jjoin the jjoyride

Swedish duo jj were shrouded in the kind of mystery that can only be perpetuated by music blogs, so it's telling that by the time we get round to doing something on them the mystery has vanished (you can see them below) and Pitchfork are calling their new album "not very good" (or something a bit more wordy).

It's hard to describe the music jj make - balearic beat or dream pop seem the most appropriate - and there's an air of dissaffection and general inertia that's quite appealing, as if it's not really terribly important what you think of the music, it's just there. To emphasis the point, all three of their releases so far have just been ascending numbers, so their new 'full-length' (it's 26 minutes long) is called, simply, jj n° 3. The follow-up to the breathtaking, jj n° 2 (obviously), it's not the musical shit heap that Pitchfork makes out, but rather a slightly more formless and downbeat affair. As with recent tour campanions (and fellow fans of letters), The xx, jj's music is simultaneously vaporous and compelling, loaded with emotion but barely breaking a sweat. They also share a love of hip-hop, with jj choosing to seak inspiration from current jailbird Lil Wayne on the opening track, 'My Life'.

Below is the first single from jj n° 3, 'Let Go', and it features a nice dog, the two band members and a recurring visual theme, blood.



jj n° 3 isn't officially out until May but you can buy it from Rough Trade as part of an exclusive deal that also means you get jj n° 2 included. It goes without saying that you should buy these two albums right now!

Over & Over

We're pretty big fans of Canadian hip-hop rookie Drake's debut mini-album, So Far Gone, especially the single, 'Best I Ever Had'. Given his huge success in America, expectations are high for his debut long player, Thank Me Later. As with most young rappers, Drake's got a bit of a chip on his shoulder about how he can't trust anyone anymore because all his friends just want his money and all dem hoes are just trying to knock his swagga, etc. Thankfully, as with Kanye and Lil Wayne, he seems to have that ability to turn a cliche into something exciting and 'Over', complete with urgent strings and off-kilter drum beats, is pretty spectacular.



Rumour has it that Jamie from The xx has also contributed beats to the album. Those pesky kids are everywhere at the moment.

You can download 'Over' from Drake's blog

Musick's Top 20 Albums: 3

The xx – xx



With a musical palette as minimal as the artwork and a live presence that bordered on the comatose, these four (as they were then - Baria Qureshi has since left) ridiculously young Londoners took hold of the latter quarter of 2009 with their beautiful, drip-feed pop. Centred around the loving glances cast between lead singers Romy Croft and Oliver Sim, there's a strange atmosphere that runs throughout the album, the listener feeling as if he or she is intruding on a private conversation. Musically, it's a skeletal mix of spindly guitar lines, atmospheric drum patterns and little else. In fact, it's so minimal and patient that when it does reach a relative crescendo or a shift in pace it can feel like the biggest rush. 'Islands' is as pacey as it gets, Croft and Sim exchanging coy lines over a pattering drum sound, whilst the album drifts into beautiful stillness with the closing 'Stars'. Taking its cue from acts like Aaliyah as much as the more obvious influences such as The Cure (at least in terms of their favourite colour; black), xx was the sound of youthful exuberance tinged by dark nights and lack of sleep.

Key track: 'Crystalised'

New Musick Monday

Mmm, so we're going through a bit of a barren spell. Not only did the amazing 'Islands' by The xx not dent that charts, but the band have had to cancel a number of shows due to exhaustion. So, they're putting in all this work, schlepping about the planet to play their music in tiny clubs and what do you do to thank them? You conspire to dump them in the black hole that is 'not inside the top 40'. As for the others, Devendra missed out altogether as did Hudson Mohawke, who should console himself with the fact that he's not Mr Hudson, who a friend of Musick had him confused with. Every cloud...

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Phrazes For The Young by Julian Casablancas



What a very odd record. Taking in everything from '80s synth-pop to country melancholia, Phrazes For The Young finds Casablancas at a bit of a crossroads. With The Strokes on hiatus (although a new album is in the works), the guy that writes all their songs has decided to take eight new compositions and bolt on some new instrumentation, mess around with song length (nearly all of them are over five minutes) and generally try and confuse us. THIS IS A GOOD THING. Single 11th Dimension is the obvious highlight, but the giddy rush of River of Brakelights and the closing Tourist - complete with horn blasts - run it close.

DON'T PLAY GUITAR HERO, JUST LISTEN TO THIS

Bleach (Deluxe Edition) by Nirvana



Back in 1989, before 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', and before 'grunge' became the new fashion, Nirvana's Bleach was just another album on Sub Pop's roster. Slowly, it sold 30,000 copies, enough to warrant a follow-up, and the rest is history. Twenty years later (twenty years!?) Sub Pop are releasing this deluxe version, complete with rare live recordings and new artwork. The original album is a template for what Nirvana were about to become, featuring caustic shards of rage and frustration mixed with melodic moments such as the sublime 'About A Girl'.

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'Mowgli's Road' by Marina & The Diamonds



EDIT: This isn't out until 16 November...we can only apologise. Not to pass the buck, but it was all NME's fault.

Cuckoo! When exam results are released there are usually headlines screaming things like, "Boys results decline as girls catch them up" or some such. The implication being that girls are only doing better because boys are doing worse. This trend seems to be moving to music, where certain parts of the media seem to be under the impression that the recent glut of talented female singers is only happening because the boys have either been off chasing spaceships (Robbie) or venturing into films (Justin). What's really happening is that these women are just making better music at the moment, and 'Mowgli's Road' - all jaunty piano and skyscraping chorus - is leagues above anything made by someone with a penis this week.

New Musick Monday

Now then, we want words with ya. Yeah, that's right, all of ya. Look 'ere, right, we weren't messin' last week when we told ya what to buy with your hard-earned wonga. SIT DAHN. Who said you could get up, you sniveling excuse for a music-buying public. Not one iota of what we said last week has gone into your empty 'eads. Annie, gawd bless 'er, missed the top 75 altogether, as did that gangly bloke from Deerhunter. Those two fairies from Kings of whatstheirnames just about scraped in, and they're not 'appy, let me tell ya. IT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH. Don't turn on the water works, it don't work with me. Just do as we say or we'll 'ave to kill ya. Thanks ever so.

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What Will We Be by Devendra Banhart



Beautiful, bohemian folk Overlord Devendra Banhart lost us with his last album, Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon. All the promise of those first few albums seemed to have gone up in smoke, upon a fire of his own ego. There were the odd flashes of that latent genius of course - 'I Remember', 'Carmensita' - but in the main it was drowned in wilful experimentation (i.e. drawn out 'jams' and will-this-do time signature changes). So, it was with trepidation that we approached his seventh album, his first for a major label. But fear not dear friends for it is a triumph. Co-produced by some bloke from The Bees, What Will We Be is a more focused but no less eccentric collection of songs that take in everything from delicate acoustic lament ('Angelika'), to piano-lead ballad ('First Song For B') to, er, one that starts a bit like the Gossip ('16th & Valencia Roxy Music').

BUY THIS IF YOU LIKE THIS SORT OF THING

Butter by Hudson Mohawke



Hudson Mohawke is a terrible name. The artwork for his album Butter is pretty appalling. So far, so disappointing. But, it's not about that is it? No, it's all about the music. Luckily, the music is the sort that allows us to write these kinds of things: Imagine if Prince had grown up in Glasgow and not Minneapolis and instead of going on to be a successful pop star he'd actually made friends with a bloke called Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin, and they'd hit it off so well that they shared a bed once and a small medical miracle occurred and they were able to conceive and Prince - for he would be the woman of this relationship...although, if we're able to determine that, and it's all fiction, perhaps he should have just been a woman in the first place - gave birth to a little boy called Hudson Mohawke. (Interesting fact: Rihanna's people called Hudson Mohawke's people to see if he'd like to work with her. We demand a remix of 'Russian Roulette' now. Thanks).

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'Islands' by The xx



(This isn't the actual artwork. Just imagine a greenish hue behind the X)

By far the catchiest thing on their debut, 'Islands' is almost annoyingly perfect. Over a typically skeletal backing of beats and a simple guitar melody, it seems to expand and contract, adding elements and then taking them away to leave those two voices cooing at one another. "I am yours now/ So, now I don't ever have to leave", sounds a bit wet written down, but on record it's the sweetest thing. Plus, the last thirty seconds add up to one of those unique moments in music when you get a strange feeling in the pit of your stomach.

Jack + xx + Theo = Jackxxtheo

This blog post has it all. You want a musically rehabilitated posh bloke? We got one. You want young people remixing things and calling it stuff like dubstep? We got 'em. You want achingly hip rappers remixing the remix by the young people who call things dubstep? Er, what? We got that too.

This is a pretty amazing remix of Jack Peñate's 'Pull Your Heart Away' by Jamie Smith from The xx:



Fine as it is we think you'll agree. But how about when the remix is remixed by Musick's favourite rapper Theophilus London?

Click here to listen and download it at will.

Whilst on the subject of Mr London, he's also got a pretty impressive myspace page (damning with faint praise? Perhaps) and on it you can download two of his amazing mixtapes (one of which includes this), as well as any new stuff he might have made since writing this post (he's pretty prolific). Here's his latest, 'Enjoy The Sun':



Theophilus London will be touring with Jack Peñate this month.

New Musick Monday

Last week we gave you three, yes three, album options. Given the current economic climate, factoring in the weather and the fact that we've no doubt you had a lot of presents to buy this month, we understand that sales weren't exactly brisk. We're happy to report though, that The xx outsold both Jay Reatard (he was nowhere, frankly) and Simian Mobile Disco, who snuck in at no. 39. So, where did these cherubic young scamps enter? No. 36. That's not bad given the state of radio these days. We went to see them play a gig in a shop the other week and one of Musick's closest friend said they reminded them of Faithless. That, dear reader, is what alcohol can do.

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Humbug by Arctic Monkeys



The Arctic Monkey's have clearly decided they don't want to share fans with Oasis. This is all well and good, but that doesn't mean you have to grow your hair long, dress like Led Zeppelin and use a frankly abysmal picture as your album cover. BUT, everything else about this third album is very good indeed, from the innuendo of 'My Propeller' to the deceptively catchy 'Crying Lightning' to the career-high of 'Cornerstone'. Josh Homme doesn't mess with the sound too much, just gives them some muscle and and that sense of foreboding that QOTSA are so good at.

BORROW THIS AND ENJOY IT BRIEFLY

I'm Going Away by The Fiery Furnaces



We always get excited about a new Fiery Furnaces album coming out. Then we get it, listen to it once, maybe twice, then leave it to gather dust in a pile sandwiched between the first Arcade Fire album and a mix CD entitled 'Songs everyone says they love but don't actually listen to'. So it is with I'm Going Away, which despite being their best in a long while, is still too twitchy and frustrating to be really pleasurable.

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'I'll Be With You' by Lumina



This is a cover of a Black Lips song that appears on the b-side to another Black Lips song. It's by Lumina who are Faris Badwan from The Horrors and Cherish Kaye who used to be in Ipso Facto. Unsurprisingly, it's an atmospheric, drip-feed dirge with Badwan taking the lead vocal and Kaye offering some haunting backing. Do not listen to this in a darkened room or at work. If, however, you're feeling quite chipper and are sure that nothing can dampen your spirits then click here.

New Musick Monday

It's BACK BACK BACK! Plus, it's early. You can't get much better then that, right?

So, seeing as there wasn't a New Musick Monday last week, let's talk about what you guys have been up to? ...wow, sounds good...aha, yep, like it...really? With the guy from work?...Serious? Lord...We figured he probably was.

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XX by The XX



Yep, them again. But it's worth all the hype and broadsheet column inches, believe us! Taking in everything from Timbaland-esque beats to spidery guitar lines somewhere between The Cure and Chris Isaak's 'Wicked Game' this is a debut that reeks of understated genius. There have been some pretty special debut albums in 2009 so far but this one might just take the biscuit (that's not a metaphor, we will be giving away some biscuits in our inaugural '2009 Musick Awards').

BUY THIS TOO

Temporary Pleasure by Simian Mobile Disco



This has been unfairly maligned in a lot of reviews we think. Perhaps James Ford - who makes up one half of SMD - has become too famous for his production credits (Florence, Arctic Monkeys, etc) and so people's anticipation for this album has sky-rocketed? Temporary Pleasure is a vast improvement on their patchy debut and features a stellar list of guests...and Beth Ditto*

* We went off Ditto after seeing the Gossip at a festival and despite possessing a voice that could slice through granite, we can't shake the feeling she's the physical manifestation of the Emperor's new clothes.

ALSO, BUY THIS

Watch Me Fall by Jay Reatard



Three albums you say? Isn't there a credit crunch on? We're making up for lost time. This is the first album proper Reatard has released on Matador and it's been described by its creator as "wimpy". What this means in real life is that the pace drops occasionally below 'really fucking fast' and that there are some instruments on it that aren't guitars or drums. Luckily, it's got some pretty amazing songs on it, including the new single 'It Ain't Gonna Save Me'.

Xxtra, xxtra, read all about it

You might get a bit sick of The xx by the time we're finished, because we love this band a lot. Their debut album, xx, is properly amazing in a way that a lot of other albums aren't. For one, you'll have the urge to listen to it more than once AND it gets better and better the more you listen to it.

'Basic Space' is the new single and it's majesty is only enhanced by this video:



Very pretty images don't you think? We like the fact that it looks simple to make and yet when we were at Uni we made a music video and it looked like it was made by a bunch of students trying to be arty...funny that.

New Musick Monday

Oh dear oh dear. Last week wasn't the qualified success many of us had hoped for. First of all, Cornershop missed the top 75 altogether, MSTRKRFT and John Legend entered at no. 50 on the singles chart and most miraculously of all, Sandi Thom's collection of her best work seems to have fallen on deaf ears. We're assuming this is some kind of clerical error and we'll be rectified soon, but until then why don't you all go off and listen to 'I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker' and wait with baited breath.

Let's get down to business shall we?

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Complete Me by Frankmusik



Frankmusik, aka Vincent Frank, looks, how can we put this, like a bit of a bell-end. He looks like some kind of mutant creation, grown in a lab somewhere by a major label who added all the ingredients of a 'popstar' - the hair, the '80s influences, the dead-eyed stare - into a test tube and out popped Frankmusik. Luckily, his debut album negates his face and makes up for any urges the listener might have to give him a bit of a slap. '3 Little Words' and 'Better Off As Two' are stone-cold pop classics, 'Gotta Boyfriend?' is deliriously catchy and 'Done, Done' proves that when he wants to he can tackle a moody ballad. Co-produced by Stuart 'forgive me for The Killers' Price, Complete Me is the best album of 2009 to feature a man named Vincent.

GET THIS IF YOU READ A LOT OF MUSIC REVIEWS

Two Dancers by Wild Beasts



We haven't heard this album, but we have read a lot of good things about it. So, if you have it then please let us know what it's like. (We're well aware that we could listen to it on Spotify but we don't have it because it's new and everyone's going on about it which makes us uneasy).

EDIT: We have a copy now. Phew.

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'Basic Space' by The XX



The XX's debut album, XX, is one of the best things we've heard all year. Most of it sounds like Timbaland remixing The Cure on half-speed. At this year's Latitude the band (all about 17 years old) seemed so shy they almost ground their way into the stage such was the awkward shuffling of feet. This particular track isn't necessarily the most obvious single (we would have gone for 'Islands'), but it's a strangely beautiful concoction with singers Oliver and Romy exchanging lovelorn lines like a drunk Romeo & Juliet over some sparse, percussive beats. You can hear it right here.