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- New music: Santigold ft Karen O – Go
Santigold's debut came out three years ago – a long time in hipster-land. But does this comeback track cut it? We think so
It's been three years since Santigold's excellent debut album, Santogold (the "o" became an "i" following legal wranglings about her name) and since then she's collaborated with Christina Aguilera, Kanye West, Lykke Li, Devo, Julian Casablancas and Beastie Boys. Despite all this, there's been a lack of information on her follow-up album – until yesterday, when a brand new track featuring Karen O emerged on Jay-Z's blog. Accompanying the song is a lengthy interview in which Santigold discusses the problems of taking so long to follow-up her debut: "On one hand it's a challenge, beckoning any would-be usurpers to come show and prove. On the other, it's a call to myself to rise to the occasion." The song itself is a brilliant mix of chant-like vocals (reminiscent of MIA), pinging beats and a deliriously catchy hook. Karen O's presence? Icing on the cake.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - April's best new music from across the MAP
More new musical morsels from 36 countries around the world
Each month, the Music Alliance Pact – a group of 36 music blogs from around the world, including this one – simultaneously post tracks chosen by each blog.
To download all 36 songs in one file click here
ENGLAND
The Guardian Music Blog
Holy Other - TouchA nameless character who works variously in Berlin, Gothenburg and Manchester, Holy Other is a British musician who, like his US counterpart How To Dress Well, has a penchant for taking contemporary R&B and draining it of all passion and all its sexual signifiers. What you're left with is music like Touch: slow, drifting electronica, marked by glitches, with an almost church-like atmosphere that has led some to describe it as "ambient goth", an affecting mix of spectral sonics and ghostly vocals, as un-earthy as it is unearthly.
ARGENTINA
Zonaindie
Violeta Castillo - La Batalla Del MovimientoVioleta is a young and promising singer-songwriter from Buenos Aires who just released her first recordings in the form of two EPs, Uno and Otro. La Batalla Del Movimiento is a sweet pop ballad with great arrangements, thanks to her collaboration with a great band called Monoambiente. You can listen to both EPs and buy the MP3s from her Bandcamp page.
AUSTRALIA
Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
Khancoban - Until It Takes You OverSure there are big drums and meandering atmospherics that do tab out a few pages of Neon Bible, but Khancoban manage to verge on 'epic' without coming out too overtly pomp. For what it lacks in lyrical diversity, it makes up for in delivery - a steady build that abruptly cuts off after only three minutes. New album Arches Over The Sun drops in July. Until then, this one will be a good excuse to wake up early and mull over my cereal to.
BRAZIL
Meio Desligado
Luísa Maita - Lero-LeroLero-Lero is the minimalist samba that opens the debut album from singer Luísa Maita. It's a song that calmly grows, almost without you noticing - her soft voice takes you to a special place in your head and suddenly you're just dancing and singing along with her. This track is also available for free download on Bandcamp.
CANADA
I(Heart)Music
Dora Alexander - TravelersYes, Dora Alexander sound just like a version of Radiohead that ceased to exist somewhere between The Bends and OK Computer. But you know what? It's been about a decade and a half since then, so it's probably safe for someone else to claim that sound. And, as Travelers - both this song and their debut EP of the same name - demonstrates, Dora Alexander are ready to pick up that mantle. Here's hoping they stick with it a little longer than the originators.
CHILE
Ariel Altamirano, the DJ and producer better known as DeMentira, is the founder of Chilean netlabel Discos Pegaos, specializing in electronic music and abstract beats. The label was responsible for debut albums by Vaskular and Motivado as well the release of Chinpancé EP, first solo effort from DeMentira since his introduction as producer and rapper for the trio Iris in 2006. Post-Tbc is the first single from Chinpancé EP where we find mysterious beats, not dissimilar to dubstep, as well the experimental nature of the wonky sound.
CHINA
Wooozy
Friend Or Foe - Snorting CloroxFriend Or Foe are a secretive, occasionally masked rock trio who have been tearing up the Shanghai scene lately with their brand of fun-filled, balls-out rock. Preferring to keep their identities a secret, the band promulgate the myth that they are in fact three illegitimate demons, raised in Heaven: guitarist and vocalist Rabshakeh and often topless drummer Mahanehdan are joined by bassist Bill.
COLOMBIA
Colombia Urbana
Jiggy Drama - Me ValeJiggy Drama is a musical phenomenon in Latin America. His 'Nerdside' style has the total attention of radio stations and nightclubs, generating an internet boom with his urban alternative music. His most recent single, Me Vale, is a Cumbia fusion with some Caribbean sounds.
DENMARK
All Scandinavian
Frederik Teige - You Always Tried To Pull Us DownHe's been touring with Efterklang since 2007, but thankfully singer, songwriter and guitarist Frederik Teige has also found time to write and record material of his own. The climax so far is his self-released full-length debut Body God - nine songs worth of awesome alternative pop - which you can get for as much as you feel like paying (free is even an option) on Bandcamp.
ESTONIA
Aggressive and arrogant, otherworldly and expressive, Mimicry fuses electroclash with psychedelic techno, ethnic beats and garage rock. Their aim: to produce perfectly mindblowing party music and provoke emotions never felt before.
FINLAND
Glue
NT's White Trash - WhistleThe most recognizable Brit in Finnish indie, Nick Triani, put together NT's White Trash with the aim of making some noise, which is captured in the band's debut Mourning Becomes Electric due in May. Whistle is a catchy two-and-a-half minute guitar-pop song, with an uplifting… well, whistling. It is a smooth exception on an album that promises some edgier sounds.
FRANCE
Yet You're Fired
Thomas Kieffer - SummertimeThomas Kieffer is a talented songwriter, offspring of the Strasbourg rock scene. At 15 years old, he was hugely impressed by bands such as Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple and started playing in different bands. Today, at 35, his resumé is very impressive: he has opened for legendary artists such as Canned Heat, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Gary Moore, NOFX and Scorpions. He started a solo career two years ago, giving up on hard rock and metal, and should succeed with it and his album Beautiful Hands.
GERMANY
Joasihno's songs benefit a lot from his percussionist skills and his open-mindedness for playful but cautious arrangements. His wanderlust is almost tangible as he sings, although he is deeply rooted in Bavaria. Von is taken from his forthcoming debut We Say: Oh Well which is being released on Kyr Records.
GREECE
Mouxlaloulouda
2L8 - Don't Follow Me2L8's music lurches deftly between emotional intimacy, ambition and experimentation. Their two well-received previous releases (download them for free here) proved they are one of the most creative and compelling acts in the musical underground. They are running a campaign on Pledge Music to help them unleash their forthcoming double album, New Battles, Without Honor And Humanity. The magnificent Don't Follow Me, a Music Alliance Pact exclusive, drips with melancholy. It blends warmth and brooding, existential contemplation with a repetitive but mesmerizing acoustic guitar melody full of subtlety and distinct sonic accents, and swims in gorgeous sheets of trembling, passionate vocals.
ICELAND
Icelandic Music Maffia
Skálmöld - KvaðningSkálmöld is a metal band formed in August 2009. The six members had been formerly active in other bands, not all metal. Their music can be described as powerful, melodic and epic Viking metal, along with various folk influences. The lyrics follow the strict rules of traditional Icelandic poetry. Kvaðning is featured on last year's debut record Baldur, a concept album telling the epic and dramatic tale of the viking Baldur.
INDIA
Indiecision
Pentagram - Tomorrow's DecidedPentagram is one of India's biggest acts. The band has been around for the better part of the past two decades, creating music that's always been a contemporary, cutting edge reflection of the generation it is part of. The band recently released its fourth studio album Bloodywood, arguably its most evolved work yet. Tomorrow's Decided uses a traditional, folk-based drum beat and surrounds it with quintessential, soaring Pentagram electro-rock goodness to create four of the most intensely exciting minutes you're going to have today.
INDONESIA
Deathrockstar
Gugun Blues Shelter - White DogGugun Blues Shelter is probably one of Indonesia's best exports, with recognition from the blues community in Europe, USA, Asia and Australia. The band have played at international events such as the Belfast Big River Blues and Jazz Festival and Great British R&B Festival. And no big festival in Indonesia would be complete without them.
IRELAND
Nialler9
SertOne - Past Present FutureReminscent of RJD2, J Dilla and all those fine beat maestros that no doubt inspired him, Liverpool via Portadown's SertOne aka 21-year-old Gareth McAlinden is certainly a producer to watch. This tune contains a unique Belfast sample, twisted brass and a head-nodding beat that makes you sit up and take notice. You can find it on the recent seven-track The View From Above EP through Melted Music.
ISRAEL
Metal Israel
Gevolt - Bay Mir Bistu SheynYiddish metal pioneers Gevolt took this 1932 Yiddish musical track (that incidentally was a big hit in Nazi Germany until they figured out it was Yiddish) and made glorious metal out of it. Their sound resembles a happy-go-lucky Rammstein/Linkin Park hybrid with violins. But since a lot of their songs are versions of the old ones my grandmothers sing, they have an unmatched nostalgic beauty. Download their second album Alef Base for free while you still can at their site.
ITALY
Polaroid
Love Boat - You Know I Really Want YouThese guys from Sardinia are probably more known around Europe than in Italy. That's how bad this country has gotten. Anyway, they have a new album on the German label Alien Snatch and a 7" EP on Shit Music For Shit People. This song comes from the latter's B-side. Grab everything and start to dance a wild garage party - this is good rock 'n' roll.
MEXICO
Red Bull PanameriKa
Toy Selectah - No Pasma feat. Isa GTIn the last decade, Cumbia has become the 'lingua franca' to fill Latin-oriented dancefloors worldwide. Its saucy rhythms and nasty grooves easily adapt to many other musical forms: from techno to reggae, passing through favela-funk or dubstep. With a career spanning 15 years (and dreadlocks nearly that long), Toy Selectah has earned respect as a Cumbia-lord, trading the genre and cross-pollinating it with his constant travels and after-hours gigs. His Mex Machine EP out on Diplo's Mad Decent label is an infectious state of affairs. On No Pasma, the Colombia-born, London-dwelling singer Isa GT throws some cocksure chants on a perfect groundshaking Cumbia.
NETHERLANDS
Unfold Amsterdam
Death Letters - Your Heart Is Upside DownIt's nice to see a bit of international buzz building for a young Dutch band. This duo aren't even legal to enjoy a good piss-up in Texas, which is where they headed last year to record an album with Chris 'Frenchie' Smith (Jet, The Dandy Warhols, Smog) and where they returned to for SXSW last month. The resulting album, Post-Historic, isn't the band's first effort but it's markedly different from their self-titled debut. Here they leave behind their original blues-rock trappings and fire through Glassjaw post-hardcore, Biffy Clyro post-grunge and ...Trail Of Dead post-rock 'n' roll. That may be a lot of 'posts' but they make an incredibly energetic yet refined racket on stage.
NEW ZEALAND
Einstein Music Journal
Ghost Wave - SunsetterGhost Wave hits you like a motorik wall of noise, with its hypnotic waves of reverb guitar, mechanical drums and atmospherics. Matt Paul's project started after his solo electronic act Street Beat gave way to this united front, with drummer Eammon Logan, guitarist Rikki Sutton and bassist Alex Grant. Live they're enigmatic with tightly wound, ravaged Clean-style hooks and perfectly warped pop songs. Their debut EP was released earlier this month on Arch Hill.
NORWAY
Birds Sometimes Dance
Beatbully - BølleboogieBeatbully is an offspring of the Norwegian skweee label Dødpop. Skweee is a genre of Nordic heritage, based on classic hip hop beats with heavy influence of modern electronica. Although mainly composed for a live audience, Beatbully invites skweee to your living room as well. This winter, he released Kosmisk Regn ("Cosmic Rain"), the first solo album in Dødpop's history. Bølleboogie has an irresistible beat that leaves no one behind on the dancefloor, and the juicy melody won't release you till its over. It's a three-minute piece of bliss that will make even your grandmother dance.
PERU
Kuraka is a rock group that spawned from the collaboration of renowned musicians of local bands such as Emergency Blanket, Zen, M.A.S.A.C.R.E. and Inyectores. The diversity of styles seemed an obstacle to assemble their ideas, but the bonds of friendship led to them making something interesting. In 2009, they released a few singles that whetted the appetite for their debut album Fuego Negro, which came out in August 2010 on Mundane Records. Take a listen to the great song that gives the album its name.
PORTUGAL
Posso Ouvir Um Disco?
They're Heading West - My Case Is A Different OneThey're Heading West are three singers/composers (João Correia, Francisca Cortesão, Mariana Ricardo) and a drummer (Sérgio Nascimento) who decided to get together and play songs from their bands and solo projects. They only have one set of songs, recorded live at a national radio station, which is not yet available commercially. The song featured this month is, therefore, a MAP exclusive as a free download.
ROMANIA
Babylon Noise
Parachute Pulse - HopscptchParachute Pulse is the brand new project of Ana Roman. Her debut album, Kingdom, is a collection of cinematic sounds, moods and emotions. The album is available for free download on her label's page, Asiluum. Hopscptch is a collaboration with Res Es of Semiosis, who were featured in the Music Alliance Pact back in May 2009.
SCOTLAND
The Pop Cop
Sebastian Dangerfield - You Played Your Part, Singer!Sebastian Dangerfield are a four-piece from Edinburgh who are little-known even in their home city. But that shouldn't be the case for much longer if the band continue to show such an accomplished grasp of Americana-tinged folk-rock amplified with a healthy dose of scuzzy-pop zest and various stringed instruments. The wonderfully-named You Played Your Part, Singer! is taken from their new EP, The Sound Of The Old Machines, which you can find on Bandcamp.
SINGAPORE
I'm Waking Up To...
DJ Koflow - Make Your Hands Clap, Toes ClapDJ Koflow is one of Singapore's most celebrated DJs. His claim to fame started when he won the national DMC Championship in 2003, and he continued to skyrocket by receiving many honourable mentions in local and international media. He dropped his debut album The Turntable Instrumentalist despite a heavy production and performance schedule, with the record speaking volumes of his myriad influences. Jazz, hip hop, funk and soul all seamlessly flow together in the hands of one of the country's brightest mix masters.
SOUTH AFRICA
Musical Mover & Shaker!
Battle Beyond The Stars - The DesertPhilip Kramer, aka Battle Beyond The Stars, is a Cape Town-based DJ and producer. He is best known for his unique blend of electro, French house and unusual tracks that no DJ in their right mind would play in public. He recently released an EP entitled Memory which gave his awaiting fans a concrete collection of songs. With his new offering The Desert, he injects his signature sound to create a shimmering, synth-infused song that shows off his immense talent with its subtly. For his latest work download and have a listen to Drifter's Theme.
SOUTH KOREA
Indieful ROK
Neon Bunny - Long-DYoojin Lim is the sole member of Neon Bunny, who debuted with an album called Seoulight in late March. Having been a session keyboardist for successful power-pop act The Black Skirts - the very first South Korean MAP contribution - her own sound is on the electro side, influenced by Ladyhawke and Phoenix. Long-D is a semi-catchy track with something of a retro sound.
SPAIN
Musikorner
Disco Las Palmeras! - La Casa CuartelDisco Las Palmeras! are a three-piece band from Galicia, hometown of related acts such as Franc3s, Mequetrefe or Triángulo de Amor Bizarro and cradle of the new Spanish noise wave. La Casa Cuartel opens their debut album, Nihil Obstat, released earlier this year. The song is about a terrorist strike on a police station and features hypnotic drums and suffocating guitar riffs that recall exactly the same feelings the lyrics talk about: fear and anxiety.
SWEDEN
Swedesplease
Summer Heart - Please StayIt's almost spring which means summer is still a while away. But we can dream, can't we? That's where this song from Malmö-based band Summer Heart comes in. It's called Please Stay, but with its Beach Boys harmonies, groovy beat and summer feeling, it may as well be the band's coup d'état.
SWITZERLAND
78s
Pamela Méndez - Bubble BubbleBubble Bubble is the first single from Pamela Ménedez's critically-acclaimed debut album I Will Be Loved, released in February. The Bern resident, whose father is Mexican, belongs to a new breed of female singer-songwriters popping up in nearly every Swiss town. Heidi Happy, Sophie Hunger, Lena Fennell and Lea Lu are others to check out.
UNITED STATES
I Guess I'm Floating
Supreme Cuts - AmnesiaChicago's Supreme Cuts describe their sound as "future R&B" - a perfect name for the sample and bass-heavy slow grooves they weave into their songs. Amnesia is perhaps their most supreme cut, a ridiculously addictive head trip that could soundtrack a nightclub as easily as it could an R Kelly video from the 90s.
VENEZUELA
Música y Más
Unos Infames - Pagando Es Que Se PuedeYou could say that Unos Infames is just another rock band. But no. To hear and see them live you will realize that their strength on stage belongs to a mega band. Unos Infames, who formed in Barcelona, Anzoátegui, is made up of experienced musicians who fuse some blues influences with controversial lyrics. They are currently recording their debut album.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - A journey into sound: All the record shops I have loved and lost
In honour of Record Store Day, pop writer and mega-KLF fan Peter Robinson talks us through his top 10 places to buy music
Woolworths, East Grinstead (now closed)
Their music section was huge, or seemed so when I was about 11, and the centrepiece was a massive wall of the top 75 vinyl singles, many on 12in as well as 7in. On my first visit I raided the bargain bin for 10p 7ins. The concept of the album would not make sense to me for another year – why would I spend money on songs I'd never heard? – but that first bargain-bin haul, which included Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up and MARRS' Pump Up the Volume, made total sense then and makes total sense now.
Esprit Mail Order
I was 13 when I started collecting records, mostly by the KLF. After school, I was being paid what seemed like a lot of money to stuff vitamins into packets at a local health food emporium, just so I could afford to buy a one-sided 12in of Whitney Joins the JAMs or an Australian 7in of KLF's What Time Is Love? with artwork different from the UK release. In my teenage fanboy head this behaviour was perfectly rational. On the monthly Saturday when Record Collector came out I'd go to WH Smith (whose music selection was notoriously poor, and continues to be) to get my copy of the magazine. The features were about bands I had already identified as boring – the Byrds, Led Zeppelin, Mott the Hoople – but the classifieds, and the ads taken out by mail-order record shops, were the exciting bit. When I got the mag home I would highlight (in yellow) any items I wanted to purchase, feeling a little wobbly when I found a rare or sought-after item. Esprit Mail Order – they're online these days – seemed to have the best selection. If they had something I wanted I'd phone them on the Saturday morning and they'd hold it for me. Then I'd go back into town, head to the Post Office and get a postal order for the correct sum, which would then be sent to Esprit. About a week later my record would arrive. Sometimes I would not play it because if I did it would no longer be in mint condition. Again, this behaviour all made perfect sense to me at the time. Most of these items are currently sitting in my mum's garage. Sleeves that have not been eaten by mice have mostly been pissed on by mice.
Our Price, Crawley (now closed)
Our Price started stocking chart CD singles while Woolies in East Grinstead was still dragging its feet with vinyl and cassingles, so when I wanted one particular CD single – Blue Pearl's Naked in the Rain – I knew where I had to go.
Sister Ray, Berwick Street, London
I was 15-years-old and in London for a week's work experience at Smash Hits. I knew Sister Ray from the ads they used to have in the back of NME, so visiting the shop was an exciting moment. Sadly the ads hadn't prepared me for the shop's staff, who were the sort of condescending prats giving independent record stores a bad name. The people behind the counter at Selectadisc, on the same street, proved far more welcoming. Unfortunately, in a classic example of evil triumphing over good, Sister Ray now occupies the old Selectadisc premises.
Jingles, East Grinstead (now closed)
I wrote about Jingles on Popjustice this time last year. It was an amazing local independent shop, and it was run by a couple of DJs who were big on crowd-pleasing pop and dance and didn't have any dodgy Sister Ray-style attitude. One Saturday they let me buy a CD single of the Utah Saints' remix of the Osmonds' Crazy Horses, even though it wasn't officially out until the Monday.
Mister CD, London (Now closed)
This was a tipoff from my friend Daniel. Opposite Selectadisc's old site on Berwick Street, Mister CD was where journalists offloaded their pre-release CDs, so it was literally stacked floor to ceiling – step ladders were provided – with promo singles and cheap albums. It was here, in 2005, that I purchased a promo CD by 2wo Third3 (the most underrated band of the 90s) which I had been looking for since 1993.
Rounder Records, Brighton
The HMV on Brighton's Western Road (now closed) was where I bought the first Daft Punk album, and MVC a few hundred yards away (also now closed) was where I bought Pulp's Different Class with the special swappable CD artwork, but by the time I was at university the independent shop Rounder seemed like Brighton's nearest match to Jingles. Its stock was more indie, the music on the stereo was always pretty good and they had a fantastic bargain bin. More importantly, they had a promotional 2wo Third3 open/closed door sign. One day I asked them if I could have it. They said no.
Virgin Megastore, Tottenham Court Road, London (now closed)
By 1998 I'd moved to London. I was now working for Melody Maker and record labels had started to send me a lot of the music I wanted – and most of the music I didn't – in Jiffy bags. There was still loads that never turned up, or was deliberately not sent for fear of a bad review, so I made regular visits to the Virgin Megastore on the corner of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road to see what was out. During this period, in the early-00s, I bought my first CD burner. Suddenly I could make a perfect copy of an album, or create my own compilations. Overnight my cherished CD collection – hundreds of alphabetically filed compact discs I'd rooted out from all those different places – seemed to plummet in value. Twelve-inch picture discs or albums with great artwork still seemed worth the investment, because I couldn't manufacture vinyl at home. But along with the rest of the planet, I started to wonder about the point of all my CDs. In its dying days the Virgin store became a Zavvi, and I was buying more and more music online, but if I was drinking in town I'd still arrange to meet people in the shop's singles section and arrive 15 minutes early so I'd have a chance to see what was what.
iTunes Music Store
While some friends were excitedly chatting about the cheapness of CDs in Fopp, I was already wondering why I would want any more plastic on my shelves because I'd started buying music from iTunes. Did I need Busted's You Said No on five different promo CDs? Probably not. The song was already in my iTunes library, the artwork was crap, why did I need it on CD even once? All five CDs went in the bin. (The 2wo Thirds promo CD from Mister CD did NOT go in the bin.) iTunes was and is my main music library. The convenience of being one click away from almost any new or old release is enduringly immediately attractive. The quality of downloads has improved over time and the price of 79p for a song seems spot on. I did consider what the 13-year-old me, who used to obsess over those slightly different physical formats of KLF records, would think about this ruthlessness, but then I also thought about all the times when that 13-year-old put needle to vinyl only to find that there was a scratch or fault with the record he'd waited three weeks to arrive.
Amazon MP3
In terms of "narrative" it feels as if Spotify should appear here, but in truth I don't use it much. I use it to listen to other people's playlists, and if I want to hammer a song that's not out yet I'll stream it off YouTube, but the idea of loving a song and not owning it in some way doesn't yet make sense. Ask me again in a year. As it stands, I buy most of my digital music through Amazon's MP3 store. The simple reason is that it tends to be cheaper than iTunes. At the moment Amazon has the new Foo Fighters, Elbow and Nicole Scherzinger albums for £3.99 each. I wonder if I should feel guilty about my role in the value of music decreasing in this way, and then I think about my entire life as a record buyer, and I think about all the shops I've stepped in or phoned up or clicked on, and it strikes me that while the guys in Jingles were nice to chat to and I fondly recall grovelling in the dirt in Mister CD's basement, the entire thing has always been about me getting amazing music at a price and in a format that suits. Prices may rapidly be heading in the direction of zero pence and formats may evolve from year to year, but the music is what still makes me go wobbly in all the right ways.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - First view: Wiley – Numbers in Action
Grime's most prolific rapper returns with a call-to-arms video
It's near impossible to keep up with Wiley's career, despite the fact he's spent most of the year talking to fans on ustream. One minute he's joining forces with Mark Ronson, the next he's giving away everything he's recorded, then he's doing the Electric Boogaloo. Being Wiley must be exhausting.
And yet creative fatigue is clearly way off, if his latest single Numbers in Action is anything to go by. Minimalist beats bolster his call to other rappers: "I'm still a fan of Michael Jackson, now I wanna see numbers in action." After the Wearing My Rolex style choruses that have defined his recent hits, it's great to hear Wiley back in full flow.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - Glastonbury 2011: still eclectic
We've known the headliners for some time, but scour the lineup and there's an varied bunch of artists from Kool and the Gang to the Master Musicians of Joujouka
Of course, we already knew about this year's headlining trio of U2, Coldplay and Beyoncé – they were announced in dribs and drabs after weeks of speculation on Twitter. But a quick scan through the rest of the lineup – announced exclusively today via guardian.co.uk/music – reveals that Glastonbury has always been about more than just the headliners, as the organisers are so keen to stress. And more than 40 years on since it first started, it's still living up to its eclectic reputation.
Morrissey will take to the Pyramid stage one day, Pendulum on another; the Master Musicians of Joujouka play the same day as U2; elsewhere Gonjasufi, the Horrors and Kool and the Gang will all be making appearances.
Scanning the list, the contrasts continue: politico-comic Mark Thomas "and of course Billy Bragg" – as Glastonbury themselves put it – will hold court on the Leftfield stage, while the East Dance stage has Skepta, Devlin, Professor Green and Giggs. The festival still fills the niches, with punk poet John Cooper Clarke following on from the London Community Gospel Choir and Nashville singers Wine, Women & Song on the Acoustic stage.
You can perhaps see why Glastonbury is hesitant to make it all about the headliners. The Park stage is on glorious form, with Wild Beasts, Caribou, Crystal Castles and Gruff Rhys all playing. The West Holts stage will host the winning trio of Aloe Blacc, Janelle Monae and Big Boi, while Robyn will be followed by the Streets on the John Peel stage.
There really is quite a lot going on that doesn't involve Bono, and for that we should be thankful.
So what are you most looking forward to this year?
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - Readers recommend: opening album tracks
Suggest your favourite songs that hint at pleasures to come
Music is increasingly sold digitally, one track at a time. Which means that albums are, sadly, becoming an anachronistic form. But before the dear old LP rides off into the sunset, let's consider a strategic moment of every album: the opening track.
From the listener's point of view, "side one, track one" is one of the most important moments. Does it draw you in? Does it make you want to continue listening?
Most albums are carefully plotted, the order of the tracks crucial to taking the listener on a journey. Sometimes an artist (or the record company, which usually has a say in these matters) might want to show their hand, hitting the listener between the eyes straight away with their best track. Or they may just want to whet our appetite, giving a mere hint at pleasures to come.
True, some albums are carelessly slung together. But even then, the running order of the tracks can work fine. Whatever the reason, tell us about your favourite opening album tracks.
The toolbox:
* Listen to others' suggestions and add yours to a collaborative Spotify playlist
* Previously on Readers Recommend
* The Marconium (blog containing a wealth of data on RR)
* Guide to "donds", "zedded", and other strange words used by some of the RR regulars (courtesy of the Marconium)
* The 'Spill (blog for the RR community)
Please do:
* Post your nominations before midday on Tuesday if you wish them to be considered.
* Write a few lines advocating the merits of your choices.
But please don't:
* Post more than one third of the lyrics of any song.
* Dump lists of nominations. If you must post more than two or three at once, please attempt to justify your choices.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - Never mind the Balearics: the Ibiza-ification of pop
From Black Eyed Peas to Taio Cruz, much recent pop looks to Ibiza for inspiration. And yet for all the hands-in-the-air moments, this music is completely divorced from its original context
The other day we were driving in the car, listening to one of Los Angeles's top 40 stations, and I turned to my wife and asked: "How come everything on the radio sounds like a peak-hour tune from Ibiza?"
All these smash hits have the Auto-Tuned big-chorus bolted on top. But underneath, there are riffs and vamps, pulses and pounding beats, glistening synthetic textures and an overall banging boshing feel; it's like these tracks have been beamed straight from Gatecrasher or Love Parade circa 1999.
This week the Quietus ran a piece on a particularly bludgeoning and tyrannical aspect of the now-pop, what writer Daniel Barrow calls "the soar": the wooshing, ascending, hands-in-the-air chorus, which has been divorced from its original context (90s underground dance and drug culture) and repurposed as the trigger for a kind of release-without-release.
Barrow's references to steroids ("the steroided architecture of these tracks") capture the unsettling "stacked" quality of these recordings. Like the images you find in bodybuilding magazines, the now-pop can be at once grotesque and mesmerising.
Strangely, Barrow makes no mention of the tune that seems like the now-pop's defining anthem and blueprint, a song still omnipresent almost a year after it first hit big: Dynamite by Taio Cruz. His name, with its odd unplaceable quality (it sounds like some kind of Asian-Hispanic hybrid) suits the Esperanto-like qualities of the now-pop. Though often described by hostile critics as Euro house, it is simply international, post-geographical, pan-global.
(How apt that the video for Dynamite is preceded here by a commercial for Las Vegas tourism, since that city is both Mecca and model for a certain idea of "a really good time" celebrated by so many in-the-club anthems).I started out loathing Dynamite. The "ay-o" bit in particular always made me think of "day-o" as in Harry Belafonte's The Banana Boat Song. Gradually I succumbed – or perhaps I should say, "submitted" – and started to think of Dynamite as possessing a dumb genius. Especially the line, "I'm wearing all my favourite brands brands brands brands".
But looking from the vantage point of my forthcoming book Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past, what's most striking and unsettling about the now-pop is its not-so-now-ness: the fact that in the year 2011, mainstream pop sounds like the late-90s.
The Black Eyed Peas pioneered all this of course, creating a sort of 21st-century update of European "hip-house" from even earlier in the 90s (Snap, Technotronic) and working in some 80s-retro flavours. The Time (Dirty Bit) also qualifies, abundantly, for the category of "dumb genius". And as with Dynamite, there's a forced insistence that everyone is "having the time of their lives". So much of the now-pop has this vaguely coercive undercurrent. As Barrow notes, producers know how to work your reflexes, they've got pop pleasure down to a science, they target those euphoria-centres of the brain as ruthlessly as soft drinks full of high-fructose corn syrup.
Kids love this, of course. At the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice awards in Los Angeles a few weeks ago, the Black Eyed Peas performed The Time: what with the dazzling lights and deafening volume, it really was like a rave for children. We were there with our kids: five-year-old Tasmin is totally into the now-pop. Recently, driving in the car and flicking back and forth between pop stations and classic-rock stations, she opined that Katy Perry was "rock'n'roll" but was quite adamant that the Stones' It's Only Rock'n'Roll was "not rock'n'roll". She wouldn't be budged.Perhaps Tasmin is correct, in spirit. The substance of the now-pop has absolutely nothing in common with rock'n'roll or indeed any form of live-band music. But perhaps its blaring bombast is the true modern sound of teenage (and pre-teenage) rampage. Maybe all this steroid-maxed über-pop is just as artfully mindless and cunningly vacant as records made by the Sweet with Chinn & Chapman, the production team who were the 70s equivalents to Dr Luke and Will.i.am: expert programmers of artificial excitement, architects of crescendo and explosion. Tasmin's a big Sweet fan too.
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The original was hardly upbeat, but you can always count on Salem to make things even darker
Last week a number of music blogs received an email purportedly containing a brand new track, Nite Daze, by American witch-house trio (and bloggers' favourites) Salem. The track was a typically downbeat affair with big, cheap-sounding beats and indecipherable lyrics. As quickly as it had appeared, however, the song was removed and after some investigation by eagle-eyed bloggers (who noticed a discrepancy with the email domain name) a confession arrived admitting the track was fake and part of a student project. We're not sure what all of this means other than university isn't what it used to be, but either way the actual Salem have made this excellent remix of Hertfordshire-based Charli XCX's new single, Stay Away. The original isn't exactly upbeat, but Salem's remix turns it an even darker hue by chopping up and burying most of the vocal track, swathing the whole thing in layers of synths and drum claps.Stay Away is out on This Is Music on 16 May.
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