Musick's Top 20 albums: 18

Lady GaGa – The Fame Monster



From prospective one-hit wonder to the world’s biggest pop star in the space of twelve months, Lady GaGa has straddled 2009 in a way that’s made all of us feel slightly uncomfortable. Whilst most people would be happy with a debut that features two of the biggest selling singles of the year, Lady GaGa wasn’t content until she’d recorded an extra eight songs, four of which could be singles, one of which features Beyoncé and all of which must make Madonna choke on her Kabbalah water. Good enough to be the follow-up to The Fame proper, The Fame Monster is somehow even better for showing complete disregard for anything as boring as following a normal release schedule.

Key track: ‘Alejandro’

Murphy's Law

Róisín Murphy's last album, Overpowered, was something of a lost pop classic. Mixing warm electronica with pop hooks Kylie would claw Dannii's eyes out for, it seemed destined to catapult Murphy back to the upper reaches of the charts after her time with Moloko. Of course, this didn't happen and despite releasing nearly half a dozen singles, Murphy was dropped by her label and forced to watch as Little Boots et al came along to fill the gap marked 'intelligent electro pop starlet'.

Murphy is currently focusing on her new creation (she's 9 months pregnant), but has found the time to announce the release of a taster single, entitled 'Orally Fixated'. And what an odd concoction it is. Over stuttering synths and cheap beats, Murphy intones "Eat me/ Drink me" before something resembling a song begins to take shape. This then merges into something Madonna would have rejected circa 1986, before a guitar solo comes crashing in to up the what-the-fuck ante.



Something tells us she's signed with an indie label now.

New Musick Monday

We were on fire last week! We really pulled it out of the bag didn't we? True, putting our money behind Dizzee Rascal (three no. 1 singles and counting) and Madonna (global superstar for the past 25 years or something) is hardly taking a shot in the dark (are there too many metaphors in that sentence? Are they even metaphors?), but there you are. Madonna crashed in at number 1 and Dizzee settled in nicely at number 3. Poor Mika had to settle for a number 4, which sounds a bit dirty at first, but isn't because a number 1 is wee and a number 2 is poo so a number 4 is...we're not sure really. The single we tipped by Thom Yorke was limited to about 2000 copies so it didn't get anywhere, but it's more about the art of creating music with him isn't it?

BUY THIS

Album by Girls



Anyone who's anyone in the 'bloggesphere' (yuk!) is in love with this duo. We're not going to lie, we've only heard a few things (which we liked a lot), but we trust the opinions of our peers so we're giving it a shot. Plus, they have an amazing backstory, which these days is nearly enough. Basically, one of them lived in a cult, they may or may not have a millionaire benefactor and they seem to have consumed a tonne of prescription drugs in the recent past. They make woozy, simple songs that sound like they've been made during that point between sleeping and waking.

LISTEN TO THIS AND FEEL A BIT DISAPPOINTED

Once by Kid Harpoon



This guy is from round our way. Or at least from round our old way. He used to frequent some pubs that we have heard of and visited occasionally but we never met. It's an interesting story, isn't it? It's kind of more interesting than this debut album, which takes a lot of the promise from his early recordings and pushes it through a massive filter called "Personality Reducer - Use with care for fear of over-producing the shit out of everything". Some of it is alright, but getting Trevor Horn to produce it seems like a bit of an error.

DOWNLOAD THIS

'4Ever' by The Veronicas



Your enjoyment of this song will hinge on whether or not you find young women pretending to be 'rock' a). really annoying, b). annoying, but a great song is a great song, or c). inspirational, because Avril Lavigne is punk and genuinely angry. We're with the b) group, and sometimes a song comes along that's so undeniably, almost irritatingly perfect in a throwaway pop kind of way that it makes us a bit sad for everyone else. This single was produced by Max Martin, who is 'responsible' for this and this, the latter is a kind of template for this rock/pop thing and appears on a certain person's iPod not too far from here.

New Musick Monday

So, last week we predicted big things for Jay-Z (hardly putting our necks on the line - it entered at no. 4), Jazmine Sullivan (more of a risk seeing as the album was probably brought by anyone with an interest about a year ago - it was nowhere) and Florence & The Machine. The latter has had some pretty extensive coverage thanks to the Mercury nomination, but the single failed to dent to the top 40. Luckily, the album re-entered the top 10 and another track, 'You've Got The Love, also started to climb the top 75. Imagine if that were to become the next single? IMAGINE.

BUY THIS

Tongue N' Cheek by Dizzee Rascal



Tongue N' Cheek!? Tongue 'N Cheek!? Oh dearest Dizzee man, this really won't do. If you're using N' then what you're actually trying to say is Tongue AND Cheek, which just sounds like some grizzly meat order at some posh restaurant. Grammar issues aside, this is essentially Dizzee's coming out album...not like that, but in terms of him embracing pop and deciding that he's going to stop going on about knives and 'beefs' and concentrate more on going on holiday and dancing. It's not just about the three (three!) number 1 singles though, with the ridiculous 'Road Rage' taking in grime, drum n bass, techno and probably some jazz.

DOWNLOAD THE BEST BITS OF THIS

Celebration by Madonna



'Hung Up', 'Music', 'Vogue', '4 Minutes', 'Holiday', 'Like A Virgin', 'Into The Groove', 'Like A Prayer', 'Ray Of Light', 'Open Your Heart', 'Borderline', 'Secret', 'Justify My Love', 'La Isla Bonita', 'Papa Don't Preach', 'Lucky Star', 'Crazy For You', 'Who's That Girl', 'Frozen', 'Live To Tell', 'Beautiful Stranger', 'Don't Tell Me', 'Cherish'. Just a few hits to choose from.

DOWNLOAD THIS

'FeelingPulledApartByHorses' / 'The Hollow Earth' by Thom Yorke



Oh, we're not going into all of this again. Just scroll down a bit for more info. Cheers.

Holiday! Celebrate!

Madonna has so many great hits that she's decided to release a THIRD hits collection, entitled Celebration. The album is her last for Warners and is in no way some kind of 'will this do', contract fulfilling gesture with little artistic merit. Hell, it's Madonna, she's got more integrity then that.

Either way, it means there's some new Madonna material to go with it, which is usually a good thing. The first single is also called 'Celebration' and as if to prove that she doesn't just work with hot, young producers, it's produced by Paul Oakenfold.



It's back to the dancefloor after that mostly misjudged foray into 'urban' with Timbaland and Pharrell. It suits her much better in our opinion. Rumour has it that the video will feature Madonna's daughter Lourdes recreating scenes from the 'Like A Virgin' video, which is some insane, Freudian nightmare made flesh.

EDIT: The video has been removed. Boo Madonna, boo!