You know how bands are always saying "our new record blurs the lines between jungle and rock and techno and baroque chamber music?". And how it always turns out they've made the exact same album as last time, but with a violin buried deep in the mix of one of the bonus tracks? Well imagine what would happen if they were telling the truth...
Here are The Naked and Famous with the second preview of their new album In Rolling Waves. It's called A Stillness and it genuinely does try to cram as many different genres as possible into its 5-minute running time. Allow me to illustrate.
Amazingly, it all hangs together impeccably. The results of this crazed musical alchemy can be sampled below.
That song is called Hearts Like Ours and it is, in common parlance, a cracking tune. It wouldn't be such a cracking tune if it weren't for the unexpected chord change right after the chorus, but that's the sort of thing that sets great pop songs apart from Olly Murs' pop songs. Well, that and the smug, punchable face.
Hearts Like Ours is from The Naked And Famous's second album, which is out in two months time.
A few morsels of music for the Marathon weekend...
1) Zooey Deschanel & M Ward - Winnie The Pooh
Don't get Mrsdiscopop started on the Disney-fication of AA Milne's chubby bear. But the house of mouse has redeemed itself by getting dreamy Zooey Deschanel to soundtrack the latest film from 100 Acre Wood. Whimsical.
2) Santigold ft Karen O - Go
This popped up on Jay-Z's new Life + Times website last night (it's basically a pimped up Huffington Post). Produced by Q-Tip, it's a welcome return for the palatable M.I.A.
3) The Naked & Famous - The Sun
New Zealand's Naked & Famous are going to be my festival band of the summer. Their debut - Passive Me, Aggressive You - is a really smart, intricate pop album. If you've only heard the bright and punchy singles, take a listen to this session track for an idea of how they blossom over the course of 50 minutes.
4) Clock Opera - Belongings
Clock Opera is Guy Connelly, production whiz and all-round chop-pop guru. His version of Marina And The Diamonds' I Am Not A Robot was undeniably the best remix of 2010, and his new single is just as good. Vocally, he sounds uncannily like Guy Garvey, but this record has none of Elbow's po-faced aspirations towards deep'n'meaningful artistic statements. It is just very good indeed.
5) Tim & Jean - Come Around
Here's another Antipodean pop act who bear more than a passing resemblance to Passion Pit. Tim & Jean are teenagers Tim Ayre and Jean-Christophe Capotorto - the latter of which is the best pop star name since Dananananaykroyd.
6) Ghost Poet - Survive It
Coventry-born rapper Ghost Poet has one of those voices that would sound calm and reassuring, even if he was reading Mein Kampf to a kindergarten. Luckily, he's a bit more responsible than that... In fact, this single brings to mind Buffalo Springfield's For What It's Worth, both lyrically and musically. It also serves as a trailer for the magnificently-titled album Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam.
This is the first time in five years I've not been directly involved with the BBC's Sound Of list, but it's nice to see how a little project started (and run) by one lone journalist at his desk has blossomed into a full-on media beast with a swanky logo.
Some people - usually music writers at other publications - gripe that it's a self-fulfilling prophecy, but they're wrong. There are plenty of example of artists who failed to deliver on their promise, most notably 2005 winners The Bravery, who you'd struggle to identify in a line-up of bands called The Bravery.
Last year's list (you can't call it a poll, for a set of obscure reasons that I find very difficult to articulate) was also a bit hit-and-miss. On the basis of Adele and Florence and Lily, the critics were expecting Ellie Goulding and Marina Diamandis to be mega-massive globe conquering pop stars. Their sales haven't exactly been a disaster - but the nation apparently changed its mind about quirky solo female artists in late December 2009 without telling anyone.
Maybe its a delayed response, but this year's poll skews towards dance and indie. My favourites are The Naked And Famous - mentioned around here several times over the past year. Their new video has just hit the web - it's like a low-budget version of Michel Gondry's tower block promo for Massive Attack's Protection.
Dubstep collective Nero also get a look in... Heralded as "classically trained musicians writing fucking horrible music", they may have had an inkling they were likely to be included on the list, because their terriffic single Me & You - which I wrote about in October - has been mysteriously delayed until early 2011.
New to me is Anna Caalvi. She definitely fits into the pigeonhole marked "screechy drumvixen" - but with more of an indie sensibility than Florence and her ilk. Anna's current single, Jezebel, brings to mind The White Stripes Conquest. Mind your ears.
The nomination for indie darlings Warpaint is a bit more puzzling. The Los Angeles quartet have already had secured an NME cover story and a clutch of five star reviews for their self-titled debut album. It's a subtle, shimmering collection of jangling guitars, brushed drums and spooky harmonies - but I don't necessarily see it finding its way onto Tesco's shelves like the band they're most often compared to, The XX.
Despite the shift away from solo female pop stars, my money's on Jessie J, whose Price Tag single comes out mysteriously close to the big reveal, and Clare Maguire - because what the world needs right now is an emo Amy McDonald.
The full longlist looks like this: James Blake
Anna Calvi
Daley
Esben & the Witch
Jessie J
Clare Maguire
Mona
The Naked & Famous
Nero
Jai Paul
The Vaccines
Warpaint
Jamie Woon
Wretch 32
Yuck
The top five of the Sound Of 2011 will be announced in reverse order from 3rd - 8th January on Radio One and the BBC News Website. There's more information on all the longlisted acts on the official Sound Of 2011 website.
Editor's note: Due to time constraints, this post has been pared down to the bare essentials.
I previously wrote about The Naked And Famous in July. I said they were good. I stand by that opinion. Here is their second single. It is called Punching In A Dream. The video is eerie but beautiful.
Here is a little too much information about new New Zealand band, The Naked And Famous.
:: The Naked and Famous are Thom Powers and Alisa Xaya.
:: They met while studying at Auckland’s music school MAINZ, and promptly dropped out, formed a band, signed a record deal and recruited three other musicians.
:: Which is just as well, because they are neither naked nor famous.
:: Each member had a very different reaction to Ice Age 3.
:: Nepotism alert! Drummer Jess Wood went to school with Joseph from Temper Trap. The Naked And Famous later blagged a support slot on Temper Trap's Australian tour.
:: They sound similar to Passion Pit. Especially if by "similar to" you mean "exactly like".
:: Their current single, Young Blood, debuted at number one in New Zealand, the first record to do so since Sean Kingston's Beautiful Girls in 2007. The band said they were "pleasantly surprised".
:: The song is getting a UK release on tiny trendy label Neon Gold on 6th September, if you'd like to hold a copy in your hands.
This is the first time in five years I've not been directly involved with the BBC's Sound Of list, but it's nice to see how a little project started (and run) by 
