The many faces of Cher Lloyd and six other songs you may have missed

A semi-regular summary of songs that almost slipped through the net, and the reasons why they shouldn't be ignored.

1) Cher Lloyd - I Wish
Believe it or not, all those screengrabs at the top of the post come from the first 60 seconds of the video. Nice chorus, though.




2) Chase & Status - Count On Me (ft Moko)
AKA Blind Faith part II, Count On Me is the best song the 1990s never had. Featuring the drum loop from Back By Dope Demand, and a diva with bigger pipes than a storm drain, this should come with a free Global Hypercolor t-shirt.




3) Rizzle Kicks - Skip To The Good Bit (lyric video)
Because what EMF's Unbelievable was missing was a trumpet.




4) Mooli - Automatic
Endorsed by Sir Michael Caine (really), Mooli are Ben Copland and Kristina Smith. In a previous life, Ben wrote songs for Liberty X and Aaron Carter, but don't hold that against him. His new project is all spangly synthpop with a droopy sadface. And, as any fool knows, that's the best sort of synthpop there is.




5) Hugh Laurie and Jools Holland - Piano duet
The excruciating boogie-woogie piano interludes are generally the low-point of Jools Holland's Later show (unless the Stereophonics are on it again) but this quad-handed blues duet with Hugh Laurie is guaranteed to put a smile on anyone's face. Better than a cat video, and that's a guarantee.




6) Chvrches - It's Not Right, But It's Okay
Out this week, Chvrches debut album is a splendiferous affair (although you can totally skip the ones where the bloke sings). To cap it all, they've been in Radio 1's Live Lounge, covering Whitney Houston's second-best song after My Name Is Not Susan.





7) Kelis - Been Given A Morning
Kelis's husky, dusty voice is clearly suited to ballads, so it's a shame that she's never been given a decent one to sing... Until now. Culled from her recent sessions with Dave Sitek, Been Given A Morning is a sombre, jazzy torch song, doused in kerosene and set alight in its dying moments.

On the evidence of this and Jerk Ribs, which came out in April, Kelis's forthcoming album is going to be the reinvention of the year.

And that's it for this week... See you on Monday for more.

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Rizzle Kicks do a single

Summer and Rizzle Kicks go together like two hands clapping. So what better time that the middle of a heatwave to unveil the band's latest single, Lost Generation? Picking up where Down With The Trumpets left off, this is a big old jazz hands hoedown, with a typically mellow chorus from Harley.

The boys premiered the single on Rrrradio One this morning, and admitted they'd been sitting on new material for nearly a year while they waited for the fuss over Mama Do The Hump to die down.

"Mother is an animal," said Jordan, "so it's been ages..."

"I just find it really frustrating, waiting around to release music" added Harley. "A year-and-a-half of Mama being played is quite frustrating."

"No it's not, the song is brilliant!" his partner disagreed. "It's one of these dilemmas you face as an artist, playing your own song loads.

"But I realised that when I watch artists perform live, I'm waiting for that big moment and they're probably like 'urgh, I have to play this again.'"

He described the new single as "an important move", adding: "Ultimately, people are listening to music we made when we were 19. Now we're 21 and it's a big jump."

"The second album is really good, actually," he added, with no perceivable hint of bias or shame. "I just hope we're still relevant."

To be honest, Lost Generation is striving so hard for relevancy it disappears up its own internet hole ("hashtag trend" is probably the most cringeworthy lyric of the year) but it's all delivered with such carefree joy that you forgive them. Just.

Rizzle Kicks - Lost Generation

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The return of Rizzle Kicks

Hooray! Everyone's favourite humpers are back with a brand new song that heralds their "sophomore" (second) album. The album is called The Roaring 20s, which is play on words, because the 1920s are commonly known as the Roaring 20s; and Rizzle Kicks have been having a lot of fun since they turned 20. As you can see, it works on several (two) levels.

The first single is similarly puntastic. Harvey and Jordan are rapping about the kerrrrazy antics they get up to when they're not busy being pop stars - noting after every one "that was classic". But - and this is the clever bit - they are rapping over a sample of ye olde jazz worlde muzick, which is also a "classic". Hilarious.

It's such a good joke, in fact, that Adam And Joe did it as a jingle on their 6 Music show in 2008.



Still, you can't be curmudgeonly about a Rizzle Kicks single. They're just so smashing and lovable, and this song is going to sound great in the sun.

7/10.

Rizzle Kicks - That's Classic

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Hackney Weekend: The best bits

So, I was down at Hackney Marshes on Saturday, marvelling at the scale of the whole enterprise. I grew up on the Radio 1 Roadshow - which basically meant watching T'Pau on top of a winnebago in some desolate corner of Northern Ireland. Hackney Weekend was a full-blown festival (although I still wish Mike Read had come on to do Bits and Pieces).

If you want a blow-by-blow account of what me and the Newsbeat team were up to, ace reporter Greg Cochrane has helpfully put together a twitter list that compiles all of our activities (I was running the @BBCEntsTeam account, if you're interested).

But if you don't have time to plow through hundreds of tweets, here are my highlights from the weekend.


8) Jay-Z forgetting he'd paid for thousands of pounds of fireworks
There were literally hundreds of pyrotechnics lined up across the back of the main stage on Saturday evening. They were all timed to go off at 3:18 during Jay-Z's first song - Run This Town, with Rihanna. He stopped the song at 3:07. Perhaps he'd realised the performance incendiary enough on its own.

Jay-Z and Rihanna - Run This Town




7) The Maccabees' improbable singalong funtime radio show
I love The Maccabees - Given To The Wild is a dead cert for my end of year Top 10 - but I would never attempt to sing one of their songs. Orlando Weeks' ethereal voice, and his tricky, obstuse lyrics don't make you want to holler at the top of your voice like, say, Living On A Prayer does. But the band's audience on Saturday was of one distinct, harmonious voice for half an hour. And it was beautiful.

Maccabees - Pelican



6)Lana Del Rey going acoustic
She said it was "almost like Jazz", but Lana's set - backed by a chamber orchestra - was simply mesmerising. Just watching her dusky-voiced performance of Blue Jeans on a tiny monitor brought a lump to my throat.

Lana Del Rey - Blue Jeans



5)Jessie J's exceptionally bendy legs

4) Mamas doing the hump
Rizzle Kicker Jordan should be very proud of his mum. That is all.

Rizzle Kicks - Mama Do The Hump



3)Everything Jack White did
In a weekend that had it's fair share of miming (I'm looking at you Nicki Minaj), Jack White was a shining beacon of how to do it properly. His band were so tight they could have played themselves through a crack in the wall. And as soon as he finished, Jack wiped himself off with a towel and went to watch Jay-Z on the main stage. Dude.

Jack White - Seven Nation Army



2) Rihanna showing signs of a personality
Dead-eyed pop autobot Rihanna actually smiled during her headline set on Sunday. A proper, genuine "I am pleased to be here" expression of joy. I think it was a first.

She also proved to be the biggest tease of the weekend: "Do you guys know Eminem?" she asked. The audience screamed "aaahahhhahhahahhagggeheheyeggooowhaaaa?" in anticipation of a Slim Shady cameo. Rihanna grinned, and said: "Well, he's not here".

Amazing.

1) Beyonce in the mosh pit for N****s In Paris
Obligatory comment: That shit cray. (The moshing moment starts at 5:10 in this video)

Jay-Z and Kanye West - N****s In Paris

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Rizzle Kicks do a free MP3

This just arrived in my inbox, so I thought I'd share... Rizzle Kicks are giving away a new song, for no particular reason other than they feel like it. They clearly haven't been taking business lessons from The Joker.

Nasty is the name of the track. It rumbles along on an old skool "tip", and appears to be more Rizzle than Kicks. You can watch below, or download via this Soundcloud link.

Top marks for the line: "Sitting on the couch can only get me so-fa". Gyles Brandreth would be proud.

Rizzle Kicks - Nasty

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Rizzle Kicks vs Foster The People

Those cheeky scamps Rizzle Kicks have been scribbling all over Foster The People's piano-boogie-shout-along Call It What You Want and the results are actually brilliant.

Jordan (he's Rizzle) scatters a cheeky, self-deprecating rap over the top: "My love life's generally crap / I'm a magnet for girls who are mental and mad." While Harley (whose nickname is not Kicks but, er, Sylvester) adds a new counter-melody to the chorus which proves hard to forget when you go back to the original.

Nice work, everyone. Nice work indeed.

Foster The People - Call It What You Want (Rizzle Kicks remix)


Rizzle Kicks went into the top 20 yesterday with their latest single, Mama Do The Hump. If you haven't seen the video yet, you should check it out: The boys' mums do all the lip-syncing duties, and there's a celebrity cameo towards the end.

I won't spoil the surprise but when you see it you're reaction will undoubtedly be: "Oh, him. Of course it would be him."

Rizzle Kicks - Mama Do The Hump

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Eminem? Oh, go on then

The whole Eminem comeback has largely passed us by here at Discopop Towers. All those shouting, self-hating murder fantasies seem like relics from the dark ages, like the crusades and treating mental illness with mercury. Didn't we all decide that rap music should be fun again?

Anyway, Marshall is still ploughing his peculiarly angry furrow, but every so often it's nice to be reminded what a clever sod he is. His guest slot on the new Bad Meets Evil single is a case in point. His tongue-twisting lyrics are a powder keg of witty wordplay, giving the plodding backing track a thrilling shot of adrenaline. It's just a shame he can't resist making a gratuitous anal sex gag in the first verse.

For God's sake, man. You're 38. Give it a rest.

Bad Meets Evil - Fast Lane ft Eminem


If you need an antidote - here's a new video from Brighton duo Rizzle Kicks. Sylvester and Jordan are both 18 and, according to this article, they "rap over indie, rock and pop, reggae and soul and mariachi samples".

That may sound like a cue to throw your computer out the window and hide under the duvet but, amazingly, it's not altogether horriffic. In fact, current single Down With The Trumpets is a great little summer anthem, with a cheeky brass sample lifted from Lily Allen's Smile.

Rizzle Kicks - Down With The Trumpets


Let's be honest, though, these guys won me over as soon as they mentioned Rachel Bilson. Here is a picture of Rachel Bilson in hotpants.

*sighs*

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