Whilst on twitter today we struck up a conversation with 'hot new singer/songwriter' Ellie Goulding. Did we talk about her amazing songs? The fact she's just signed to Polydor? Or, perhaps, we asked her about writing songs for Diana Vickers from last year's X Factor? No, we talked about Jordan and Peter Andre's marriage problems...BUT we did get to share the new Peter Andre video with her and for that she will always be thankful, right? Wrong.
This is Ellie:
A lot of her songs have been around for quite a while now, 'creating a buzz' and 'getting the blogosphere all hot under the collar'. As we never tire of stating, we like to remain at least three months behind the times, hence our EXCLUSIVE feature appearing in August.
This is a song called 'Starry Eyed', which reminds us a bit of Stina Nordenstam. It was produced by Starsmith, who is very talented and young so we dislike him already:
'Wish I Stayed' was produced by Frankmusik and sounds like this:
What a nice chorus. Well done Ellie and Vincent.
Tomorrow, Musick will be entering into a debate about the future of our banking system with Lee from Blue.
Oh dear oh dear. Last week wasn't the qualified success many of us had hoped for. First of all, Cornershop missed the top 75 altogether, MSTRKRFT and John Legend entered at no. 50 on the singles chart and most miraculously of all, Sandi Thom's collection of her best work seems to have fallen on deaf ears. We're assuming this is some kind of clerical error and we'll be rectified soon, but until then why don't you all go off and listen to 'I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker' and wait with baited breath.
Let's get down to business shall we?
BUY THIS
Complete Me by Frankmusik
Frankmusik, aka Vincent Frank, looks, how can we put this, like a bit of a bell-end. He looks like some kind of mutant creation, grown in a lab somewhere by a major label who added all the ingredients of a 'popstar' - the hair, the '80s influences, the dead-eyed stare - into a test tube and out popped Frankmusik. Luckily, his debut album negates his face and makes up for any urges the listener might have to give him a bit of a slap. '3 Little Words' and 'Better Off As Two' are stone-cold pop classics, 'Gotta Boyfriend?' is deliriously catchy and 'Done, Done' proves that when he wants to he can tackle a moody ballad. Co-produced by Stuart 'forgive me for The Killers' Price, Complete Me is the best album of 2009 to feature a man named Vincent.
GET THIS IF YOU READ A LOT OF MUSIC REVIEWS
Two Dancers by Wild Beasts
We haven't heard this album, but we have read a lot of good things about it. So, if you have it then please let us know what it's like. (We're well aware that we could listen to it on Spotify but we don't have it because it's new and everyone's going on about it which makes us uneasy).
EDIT: We have a copy now. Phew.
DOWNLOAD THIS
'Basic Space' by The XX
The XX's debut album, XX, is one of the best things we've heard all year. Most of it sounds like Timbaland remixing The Cure on half-speed. At this year's Latitude the band (all about 17 years old) seemed so shy they almost ground their way into the stage such was the awkward shuffling of feet. This particular track isn't necessarily the most obvious single (we would have gone for 'Islands'), but it's a strangely beautiful concoction with singers Oliver and Romy exchanging lovelorn lines like a drunk Romeo & Juliet over some sparse, percussive beats. You can hear it right here.
