A good friend pointed out to me yesterday that life is too precious to be wasted on "really deep thoughts" about music and such. "I used to have opinions," she said of her (excellent) blog. "But now I kind of go HERE IS A SONG - THIS IS GOOD. The end."
So, here are two new songs from Vampire Weekend. One is slow and one is fast. I'm off for a poo.
With the honourable exception of Crazy In Love, Beyoncé has never been particularly good at choosing the lead single from her albums.
Ring The Alarm (from B'Day) and Run The World (from 4) were both noisy, brash statements of intent - but they were practically poison to radio. It took Irreplaceable and Best I Never Had to put the respective album campaigns back on track.
For her fifth album, she's hedging her bets by putting out two songs at once. Bow Down / I Been On, released on Soundcloud over the weekend, is a mash-up of two album tracks. The former is produced by Hit-Boy, while the latter bears the mucky fingerprints of Polow Da Don, Timbaland and Planet VI.
Has Beyoncé learned any lessons? Apparently not. Both tracks are uncompromisingly tough. I Been On finds our heroine pitch-shifted and rapping about Pimp C over ghetto electro beats (and bicycle bells, for some reason).
The message of Bow Down is all women were created equal, but some are more equal than others. "I know when you were little girls you dreamt of being in my world," Beyoncé trills. "Don't forget it... Bow down, bitches."
As a calling card, the mash-up is fantastic. Three thrilling minutes of intergalactic sonic adventure, with Beyoncé displaying more bite than a crocodile. Just don't expect to hear either track on Heart while you're eating your cornflakes.
Ahem. Last night, Sir Justin of Timberlake rounded off his week-long stint on Jimmy Fallon's US Chat Show with the fourth installment of their increasingly amazing "History Of Rap" medleys. This time they squeezed in The Beastie Boys, Jay-Z, Missy Elliot, Nelly, Eminem, A Tribe Called Quest, Salt-N-Pepa and even Macklemore's recent number one Thrift Shop.
Surely they've got enough material now to stage a tour. I'd be there. How about you?
Some party music for the weekend? Don't mind if I do.
1) AlunaGeorge - I Wanna Be Like You
After Bruno Mars covered The Little Mermaid in the Live Lounge last year, AlunaGeorge have plundered the Jungle Book to record the scat jazz classic I Wan'na Be Like You. Unexpectedly, it's a perfect fit for Aluna's supple, slightly nasal voice. And, as it was originally a duet between King Louie and Baloo, can we temporarily rechristen the band BaloonaGeorge? No? Oh, alright then.
2) Justin Timberlake - Let The Groove In
The loose, unhurried grooves of JT's comeback singles lack focus. But, having read a few reviews, it sounds like the 20/20 Experience makes more sense as a suite of songs. Music for making out to, but not necessarily falling in with. It's up on Spotify today, so you can judge for yourself. My favourite so far is Let The Groove In, which Timberlake performed with The Roots on Jimmy Fallon's chat show earlier this week.
3) The Strokes - All The Time
They don't really get on any more, so why force them into a TV studio for a promo video? Here's 10 years of archive footage from The Strokes (and Lou Reed), to accompany their new song. Doesn't it look like fun being in The Strokes? Anyone?
I introduced you to promising young singer-songwriter Lauren Aquilina last month. Wanderlust, a desolate piano ballad, is her latest single - and it's raising money for Comic Relief. If you don't buy it, all the children will die.
5) Little Boots - Motorway
Little Boots first played this track two years ago... God knows what happened in the meantime. Maybe the motorway in question was the one Cheryl Baker and Rizzle Kicks got stranded on earlier this week. Anyway, it's arrived now, and it's rather beautiful in an ambient St Etienne kind of way. Motorway is a free download, and a new Little Boots album follows in May. Welcome back, Victoria!
Once in a while, you see a perfect gig. A charismatic singer, an incredible band, a receptive audience. This was one of those shows.
Like her music, Jessie Ware spent much of the night in the shadows. She didn't have (or didn't want) a follow spotlight, flitting in and out of the dark - encouraging us to follow her voice around the room. And what a voice. She's equally comfortable with a Nutbush rasp or an operatic crescendo. Sensuous, gorgeous, striking, beautiful.
Playing a second sold-out night in her home town, Ware was understandably giddy. "I'm in heaven," she told the audience. "I saw my first ever gig here - Another Level!" Later, she spotted a couple at the front of the crowd who'd been following her tour around the UK. "You're crazy!" she scolded. "You've been to Manchester, Birmingham... You're going to get bored!"
There was no chance of that. Irresistible on record, Ware's music is even more seductive in concert. Her three-piece band added a touch of warmth to the polished grooves of Night Light and If You're Never Going To Move, while Ware playfully cued up backing vocals on a sample pad. Drummer Dornik Leigh won a few fans of his own, as he subsituted for Sampha on the sweet soul duet Valentine. "I have a fabulous singing drummer," noted Ware, "just like Phil Collins".
Other highlights included new song Imagine It Was Us (inspired by Janet Jackson, although it sounded more like Cherelle to me) and No To Love, backed by the 40-piece Goldsmith Vocal Ensemble, which transmogrified into Marvin Gaye's I Want You.
Several times, the 28-year-old stopped to point out people who'd inspired her - including best friend Sara, the subject of Wildest Moments, and brother Alex, responsible for Taking In Water. During the latter, Ware choked on her hair ("don't you just love it when you get hair stuck in your throat when you're doing a really big ballad?") but it was tears she was choking back at the end of the night.
"You're making me cry!" she said. "My dreams are literally coming true."
"Oh my God, I sound like Gwyneth Paltrow. Shut up!"
Setlist
Devotion
Still Love Me
Night Light
If You're Never Going To Move
Imagine It Was Us
Sweet Talk
Swan Song
Taking In Water
Something Inside
What You Won't Do For Love
Valentine
No To Love / I Want You
Wildest Moments
Running
Mutya Keisha Siobhan’s new album has been gestating longer than a baby giraffe. This either means (a) it'll be brilliant or (b) it won't. [You can't put a price on insight like that - Ed].
There's no way to tell how it's all going to pan out, because we've got nothing to base our opinions on. The list of collaborators is simultaneously hooray (Dev Hynes, MNEK, Richard X) and handle with caution (Cameron McVey, Shaznay Lewis, William Orbit – all great, but with poor track records of late).
Still, there is hope, and that hope comes in the shape of a song. Posted by Dev Hynes on his Soundcloud page earlier today. It's seemingly a throwaway track, a new melody performed over the instrumental to Kendrick Lamar's Drank (Swimming Pools) - similar to how Freak In Me was constructed 11 years ago. "The girls felt like having a bit of fun at the end of the last session," wrote Hynes. "Enjoy!"
There's a moment around 2'30" into the song, just a simple piece of backing vocal harmonising, that just kills. The rest of the song is more perplexing – the tune's only ok, and the stoner R&B vibe is a bit disappointing, harking back to Mutya's solo aspirations more than the sultry pop brilliance of the Origibabes.
The main thing, as Popjustice pointed out, is that it shows they’re capable of finishing a song. Let's hope this is the trickle that proceeds the flood.
