We've been moving offices so apologies for the lack of new material. We have been inundated with emails asking where the 'excellent' New Musick Monday feature is and it pains us to say we might have to give it a miss this week.
*shock*
Fingers crossed we'll all be up and running again soon and things can get back to normal.
Here's the new Florence & The Machine video to tide you over.
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Ellie are you OK?
Whilst on twitter today we struck up a conversation with 'hot new singer/songwriter' Ellie Goulding. Did we talk about her amazing songs? The fact she's just signed to Polydor? Or, perhaps, we asked her about writing songs for Diana Vickers from last year's X Factor? No, we talked about Jordan and Peter Andre's marriage problems...BUT we did get to share the new Peter Andre video with her and for that she will always be thankful, right? Wrong.
This is Ellie:
A lot of her songs have been around for quite a while now, 'creating a buzz' and 'getting the blogosphere all hot under the collar'. As we never tire of stating, we like to remain at least three months behind the times, hence our EXCLUSIVE feature appearing in August.
This is a song called 'Starry Eyed', which reminds us a bit of Stina Nordenstam. It was produced by Starsmith, who is very talented and young so we dislike him already:
'Wish I Stayed' was produced by Frankmusik and sounds like this:
What a nice chorus. Well done Ellie and Vincent.
Tomorrow, Musick will be entering into a debate about the future of our banking system with Lee from Blue.
This is Ellie:
A lot of her songs have been around for quite a while now, 'creating a buzz' and 'getting the blogosphere all hot under the collar'. As we never tire of stating, we like to remain at least three months behind the times, hence our EXCLUSIVE feature appearing in August.
This is a song called 'Starry Eyed', which reminds us a bit of Stina Nordenstam. It was produced by Starsmith, who is very talented and young so we dislike him already:
'Wish I Stayed' was produced by Frankmusik and sounds like this:
What a nice chorus. Well done Ellie and Vincent.
Tomorrow, Musick will be entering into a debate about the future of our banking system with Lee from Blue.
Pink Pound
When you wake up in the morning, do you:
a). Sit bolt up right, stretch, yawn and thank God you've woken to a brand new morning
b). Crawl out of bed slowly, scratch your arse and try desperately to be late for work
c). You don't go to sleep because sleeping is for wimps and people who don't go to art school. Instead, you push the supermodel away from your crotch, snort a line off her midriff and sign a record deal.
We're guessing The Big Pink are more of a c). kind of band, but we could be wrong. Having spent the best part of 2009 working on their forthcoming debut album, the band are set to release a new single, entitled 'Dominos'. Co-produced by Paul Epworth, it's a chugging, beat-driven slice of sleaze with a chorus the size of Columbia. Amusingly, one of the comments on youtube was just one word long - "SKINS". A bit harsh perhaps, but funny nonetheless.
The b-side, 'She's No Sense', features the not inconsiderable voice of Florence Welch from Florence & The Machine. Nice.
a). Sit bolt up right, stretch, yawn and thank God you've woken to a brand new morning
b). Crawl out of bed slowly, scratch your arse and try desperately to be late for work
c). You don't go to sleep because sleeping is for wimps and people who don't go to art school. Instead, you push the supermodel away from your crotch, snort a line off her midriff and sign a record deal.
We're guessing The Big Pink are more of a c). kind of band, but we could be wrong. Having spent the best part of 2009 working on their forthcoming debut album, the band are set to release a new single, entitled 'Dominos'. Co-produced by Paul Epworth, it's a chugging, beat-driven slice of sleaze with a chorus the size of Columbia. Amusingly, one of the comments on youtube was just one word long - "SKINS". A bit harsh perhaps, but funny nonetheless.
The b-side, 'She's No Sense', features the not inconsiderable voice of Florence Welch from Florence & The Machine. Nice.
Something lovely for a Wednesday
Radiohead have made a new song available for download from their website. 'Harry Patch (In Memory of)' is in tribute to Britain's last surviving soldier to fight in the trenches during World War I.
It's a string-laden lament, recorded live in an abbey, with a typically lovely score from Jonny Greenwood. The song costs £1 to download from here and all profits go to the Royal British Legion.
Listen to it here.
It's a string-laden lament, recorded live in an abbey, with a typically lovely score from Jonny Greenwood. The song costs £1 to download from here and all profits go to the Royal British Legion.
Listen to it here.
Monday, 3 August 2009
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?
BUY THIS
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.
DOWNLOAD THIS
'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.
Let's get down to business shall we?
BUY THIS
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.
DOWNLOAD THIS
'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.
Sunday, 2 August 2009
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.
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.
Clips don't lie
"Shakira, Shakira"
Let's be honest, Shakira is as mad as a box of frogs who've been force fed Ecstasy tablets by a clown on roller skates. She's been away for too long, leaving the pop world a barren and less ridiculous place in her absence. Well, she's back now, with a video so awful that it's somehow one of the best things we've seen in the last decade.
First things first, that cave resembles a scene from Inner Space mixed with a '70s softcore porn film. The dancing is hilarious, like a strange mix of yoga and an anaphylactic shock. The bits on top of the building either represent the point where the money ran out (what did they spend it on!?), or it's some kind of statement on cheap horror films. Don't even get us started on what the shoulder popping malarkey is all about.
Nice to have you back Shakira (Shakira).
Let's be honest, Shakira is as mad as a box of frogs who've been force fed Ecstasy tablets by a clown on roller skates. She's been away for too long, leaving the pop world a barren and less ridiculous place in her absence. Well, she's back now, with a video so awful that it's somehow one of the best things we've seen in the last decade.
First things first, that cave resembles a scene from Inner Space mixed with a '70s softcore porn film. The dancing is hilarious, like a strange mix of yoga and an anaphylactic shock. The bits on top of the building either represent the point where the money ran out (what did they spend it on!?), or it's some kind of statement on cheap horror films. Don't even get us started on what the shoulder popping malarkey is all about.
Nice to have you back Shakira (Shakira).
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