale! Dizzee Rascal!

Lately, there's been a lot of good music coming from the rap region of the musical spectrum. That's enough of an introduction today, it's too humid outside for small talk.

Lupe Fiasco - Shining Down (feat. Matthew Santos)

Lupe's hailed as one of the most intelligent lyricists in the game right now and it's more than apparent on this track from his 3rd studio release, 'We Are Lasers', due for release just after Christmas this year. That riff and those strings aim to hit deep; take a listen and decide for yourself.

Wale - New Soul (feat. Yael Naim)

You remember New Soul right? Well, if you don't, it's another cutesy, twee song used on a MacBook Air advert. Up and coming hipster hop man Wale dishes us a piping hot batch of clever, sentimental lyrics over an edit of the original. Absolutely loving the choir samples in the background. On second thoughts, scrap 'up and coming', Wale's already here.

Dizzee Rascal - Holiday (feat. Calvin Harris & Chrome)

This here is BIG. Chart topper material, but you'd expect that with this lot teaming up (Dance Wiv Me, anyone?) although we hear Calvin Harris' production's which has now matured into those trancey synths as with 'I'm Not Alone'. Even though 'Bonkers' is still all over the airwaves, Dizzee slings out his latest track just in time for the summer and it does not disappoint. 'Holiday' shouts SUMMER louder than anything I've heard in a good while. Oh and sorry but it's a radio rip - best I could get at the moment.

Anybody else excited for the summer now?

If we suddenly fall..

Time for a dubstep post.

See, unfortunately, when I think of dubstep now, I just think of sweaty zombie-like figures ... dancing (..can you call that stuff dancing?) to basslines with ADHD. I like to call that stuff 'clubstep', for obvious reasons you understand. Sure, that can be a lot of fun at times but, if you're anything like me, you cannot deal with that kinda stuff on a day-to-day basis.

I'm sure you realise not all dubstep is like that (cue Burial and Zomby for example), but sometimes you might need a little reminder, as do I. So I decided to do a little post on dubstep that looks beyond a few repetetive womps and wamps.

White Lies - Death (Chase & Status Remix)
First off we have a big one. Chase & Status' production values is the icing on the cake of this epic original's epic remix, complete with driving bassline. To me, it seems like Death is getting the same kind of treatment from Chase & Status the way that In For The Kill was mixed by Skream and that is why I reckon it's gonna be a big one, musically and commercially.

The Heavy - How You Like Me Now? (Joker Radio Edit)
Joker's drops some heavy thwacks, assertive synths and static bass. The result of this mix is a powerful track that wouldn't sound out of place on a Gnarls Barkley album if they got angry with someone and made dubstep.

Imogen Heap - Hide And Seek (Enigma Remix)
I never thought I'd describe a track with a wobbling bassline as 'delicate', but then again, I never thought I'd hear a dubstep remix of Imogen Heap. Incredibly, Enigma manages to make this work with the soft production of the drums and wobble.

So there you go, it's not all cockney this, hammertime that.

The King Of Pop

Mourning someone's death is one thing, but I feel it's just as important (if not moreso) to celebrate one's life. It's undeniable that Michael Jackson firmly stamped his status as 'The King of Pop' whilst he was alive. He and his music was, and always will be, loved by many. To show the extent of his influence, I've picked two particularly different renditions of The Jackson Five's 'I Want You Back' to share with you:

Dre Skull - I Want You Back

KT Tunstall - I Want You Back

1958 - 2009

And I don't wanna die without shaking up a thing or two

Just a short post about some lovely, mellowing songs I had to share with you:

Devendra Banhart - Don't Look Back In Anger (Oasis Cover)
Beautiful acoustic cover of a classic (save the intro). Banhart delicately warbles over the quirky yet delicate plucks of his guitar that you could just melt to.





Wise, insightful, and very touching. The song's got a message I'm sure a lot of you can relate to which is probably why it hits deep. It's another of those 'sad in a happy way' songs. Here's the MP3:

Girls - Hellhole Ratrace

If that doesn't get to you, then I feel sorry for you :)