Kings Of Leon cover Robyn

There's no way I was letting this one pass without comment. Kings Of Leon, sodden with reverb, vamping through Robyn's Dancing On My own as though it was the last song of the last night on earth and they were downing shots in a spit-and-sawdust saloon on the precipice of eternity.

It is literally quite good.

Kings Of Leon - Dancing On My Own (Live Lounge cover)

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The first music video recorded with Google Glass and other songs you may have missed

A semi-regular round-up of songs that didn't fit elsewhere on the blog. Oddities, scraps, previews and noteworthy new bands all end up here. It's like the dumper, but with a higher quality threshold.

1) Wallpaper - Last Call
California's Ricky Reed is no stranger to gimmicks: For a start, he's really called Eric Frederic. Then there are his deliberately irritating song titles - #STUPiDFACEDD; BEST FUCKING SONG EVERRR, etc.

For his new single, he's nabbed a pair of Google Glasses and filmed a live performance from a festival show in Phoenix, Arizona. If you avoid motion sickness, it's fascinating to see "through the performer's eyes". I suspect this will become a regular feature of live videos for a year or so, before the Google headset goes the way of the Sinclair C5.



2) Kings Of Leon - Super Soaker
Just ahead of their V Festival headline slot, Kings Of Leon unleash the first single from their sixth album. Muscular and melodic, it's a return to form after 2010's perplexing Come Around Sundown. NB: Contains bass solo.



3) Mutya Keisha Siobhan - Flatline (lyric video)
And so it continues... MKS's promo campaign has all the momentum of a sloth on rohypnol. This week, they announced their new album won't be out until 2014. Why? What's left to do? How long are the sleeve notes going to be? Are they playing a weird musical game of chicken with Beyonce?

WHO KNOWS but Flatline is still incredible. And now it has a lyric video to tide you over until the actual video, which will in turn tide you over for the single release, the second single, the X Factor performance, the album poster campaign, the glossy magazine cover, the iTunes album stream, the YouTube teaser video and, maybe, the eventual album release.

By which time, MKS will be in cryogenic storage,



4) Pond - Xanman
Aussie band Pond are signed to the same label as Tame Impala and, on this evidence, you can see why. Xanman is kaleidoscopic psychedelia with riffs that crunch like celery. It's throwback without being derivative. And, yes, the video is supposed to look this crappy.




5) Demi Lovato - Made In The USA
This doesn't scale the heights of Demi's all-conquering Heart Attack but as follow-up singles go, it's not bad. Aside from the lyrics. They're fucking awful. "When I'm cold you're there like a sweater". Sheesh.




6) Dornik - Something About You
Dornik Leigh is Jessie J's drummer. If you've seen her live, he generally comes to the front of the stage once a night to duet with her on Valentine - at which points all the girls go all swoonsome and weak at the knees.

Dornik's debut solo track shares some of Jessie's late-night DNA, with a splash of water from Frank' Ocean. Due out on PMR Records (home to Jessie and Disclosure) next month, it's quite the thing.




7) Karmin - Acapella
US duo Karmin became notorious for the YouTube covers - especially their version of Chris Brown's Look At Me Now, which got them noticed by Ellen DeGeneres and Ryan Seacrest. If you haven't seen it, it's great fun, as 27-year-old Amy Heidmann buzzes through Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes' rapid-fire raps. Here's the link.

Long story short - they're signed to Epic, they've had a big hit in the US with a Katy Perry-esque "banger" called Brokenhearted, and A Capella is their new single, featuring the sage advice: "Never ever go dutch at the buffet".

If you've seen their old YouTube videos, this is hugely rewarding and full of charm. If you haven't you're going to think they're like The Ting Tings, only more annoying.

That's this week's selection... Keep coming back for more.

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A very impressive set of remixes

The RAC, like their rescue service namesake, are experts at tinkering under the bonnet. Except they do repair work on songs, not cars. In the past, they've jacked up Radiohead, given Ellie Goulding an oil change and polished Dragonette's hub caps.

With more than 150 mixes to their name, the band (actually an international co-op of producers called the Remix Artist Collective) have a surprisingly consistent hit rate.

They avoid the Tony Lamezma / Freemasons tactic of slapping a honking great club beat on top of a vocal and ramping up the BPMs (not that there's anything wrong with that, of course). Their mixes are more sympathetic to the source material - with new arrangements and funky drum loops gently herding the music in the general direction of the dancefloor.

If you haven't come across them before, help is at hand, as they've collected 19 of their best mixes onto a new album - which you can stream below.



HOWEVER - there more than are a few criminal ommissions from that tracklist. I suggest you grab the following tracks (some are available for free on SoundCloud, others require a visit to your local download store) and tack them on to the end.

1) Robyn - Cobrastyle
Amazing.




2) Kings Of Leon - Use Somebody
Surprisingly good.



3) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero
Retro.




4) Lana Del Rey - Blue Jeans
This one is actually on the album but it's missing from the streaming version for "legal reasons". And it's worth the price of admission alone.

The album is called RAC Chapter One and you can order it on iTunes by pressing this bit of text in blue.

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Royksopp remix Kings Of Leon

Results = spectacular

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Oooh, Mona (pt I)

The scene: A record company office, circa September 2008.

Ridiculous haircut 1: "Have you seen this? Kings Of Leon are number one."
Ridiculous haircut 2: "The Kings Of Leon? I'm sorry, I don't recall..."
RH1: "Yes, you do. The band with the guy who sings like he's chewing a squash ball."
RH2: "The ones with the drinking problem and the Yosemite Sam moustaches?"
RH1: "The very same. They're bloody number one."
RH2: "Wait. Let me Google this... Jiminy Cricket, you’re right!
RH1: "And slashdotpitchgumstereohype has given their album eleventy stars. Out of a maximum possible total of three."
RH2: "You know what this means, don't you?"
RH1: "I am booking tickets to Tennessee as we speak."

Fast forward 24 months, and we can introduce Nashville rock quartet Mona.

Mona - Listen To Your Love


The band were signed to Island UK and Mercury US at the end of September, after one of those undignified record label bidding war bun fights. Their manager is Saul Galpern, who also steered Suede to success. He says, unsurprisingly, that they are "incredibly special" and a return "to proper rock and roll". Of frontman Nick Brown, he says: "He reminded me of a boxer, so driven and so ambitious, so hungry for success in a really good way". Sounds like a utter joy to be around.

Cynicism aside, I really like the single - originally recorded live in a basement - and the 1950s boy band promo shots. One to watch out for on the BBC's annual Sound Of poll? I think so.

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Kings Of Leon go Radioactive

The fans who felt Kings Of Leon's last album, Only By Night, was a commercial sell-out aren't going to be happy with the band's new material.

But screw them, this full-tilt charge at the mainstream is catchier (and therefore better) than anything on the Followill's first three albums combined.

Kings Of Leon - Radioactive




Note to pigeons: Next time, can you target Kasabian instead? kthxbye.

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New Kings Of Leon video: Notion

Is it just me, or is Caleb Followill slowly turning into Bryan Adams?

Kings Of Leon -Notion

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Brit nominations curated by Radiohead

"No alarms and no surprises"

Best British male
Ian Brown
James Morrison
Paul Weller
Will Young

Best British female
Adele
Beth Rowley
Duffy
Estelle
MIA

Best British group
Coldplay
Elbow
Girls Aloud
Radiohead
Take That

Best British live act
Coldplay
Elbow
Iron Maiden
Scouting For Girls
The Verve

Best British single
Adele - Chasing Pavements
Alexandra Burke - Hallelujah
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Dizzee Rascal/Calvin Harris/Chrome - Dance Wiv Me
Duffy - Mercy
Estelle Ft Kanye West - American Boy
Girls Aloud - The Promise
Leona Lewis - Better in Time
Scouting for Girls - Heartbeat
X Factor Finalists - Hero

Best British Album
Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends
Duffy - Rockferry
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Radiohead - In Rainbows
The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing

Best British breakthrough act
Adele
Duffy
Last Shadow Puppets
Scouting For Girls
The Ting Tings

Best international album
AC/DC - Black Ice
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Killers - Day & Age
Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

Best international male
Beck
Neil Diamond
Jay-Z
Kanye West
Seasick Steve

Best international female
Beyonce
Gabriella Cilmi
Katy Perry
Pink
Santogold

Best international group
AC/DC
Fleet Foxes
Killers
Kings of Leon
MGMT

Critics' Choice: Florence and the Machine

Outstanding Contribution To Music: Pet Shop Boys

A few things to note:
1) There are only four nominees for Best British Male, which has now overtaken Best British Female as the ceremony's joke category.
2) M.I.A. is the sole artist in this list with a semblance of edge or controversy. Jay-Z is welcome, but hardly surprising now that he's gone corporate.
3) Our predictions for the night's big winners are Elbow, Duffy and Kings of Leon.
4) Fuck Scouting For Girls Up Their Stupid Asses.
5) Girls Aloud are performing on the night, which means they have a bigger-than-normal chance of picking up a prize. No-one would dare give them best group over Coldplay, but Take That aren't in the running for best single this year, so maybe, just maybe...
6) We would love to see a performance by poprawk supergroup Kings Of Leona - a mash-up of Sex On Fire and Bleeding Love, perhaps?
7) Poor old Goldfrapp :(

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Top 10 Discopop albums of 2008

Happy New Year! Here's what happened on my stereo in the old one...

1) Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree

Goldfrapp's detour into folksy acoustic ballads may have lost them a few fans, but Seventh Tree is a near-perfect album - from the muted opening bars of Clowns to the hazy coda of Monster Love. One of my musical highlights of the year was simply lying back and listening to this album in the middle of a field in Devon - it's truly the perfect soundtrack to a lazy rural day. As long, that is, as you ignore the (excellent) lyrics about brainwashing cults, suicide attempts and boob jobs.

2) Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke

Maybe its down to the fact that she has Aspergers Syndrome, but New Zealander Pip Brown recreated the very best bits of 1980s synth-rock with unnerving precision on her debut album. On Oh My she sounds like Stevie Nicks, on Another Runaway she is Pat Benatar, on Better Than Sunday she channels Debbie Harry... it really is that good. Only one of the four singles (My Delirium) was a hit, struggling into the top 40 at the end of 2008, but this atmospheric, ballsy pop record deserved more recognition.

3) Lykke Li - Youth Novels

Like fellow Swedish starlet Robyn in 2007, Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson rewrote the rules on what a pop album could sound like. Rather than slapping you about the face with a broken toilet seat going "this is catchy, goddamnit", Youth Novels worked its way into your heart with a series of subtle, genteel ditties. Produced by Björn Yttling (of Peter, Bjorn & John) it is almost entirely acoustic, even down to the inventive, skittering drum lines composed from hand claps, wooden blocks and mallets. Lead single Little Bit was the most affecting love song of the year, while the driving I'm Good, I'm Gone paired sinister, percussive verses with a sweet release of a chorus. Don't believe me? Listen to this acoustic perfomance of the song:



4) Elbow - Seldom Seen Kid

Here are some adjectives that have been used to describe Elbow's fourth album: stunning, lush, bittersweet, exquisite, epic, majestic, uplifting, poetic, impeccable, tender, wondrous, unbearably lovely. Get the picture? The Seldom Seen Kid is a modern masterpiece. It opens with Starlings - two minutes of hushed harmonies and muted marimbas that suddenly explodes into a cacophony of trumpets. It's designed to make you sit up and pay attention to the following suite of lovingly-crafted ballads. Guy Garvey is unapologetically romantic throughout - "I was looking for someone to complete me. Not anymore, dear, everything has changed. You make the moon a mirrorball" is just one lyrical flourish in an album full of poetry. Simply perfect.

5) Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Who'd have thought a beardy five-piece vocal harmony group from Seattle would produce one of the best albums of the year? Not me. But Fleet Foxes produced an instant classic with their debut CD - full of haunting choral lullabies, which took as their inspiration starlings, swallows, mountains, snow falls and river banks. The music owed a clear debt to the 1960s folk-rock of Simon and Garfunkel, or Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - but its presence in the hustle, bustle and bombast of 2008 provided a reassuring oasis of serenity.

6) Duffy - Rockferry

Possessor of the wildest vibrato since Snow White, Duffy owned 2008 - selling more than 4m records around the world by the simple act of combining Amy Winehouse with the girl next door. Her album is rather unfairly derided as boring in some quarters, but Rockferry is stuffed full of heart-rending ballads, seductive pop hooks and stirring choruses. As the Welsh 24-year-old's confidence grew throughout the year, she transformed from a sweater-wearing wallflower into a slinky seductress pouring herself into Jessica Rabbit strapless dresses. Maybe she's not just a cuddly Winehouse after all...

7) Camille - Music Hole

Painstakingly constructed from samples and loops of her own voice, Camille's album is probably the most audaciously ambitious record on this list. With the exception of a lone piano, every sound is produced by a human using one of their many "music holes", according to the blurb. It could have been a tedious intellectual experiment, but France's Camille Dalmais possesses a great big vat of soul - which lifts her songs above mere gimmickry. Highlights include the playful Gospel With No Lord, the (literally) barking Cats & Dogs, and the Mariah Carey-baiting single, Money Note. Mental in the good way.

8) Ting Tings - We Started Nothing

The Ting Tings broke America when Shut Up And Let Me Go was chosen to soundtrack an iPod advert - but there couldn't be a worse device to listen to their album on. Those massive drums and growling bass lines need a hefty pair of nerdtastic hi-fi speakers before they really come to life. The shouty party songs - We Walk, Great DJ, That's Not My Name - are the best, but Katie's sweetly melodic turns on Traffic Light and Be The One show that the band's got more than one trick up it's sleeve.

9) Girls Aloud - Out Of Control

Out Of Control, or A Drop In Quality Control? Girls Aloud's fifth album seemed a bit rushed - with precious little of Xenomania's usual sonic invention and off-the-wall song structures. But there were still five or six stand-outs: The Pet Shop Boys-penned The Loving Kind is a four-minute slab of moody synth genius, while Miss You Bow Wow is the sort of deranged throw-everything-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks pop gem that the band probably think they've outgrown. Not their finest hour, but still head and shoulders above anything else a mainstream pop act produced in 2008. Five heads and ten shoulders, to be precise.

10) Emiliana Torrini - Me and Armini / Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night / MGMT - Oracular Spectacular / Santogold - Santogold

Bloody hell, I can't decide between these ones... Emiliana Torrini wins points for combining acoustic rock (like Sara Bareilles) and being utterly bonkers (like Bjork). MGMT did the student disco party anthems, with three absolutely stonking singles and a shockingly poor live act. Kings Of Leon were the only band who really rocked in 2008, while Santogold took MIA's trademark soundclash and made it listenable. And I haven't even mentioned Laura Marling, or Kanye West, or Vampire Weekend, or Q-Tip - it really was a vintage year, wasn't it?

Postscript: Not albums of the year
1) Madonna - Hard Candy
Madge opened a sweet shop but it only sold aniseed balls - hard and indigestible with a horrible aftertaste.

2) Various Artists - Mamma Mia! OST
Abba karaoke. Literally my worst nightmare.

3) Britney Spears - Circus
Is this really the best music money can buy? Cripes.

4) Portishead - Third
When the end of the world comes, this will be the soundtrack.

5) Jonas Brothers - A Little Bit Longer
Actually, I take that last comment back. This will be the soundtrack to armageddon.

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