Britney Through The Ages

Someone sent me this bizarro Pepsi commercial Britney did for a Superbowl advert spot many years ago.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiuNWGLRp5s[/youtube]

Totally random and I love how 2001 Britney actually seems the most dated.

Lauren Pritchard

Island Records seem to be having quite a tough time launching new artists over the last couple of years. They've managed to break Mumford & Sons and Florence & The Machine but they both sprung from a really natural indie scene growth. Their latest female popstar is 22 year old Tennessee born singer Lauren Pritchard. She's cute, a former cast member of the original Spring Awakening line up on Broadway, has mastered the tortured soul routine and ticks many a box for the adult contemporary Radio 2 audience. The problem remains that though they seem totally different artists, the best moments of Lauren's debut album 'Wasted In Jackson' just sound Amy-lite.

Four years (!!!) after its release "Back to Black" is still having a massive influence on the music scene in the UK. If you're making indie music, no one cares. If you're making electronic sounding r&b you're doing great, but if you're making anything with a slight tortured hint of retro or soul then it's tough. Daniel Merriweather and Adele made it but great albums from the likes of Leon Jean Marie and The Rumble Strips (all involved Amy producer Mark Ronson) have made absolutely no impact and I think Lauren could be looking at the same outcome.

Her debut single (and most Amy) 'Painkillers' is a killer track that deserved to be huge but I think I'd prefer to hear it from Daniel Merriweather. Her new single 'Not The Drinking' is nice enough, but has a cute video which sees them make the most of the Broadway talent recessed in Lauren's bones and go for the Feist 1234 effect.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8A9Ys0wh5I[/youtube]

More from her showcase from Mr Discopop.

Cheryl 2.0

Lots of Girls Aloud fun this week. Nadine's team had their first proper meeting planning ahead on Tuesday and then various journalists like NOTW Dan have been played some tracks from the album. The Tesco situation is yet to be revealed to the public, but I'm intrigued to know if it means the songs will be thus excluded from iTunes. Anyway, as good as the music might be (which I think peeps will get to hear next week), will she be able to conquer the media & general public? To me, she's totally unlikeable. If you've not seen it before then you must watch this absolutely priceless clip of Nadine's first TV appearance on the original Irish Popstars. It's jaw-dropping, peep through your fingers car crash tv.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJCiztHvXnI[/youtube]Possibly my favourite video on the internet...

And perfectly timed, there's a new Cheryl single. I have no doubt that this will have vanished by the time anyone gets into work, but in the meantime check out Promise This (or Promises? Her accent makes it pretty hard to tell). French children's song 'Alouette' is obviously the hot thing in songwriting world at the moment with MDMR banging on about it in Mark Ronson's magnificent 'Bang Bang Bang' and now this clip begining with Cheryl singing it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqROBk2VJpg[/youtube]



'Video clip no longer avaliable'

The Modern Day Eamon

This is the awesome, awesome, awesome new single from Cee-Lo Green.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAV0XrbEwNc[/youtube]

Can't wait to hear the radio edit (and inevitably the answer back song).

Katy B

20 year old Katy B is suddenly becoming an iconic British musician for the sound of 2010. It feels like she's blown up onto the Radio 1 A-List from nowhere, but in fact she's been a-toiling via a Brit school education for a few years and having teamed up with Rinse FM and their label, has been working with the likes of Zinc and Benga on her new tracks.

'Katy on a Mission' is her first single proper out August 20th, but I'm much more about in love with 'Louder'. I like a popstar who can enunciate, and here her warm yet scratchy tones couple with wobbly dubstep basslines (which I think I'll always find a bit amusing') on this tale of an unwillingness to stop the party.

'I've been awake for a day now, 24 hours, yet still I want it louder'

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Ynf2ScKiA[/youtube]

Love her.

Also I mention DJ Zinc like I have an idea who he is. I don't, but Ed just sent me this other production from him. Total party anthem.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKB3hJBvAZY[/youtube]

Maximum Balloon

I have very little idea who TV on the Radio are. I know they don't make stonky electro-pop though, so it's a bit of a woop woop to discover 1/3 of the band, David Sitek, has popped off to make just that with solo project Maximum Balloon.

The forthcoming album is 10 songs described as 'thick, noisy and funky, with glam' by Spin with each featuring vocals from different artists, including Little Dragon, Karen O and David Byrne.

Two tracks are out there so far: 'Tiger', whose funky afrobeat sound, you might have heard on the Daisy Lowe for Esquire pant moistening promo; and the Little Dragon featured 'If You Return' which combines a stuttering drumbeat with some chilly electronica. I'm really looking forward to the album, but for now here's the pretty promo for 'If You Return'. I'm assuming it's a teaser rather than the whole thing?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5z85llbyN0[/youtube]

Rehab in Jamaica

There are certain songs I've heard so many times that I feel like I never need to hear again in my life. This might change when the burn has healed but Amy Winehouse's 'Rehab' is certainly one of them. Or at least her version.

Now there's a new version of the single being released in a few weeks by The Jolly Boys, a mento band from Jamaica who've been making music for over 60 years. Back in the 1940s they used to be quite the name on the Hollywood party circuit playing in particular for Errol Flynn after he bougth Port Antonio's Navy Island and turned it into a party zone. His wife, Patrice, is the lady in the red hat in the video.

Just how much fun were they having making this video. there's no way you can't break into a grin watching the hugely charmismatic 72 year old lead singer Albert. He's even the youngest member of the band. Brilliant.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqaadTlATqk[/youtube]

'Rehab' is out 20th September on Wall of Sound and they're playing a couple of live dates in the UK next week.

Lana Del Ray

Homemade videos need to have that special something to make you filter them out from your everyday norm. Hurts had the eyebrow raising dancing lady on their first £20 video and now Lana Del Ray weaves together old movies, bottles of drink and herself wearing a movie star wig in black & white.

The movie star image is what Lana's rocking. Her real name is plain old Lizzy Grant and according to her press release she's been roaming the musical world for a little while. Who hasn't though? Here's an old interview with plain old Lizzy from a couple of years ago. Now though she's in London and spending time songwriting with pop legend Biffco. There's a slight hint of Paloma in her voice, but an altogether much darker, sometimes sulkier, sometimes realer sound. 'Kinda Outta Luck' sounds like it belongs straight on a Tarantino soundtrack and the sinister elements to her voice remind me a lot of The Pierces. This one could go anywhere from chilling, sexy acoustic to sultry pop. Exciting.

Download Lana Del Ray - Diet MTN Dew for free.

The Garden

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs certainly have their google technique nailed with that name. This is the video for their new, totally huge sounding, single 'Garden'.



Louise of jaunty folksters Lulu & the Lampshades probably makes music I'd never listen to but sounds great here as the female vocalist. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs is though just one man - the brilliantly named Orlando Higginbottom - who I'm told does ridiculously fantastic things live.

It totally rips of this though, no?

In The Evening

The new Horse Meat Disco album is out, but I'm still massively enjoying edition 1. The ultimate disco floor-filler moment on it comes from Sheryl Lee Ralph with 'In The Evening'.

The lyrics are brilliant and make me do all kinds of inside my hair music video construction. Who cannot relate to, "In the evening, the real me comes alive." Maybe my current weary nature can't, but me at 19 definitely can.

Best of all though is the music video. It's full of totally mental face pulling. I could watch it again and again open-mouthed at the mass insanity of it.

Warning : serious amounts of 'acting' follow.



[For non London people - Horse Meat Disco is a gay club night in Vauxhall where men, primarily ranging from the slightly hairy to very hairy style, dance about to disco music in a dark room. It is amazing.]

1, 1, 1, ! 1101010 etc

If you're bored of shouting ONCE, ONCE, ONCE, YEEEEHAH - Vickers style (only me is doing this), then button up, refresh and start shouting ONE, ONE, ONE, ONE, ONE Ferriera stylee.

'One' is almost the same song as 'I Need Air' in terms of lovely twinkly electronica. Produced by Bloodshy & Avant it is also the most Swedish sounding song of the year. I bet Kleerup is thinking he missed out on this one.



Amazing.

N.B. Works better if you just listen rather than watch. She seems to be a bit annoying (SAYS I!)

I Need Air

I don't know a huge amount, in fact not even a tiny amount, about dubstep. I know when I hear it, I tend to like it and I know that Skream's remix of La Roux's 'In For The Kill' was a bit of a tipping point last summer. I'd not paid much attention though to the news of a 'dubstep supergroup' coming out of Columbia records.

Magnetic Man consist of Skream, Benga and Artwork (no idea) and you'd probably expect them to make full on raving it up noise. Their first real attack on the mainstream however is instead a twinkly electronic pop song. It's probably total disgusting to their old school, hardcore fans, but as far as I go it's almost perfectly tailored.

I Need Air by pigeonsandplanes

The vocals (and presumably top-line) come from American singer-songwriter Angela Hunte who not only sounds delightfully robotic and cold here, but, FACT FANS, is the writer behind 'Empire State of Mind', 'Do Somethin'' and best of all, various Mis-Teeq album tracks.

'I Need Air' is out on July 26.

Smash Bang Baby

French DJ Martin Solveig has just released a new video, the first from his brand new, slightly secret, project. It is totally insane but perfect for the current Wimbledon frenzied lifestyle.

Starring the vocals of Dragonette's Martina, the song is nice enough, but it's worth watching regardless. The one and only Bob Sinclar stars as Martin's opponent in a tennis match where the players seeds are determined by their DJ Mag rankings and real life tennis man Nocak Djokovic does a comedy turn.

Fingers crossed for a Solveig vs Gaga rematch soon.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfxC3TCDgCE[/youtube]

LAST MENTION OF GLASTO, PROMISE

So finally to two down and out pop moments. Shakira wowed the Glastonbury audience on Saturday afternoon with her perfect blend of pop and world music. From the off it was an incredible sexual performance with fun moments where we howled along to She-Wolf and tried out the Waka Waka dance to emotionally intense ones like my favourite Shakira song 'Underneath Your Clothes'. In the perfect sunshine, this was pretty special. Shakira later humped a speaker so violently we were all driven to staring at the floor.



Shakira was always on my Glastonbury to do list but the other amazing highlight for me wasn't. I've seen the current Pet Shop Boys show twice now, and was seriously tempted to head to the Pyramid for Muse as I hadn't seen them in about 5 years. In the end though, the PSB won out and I had the immense joy of the show totally converting some of my hating friends into total PSB lovers and felt like I was cheating on Colin going to see them with Daniel.

Annoyingly the moment isn't on YouTube so I can't show it, but 'It's A Sin' hit me hard during this show. It somehow transformed from AMAZING pop song to BLOODY INTENSE EMOTIONALLY DISTRAUGHT UP GAY RIGHTS pop song. I know it always was that, but I hadn't quite got it until standing about in the cold with lots of people off their face while Neil was bathed in demonic red lights.

CHE GUEVARA AND DEBUSSY TO A DISCO BEAT INDEED.

p.s. amazing (AMAZING) pop fact - Helena from 'Frank' is one of the PSB's dancers. I thought it was her, then I chastised myself for being racist by assuming a girl with an afro who I could only see from far away was another girl with an afro, for no other reason than she had an afro. BUT THEN, it was her. So there.

Florence to the power of X Squared

Moment two came thanks to the combination of The XX and Florence and the Machine. Two bands who've had a lot of hype over the last twelve months.

I've never quite been bitten by the Florence bug, but once I'd finished yawning at the amount of hype round the XX and actually listened to them I was totally in love. I saw them at a Jools Holland play two songs, and then excitingly caught their SXSW set in a Methodist Church in Austin. There the audience was very quiet and polite, at Glasto they couldn't have been more different. This was an audience who was obsessed with the band and stomping, clapping and cheering along at a moments notice.

Even though the band members normally have a very controlled stage presence, the excitement in the John Peel tent for their show meant smiles were trying to break through the serious faces just about cracking at the side of their faces. This felt big.

To close the set they said they were going to play a song they hadn't done live before and the familiar harps from the start of Jamie XX's remix of Flo's 'You've Got The Love' rung out. At first it sounded like Florence's vocals were just being scratched in but then out she came and everything went mental. Candi Staton was on a different stage at the same time. Poor Candi Staton.

Thank You For The Days

Five years ago I went to Glastonbury for the first time. It was disgusting. I hated it. It was a proper torrential downfall year so the weather conditions coupled with it being my first festival and very first camping experience made for a horrific attitude from me and a general bad time. I remember distinctly asking my tent buddy James to punch me in the face so I passed out and could get to sleep as I was sure it was never going to happen naturally (he didn't).

This year though, with many more festivals under my belt and an excellent group of mates to go with, it was time to try the Somerset fields out once again. And well, it certainly didn't rain. It didn't rain so much that my gorgeous new wellies are still shiny and I had to spend a huge chunk of Saturday afternoon lying back at camp in the shade because I thought I was going to pass out. Naomi & I both have most excellent comedy sandal tanginess too.

Everyone goes on about Glasto moments. I'll post mine over the next couple of days, but this was the ultimate one.

Ray Davies - 'Days'



My knowledge of The Kinks is quite limited to the big singles. I still highly irritate all my friends by talking much more favourably about the Cathy Dennis version of Waterloo Sunset than the original (probably because it was the first one I heard). My knowledge of Ray Davies was zip until last year I went to see his very long and slightly strange musical Come Dancing and then caught a tiny bit of his SXSW set.

At Glasto I could have chosen the footie or Ray but I'm sure I made the right decision. A set filled with classics and not so, it was just about the right balance to keep everyone interested. The brilliant Crouch End Festival Chorus joined him for most of the set and added a brilliant wall of sound harmony to sounds like 'You Got Me' and the jolly 'The Village Green Preservation Society' (which was surely the inspiration for the Divine Comedy's entire career). The real highlight though came in 'Days', a song I only realised was 'a song' and not just a Yellow Pages advert about 4 months ago. Dedicated to The Kinks' bassist Pete Quaife who died last week, it was utterly spine tingling emotional. Ray cried, I cried. It was, as they say, a 'moment'.

Obviously it sounds rubbish on tv. Thanks television.

Zelda Ronson

If you're hoping for more vintage soul from the new Mark Ronson album 'Record Collector' then you're  in for a big disappointment. The most important thing you need to know is that there isn't a horn or cover in earshot. Instead Mark, under his new act name 'Mark Ronson & The Business' has ditched the Stax sounds and intially put out a squelchy breakbeat of a track called 'Circuit Breaker' as a bubble track (I'm bored of the word buzz). Check out the very cute, geeky video which meets DJ Hero with old school Zelda synchronised to the music.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luoAYFR_hH0[/youtube]

From what I've gathered the actual first single features the curious combination of Boy George and the London Gay Men's Choir on a track co-written by Jake Shears. Triple threat. Ex Pipette Rose Elinor Dougall is on four tracks and there's contributions also from Miike Snow, Spank Rock, Q-Tip and Santigold. I would be excited about Rose had she not seemed so disinterested and blah about her music when I saw her at SXSW. It was enough to send us home early for the night with all our energy zapped. Hopefully though Mark will have brought back her pizzazz.

'Circuit Breaker' however just makes me expect Stuart Hall to appear with the news. This is what the theme tune to Northwest Tonight sounded like in the 80s, yes?

Jessie's Girl

Rick Springfield's 'Jessie's Girl' isn't a song that I've really grown up with. Despite being a Grammy award winner and Billboard #1 in the States in 1981, it only reached #43 here when it was released 3 years later over here. So I'm not really sure how big this song is in the UK, if anything it's probably Guitar Hero that's secured it's enduring popularity. Personally I think I only first heard it a couple of months ago when Lucio played it at 'I Built This Speedwagon on a Prayer' (a power ballads night at The RVT that we run) and then soon afterwards I watched Boogie Nights in which it features. Since then I've been list ening to it A LOT and played it again at the latest Speedwagon last week.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2T7wKdQsTo[/youtube]

What nicely ironed trousers.

Once the Madonna episode of Glee aired, a lot of people suggested they'd foolishly left out the schmaltzy 'Dear Jessie'. Instead it seems Jesse St James was definately named for a reason, but it's so they  could bring Rick Springfield into play. When 'Laryngitis' airs in the UK on Monday I'm pretty sure that the #43 chart position is going to be smashed to pieces. In fact it's probably the most hit heavy episode of the sadly fading Glee. There's not very much action but brilliant song after song is banged out with two non Rachel based duets in particular absolutely nailing it.

Frankie & The Heartstrings

To my ears the Sunderland / Durham / Newcastle accent when sung by male indie groups sounds the same. I know this is ridiculous but perhaps I am so swept away by the romance of a NE accent that I totally forget to listen for any defining qualities. Maximo Park were noticeably not The Futureheads because their music was much spikier, but when new Sunderland band Frankie & The Heartstrings came along last year I had a quick listen to their not very interesting debut single 'Fragile' and promptly put them into my forgettable, I'll just listen to the Futureheads if I want that, box.

The first disappointment came because it's very easy to assume things based on the first things you see about a band which are normally their name and their first promo shot. The worst thing at the moment is every band under the sun sending over some glitzy, polysexual photo that inspires you to click on their myspace, only to discover utter twaddle when it comes to the music. For Frankie & co, there was an awful, although at least not faux-gay, promo shot (see above) but the name conjured up images of beehives, quiffs, a rock & roll high school and soaring strings. 'Fragile' totally didn't tick that box.

It's good work on their part then that their second single 'Tender' is much more exciting and retro sounding complete with point winning hand claps. Dancable and infectious, the video totally endears them to me and the idea of someone who 'feeds you milk and gives you wine' sounds like a winning combo. Plus I love a frontman who doesn't have an instrument to hide behind, yet has the ability to jump about looking silly and like he's actually digging his own music. Can someone organise a Frankie vs Friendly Fires' Ed McFarlane dance off please.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29A5jD2Hz4U[/youtube]

(It still sounds like The Futureheads)

I Am Yours Now

During the first few months of 2010, you couldn't watch television without Florence popping up in the background of some trails or another. Now that moment's passed, it seems that The XX are the latest 'trail friendly' band. After 'Crystallised' popped up, much to the anguish of a snobby indie fan, on the 90210 Channel 4 trail, it's now time for 'Islands' to take centre stage seemingly in the position of the BBC's election advert song.

Handy then, that it's the band's next single. I saw them for the first proper time over at SXSW in a dimly lit Methodist church in Austin and it was magical. Now for 'Islands', video director Saam Farahmand (Cheryl's 3 words) has managed to create something very special out of the story of love breaking apart through a delicately changing dance routine. Totally mesmerising.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXNS0Uub80k[/youtube]