Beth test

When we first saw a picture of Beth Jeans Houghton, all doe-eyed and trussed up like Pete Doherty's female self, we weren't impressed. Tsk, another beautifully androgynous singer-songwriter who will get loads of column inches thanks to her look and not her music, we thought to ourselves (unfairly). Then we saw another picture of her in a newspaper and she looked like Lily Savage, if Lily Savage had been set upon by a pack of ferrets. We were confused and mildly aroused so we decided to probe further and low and behold, Beth Jeans Houghton is pretty ruddy good at this making music lark.



This is a video for the lead track on her new EP, Hot Toast Vol. 1. The song is called 'I Will Return I Promise' and it's rather lovely:



Her boob blinked! Skillful. Hot Toast Vol. 1 is five songs long and costs about £3 on iTunes. It doesn't take a mathematician (or Lily Allen) to tell you that that's pretty good value. All five tracks are better than the entire musical output of The Enemy, Hard-Fi and Kasabian.

What is Morrissey doing?

This is the cover for Morrissey's new b-sides album (!) Swords:



But what is he doing?

a). Having a bit of a rest after a lively jaunt in the woods?
b). Keeping ever so quiet so as not to disturb a deer just out of shot?
c). Suffering from the most painful bowel movements that have lead to him literally shitting in his pants? That expression is "if a living legend who's not as good as he used to be shits in the woods and no-one's there to see it does it matter that Jonny Marr is in the Cribs?"

One of the worst covers of all time.

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.

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'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.

Drums Not Dead

Dear diary,

Sometimes it just feels like there's no point carrying on. Sometimes, when we've given all we can, we still feel that we're not getting anywhere, like life just keeps knocking us down just as we're getting back on our feet. Sometimes, Boy George beats you to the punch (and then ties you to a radiator) and you know what, it feels bad. It feels real bad.

So, we might as well mention this new band that everyone (including Boy George!) is raving about, even though it looks like we're bandwagon jumping. Hell, we're covered in splinters from all the jumping onto bandwagons. Anyways, this band, The Drums, are really good and you should listen to this, but listen knowing that Boy George got their first.



Also, as if to compound the pointlessness of our existence, The Guardian go and do a thing on Washed Out, who we were about to do a thing on. Now, we get that two websites can feature the same band, and we're hardly on the same scale in terms of readership, but once again it looks like we're just following where they lead.



Yeah, it's beautiful and atmospheric but it's tainted. We're seriously considering our future in this business. Do we need this kind of hassle, this kind of pressure? The only thing keeping us going is the knowledge that 20 people read this blog in Illinois and it's for them that Musick exists. Thank you Illinois. Good night.

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.

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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.

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'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.

They're like buses

You wait for about thirty minutes in the pissing rain for one to come and then two arrive at the same time. Buses are notoriously unreliable. Thom Yorke is not unlike a bus in this respect. Here is another music video, this time for the glitchy, vaguely haunting 'The Hollow Earth':



The video features artwork from underground graffiti artist Banksy. Not sure if you would have heard of him, he's not really been covered in the press too much.

'The Hollow Earth' is released as a limited 12" today but can also be downloaded (not a word) from the Members area of Radiohead.com once you've ordered the vinyl. It will then be available from all the usual download places from 6 October. It's a double a-side with this, 'FeelingPulledApartByHorses':



Not good to listen to with a headache, but pretty amazing nonetheless (the last three minutes are OMG, like, LOL, so good). Fingers crossed there will be some home video footage of Thom cooking a veggie lasagna or something tomorrow.

It's not just a Phraze

A little while ago we did a thing about the return of Julian Casablancas following a few years hanging out in New York generally avoiding doing any new stuff for The Strokes. The album Casablancas has made is called Phrazes For The Young and we were all warned it was a bit of a departure. Basically, guitars were out and keyboards were very much in.



Well, the first fruits of his labour have emerged in the form of new single, the brilliant '11th Dimension'. WARNING: Do not listen to this expecting to hear something like 'Last Nite':



Woah. It's a multi-layered, synth shagging, processed-guitar type pop behemoth and will no doubt split fans of The Strokes right down the middle. We especially love how it ends up being a completely different song at the end to that which fizzes into view at the beginning. Most importantly, it sounds like Casablancas is having a ball too, his voice more strident and engaging then he appears on some of The Strokes latter material. There's even a bit where he just goes "woah" for no reason! And a keyboard breakdown!

You can't please everyone though. This was left under the video on youtube:
"what the hell is this scandelous (sic) peice (sic) of crap"