Here's a palate cleanser for anyone who's been listening to Madonna's album this week (hint: skip any track that features a rave klaxon) - new music from the Mumfords and Australian psych monsters Tame Impala.
Mumford and Sons first, then. The banjo troubling troubadors gave their new single to Annie Mac as a welcome gift for her debut on Radio 1's Evening Session. The eagle-eared amongst you will notice they've gone all Coldplay on us. There's not even so much as a ukelele on this one. And - SHOCK HORROR - this aesthetic spreads across every track on their new album, Wilder Man.
"There wasn't some sort of big burning of banjos meeting," Marcus told Annie Mac/ "It was just the noise we wanted to make and we've always followed our noses on that. The first rule of rock 'n' roll is, do what you want."
Bold words, there. But luckily the song is a rousing, shimmering singalong.
Meanwhile, over on planet prog, Tame Impala have released an epic, eight-minute long "jam" built around a primitive synth line and insistent snare. The lyrics find Kevin Parker seeking refuge from the buzz and static of modern life - "and if I never come back," he says, "tell my mother I'm sorry".
The stuck record mid-section is beyond irritating, but stick around because everything rallies around for a fantastic, guitar-driven climax.
I raved about Kyiki's debut single One late last month. In the realms of dark and dreamy electropop, it's up there with Goldfrapp and The Knife.
The former Crystal Fighters singer premiered the video earlier this week and, although it's not going to set any benchmarks for visual invention, it's worth revisiting the song again.
Most people assume Katy B's excellent, progressive second album Little is so-called because she is petite and a ginger. They're partly right - although that hair colour is definitely from a bottle - but there's another reason, too.
Speaking to the Metro last year, the singer mentioned her album was named after a song called Little Red Light, about a cheating boyfriend, whose Blackberry gave him away. The blinking red "message received" light was flashing a little too frequently and when Katy checked it out... Well, you can guest the rest.
For some reason, the song never made it onto the final tracklisting but Katy has just given it away as a free download, ahead of her appearance at the Notting Hill Carnival this weekend.
Spiced with a dancehall/reggae flavour, you can see why it wasn't a good fit for sophisticated dance-pop of Little Red: The album, but on its own it's still a proper little gem.
Last week, the internet's favourite new girlband Juce signed up with Island Records. The deal was based on the strength of their single Call You Out, which very much sounds like Haim covering SWV (ie very good indeed).
The contract means they're going to start recording an album - which I predict will be (a) better than and (b) out before any new material from Mutya, Keisha, Siobhan.
For the uninitiated, Juce are Georgia, Chalin and Cherish - three girls from London, one of whom is a giant.
Eschewing the traditional vocal harmony group model, they write their own material and play their own instruments.
You can see them in action, via a busking video they recorded outside Radio 1's London HQ on Friday.
(NB: How big is that bass guitar?!)
To celebrate their new deal, the band donated a new song to Annie Mac's Free Music Mondays last night. (H)ours is a energetic slab of funk, built around a bassline that struts around like Mick Jagger doing the chicken dance through a minefield.
The singer (Chalin, I think) shows impressive range, too: Her voice scraping the floorboards in the first verse, before a long, slow climb to a roof-raising shriek at the four-minute mark.
It's not the instant earworm that Call You Out turned out to be - but for a free MP3, it's pretty terrific. Just click through to Annie Mac's Soundcloud page for the download link.
"I eat my dinner in my bathtub / Then I go to sex clubs."
How's that for the opening line? It comes from Habits, an extremely good but cruelly-overlooked single released last year by Swedish pop star and whiplash hairdo disaster zone Tove Lo.
Turns out I'm not the only one who thought it deserved more recognition. In fact, New York production crew The Chainsmokers are so keen for it to become a hit, they've done a massive Calvin Harris/SubFocus-style remix FOR ZERO PENCE.
Here's what they say: "We are MAJOR fans of Tove Lo. In fact we are certain she is going to be a massive name in music VERY soon. Habits is one of those unique blend of feelings, its gangster, sexy, relatable, and fun... In fact we aren't quite sure why its not on the same level as Lorde's Royals. So with that in mind, we set out to create a song that complimented the vocals and the subject of the song but brought it into the club arena."
They've done a pretty good job, I think you'll agree.
And if you download it now, you can lord it over your friends when Tove Lo becomes properly famous in, let's say, July.
I have four tabs open on my browser, three of which contain a sophisticated, innovative slice of futuristic soul. The other one has a new song by Prince. They're all worth a listen...
1) Solange Knowles - Cash In
A slinky, soaring love song, this is Solange's first new material since last year's groundbreaking True EP. It takes a while to get going, but when the harmonies kick in at the 2-minute mark, all the hairs on the back of your neck will go "ping".
Cash In is the last track on Saint Heron, the alt-R&B compilation Solange has curated for Saint records. For some reason, it's not available on iTunes or Amazon in the UK - but you can download it from Fairshare Music, which gives all of its profits to charity, so you can feel good about spending your £7.99 even if the rest of the album is rubbish (NB: it isn't).
2) Mapei - Don't Wait
Stockholm's Mapei mixes Djembe drums with sitars and doo-wop finger clicks on this propulsive love song ("if it wasn't for you, I would be on my own"). For the first three minutes her voice is fed through a vocoder (sounding very much like Imogen Heap's Hide And Seek) and then, suddenly, she breaks into a Double Dutch skipping chant.
On paper, it shouldn't work. In your ears, it sounds incredible.
3) Neneh Cheery - Blank Project
After 16 years away, Neneh Cherry is readying a new solo album for next year. One track features Robyn - but sadly we can't hear that yet. Instead, this is the title track. Produced by FourTet, you're in for some simmering electrojazz and a chorus that seems really slight, then sticks in your head for the rest of the day.
4) Prince - Da Bourgeosie
Prince isn't kicking the ball as far forward as the other artists on this post - but this is a fantastically funky old-skool studio jam, nonetheless. Reminiscent of goofy, spontaneous Vault tracks like Cloreen Bacon Skin and Movie Star, Prince seems to be making it up as he goes along - riffing a lyric that about a "bearded girl at the 'caba-ray charles'" over a delicious Paisley guitar riff.
"No mammals were harmed during the recording of this track," noted Prince on his 3rdEyeGirl Twitter account, shortly after giving the song away as a free download. What a nice chap.
Today's track is a magical, heart-wrenching MP3 from Ellie Goulding and Active Child. Here's a 15-point history of how it came to be.
1) A man called Pat Grossi (top right, ginger) learns to play the harp
2) Pat changes his name to Active Child and makes an album of plinky-plonky indie
3) It gets great reviews but is bought by approximately seven people
4) One of those people is "Starry Eyed" chanteuse Ellie Goulding (top left, woolly jumper)
5) Ellie gets to track two and thinks "Oh, I quite like this song"
6) Ellie decides to cover Hanging On for a laugh
7) It ends up setting the direction for her second album, Halcyon
8) She calls it "the beginning of my new journey", like an X Factor contestant
9) Then Tinie Tempah ruins everything by "contributing" a rap about his indigestion medication
10) Active Child is impressed enough with the non Tinie-Tempah bits of to record a duet with Ellie
11) It is called Silhouette and is replete with surging strings, ghostly harmonies and a tooting clarinet
12) After it appears on an EP, Californian knob-twiddlers Shoe Scene Symphony get their hands on the song and tart it up with a wheelbarrow full of synths
13) It sounds like it should be on the Hunger Games soundtrack
14) Instead, they make it available as a free download
This morning, as I was flipping through my Now Music collection, I noticed something odd about Now 5 - aka the one with the pig.
Can you see it? Right there in the middle, where it used to say Howard "frightwig" Jones, it now says Ronika.
I guess I'm not surprised. Ronika's singles to date - including the excellent Automatic, Forget Yourself and Rough N Soothe - have all been masterclasses in 80s Discopop. So it only stands to reason that she's bought a DeLorean, built a time machine, stolen weapons-grade plutonium from a bunch of Libyan terrorists and nipped back to 1985 to get a recording contract.
The song that appeared on my Now album (and, yes, I am persisting with this ridiculous conceit) is called Search Siren. Perfect for side three, track four, it's a sultry slice of Eurodisco melodrama. "Please don't let this be over too soon," pleads Ronika over bubbling Moroder synths and a paper thin snare drum. The backing vocals frequently threaten to slip into Abba's Voulez Vous - but this heartbreaker is much more "morning-after-the-night-before" than the Swedes' disco classic.
Ronika says the track was "inspired by reading Asimov, guided by an Italian moustache and finally assembled together at night by the tears of an automaton worker". So now you know.
Listen / Download below.
Ronika's debut album is on it's way later this year. I think it'd be fair to say I can't wait...
The last time Charli XCX recorded a duet it was the almighty I Love It (with Icona Pop), so expectations are high for this collaboration with Marina "And The Diamonds".
Just Desserts isn't as much of a knock-down-the-door-and-kick-you-in-the-nuts pop monster as the earlier effort; but it is very good. Twiddly piano figures, huffalumping basslines, and a spooky scary oooOOooOooOoOHHHoooowwWWoooOOoOo vocal from Marina.
Best of all, it's a free download in celebration of the raven-haired pop artistes joint US tour, so you can put it in your pocket and take it on the bus. *Technology high five*
It's turning into a week of classic soul. Off the back of Janelle Monae's stunning comeback yesterday, here's New Orleans native Jackson Breit with a gorgeous, brassy R&B jam called It's On Tonight. Yes, he's pulling a "hilarious" goofy face in the photo, but this seductive groove is exactly what Justin Timberlake was aiming for with Suit And Tie, before he made it really boring.
As John Legend said last week, "the overwhelming majority of soul music is about the pursuit of intercourse," and this is no exception. "We could take it anywhere - there's an alley at the back if you want to take it there," Jackson purrs in the chorus.
Mmmm... sex against the dustbins. That's romance right there, folks.
Some party music for the weekend? Don't mind if I do.
1) AlunaGeorge - I Wanna Be Like You
After Bruno Mars covered The Little Mermaid in the Live Lounge last year, AlunaGeorge have plundered the Jungle Book to record the scat jazz classic I Wan'na Be Like You. Unexpectedly, it's a perfect fit for Aluna's supple, slightly nasal voice. And, as it was originally a duet between King Louie and Baloo, can we temporarily rechristen the band BaloonaGeorge? No? Oh, alright then.
2) Justin Timberlake - Let The Groove In
The loose, unhurried grooves of JT's comeback singles lack focus. But, having read a few reviews, it sounds like the 20/20 Experience makes more sense as a suite of songs. Music for making out to, but not necessarily falling in with. It's up on Spotify today, so you can judge for yourself. My favourite so far is Let The Groove In, which Timberlake performed with The Roots on Jimmy Fallon's chat show earlier this week.
3) The Strokes - All The Time
They don't really get on any more, so why force them into a TV studio for a promo video? Here's 10 years of archive footage from The Strokes (and Lou Reed), to accompany their new song. Doesn't it look like fun being in The Strokes? Anyone?
I introduced you to promising young singer-songwriter Lauren Aquilina last month. Wanderlust, a desolate piano ballad, is her latest single - and it's raising money for Comic Relief. If you don't buy it, all the children will die.
5) Little Boots - Motorway
Little Boots first played this track two years ago... God knows what happened in the meantime. Maybe the motorway in question was the one Cheryl Baker and Rizzle Kicks got stranded on earlier this week. Anyway, it's arrived now, and it's rather beautiful in an ambient St Etienne kind of way. Motorway is a free download, and a new Little Boots album follows in May. Welcome back, Victoria!
A semi-regular round-up of songs I haven't had time to blog about during the week, which is by no means a comment on the relative merits of those songs, although it sort of is when you think about it, isn't it?
I had to wade through 23 Bond films to compile this ridiculous / brilliant / ridiculously brilliant infographic for the BBC News website last month. So I completely sympathise with the utter madness that went into this five-minute mash-up of Bond music from the past 50 years. Best bit: Mixing between the all-time best and all-time worst Bond themes at 2'45".
A selection of headlines about this video:
"The xx go underwater". [Spin]
"The xx hit murky waters" [Consequence Of Sound]
"The xx get wet" [What's Hot]
In other words, you don't need GCSE art studies to fathom (ha!) the basic visual motif.
Over the years, Ciara has been blown about like a wasp in a musical sandstorm. When she's good, she's the master of utterly filthy slow-jams (Ride, Goodies, Love Sex Magic). When she's bad, she makes utterly filthy slow-jams with all the erotic charge of a weetabix (Like A Surgeon, with the inexplicable lyric 'my love's like anasthesia').
Luckily, her new single is in the former category - and it comes with some top-notch choreography-in-a-desert. Watch her kicking up the sand below.
After The Staves, Haim are my next favourite sibling vocal harmony trio of the year.
Their music is an indescribable mix of R&B and folk, with an unexpected Max Martin twist. "I know the dance routine to every Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys song," eldest sister Este Haim told the BBC a couple of weeks ago.
So perhaps it's not too strange that their next single is being released by uber-hip boutique pop label Neon Gold (which launched Marina, Ellie and Gotye in the States). The label announced their new single in a tiresomely breathless blog post this week, describing it as "a breathtaking sunny-side-up megajam pooled from our '80s fever dreams, all morning glory hooks and syncopated goodness."
Didn't I blog about Solange's excellent new single already? No? That's weird. I really thought I had.
Ah well, Losing You fully deserves your attention. It's a beautifully lachrymose ballad, fastened to a scrappy hip-hop loop that sounds like the future of R&B. The video, directed by Melina Matsoukas, features the dapper Congolese gentlemen known as Les Sapeurs.
But I don't feel guilty for waiting so long to discuss the song, because it means I get to post this delicious remix by Cyril Hahn, which drops the vocals down two octaves and gives the song a deep house makeover. It'll be on repeat all weekend at Discopop Towers.
And that's it for this week.... I'm off to celebrate my birthday for a couple of days, after which I've been seconded to the BBC's six o'clock news bulletin for a month. If the blog posts dry up slightly during November, I apologise in advance.
A semi-regular round-up of the songs and videos I haven't had the chance to blog during the week... Some excellent tracks this time round, starting with:
1) Beck - Cities
This is one of three tracks Beck has written for a Playstation game called Sound Shapes. Less linear than Guitar Hero or Rock Band, the song takes shape according to your skill at the game - a relatively simple 2D platformer. Cities (below) is probably the best of the bunch but the game also comes packaged with songs from Deadmau5, Jim Guthrie and I Am Robot and Proud.
2) A thousand million people singing Somebody That I Used To Know
Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but there are literally hundreds of cover versions of Gotye's megahit on YouTube. And, as a thank you to fans, he's taken all of those covers and stitched them together into a Somebody That I Used To Know megajam. It's much more enticing than it sounds - rather than a note-by-note recreation of the original, the Aussie singer has re-sampled all of the covers to create a trippy, Avalanches-esque sound montage. Just a shame you can't download it!
3) Jade Alston - Sober
Indie and R&B aren't two words that normally go together, but Philly girl Jade Alston is an soul diva who's independently releasing her own material. Funky and fresh, she's been working with Claude Kelly (Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson, Jessie J) and Chuck Harmony (Mary J Blige, Rihanna). Her mixtape, Single On A Saturday Night, was released for free last December - but she's just got round to making a video to the cheeky, body-popping single Sober. Definitely worth a look.
4) Regina Spektor - How
One of the most sincere, straightforward songs on Regina's latest LP, How is a heart-rending break-up ballad. "How can I begin again? How can I try to love someone new? Someone who isn’t you..." pleads the New Yorker, dispensing with her usual "hic dong Wallop plop!" vocal tics. This performance, from Jay Leno's show last night, will bring a lump to your throat.
5) Alison Valentine - Peanut Butter
Florist by day, singer by night, Alison Valentine once spent an entire summer following Prince around Europe. There's basically no higher recommendation in my book - and she delivers on that promise with Peanut Butter, a crunchy summer jam with more hooks than a meat locker. It is also - TA-DA - free to download.
6) The Darkness - Street Spirit (Fade Out)
The Darkness have been covering this as their encore for years. But that doesn't make this awful, karaoke-bar cover version any more acceptable. If Ben Elton ever writes a Radiohead musical, it will sound like this.
It's been a busy week at Discopop Towers (we were off to the Olympics on Tuesday, for starters) so the pile of new releases has been growing and growing, like a fairytale beanstalk of music.
As I work my way through, here are five of the tracks that stand out.
1) Biffy Clyro - Stingin' Belle
Bagpipes? Check.
Ball-breaking riffs? Check.
Unusual time signature? Check.
Removal of shirts? Check. It's Biff-o-clock.
2) Mariah Carey - Triumphant (Get 'Em)
To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from Mariah's comeback single, but Triumphant is surprisingly catchy. While the younger generation of R&B stars are rubbing themselves up against David Guetta like dogs in heat, Mariah is sticking with 'Get Your Number' hitmaker Jermaine Dupri for an old-school soul jam. There is also rapping.
3) Air Traffic Controller - You Know Me
Boston's Air Traffic Controller are the brainchild of singer-songwriter Dave Munro who used to be... yes, an Air Traffic Controller. Stick with what you know, kids. Stick with what you know.
You Know Me is a jangly indie version of Opposites Attract. Dave and bandmate Casey Sullivan sing through a shopping list of their differences, but in the end they declare: "a lot of folks can sing in harmony, but no-one will ever know me like you know me". Awwww.
4) Amelia Lily - You Bring Me Joy
Her boyfriend brings her joy; Amelia Lily brings us an exceptionally dull video. There is no justice.
5)Parade - Light Me Up
The much-predicted (by me) girl band resurgence of 2012 has failed to materialise. War Of Words have split up, the Girls Aloud reunion continues to be rumour, and Oh My! are more "Oh No!". So congratulations to Parade for persevering with the whole idea, and for doing it independently after they were dropped by their record label.
Light me Up is a frothy pop track, where the melody cruises slightly ahead of the drum loop, giving everything a propulsive thrill. Produced by Tim Powell (Round Round, Call The Shots, Sweet About Me) you can download it for free. It's worth it, too.
I jest, of course. Ellie is in the buff because her new musical direction represents what she is really like on the inside, DO YOU SEE? The track (available for free here) is genuinely beautiful, though, until Tinie Tempah comes along to ruin it by rapping nonense like: "If there's too much on my plate, then I ain't finishing my Veg". Oh, do fuck off, Tinie.
2) Two Door Cinema Club - Sleep Alone
People seem to like this, and who am I to argue? The chorus soars, the drums rattle, the guitars go 'squeee'. But really its all about the coda, which takes off like a cola bottle rocket. That's some stadium-level songwriting there. (The song is also available as a free download until 19:00 BST tonight)
The lyric video is brilliantly cheap. I mean, end titles of Crossroads cheap. It also features a bum with a light shining through it. I'm sure they had their reasons.
3) Chemical Brothers - Theme For Velodrome
The Muse single stinks - but this piece of Olympic music is utterly fantastic. Like Kraftwerk before them, The Chemical Brothers are avid cyclists and - strange though it may seem - all that syncopated, electronic dance music is a perfect fit for the sport. This will be played before every event at the Velodrome at the summer games - which could make for interesting scenes. They don't drug test the spectators, do they?
4) Nelly Furtado - Spirit Indesctructible
This is the title track of Nelly's currently-delayed new album, which I spoke to her about last month. A testament to human endeavour set to the beat of Planet Rock, it's a delightfully uplifting song. The video also has a special dance to help you learn your vowels. All that's missing now is Elmo.
5) Plan B ft Labrinth - Playing With Fire
I've been listening to the Plan B album a lot this week. Fierce, intelligent and splenetic - it's one of the best records, lyrically-speaking, of this century.
If you've seen the Ill Manors film, you'll already know some of the songs, and the characters that populate them, already - but you don't need to be familiar with the plot to make sense of the album. It has its grisly moments (the sound of someone getting stabbed is brutally graphic) but Plan B hasn't forgotten that a powerful chorus can persuade people to pay attention. Playing With Fire is a perfect example of that.
They just came to say "hello", but Dragonette seem to have become permanent house guests. Martina's been sleeping on the couch in her wonderbra and I'm pretty sure Dan's responsible for all the good cheese going missing last night.
Luckily, the Canadian trio have been keeping us entertained with their daft brand of sparkly electropop. Their latest MP3 is a free download called Rocket Ship, which comes complete with verses and a chorus. (You'd be surprised by how many of the songs we get sent that omit those crucial elements).
Haim are an alt-rock girl band from Los Angeles, whose shimmy-shaking new single Freedom has been causing involuntary chair dancing in our office all day. It's nothing you haven't heard before - all staccato indie guitars and R&B-inspired hiccups - but it is rather lovely.
The group first got together when they were born, because Haim are sisters Danielle (22, vocals), Alana (20, guitar) and Este (24, bass). In fact, the line-up even used to include their parents. They would tour folk festivals playing under the name Rockinhaim which I think we can all agree is perfectly terrible.
Artistic differences led to the current line-up. "We were pushing out against our parents a bit," Este told Vogue. "Every Sunday they'd put on 'Breakfast with the Beatles,' but we’d always want to switch it over to something like TLC, En Vogue, or Brandy and Monica."
Fast forward to 2011 and, amid the hullabaloo of the SXSW festival, the band stood out as ones-to-watch after receiving a barrage of blustering reviews. Words used in these reviews included "sparky" and "unhinged" and "fucking awesome".
And that brings us to today, and the band's FREE single Forever, which takes those hippy 60s ideals and smacks them across the face with a dose of robo-R&B. You can sample its delights below, then head over to the band's website haimtheband.com for the MP3.
PS: Following the current trend for musicians giving their fans names (Monsters, Soldiers, Diamonds, etc) can we all agree now that Haim's supporters will be known as Haimophiliacs?
We've been living with the new Little Boots single for about two weeks now. Every Night I Say A Prayer does several amazing things in the space of four minutes, the key points of which we have outlined below.
1) It reminds you that Little Boots exists and that, contrary to some unnecessarily snipey articles in the press, that she is very good at writing pop songs.
2) It reminds you that Saint Etienne exist and that, contrary to their rather lacklustre 21st century output, their 1990s heyday produced about 30 premium-quality tunes.
3) It reminds you that sometimes pop artists shouldn't spend all their time trying to be flashy, hyper-real disco queens sitting upon a chart throne and working with RedOne because subtle, slow-burning pop songs are just as important as the ones that snog your face off then run away screaming "sorry, you're not my target demographic" leaving you feel empty and hopeless.
4) It reminds you that the Korg M1 house piano sample is one of the best keyboard presets of all time.
5) It reminds you to tap your toes, thereby maintaining a healthy circulation and reducing the likelihood of deep-vein thrombosis.
This is clearly a laudable set of achievements, and I haven't even mentioned that the whole thing is AVAILABLE FOR FREE, like a copy of the Metro newspaper, only it's not shit.
A video has just premiered. Little Boots says it was a "little bit inspired by Paris is Burning (the film, not the Ladyhawke song, although that is good too)". For context, Paris Is Burning was a documentary about the New York club scene in its 1990 heyday. Which is why Little Boots's video looks like a slightly cheaper version of Vogue. This is not a bad thing.
There is a song on Norah Jones's latest album called She's 22. The original is a rather lugubrious affair, with carefully strummed guitars and Norah doing her sultry, eyes-half-closed, femme fatale thing. But, with a bit of embellishment from TV On The Radio's David Sitek, it becomes a glacial electro spine-chiller. It's really rather excellent.
The remix was commissioned for Record Store Day but it turned out so well that Norah decided to give it away to everyone for free. Or rather, for the price of your email address. Here's the link. And here's the song.
While we're at it, the video for Norah's latest single, Happy Pills, is also worth watching. The basic premise is: Don't cheat on Norah Jones, or she will kill you.
