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It's the future. You can visit Murdoc at home, listen to some teasers, go on Twitter and all sorts of new and exciting things. Is this what Marty McFly envisioned for 2010?
A few months ago we were reading about Chiddy Bang and their (excellent, it turns out) mixtape, The Swelly Express. Names were flying about like Passion Pit and Sufjan Stevens and MGMT in relation to samples that they'd used and we thought to ourselves, "this rap combo sound really rather interesting, we must remember to do something about them on the blog". You know what? We forgot. So, once again it looks like we're blindly following the leaders now that they're signed to a major and getting airplay on Radio 1, etc. We were there at the start and now look at us. We look like chumps.
Either way, this is their new single, entitled 'Opposite of Adults'. It's built around the riff from MGMT's 'Kids' (hence the title) and is, in the parlance of the youth, a gold-plated banger.
OK, so it's not exactly an assault on your brain cells, but it's massive, dumb fun from start to finish. The single also features two tracks not on the mixtape, the brooding 'Chiddy Freestyle' and the funky 'Sooner Or Later'. We suggest you download it when it's released on the 22nd February.
For now though, you can download the mixtape from here and their myspace is here
Joanna Newsom's last full-length album, Ys, was, it has to be said, one of the best things every committed to, erm, tape. Or whatever it is they use these days. It's been a long wait for the follow-up, but finally it's just about ready.
This is what we know:
-It's called Have One On Me
-It's out on the 23rd February
-It's a TRIPLE ALBUM
-It's got less detailed artwork than the last one
-It's sure to be amazing
Click here for a taster of what's to come. The track is called '81' and features a slightly more restrained vocal and some lovely harp playing, and the melody is so darn beautiful we can't wait any longer.
Here's, erm, Joanna's new look...
There are some weeks where we have almost too much to report, be it singles or albums flying into the upper reaches of the chart, or established acts slowly losing their entire audience off the back of some 'experimental' whim. Our acts from last week, however, all performed as expected, with These New Puritans and Beach House both missing the top 40 and Eels nestling in snugly just outside the top 20 (which was a minor surprise all things considered). This week is a bit of a bumper edition, with no less than three (THREE!?) albums gracing the nation's favourite feature. Eyes down, look in...
BUY THIS
IRM by Charlotte Gainsbourg
We've been thinking a bit about context and its relation to how you consume music by someone who has, on the surface at least, not brought a whole lot to the table. This album was written, produced and performed by Beck, whilst Gainsbourg's last album, 5:55, was written, produced and performed by Air (with Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon). Now, if we were talking about a pop star such as Kylie it would all be "she's a puppet", "these songs are only good because so and so did them", "it's not true art". Then we read in an interview that Gainsbourg felt threatened by the legacy of her late father that she was too scared to write her own music and you know what, we fell for it and we love her even more now. IRM may have Beck's finger prints all over it (no bad thing of course), but it works because some of the songs could only be performed by Gainsbourg and that's when this whole writer/performer thing becomes moot.
BUY THESE WONDERFULLY DREAMY CONFECTIONS
Teen Dream by Beach House
There Is Love In You by Four Tet
Let's start with Teen Dream, which has been permanently lodged in our ears since we were lucky enough to hear it a few months ago (when you're important like we are, you too can hear music before everyone else (we stole it)). Though not a huge departure from their last album - Victoria Legrand's vocals still sigh beautifully, the whole thing floats around like wisps of smoke - this time they've remembered to bring the tunes, with each of its ten tracks carrying a deliciously woozy melody. There are moments when everything comes together so perfectly (the bit where 'Silver Soul' melts into 'Norway', for example) that you feel like you want to break down and cry for weeks.
There Is Love In You is the first album under the Four Tet moniker since 2005's Everything Ecstatic. In that time, Kieran Hebden, for it is he, has produced albums with avant-garde drummer Steve Reid as well as an EP with Burial. You'd think this would make There Is Love In You a big mess of impenetrable 'mind' music, where as it's actually his most accessibly record to date. With tracks road tested at his club residency in Dalston it has moments of euphoria reminiscent of early-90s dance ('Love Cry', 'Plastic People'), whilst still displaying his fondness for subtle, intricate moments of beauty ('Angel Echoes', 'This Unfolds').
DOWNLOAD THIS
'Marlene' by Lightspeed Champion
The string-drenched 'Marlene' is the first single from Lightspeed Champion's second album, Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You. As with most things Mr Champion does, we were unsure at first. Seriously, his last album was a major disappointment to us for the first five months and then we couldn't stop listening to it and by that point no-one else cared because they'd all moved on. However, 'Marlene' reveals itself to be properly amazing, complete with skipping strings, a chugging riff and a brilliantly gonzo guitar solo that seems to erupt from nowhere. Altogether now, "stop being cool". It also has a very funny video, which can be seen here.
Here at Musick towers we value our credibility. Not for us the easy, readers-chasing articles about who's dating who, who's saying something about someone and who may or may not be a hermaphrodite. No, we like to make you aware of exciting new bands, great songs and just get you thinking about music. It's all we care about.
Sometimes though, when we check how well the blog is doing, we are drawn to the fact that the most read article on this blog is one we did about pectoral-cleavage sporting TV talent show stars, JLS. Basically, we'd seen one of them driving around London in his flash car and did a thing about it. We felt a bit dirty, like we'd compromised our integrity and thought no more about it. Well, let's be honest here, integrity can take a running jump when it comes to bumping up numbers, so here goes...
This is JLS's amazing new video for the mind-expandingly excellent, 'One Shot'.
Fingers crossed it does the trick.
If you're a fan of Hot Chip and Grizzly Bear then this next song is probably going to make you ejaculate. If you're a fan of Hot Chip and not Grizzly Bear then you might think it's a lovely version of a very good song, but not as good as the original. If you're a fan of Grizzly Bear and not Hot...*shoots himself*
MUSIC IS THE REAL WINNER HERE
Perfect for a Sunday afternoon stuck at work.
You can download it from here for free.
Thanks to the 17 people that voted in our exclusive Ellie Goulding poll. 
The results have been counted and verified and we can exclusively reveal that...
1 person thinks she's "Alright"
8 people think Ellie is "A young talent with good songs who needs time to evolve"
8 people think she's "Smellie Goulding"
Shame on those last 8, you really need to have a long hard look at yourselves in the mirror.
The results will be sent onto her label, Polydor, who will then let her know the outcome. At this rate, all they can really say is that she's talented, she's got good songs, but maybe work on the cleanliness issue in her own time. Hey, it's what Musick readers want and we trust you implicitly.
Look out for more exciting poll-based features in the next few days.
In the meantime, here's Ellie performing at the Brits launch thingy:
