New Musick Monday

Woah, last week was a bit of a disaster. Due to an unforeseen administrative error (which is ironic considering), we said that the new Fuck Buttons album was out last Monday when every single fool with a computer nearby knows that it's actually out today. So, this means you've had a week to think about buying it and if you've not made your mind up by now then we can safely assume it's not going to happen. The Air album, incidentally, charted just inside the top 40, whilst The Drums single missed out altogether but who cares because their new EP, Summertime!, is amazing (that's out today too, but it's not really an album or a single so it misses out...*pauses to listen to the tears of their record label*).

BUY THIS

She Wolf by Shakira



Shakira!? Shakira!? Are you out of your mind, etc. Look, we know she's madder than a cage full of mildly psychotic tarantulas, but this Neptunes-assisted collection is up there with the best of 'em when it comes to R&B bangers about sex. There's a run of 5 songs at the beginning of the album that immediately sets it apart from similar fare by Nelly Furtardo or Gwen Stefani, with Shakira's mildly terrifying lyrics ("Every night I pray that you don't knock her up/ Because I still want to be the mother of your child... I really hope you have a horrible vacation") reminding you that this woman is as unique as she is predatory. It also sees a return to form for the Neptunes who deliver four expertly produced examples of why we loved them in the first place. Aaaawwhhhooooo!

LISTEN TO AT LEAST HALF OF THIS

Embryonic by The Flaming Lips



Double albums are always criticised for being overly long, which is kind of an obvious thing to say. No-one makes a double album because they want to be concise or because the recording process has gone ever so smoothly, and this is the case with The Flaming Lips. Struggling to follow-up their run of relatively accessible recent albums, they've decided to shred the rule book, including the chapters on 'song structures' and 'tunes'. A lot of it is a mess, but sometimes the mess sounds exciting, daring and a little frightening. Guests include MGMT, some German mathematician and Karen O pretending to be an animal.

DOWNLOAD THIS

'Bad Boys' by Alexandra Burke



Shakira AND Alexandra!? Have you gone mad, etc. We know this song is essentially not very good - the verses don't fit with the chorus, Flo Rida's on it - but there's something about it we can't quite shake. We almost love it's precision-tooled-ness, the way it has been laboriously worked on by a crack team of producers who Simon Cowell keeps locked in a basement somewhere. "If this single isn't number 1 in the UK you will all be mutilated and/or forced to listen to Robson & Jerome on repeat until your bowels give in. The choice is yours" he probably says. Alexandra meanwhile, knows how to deliver a song as this performance clearly shows.

New Musick Monday

After the unbelievable high of recent weeks comes the crushing low of last week. The Girls album missed the top 75 despite much love from all quarters, and the 'big in 2008' tag that still hangs round Kid Harpoon's neck seems to have strangled him as he misses out too. The Veronicas, however, made up for things slightly with their single '4Ever', which moved up to no.17, but seeing as they're currently on Radio 1's A-list this is something of a disappointment. Still, there was positive news in that Mika's album dropped out of the top 10 after just one week. Good job his record label haven't spent oodles of cash on his comeback, huh?

BUY THIS

Tarot Sport by Fuck Buttons



We can't condone this kind of language. What is the world coming to when a nice couple of lads can't come up with something a little less profane than Fuck Buttons. Whatever happened to names like Selfish Cunt or Pissed Jeans? You know, nice names that don't make you hide your eyes for fear that you'll never be the same again once you've seen it written down. Still, Fuck Buttons are alright because they make music that's all light and fluffy and very easy on the ear...oh no, they don't, they make noisy, sometimes aggressive sometime beautiful dance music that will slowly put you into a kind of trance. BAN THIS FILTH!

ENJOY BITS OF THIS

Love 2 by Air



It's been a bit of a struggle for Air since Moon Safari. Such was the ubiquity of that near perfect album that anything since has always been compared to it. Never mind that follow-up 10,000Hz Legend was actually pretty amazing and their soundtrack to The Virgin Suicides certainly had it's moments. This follow-up to the disappointing Pocket Symphonies is better than its predecessor but not as good as Talkie Walkie, which in turn is not as good as 10,000Hz Legend or The Virgin Suicides, which are both arguably as good but not as culturally significant as Moon Safari.

DOWNLOAD THIS (and buy on 7")

'Let's Go Surfing' by The Drums



This was out last week as a download but is also out on 7" vinyl (VINYL!?) this week. Theoretically we should have done this song last week is what we're saying, but we forgot and it's so good that we decided to break all our strict rules and put it in this week. It's the best single to feature whistling since Peter, Bjorn & John's 'Young Folks', but will hopefully not find itself soundtracking a run of DFS adverts. Fingers crossed.