Monsta, Mash and four more songs you may have missed

Here we go again: Six songs that didn't fit anywhere else on the blog this week, served up in one healthy portion. Feast your ears below.

1) Monsta - Messiah
Gospel + Dubstep = Gobstep.



2) Kelly Rowland - Dirty Laundry
This is one of the bravest songs in recent memory, in which Kelly lays bare several years of emotional abuse (and jealousy and rage and sadness) at the hands of an ex-boyfriend. Not an easy listen - but an essential one.





3) 3) Holy Ghost! - Dumb Disco Ideas
Eight minutes! Vocoders! Syndrum solos! More cowbell!



4) Lissie - Shameless
I saw Lissie play her comeback show at Dingwalls in Camden last week. She was on fire, all hair and spit, despite a few vocal troubles. "I may have to squeak myself through the set," she cringed. A couple of her new songs - Habit, Shroud and I Don't Want To Go To Work - sounded incredible. But we have to wait 'til September (SEPTEMBER!) to hear the album. What a colossal tease. In the meantime, here's the video for the first single, Shameless.





5) Lulu James - Sweetest Thing (live on Jools)
Watch it, love, you'll have someone's eye out with those shoulder pads.



6) Gerard i2 - Mash 'Em
He's from Northern Ireland and he's doing a song about potatoes!!

What's that? Really? What a shame.

So, apparently, Strabane-born Gerard "i2" McDaid isn't preparing a Shepherd's Pie when he says "I'll mash them all". Never mind - his song is still a tasty recipe: equal parts Cypress Hill shuffle and menacing string crescendos. Bake it at gas mark five for 30 minutes, and you get Plan B covered by Ian Paisley.

And that's your lot. See you on the other side of the weekend.

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A clutch of remixes

It's been a busy, busy day at the "coalface"... But I still had time to sniff out a few remixes for the journey home. And here they are.


1) Jessie Ware - Night Light (Joe Goddard Mix)
In which Jessie's after dark potboiler becomes a glorious 70s synth workout.






2) Monsta - Holdin' On (Skrillex and Nero Remix)
Obscenely exciting. Zane Lowe will probably explode.






3) Marina And The Diamonds x Kitty Pride - How To Be A Heartbreaker
Marina, baby sloths, and a cute-as-buttons Betty Boo rap.





4) Rebecca Ferguson - Backtrack (RAW Club Mix)
Makes a boring song not boring.... Which is sort of the whole point, I suppose.

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It's time for some Monsta jams

Back in 2008, there was a man called Bryn Christopher. He had a stunning voice, one rather glorious hit single (this one), and a very sweaty stage show. Then he vanished, faster than that packet of mini eggs I found in the cupboard yesterday.

But Bryn is back, Back, BACK! Also a bit like those mini eggs, which have been repeating on me all morning. Urgh.

He's now the singer in Monsta, where he's joined by knob-twiddlers Rufio and Rocky. According to the press release, Rufio and Rocky are "better known as hot production duo Pegasus". Really? Because I've never heard of hot production duo Pegasus. Type their names into Google, and all you find are articles about Monsta which - surprise, surprise - all say "Rufio and Rocky and better known as production duo Pegasus". Talk about making your own reality.

Anyway, a bit more digging reveals that that Pegasus did a remix for one-hit wonder Daisy Dares You (which was surprisingly good, given the source material) and that their manager once used Facebook to blag them tickets for The Saturdays' Album Launch Party. This interview also claims that Rufio once played in a jazz fusion band with Michael Kiwanuka.

Good Lord.

But I'm being unkind here. What has happened in the past has no bearing on the future, and Monsta's future looks very good indeed. Their new single, Holding On, will burst our of your speakers ka-blam like a sonic shockwave. If Chase and Status remixed a lost Gnarls Barkley single, it might sound like this - IE very exciting indeed.



Destroya is a slightly older track but no less magnificent. It showcases how the band's thudding basslines and production smarts cushion Bryn's huge voice. If you compare it to his earlier solo material, where the vocals tended to swamp the music, you get an idea of how well the trio work together.



Finally, this bugged out cover of Marvin Gaye's Heard It Through The Grapevine is spectacular. What's more, it's free to download.



Alternative headlines for this article included:
:: The Monsta Mash
:: Loch Noise Monsta
:: Here be Monstas
:: What's that coming over the hill? Is it a Monsta? (Yes, it is.)
:: I am not a Monsta. I'm just a girl standing in front of a boy she's poisoned. So this other boy would go to town on her. (which is an obscure 30 Rock quote)

I think I chose the right one.

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