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- New music: Britney Spears - Hold It Against Me
The saucy lines recall an episode of ITV's Take Me Out, but Britney's new single is decent enough
Britney's new single Hold It Against Me – the first from her seventh album, due in March – has become something of an event. Demo versions have already leaked, tweets from Britney have stoked excitement, and her label has said there's only one copy in the UK (although that's just leaked too, so someone may not have a job in the morning).
But what's it like? Over relentless heavy beats and synth whooshes, Britney tries her hand at flirting ("If I said I want your body now, would you hold it against me?"), delivering lines usually reserved for ITV's Take Me Out ("You feel like paradise and I need a vacation tonight"). It trundles along nicely, the sweet vocals contrasting with industrial beats (courtesy of Dr Luke and Max Martin), before the whole thing has a meltdown around the two-minute mark, first throwing in some grimey, dubstep beats (Rusko is rumoured to be helping with the album) and then a smattering of rave chords before the chorus roars up again. Expect Madonna to release a dubstep-influenced album before the year is out.
You can hear a better quality version of this track hereguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - Hear Anna Calvi's debut album: Exclusive stream
We're in love with Anna Calvi's stunning debut album. Have a listen before it hits the shops and let us know what you think
We're much more excited about Anna Calvi's debut album – a fiery concoction of flamenco guitars, operatic vocals and gothic stylings – than most of the artists you'll find tipped for 2011. For a start, it sounds like the score to a Tarantino film. And for another thing, it's one of the few records you'll hear this year that recalls PJ Harvey, Ennio Morricone, Django Reinhardt and Claude Debussy. She also looks about 294 times cooler than most dishwater indie outfits, but that's by the by. Let us know what you think in the comments below ...
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - Is this the new Strokes album art? Probably not, but it should be
Julian Casablancas was almost certainly joking when he tweeted an 'exclusive' image of the new Strokes album cover. But if he's got a sense of humour, maybe the band should use the image
Julian Casablancas of the Strokes revealed today what he claims is the cover art for the New York band's next album, scheduled for release in March. The image he unveiled on Twitter is gathering amused comments as well it might.
A basketball player and a clown disport themselves on carriages on the toy town express; the clown is lying on his tummy like Boucher's Miss O'Murphy (but clothed ... in clown clothes) while the sportsman dangles his bare legs out of the orange truck and holds a purple basketball. Behind them, a goat perches atop a sapphire waterfall and a rainbow arcs across a blue bay.
An art critic asked to respond to this picture might leap to the conclusion that the Strokes have paid the great Jeff Koons to create an image of inconceivable kitsch and ineffable comic strangeness to grace their new album. The Strokes have a history of bad taste: their famous 2001 album Is This It was decorated with a black and white photo of a gloved hand on a woman's bottom.
But a closer look raises some fairly obvious questions about the picture. Album covers are usually square, and this is rectangular and cropped. Three-dimensional objects stand clear of the painting – a light fitting and, at the bottom right corner, part of a potted plant. The painting has a time-dulled, dust-flattened look, like a mural in a public building.
That is almost certainly what it is. Casablancas has probably spotted this majestically odd mural in a hospital children's ward, nursery or similar place. It's hilarious for him to publish this as purportedly the cover for the new album ... and his Twitter followers have taken it with good humour. They probably know his ways. Some suggest that it should definitely be the album's cover art. And perhaps it will be ... the guy obviously has a sense of humour.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - New music: Puro Instinct – Stilyagi
Our new music blogs are back! And to kick things off here's a slice of dream pop featuring Ariel Pink
Puro Instinct are LA-based sisters Piper and Skylar Kaplan, and for those of you who keep up with the comings and goings of dream-pop duos loved by music blogs, you'll know already that they used to be called Pearl Harbor. Their debut album, the excellently titled Headbangers in Ecstasy, is due out in February and Stilyagi (Russian for "style hunters", referring to a youth subculture that existed from the late-40s until the early-60s in the Soviet Union) is a pretty enticing first taster. As well as the Kaplan sisters' gorgeous harmonies, cascading synths and keyboard riffs, Stilyagi features fellow acid-pop wonder Ariel Pink (who also helped out on production).
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - Brother's attempt to recreate Oasis is merely depressing
The band's bid to relive 1996 might fare better if they had an ounce of wit or originality
In the summer of 2009, a T4 interview with Raygun did the rounds of the Twittersphere. It seemed to present a real-life Spinal Tap with a fondness for "drinking Mojitos at 11am – what the hell, man!" that displayed a mesmerising lack of self-awareness. Last year produced nothing quite so cringeworthy, though a promo film of the hotly tipped Brother came close.
Documenting the lad-rock band's attempts to play for "the people", it showed the quartet setting up their equipment at two locations in their native Slough, only to have their first gig shut down by "the man" (translation: an old man tells them they need permission to play and the boys pack up their stuff and leave politely), while their second attempt is met with mild bemusement by some schoolgirls. A tale of rock'n'roll shenanigans that could make Keith Richards blush this was not. None the less, Brother have excited a great deal of interest, starring on the cover of the NME last week with a strapline hailing "the return of the great British guitar band".
How has this happened? At their debut gig in London a few months ago, Brother took the stage with the hilarious boast: "If anyone here doesn't want to see the future of music, leave now!" Leaving aside the daftness of the question (did anyone shuffle towards the door muttering: "Future of music? Not for me, mate, I thought this was the quarter-final of the Nuneaton tiddly winks championship…") such an attitude tells you a lot about Brother and their desire to revisit Britpop.
Just take the name, which seems to have arisen from a challenge to invoke Oasis in as many ways as possible using just one word: Oasis were based around two brothers, the band's label was called Big Brother and "Brother" was the sponsor splashed across the Manchester City football shirts worn in those famous early photos.
Then there's their sound, a bold, eclectic cocktail that dares to ask the question no other band dare tackle, namely: "What happens if we combine the Seahorses with Mansun?"
It's hardly surprising that a band would feel the time was right to exhume Britpop. Blur and Suede have recently performed triumphant reunion shows, and Pulp caused a stir last year when they announced a string of 2011 festival dates with the "classic" Britpop line-up. Elsewhere, there's a debut album due from Liam Gallagher's new band, Beady Eye, a group who aim to rise above the memories of Oasis by, er, recruiting every single member of Oasis bar that guy who played guitar. And that's before we've mentioned Shed Seven, Kula Shaker and the Bluetones, who it turns out never went away.
There's nothing wrong with a revival, as long as the artists involved do enough to make it seem fresh. Just look at how Zola Jesus and new Domino signing Anna Calvi have breathed life into the corpse of goth with tremendous debuts. And let's not forget that Britpop itself was perhaps the ultimate revival, although for all the "Oasis sound like Beatles" comments, the most memorable bands all brought something new to the table, be it attitude (Oasis), wit (Pulp) or only being able to play two chords (Menswear).
The depressing thing about Brother is that they seem genuinely to believe that it's still 1996. When they played recently at the Met Bar (where else?), they demanded that the DJ "turn that dubstep shit off". In terms of sonic invention, their music makes Noel Gallagher look like Shostakovich. But it's their unintentionally hilarious attempts to act up to the Brit rocker image that really make you despair.
Studying Oasis (again), Brother clearly think that outrageous statements about sex, drugs and rock'n'roll are the way to get noticed. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have a member with the bizarre comedy persona of a Liam Gallagher to deliver said messages. That's why recently you found them telling the Guardian that they would soon be heading for a world of "drugs and prostitutes". Prostitutes? I'm sure countless budding bands dream of the day when they can finally afford to pay for sex.
If anything, these misfiring quotes are perhaps Brother's only redeeming feature. It's an almost lovable stupidity that makes you hope they might stick around for entertainment value, if nothing else. How could you not when they told the NME: "We're sick of all these American bands" while posing for an accompanying photograph wearing a jumper emblazoned with the Stars and Stripes?
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать
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