The Monster Mash

Remember those girls at school who were a little bit too scary to be cute? The sort of girl who'd fix you with a luminous, blue-eyed smile and suggest roasting marshmallows on the burning embers of your principal's car? That's what I imagine Nellie McKay is like.

The kooky curly New Yorker won loads of rave reviews for her debut album Get Away From Me (a rebuke to Norah Jones' Come Away With Me), whose cute jazz songs featured couplets like "Give me head or you'll be dead" and "Salute the flag or I'll call you a fag".

Then she got a bit too big for her boots, and flounced away from Sony because they (sensibly) remarked that her shrill, precocious second album, Pretty Little Head, would be a commercial disaster.

She released it on an independent label. It flopped.

But now she's back, with more of the tunes and wit, and less of the self-indulgent lunacy (A duet with Cyndi Lauper, you say? A thousand times no.)

Her third album, Obligatory Villages, came out in the US last week. There's no release date for the UK yet, but one of the stand-out tracks, Zombie, has made its way over to Pitchfork, and resulted in the following home-spun, night-of-the-living-dead Youtube promo. It will eat your brains.

Nellie McKay - Zombie


And if that's not enough, here she is doing one of the stand-out tracks from her debut album on Jools Holland. It contains my all-time favourite lyric: "You had some time to spare. You were barking at a bear."

Nellie McKay - Ding Dong

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Fillitup, turnitloose

The average ipod owner only has 375 songs on their MP3 player, according to The New York Times. Indeed, 50% of people who own an MP3 player have fewer than 100 songs loaded onto it. Which seems a massive waste: why bother spending all that money when you could just carry a couple of CDs around with you?

Anyway, we thought we should help out here. If you need new music to spice up your shuffle, or to max out your mini, here are a few ideas:

Franz Ferdinand - "Eleanor Put Your Boots On"
One of a few pre-release album tracks from Franz's new LP, over at Dreams of Horses.

Nellie McKay - "If I Needed Someone"
A Beatles cover to keep us amused while we wait for Nellie's delayed second album. Available via something called The smudge of ashen fluff.

Jon Pertwee - "I Am The Doctor"
Just Plain Odd... Most people are aware of Captain Kirk's mauling of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", but it takes a British sci-fi hero to make a truly weird record. Over a soft-funk version of the Doctor Who theme, Jon Pertwee (Doctor number three) delivers a rap that appears to be the test run for Vincent Price's effort on "Thriller". Available for download at Jamies Runout Groove. Caution: May frighten young children.

James Knight & The Butlers - "Funky Cat"
'Just like catnip', says the man and he's got a point. There are three reasons to download this song: The sample-tastic drum solo, the earsplitting crescendo of the saxophonist's solo, and the moment where the vocalist is so satisfied with his band he purrs. "Funky cat, cat, cat, cat", indeed. Get it on Aurgasm.

Sugababes - "Push The Button"
Super bouncy pop, even though it sounds like Tina Turner's "The Best" in a car crash with "Last Christmas". Plus, we're currently obsessing over Mutya's hotpants in the video. The song is available on Fluxblog.

Kate Bush -
"The Man With The Child In Her Eyes"
Because everyone needs a bit of Bush. Go to: Bubblegum Machine.

Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - "What Have You Done For Me Lately?"
Listening to this, you'd think that Janet Jackson's 1986 hit was a cover version of a James Brown-era funk workout. Not so: this is the cover version, and its vintage groove dates from... well, 2002 actually. Click here to download.

warchildmusic.com
And after you've treated yourself to all those freebies, go and spend £10 on the new warchild album, "Help: A Day In The Life". There are 24 tracks - including new songs by Radiohead, Coldplay, Gorillaz and Razorlight. Most of it's great - but we'd skip Kaiser Chiefs doing "Heard It Through The Grapevine" if we were you. Spend your money here!

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Bree is not a cheese

While Michael Jackson promises a song for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, Prince has gone into the studio, recorded two of the damn things, and put them up on his website. Who's the King of Pop now? (Answer: Justin Timberlake, but never mind).

More info on Prince's songs at soundgenerator.com

So far, Rachel Stevens has been the only person to forge a career from ashes of S Club 7. Now she has competition - S Club's former lead singer, Jo O'Meara, is back with a new single. Rachel should be worried: Jo has already proved she has a stronger voice, and now she's managed to trump Rachel by giving an interview even more bland and innofensive than Stevens could ever manage.

In this 'exclusive' chat with femalefirst.co.uk we learn that:
- Her back is fine!!!!
- She is still friends with other people from S Club!!!!
- Her album is a 'compilation of good songs'!!!!!

After reading that scandalous news, we need to go and have a lie down.

Boooo! Billboard reports that Nellie McKay's album has been delayed to January.

Hooray! That unexpectedly yummy picture of Marcia Cross at the top of the post comes from the ever-excellent justjared.com

They're also responsible for this horrible image of Janice Dickinson shoving a big sausage down her throat. We're gagging as we type this, you know.

Over at lik-sang.com, they've unearthed a whole ton of Nintendo goodies that were supposed to be sold in the last millennium, only they kind of forgot. So now you can pick up a brand new SNES for £40, an original gameboy for a tenner, and the ever-popular Donkey Kong calculator for £1.50. It's even better than ebay!

And Girls Aloud have won the Popjustice £20 Music Prize. Well done, the Aloud.

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Oh, for shame

Splosh! Did Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas wet herself on stage?

More pics of pisspants stains here




Phwoar! Charlize Theron joins the Pussycat Dolls burlesque revue.

More pics at Justjared.com

More on the Pussycat Dolls at this Carmen Electra website




Ewwww! Craig David slips the tongue in on Friday, chills on Sunday.

Elsewhere:

Smooth Criminal: Michael Jackson sells his story to OK! Magazine for $2m. (nb - Michael Jackson has been cleared of any criminal activity - smooth, crunchy, or any other variety - by a court of law.)

Leave Right Now: Will Young has lost his pants.

Come Towards Us: Nellie McKay will release the follow-up to her debut album, Get Away From Me, in October. You should pre-order it now.

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