Notorious D.A.N

August 2008 was a long time ago. Not, like a really long time ago, but in music terms it's pretty long. August was the month that this next track 'dropped' in Blogsville but you know what, Musick missed it. We're holding our hands up, keepin' it real, we dropped the ball. But, we ain't too proud to beg (your forgiveness) and so we thought we'd post it now, in January 2009.

The song in question treads that very thin line between annoying novelty and surprising amazingness. Dan Black used to be in indie also-runs, The Servant but they split in 2007 and now he's near the top of everyone's list of people to look out for this year (he was on the longlist in BBC's Sound of 2009 poll). For reasons known only to him, he covered 'Hypnotize' (he calls it 'Hypntz' because he's arty) by the late Notorious B.I.G, complete with ghostly strings and a sample of Rihanna's 'Umbrella'. Here it is:



Guilty pleasure? No, fook it, the song's amazing. Dramatic, slightly melancholic and strangely moving it takes real balls to mess with Biggie.

Click here for more songs ('Yours' is particularly good)