AlunaGeorge look at a fish and five other pop moments you may have missed

So, the blog's had a mini Christmas hibernation - but, as the Village People once said, you can't stop the music. Here's some of the best bits from the last week-and-a-bit.

1) AlunaGeorge come second in the BBC's Sound Of 2013
And deservedly so, because they are basically the best pop duo this country has produced since Same Difference.

The "accolade" comes along with a big feature on the BBC News website and a video of Aluna and George visiting an aquarium, for no apparent reason. It's very cute, though. Especially when Aluna asks "Why are we so lame?"




2) Pulp release an excellent new single
"On the last night on earth, when the horses run free, the scriptures foretell of a party in Hackney". Amazing^{1,000,000,007}





3) Cheryl does the double sex crab

Apropos of nothing, Cheryl "this surname available for rent" put up a video for her Lana Del Rey-penned song Ghetto Baby on Christmas Day. It's the one that has the lyric "I know you're sick babe, I wanna get the flu," which is simultaneously genius and ridiculous.

But no-one's listening to the lyrics, they're just watching Cheryl in sweatpants doing crab bends on top of her boyfriend. Which is what everyone does on Boxing Day, right? RIGHT?





4) Miley Cyrus covers Jolene
Amazingly not shit. OK, The White Stripes version had more fire in its belly, and Laura Marling gave a more nuanced vocal performance - but this is a surprisingly powerful interpretation. Maybe Miley had a little help from her Godmother, a little-known songwriter called "Dolly Parton" (nope, me neither).

Miley is currently recording an album with the Neptunes. The mind boggles.





5) Your dad gets drunk and does New Year karaoke
No, wait a minute... That's the actual Roland Gift. Crikey.





6) Skrillex and Ellie Goulding put out a video
This should wake you from your Turkey-induced comas.

Understandably, Skrillex and his ex-girlfriend don't make an appearance in the video for Summit, but the visuals, by Aussie art magazine Pilerats, are quite diverting. I particularly enjoyed the bit where someone jumps out of a window on a skateboard.

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Things to see and do

A collection of internetular diversions for a Friday afternoon...

:: The Photoshop Disasters blog wonders why Batman is staring so intently at that window frame.
[Photoshop Disasters]

:: A Walrus dances like Michael Jackson
[Boreme.com]

:: Roisin Murphy says fuck and twat (plus some stuff about music).
[The Times]

:: A rather scary new piece of music software allows you to isolate a single note in the middle of a song and change it, raising the tantalising prospect of being able to turn an Aphex Twin album into something listenable.
[Celemony]

:: Pulp's Common People turned into an Archie comic strip.
[Chris's Invincible Super-Blog]

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Video of the week: Common People

The high point / breaking point of Pulp's career, Common People put Jarvis Cocker at the top of the list of people TV producers try to book when they're a bit stuck for a social commentator who isn't boring or Germaine Greer.

You know the story - the lyrics are a semi-autobiographical account of Cocker's time at London's St Martin in the Fields' art college; it became the 'anthem of 1995' after Pulp stood in for the Stone Roses at Glastonbury; it sounds like it was written on a cheap charity-shop electric organ because it waswritten on a chep charity shop electric organ. ..

The video was made by Britpop's unofficial director, Pedro Romhanyi, who also did Parklife and Animal Nitrate. The art direction is superb (all those primary colours!), and it triggered several Students Unions arguments, viz: Who's sexier with a shopping trolley - Sadie Frost in Common People, or Louise-out-of-Sleeper in Inbetweener?

Watch the video below:


Buy it!

Different Class: The album

Pulp video collection

Further reading

Common People in a cartoon strip, by Jamie "Gorillaz" Hewlitt.

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