New Musick Monday

Another decidedly mixed bag last week with Yeasayer entering just outside the top 60, which, all things considered isn't too shabby. Gil Scott-Heron's much vaunted I'm New Here managed a top 40 entry, whilst there was much surprise round our gaff that Erik Hassle's 'Hurtful' entered outside the top 50. Just goes to show that being playlisted by Radio 1 doesn't necessarily mean a hit single. We suggest his label license it out to a tampon advert quick smart (although repeating "What you did to me was hurtful" might not be the right way to go, but it's certainly got that uplifting quality musically). This week isn't a classic either, so here goes...

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Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You by Lightspeed Champion



The second album under the Lightspeed Champion moniker for musical polymath, Dev Hynes. Following 2007's Falling Off The Lavender Bridge was always going to be tough seeing as Hynes seems to make music is his sleep so choosing the tracklist was probably the biggest obstacle. As it is, Life Is Sweet... is split into four 'suites' (one entitled Oops) and features fifteen tracks. So far so sprawling, but there's a cohesiveness to the record that was missing from his debut, with a more polished sound thanks to Animal Collective producer Ben Allen. Witty, maudlin, self-deprecating and surprisingly upbeat, Life Is Sweet... can be a bit of a struggle at first but it rewards repeated listens.

DOWNLOAD SOME OF THIS AND THEN JUST WATCH THE TV SHOW

Glee: The Music Volume 1 by Various Artists



As we all know by now, Glee is amazing. Only it's not really, it's kind of OK in an American teen comedy kind of way, but the characters are lazily sketched and the whole thing feels incredibly forced (apart from when that cheerleading coach is about and then it's as funny as You've Been Framed). Conflating the popularity of teen shows like The OC with the comedy of the Judd Apatow films and the talent show format of American Idol is clearly a genius idea, and there are moments on this soundtrack album where the new versions sound fresh and offer a new insight, but mostly you're left with the songs that fill the gaps in between the funny bits, like listening to an album of adverts in between Friends.

BUY THIS ON CD (DON'T REALLY)

'Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby)' by Jedward



Jedward have been twittering for most of the day imploring people to purchase their debut single on CD, three weeks after the single came out to download and two weeks after it peaked at no. 2. It seems someone needs to tell them that particular ship has sailed. Still, they're ever the optimists and even describe themselves as 'musicians'. Those crazy cats.

New Musick Monday

When is a hit not a hit? Is it when an act who has received blanket coverage in the press and who finished second in the BBC Sound of 2010 poll ends up at no. 12 on the singles chart with their first 'proper' release? It's not a bad show by any means, but Marina & The Diamonds' 'Hollywood' missing the top ten is a bit of a surprise, but perhaps she's 'doing a Florence' (who also missed the top 10 with her first few singles) and will sell billions of albums. We'll have to wait and see. The albums fared pretty well with Midlake breaking the top 20 and Hot Chip entering at no. 11 (which is kind of disappointing seeing as the album is really very good).

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Odd Blood by Yeasayer



This is a bit of a turn up for the books if you were expecting another 'interesting' but 'noodling' album from everyone's second favourite 'interesting' but 'noodling' American alternative band (Animal Collective being number one, natch). Odd Blood injects Yeasayer's percussive, gloriously off-kilter songs with a pop nous that was missing from most of All Hour Cymbals. 'Ambling Alp' is a clear highlight, with a chorus as glorious as any song about a failed boxer has the right to be, whilst tracks like 'O.N.E' and 'Love Me Girl' are stone cold anthems. It's nice to see a band who understand that alienating just about everyone does not necessarily a good band make.

CARRY ON LISTENING TO THIS FOR FREE

I'm New Here by Gil Scott-Heron



This album is streaming for free to the right of this post so if you haven't already then give it a listen. We're not going to tell you about it seeing as you can do the work yourselves.

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'Hurtful' by Erik Hassle



This has been floating about for what seems like a musical lifetime but finally gets it's UK release today. Having been deftly retwizzled by Starsmith, it's now slightly less MOR but still a whole load OTT, Hassle sounding like he's about to cry on every other line. It's not rocket science, it's not going to change the world, it's not 'cool', but it is a very good example of a radio friendly rock(ish) ballad and manages to break the inexplicable monopoly Snow Patrol have had over that particular genre in recent years. You'll either love it or hate, not like Marmite, because we like Marmite but we're allergic to it and we're not allergic to this...*METAPHOR FAIL*

Erik Hassle competition!?!

Drum roll please...

We are pleased to announce Musick's first every competition! Whoop, whoop. Now, we're not asking you to draw us a picture, write us a poem or take part in an elaborate pyramid scheme in the hope of stealing your money and running away to live in Antigua. No, all we ask is that you, er, send us an email.

Those kind people at Island Records are giving us two free tickets to see 'bound to be big in 2010' Swedish singer, Erik Hassle. If you're unfamiliar with his work you should listen to this and this, or re-read something we did about him here.

The gig isn't like a normal gig, it's like a party but with a real life pop star performing. It's in a secret location (all we know is that it's an apartment!) in East London and no-one will know where it will be until the last minute. You will also need a password to get in. It will be like Skins, only real. There will be free alcohol on tap, so you have to be over 18 otherwise we'll all get in trouble with the law and we don't want that do we?

Here's a (very small) poster that contains a lot of the information we've just given, but in a much more graphic style:



The gig is on Thursday 17th December and all you need to do is email mcragg@hotmail.com to be in with a chance of winning. You might get to meet Musick too, although don't let that put you off.

Also, you can download a video of Erik covering 'Someday' by The Strokes by clicking here.

Next week we'll be giving away a hot air balloon ride with Little Boots.

Manna from Heaven

Anyone familiar with Musick will know that we're quite big fans of all things Scandinavian. From Robyn to Lykke Li to Fever Ray to Wildbirds & Peacedrums to Roxette to Ace of Base (ahem). Well, add to that ever growing list another name- Manna. She looks like this:



Born in Paris, but now living in Finland, Manna makes the kind of music that Scandinavians seem to create in their sleep. 'Some Girls/Some Boys' is deliciously catchy, cloaked in melody and carries that magnetic quality that Scando-pop (no? No.) must have. First listen you think it's pretty good, then it reveals itself even more second time around and by the third listen you want to track Manna down and marry her. It's what LadyHawke would sound like if she weren't always seemingly half asleep.

Manna isn't on youtube yet, so click on her myspace instead.

While we're at it, here's another Scandinavian pop star by the name of Erik Hassle from Sweden. 'Hurtful' has been described by 'friend of the blog' Marina from Marina & The Diamonds as "really heartfelt cringe-pop"*, which sounds about right and is in no way a bad thing:



It's nice to see the girl from Annie still getting work too.

*Well, she was actually quoting someone else, so it is in fact a quote of a quote of a quote, so doesn't accurately reflect the opinions of Marina per se. Glad we cleared that up.