
Click on the photo and log in to Darren's myspace. Then go back the profile page and download Void (live in '07) from the player.
Pretty damning, I'd say. Is it time to try Annie in my Kangaroo Court or shall we let her go because she is a true humanitarian?
They're from New York City, but formed during college in Massachusetts. They're quote hairy blokes, but the singer is, thankfully, the bald one (the Royal We support baldness). Their influences are eye-catching, supercool and clearly honest: Prince, Talking Heads, Daft Punk, The Cars, Prefab Sprout, David Bowie, Chic, Earth Wind & Fire, Roxy Music, Beach Boys, Kraftwerk, Steely Dan, Hall & Oates, and - they're they are again - Scritti Politti.
I feel guilty posting a full song here, but I want you need to be able to click that little green arrow to understand why this band is so good, so I've posted a 90 second sample*:
Tigercity Powerstripe (sample)
Buy the Tigercity songs or EP, Pretend Not To Love, on itunes or from their store. *Thanks to Jason B for extracting the sample for me!
How I've spun my wheels with carts before my horse. And shine on the outside springs from gloom. Spotlight on these seeds of simpler reasons. And score bourne into corn, stretching my limit.
The ubiquitous Duffy appeared recently on Jools Holland to sing mores songs from her Rockferry CD (out March 3), this one a lovely Van Morrison-ish number called Warwick Avenue. You know how Van always sings songs about places he used to hang out? He is the master of that genre, along with Richard Hawley. These guys - and now the prettier Duffy - know how we like to get all misty about the "golden days" when we, you know, ran wild in the streets or kissed in doorways. Things I never did. Anywhere.
There's clearly some big, big money behind Duffy, 23, who gets major press this week in the Times Online. That paper is also hosting a free song, which I could not download, perhaps because I have an American IP. The track is called Breaking My Own Heart and if any of you want to send it my way, by all means do!
A few facts about Duffy that I have gleaned from the Times and other sources: 1) Welsh is her first language, 2) Sia's producer (and Mr. Sarah Nixey), Jimmy Hogarth, produced some of her songs, 3) the album has been in development for three years, so she is not really post-Winehouse, and 4) Duffy has a twin sister: I wonder if they pull the switch?
Finally, here is a link to another Duffy song on Jools, this one being her new single, Mercy. You can also catch her on Jools' NYE Hootenanny here.
Hear a decent remix of the demo
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It's hard to believe The Feeling are about to release a CD. They seem to have disappeared. Their website has not been updated for a month.
Expanding on Alison Goldfrapp's recent comment that everything's artificial, Robyn tells The Times this week that "We have artifice and then we have ‘real’. We’ve lost the in between.” She's coming to America, by the way. More on that Friday.
Sasha Frere-Jones writes a Kate Nash review in The New Yorker this week. He offhandedly labels Adele an "unbearable neo-soul singer." Reee-ight. While he does write a nice description of Nash's single Foundations, he later talks about the "juvenilia" on the record. Right again, dickhead, she's 19.
Lost In The 80's isn't really dead, it just moved to Jersey.
Access Hollywood did a piece on Jennifer Hudson's album and the music sounded terrrrrible. The production team in the bit was The Underdogs, who are nothing special, to my ears anyway.
Born Again 80's did a post on Hojo's mid-80's classic Like To Get To Know You Well. I think I had the 12" of that.
The B-52's are sure lookin' fresh! It's inspirational. Skinny pants help, take it from me. Modfab did that post on their upcoming return and I totally agree that they influenced the Scissters, not the other way 'round. If anyone has an MP3 of their version of Yoko Ono's Don't Worry (from the vinyl version of Whammy!), please send it to me. It's a longtime fave and I cannot find it anywhere. Update: thanks to the lovely person who sent me an MP3!
Sia's new CD has a lush version of I Go To Sleep. She adds a string arrangement that seems perfect for the song. More on that record soon. It's got some stunning songs, but is a little heavy on the ballads.
Amy Winehouse is a yellow blonde? Holy shit. My tears won't dry on their own. sorry, bad pun
Where in the world is Shirley Manson? Come back to the five and dime, Shirley Manson, Shirley Manson.
Finally, Philly, I am checkin' up on you this weekend. I'll bring my own disco string section and pray I encounter Miss Patti.
It's 2008 and RóisÃn is back. The perfect You Know Me Better is out this winter and above is a look at the cover photo shoot (the same one they did for Attitude magazine). That hat scares me. It looks like dirty feathers from grandma's attic. I bet it smells. A small price for the haute.
On Christmas Eve I received RóisÃn's live CD, Live At Ancienne Belgique, and it's a corker. The 9-minute live performance of Overpowered is much stronger than the studio version, with a killer intro and an insane electro breakdown at the end. Also excellent are the live versions of Checkin' On Me (which should be called Thumpin' On Me!), Primitive (minus the face slam) and Movie Star.
Sadly, Let Me Know is sort of muted and lacking the fizz of the original. It's more jazzy, bookended with extended jams that are just... boring... in the same way Prince extends some of his live songs ad nauseum.
I love it when she tells the Belgians they are a "very civilized people" at the end of the performance of You Know Me Better. Once again, she reminds me that I like my pop stars with heart and smarts... not self destructive, if you get my drift.
*I would not be surprised if Phil owns all of these on vinyl!
I cannot wait to hear Clowns in high quality - the leak is indecipherable! It is radically beautiful, like orchestral folk music. Q accurately describes the vocals as a mix of Sandy Denny and Kate Bush. Take a look at the Q piece now - Alison, who looks exactly like Madonna in the photo, always has something clever to say. She says of the new album:
I see a choir, a childrens' recorder group, and girls in big blouses playing glockenspiels.
The piece also references the New Seekers' Coke commercial. The New Seekers sang I'd Like to Teach the World To Sing and Coca Cola did a commercial based on it (or maybe vice versa), though New Seekers did not appear in the commercial or sing on it. Regardless, the point is the mood of the song and commercial, which is decidedly hippie, or as my friend Thom says, "prairie" music:
Alison recently told MÄNNER that she tried to avoid the record company "as long as possible" when they finished the album (read this in English at iHeartBerlin). I don't know what they're worried about. It's as good as Supernature in its own way. I love what she says when they ask if Goldfrapp will leave behind the "staginess" of its last few records:
The hospital-set single A&E is out on February 15 with remixes by Maps, Gui Boratto and one called the Hercules and Love Affair Remix. I believe Arjan has an interview with her soon, but I have not seen any other press yet.Definitely not. I don’t believe in naturalness. Everything is artificial. Goldfrapp has always been about fantasies and a certain kind of drama.
Speaking of which, did you notice Coldplay covered Last Christmas on their website. It's very dour. And Chris is hiding his latest hairstyle, that minx. I wonder if he spent the holidays at a country house being all patrician with his inlaws, followed by a NYE jet trip with Jay Z and Bouncey? Do you detect disdain from me? Nahhh!
Erik, a fellow pop fan in Seattle alerted me to something cool that may be especially amusing for international readers. It's C895, a radio station owned by the Seattle Public Schools and actually operated by students of Nathan Hale High School as part of their radio broadcasting course! They do it all! Production, programming, music selection, copy, and DJ'ing. What's very unexpected is the music they're playing: Kylie, September, M.I.A., Mark Ronson, Sophie EB, even Cascada. Erik warns that sometimes the kids are bit rough on the edges, but you can listen in streaming audio. Might be fun for your office.