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.

Geeky ramblings on Les Miserables

Les Miserables is my favourite musical. I first saw it in Manchester in 1999 but didn't quite get it until 2nd time round in London. There's so many different plots going on plus the confusion between Fantine, Cosette and Eponine had me baffled. Still nothing could get in the way of the songs which make me feel like my chest is about to tear apart through the pain.

This year it celebrates its 25th anniversary since its debut performance at the Barbican in London in 1985 and celebrates by the touring cast returning to that theatre for 3 weeks. The big day of celebration comes on October 2 when it's possible to see 3 productions of the show all in the same day - 10am at Barbican, 2pm at Queens and then 7pm at the O2. My kind of mental.

Last night I went to see the touring production at the Barbican which featured Gareth Gates demonstrating some exceptionally odd, flat hair in his role as Marius but unexpectedly some really great acting. Unfortunately there was no encore featuring a mash-up of Anyone of Us and Sunshine.

Tickets are in no way cheap at £65 but this production almost felt like the definitive one. It's a much re-worked, totally new production which features lush orchestration and, much to the horror of traditionals, no revolving stage. Instead the sets were wonderfully accompanied by a projected backdrop that at points made you feel like you were in an episode of Knightmare (this is a good thing). In particular I love the use of the projector during Do You Hear The People Sing, the sewer scenes and the fascinating, baffling way they used it in Javert's suicide.

When it comes to music, the West End always sounds like it's a couple of casio keyboards that are being played off a tape. Here we had a real life orchestra making the songs sound even fuller and effective than normal. 'Stars' was given a whole new lease of life with the audience jumping to their feet and the delicate 'Bring Him Home' was even more effective. Although 'I Dreamed A Dream' was a bit pitchy, the mighty 'On My Own' was filled with more oomph and anger than normal as Rosalind James' poured her guts into a faster rendition of the showstopped. My favourite song from the show is 'A Heart Full of Love' and Katie Hall and Gareth Gates played it perfectly with a mixture of shyness and excitement. Still, it's Eponine that makes me sob like a sad panda.

Les Miserables at The Barbican until 2 October. If I ever spot a man wearing the t-shirt to the left I am immediately proposing.

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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.

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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.

Play Me, I'm Yours

When I was a little girl I used to bang about on the piano at my Auntie Agnes' house in Burscough. All her family were musical and there are plenty of photos of me looking adorable at various pianos aged about 4.

Then when I was 7 or 8 I actually had piano lessons from a very old (or so she seemed) lady in Blackpool called Gladys Jolly. I didn't find her or the music particularly exciting so after doing a couple of grades packed it in. I can't actually remember who taught me to read music, whether it was school or Miss Jolly but it's always been a skill I've cherished.

I wish I'd stuck with the piano though. I have one at home home and can quite happily sit down with a piece of music and very slowly bash my way through it but I'd love to be able to do it properly. My cousin Lorilee is a music teacher and plays piano to concert pianist level. She can play anything after hearing it and we've spent many fun nights together playing and singing our way through musicals, or brilliantly me playing her a Pet Shop Boys song on Spotify and her transforming it into a wildly detailed piano piece instantly. A couple of years ago she started playing a piano in a hotel lobby and I love the idea that one day I'd be able to just see a piano and pounce on it.

So I was super excited (and very jealous I can't really get involved) by the Play Me, I'm Yours project that's currently running in London. The idea of British artist Luke Jerram, 21 pianos have been placed with London's Square Mile with the intention that anyone can sit down at them and do whatever they like. It's interesting to think about the very British reserved nature and whether they'll actually dare to try them, but I'm sure if you see someone do it then you'll want to get involved.

I love the idea of a 'public space' and don't think there's enough of them in London. This idea demands a space become one and enables everyone to be creative, regardless of their personal situation, and express themselves through the power of music. You might not know how to play, have played for years, or ever had the chance to own your own piano, but this enables every single one of us to get involved. Also it's brilliantly not just a bloody London centric thing - it'll be hitting Belfast, Burnley and Blackburn later in the year.

I'm hoping to find one to tinkle out a little Cole Porter on this weekend.

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.