The curse of Christmas

Christmas comes but once a year, bringing with it food aplenty, laughs around the table, nostalgia, television events and as much merriment as you can possibly stand. Luckily, in order to prevent Christmas from becoming too enjoyable, literally hundreds of bands will be releasing Greatest Hits packages that no-one needs in the hope of resurrecting their careers and capitalising on the weak and vulnerable.

Not sure what to get your older brother this year? Or perhaps you do a Secret Santa at work and you've landed Norm from IT? Why not try the new Stereophonics collection, Decade In The Sun? That way you get to listen to Kelly Jones rattle his way through such standards as 'Mr Writer' or 'Just Looking' whilst enjoying another plate of cold meats. Like all good bands (and by good we mean shit) the Stereophonics have realised that the lure of such classics may not be enough to entice the casual fan so they've thrown in a new song, entitled 'You're My Star' (hey, like the star in the sky that lead the three wise men to baby Jesus, right?). The real joy is hearing how much time they've spent on it, and that it no way sounds half-arsed or dashed off at the last minute.



Remember; a dog is for life, a Stereophonics best of collection is just for Christmas.

I thought I told you...

Now then, we can do better then this surely? The other day I suggested in the nicest possible way that perhaps, dear readers, you could pop down your local CD emporium or download via which ever mp3 shop you use, the debut album by LadyHawke. I phrased it in a way that perhaps came across as merely a quiet word in your ear (hence the fact it only entered at no. 47), but let me reiterate in a manner more akin to an order; BUY THE LADYHAWKE ALBUM OR YOUR NEAREST AND DEAREST WILL PERISH IN AN UNEXPLAINED ACCIDENT (AND I'LL MAKE YOU WATCH HOLE IN THE WALL ON BBC1 UNTIL YOUR EYES BLEED) Ahem.

To make things easier I will once again display the album's cover so if you're feeling particularly lazy you could simply print it out, walk to the CD shop, stroll purposefully up to the counter and say "Excuse me kind sir, I know you left Uni a few years ago and this isn't what you thought you'd be doing at 24 and really you want to take your name badge off and jam it into my eye ball, but would you mind awfully finding this CD for me?" Then take the album home and listen to it on repeat and try telling me it's not amazing. Just try it.

Here's the cover:



Here's an example of the music:



Some have suggested that we can't make a difference, that there aren't enough of you reading this to change things. All I can say is, 5 people can't be wrong can they?

Hey Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah

It's Britney bitch. That's right, she's back and less bleary-eyed then last time. 'Womanizer' is the first single from Britney Spears' new album Circus which is out in December and is meant to signal her full-time return to the pop game following all those minor problems with the last album campaign. Her record company clearly felt that Blackout (her last album) was good enough to give her huge sales had she been fully fit so they've not messed with the formula too much. Robo-vocals? Check. Futuristic electro beats? Check. Meaningless lyrics about a man with a roving eye? Check.



It would have been nice to hear a comeback single giving a big FUCK YOU to all the people that follow her around all day or make judgements and then replace them with fake sadness when she gets admitted to a mental facility (bear in mind this happened less then 9 months ago). But, hey, this is American pop and it's proof if proof were needed that real life and the pop facade need not be strong bedfellows. Expect success, redemption, harassment, breakdown, success, redemption, harassment, breakdown, etc, etc.

Beauty & the beast

Ying & Yang. Ant & Dec. Black & White. One thing must always balance out another, it's like that yoghurt advert where they go on about every pleasure being balanced out by pain. Well, thankfully, independent record label Wichita have put this into musical form, with two new releases.

First up are Musick favourites, Those Dancing Days from Sweden. We wrote about them here. 'Home Sweet Home' is possibly the eighteenth single they've released from their oft-delayed debut album, In Our Space Hero Suits, which is finally out in mid-October. Unsurprisingly, it's more of the same, all break neck drums, keyboard flourishes and a chorus that will rattle around your cranium until Christmas...2010. We don't normally celebrate sticking to the same formula, but it works and for the time being it's enough. The video's ace too.



Ah, Bloc Party. We had such high hopes. Genuinely, I loved that first album of yours; 'Banquet' and 'Helicopter' were brilliant, 'So Here We Are' was a rush of sadness and even the mournful album tracks had something about them. But then you listened to the hype and decided to make an album that 'meant something' that 'stood for something' and all that happened was you became boring and predictable. As if to shake yourselves back into life you decided to offer up your third album, Intimacy, online only weeks after it was finished. Now, you're releasing a new single 'Talons' that isn't on the download version but is on the physical release that comes out in October. As Avril Lavigne once said "why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?" 'Talons' is all atmosphere and no substance, the musical equivalent of Lost.

Spanktastic New Music Monday

Buy these...



Art-rock magnificence.



Triumphant synth pop.



Country flecked greatness.

Given the economic problems we face I will allow you to purchase just one of them as long as you contact me on the normal address and I'll copy the others for you. If not, just steal them and blame the media.

Human sacrifice

There's a lot riding on the new album by The Killers. Countries will perish and people will be flogged to death in the streets if it doesn't match the sales of their previous efforts, Hot Fuss and Sam's Town. Day & Age, released in November, is ushered in by the new single 'Human', co-produced by former Madonna play thing, Stuart Price. For anyone longing for the warm synths and plastic pink dinner jackets of the Hot Fuss era will probably rejoice with some poppers and some artful posturing, whilst those that grew a moustache for the Sam's Town debacle (can it be called anything else?) should probably get the new Kings Of Leon album.

You can listen to 'Human' right here

Pet Shop Boys anyone? Anyone?

Earth Song

As previously mentioned here Antony & The Johnsons are set to release a 5-track EP entitled Another World in October, prior to the release of their third album The Crying Light in January. Well, given the nature of the music industry and the internet, the title track from the EP has leaked and can be heard right here in some kind of exclusive (if exclusive were to mean reading it on a rival blog's forum and then finding it on youtube):



It is, as ever, utterly beautiful, with trademark piano and crystalline vocals all present and correct, but lyrically the focus has shifted from gender and loss to 'bigger issues' such as the state of the planet. I know, dodgy territory for some. For the most part Antony remains on the right side of patronising and expresses genuine sadness for what's going on with the planet, but it's difficult to hear the lyric "I'm gonna miss the bees" without thinking of Michael Jackson's pertinent eco-related question; "What about elephants?". It's a nature-fuelled conundrum and no mistake.

Still, Antony could sing my shopping list and make it sound devastatingly sad- "Tesco value toilet rolls/ Toothpaste/ Small tin of beans/ Microwave meal for one". Oh, that is quite sad...