Ahhhh yes... as we near the all the Holidays... Chrismukkah, Festivus, and the other ones people celebrate... we're seeing lots of goodies come from our musical friends.
First off... both Lily Allen and Ladyhawke have been getting blogged about like CRAZY for their covers of Britney Spears' "Womanizer" track. I got an email letting me know that the Lily Allen version wasn't even the finished product. Lily is never one to let down on a cover, so here you go... this is the OFFICIAL version :)
EDIT: Had to take down "The Fear" videogame... not because it wasn't cool... but because the flash game was slowing down my crappy 2001 Mac and I didn't like music popping up when people visited. So I still love you Lily! But I couldn't keep that up :(
While we're going for video treats we've got The Fratellis on board here as well. Cherrytree Records has got some nice intimate performances from some big names, with more to come... for good measure (due to her immense popularity) I'll post the Feist one as well (even though she isn't British)...
And here's Feist... giving you the low down on "1-2-3-4"...
Peep these as well if you like... Noah and The Whale - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2Hj7K7W1eE Tokio Hotel - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uc5nMlCczk
Ah yes... well I have work to do.. just thought I'd give you some nuggets of cheer and then get back to the grind. And I still have like 10 billion inches of snow to drive through!
BTW, On another completely different note... after getting back in the spirit of Zombie movies (because doesn't Christmas make you think of zombies? With the mall and all?) I have to say that MARVEL ZOMBIES: Dead Days has been one of the most fun 'adult' oriented comics I've read in a while. I picked it up from B&N and it's such a fun read. To those of you who still have a little dork left in you (of come on, you fucking watch Heroes, and I'm sure you saw The Dark Knight at least three times; stop pretending you're not a geek) I'd say it's a good place to get back into mature themed comics without feeling like a total loser. Next on my list is Watchmen before the movie comes out... but first I have to read some normal books or my wife is gonna kill me. Ok, be back as soon as I can!
It's not often I post about stuff without an MP3... but I've really been digging this new Lily Allen stuff off her new album. I really enjoyed the Mark Ronson style but I really think the remix ready sound is better suited to what she's singing about now... certainly it will get her more over all play because it can make it on both the radio and the club speakers! I really want the whole album NOW but it looks like I have to wait like everyone else lol...
Take a listen to 'The Fear' off "It's Not Me, It's You"...
Now I'd throw up, say, an old song from her catalog BUT the IFPI seems determined to take anyone who could have a remotely profitable record (much less Lily Allen) and pull all their songs off the blogs and then call for the blogs execution. SO with all that in mind I'll stick to the video. If Parlophone offers something up then I'll post it for you guys happily...
OH yeah... how you like these apples. I've had a counter up for roughly 2 months (give or take a day) and I broke 20,000 hits this morning. That is totally mental to me... 20,000 hits in such a short period of time! Since I couldn't have done it without you (well I suppose I could have but that would have been pretty crazy) so I'm going to try to give you the BEST British "BEST OF" I can come up with! I haven't quite finished my list so instead it's just going to be a rough overview of the best bands/tracks of the year...
LET'S GET IT STARTED (shoot the imaginary stereo for playing BEP.. cause they suck... and WILL leave wet spots on your couch!)
I would say my favourite song of the year is probably "Boy From School" by Hot Chip... it's perfect mixture of Simon & Garfunkle melancholy and filter house grooves was the most amazing musical combo this year (next to Timberlake/Timbaland but that's another story... here's the Erol Alkan Rework...
Then we have a track from The Streets... it's pretty obvious that "Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living" is going to make a lot of people's lists this year... but this track (which is an improvement on the already great original) will likely be overlooked...
Guillemots (which I STILL do not know how to pronounce) wrote one of the most touching albums this year (in fact 'Trains To Brazil' easily will make it into my ten best songs of the year) and this is a beautiful b-side off their EP...
I wanted to post the video for "Trains To Brazil" as well... it's fucking awesome...
I know I mainly talk about Pete Doherty but his former partner Carl Barat, and his band Dirty Pretty Things, are just as relevant and just as exciting as the Libertines use to be... however without the drama that Babyshambles were surrounded by DPT were largely overlooked this year... and so was this bonus track at the end of their album... (if you buy the limited edition vinyl version this is on the bonus 7 inch.. sweet song)
Ah the Kooks... my friend Lolly, who is mates with them, introduced me to them earlier this year just prior to the "THEY ARE FROM MUSIC SCHOOL" backlash... because of this I have no tainted view about them and really enjoyed their album... this is a wicked cover of Gnarls Barkley...
...and speaking of covers, and speaking of The Kooks, Lily Allen hit both bases this year while taking the piss at the same time... after making a bunch of remarks on how worthless The Kooks were she went ahead and did this at Radio 1's Live Lounge as if to beat them at their own game... then to prove she was still indie friendly she dueted with Alan from The Rakes... game, set, match!
If you've been reading this blog you know I love dance music... and Klaxons were the biggest thing to happen this year in British dance music... this is a demo version of their cover version of the old rave classic 'The Bouncer' (that was a mouthful)!
Here is an AWESOME 2 part Klaxons performance... fucking ace...
This song is about a girl being raped and killed... I think... that's a bit dark for me so instead I just bop around not listening to the words.. works well.. you should try it... anyway.. Larrkin Love's skank funk was so successful they almost beat Babyshambles for the best white reagee influenced band this year! Here's a live rendition of the song from London Calling festival...
Of course no 'best of' comp would be complete without the next Arctic Monkeys The View... they haven't quite taken the world by storm but you can TRUST they will be on my 2007 list as well.. these guys are going to take over the world.. and this song will help them do it! Here's a demo of their biggest track thus far... an homage to their friends the Wasted Little Djs...
The Fratellis are little lad rock-y for me... BUT I generally still dig them just because I like overly masculine bands with insane egos (Kasabian, Oasis)... and these guys have got that one nailed!
Ahhhh... The Pipettes... the prettiest girls you've never met... this track was a refreshing step away from the norm with one of the most catchy choruses in 06... here's a live one from Radio 1's Blue Room...
...and why not just give you their super weird Austin Powers-esque video...
...and last but not least... my favourite midget Lady Sovereign... I think I already posted this but this is one of the songs that didn't make it to the album... I heard her do it live and it's a nice addition to any Sov collection (for all you completists out here)! This is actually from 2005 and got a 4 star review over at Pitchfork...
Actually here is sort of what that sounded like...
So that's that! I will (as I said) still be doing a 'best of list' before Christmas and will keep giving you more tracks from this years best artists until the 1st (if everything goes to plan)... so, thanks again for stopping by and PLEASE feel free to leave comments!
P.s. If we blow through a BUNCH of these YouSendIt links really fast I will throw some other sort of links up if you guys request them!
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