RockRobotRock

NOTHING TO SEE HERE

2009-02-25T20:24:00.002+01:00

No, literally, there's nothing to see here. RockRobotRock has teamed up with GammyPigeon to form RobotPigeon. It's a lot better and there is actually things to read, do and download at the following link:

ROBOT PIGEON.

Alphabeat take an Ultrabeating

2008-11-19T14:58:00.002+01:00

We can't help but love what Ultrabeat have done with Alphabeat's new single 'What Is Happening' even if it has given us a bit of a headache.

We believe the word is craptacula.

Alphabeat vs. Ultrabeat 'What Is Happening'

Bogulta: We don't understand but we love it

2008-11-19T14:38:00.002+01:00

Anyone who knows us will know that we have been banging on about taking a trip to Japan. The reasons behind this are numerous but mostly because we want to go to the Pokemon centre, buy some cool t-shirts and see if there are any good Japanese games for the PS3 to buy.

We will also add Bogulta to that list, two men who sum up everything we love and are envious of in Japanese culture. Like a more juvenile Enter Shikari after too much sugary drink, there are few words to describe the music on their MySpace other than both 'amazing' and 'complete nonsense'. There is something of a language barrier between us and them, and their only song with an English name is 'Scrap B.O.G'. It's a complete and utter, and a complete and incredible, racket.

We love it. We love it because it all sounds like angry robots.

Listen to Bogulta here. If you think your ears are up to the noise.

Sia. Now on at least the 14th of her nine lives

2008-11-19T14:27:00.002+01:00

Any self respecting ear-owner should be well aware that Sia has potentially the greatest voice in music today and have been in love with her music for years. To us, knowing that Sia remains mostly undiscovered by so many people makes every Dido album sold sting like a bitch.

After the UK record buying public turned their noses and stiff upper lips at her most recent, and best, album 'Some People Have Real Problems', she has quite rightly fucked off to America in the hope that they will take her a little more seriously.

Here is a clip of what Britain will now be missing - although watching Sia singing on GM:TV wouldn't have been quite the same.

She looks amazing too. Like a sexy Victoria Wood. Apologies for the old man who keeps popping up at the beginning and end. He must be the American Lorraine Kelly.

Boyzone: The thieving bastards

2008-11-16T15:31:00.005+01:00

Have you paid any attention to the ‘fuss’ over Boyzone putting a bit of boy-on-boy action in their new video? We doubt it very much. The idea of Stephen Gately lightly groping some male model hasn’t exactly set the world on fire and neither will their terrible new single ‘Better’.

It’s not so much that Take That remain steps ahead of their boyband rival, but more that Take That have finished the race, changed out of their running shorts, showered, got dressed and gone out for dinner to celebrate their triumph - but not before going home to watch a bit of telly first. And all the while Boyzone are still plodding around the track.

If the Boyzone ‘comeback’ wasn’t crap enough and their last rubbish single proof that there’s no dead horse left to flog, ‘Better’ sinks to new lows. Despite the big musical power of Mr Ronan Keating, this is a cover version of an old Tom Baxter single – and not a good one at that.

Worse still, the original Tom Baxter video not only used the same couples theme as the Boyzone video, but it even had some token gay couples in it as well.

Boyzone could only have jumped in the grave of Tom Baxter’s career and made themselves more comfortable if they’d all changed their first names to Tom and their surnames to Baxter.

Tom Baxter 'Better'

Big gay Boyzone 'Better'

AND WHILE WE’RE ON THE SUBJECT...

That bloody James Morrison and Nelly Furtado is a bit familiar. Oh yes, that’s because it’s exactly the same as the Snow Patrol and Martha Wainwright video but with a hotel room instead of a police cell.

Still - credit crunch, economic crisis and all that, there is clearly a shortage of good ideas to go around.

Valkyria Chronicles: game review

2008-11-15T10:59:00.002+01:00

War is never a beautiful event and has been grittily portrayed in countless shooters over the years in all its grim reality. However, Valkyria Chronicles is a war game with a twist, painting - quite literally – a fictional European war with the most distinctive graphical style to hit the PlayStation 3, using stunning watercolour cell-shading to lighten plotlines as dark and depressing as any other battle-based title.

Valkyria Chronicles focuses on the struggle of nature loving Welkin Gunther, a reluctant commander of a small militia squad. Set in the small, neutral state of Gallia, a country overrun by an invading empire intent of plundering its natural resources for their own military gain. Alongside love interest Alicia Melchiott and a rag-tag squad of girls, boys, gay and trans-gendered soldiers, the moving story of Welkin’s struggle against brutal oppression and indiscriminate killings is as poignant and involving as some of modern gaming’s most celebrated tales.

Gameplay mixes strategic role-playing with action-packed gunplay missions - your choices before battle as crucial as your aim during skirmishes. Will you take long-ranged scouts to war or put your faith in the short-range fire power of shocktroopers? Hang back and rely on snipers or launch a frontal-assault on tank battalions with your anti-tank troops? Valkyria Chronicles tests your tactics as a commander, pushes your battlefield skills as a soldier and tugs the heartstrings as a player.

Sadly, the slow pacing of the game will prove unappealing to gamers keen for a quick fix of frantic gunfire. Valkyria Chronicles is packed with gloriously animated cartoon cut-scenes and lengthy conversion sections. But for those willing to involve themselves in something greater than another shallow shooter, the game’s storyline is ultimately its strongest suit, and Valkyria Chronicles goes some way to filling the role-playing desert that sadly still dogs the PS3.

As written for http://www.orange.co.uk/games/1478.htm

Dear Ocelot, Daft Punk would like their robot back

2008-11-13T15:00:00.003+01:00

Wonderful remixers Ocelot have been a bit quiet recently. After smacking us (as well as the lucky stars of the video) in the face with their remix of Robyn's 'Be Mine' their remix of Dragonette's 'Competition' never saw the light of day, mainly because it was a remix of a Dragonette track. Wrong as it may be, not many people like Dragonette.

However, Ocelot have recently worked their magic (and in this instance the very same spell) on new remixes by bands who are popular. Very popular indeed.

Ocelot have turned The Killer's already amazing 'Human' into a mini robotic masterpiece and have turned the All American Rejects already quite good 'I Hope It Gives You Hell' into an, err, mini robotic masterpiece. If it ain't broke don't fix it etc, and in this instance we are very sure that Ocelot's vocoder most certainly is not broken, since it has seen more than liberal use on both of these remixes. Both tracks have been vocodered like it was 1998.

As people tend to do, Ocelot have whacked these remixes up on their MySpace page. We would like to point out that their own track, 'This Is Our Time' is one of recent history's greatest lost classics. If it wasn't for the blatent drug references it would have made a modern day Modjo or Stardust long ago. Listen here et-cetera.

PS. Cher did the vocoder thing in 1998. Hence the reference. What a long time ago that was.

Robyn's 'Dream On' video? Typically amazing

2008-10-18T15:29:00.003+02:00

A big city skyline? Check.

Scary looking people? Check.

Sad looking people? Check.

An impossibly angular haircut? Check.

One or two special effects? Check.

Then it must be the new Robyn video.

And it's completely brilliant. Hopefully 'Dream On' will pick things back up for Robyn where 'With Every Heartbeat' left off - ie. Number One.

Paris Hilton should buy Annie

2008-10-18T13:05:00.004+02:00

Like the lady herself, we're not under any illusion that Paris Hilton has any great desire to be a pop star. However, if she fancied giving it another crack, she could do worse than buying Annie. Not the ginger one with the dog, the Norwegian singer who had a moderately unsuccessful hit single called 'Chewing Gum' a few years back.

Similar to Paris Hilton, Annie isn't the world's greatest singer and is a blonde. However, unlike Paris Hilton, Annie is an superb songwriter and has a stack of amazing new songs that look unlikely to ever see the light of day. Her second album 'Don't Stop' has been delayed again and is now due for a release in January 2009. Yeah right.

The album is almost entirely brilliant but is heading for a dusty shelf in a record executive's office. Which is why it is time for someone with a bank balance like Paris to sweep in and pay Annie to give all the songs to her instead. At the moment a rescue package (credit crunch reference - go us!) like a Hilton helpline seems like the only way Annie's amazing songs will ever see the light of day. We are sure Paris Hilton would love the chance to 'do a Madonna' with 'Songs Remind Me Of You' and would quite enjoy copying Girls Aloud rather-strongly with 'My Love Is Better'.

The point we are trying to make here (somewhere) is that A. The Annie album is too good to be put on a shelf and forgotten and B. Paris Hilton should splash some of her cash sweeping up brilliant British pop producers to make her new album, instead of whichever amateur had a crack at producing her shocking 'My New BFF' single.

So to recap:

Annie album good.
Paris needs new producers.

We need a bit more sleep perhaps.

Annie Hilton 'Songs Remind Me Of You'

Not a girl, not yet a Teenager

2008-10-18T12:36:00.003+02:00

When we mentioned we'd been listening to Britney's 'Womanizer' all week, what we mean is that we've been listening to The Teenagers remix of Britney's 'Womanizer'.

And how does the mix of one of the year's top pop singles and one of the world's coolest guitar bands sound? It sounds like Britney (not pictured) singing over a song by The Teenagers. So in other words, totally fucking brilliant.

At first it doesn't seem to work. The Teenagers haven't so much remixed and stripped away all the original backing track and built their own from scratch, one which sounds like any one of the songs from their amazing album, and it all seems a bit disjointed and clunky - but that's the track's charm.

If you're not the sort to usually listen to a Britney single, we suggest you give this a try.

Britney Spears 'Womanizer' (Teenagers Remix)

Why do these ladies sing with different voices these days?

2008-10-18T12:05:00.003+02:00

It's safe to say that women such as Madonna and Kylie go to extreme lengths to look 18 years old at all times. This might possibly include botox injections, implants and 'falling off a horse' but we wouldn't want to accuse anyone of having bolts in their head to keep their face tight.

But as Kylie and Madonna (and even Britney) get older, why are their voices getting rubbish? True, their not quite to the point where they are bellowing like granny in a church on Sunday, but each of these ladies' voices has changed, for the worse, as she has progressed in her career.

Compare Madonna's vocals in 'Like A Prayer' to 'Give It 2 Me'. From a full throttle belting to a reedy simper, Madonna's voice is not the same.

Kylie, happy with her perm blowing bubbles in the bath in the 'I Should Be So Lucky' had a strong, cheerful voice. On her recent singles, her voice has been so squeaky you'd be forgiven for thinking there was hinge nearby in need of oiling.

The same is true of Britney, although we think maybe her voice has been affected by all those nice parties and late-night trips to have a hair cut or attack cars with umbrellas (her defining moment). Belting out 'Baby One More Time', her mouth is barely used in 'Womanizer', instead pushing all the sounds she needs out of her nostrils instead. Nasal doesn't even come close.

We don't know why these women can't sing very well any more, or at least as well as they used to, but we bloody well wish they'd at least perk up a bit and throw out the notes we have evidence they are capable of. No more namby-pamby trilling, we want these women to work their voice boxes, not just gargle from the back of their throats.

Rant over. We've listened to 'Womanizer' so many times in the past week that we couldn't keep our thoughts on Britney's voice in any longer.

Is Nick Littlemore the most brilliant man in pop music right now?

2008-10-12T13:29:00.005+02:00

Quite possibly.

Not content with being amazing in Pnau, Nick Littlemore is also completely incredible when he is one half of Empire Of The Sun.

Clearly working best in pairs, Empire Of The Sun sees Mr. Littlemore team up with another fellow Australian (in this case Luke Jackson of the not always brilliant Sleepy Jackson). They have just had a Top Ten hit in Australia with 'Walking On A Dream'.

There is obviously something to be said about the band's styling and image as well. That something is 'wow, they look amazing and a bit like superheroes or the kings of China or something'.

We wish the UK charts had less of boring old tat by Oasis and Boyzone, months old Rihanna album tracks and Katy Perry novelty songs and more music by Nick Littlemore. Every song of his we have ever heard has made us feel a bit funny in the stomach, and while Kings Of Leon make us feel funny in the stomach too, that's usually sorted with a quick trip to the loo.

Anyway, like Pnau, Empire of The Sun are completely brilliant (and we're sure you'll agree if you like warm, sunny electro tracks which will excite and possibly arouse). They are another reason why we Australian music is the greatest in the world right now and as far as we are aware coming nowhere near the UK anytime soon.

Check out Empire Of The Sun on MySpace here.

Alternatively, stay here and listen to 'Walking On A Dream'.

Empire Of The Sun 'Walking On A Dream'

It's like some sort of horrific 'ladies night' around here right now...

2008-10-11T17:17:00.002+02:00

New Britney video. Great.

New Robyn video. Also great.

As far as we know, 'Cobrastyle' is set for an American release while 'Dream On' is being prepared for the UK.

But here's the 'Cobrastyle' video. It's a bit like the video for the amazing Ocelot remix of her 'Be Mine' single. By 'a bit' we mean 'a lot'.

It's not exactly going to change anyone's minds on Robyn now, is it.

Totally fucking amazing

2008-10-11T13:22:00.001+02:00

That's it, Britney's second comeback is a complete and utter success.

Best of all, you almost get to see her tits in her 'Womanizer' video - which is basically her 'Toxic' video with knobs on, so to speak.

And here it is.

We take back all the things we ever said about her looking better bald.

This scares and excites us

2008-10-11T13:06:00.005+02:00

We don't know where Running Against The Knife fit in to the wider scheme of things, musically speaking.

If Angelo Badalamenti was writing a score to David Lynch's worst nightmare, he might come up with something along the lines of this Wisconsin one-man show's music. It scares us slightly - just look at that picture, he's so scary he needs censoring AND he's being kept in a garage. Dark doesn't even come close to doing justice here.

But of course there are good things to find in the dark. Things such as owls and stars and spaceships.

We are a bit obsessed with tracks 'The Need To An End' (terrifying and beautiful), 'Among The Things Only Hoped 4' (relentless, breathless and full of brilliant piano bits) and ‘Forever Trying But Never’ (almost a rave track, all incredible, almost genius).

Now all he needs to do is to find a film (or video-game) suitably dark to score. This man is amazing.

Click here for some scarily amazing music.

There is no way this is going to be shit

2008-10-11T12:03:00.006+02:00

This dropped into our inbox this week. Obviously Kitsune need no introdution and having attended several Neon Noise nights this year already, we can vouch for the brilliance of their nights - even if there were men selling paracetmol to unsuspecting clubbers at the Gang Bang DJs night. Tut tut etc.

The Neon Noise nights we went to were held in the back end of nowhere, in a place called Shadwell (four tubes and a walk through a housing estate) but their November night is held in the far more central Heaven nightclub which is often popular with homosexuals and members of The Feeling.

You should go to this.

Click here for more information on what may prove to be the last great clubbing night out of 2008.

Pnau in London. Quite good or amazing? (Hint: They were amazing)

2008-10-07T12:10:00.013+02:00

Were Pnau (pronounced Pee-Now it seems) any good last night at their gig at Durr - a really very good club night at held in a place called The End?

In a word: YES.

General observations were these:

1. No Ladyhawke.
2. No 'Embrace'.
3. No 'Dancing On The Water'.
4. No children's choir.
5. No dancing strawberries.

And yet it still managed to be an amazing show. Further observations are thus:

1. Pnau are a lot harder sounding live than they are on record (not actual 'record' but you know what we mean. 'MP3' sounded weird in context.)
2. Nick Littlemore shouldn't wear blouses. They hide his slender gentleman's curves and it wasn't until he was topless that his true physique was revealed.
3. 'No More Violence' is completely fucking amazing.
4. 'Baby' needs to be a single at the soonest available opportunity.
5. Pnau have loads of amazing songs we haven't heard before which we would like to rattle the names of which off like professionals but which we heard for the first time last night so give us a break here please.

So there you have it. See Pnau for yourself on 17 October at Matter, the new Fabric thing in the O2 Arena, which is miles away from ANYWHERE, but there you go.

Pnau at MySpace et-cetera.

250,000 people can't be wrong

2008-10-06T14:59:00.005+02:00

There's no way we can pretend that we're onto anything new in demanding you take a few minutes today to listen to a band called Pacific!. At the time of writing this they'd already notched up a rather impressive 267,593 views on their MySpace page. Over the past week we've contributed about 20 of those visits, returning to listen to their truly amazing pop songs.

Hailing from Sweden, where being a decent popstar is practically law, Pacific sound like The Beach Boys for the 25th century, all harmonies, whooshes, bangs, pops and whistles. They also have an unecessary exclamation mark on the end of their name, and if there's one thing we know, is that if the subject matter itself is interesting enough, then you don't need an exclamation mark. It'll just sound like you are shouting.

Pacific! really don't need the extra punctuation, 'Sunset Blvd' is the greatest pop record of all time to use not only a wedding bell but a banjo as well. But while you might like to get married to 'Sunset Blvd', tracks like 'Number One' will simply make you want to go out and dance somewhere - even if it does sound a bit like the 'Only Fools And Horses' theme tune.

If you're not in the mood for a full song though, the 'T-Shirt taster mix' runs through their various sounds (from eighties dance to sixties influenced pop) in a neat two minutes.

But perhaps most exciting of all, Pacific! are tonight playing Durrr in central London. More exciting still is that they are playing alongside Pnau. We know it's a Monday (we have calenders after all) but we can't recommend a Monday night out more than we do this.

Tuesdays are rubbish anyway, so you may as well go out on a Monday. Tuesdays aren't even exciting if you put an exclamation mark on the end of the word.

'Tuesday!'. Nope, nothing...

Click here to listen to Pacific! at MySpace.

Boobs, blood, muscles, puke and a priest...

2008-10-03T15:09:00.002+02:00

Yes, the trailer for the Justice documentary is in typical Justice fashion and in typical Justice taste.

Justice are a very exciting live band to watch and they live a very rock and roll lifestyle, or so they would have you believe with footage like this.

It doesn't look as good as a documentary we saw recently about an 11 year old who wanted to be a glamour model, but It Will Do.

The new Paris Hilton single, just for the hell of it...

2008-10-03T14:55:00.005+02:00

Here is the new Paris Hilton single / theme to her TV show, 'My New BFF'.

*confused yet oddly excited face*

Music sounds better with Young Punx

2008-10-03T14:50:00.003+02:00

Here is a short list of a few things we like an awful lot.

1. Breakfast.
2. Lunch.
3. Dinner.
4. French pop music.
5. The Young Punx.

So we are rather impressed that two of the above have come together in a really rather special union - and we don't mean 'brunch'.

The Young Punx have remixed Stardust's legendary (is it legendary? It's certainly amazingly good 10 years on) 1998 hit 'Music Sounds Better With You'.

We say 'remixed' but really all The Young Punx have done is throw bits of Fake Blood's 'Mars' all over it.

And it's a bit excellent in a '90s disco house meets modern day warehouse rave sort of way.

Most importantly, they're giving it away for free.

Click here to download 'Marrs Sounds Better With Me' by Young Punx.

More brilliance from The Young Punx at their Myspace page.

A band we like and a dog dressed as an old lady - is this the ultimate blog post?

2008-10-02T14:40:00.004+02:00

There is literally nothing more funny than a dog dressed as a person. We are especially fond of dogs in ladies' skirts.

LOL ROFLMAO et-cetera.

We wouldnt like to try dressing anything more fierce than a dog though, but we do like the idea, which might go some way to explaining why we like Wolf In A Spacesuit.

Electronic and spooky, choiral and rocky, these guys are stepping in the oh so fashionable footsteps of the likes of MGMT in bringing glam rock and eighties synths together to create something very now and very good.

We very much enjoy the part of '2012' where it sounds like a church organ going into space.

The only problem we have with their songs is that there are no bloody words to them, and words, as we're sure you'll agree are often a key part of any modern pop record. However, the tracks are so good we can only hope that the three on their MySpace are early versions of future masterpieces. 'Love Bee' is very, very special indeed - and we're not saying that only because there is a hint of vocal on it. It's not like we're obsessed with singing or anything.

However, even if you don't like Wolf In A Spacesuit and demand only songs with words in your life, here is a picture of a dog dressed as a funny old lady. 10/10 for the little dog.

Click here to listen to Wolf In A Spacesuit at MySpace.

This lady has the horn

2008-10-02T14:32:00.007+02:00

Could Kimberley from Girls Aloud look any happier than she does in this picture?

The answer is yes, yes should could look happier - and here is how.

And what might have made a usually reserved and restrained lady unleash such unbridled glee in the new Girls Aloud video, 'The Promise'?

She's honking a horn.

It's the simple things in life etc.

One very big reason to go out this Friday...

2008-09-30T14:58:00.004+02:00

The Young Punx are amazing and are yet another band who should have been proper famous a long time before now, but sometimes things just don't work out as you'd expect. We've been listening to their 2007 'You're Love Is Killing Me' single and asking ourselves why it wasn't a Top Ten single all morning. We've done this in silence on account of the big serious office we spend our working life in.

Anyway, our reasoning behind listening to something old instead of something new is that The Young Punx are playing Twisted Licks in Shoreditch this Friday alongside some other generally decent pop bands Modernaire (very good) and The XX (a bit glum but almost entirely brilliant).

So if you're not busy and in the area etc...

Click here for more info on Twisted Licks, tickets and other assorted whatnot.

Sunday comedown sounds: sayCeT

2008-09-28T12:27:00.007+02:00

Do not read any further until you have read the following instructions:

1. Turn off your computer.
2. Go out.
3. Drink and enormous amount of alcohol and/or indulge in the narcotics of your choice.
4. Come home.
5. Wait for 12 hours or until you feel suitably dreadful.
6. Then, and only then, click here to listen to some of the most beautful music you will ever fall asleep to.

You see, even the French need a little quiet time too and Parisenne collective (brains of the operation Pierre Lefeuvre pictured above - stuffed panda not a member) sayCeT are the perfect flipside to the brilliance of the french dance scene. Every track on sayCeT's MySpace is the polar opposite of, for example, 'Stress' by Justice. They do not make music that will make you sweat.

Referencing any other French bands is pointless since sayCeT share a sound with only the likes of Boards Of Canada, Mum and perhaps Sigur Ros on their less dramatic days.

If you had a heavy night last night and didn't, like us, stay in to watch X-Factor then we recommend cooking a frozen pizza, having a wank and a listen to sayCeT. It'll sort you out in no time.

In case you're too hungover to have noticed the link above, click here to listen to sayCeT.

We saw a young man called Louis La Roche play some records on Friday night...

2008-09-28T08:30:00.003+02:00

And he was very good.

Here is a video (not HD) of the event to demonstrate the goodness of Louis La Roche's DJ set.

Very good - as you can see and hear. It would have been better if this had been filmed at 3am in the morning in an exciting club but we took this (inevitably award winning) piece of footage just after 10pm in an East London bar.

The song you may be able to hear over that inexplicable din which accompanies any live video made on a mobile phone is 'Sunshine Hotel', the best song on his 'I Delete Myself' album. Oh yes, we forgot to mention that he is not only a DJ but a producer too.

He is also about 11 years old.

Actually he's 18, so old enough for a MySpace page, which will no doubt be of interest to anyone fond of dance music which is influenced equally by both French robopop and 'funky house'.

Here is a picture of Louis in his house. It does indeed look like quite a funky house - at least it does if the snazzy wallpaper is anything to go by.

Struggling to understand the amount of venom directed at Iglu & Hartly

2008-09-27T12:23:00.002+02:00

Everything this very angry review of the Iglu & Hartly album says is true.

However, unlike the publication in question we think that any band described as 'Andrew WK and the Chuckle Brothers smeared in baby oil' is a completely brilliant prospect.

If we just take a look at the following facts:
Andrew WK: Brilliant.
The Chuckle Brothers: Brilliant.

Sure, Iglu & Hartly aren't cool. They're not big and they're not clever but GEEZ, can't people lighten up a little bit? What sort of state would the world be in if all guitar music was as introspective and glum as, for instance, Glasvegas. Great band, but we'd all be in a state of terminal despair if our iPods were stuffed with only miserable northerners.

Iglu & Hartly can be compared to a lot of bad bands. The Darkness, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Crazytown and Limp Bizkit but at least all these bands did something other than stand moodily on a stage banging on about an ex-girlfriend with a big fringe dangling over their big grumpy faces.

Like Iglu & Hartly they entertain, they have fun and they don't take themselves seriously. Personally we wouldn't compare Iglu & Hartly to any of these bands, we instead see more similarities with one hit wonders Len or Bran Van 3000, and while I&H may well end up as nothing more than a temporary presence in the music world, they'll burn bright and brilliantly as long as tracks such as 'In This City', 'Jump In Your Car' and the brilliant 'Dayglo' are around to make people happy.

But maybe we should all just go and have another listen to something by Biffy Clyro for the rest of the day.

Iglu & Hartly 'Dayglo'

Everything you have heard about the Ladyhawke album being amazing is true

2008-09-25T15:14:00.008+02:00

Fans of females who make electronic pop music have had a tough year. Goldfrapp released an acoustic album and Madonna gleefully bashed another nail into her own credibility with all-but universally derided ‘R&B’ album, ‘Hard Candy’.

So it’s just as well that Australian pop newcomer Ladyhawke's release this week more than fills the void left by disappointing releases from two of the world’s premier pop ladies.

The subject of much hype in the months leading up to the release of her self titled debut, ‘Ladyhawke’ more than lives up to expectations. Her popular if not exactly successful singles ‘Back Of The Van’, ‘Paris Is Burning’ and ‘Dusk Till Dawn’ stirred up anticipation for a new saviour of pop music, and while she’s clearly managed little in the way of salvation yet, ‘Ladyhawke’ offers plenty of ammunition to complete this objective.

Album opener ‘Magic’ sets the scene for everything a modern pop album should be – a story of personal heartache, composed and produced with such epic intentions that the emotions in question should be felt the world over.

But while some tracks are stirring epics full of emotional depth, brilliant, radio-friendly pop tracks such as ‘Crazy World’ ‘My Delirium’ and ‘Another Runaway’ are so simply amazing that they could be about boiling an egg and they would still sound incredible.

Start to finish amazing, ‘Ladyhawke’ is 2008’s defining female pop album. The album demonstrates the beauty and brilliance found in records made by artists unconcerned with their legacy or own artistic evolution and who strive for nothing more than to make a bloody brilliant record. And in that instance, it's mission accomplished for Ladyhawke.

Ladyhawke 'Magic'

Our thoughts on the new The Killers single

2008-09-24T12:26:00.005+02:00

The new The Killers single 'Human' is old news already. You've may have already heard it and read all sorts of interesting things about it before now.

But here are our contributions to the return of the apparently moustache free Brandon Flowers (and friends).

1. Wow. It's quite danceable. We anticipate remixes.
2. 'Human' is basically 'Read My Mind' (the greatest Killers single of all time) re-done with big eighties bits all over the place.
3. It's probably the third best single The Killers have released.
3. Does Brandon Flowers know where his voice is going or does he just open his mouth and hope for the best?
4. 'Are we human, or are we dancer' does not make a whole lot of sense. 'And I'm on my knees looking for the answers' is the best part of the song, melodically speaking.
5. There is probably less in the way of a narrative than in say, 'When You Were Young'.
7. We wonder how it will stand up in live alongside the likes of 'Mr Brightside' and 'All These Things That I've Done'.
8. Stuart Price is very good at producing records.
9. We will listen to Seal's Stuart Price produced single 'Amazing' later today.
10. We wonder if this would have been the first single if it hadn't been produced by Stuart Price?

Make up your own mind. For us, it's brilliance didn't really kick in until five or six listens and we then went back and changed the above words 'fifth best single' to the words 'third best single'.

The Killers 'Human'

We were just thinking...

2008-09-24T11:33:00.005+02:00

...That if Pink's 'So What' single had been recorded by Britney, then the world would be at the feet of Miss Spears once again, hailing her return to form a complete success. Is the world at the feet of Pink, congratulating her on recording possibly the greatest single of her career? No, no they're not.

Instead, Britney's 'Womanizer' is simply above adequate while the Pink single deserves to be Number One for a very long time indeed. Both the Pink song and video remind us once again that Pink is not only hugely talented, she is also one of the few female American pop stars with any hint of personality. Britney? We wouldn't want left alone in a room with her. Rihanna? The lights are on but no-one's home. Christina Aguilera? We wouldn't get on.

Pink? Yes please. We'd take her to the pub and she'd love it as much as we would.

We also like the fact that there is a horse on her new album cover.

Pink 'So What'

A spurious and enormous post about PlayStation 3 games

2008-09-24T11:30:00.006+02:00

Not that you would have heard our squeaking on the matter over the din from every other PlayStation 3 owner complaining about the same thing, but we recently grumbled that there were no good games on PS3.

But all that is about to change. Before the end of the year, we are sure we will have more to occupy ourselves with than a couple of SingStar discs and a dust-gathering copy of Heavenly Sword. Here’s a round up of pre-Christmas 2008 releases that we are excited about.

PURE
26 September
We’re not fans of sports games, and don’t have the patience with racing games, but Pure’s mix of extreme speed, amazing tricks and vertigo-inducing scenarios makes this our first essential purchase.

BIOSHOCK
17 October
Non-microsoft supporters get their first taste of what Xbox owners have been frothing over for ages. Something to do with an underwater city, little girls and big monsters.

LITTLE BIG PLANET
24 October
The most important title of the year. Supposedly the title to make PS3 a must have machine. It looks amazing and apparently plays as good as it’s promise – but will non-committed gamers bother with the level creation and online sharing the game has been built for?

DEAD SPACE
24 October
Cutting the faces off aliens in a derelict space station. Hurrah!

SILENT HILL:HOMECOMING
31 October
Inevitably disappointing installment in the Silent Hill franchise, this one focusing on ridiculous notions such as powerful weapons and various attacks. We’d rather a story about someone doing something horrible and then being punished for it instead of a new chainsaw and a harder punch. It might be good, but it might not.

SIREN BLOOD CURSE
31 October
Already available for download and already amazing, so why are we looking forward to the Blu-ray release of Siren Blood Curse? Because we can sell the disc on eBay when we’re finished, that’s why.
SONIC UNLEASHED
7 November
Almost certainly rubbish, what keeps hope alive for the latest Sonic The Hedgehog title is SEGA’s admittance that all 3D Sonic games have been fairly dreadful and their seeming willingness to address this.

NARUTO: ULTIMATE NINJA STORM
7 November
We know very little about Naruto, but what we’ve play of Ultimate Ninja Storm has given us a taste of this anime explosion where little people beat the crap out of each other and then jump up and down excitedly. We approve.

VALKYRIA CHRONICLES
14 November
The only RPG titles on PS3 have been tarted up ports of older games (Oblivion: Elder Scrolls and Enchanted Arms), Valkyria Chronicles is a beautiful water-coloured title set during a fictional 20th century war in Europe. Strategy and storyline make this our most anticipated title of the year.
TOMB RAIDER
21 November
Tits, guns and dungeons. The latest Lara adventure looks like her sweetest to date.

ALONE IN THE DARK
21 November
Ironing out the disappointments from the Xbox 360 version, developers promise that everything reviewers and consumers hated about it’s initial release on other platforms will be sorted out for Alone In The Dark’s PS3 release. We hope so.

DC UNIVERSE ONLINE
28 November
How amazing would it be to play Batman or Huntress or Black Canary in an online world? Well, you can’t. But if you’re lucky, you might get to fight alongside them as create your own super powered creation to do good or evil in Gotham City, Metropolis and loads of other famous DC locations that we can’t remember or have never heard of.

Not so much waiting for a bus and having two coming along, more like waiting for a good game and having 12 come along at once. Happy Christmas to us.

Robyn's new single isn't very new at all

2008-09-23T12:24:00.017+02:00

So on the seventh day, God had a rest and a bit of a sit down apparently. He was tired of creating the earth in the six days previous. What the bible doesn't tell us, is when exactly he found time to work on creating the new Robyn single, 'Dream On'.

We say 'new' in the loosest sense of the word - it's been knocking around on the internet for YEARS, but it is very good indeed. It is certainly the closest track to 'With Every Heartbeat' Robyn has released since her one and only Number One single - even though in more ways than it is possible to mention, it is completely different.

Anyway, if you've not had this on your iPod for a couple of years already, this is the new Robyn single, 'Dream On'. It is apparently released on 17 November and will probably be no less popular than her other singles (the ones that weren't 'With Every Heartbeat' at any rate).

Robyn - 'Dream On'

We look forward to the inevitable remixes and visually arresting video which will no doubt accompany the release.

Find a spare £7.55 and make next week amazing

2008-09-23T12:04:00.004+02:00

Obviously Pnau have plans to make themselves popular and famous in the UK, since they are releasing their album, (called 'Pnau' interestingly enough), next week. We have pulled a single party-popper to celebrate this fact this morning.

Here is what we can tell you about the album.

1. It's better than their first, which is quite good and available on iTunes now.
2. We can vouch for the amazingness of 'Baby', 'Wild Strawberries', 'Come Together', 'With You Forever' and most importantly 'Dancing On The Water' and 'Embrace'. It's a 12 track album so that's 50% of the album guaranteed to be amazing.
3. Ladyhawke is on some of it.
4. It is quite cheap at play.com.
5. The album cover is quite boring.

And if you really like it, come and see them play Fabric, London on Thursday 2 October.

Would a t-shirt not have done the trick?

2008-09-22T17:12:00.010+02:00

We like music an awful lot and there are lengths we'd go to prove this. These lengths include things such as paying for music (because we have definitely never downloaded anything for free honest) or gig tickets. We might even go so far as recommend something to a friend.

However, there are some people who will always feel the need to go a little bit further, perhaps almost to a point where 'further still' isn't even an option. After all, nothing shows devotion to a band more than getting your favourite band drawn on your skin. Forever. In ink.

We're talking tattoos and and below are a few of our favourite examples of people for who a tour t-shirt just will not do, showing some inky love to some of our favourite bands.

Daft Punk

Digitalism

Chemical Brothers

Justice

Bagraiders

We wonder if the Daft Punk tattooist was just given a vague description of the band and drew what he imagined them to be like? The Justice one is clearly the best.

These Blackholes are more exciting than the Hadron Collider (and have better hair)

2008-09-21T13:40:00.009+02:00

Here is a timely poke in the ribs to persuade us to stop listening to Australian electro pop and a reminder that the French have probably been twiddling knobs in recording studios since before the UK was shipping convicts to the other side of the world.

Three irritatingly handsome young Frenchmen, These Blackholes are of course blessed with the inherent knowledge of electronic music that the French are seemingly born with and mix this with lots of bits of old funk, new funk and really good hair. Good hair is also something that the French have mastered by the time they slip from the womb.

The three men in question are called Thomas, Ralph and Rébou. One average name, one slightly interesting name and one totally brilliant name. We wish there was an accent somewhere in our name.

More interesting than their names are the four totally amazing tracks on their MySpace, of which we cannot choose a favourite, but we are particularly enjoying the saxophone in the jazzy-electro ‘Brush It’ and the vocal sample in the subtle yet thoroughly danceable 'My Way Remix’. The Sonny J-esque sweaty club workout of 'Discophilium' is entirely brilliant though, so maybe that is the best. It's too close to call.

Choose your own favourites on their MySpace page, where you can also look at pictures of their hair if you are interested and despite his boring name, we have to admit that Thomas has the best hair of the lot.

Here is a picture of Thomas from These Blackholes and his very lovely hair. Well done Thomas.

Leaking like it was 2007

2008-09-21T09:30:00.004+02:00

This time last year, the internet was suddenly flooded with a load of leaked new Britney Spears song clips, all of which were rubbish and none of which made it onto her slightly better than rubbish 'Blackout' album.

And it's happening all over again.

After sloppily letting a track called 'Candy With Strangers' pop up all over the internet (and cause all sorts of fuss over whether it was real or not), her supposed new single 'Womanizer' has now made it's leaky debut, and in the worst quality possible.

From what we can make out through the radio static and unusual ramblings of the radio DJ who played the track, the song isn't a million miles away from 'Toy Soldier', the track from 'Blackout' that most fans wanted to see as a single.

Here are our immediate thoughts.

1. It's definitely catchy.
2. It's definitely Britney.
3. It's quite good.
4. It's not quite as good as we might have hoped.
5. We hope it's an album reject, not the actual single.
6. We hope this because the album will be very good indeed if she can toss away 7/10 songs like this on a whim.

Click here if you would like to listen to 'Womanizer' by Britney Spears.

We love this robot

2008-09-21T09:00:00.002+02:00

You know how great robots are. We know how great robots are. Even international car giant Citroen know how great robots are and their new advert is evidence exactly how great robots can be.

It is also evidence that even The Bee Gees can sound good with a little electrifying.

Enjoy. The only down side is that real Citroen cars don't dance. :(

Would you like a Hundred Virgins In Heaven? (FYI, it's an amazing free mixtape)

2008-09-20T16:51:00.007+02:00

Everyone loves a mixtape, even if the mix tape in question is delivered through a download link and there is no 'tape' involved at any point.

This mixtape, 'Hundred Virgins In Heaven' is quite amazing - partly to to the quality of the mix and partly due to the tracklist chosen by a Newcastle DJ, called Bloodbeats. We believe his real name may be Richard.

We certainly don't know what he looks like, which explains why we have chosen to illustrate this with a random picture of some glowsticks we found on google images :(

Here are the songs Bloodbeats chose for his mixtape, 'Hundred Virgins In Heaven':

The Panacea - Intro
Pussycat Dolls - When I Grow Up (Ralphi Rosario Remix)
Anoraak - Waiting For Your Phonecall
Faker - This Heart Attack
PNAU feat. Ladyhawke - Embrace
Presets - Talk Like That (CFCF Remix)
Annie - I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me (Get Shakes Remix)
Simian Mobile Disco - Hustler (Joakim Remix)
Black Ghosts - Anyway You Choose To Give It
Dolby Anol - Heather, I'm Dry (Anol Edit)
Sonny J - Enfant Terrible (Riton Re-Rub)
Beastie Boys - Intergalactic (Yellus Remix)
Tronik Youth - Laugh Cry Live Die (GRUM Remix)
The Whip - Divebomb
Black Devil Disco Club - On Just Foot
Surkin - Hoes Get Down
Yelle - Ce Jeu

If you are thinking that including tracks by Pussycat Dolls, Beastie Boys and Simian Mobile Disco on the same mixtape would make it seriously special, you would be right.

Here is the amazing mixtape Bloodbeats made.

Download 'Hundred Virgins In Heaven' by Bloodbeats here.

'The Rex The Dog Show', in brief

2008-09-20T14:19:00.005+02:00

Have you bought the Rex The Dog album yet? Probably not. We are happy to repeat our thinking that it might be the best album we've heard this year but don't take only our words for it, take these moving pictures and exciting audio as concrete fact of it's exceptional goodness.

If you are still not convinced then there is nothing more anyone can do on the matter.

Pnau then Pnau then...

2008-09-20T11:36:00.002+02:00

We made a foolish decision NOT to go and see Pnau last night at the Iceland Airwaves festival in London. We are complete idiots.

Still let's not dwell on the past, let's think about how utterly amazing Pnau are and start making plans to catch them at one of their next London dates.

An Australian duo, comparable perhaps to Justice had the French pair spent their youth on the beach instead of smoking roll-up cigarettes in French cafes, Pnau's take on electro dance is nothing short of TOTALLY FUCKING INCREDIBLE.

Like Justice, their best known track samples a load of kids singing something simple and produced into sounding something amazing. Pnau's 'Baby' may not have crept into the UK club conscious in the same way as Justice's 'DANCE' but give it time. That it has an amazing video will sorta help things too.

But instead of swerving off into frantic electro elsewhere on their album, Pnau jump unashamedly feet first into the pop world with amazing tracks (with vocals by actual adults) such as 'Embrace', 'Dancing On The Water' and 'Come Together'. If you prefer your dance music things a little harder, 'Wild Strawberries' should suit your needs.

We love Pnau, we love them completely and utterly. They will be back in the UK in October for dates at Fabric and Drrrr. You will not regret going.

Dates, details and the best music you will hear all weekend right here.

We can't make it, but don't let that stop you...

2008-09-18T15:26:00.004+02:00

If you thought that the festival season was over, think again. Although don't expect to see tents and bean burgers at the Iceland Airwaves festival as it is taking place across various fashionable venues in East London tomorrow night (Friday 19 September).

Bringing together some of the best dance bands and DJs alongside amazing newcomers, we're slightly disappointed to be missing Manchester's finest The Whip, the unspeakably amazing Australians Pnau, Kitsune's own indie heroes Cazals and noisy electro lads Autokratz as well as London's most brilliant DJs Jerry Bouthier and Hannah Holland.

However, there is always the danger that anyone who does go could accidentally see The Young Knives and that's a risk we're simply not willing to take. Plus, we have other plans...

The full line up can be found here.

Should you make it along, please let us know what we missed and whether it was any good. Thanking you muchly.

The dog's bollocks (and the rest of it's genitals as well)

2008-09-18T14:30:00.004+02:00

This week we did something rather old fashioned. We walked into HMV, found a compact disc we were interested in, took it to the counter and paid for it. We bought an album.

The album in question is Rex The Dog's 'The Rex The Dog Show' album and it is potentially the year's best dance record. It is both incredibly modern and also incredibly 90s - which makes sense because the album was recorded recently but Rex The Dog was quite popular in the 1990s when he was calling himself JX.

The best track on the album is 'Maximize 2008'. It is like an entire night out condensed into three minutes of sucky backward synths and huge electro beeps.

The rest of the album is almost as good and here is a definitive review to display just that.

Intro: Good.
Maximize 2008: Amazing.
Gecko: Good.
Bubbilicious: Amazing.
Prototype: Amazing.
Heartsong: Very good.
The Knife 'Heartbeats' (Rex The Dog Remix): Amazing.
Circulate: Amazing.
The Sounds 'Tony The Beat' (Rex The Dog Remix): Amazing.
I Can See You, Can You See Me?: Very good.
Itchy Scratchy: Quite good.
Italian Skyline: Amazing:
Frequency: Amazing.
I Look Into Mid Air: Very good.

After doing some maths we have averaged this in-depth review and the overall rating for Rex The Dog's album is MOSTLY AMAZING. It makes us want to have puppies and is available in shops. Both online and off. We enjoyed buying this album and recommend you do the same.

Thoughts on Life With PlayStation

2008-09-18T12:50:00.002+02:00

The PlayStation 3 has today added another impressive lifestyle element to it's arsenal of capabilities to entice the modern consumer looking for a system to take care of his every entertainment need.

Life With PlayStation launched today replacing Folding@Home - the piece of software that allowed your PS3 to do very big sums and perhaps help cure cancer and other nasty diseases. Doubtless most owners never bothered with it before now.

Essentially an online, interactive globe, Life With PlayStation allows users to read the news from the world's major capitals, check the weather and look at real-time cloud formations across the planet. The user can turn the world, zooming into the city of his choice for news or weather. It is very useful, looks rather pretty and is another major feature to put the PS3 ahead of it's competition in terms of being the ultimate home entertainment system.

It's just a shame most people are still more interested in playing games on their PS3 instead of turning a globe around and looking at some clouds. Can we have some decent games now please? Thank you Sony.

The new The Teenagers video features teenagers but not The Teenagers

2008-09-05T10:15:00.003+02:00

If you have heard The Teenagers' album you'll be well aware it is amazing, although singles such as 'Make It Better' haven't realy done it justice. Fortunately the new single is one of the album standouts but sadly it seems like the current album und has run out of steam as the 'Feeling Better' video is fan made. Or at least fan contributed.

It probably won't get nominated for any MTV Video awards but the song remains amazing.

In other important news about this video, we can reliably inform you that should you wish to buy the shirt that the man in the 3D glasses is wearing, it costs £14.99 from H&M and is a very nice shirt indeed.

Catch up with The Correspondents...

2008-08-19T10:00:00.003+02:00

This weekend is a bank holiday. This means that the more responsible among us are legally allowed to go out on a Sunday night and drink alcohol. However, this post does not concern events taking place on Sunday night, this is a simple (and free) suggestion of something rather amazing to do on Friday night.

We first saw Wandsworth duo The Correspondents at last month’s Secret Garden Party in Cambridge (the official Best Weekend Of The Year – as far as we are concerned). Chuckles and Mr. Bruce make up the band: geeky, white-boy, jazz-inspired hip-hop which is far, far better than that rather off-putting description might suggest.

What sets this South London pair apart from any other hip-hop band is that instead of reaching into the history of soul for samples and inspiration, they’ve instead rummaged around in Walt Disney’s record collection, borrowing a huge chunk of The Jungle Book for their amazing ‘I Wanna Be Like You’ track – a completely irresistible slice of danceable jazz which owes as much to the imagination and production as it does the vocals of Baloo the Bear.

However, there’s more to The Correspondents than their samples and influences - although anyone familiar with Mr. Scruff’s ‘Get A Move On’ will be at home with everything they have to offer on their MySpace page. ‘The Course Of Last Night’ will make you wish it was possible to have a night out in the 1940s while ‘Rentaclown’ is guaranteed to make at least one part of your body move.

We love The Correspondents we really do. They make things seem sunnier, warmer and make us proud to hail from the same borough. This Friday they are playing at a charity fundraiser at The Gigalum Bar in South London, and if you sign up for the night on their MySpace page not only will you get free entry to the gig but the bar will make a £4 donation and more importantly – there’ll be a free drink waiting for you.

Check out The Correspondents at MySpace. Sign up for Friday night and start your bank holiday with style. We’ll see you there…

A small technological grumble

2008-08-19T09:00:00.001+02:00

We have found that PlayStation 3 is a great place to store and play music. It is also an amazing games console.

HOWEVER... As we are sat here right now we can't help but wonder if we are the only people who are the proud owners of a complete mess of wires tucked away under our TV. Sure, the wireless controllers clear up a bit of the clutter - but if you factor in the PlayStation Eye and microphones for SingStar, an external hard-drive to boost the really rather paltry 40GB we opted for and now PlayTV, it's a complete and utter mess. Maybe it's our own fault, but the more peripherals we pick up, the uglier the console becomes.

We are disgusted by the clutter in this photo:

PlayTV is quite good by the way, so long as you remember that it is nothing more than a TV receiver and your enjoyment of PlayTV extends only as far as your appreciation of television. We would give it a thoroughly considered 6/10.

Maybe we should throw a sheet over it all and pretend it's not there :(

Santogold gets better and better and maybe hurt some zebras

2008-08-13T14:48:00.005+02:00

There are no horses* in the new Santogold video although it does appear that a number of zebras were used to decorate the set of 'Lights Out'. The left-overs were sewn into a nice trouser suit for the lady herself to slip into.

It's brilliant, obviously, but then Santogold is making her name as a woman who is never anything less.

As well as her second single, 'Lights Out' is also the second example of exactly why Santogold is one of the most brilliant new artists of 2008. Effortlessly cool and effortlessly commercial at the same time, tracks such as 'Lights Out' and previous single 'LES Artistes' would be as at home in an East London club as it would played at your parents house over dinner.

'Lights Out' then. Amazing. Watching this has convinced us to buy the album.

*There was a horse in the last Santogold video. In case you missed it.

Is the Katy Perry single a little bit rude to gay people?

2008-08-12T14:49:00.009+02:00

There has been some degree of controversy over whether Katy Perry’s ‘I Kissed A Girl’ is homophobic or just an example of the fact that sexuality is no longer a black and white subject matter and that we all exist in a strange world where our sexual preferences are far more grey.

Doctors and columnists have queued to put forward their opinions and the singles buying public in both the UK and America have made their feeling clear by making 'I Kissed A Girl' a Number One record.

However, our only issue with this whole situation is why nobody is questioning how such a second rate electro-pop song made it to Number One anywhere? It is one of the least inspiring tracks of the year and surely the only reason people are buying it is because acceptance is currently more fashionable than hatred.

It almost certainly wouldn’t have made Number One or even radio playlists if it had been called ‘I Kissed An Arab’ or ‘I Kissed My Uncle Graham’ but that is not the point. It shouldn’t have made playlists at all – because it is rubbish, not because it might be a bit rude to gay people.

In other, completely unrelated non-gay news, here is a nice picture of Jake Gyllenhaal filming the Prince Of Persia movie.

Makes you wonder Wiley bothered...

2008-08-12T13:45:00.005+02:00

Who knew the horrors that Kanye West would be unleashing when he turned Daft Punk’s amazing ‘Harder Better Faster Stronger’ into his own amazing ‘Stronger’ Number One?

The UK’s big hip-hop hope, Wiley, was clearly watching the success of Kanye West’s clever sampling and decided he wanted a piece for himself. Kanye West took a Daft Punk track, stripped out the elements he didn’t need and recreated a track which made people the world over remember why they loved Daft Punk so much and pushed him that final step towards becoming one of the world’s greatest hip-hop artists.

Sadly, Wiley’s ‘Summertime’ is nothing more than a man rapping over ‘Aerodynamic’. Nothing has been changed, nothing has been removed, nothing has been altered – it is just a man rapping over ‘Aerodynamic’.

The UK hip-hop scene has not found its much needed salvation. Not quite yet...

Click here to listen to 'Summertime' by Wiley. But it is very disappointing - please be warned.

Go out and buy an indie record

2008-08-11T21:40:00.005+02:00

At the end of June The Subways released their second album. It is without question the best guitar-band album we have heard all of 2008. But considering the eternal popularity of British guitar bands and the continuing existence of Pigeon Detectives and The Fratellis, it is an ongoing mystery why The Subways couldn’t get noticed by the wider British public if they set themselves on fire. Or handed out cash in central London. Or let a sex tape ‘leak’ onto the internet.

The overlooked album is called ‘All Or Nothing’ and by the looks of things, it’s going to be the latter for The Subways despite being amazing songwriters and even better performers. They shot themselves in the foot slightly by releasing a rather average single ‘Alright’ (the name summed the track up nicely really) but songs such as ‘Obsession’ and ‘Shake Shake’, ‘Kalifornia’ and simple ballad ‘Move To Newlyn’ are some of the finest guitar pop songs of the year. Their first album was an incredible blast of rough, edgy teen punk, but this release is a streamlined, finely crafted piece of work which balances perfectly between classic pop writing and the last remnants of a teenagers angst as he approaches some degree of maturity.

We appreciate that this is being posted just before nine on a Monday night so most people will be settling down to watch Dragons Den and aren’t going to go and do what the headline here suggests, but perhaps when the shops open in the morning, you might like to think about buying a copy of ‘All Or Nothing’ by The Subways. We’d give it 8 out of 10. Perhaps 8 and a half.

It is certainly too good an album to let fade into obscurity while everyone is out buying the Basshunter record instead.

Iglu & Hartly: A bit like some other bands, but better

2008-08-11T12:24:00.005+02:00

One part MGMT, one part Dandy Warhols and a mercifully small part Goldie Lookin’ Chain, Iglu & Hartly are one of 2008’s current buzz bands who a lot of people been saying are very good but who will more than likely be completely forgotten about by the time the year ends.

Their new single ‘In This City’ is bloody brilliant, it makes us wish we lived in a city other than London – mainly because not many songs have been written about this city that sound so bloody amazing.

You will have to click here and watch the video because for some unknown reason (perhaps they do not wish people to enjoy the video and then consider spending cash on future Iglu & Hartly products), the YouTube video is not embeddable.

If you do not wish to, think of it like this:

If ‘In This City’ was an MGMT song it would be ‘Kids’.

If ‘In This City’ was a Dandy Warhols song it would be ‘Bohemian Like You’

If ‘In This City’ was a Goldie Lookin’ Chain song it would be none of them because Goldie Lookin’ Chain were rubbish and the world is a better place without bands who look like they might smell a bit like feet.

She's in love with a multi-million dollar Pixar Robot

2008-08-10T16:26:00.002+02:00

It’s about two years overdue that ‘Robot Song’ by Margaret Berger was given the fan-made video treatment but Ta Da! It's here...

While ‘Wall-E’ was SO three weeks ago, it does make sense that Berger’s haunting electro ballad, an intelligent discussion on the difficulties of falling for a bucket of wires and circuitry should be paired up with this (apparently rather good) robot movie.

The song is quite simply incredible and has been since it was released on her 7/10 album ‘Pretty Scary Silver Fairy’ album in 2006. She’s given up music since, but some songs are simply too good to be given up on. ‘Robot Song’ is one such track.

Maria Lawson is back! Now who the hell is that...

2008-08-09T12:32:00.008+02:00

If you were watching X-Factor in 2006 then you might remember a lady with enormous boobs, great legs and an incredible voice. Her name was Maria Lawson and she didn’t win. Shane Ward did and congratulations to him.

Maria trundled away and signed to a small division of SonyBMG (possibly run from a portacabin off-site) and was moulded from a soulful rock diva into a Gabrielle wannabe. The single (‘Sleepwalking’) charted badly and the album (‘Maria Lawson’) fared worse. She was the face and breasts of a bra range for well-endowed women for a short while before saying goodbye to the world of music and minor-celebrity.

Now she’s back and there are some very good things about this return and these can be stripped down to one very simple fact:

HER SONGS ARE NOT SHIT.

Here are the facts about the new songs that Maria Lawson has (and indeed hasn’t) recorded and slapped on her fancy new website.

1. Her new single is called ‘Breaking Me Down’. It was written by Michelle Escoffery - a name which will mean something to about 14 people in the UK but those will know that she is quite good at writing pop/soul songs for pop/soul artists.

2. ‘These Walls’ is better. A sturdy ballad with which would make an amazing comeback single for either Tina Turner or Whitney Houston – both of whom Maria likes very much.

3. ‘I Wanna Say Yes’ is very old. Originally recorded before she started auditioning in front of Sharon Osbourne, ‘I Wanna Say Yes’ (alongside tracks ‘Inferno’ and ‘Rush’) was one of the reasons people were excited about Maria’s prospects as a solo artist. Stirring and sensual, ‘I Wanna Say Yes’ is the superior ballad over slushy ‘In The Middle Of The Night’.

4. Her cover of ‘Sign Your Name’ isn't all that great actually.

5. You can’t hear ‘Inferno’ or Rush’ on her site but both, ‘Inferno’ especially, are utterly amazing. She’d be a fool not to include them.

And on that note (referring to a singer we like very much as a fool), that’s all we have to say about Maria Lawson. Other than to suggest you watch the following video for ‘Breaking Me Down’ and agree with us, that as well as having some good songs, she is hardly burdened by the way she looks.

And you can listen to all her new songs at her website. Which is right here.

Week End thoughts

2008-05-23T16:19:00.001+02:00

The weekend is here and we are off to the countryside to look at the lambs. And drink huge quantities of alcohol etc.
Here are a few things that have made the week a little more bearable...

1. Resident Evil 5 (our most wanted game) may be released in the UK before the end of the 2008 financial year. Hopefully this will mean that they have decided to dis-regard the internet crazies who are calling the game racist...
2. Bioshock has been confirmed for the PS3.
3. We are getting out of London for the weekend.
4. It is less than 2 months until we go to the Secret Garden Party. The Whip! Alphabeat! Grace Jones! Some other people!

And here's what has made the week a gruelling chore.

1. The 2008 financial year ends in April 2009 :(
2. It is more than 2 months until Hellboy 2 is released.
3. There is no Dr Who this weekend.
4. We can't currently afford to buy the new Pendulum album.

We doubt very much we will see any lambs either. Just alcohol.

The best album of 2008 so far...

2008-05-22T12:03:00.002+02:00

It has been widely publicised recently that perhaps the new Cut Copy album is quite good.

This is mostly true, although if you take our word for it, we'd suggest that 'In Ghost Colours' is in fact the best album of 2008 so far.

The cover is rubbish though:

However, unlike The Whip's New Order influenced Northern debut released March this year, Cut Copy's second album (we don't really like the word 'sophomore' so much), takes the same 80s electro sound but puts it outside to mellow in the Melbourne sun first.

The relatively straightforward electro-pop single 'Lights & Music' is probably the least inspiring track on the album, but only due to the quality of the company it keeps. 'So Haunted' updates the pounding indie of Doves for 2008 while 'Feel The Love' sparkles with more summer warmth than early morning sun on an outdoor pool; the sort of which we don't have enough of either in the UK.

'Unforgettable Season' is evidence of what happens when boys with guitars get the fresh air they really ought and 'Hearts On Fire' is a subtle homage to nineties house music – albeit without all the nonsense and smiley face logos.

'In Ghost Colours' is an incredible album, and along with fellows Australian bands Pendulum and The Presets, provide proof that the real sound of modern electro is not found in East London - it's warming itself on the other side of the planet...

'In Ghost Colours' is out now on Modular Records. We recommend...

We shouldn't like it but...

2008-05-22T11:36:00.001+02:00

There is something amazing about Michelle Williams 'Break The Dawn' single.

Perhaps it is the whole under-dog thing or perhaps it is the fact that nobody knows who the hell she is even though she was part of one of the biggest selling girl groups of all time (nb. she was not in the Spice Girls) or perhaps it's just because neither Beyonce, Kelly or any of the other Destiny's Child escapees have recorded something so simple and so sweet.

However, she still doesn't look the sort who would ever be out later than 10pm, but we'll overlook that (and her dramatic weightloss) when the song is so good.

InterBritney 5555

2008-03-13T10:53:00.002+01:00

Since Britney Spears is no longer in any state to appear in her own music videos, it makes sense to make a new Britney to do all the hard work for her. The results, her new video 'Break The Ice' sees an animated Britney do all the things she did in her amazing 'Toxic' video a few years back, but with more colour and more exciting hair.

Break the Ice

We hope she has seen Daft Punk's AMAZING 'Interstella 5555' movie and makes one of her own. It will certainly give her more time to do those little things she enjoys so much, like drinking expensive coffee and driving round the same roundabout all night.

Since we're back on top of things…

2008-03-07T16:18:00.001+01:00

We have missed about ten million amazing new videos in the past month or so. We apologize. You've probably seen everything you need to see elsewhere on the internet in that time, but in case you haven't, here are best new videos on the world wide web and more specifically, moderately popular video website, YouTube.

Santogold 'LES Artistes'

The Whip 'Trash'

Justice 'DVNO'

Neon Neon 'I Lust You'

Oh. Not as exhaustive as we imagined - But all of the above score above the 8/10 mark as far as we are concerned.

In case you were wondering...

2008-03-07T13:05:00.001+01:00

This page has gone a bit quiet for the following reasons:

1. We bit the bullet and bought that bloody PS3. It is quite incredible and a lot of spare time is now spent playing card games with children across the globe ('Eye Of Judgement') or shooting alien's faces off in Grimsby ('Resistance: Fall Of Man'). When that isn't the case, we have spent a lot of time recently bellowing Bonnie Tyler hits and then uploading them to various parts of the internet ('Singstar') and occasionally dicking around looking for some old piece of gold ('Unchartered: Drake's Fortune'). We love PS3 more than life itself.

2. We got made redundant from our 'real' job.

3. We became single again.

In the instances of the second two, thank goodness that the first was on hand for some reassurance and guidance.

Sebastien Tellier to represent France at Eurovision?

2008-03-07T12:56:00.002+01:00

With both England and Ireland taking the piss by sending a smelly old bin man in a shiny shirt and a stuffed turkey to represent them in Eurovision this year, the French are taking things a bit more seriously. Perhaps a little too seriously.

Sebastien Tellier will represent France in this year's Eurovision song contest, or so we are led to believe. The song in question is 'Divine', the one pop moment from his slightly disappointing 'Sexuality' album.

You can listen to it at his MySpace. We hope Mr Tellier doesn't get any more funny ideas while he is competing in Belgrade, such as offering to work with Andy Abraham on his next album…

Click here to listen to 'Divine' at Sebastien Tellier's MySpace page.

Of course, this could all be a load of old nonsense. Tellier is fond of that sort of malarky...

Nothing to panic about

2008-02-13T13:38:00.001+01:00

The new Panic At The Disco single puts the likes of The Hoosiers into perspective with a lesson in exactly how feel-good guitar pop should be done if it is going to be attempted at all.

'Nine In The Afternoon' isn't especially emo, it isn't especially rock but it is pretty damn special and has a video so bloody cheerful it ought to be available on prescription – and first in the queue at the chemists should be emo miserablists such as My Chemical Romance and their dreary ilk.

If 'emo' still means emotional, then the emotion in question here is sheer joy.

Free Black Ghosts download

2008-02-07T18:21:00.000+01:00

The Black Ghosts' single, 'Anyway You Choose To Give It' was amazing - the follow up singles released in 2007? Less so.

Fortunately the band themselves seem very much aware of this fact and have decided to start over in 2008, doing all the things that fashionable, modern bands tend to do. Mixtapes, remixes, free downloads - you know the sort of thing.

For instance, The Black Ghosts are releasing a mixtape (featuring the likes of The Whip, Frankmusik, Gossip and Simian Mobile Disco) on 17 March and are giving away a free download of their new track, aptly named 'Something New'.

Another apt title would be 'Something Good' – because it is.

Click here to download The Black Ghosts' 'Something New'

Six albums, one post

2008-02-01T15:48:00.000+01:00

We have recently been listening to albums by the following people.

1. Hot Chip
2. The Whip
3. The Teenagers
4. Hercules & Love Affair
5. Foals
6. Sebastien Tellier

We can tell you the following:

- One of these is unspeakably disappointing.

- One of these has eight potential Top Ten singles.

- One of these is pretty much unlistenable to these ears.

- One of these has already shot its load and released their standout track.

- One of these has given us a new favourite band.

- One of these has left us distinctly underwhelmed and we are still unable to fathom the popularity.

And that is all we have to say on the matter.

Silent Hill 5 looks like it will be shit

2008-02-01T14:49:00.000+01:00

There. We've said it.

Without question, the Silent Hill series is one of the most atmospheric, gripping and downright terrifying video games of all time. The impact of the now legendary final revelation of James Sunderland's quest in Silent Hill 2 remains unequalled in video game history.

But the PS3 version of the game looks likely to let fans down in ways they haven't been since, say, Silent Hill 4.

While change, chances and risks can only be commended as games reach their fourth and fifth sequels, Silent Hill 4 was without any sustained sense of tension. While the first person elements of gameplay eventually yielded some degree of supernatural nastiness, the third person action elements missed the disgust and exhilaration gained guiding James, Heather and Harry Mason to their eventual saviour or demise.

So hearing about the pursuit and focus of the uninspiring action elements of Silent Hill 4 by American developers The Collective worries us more than the fear of bumping into Pyramid Head in the stairwell of an abandoned apartment building.

Here is an outline of what has been keeping us awake of late:

- Silent Hill has never been about the combat.
We don't want varied attacks and dodges. If we want skilled combat we will spend some time with 'Devil May Cry'.

- Silent Hill has never been about brute force.
We don't want the protagonist to be a well trained soldier. Where is the sense of helplessness when our 'hero' is a professionally trained, battle weary war veteran? We're a long way from a teenage girl sucked into hell on a trip to the mall…

- Silent Hill has never been about repeating old success.
Playing with Silent Hill history has only ever been attempted with tentative steps – such as the relationship between Harry and Heather Mason in the first and third games. Consider us suspicious with reports that the storyline of Silent Hill 5 will recall the glory of the game's second iteration. Plot outlines of new protagonist Alex Shepherd's search for missing brother Joshua in the fog shrouded streets of Silent Hill seem an almost carbon copy of James' search for his long lost wife Mary.

- Silent Hill has never been about speed.
Released game footage sees typically doom laden locations but also sees Alex belting up stairs and through wonderfully grim corridors without a care in the world – this world or any other. Silent Hill is not just about the player's terror, it is about our character's terror. The thrill of earlier games was exploration, its themes, its storyline and the sense of a horrific world lying beneath what we consider the everyday.

- Silent Hill should never be about the movie.
Silent Hill's move to cinema screen's was teeth grindingly close to being brilliant, but stopped short at every turn. Christopher Gans made the mistake of prizing visuals over storyline and atmosphere, succeeding in creating a visually successful movie but failing in transferring Silent Hill out of the hands of gamers and into the conscious of movie goers. The decision to have Silent Hill's trademark nurses bouncing around their ghoulish hospital with their unnaturally enhanced chests on display might be our biggest concern over this entire project.

While the reinvention of Resident Evil succeeded so well in it's complete overhaul, the half-hearted reinvention of Silent Hill has instead taken its inspiration from some of the series' least revered moments (the fourth game and the movie) and rests on dangerous ground of failing in both pleasing fans of the series and appealing to a hardened and action orientated gaming market.

However, we don't want to sound like the average, everyday whingers complaining that their favourite license has been spoiled by alterations and necessary progression. Silent Hill is one of our favourite games and the only to succeed in genuine scares but we are well aware that the finished version of its fifth console and first next generation iteration is potentially still years away. This is not a grumble, this is merely airing a few concerns and we are more than happy to be proven wrong on every count. In fact we would be thrilled to be proven wrong.

On the obvious plus side, Silent Hill 5 looks amazing and the torchlight effects – an integral part of all Silent hill games - are astounding…

See for yourself:

Just when we decided where our next-gen loyalty lay...

2008-01-30T18:10:00.000+01:00

This might change how we have been feeling about getting a PS3.

Here is the intro to Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii. It looks a bit exciting, and maybe our hard earned cash should be given to Nintendo instead of Sony. We are now quite confused over what to do...

Suggestions?

PS3 Fund Update

2008-01-18T17:36:00.000+01:00

The PS3 Fund is going quite well, although at the expense of many of our possessions.

Our DVD shelf is a sad shadow of it's former self.

We have been quite ruthless with what we have been flogging in order to buy a PS3 as very soon as possible and we are well on our way to our goal.

However, we may not achieve our target as soon as we had hoped, but we are not too sad since the two main reasons for us wanting a Sony console over the supposed market leader, the Nintendo Wii, have slipped from their imminent 2008 release dates to 2009.

Final Fantasy XIII and Resident Evil 5 will not be released this year sadly and we are not going to start selling limbs in order to play Call Of Duty 4 or the Star Wars anthology...

'Nutsack sneaky computer'

2008-01-18T17:28:00.000+01:00

'Get What You Want' by Operator Please has been around for a while now. It was released in their native Australia at the end of last year, reaching a monumental Number 27 in the charts on the other side of the world. This was not good enough, we feel.

It is probably going to do even worse in the UK when it is released next month, but that is only because most people are far too concerned with waiting to buy something by Adele because the BBC predictions for 2008 told them too.

Adele however, does not have a resident violinist, an amazing lead singer with a superfluous 'H' on the end of her name, a bassist with the best hair and mini moustache in pop, a clap-happy keyboardist and the tiniest drummer on the planet.

Here is Operator Please's 'Get What You Want' video.

Adele can stick that pavement she has been chasing in her mouth and eat it, unless this event has already taken place.

Weekend dilemma

2008-01-16T15:44:00.000+01:00

We are going to our gran's 83rd birthday party on Saturday. We have to go to South Wales for this.

Although having just seen the new video by The Presets, we might miss that bus and go out somewhere 'fashionable' instead…

Hmmmmmm… A dilemma. Nanna or dancing and bad behaviour, what should we do?

The greatest album of 2008

2008-01-15T12:47:00.000+01:00

The Whip are not the only band we like but they have, for the past six months, been the band we like above nearly all others. The band that holds the top spots in our hearts is Daft Punk, although things could very possibly change when 'X Marks Destination' arrives.

'X Marks Destination' is the debut album by The Whip and is quite likely our favourite album of 2008. They released three of the greatest singles of 2007 in 'Muzzle No.1', 'Divebomb' and 'Sister Siam' and their next release is the incredible 'Trash' on 10 March.

In the run up to the release of the album, which The Whip promise will be upon us before we know it, new track 'Blackout' has been added to their MySpace player. Much like 'Sister Siam' the track avoids the full throttle approach of 'Trash' or 'Muzzle No. 1', instead building slowly before turning into a completely different song for it's final third. The other common ground it shares with 'Sister Siam' is being completely and utterly amazing.

Click here to listen to 'Blackout' by The Whip.

We will never see this in the UK...

2008-01-11T18:03:00.000+01:00

Sony's flagship brawling action adventurer 'Devil May Cry' is the latest game to make a move to the screens - although fortunately in an animated TV series rather than another game-to-movie debacle.

We were going to moan that there is not enough blood shed in cartoons shown in the UK, although considering that those raised on 'Spongebob Squarepants' now spend their weekends knifing each in various suburbs of London, it is probably best that things remain as they are.

Anyway. Here is the opening of the TV show. It looks quite brilliant.

Apologies. We almost got a little political there. Just watch the nice man in the red coat shoot holes in the shouty nasties and don't go out and hurt anyone - alright?

OMG Darth Vader is in the new Soul Calibur...

2008-01-10T13:07:00.000+01:00

Soul Calibur is probably the our favourite fighting game – possibly because of the ridiculous costumes or possibly because it is so much fun to play and that there is a next-generation Soul Calibur on the way only makes us wish that our PS3 fund (eyes right people) would fill up faster.

Previous games have included guest appearances from Zelda (amazing), Spawn (good) and Heihachi (no, we have no idea why either) but the guests in the new games are quite literally out of this world.

Quite how the characters from Star Wars are going to fit into the fantasy world of Soul Calibur (pirates, valkyries, demons and ninjas) is a complete mystery at the present time, although more certain is that Darth Vader and Yoda will appear in the PS3 and Xbox360 version respectively.

This time around the Sony system has clearly been given the better character after being lumped with the Tekken reject in the last generation – we are almost surprised the PS3 wasn't lumped with C3-PO lumbring around the arena instead of the darkside's finest…

Click here to read full details of the new Soul Calibur from the brilliant people at IGN.

It's official: We want a PS3

2008-01-09T17:15:00.000+01:00

At the time of going to press our current gaming 'arsenal' consists of an increasingly underused (except for drunken Singstar) PS2 and increasingly overused Nintendo DS.

We were planning to get a Wii in the not too distant future but we are officially OVER the Wii now. There is only so long you can wait for some decent games to come out, and since both Final Fantasy and Resident Evil are due to make their debuts on the PS3 in Spring this year we have officially decided that a PS3 is the way to go.*

However, there is very little money in the pot for this (or any other) major purchase so we are flogging old tat on eBay to raise the cash for a PS3. We could be here for a long time. There will be regular updates in the right hand column on our progress in this venture.

*We also are in desperate need of a new laptop but we are conveniently overlooking that in favour of mindless video gaming. Hoo-rah.

Chewing The Whip

2008-01-09T14:03:00.000+01:00

Chewy Chocolate Cookies (who we mentioned briefly last year) have remixed The Whip's unspeakably amazing new single 'Trash'.

The song has been around for over a year now and is getting it's long overdue 'proper' release on March 10 2008.

The remix however, is brand new and much as CCC did with Robyn's 'Handle Me', their 'Trash' remix is completely and amazingly ridiculous and appears to build an almost brand new song from the foundations of The Whip original.

We say 'appears to' since CCC have only posted a trailer of the remix on their MySpace page.

Listen to the 'Trash' remix here.

Why on earth are we looking forward to another Harvest Moon game?

2008-01-09T13:44:00.000+01:00

'Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon' has not only got a ridiculous title, we are well aware how essentially dreary Harvest Moon games are.

We invested months in the Gamecube version only for it all to fuck up when the goat stopped giving milk and we had to attempt to 'put him out to pasture' – which in this instance meant pushing him out of the door when it was snowing in the hope that the fucker might die.

You see, Harvest Moon games are all about farming and as well as being essentially the most boring series of all time, they are also the most engrossing. There is something essentially satisfying about the morning you leave your tiny farmhouse to find that your tomatoes have sprouted – and there's no hidden meaning to that.

But that's all there's ever been to it - Plant stuff, milk stuff, sell stuff - until now. The greatest hangover video game of all time (we've played entire Sundays without bothering to blink in the past) has been reinvented for the DS version with dungeons, monsters and treasure but above all, a storyline.

It's nothing too innovative though – young boy, big eyes, no memory, a bit of land, a cave full of monsters and a fondness for livestock. Choose a bride, grow some turnips, whack some things with your rake and milk cows.

Since it's been out in Japan and America for years and months respectively, the reviews are largely positive and UK Nintendo DS gamers will gain their own tiny handheld plot of land when 'Rune Factory' is released on March 28 2008.

Here is a nice video of the game.

From Mr. Bean to Wolverine?

2008-01-09T11:34:00.000+01:00

Not very well respected Australian singer/actress Natalie Imbruglia is apparently starring in the first X-Men spinoff – the 'Wolverine' movie.

Despite no mention of her role on either her or the movie's IMDB page, an almost certainly unreliable tabloid reckons the former Neighbours actress has a part in the 2009 movie. She's from the same part of the world as Logan actor Hugh Jackman, which is a potential tie between Imbruglia and the movie.

We have no idea whether this is true or not and we certainly have no idea who Natalie might play. She's too old for Jubilee or Kitty Pryde (Wolverine's previous sidekicks), not Asian enough for Deathstryke or Yuriko and not manly enough for Silver Samurai or any of the characters expected in the eastern influenced 'Origins' movie.

There are rumours that Wolverine's rivalry with Sabretooth is to be dealt with in the movie and should Sabretooth be given the treatment he was denied in the first X-Men movie, then perhaps a role as the feral villain's psychic assistant Birdy could be a possibility?

Gun toting Birdy was Sabretooth's getaway driver and helped him suppress his bloodlust. Since Sabretooth eventually tore her open to teach his father a lesson, she was obviously better at the driving part than she was the 'suppression' side of her job…

PS2 disaster!

2008-01-08T15:49:00.000+01:00

New year, no money – last weekend was the perfect time to sit down and finally finish Final Fantasy XII, potentially the greatest game in the console's history and certainly the best of it's final year.

However, our sixty odd hours spent reaching the almost-end battle was all in vain since an ex from 2007 took the wrong memory card when he cleared his stuff out in September. All we are left with is someone else's memory card full of save files for games we've mostly never heard of let alone played or owned…

So if anyone can fill us in on how Final Fantasy XII ends, please do. The game has now gone on eBay (along with the frankly disappointing Legend Of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass on the Nintendo DS) because we simply can't face starting from scratch...

Tres Sensual

2008-01-08T14:36:00.000+01:00

There is a distinct lack of Sebastien Tellier in the new 'Sexual Sportswear' video but that is simply in-keeping with the track itself - his instrumental collaboration with Daft Punk's Guy Manuel.

Mixing the erotic with the electronic, the video is alienating and cold while at the same time incredibly sexy and proof that a dance music video doesn't need women thrusting their poorly covered genitals at one another to arouse interest.

This Morning Call: Like Hot Chip but better... Honest.

2008-01-08T13:49:00.000+01:00

We are happy to admit that we have found that 2008 has taken a bit of getting used to – hence the slow warming up and lack of anything new here since 2007.

Our bad.

However, helping us ease into the swing of this remarkably familiar yet supposedly 'new' year are downbeat electro band This Morning Call – without doubt one of the most remarkable bands to emerge from the indie dead-zone of Manchester in recent history.

Like a restrained and melancholy Hot Chip with the lid screwed on, This Morning Call specialize in soft, haunting electronica. Even when the band reach top speed on standout track 'Deserted', these four northern lads are more likely to make you stop for a long, hard think than they are start to dance. Even when they verge towards generic guitar balladry on tracks such as 'Clockworks' and 'Romance' the experimental electronic production stands this unusual quartet from the crowd.

In a very short time we've fallen very much in love with This Morning Call but also feel a great sense of appreciation for the band for simply making music so amazing that we had to pull our big lazy finger out and write something explaining this.

The most wonderful band we've heard this year and if we were tipping anyone for success in 2008, it would be this lot and not that bloody Adele woman...

Listen to This Morning Call at MySpace.

New? No. Incredible? Yes.

2008-01-08T13:39:00.000+01:00

There's no other reason to post this old Utada Hikaru video here other than to say that several years on, it is still one of the best music videos of all time and makes us wish that when Western video makers were pitching to any music company with a budget, there were more ideas like this flying around than an expensive location shoot or a forgettable narrative featuring a British thespian – most likely Alan Rickman.

Enjoy.

Lonely This Christmas

2007-12-14T13:09:00.000+01:00

Gloomy electro Mercury Music nominee Maps wouldn't be too high on our list of people to spend Christmas with but there's no denying he does make some rather brilliant music. After all, they don't just nominate any old loser for the Mercury Music Prize – just ask Ms. Dynamite.

Well, maybe not.

As his festive nod to the season, Maps has covered East 17's vintage Christmas hit 'Stay Another Day' in his typically electro-misery fashion and not quite the bah-humbag his output might suggest, he's giving it away for free.

There's clearly a Christmas spark in all of us.

Click here to download Maps 'Stay Another Day'

Neither rock nor robot unless you like your robots dressed in revealing dresses and covering Luther Vandross singles...

2007-12-13T17:40:00.000+01:00

Booty Luv are the gayest band since Village People. Bar none.

Last night we had the pleasure of joining the former Big Brovaz girls at the official Hed Kandi Christmas party at ultra-swanky Soho club Movida. In fact, so 'swanky' is the venue that we spent most of the evening goggling at the drinks menu. Sadly we were forced to stick to the free 'Christmas cocktails' rather than order any champagne, but that was mostly to do with the fact that we weren't carrying TWENTY FOUR THOUSAND POUNDS with us last night.

The party was to celebrate the success the girls have seen over the past year – a Top Ten album and three top twenty singles and despite Nadia and Cherise from the band being clearly drunk by the time they got up to sing (three songs - 'Shine', 'Some Kinda Rush' and 'Boogie 2Nite'), as a Wednesday night, it certainly beat an evening on the sofa watching 'Rogue Traders' and 'Kitchen Nightmares'.

Thank you Booty Luv, thank you Hed Kandi.

Is the world ready for a new Calvin Harris?

2007-12-12T13:31:00.000+01:00

Like the worst of friends as soon as he met a new girl (in this instance, Kylie Minogue) Calvin Harris stopped releasing decent singles ('Acceptable In The 80s', 'The Girls') and started releasing rubbish singles ('Merrymaking At My House', 'Colours').

This obviously opens up a slot in the music world for The New Calvin Harris and should anyone fill that not-necessarily desirable gap, there's no reason why it shouldn't be Primary 1.

Making a mockery of Harris' wizened 23 years of age, Primary 1 (AKA Joe Flory) is a 21 year old producer from London with an almost unhealthy interest in lions and a most definitely unhealthy interest in making amazing electrodancepop music.

The original mix of his new single 'Hold Me Down' is an attitude packed disco funk track, but has been reworked by typically genius French remixer Yuksek to become something altogether more gigantic and an early anthem for 2008.

The single is released on 28th January but in the meantime we recommend checking out the tracks Primary 1's MySpace page. 'Outside' sounds like Hot Chip revisiting the very early days of electro, his remix of the quite spectacular Operator Please 'Leave It Alone' single makes a oriental monster out of the guitar-pop original while his reworking of Mutya's 'Real Girl' proves that polishing turds is not totally impossible.

We like. A lot.

OMG it's like being there...

2007-12-05T17:05:00.000+01:00

Due to advances in modern technology (and knowing someone who is able to make us animated GIFs) here is the definitive Justice live experience.

Ooh etc. The definitive experience if you have tiny eyes that don't work properly.

(Thanks to Jules for the photoshop wizardry)

We went to see Justice on Monday night....

2007-12-05T12:40:00.001+01:00

Justice were supporting CSS at Brixton Academy on Monday night and the amazingness of the Justice slot might explain why CSS seemed so lackluster.

Choosing Justice to support CSS was a strange choice because there is almost no one else making music today with more energy and volume than Justice. In places their album '†' is an absolute racket, but the most incredible racket recorded and released all year.

Live, the Justice experience is even more special than it is on record. Unlike the measured approach to live shows taken by genre predecessors Daft Punk, Justice don't bother holding back. There is no gentle warm up, the set is one of fury from the word go, with the only dip in tempo at Monday's show for brief snatches of their Uffie collaboration, 'The Party'.

Despite it being the closest thing they can count as a hit record, 'We Are Your Friends' is sounding a little tired now however, with highlights of the night being 'Waters Of Nazareth' and 'DANCE' – somewhat predictably.

A mismatched night, CSS supporting Justice might have made for a Brazilian quiet before the continental storm.

Listen to Justice at MySpace.

We went to see CSS on Monday night....

2007-12-05T11:49:00.000+01:00

It didn't look anything like the above photo. It was in the less than personal Brixton Academy. It might have been a lot better in a more intimate venue.

Apart from the fact that CSS arrived on stage dressed as enormous Christmas presents, the gig was nothing more than an hour long wait to hear 'Let's Make Love And Death From Above'.

CSS are not ready to play venues as big as Brixton Academy - we hope they get better at live shows and try again. Sorry CSS.

Taking the biscuit...

2007-12-03T13:07:00.000+01:00

Thinking about Robyn remixes last week led us to Chewy Chocolate Cookies' MySpace.

Not necessarily the greatest band name in music history, Chewy Chocolate Cookies are a late addition to the robopop sound of 2007, with tracks that almost surpasses Justice for it's Daft Punk-isms, most notably on their track 'Time', which if not a lost Daft Punk single could certainly pass for a Thomas Bangalter/DJ Falcon collaboration. And that's no idle compliment as we're sure you are aware.

Chewy Chocolate Cookies have already reworked Robyn into something quite ecstatic sounding and can name Cazals and Toxic Avenger to their CV, but check out their MySpace page for free downloads of CCC reworkings of tracks by Justice, Simian and Chromeo – among others.

Click here to listen to Chewy Chocolate Cookies at MySpace.

Listen to this immediately

2007-11-30T12:48:00.000+01:00

Swedish singer Robyn packed the release of her 'Handle Me' single with a load of incredible remixes. Soul Seekerz, OrtzRoka and Chewy Chocolate Cookies turned a ho-hum single into something quite spectacular.

However, all of the above pale in comparison to what Ocelot Mthrfckrs have done to her latest single, 'Be Mine'. Turning a depressing pop record about a big break up with a boyfriend into one of the most respectable pop remixes of the past 12 months – challenging VanShe's reworking of Feist's '1234' for the completely fictional title.

The remix is quite spectacular and sees Ocelot step up their ascent to becoming one of 2008's most in demand remix duos.

Listen to the 'Be Mine' remix at the Ocelot Mthrfckrs MySpace.

Where's our copy of the new Daft Punk album?

2007-11-29T17:16:00.000+01:00

Well, in the words of Daft Punk's online PR:

"As soon as I get some I’ll send. Basically all UK promo was locked down due to a big promo op that hasn’t been confirmed yet. I’ve got some special editions coming over though so I’ll be sure to send you one from my own fair hand

"I don’t know what’s fair about my hands – I’ve gone all Russell Brand on myself."

Let's hope she gets herself cleaned up.

The 'mobile' in Simian Mobile Disco

2007-11-22T12:43:00.000+01:00

Poor old Simian Mobile Disco just can't sort themselves a hit single. 'It's the Beat' and 'I Believe' disappeared without so much as trace and latest release 'Hustler' is looking certain to follow suit.

However, no one cares about singles sales these days, least of all SMD who are off on tour A LOT in the coming months to make sure they have enough cash behind them to keep releasing incredible if ignored singles throughout 2008.

Between now and Christmas SMD will be supporting Klaxons and Chemical Brothers at their Brixton Academy dates but start their own UK tour in the New Year. They will be supported by The Whip, who we are sure are no doubt up to the job, so long as they can find time in their own furious schedule to fulfill their commitments. Full Simian Mobile Disco dates are...

Thursday 31^st Jan
Zodiac, Oxford
www.tctmusic.co.uk

Friday 1^st Feb
Plug, Sheffield
www.the-plug.com

Saturday 2^nd Feb
Thekla, Bristol
www.gigsandtours.com

Wednesday 6^th Feb
Cockpit, Leeds
www.seetickets.com

Thursday 7^th Feb
Academy 3, Manchester
www.gigsandtours.com

Friday 8^th Feb
Digital, Newcastle
www.ticketweb.co.uk

Saturday 9^th Feb
Arches, Glasgow
www.gigsinscotland.com

Tuesday 12^th Feb Digital, Brighton
www.ticketweb.co.uk

Simian Mobile Disco live comes highly recommmended. We banged our head on a low ceiling at their Scala gig earlier in the year. It was worth the bruise.

Words from The Whip

2007-11-19T17:49:00.000+01:00

The Whip release their debut album early in 2008 on Southern Fried records. The label belongs to Fatboy Slim, who – by reputation – knows a thing or two about dance music. He obviously saw the same potential as we do in The Whip, although he also signed dreadful electro-nudists Trabant to the same label so we don't have a huge amount in common.

We spoke to The Whip recently and they talked us through a few of the songs that will be on the album. Here's what they had to say for themselves...

'Blackout'
Bruce: 'Blackout' is a club favourite and it's one that Jim Abbiss really pushed us towards making more exciting in the studio. It was just a simple pop song with a really nice beat to it but it's turned into a real beast.
Danny: It begins with a verse/chorus set-up but turns into something different altogether at the end. We lose 'Frustration' from the set when we're playing a nightclub gig, mainly because it works better at 1am in the morning after people have been taking God knows what, they've got better things to do than listen to a real song.

'Trash'
Danny: When me and Bruce started off, 'Trash' was very much a standard song. One day Bruce suggested that we just annihilated the whole thing, rip it apart and just keep a couple of lines. That was one of the first things we did back when we were rehearsing in the cellar in a pub. It's a really good crowd song.
Bruce: It was a really dark gothic pop song that was full of lyrics about disappointing people and wanting to be what you are, not giving a fuck about what anyone else thinks. It ended up all coming down to just one lyric.

'Muzzle No1'
Nathan: This one is all about Bruce's bondage fetish. Think about things here, The Whip, Muzzles, Trash, Blackout, Frustration, Dub Sex – this is all from his dirty little mind. Everyone knows that it's about Bruce and his dirty little bondage sessions.
Fee: He's a filthy bastard.
Bruce: The first song I ever wrote was called 'The Bondage Song'. It was a comedy song. It was the first thing I've ever done, and it was meant to be a secret. I've never mentioned it amongst humans before now.

'Divebomb'
Danny: It's a straight dance song. No lyrics and lots of dirty synths.
Bruce: We were going to write another one like that and call it 'Beef'. That will probably be on the second album.
Fee: There were plans to put vocals on Divebomb but as soon as I heard that I was against it.
Bruce: With 'Trash' we eliminated a load of the vocals and made it better. With 'Divebomb' it had no vocals and it was already really good. We wrote the vocal but never used it.
Danny: The vocal was just going to be the word 'divebomb'. But we just thought fuck it, lets leave it as an instrumental if it's already working. We rehearsed 'Divebomb' for the first time in the car on the way to a gig once, then once at the soundcheck and from then it was in the set.
Bruce: We don't really rehearse. We only ever rehearse in soundchecks.
Fee: We gig so much there's no point in rehearsing.
Bruce: We see our tour schedule getting towards the end and we've got less and less to play and then suddenly we'll have a load more booked and we're back where we started.
Danny: You start thinking you might go away for a weekend, and that never happens…
Fee: I'd booked to go to Spain but then we had a gig with Justice booked in Amsterdam and then one with Soulwax so I thought obviously I wasn't going to be going to Spain that weekend.

'Save My Soul'
Danny: That's one that we've only just started playing live. It was a bit too long but it got condensed.
Fee: Now it just totally draws you in. When you're listening to it you can't get distracted.
Bruce: It's quite epic – epic but condensed.
Fee: Yeah, but not in a self indulgent way. You could play that song, in it' current form to my gran and also to a club crowd at 1am in the morning. People are loving it live.

Thank you very much The Whip.

Listen to The Whip at MySpace.

Good Robot / Bad Robot

2007-11-16T16:59:00.000+01:00

Caprica Six
The one robot in the universe that not only would most men like sleep with but would indeed be encouraged to sleep with, Tricia Helfer's Cylon was more 'Caprica Sex' than 'Caprica Six'. Why she fell for a hairy little scientist instead of Helo or Captain Adama is a mystery though, perhaps she had a wire loose somewhere...

C-3PO
Shaped like a human but without even an exhaust pipe, C-3PO is one of the most infamously rubbish robots in all space and time. Never mind how R2-D2 got up steps, no one ever questioned how this golden shuffling nancy took a flight of stairs...

Skip lunch, buy this instead...

2007-11-16T16:51:00.000+01:00

That's it then. The slightly hyped Hadouken! USB mixtape. We're not planning on taking ours out of the packaging because A. we have a copy of CD and B. because it looks so very nice all boxed up.

We're not sure if it is limited, common or 'moderate' but as well as being highly desirable it is also very good. Highlights include emo-influenced new single 'Leap Of Faith', stern binge-drinking warning 'Liquid Lives' and the Hadouken! remix of 'The Prayer' by Bloc Party.

Grab your copy from HMV for less than six quid.

We're assuming you spend a lot on lunch obviously.

Too indie for Daft Punk?

2007-11-16T13:49:00.000+01:00

It takes someone super special to support Daft Punk on tour, so we're guessing that Kitsune can see that something special in their new signing Cazals, who find themselves in the fortunate position of supporting the French dance duo on their Japanese tour next month.

Closest points of reference for Cazals would be Foals, who, despite picking up support for new single 'Balloons' on Radio One are still very much in the early stage of their danceable-indie disco career and perhaps still a risky template to start copying.

If we were picking support for Daft Punk right now we'd opt for Eskimo Disco. Despite lacking the kudos points of being signed to Kitsune, current single 'Japanese Girl' sums up the no holds barred pop joy of Daft Punk in a way that a guitar band doesn't.

Still, the Ali Loveharder remix of Cazals 'LIB' is a bit special.

Check out Cazals on MySpace.

Non-murderous new Digitalism video

2007-11-13T11:59:00.000+01:00

Ooh ooh - It's the new Digitalism video. It's very good and very French, unlike Digitalism who are themselves German, so perhaps we should just say that it is simply very continental.

'Idealistic' then. Good twist, although we expected a murder or something a little more tragic in the final moments.

Digitalism are playing tonight at Urban Outfitters, Kensington and later at The Scala in Kings Cross. You will have more chance of catching them at the Kensington gig – The Scala show is quite rightfully sold out.

The greatest night of our weekend...

2007-11-12T15:55:00.000+01:00

On Saturday night we went to see one of our favourite bands play at London's 'soon to be missed' Astoria at a club night called Push. Not the bit where they have G.A.Y on a Saturday night the bit next door – Astoria 2.

The band in question were The Whip. We interviewed them beforehand, and although pushed into a room with the smelliest toilet in music and with several unexplained blondes milling around, all was good. Well, all was good apart from it being midnight and us being a bit worse for wear on cans of Red Stripe. But then we weren't alone – at least two members of The Whip were in the same position.

The Whip's live show was as to be expected, amazing – despite battling with the worst soundsystem in London and having to stop new track 'Blackout' midway through and restart. They made a mistake apparently, but being a new track, we really hadn't noticed.

Also playing on the night were Ocelot, who were lucky enough to be DJing at the start of the night, playing to a dancefloor packed with a great big 'zero' people. We only knew Ocelot were on because they played 'This Is Your Time' but even that was a struggle to make out - again, thanks to the soundsysytem.

It was otherwise an awesome night of excellent music in a decent, if imminently demolished venue. They are putting a new train line where Astoria and half of central London used to be apparently… :(

Click here for more about Push Club.

An early morning tete-a-tete with Sebastien Tellier

2007-11-09T13:36:00.000+01:00

We met up with Sebastien Tellier this morning. Memories of our GSCE French are so poor that we could barely muster a 'bonjour' for the man.

Here is what we took from the early morning meeting.

- Apart from the 'other' publication we were speaking to Tellier for, the only other press he is doing at the current moment in time is Dazed & Confused and Playboy. We are clearly in good company here.

- He prefers peeling off women's pants to lifting up their skirts.

- He was not keen on sports in school. This was largely due to the whole 'nudity' thing which ensued in the changing rooms.

- He shunned our suggestion of recording an album with Thomas Banglater next as a companion record to the Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. He was worried he would be seen as Daft Punk's little brother.

- He has however, seen inside Guy-Manuel's helmet.

- He wants to make a movie. It will not be about aliens, outer space or robots. It will be about sex, lots of sex. He called it 'erotic' but we'd call it porn. We have no doubt that Tellier himself would like a starring role.

We will bash the interview into shape and let you know more about the Daft Punk collaborations very soon.

It's a date

2007-11-08T17:38:00.000+01:00

We're having breakfast with this man tomorrow.

The one with the beard. Not the one in the helmet. Sebastien Tellier - formerly oddball chill-out hippie genius, latterly Daft Punk produced electro genius. We'll let you know how it goes...

Our Little Ponies

2007-11-08T13:48:00.000+01:00

Indie disco refuses to die, and who would want it to? Are we tired of Gossip's 'Standing In The Way Of Control' yet? Not quite. Well, maybe just a bit...

But forget those old lesbians, the most danceable 'band' band on the planet right now are Foals. We saw them play at Old Blue Last last month and they were totally amazing.

Their new single, 'Balloon's is their first 'proper' single, and is being released on 3 December. It will inevitably be sucked down into the bottom reaches of the Top 200 underneath whatever Sugababes and other festive balladeers have planned, but we'd wager it’ll give us all something good to move around to come New Years Eve – as if previous Foals singles 'Hummer' and 'Mathletics' weren't good enough.

Actually, according to the band, they weren't. Neither is going to be included on the Foals album we hear, which is a shame.

Anyway, click the low-quality image we grabbed from the new Foals video to watch the full thing. It's good, although singer Yanniss looks totally terrified of the crow. Perhaps he is worried it will peck his new moustache off...

Alternatively, click here to watch 'Balloons'.

Saturday night then...

2007-11-07T15:18:00.000+01:00

So, after wittering on about what we were and what we were not planning to write about on here this week, we have decided we should write a thing about the coming weekend.

By 'a thing' we mean a list of instructions – or rather instruction.

If you live in London and are partial to incredible electronic indie dance music, you need to be at Push this weekend. Push is a weekly club night held at Astoria2 on Charing Cross Road. It is, by and large an indie club, but for one week only, the event is given over to two of the UK's biggest and best electronic pop 'types'. The Whip (live at 1am) and Ocelot, a DJ set at an undetermined hour of the night.

If you haven't heard 'This Is Our Time' by Ocelot, you need to click here to listen to it.

If you haven't heard of Push before, then you need to click here and find out more.

Tickets are £6 on the door, although if you email clubpush@googlemail.com with a bit of sweet talk, there is a nice lady who works there that might put you on the £5 guestlist. Tell her you read about it here.

It certainly beats going next door to the 'other' Astoria for the Michelle McManus PA...

Good intentions gone bad

2007-11-07T14:22:00.000+01:00

Here is a list of things we have been meaning to write about this week but haven't found a bloody minute to do so due to the responsibilities that come with having to work all day, go home and watch American sci-fi TV shows in the evening and then go out at the weekend.

Here is a round-up of our good intentions.

- We are going to see The Whip and Ocelot on Saturday night. We mentioned this a few weeks ago and are very excited about it.

- We are interviewing The Whip beforehand. On a Saturday night. We will indeed be drunk but hopefully, so will they.

- The new Soulwax album is amazing. We were meaning to do a track-by-track, which we may still do but on the otherhand, we may not. You've heard the remixes before and at no point from start to end does the album dip below a 6/10.

- Crystal Castles are coming to the UK to play a London date. 4 December at The Scala to be precise. Crystal Castles are amazing so we might go. In fact, we almost certainly will go.

- Speaking of gigs, we are going to see Digitalism on Tuesday next week. Also, spookily, at The Scala. When we went to see Justice at Camden's Koko earlier in the year we were half an hour late for an hour set so we'll be outside Koko from about four in the afternoon this time around.

Finally, while we have mentioned Digitalism and Justice in the same lump of text, we have devised a way to determine which is better of the two. That, we will definitely tell you about later in the week. It involves pins and magnets...