january
annie - heartbeat
second single from the new pop princess. review and details of a fine royksopp download - here.
the others - lackey
indie guitars and a snarly attitude from this guerrilla band who could become the big story of 2005.
blue states - the last blast
second single from the bands excellent 'the soundings' album where they ditch the coffee table chillout zone and head for world of epic pop music. simon and garfunkel styled harmonies strapped onto a hypnotic atmospheric guitar strum. stunning stuff. old school b-side 'alive bright lane' is a lovely instrumental affair. available on ltd edition 7" single for all you collectors out there.
roots manuva - colossal insight
first proper single from roots manuvas forthcoming album (ignoring a special download track that was available a few weeks ago etc), this is a strange beast with its dark beats and off the cuff lyrics where roots chats about how 'he's had a good run' smoked a few trees' etc, the man almost sounds like he's complaining ! very bizarre given his status in the world of uk hip hop.
the remixes include folks like royksopp, soft pink truth remix, and the unknown to me jammer (??), the most interesting is the soft pink truth who cut up the broken beat and vocals to a messed up electro groove that picks up the tempo and mutates into a fine party jam. whereas the original has a twisted style that gets under your skin and dwells there, nagging away at you in a pleasurable way. just.
quasimoto - bus ride/rap cats
madlibs rap alterego returns with this short and sharp ep. 3 vocals, 3 instrumentals. all very strange freaky and yet strangely addictive. not overly keen on the helium vocal styles, but when these are pushed to the background as on the old school homage 'rap cats' then all is indeed well with the world, as this track is a serious trip down memory lane as its basically a list of lost heroes of the genre with a quality looped 60's soul sample. 2 decks and a microphone.
the ga ga's - sex
words to be arranged will probably include "chunky rock riffs" somewhere amongst them.
being 747 - the girl who fell asleep whilst watching her life flash before her eyes
excellent off the wall pop music from leeds wrath records label. lifting the best track off the album, all julian cope classic pop styles, surreal lyrics, hammond organs, rifftastic guitars and glorious chorus's that just make you swell up with joy. full review here
stuffy/the fuses - wheres the captain
full review here