Last week we pleaded with you to buy the special edition of Kid A and, we're not gonna lie, not many of you did. A few more of you brought the Noah & The Whale album, which entered just inside the top 20. Obviously soppy love songs sell better than paranoid tension these days. But, what will always sell, is a song about sex performed by three young ladies in tight lycra, so it's little surprise to see that 'Get Sexy' by the Sugababes entered at no. 2 on Sunday. Well done everyone.
BUY THIS
East of Eden by Taken By Trees 
As we've said before, Taken By Trees is the musical nom de plume of one Victoria Bergsman, former lead singer of The Concretes and the female portion of Peter, Bjorn & John's 'Young Folks'. East of Eden was partially recorded in Pakistan, during which time Bergsman had to pretend to be married to avoid unwanted attention and was ignored by the male musicians who appear on the album. Thankfully the results are startling, with songs like the lovely 'Anna' and the brilliantly conceived cover of Animal Collective's 'My Girls' (re-titled 'My Boys here) taking elements from her travels and suffusing them with her distinctive own sound.
BORROW THIS FROM THE LIBRARY
Kings & Queens by Jamie T
Jamie T kind of passed us by before, what with all the harping on by the music press, each magazine declaring either him, Alex Turner or Mike Skinner some kind of modern day poet. This was probably a bit unfair and we enjoyed his debut album a lot on the one occasion we listened to it. This, the follow-up, is more of the same, but with greater focus on the actual songs and not just trying to make them sound as ramshackle as possible.
DOWNLOAD THIS
'Dominos' by The Big Pink
We did a thing on this song about a month ago and when we heard it on the radio the other morning we thought, "this is really rather good", so here it is again. Moody, booming, simple and very catchy, it has all the ingredients to become a real smash on the hit parade. Things being the way they are, it will no doubt limp in at no. 38 and set things up 'nicely' for their debut album, A Brief History of Love.
We're going to stick our necks out here and say that 'Fight For This Love' has a reasonable chance of denting the UK Top 40 when it's released on 18 October. It's by a young lady called Cheryl Cole, who some of you might know as one fifth of a pretty obscure band called Girls Aloud. In Cheryl's spare time she enjoys crying diamonds on TV, dressing like Malibu Barbie, "being the Queen of our hearts" and putting up with her interminably dull husband.
This song is about struggling through a relationship even though it's possibly not worth the hassle:
Apparently a demo version by a young man called Andre Merritt is also 'doing the rounds'. We think it sounds a bit like Kelis' 'Lil Star', and is somewhat of a grower. Good luck Cheryl, fingers crossed you make it.
Let us tell you a short and not very interesting story. It was October 2007 and Radio 1 were about to play the new single by a certain young lady called Leona Lewis. The song was called 'Bleeding Love' and it was supposed to be the single to launch a new global superstar, yaddah yaddah yaddah. So, that now familiar organ swell kicked in, those vocals reared up and then that odd, almost cheap-sounding drum machine made the whole thing sound strangely, well, good. We were genuinely excited to hear it, which a lot of people will think is ridiculous because it's a pop song and she's from a talent show and it's much more interesting and challenging to listen to Autechre or The Cribs, etc, etc. But, it would take a fool to suggest that 'Bleeding Love' isn't amazing and though her singles after that seemed to gradually get worse, 'Bleeding Love' did what it set out to do; created a superstar.
Anyway, Lewis has a new single called 'Happy', which given her new found status might be just as important as 'Bleeding Love'. Produced again by Ryan Tedder, it's, well, it's a bit, you know, er, 'meh'. Basically, it's a nice song and there are some nice moments but it doesn't make our ears prick up and we can't shake the feeling that the booming drums and quiet, loud, quiet, loud structure makes it no more than 'Bleeding Love's slightly duller sister.
Here it is:
Towards the end there are some ridiculous vocal gymnastics, which makes us think that given Whitney Houston's recent vocal problems (or, 'the drugs', as it's also known) it's basically Leona sticking her finger up in Houston's face and saying "step back biatch, you're in my house now". Probably.
Just in time for that Mercury prize malarkey next week, everyone's favourite haircut, La Roux, is back with a new single, 'I'm Not Your Toy'. Nothing too newsworthy in that you might think, but just wait until you see the video, which is simultaneously baffling, amazing, pointlessly arty and visually arresting.
Things to look out for:
- The young kid with the most expressive face you'll ever see (those eyebrows!)
- Some nifty eye movements from what looks like a giant melon
- A dog with two collars on
- Some dancing from Miss La Roux herself, complete with actual smile
- The immortal line "das ist der absolut hammer" spoken down an imaginary telephone in a living room whilst La Roux's head spins round on the table
- !?!
WATCH IT BY CLICKING HERE RIGHT NOW
Alphabeat have always been a bit of a guilty pleasure and we're not even sure we believe in such nonsense - we've got a Kelly Clarkson song (or two) on our iTunes for fucks sake. There's something about their look, their videos and the exuberant, ridiculously happy nature of their songs that make us want to throw our hands up and scream "we love you but we feel like we shouldn't because it's just not cool and that's what we crave most in life".
But, which ever way you cut it, 'Fascination' is a TUNE and some of their other singles climbed neatly into the box marked 'pretty good pop songs'. So, they're back with a new single called 'The Spell' and it's an early '90s romp with cheesy synths, cheap drum machines and about five different choruses.
The musical equivalent of drinking forty litres of Sunny Delight...through a straw...in the sun...on a bouncy castle.
Let's have a little look at what's been playing in the Musick office* this week shall we?
* By office we mean house in North London, but it sounds less prosaic.
Chew Lips 'Salt Air'
Arty three piece alert! Chew Lips probably live together in a basement flat in Shoreditch, tripping over various drug paraphernalia and generally being MUCH COOLER THAN YOU OR I. But, they also make killer electropop nuggets like this one, which is a). very catchy and b). very catchy. Singer Tigs has a voice that is simultaneously detached and weirdly soulful. We reckon she's pretty scary 'in real life'.
Dirty Projectors 'Cannibal Resource'
We've mentioned this lot before but we've only recently found the time (and the money) to purchase they're new album, Bitte Orca. We deeply regret the time we lost with this album as it's one of the better things 2009 has birthed. Full of angular time signatures and glorious harmonies, it's a captivating listen, even if on first listen it all sounds like a bit of a mess. This version of 'Cannibal Resource' was recorded for the David Letterman show, which is amazing when you think our equivalent is Reverend & The Makers on Jonathan Ross...
The Raveonettes 'Last Dance'
The Raveonettes have always been one of those bands that you listen to and are automatically confronted by their influences and rather than continue to listen you go off and play songs by those bands instead. Luckily, 'Last Dance' (which you can download for free from here) is a lovely, typically moody four minutes that seems to be about the perils of loving a junkie. We've all been there, right? It even features some "oh, oh, oh" bits, which sound AMAZING in a hospital ward when you're loved one slips into a coma.
Oasis 'Don't Look Back In Anger'
We will not forget. It was a sad day for music when Oasis decided they could no longer muster the strength to re-hash their former glories and schlep the dead horse around festival sites across Europe. We literally can't believe they're gone. Fingers crossed bands like The Courteeners, The Enemy and The Twang can continue their legacy and deliver the music we all deserve. Thank you Liam, thank you Noel.
Musick wouldn't be Musick if we weren't permanently three months behind the musical curve. Luckily, we like to think the way we package our stuff makes us unique, in the same way that finding a mouldy sandwich that's three months out of date is 'unique' in terms of your diet.
Basically, we read some stuff about Deadmau5 and thought he sounded like quite an interesting chap. For one, he has a crippling disfigurement that means his face has morphed into what looks like a giant mouse, complete with comedy ears and a permanently happy smile. 
We felt sorry for him, we're not gonna lie. Then we heard his new single 'Ghosts 'N Stuff' and felt the force of those monumental synths and thought "wow, this mouse knows his way round a dance floor banger". To be honest, it's not a million musical miles away from Justice, but then that's not a bad thing really.
