What's Pharrell up to this week?

It's been a week of ups and downs for pop music's very own Mr Hat, Pharrell Williams.

On one hand, he lost £4m to Marvin Gaye's family for stealing inadvertently borrowing portions of Got To Give It Up for Robin Thicke's sex pest anthem Blurred Lines. On the other, he was named fashion icon of the year by the clunkily-named Council of Fashion Designers America.

He also found time to make some new music, producing the new single by Snoop Dogg (who has given up being a reggae artist, apparently) and a shape-shifting EP by New York duo Lion Babe.

You can hear the results below.

They sound, as you might expect, like Pharrell produced them.

Snoop Dogg ft Charlie Wilson - Peaches and Cream

Lion Babe - Wonder Woman

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Songs you may have missed: Dutch edition

Sorry for the lack of updates this week - I was off in Amsterdam working on the BBC's coverage of the Rijksmuseum relaunch (here's an example), which turned out to be a lot busier than I anticipated. Still, the music industry took an extended Easter break, so there wasn't much to catch up with on my return. Apart from these:

1) Chris Malinchak - So Good To Me
The press release calls Chris Malinchak a "legendary New York deep house producer" but I've never heard of him. Have you? No matter, because his new single is a hazy summer daydream that sent ripples through the Miami Winter Music Conference. A warm, casual groove with a nimble Marvin Gaye sample, maybe it can convince the sun to come out of hiding when it's released on 5th May.




2) Little Mix ft Missy Elliot - How Ya Doin?
Little Mix have been sponsored by something called "Live Colour XXL", which explains the ridiculous hair colours in this video.

Nothing can explain, however, this godawful single, which manages to tarnish the legacy of De La Soul* and Missy Elliot in a single, three-minute burst of crap.

*Yes, I'm aware the original was by Curiosity Killed The Cat



3) Wretch 32 - Blackout
It's not every day a rapper declares: "my vocabulary is shit", but Wretch 32 is not an every day rap star. Featuring vocals from Shakka, and truck-load of marimbas, Blackout is practically guaranteed for the Top 10 when it comes out next month.

If you like the studio version, you should also check out the super-cute acoustic version on SBTV, where Wretch can't hide his ever-increasing smile.




4) Florrie - Live A Little
Florrie is a graduate of songwriting powerhouse Xenomania, who played drums on Girls Aloud's The Promise. She's been self-releasing music - tons of it - ever since, to almost universal indifference (except in Spain, where one of her EPs went to number three).

But last year she took a couple of months off, signed to a major label and started work on a proper album. It's not clear whether this new track - a promo for Sony earphones - is part of that project, but it's a real step up from her earlier material - catchy, compact and swollen with attitude. The intro could do with an edit, though.




5) Snoop Lion ft Miley Cyrus - Ashtrays and Heartbreaks
This reggae-tinged new track from the artists formerly known as Snoop Dogg and Hannah Montana is simultaneously better and worse than you'd expect. With time, I think it'll become a guilty pleasure. Or maybe we'll pretend it never happened. History, as always, will be the judge.





6) Tussilago - Farewell
This is new from Lykke Li's little brother. Like Sigur Ros without the histrionics, it'll sound amazing with a cup of cocoa.




7) Rudimental ft Ella Eyre - Waiting All Night
All of Rudimental's videos seem to come with the tag "The following events are based on a true story". They're like the Channel 5 of riotous dance music.

Last time, we followed the career of B-Boy Mouse, who rose from the slums to become a dance champion. For the new single, Waiting All Night, the video chronicles the life and rehabilitation of BMX champion Kurt Yaeger, who lost a limb after a motorcycle collision in 2006. It's both thrilling and uplifting - if you only watch one video on this page, make it this one.

And that's your lot. Normal service will be resumed next week.

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It's a hip-hop Christmas, yo

Ahh, Christmas. The snow is on the ground, the trees are festooned with decorations and little orphan children are pressing their noses up against my window, watching hungrily as I scoff yet another mince pie. Go away, orphan children! These mince pies are not for you. Scram! Skidaddle! And try to find yourselves a precocious ginger friend. She will be adopted by a bald millionaire who'll take pity on the orpanage and save you from your lives of grime and penury. Just like in that movie.

Anyway, one thing Christmas is definitely not associated with is hip-hop. Yet, here is Snoop Dogg, trading Gin And Juice for Mulled Wine and Figgy Pudding. He's reading the classic Clement Clark Moore poem, 'Twas The Night Before Christmas, for reasons that I have yet to fathom.

Snoop Dogg - A Christmas Story

It doesn't end there, either. Without any real explanation, someone has forced their grandmother to read out 50 Cent's vile, offensive tweets to a backing track of Christmas music (it would have been better if they'd hired some Ho Ho Ho's - crap joke ed). This one is not safe for work.

Grandma reads 50 Cent's tweets

Let's round this off with a honest, clean Christmas tune from the old skool. There aren't many good festive raps, but this 1980 classic is one of them...

"People let me tell you about last year, when that dude came flying over here". You gots to love Kurtis Blow.

Kurtis Blow - Christmas Rapping

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Old song, new video: Gorillaz

Hello, do you want to buy my album? It is not a brand new record but it did come out this year and I am worried you might have forgotten about it because of tuition fees and the party you are no doubt organising to celebrate the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.

To jog your memory, I have recorded a "music video" for one of the songs on my album. Although it is not really a music video in the commonly understand format. It is in fact a tour visual featuring my good friend and former bete-noire of the so-called establishment, Snoop Dogg.

My album is called Plastic Beach and it is basically a Damon Albarn solo record about the environment, but with some rap bits tacked on at the last minute because I realised I always sell more records when I pretend that I am a cartoon, even though I have not been a cartoon since the early days of Blur (satire).

Plastic Beach is available at a supermarket near you, but I urge you to boycott the Tescos and Asdas of this world and buy it from your local grocer instead.

Power to the people,
Damon Alba... I mean Murdoc
xo

Gorillaz - Welcome To The World Of Plastic Beach

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Remix corner

In which we find some of my favourite upcoming singles, retooled by some of the nation's foremost knob twiddlers.

:: The Ting Tings - A Great DJ (Calvin Harris mix)
Sproingy disco beats + shouty chorus = arms-aloft party anthem.

:: Duffy - Mercy (Thankful mix)
Better because it is longer.

:: Kylie - Wow (CSS remix)
This doesn't add much, save a few synth noises and a cowbell, but it frames Kylie's vocals much more sympathetically than the original.

:: Snoop Dogg - Sexual Eruption (Fyre Department mix feat Robyn)
Yes, that Robyn! She's turned Snoop's superfly 70s porno talkbox ballad into a europop 90s porno talkbox ballad. "Snoop Dogg, I'm going to sex you up," she trills. Amazing.

:: Janet - Feedback (various remixes)
The R&B one, the dance one, the Timbaland one. They're all here.

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Dogg in heat

Fourteen years after the Sun's "Kick This Evil Bastard Out" headline, Canine-featured rapper Snoop Dogg has become one of hip-hop's most dependable and (say it quietly) safe artists.

Yes, he still gets arrested at airports for carrying drugs and collapsible batons in his hand luggage, but maybe he was just "looking after the dope for a friend" while on his way to perform as a majorette.

His music has certainly become more accessible and radio-friendly since his murder-obsessed Death Row days. Justin Timberlake duet Signs was a proper chart smash and the iracsible Snoop was even invited to play at Live 8. Okay, so he swore like a trooper throughout the performance and the BBC had to apologise but what's a motherfucker between friends, eh?

His new record Sensual Seduction is, rather unbelievably, a ballad. Vocoded to within an inch of his mustache, it sees the "Dee-oh-double-gee" waxing lyrical about his prowess in the underdrawers department.

The video is retro genius. Snoop is in full-on Huggy Bear mode, while the picture has been treated to look like a 1980s video recording. It even features spot-on parodies of the videos for When Doves Cry and Rock With You, amongst others.

Sadly, the song doesn't pull off its 80s pastiche quite as successfully, sounding more like a cheap BlackStreet smoocher than a fabulous Rick James seductathon.

Six out of ten. Unless Snoop is reading this, in which case it's a triumphant 9/10 and would you please put the gun away, now.

Snoop Dogg - Sensual Seduction

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Haircuts, Wardrobe malfunctions, Divorces and a Moustache

That handsome young specimen on the left is Will Young, with a freshly shaven head. The hat is gone, long live the number two crop!

Will's standing with the winner of a national photography competition, sponsored by Mencap (he's an ambassador for the charity). More photos and info over at Mencap,org.uk

Mariah Carey has done a Janet on German TV. Thankfully, no photos are in existence.

Update: 14/7/05. The internet does what it does best - distributes pictures of fleshy ladybits. We will not be held responsible if your eyes burn when you click on this link

Snoop Dogg is bucking all celebrity trends by vowing to cancel his divorce and give marriage a second go.

No, it's not a telephone exchange, it's synth-god Giorgio Moroder working on the equipment that produced Donna Summer's 16 minute dirt-fest "Love To Love You Baby".

Much Music has a bizarre tribute / shrine to his music running this week. Worth a look, if only to see more pictures like this one.

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