Friday catch up!

Things have been rather busy of late and it's caused us to miss a couple of things.

Firstly, Theophilus London's new mixtape, I Want You, has finally been released and that's the artwork below. You can download it for free from here, and a very good listen it is too.

FACT: The cat in the picture belongs to TV On The Radio's Dave Sitek.

Interestingly, we're kind of linked to a minor beef that is taking place between Theophilus and The Guardian's Paul Lester. We won't explain it, best just to pop over and give it a read. WARNING: It's like Biggie vs. Tupac all over again.

Also, Kele from Bloc Party is on a bit of a break from the band and has decided to launch a solo career (as has Brandon Flowers from The Killers, in what must be one of the most expected moves in music history). This is Kele's first single, taken from the album The Boxer, and it's a beat-heavy, 'Wearing My Rolex'-cribbing dance behemoth:



Finally, Hurts are back with their first single proper, 'Better Than Love'. It also has a video, which resembles some kind of sequel to Tipping The Velvet, but a little more lesbian.

Oops up side your head

We've been going nuts about Theophilus London for some time now and it seems appropriate to go slightly bonkers for him again seeing as his new mix-tape, I Want You, has now been given a release date of 28 April. As a little taster, he's started leaking a few of the tracks and one of the best we've heard so far is this cover of Tweet's excellent, Timbaland-produced ode to masturbation, 'Oops'. Production duties on this cover were handled by a certain Hudson Mohawke.

You can hear it here and download it for free here

This is the original, which is still very much worth hearing:



So good.

Damme it!

Band: Lightspeed Champion
Title: 'Madame Van Damme'
Album: Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You



This is going to sound mean, but we're saying it for his own good; Lighstpeed Champion's videos are usually more interesting than the songs. There, we said it. It's us being cruel to be kind, because we've seen him at work with acts like Solange and Theophilus London and he's clearly super talented, but his own stuff seems to be a bit, well, disappointing. The above video for 'Madame Van Damme' is bright, funny and self-referential, whilst the song is a bit of a plodder.

London (De)Lite

We've been banging on about Theophilus London for a while now and the other month we got to interview him and he was a thoroughly nice chap. He mentioned then that a new mixtape would be out fairly soon and that it would be more down tempo and introspective in comparison to his previous efforts, JAM! and This Charming Mixtape. He talked a lot about how much Marvin Gaye he'd been listening to and the fruits of this can be heard on the track below, the first to surface from the new mixtape, I Want You:

Theophilus London featuring Jesse Boykins - Life Of A Lover by Hypetrak

You can also hear snippets of a new track on this video below, filmed in the studio and featuring a certain Dev Hynes, aka Lightspeed Champion, on the piano and 'busting some moves'.



To read more of the interview, please pick up a copy of the new Dazed & Confused magazine from all good stockists (and those not so good ones that sell nasty things like Pushing 60 and Latino Boyz R Us).

Out on a limb: Our hopes for 2010

HAPPY 2010 MUSICK LOVERS!

Apologies for the time between posts, we spent the New Year in a drug-induced coma having stumbled upon a warehouse party in East London. Basically, all you need to know is the Police came, the guy will be out of hospital soon and yes, your inner most fears being played out on the inside of your eyelids like a movie for 48 hours is more terrifying than death itself. Ah, fun times.

So, let's kick this new decade off with another list shall we? This time, let Musick guide you through the next twelve months by picking out five new acts to keep an eye on. Haven't the BBC done something like this you say? And nearly every other respectable publication this side of the NME? Well, yes, but there ain't no party like Musick party, right? Right.

Les Corps Mince de Francoise

Three Finnish beauties with a difficult French moniker, make childish, hyperactive dance-pop to make you smile.



Listen to: 'Something Golden'

Francis and the Lights

Slick, Prince-inspired funk from idiosyncratic white soul boy. The dancing in the video below is not recommended to those with weak knees.



Listen to: 'The Top'

The Drums

Obvious really, but no less valid. Their debut EP, Summertime, is one of the best things released in recent memory. Sun-kissed melodies + infinite sadness = The Drums.



Listen to: 'I Felt Stupid'

Theophilus London

We've written about him before, but having seen him live recently we're even more excited about his debut. Fusing vintage hip-hop with icy electro, expect Theophilus London to appear in a lot of magazines and sell very little, but still be amazing.



Listen to: 'Humdrum Town'

Marina & The Diamonds

Born in Greece, raised in Wales and as feisty as pop stars are allowed to be these days, Marina makes opulent pop songs overflowing with piano, jaunty melodies and a clever, knowing centre.



Listen to: 'Hollywood'

WARNING: OTHER POP STARS ARE AVAILABLE.

Humdrum's not dead

We've done a few things on Theophilus London before, but so far all his songs have either been appearances on remixes or songs that heavily feature some sampling or chunks of other songs. 'Humdrum Town' is his first song 'proper' and it's every which way amazing.

Here's the song in question:



Once again, the guy's struggling with the whole concept of making money from his music and is allowing you, the lucky listener, to download the track for free from here.

DO THIS.

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.

Mr Theodopolopidus

Hands up if you can remember the last time the Neptunes produced a track that made you say "what the hell was that?!" It was 'Drop It Like It's Hot' by Snoop Dogg, obviously, and it was back in 2004. Luckily, before their success rate dipped dramatically, they managed to influence a new generation of young rappers and producers, showing that it's OK to utilise a weird clicking sound you make with your mouth if the mood so takes you. Basically, it's OK to experiment with rap, no-one will mind (Eminem, you listening buddy?).



The brilliantly named Theophilus London is the latest young rapper to emerge having taken this ethos to heart. This year's really rather good This Charming Mixtape utilizes popping beats, juddering synths and on 'TNT' a weird, undulating keyboard line ('TNT' is on the iTunes version only for some reason). He's pretty good at the rapping lark too, coming across as a slightly less earnest Lupe Fiasco.



INTERESTING FACT: He's not from London, he's from Brooklyn! Madness!

'Departure' isn't on the new mixtape, but is pretty special. Featuring the backing from Air's 'Le soleil est pres de moi', it's got a lovely feel to it:



EDIT: This Charming Mixtape can be downloaded FOR FREE from here. The mixtape features some brilliant re-workings of tracks by Kraftwerk, Whitney Houston, Amadou & Mariam and Lauryn Hill.