New Musick Monday

We need to have words. Seriously. Move closer, sit down and just fucking listen for once. How could you let Kelis' new album enter at no. 42? For those of you without a degree in maths, that means she missed the Top 40, whilst albums from the likes of Boyzone and Scouting For Girls pranced around in the upper echelons like they owned the place. Disgraceful. Still, LCD Soundsystem managed to gatecrash the top 10, which just goes to show that acres of press and a handful of amazing reviews do have an influence after all.  Jamie Lidell was nowhere to be seen and the Laura Marling single followed her last effort into the lower reaches of the Top 75. A decidedly mixed bag in other words. Here are some more things no-one will buy...

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Becoming A Jackal by Villagers

Villagers, aka Conor J. O'Brien, makes the kind of music that's easy to dismiss. Earnest, studied and never knowingly exciting, his appearance on Jools Holland a few months ago had some very serious music critics talking very seriously about how he's the new Radiohead. Debut album Becoming A Jackal doesn't support this theory of course, but it does showcase an emerging young talent and as it creeps out of the speakers it's hard to dislike. O'Brien's influences are obvious - yes, a dash of Radiohead here, a helping of Bright Eyes there, a smattering of Elliott Smith just about everywhere - but he manages to create something interesting with the ingredients (have we laboured the food metaphor enough yet? Can we stir it up some more? Perhaps add a garnish of cliche, or a drizzling of empty compliments?). Anyways, it's better then you expect it to be, which is high praise indeed, is it not?

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Treats by Sleigh Bells

We've already done a big thing about this so we won't repeat ourselves. What we will say is that we accidentally illegally downloaded this thinking that it wasn't out here for ages and then we go and find it on iTunes...SORRY.

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'Better Than Love' by Hurts

We guest edited some kind of spam email thing and in it we had to pick our favourite current track and we picked this. It's like Depeche Mode meets Tears For Fears meets Ultravox and yet somehow it's better than even that makes it sound. The fact that it has two brilliant choruses doesn't hurt(s), nor does the very lesbian video. After all the hype and the plaudits, it's nice to see a band genuinely come good on their early promise. Now, don't fuck it up this time general public, we're relying on you.

New Musick Monday

It seems our mild indifference towards Foals second album didn't put people off buying it; entering at number 8, it's the band's second top ten album in a row. However, their debut peaked at no. 3, so that's five chart placings they've lost in the interim and at the end of the day, five chart placings are five chart placings. Or something. Holy Fuck did diddily squat, whilst the fresh-faced Mini Viva may soon be stacking shelves in the Minute Mart (or not, seeing as it's fictional) as their third single misses the Top 40 altogether. This week is a bit of a bumper edition, so let's crack on...

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This Is Happening by LCD Soundsystem

Whilst not quite the all out amazingfest that is Sound Of Silver, the third (and perhaps last?) LCD Soundsystem album is still about twenty-six times better than anything else around at the moment. As ever, James Murphy sounds simultaneously bored, dazed and perpetually confused and his general sense of brattishness comes to the fore on tracks such as 'Drunk Girls' and 'You Wanted A Hit' (essentially an ode to his record label). Highlights include the slow-burn opener, 'Dance Yrself Clean' and the Bowie-esque 'All I Want'.

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Flesh Tone by Kelis

Four years after the patchy Kelis Was Here and a year after she got sick of husband Nas' (alleged) philandering and filed for divorce, Kelis is back with a new dance-orientated sound. Featuring production from David Guetta, Benny Benassi and label boss, will.i.am, Flesh Tone ups the bpm to almost mind-boggling levels, with weird sonic squiggles and huge synths dominating the album. Single 'Acapella' is a sweet ode to her baby son, whilst '4th Of July (Fireworks)' and '22nd Century' are like futuristic rave anthems in waiting. A welcome return.

HEY, WHILST YOU'RE AT IT, BUY THIS 'N'ALL

Compass by Jamie Lidell

Jamie Lidell has always been a bit of an odd fit with the Warp roster, his albums more likely to feature some soulful organ stabs as opposed to a beat that sounds like the inner workings of a beetle's mind. Whilst 2008's Jim at times sounded like the perfect soul pastiche album, Compass is more slapdash, with songs careening between beat box, sax, distorted percussion and Lidell's elastic vocals. Featuring the likes of Feist, Beck and three members of Grizzly Bear (the band's Chris Taylor co-produces), it's all over the place but with a melodic core that's undeniable.

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'Rambling Man' by Laura Marling

Because you'll regret it if you don't.

"i will never understand this kind of videocrap"

Title: 'Drunk Girls'
Band: LCD Soundsystem
Album: This Is Happening (17 May)




The above quote is taken from a disgruntled youtube user who likes the song, but doesn't like the video. He/she just doesn't "understand this kind of videocrap". We're not sure there's much to understand really, it's just a bunch of guys dressed up as panda bears attacking the members of LCD Soundsystem whilst they try to perform their new single. That's literally it...

A lesbian wedding in Brighton

This here is the new single by LCD Soundsystem and as any clued-up music fan will know, it sounds a lot like 'White Light/White Heat' by The Velvet Underground (we only realised it did when we read it on the youtube comments and checked it for ourselves, although we also liked the comment about it sounding like a scuzzed up 'Parklife').

Anyway, this is 'Drunk Girls':



We have to admit we're slightly disappointed. It's catchy, fun and cynical, don't get us wrong, but there's a section of it that's almost identical to a track from Sound of Silver. We do, however, have a feeling the rest of the new album will sound a lot different to this. We will just have to wait and see...

New Musick Monday

Well, well, well, it looks like our prediction that the Sugababes 'brand new image' (read: FHM pin-ups with less class) may not be paying off was an accurate one. Their new album stalled at no. 14, which, if they were a brand new indie band who had just completed a tour of Milton Keynes would be a success, but seeing as they're signed to a major, have a well-known brand as their moniker and have had a lot of press - all publicity is good publicity, right? - this is not good. The White Stripes' fist live album entered just outside the Top 20, whilst the Laura Marling single was nowhere to be seen. Odd. Perhaps it's the fact that the video looks like something Sting would knock out as a holiday video?

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I Speak Because I Can by Laura Marling

Forget the fact that Marling has only been able to vote for the past two years and focus instead on the fact that she seems incapable of writing a shit song. I Speak Because I Can may feel slight on first listen but beneath the fragile exterior the songs quietly rage about everything from the perils of marriage, the plight of women in society and, most significantly, not riding bikes down to the sea (the brilliant title track makes this seem like the saddest thing not to do, ever!). Musically, it's all plucked guitars, stark strings and the muted kick of the drum and on top of that Marling's weathered vocals sound simultaneously desolate and pissed off. Dismiss this as Mumford & Sons-esque Top Man folk at your peril.

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Greenberg: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by James Murphy

Greenberg is the new film by Noah Baumbach, he who directed that one with the dysfunctional family and that other one with the dysfunctional family (he's the one that's NOT Wes Anderson) and it's soundtrack features twelve new songs by James Murphy, aka the guy from LCD Soundsystem who looks like a rebellious accountant. The songs are mostly short pieces, some with just the odd flutter of piano, but on tracks like 'People' and 'Photographs' you start to realise how versatile this Murphy man is. The album also features a song by Albert Hammond Jr's Dad and Galaxie 500, who also have some reissues out this month, which we tried to buy but HMV is, quite frankly, a dog shit establishment...unless you're looking to buy Hannah Montana on DVD, in book form and the computer game for the PSP.

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'Kobwebz' / 'Speaketh' by Gonjasufi

We kind of missed the boat with these guys and we forgot to mention they're amazing new album, A Sufi and A Killer, which was out on Warp records the other week. Anyways, this double A-side single features the brilliant 'Kobwebz', which sounds like the work of some seriously drugged up nomads who live in the desert (appropriately enough), and the non-album track, 'Speaketh'. What they lack in spelling skills they more than make up for in spooky, dry-as-a-bone, freaky, space rock.