Merry Christmas from Coldcut (above) with a little help from George W.
364 days a year this blog is dedicated to music I love, artists that should be heard, and songs to make you sing/dance/cry/make love (delete as the mood fits)… Christmas Day however is a very very special day. Its a day when we listen to music we’d rather die than hear for the other 364 days, but nevertheless I’ve hunted high and low (ie, blew some dust off the CD rack) to find a few truly great xmas tracks (and some others that at least don’t make you want to put those lovely new socks over your ears).
First up its Happy Birthday to myself (23/12), and a tune that seems very appropriate as I’m dragged kicking and screaming into a new age bracket. This one goes out to all the ageing B-Boys, and hip hop lovers…
A US only import CD from way back in 1991, with an alternate mix of the absolute classic De La track “Millie Pulled a Pistol On Santa”. The best Hip Hop lyrics can stand on their own as Poetry, and De La who were 21 at the time, and so far ahead of the game as to be embarrassing, deliver an astonishing tale of a girl fighting back against her abusive father.
I can’t listen to this without singing along. Happy New Year from the Upsetter, with a little help from the lost talent of Sandra Robinson. I wanted to post the Dub mix of this but my computer doesnt seem to want to talk to my record player.
While we’re on a reggae tip, The Trojans provide the only way to see in the new year, with a skanked up version of “Auld Lang Syne”.
Loads of other blogs have taken up the tortuous task of compiling a “good” Christmas songs compilation. Here are the chimney’s you should pop down:
“There Ain’t No Sanity Clause” - A 25 song comp (with Artwork) all in one handy zip courtesy of Stop Me If You’ve Heard This Before aka my bro (Essential).
“Santatastic2″ - Excellent compilation of bootlegs, mashups, and the obscure, including hip hop McCartney & “Give Da Jew Girl Toys“. Check out his xmas video mash up of Jacko & Lennon on YouTube.
Music Like Dirt will return after Christmas refreshed and two stone heavier with a mammoth “Best of 2006″, tracks, gigs, etc.
I’ll leave you with this SNL Justin Timberlake spoof - its posted on every other blog around so i’ll join in. What to get the lady in your life for Christmas?
What with making up irrelevant and overlong end of year lists, xmas shopping and some other stuff I won’t go into I haven’t posted much of late. Here’s a little round up of, well… stuff:
Spank Rock have ruled the roost in 2006, fantastic live shows, one of the albums of the year, and they end it as only they can, ie. filthy, crude, but funky as hell. Inspired by Britney, Lindsey and Paris’s inability to get out of a car with either legs crossed or knickers on, “Lindsey Lohan’s Revenge” has an insanely catchy but NSFW singalong chorus. By all accounts Lindsey heard it herself recently.
KRAFTWERK LOVERS ALERT!!!
Kraftwerk fans, run don’t walk to BosBos.net for 4 albums worth of Kraftwerk cover versions, all lovingly compiled, mixed and massaged by Strictly Kev. Krafty samples, archive interview tapes and cover versions ranging from the sublime to the downright mad. BosBos has all four for free download, including tracklistings, cover art. Originally broadcast on Coldcut’s legendary Solid Steel show, if you love Kraftwerk this is nothing less than essential.
I’ll let Marcy explain the concept: “This is how it works: MLD picked three songs and I picked three songs and then we each listened to them (hence the name) and wrote our reviews. I’m thrilled to be a part of it, and I must say I went out of my way to pick three tracks that I was fairly certain he wouldn’t choose for himself, and he certainly chose ones I’d never pick.”
Over to me with a hopefully more successful choice than my first track:
It’s the hottest band, not in NYC as you might think on first listen, but NC… North Cornwall. Before you phone DFA HQ to inform them they’ve sprung a leak - this isn’t the new LCD Soundsystem LP - but Glass Sharks main influence is pretty damn clear.
Squelching synths, hand claps, that bass guitar, and of course the cow bells, this is LCD, only less po-faced perhaps after they’ve had one to many beers and are feeling a little frisky.
“Put on your latex boots, I’m hot and in the mood“.
The lyrics may be aimed at getting you on the dancefloor and then into the sack, but they’re endearingly daft and delivered with tongue firmly in cheek. From bontempi hand claps to sing-along ahhhhh-ha-haaa’s, it will exercise the grin like an idiot muscles as much as those required when shaking your ass.
This is taken from a compilation of their first two EP’s (buy now @ Puregroove), and there’s not a duff track to be found. Think of this MP3 as a first glimpse of a glass dorsal fin approaching in the water, then holler Brody like “You’re going to need a bigger boat!”. Glass Shark are all set to be huge.
LIYIB: Now this track had me at its very first beats. It’s a simple song, actually, pretty straightforward. It never gets too complicated or overly layered with sounds or extraneous instrumentation. It’s got just enough to keep you moving and shaking, which is exactly what I like about it. It has a pretty clear message, too, which is basically, Let’s get it on, baby, on and off the dance floor!
One question: Is this some kind of play on the band name Clap Your Hands Say Yeah? I don’t hear any similarity in this song to anything I’ve ever heard by CYHSY, but I get the feeling I might be missing something.
LIYIB: Beat Radio is one of my favourite bands right now. And I know, I know, this song just screams “indie.” But it’s everything I love about indie rock: the bouncing guitars and drums, the melodic hooks and meaningful lyrics, and the way it builds to a crescendo of feeling–approaching abandon without ever getting overblown.
At almost the exact midpoint of the song, there’s a drum smack that signals that the song is beginning its expansion, which it does until it decompresses at the very end. And the words convey a longing for what could have been, what was glimpsed but not quite grabbed onto, and what there might still be hope for, if you’re lucky enough to find your way back to wherever you were.
MLD: Oh god, the law of averages said that eventually someone would pick a record that no matter how hard I tried (and I have honest) I just couldn’t get into. That’s not to say its a bad record, in-fact I’d say its a good example of indie pop rock. Its got a nice Libertines-esque opening guitar riff, it’s upbeat, the vocalist is pretty good, and the melody is catchy, but I think the basic problem is…well… I’m not sure how to put this, but I just don’t really like Indie rock. If it was to vanish off the face of the earth tomorrow I’m not sure I’d notice or more importantly care (well apart from not being able to find Xfm, Virgin, Capital etc on my radio).
As I type this Im listening again just in case I finally “get it” but no. I can hear it doing well, I can imagine it being excellent live, and I can hear lots of great elements within it, but as it finishes I have absolutely no desire to listen again. It sounds like a hit anyway so I’m sure our paths will cross.
LIYIB: Oooh, I love the way this starts. It’s oh-so-retro with that Motown-Smokey-Robinson-70s-groove-thing going on. The female background vocals and the falsettos, the tambourine and the big bass line all add up to a seriously infectious backdrop to his vocals. And he’s got such a deep, resonant voice. I just about melted when I heard it.
My only complaint is that I wish he sang more and rapped less. That’s actually my major issue with most hip-hop. Too much talking, not enough singing. But all told, I could definitely listen to this a lot more readily than “Wifey.” I like the words and the way he rhymes “forgot, right” and “flop, right” and “spotlight.” And his accent, well, I have quite the soft spot for a right nice British accent, what can I say?
MLD:
(In finest British accent) This should have been a summer smash in the vein of Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince’s “Summertime“. I’ve just become obsessed with the track all over again after it featured on the excellent “Top of the class 2006” UK HipHop compilation. It’s HipHop at its most poppy and accessible, but what’s wrong with that?
From the opening doo woppy “No, No, No” sampled female hook its impossible to resist, and once the dipped in molasses voice of Yungun comes in you’ll be floored. “Thought that I forgot, right” - The delivery across the whole track, and especially on the killer chorus is wonderful. I listened to this about 10 times in a row when I first heard it, and thankfully I haven’t crossed over to the point where I’ve overdosed on it yet.
Even on a grey cold rainy day in East London its summer when this track is playing, it achieves the audio equivalent of that cheesy effect in films where black and white changes to radiant colour, winter to summer, and sadness turns to joy.
LIYIB: I have to say that doing a feature like Listen to This - the chance to discuss in detail exactly why I love an individual song - is a music lover’s dream come true. And this particular song is so dear to me. Why? Well, first, the chords. The vocal harmonies are so dense, so full, and they sit atop a single acoustic guitar being plucked one string at a time. I think there are three people singing, but it sounds like so much more. And then there’s the way they vocalise each word. Sometimes a single syllable stretches over three notes. Another amazing thing is that his song was recorded live, yet it’s perfect in its intonation.
The lyrics are extremely compelling, too. In very few words, it describes the loss of faith and the utter despair of regret. It’s so bare, so exposed, just like your heart is after the realisation of the end of love. Uplifting it’s not, but affirming of how low one’s spirit can sink, it certainly is. You might want to save this one for a really dark day.
MLD: When I heard that this song was recorded live in Djursland, Denmark, my slightly over active imagination got to work. Conjuring up an ethereal picture of a dark misty night amongst the ancient Bronze age burial mounds of the Djursland area. Breaking through the eerily quiet night a distant yet beautiful female voice is barely audible… getting closer you’d discover Søsser - the vocalist on this track - in full voice unaware of the elements swirling around her.
With just a single guitar as backing its a deceptively simple song, but its amazing the emotion that can be expressed with just a slow plucked guitar line, and those multi-tracked vocals. Its not something I’d normally listen to but that’s the beauty of having someone else recommend you some tracks.
It does have to be said that its not a very cheery song, so don’t go asking Marcy to pick the soundtrack if you’re not in high spirits, unless you want a bad case of “I’m drowning here, and all you’re doing is describing the water“. (Jack Nicholson - As Good As It Gets).
No, in all seriousness, a gorgeous first selection.
MLD: “Listen To This” was in danger of becoming a little bit like a love in where everyone sits around and applauds each others marvellous tastes (and where’s the fun in that)! So for my first selection I picked out a slice of UK Garage which I originally stumbled across thanks to Ras Kwame’s excellent “Homegrown” BBC 1xtra podcast (subscribe for 100% new UK black music).
While I had my doubts that Marcy was a hip hop or garage fan I do know she loves her lyrics, and on this track the words fly out, tumbling over each another as they squeeze into the 3 minutes. Luton’s Chris Jullien aka Dark Art Magic somehow manages to deliver his lyrics at an amazing speed, while managing not to sound in the slightest bit rushed.
“Push comes to shove you’ll probably end up being my youts mum… 3 years, 2 cars, 1 kid and a yard.. but you ain’t my girl“
Its essentially a love song, a garage LL Cool J “I Need Love” if you like but with commitment issues. There are songs that are sung to declare love and ask for someone’s hand in marriage… this isn’t one of those. At times you can hear the exasperation as he explains he loves her, but he doesn’t want “No Wifey“. She is however like his “vitamin B.. the strength that I need“, but at the same time she’s not really his girl. Confused yet?… If this was Trisha she’d be banging heads together and packing them off to her team of skilled TV councillors.
Its not just about the lyrics though, Chris has been a bedroom producer since he was 13, and he nails it with this track. A pitched up snatch of female vocal is sampled, and cut up to form the hook, this is perfectly complimented with melancholic keyboard chords. The beats skip and stutter to great effect too.
The song ends with an ultimatum to “his girl”, so until she records the answer record “No Groomy” we’ll just have to guess how it all turned out. On the basis of this track though Dark Art Magic’s musical future should turn out very well indeed.
LIYIB: So my first thought was, MLD picked this song because he KNEW I wouldn’t like it. Oh, I know that’s not true (I think), and it wasn’t quite right, either. Because even though I didn’t love it at first listen (actually, I still don’t), I do like it, although mostly for the music.
As you may know, I’m a lyrics person, so I listen very intently to the words. And they’re clever, I’ll give our singer that, but they’re not very endearing. I can’t say as I much care for this fellow, nor do I have much sympathy for his plight. In fact, if I were his girlfriend, I’d be asking myself, what exactly am I getting out of this relationship? Oh, I kid. I’m not here to judge his life choices or attitude, just the song, right? Except he IS the song. Hmmm.
I think what appeals to me most about it are the rhythmically complex and entertaining drums and little electronic chirpy riffs. And I marvel at how fast he spits out the words, even as I dislike what he says. That said, I’m wondering if I would run out and buy this or tell my friends, you’ve got to hear this? Probably not.
LIYIB: Ah, this song epitomises what I find most appealing about certain music. It’s got an upbeat, uptempo melody all right, but the words are disconsolate and searching and belie the happy-go-lucky instrumentation. The vocalist, Maple Bee (what a great stage name, btw), has this scrumptious, sexy voice that drips sensuality, yet she’s so very discontented. It plays so well against the synths and the pulsating drums, guitar and bass lines. It’s a satisfying sing-along for those days when you can’t seem to catch a break, when even getting out of bed seems to be more of a challenge than you can begin to meet. And I love that warbling whistle-like sound, whatever it is (MLD: sounds a bit like a theremin to me).
MLD:
Another track I’d never heard of, and a fine piece of slickly produced pop it is too. I’m not sure if this was ever released in the UK, but if the All Saints seriously wanted to revive their faltering comeback they should cover this and watch it fly to No.1 (and perhaps the album up to 43 - one song cant do everything!). It would suit them perfectly, but they’d struggle to match the original sultry honeyed tones of Maple Bee.
“Easy Life” starts in fine style with a church organ, and proceeds with a very up-tempo happy radio friendly sound, but at the same time there’s a disconsolate air to it all, with the lyrics, and Maple’s treated voice both expressing a kind of sad acceptance.
After doing a bit of delving it seems Ms Bee is a woman of many talents. She’s part of Huski, has a solo album that sounds a bit like Kate Bush doing Portishead covers, and also appears to be part of something called “Mediaeval Baebes” which the press release describes as a “provocative collective of beautiful maidens“. Its very popular with the Daily Express, and Classic FM, but I’m afraid I didn’t make it past the opening Pan Pipes.
Whenever I see the phrase “Big In Sweden” or “European Smash” my brain automatically translates it as “Absolute Shite - Avoid like the plague!“. This is of course hugely unfair but is based on experience of sentences like “Right Said Fred still perform to huge audiences in Holland“.
Robyn on the other hand may be unknown in the UK, and yes “Big in Sweden” but in her case this translates as “What the hell is the matter with you rest of the planet!?“.
If there were any justice in the world (apologies if you’ve now got a Lemar song stuck in your head), Robyn would be the popstar that consigned Madonna to the Old Age Performers home. A place of safety where she could merrily straddle teenage dancers into her dotage, without feeling the need to release the footage with every single. For now at least Robyn is playing to 200 at Hoxton Bar & Kitchen rather than 12,000 at Wembley Arena, but for those lucky enough to be in the crowd, 11,800 peoples loss is our gain.
“You’re a selfish narcissistic psycho freaking boot-licking Nazi creep… You can’t handle me” - Handle Me
It’s a stripped down live show with only fellow Swede & collaborator “KleerUp” on drums/guitar, but Robyn can more than hold peoples attention. “Handle Me” is a opening statement of intent that’s feisty, defiant, but also bloody catchy.
Is it feminist pop?… no not really, its just classic pop music made by someone with brains and attitude, so much so that sick of the corporate slurp she bought herself out of her major label contract some years ago (setting up her own Konichiwa Records).
Next up it only takes the sound of a single drum kick to announce the arrival of “Konichiwa Bitches” probably one of the best songs released in 2005 (well I had it as 9th best… what was I thinking!?). Its pop-hop gold, out Missying Missy Elliot, with stop start beats, and hilariously braggadocio lyrics that somehow cram the boasts of a years worth of hiphop into 2 and a half minutes. The tantalising hints of The Cures “Lovecats” midway through are also inspired, and Robyn must know just how good this track is, belting it out with a huge grin as the crowd smiled back deliriously.
“Don’t I look tasty like a french bon-bon, Even more sweeter than a cherry bomb Coming with the postman like I’m a mailbomb Comin in your mouth, Makes you say yum-yum” - Konichiwa Bitches (lyrics)
A trip to Paisley Park is essential for any self respecting act, and Robyn’s no different offering up a cracking drum and vocals only version of Prince’s “Jack You Off“. Grabbing a drum stick she bashed out the rhythm while revelling in the songs cheeky single entendre lyrics. Straddling the line between sexiness and silliness as well as Prince himself it was a million miles from her recorded version, which I personally find a bit irritating. X said it left “quite a lot of the audience gasping in awe”… perhaps those who had expected a one dimensional pop singer.
On a side note Robyn has a history of inspired choices for cover versions… if only Britney or Madge chose to cover tracks like Saul William’s “List Of Demands” (see Google Vid).
The next track “With Every Heartbeat” is a collaboration with the drummer/producer KleerUp, and the only track tonight I’d never heard before… to say it was well received is something of an understatement. An “astonishing piece of music - sort of what you would hope a Britney / Daft Punk collaboration would sound like” said Popjustice, while DontStopTheGirlBands was reminded of the first time Kylie performed “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head“. It’s an epic pop dance monster, combining gorgeous plaintive synths with Robyn’s powerful vocals (live, its actually a shock just how strong her voice is). A song about the pain of walking away from a relationship doesn’t sound very uplifting, but when the pulsating synths burst in you’re transported back to the cheesy nightclubs of your youth, the strobe light has just kicked in, and arms aloft you beam at your friends as theirs and your drunken dancing stop frames in front of your eyes (**cough** actually maybe that’s just me?). Its bloody good that’s all I’m saying!
Kleerup may not be able to grow a proper moustache but he may well be the genius that gets Robyn the success outside of Sweden she so richly deserves.
Setlist:
Handle Me
Konichiwa Bitches
Jack You Off
With Every Heartbeat
Cobrastyle
(encore)
Be Mine
I don’t know what the hell Mad Cobra is going on about in “CobraStyle” but Robyn’s version especially live probably wins the most frenzied dancing of the evening award. The insanely infectious “Bomb-diddy-bomb-de-dang-de-dang-diggy” chorus has the audience jumping, and then Robyn herself letting go with a bout of arm flailing hip pumping action, her face contorted with concentration which quickly switches to a grin and a wink.
Kleerup and Robyn briefly leave the stage only to return to satisfy the chants of “Be Mine” that had come from the crowd all evening. Whether performed in its original uptempo style or the recent B side ballad version “Be Mine” is yet another Robyn pop classic. The opening “Its a good thing tears never show in the pouring rain” signalled a bout of crowd singalong, and perhaps a tear or two as Robyn squeezed a little extra emotion into her performance.
And that was that…. SIX songs, two inspired covers, three pop classics, and one future one. In 2005 and again in 2006 I’ve confidently expected Robyn to make the UK charts her own, and same goes for this year too. So a request… that’ll be two UK number ones in 2007 please, and don’t come back here until you’ve made it happen!
Robyn: 2006 Swedish National treasure - 2007 International treasure
Don’t you just love watching a new act.. building an audience.. growing in confidence… and hopefully eventually coming to the attention of the great unwashed.
With his first few tracks Pip knocked on your door pleading for a little attention. With the debut LP he banged, rang the bell, and generally made it clear that like Jehovah’s witness’s he wasnt going away until you bloody well answered. Next Dan Le Sac joined in for the “Angles” remix, and the noise got louder still. Two do after all bang louder than one (stop sniggering at the back).
“Thou Shalt Always Kill” however is the sound of Scroobius & Le Sac kicking the bloody door down… chopping it up with an axe and manically screaming “HERE’S SCROOBIUS!!!”
Its quotable, danceable, and irresistible. Echoes of the classic LCD Soundsystem “Losing My Edge” come to mind, along with the 8bit Gameboy sounds of those fantastic Beck E-Pro remixes. What’s more if you can multi task and take in the lyrics while shaking your tail-feather round the front room you’ll discover Pip on top form. Any song that manages to slag the NME & Coke, whilst covering Paedo’s, Stephen Fry, and Danny Glovers’ role in the Lethal Weapon franchise is ok by me. Put your hands up for Le Sac & Pip on their Myspace now!
I caught the Le Sac & Pip debut live show last month (see here), and loved it. Go see them on tour now… they’ll be even better having practised.
Dec 6th 2006 - Plug n Play with Chris Clark - Reading
Dec 15th 2006 - Show Ya Bones - Grays, Essex
Dec 21st 2006 - Trinity - London
Jan 5th 2007 - Old Blue Last - London
Scroobius Pip has a load of other dates coming up (including one at the Luminaire with the heart stopping beauty Adele)… As allways check his MurdochSpace for details.
