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Monday, July 28, 2008
- My car had to go into "the shop". I now have a "courtesy car" which rattles like Joan Rivers walking onto the stage and doesn't even have a bluetooth connection for mp3 play let alone a cd player. It has a cassette thingy!! Lordy!
- I still haven't beaten Spider Solitaire on all four suits despite having wasted many hours at work trying.
- I have doubled my daily step aerobics (how effing 80s) routine and am knackered, but increasingly buff.
- Amazon dot co dot uk pissed me off. So did dvd dot co dot uk but they were ultimately quite nice to me.
- I heard Will Young singing "changes" on the radio and it is very jazz laid back and lovely in the extreme.
- *Had* i been privvy by some miraculous means of listening to a Will Young "Let It Go" album sampler, I would say that it is largely indicative of the album, though there is a "Your Game/Switch It On" waiting to break free which would be a bonza second single.
- Popjustice have finally picked up on the brilliance of Juvelen. Read my review of the album here, and his placing in my best albums of 2008 so far here...
- I had a lovely chat with portuguese pop sensation Ryan Ferrada yesterday. He thought Darren looked in his early 20s which made Darren's head swell and had me questioning his eyesight :P
LIVE LOUNGE BLOWOUT!
Doing a cover version of a recent pop song used to be a cool and unique way of promoting your own single (see Arctic Monkeys doing Love Machine; Girls Aloud doing Rehab, etc). Now it's as necessary and ubiquitous as going on CD:UK was for Steps at the turn of the millenium. Basically everyone and his dog are at it. Some are brilliant. Some are ok. Some are ear bleeding representations of awful. All are here for you to enjoy. Take a look at McFly doing Born To Run above - everyone looks like they are having a whale of a time rather than trying to be uber cool. And that is what it's about for me :) So in order of brilliance here we go:
MP3: McFly - Born To Run (the boys can do no wrong. Except perhaps buy pets as a gift! Beloved at the last G-A-Y on Saturday)
MP3: Ida Maria - Nothing Sweet About Me (my new scandanavian obsession. Bloody love her)
MP3: Alphabeat - Black and Gold (turn Sam Sparro's existentialist classic into a rather beguiling love song. Well done indeed)
MP3: David Jordan - Stop and Stare (the charts may have abandoned him a la The Feeling but this One Republic cover is just shy of epic)
MP3: One Reublic - Mercy (talking of which, with Ryan Tedder at their helm they have no need to cover other's songs, but this rendition of Mercy sounds nice wrapped around male tonsils)
MP3: Kate Nash - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend (much like Lily Allen, Kate does rather well when making others songs her own. Plus she says darnce.)
MP3: Ting Tings - Standing In The Way of Snap's Control (ooo the Shampoo of the new millenium mix Snap with last years critical darlings biggest and hopefully only hit)
MP3: Last Shadow Puppets - SOS (their latest b-sides are quite elegant and fine additions to the album but this is a bit of a mess to be honest.)
MP3: Dizzee Rascal - That's Not My Name (amusing for a few seconds then increasingly irritating until you want to rip your ears off to make it stop)
MP3: Kooks - Violet Hill (Didn't like the original, don't like this)
MP3: Black Kids - No Substitute Love (failing to reflect the high quality of their album, this is a bit of a disaster all round. Don't let that put you off their general aceness though).
More live lounges by clicking here...
Thursday, April 17, 2008
It's an age old puzzle isn't it? I used to never get enough sex, now i've shacked up with DazPecs - and it's all naughtiness and niceness, but we found ourselves in a music crisis. Our music tastes really seem to differ - Dazpecs likes dance, but other tunes make me stiffer (!), though at least we prove we're not total muppets, cos we both like The Last Shadow Puppets.... Er, oh dear. Enough of that then. Crikey (though for info, DazPecs is definitely a mecca dobber!)... that Arctic Monkeys inspired "brilliance" is there for your culinary delights because I want to share my thoughts on the rather good Last Shadow Puppets album which i exclusively got to listen to (cough *dodgy download* cough) yesterday and today...First off though, lets investigate what my other fave bloggers thought of it:
- Adem ~ The Monkey and The Flame
- DanUK ~ added soon (his blog won't load!)
- (se)XO ~ Innocence and Arrogance Entwined
First off, let me just say that I strangely love the picture above. Alex's puny forearms have never looked better! And secondly, I am going to ignore any Arctic Monkey's knowledge I have and concentrate on this as a cohesive piece of work as a new act. It's a piece of work that's indebted to the 60s. However, much like Robbie Williams did with Swing When You're Winning, TLSP allow their influences to drench them through and allow these influences to come through as a natural progression of their style. And 60s music is very in right now - Duffy and Adele are rightly enjoying massive success (though why Candie Payne failed is beyond me - perhaps it's The Zutons connection?); Emma Bunton and Cathy Dennis put out the best albums of their careers when they stepped back in time (Free Me and Am I The Kinda Girl respectively); and Marc Almond produced one of his biggest hits with the effortlessly gorgeous, sublime and epic Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart. Alex and Miles have gone for the epic, dramatic and powerful - and rather than producing something that is winking at it's audience, the album handles the music beautifully.
Lead off single and title track has been discussed by people far more eloquent than I (see links above), for there is no denying it's an amazing piece of pop music. Swimming in saturday morning matinee western, I imagine Brandon Flowers is kicking himself that he didn't come up with this track first. As they sing "kiss me properly and pull me apart" you can't help but want to oblige. It's a relentless tune that sweeps you away and carries you off into a distant sunset. Epic doesn't begin to do it justice. Standing Next To Me continues in the same vein, and their purloining of an orchestra works incredibly well. Melodic and harmonic, it's an entrancing song that - like most of the album - clocks in at under three minutes and leaves you totally desperate for more. Calm Like You shows the charming Mr Turner has a gift for creating songs round characters and bringing the surroundings to life with his evocative descriptions. Separate and Ever Deadly has some great sound arrangement involved that gives the song an echoing quality that gives the song it's much needed bite to match the lyrics.
Highlight of the album for me (in a solid album of highlights) is the incredible My Mistakes Were Made For You. Still utilising the spaghetti western/mariachi influences and mixing them effortlessly with their own style, a drop of Scott Walker and some Bond-esque strings, I shivered the first time I heard it, enchanted by the soaring vocal and easily imagining myself driving through 60s London in my open top aston martini. If this song isn't a single and a huge smash of one at that, I will be in mourning for the rest of the year. Extra bit of advice - be sure to check out the tracks on the EP - all of them worthy additions to the album, particularly Wonderous Place and the XO approved Bowie cover In The Heat Of The Morning. An impressive piece of work that rewards with every listen...
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