So good was the response when Scroobius Pip & Dan Le Sac released “Letter From God To Man” as a free christmas - for one week only - MP3 download, that every time they tried to take it down, the complaints flooded in.
Now in another extension of the season of goodwill and free MP3’s they’ve very kindly sent me over a crafty little bootleg.
No prizes for spotting the source, indeed until midway through I thought it was the original! At the 2′30 mark though Dan switches the beat and Pip conducts a brilliant open mic relationship counselling session. Witty, clever and honest, if frustratingly short… but leave them wanting more they always say!!
Enjoy, and while you’re busy downloading Dan & Pip will be speedily taking down the “God To Man” freebie, while doing their best whistling, looking busy, nothing to see here impressions in the hope no one notices
Better late than never here are my personal favourites of 2007. Any of the Top 20 are worthy of being number one, and may well have been if I’d made my choices on a different day, and in a different mood.
I started with over 500 tracks, and over the course of 3 weeks have driven myself slightly mad trying to whittle the list down. I’m sure I’ve missed 100’s that had I heard would have been right up there.
Please express your disgust, approval, indifference at my selection by commenting at the bottom of the page. Why isn’t Take That “Shine” in there… where are Girls Aloud… why so many funk cover versions?
If you’re an artist and want an mp3 removed please let me know.
“I’m sending a text message on my key pad
Saying, “I hav no more to say to my ex-manager(slash)sea hag divorcee
Except eat shit and die””
Regan Farquhar, otherwise known as Bus Driver can no longer be counted as a “newcomer”, being on album number five, not to mention countless collaborations since he first appeared peddling his own cd-r’s in 1999. What he does have however is the energy and ideas of the new kid on the block. This far down the line and “Casting Agents and Cowgirls” is bursting at the seams with words, hooks, and his trademark lyrical flourishes.
Few carry off the trick of marrying clever, cutting or thought provoking lyrics to an impossibly catchy song, you usually get one or the other.
In many ways its the close relative to OutKasts “Hey Ya” in that it crosses the line that separates hip hop (especially less commercial hiphop) from the shelves packed with X-Factor winners and James Bluntalikes. That universal appeal that comes with a guarantee to have people who claim to hate “hip-hop” dancing as if someone had dropped an E in their cuppa. While at the same time singing lines like “poised with sex toys in your penthouse suite believing you’re Lou Reed” as if following a bouncing Karaoke ball.
2. James Yorkston “Woozy With Cider (Jon Hopkins Remix)” (MP3) / Youtube Vid
“I think I can be honest in presuming the world is not exactly going to be leaping out its bed to make me rich using my songs in adverts selling oranges…
or lemons”
One of the standout tracks from his 2006 album, “Woozy” is a gorgeously self deprecating spoken word piece that sleepily describes a life spent “Woozy With Cider“. Joking about his album peaking at number 172, and observing that “the world is not exactly going to… make me rich using my songs in adverts selling oranges or lemons“. Given that vegan Yorkston once turned down £10,000 for one of his songs to be used in an advert for butter, he may be right (although that story maybe an urban myth?).
The Jon Hopkins remix comes from a promo CD I picked up for 2 quid in Berwick Street’s “Record & Tape Exchange”. Hopkins strips the track back to just a piano and in the process achieves the almost impossible feat of making it even more chillingly gorgeous. Researching Hopkins (otherwise known as putting his name into google) I discovered he also produced another favourite of mine, King Creosote’s “Admiral” which features elsewhere in this best of. King Creosote also has a remix of “Woozy” on this CD which is equally as good as Hopkins’ take. Who knew alt-folk was so incestuous?
No.3 in the chart and an early debut for a phrase that may get a few airings… “can I change my mind… this should’ve been No.1!”. The undoubted highlight from her Kala LP, Paper Planes was the closest 2007 had to an anthem, even though its not even out as a single till March (the DFA & Diplo mixes just landed on my doormat this morning :)).
A loop from The Clash’s “Straight To Hell” forms the base while MIA’s fairly random lyrics work a treat and the sweet as sugar children’s choir chorus is wonderfully subverted with gunshots and cash machines.
It’s worth a listen to the original version (see below as posted on Diplo’s fantastic Mad Decent blog) which features a gun shot/cash machine free chorus (MP3).
Who’d have thought adding a couple of sound effects could transform a track from average to anthem! Genius production.
Apparently MIA was less than impressed the gunshots were hamfistedly removed from her Letterman performance (YouTube), while MTV have also wielded the scissors.
“Shows that we ain’t gonna stand shit
Shows that we are united“
A disastrous year for Adele who began 2007 on top of the world having topped this blogs “Top 100 of 06″ list. Fast forward 12 months and she finds herself with merely the 6th best tune all year… where did it all go wrong?
On the upside she’s won a Brit, been proclaimed as THE act for 08 in every magazine or newspaper published so far this year, and the BBC seems to have decided that she must be featured at least daily somewhere on Aunties outlets. The hype around her is unbelievable, but for once every piece of breathless praise is totally 100% justified (although the debut “proper” single is my least favourite track so far).
London has had its fair share of love songs over the years but rarely as beautiful as “Hometown Glory“. As Adele skips the cracks in the pavement, her chorus soars over the piano proclaiming all the wonders of this world… a woman asks if she is lost, “no and thank you madam, I ain’t lost, just wandering“. The lyrics “I love it in the city when two worlds collide“, or “Shows that we’re united, shows that we ain’t gonna take it” could be taken as a tribute to the multiculturalism of the capital, or as a rebuttal to the London bombings. Alternatively just listen, draw your own conclusions, your own meanings, and enjoy that shiver down the spine.
Early leaks and the one track per artist rule robs Ronson of a higher placing. His Smiths “Stop Me” cover was according to my itunes the track I listened to most this year, but unfortunately ive played it so much I got a bit sick of it. If this list had been done in May it would have been a cast iron cert for No.1.
“Valerie” is that rare example of a cover being better than the original, with Winehouse taking time out from self destruction to provide a killer vocal performance. The Ronson sound certainly does what it says on the tin, ie ape 60’s motown, but when it all comes together in a magical track like this you forget the crimes against music he and Robbie Williams carried out elsewhere on the album. The guy fitting my new windows was just bellowing the chorus of this out at the top his lungs half an hour ago, while equally it wouldn’t sound out of place in the trendiest of clubs.
So good was the response when Scroobius Pip & Dan Le Sac released “Letter From God To Man” as a free christmas - for one week only - MP3 download, that every time they tried to take it down, the complaints flooded in.
