The Naked and Famous

HOW EVERY WAS MEANT TO TELL ME ABOUT THESE GUYS EARLIER CLEARLY FAILED IN THEIR JOB!

A late introduction Ladies and Gentlemen to The Naked and Famous. This five piece from New Zealand make indie pop rock music and bloody good indie pop rock as well.

Formed back in 2007 when Thom and Alisa were at music school they were soon a full live band kicking off small intimated highly anticipated gigs in and around Auckland. By taking a listen to 'Young Blood' below you can easily hear why this band in thrown into the mix of MGMT/The XX/Passion Pit.

The band which exploded in their homeland with 9 nominations in the New Zealand Music Awards, winning 7 of them and a number one single with 'Young Blood' easily won over UK press here with the NME describing them as 'A classic case of ugly and beautiful: TN&F’s passive melodicism and aggressive innovation clash in a dazzling blaze of psych/sonic fireworks.' They should have stormed the BBC Sound of 2011 when up against the likes of the flavourless James Blake (who funnily enough they are inspired by) and the standard 'woman with attitude' pop clone Jessie J.

I hadn't heard any TN&F material until today but they have suddenly become my second favourite Kiwi band after Ladyhawke but then again can you name any more buzz worthy New Zealand musicians? I'm sure they exist they are just hiding in those Middle Earth mountains of theirs.

AWOLNATION - Sail

So here is an example of an artist that I was clearly late onto the scent of. AWOLNATION consists of Aaron Bruno (formerly of Under the Influence of Giants, Hometown Hero and Insurgence...yeah never heard of them of either) who's song Sail caught my attention whilst on a general browse on YouTube.

How this low-fi yet synth explosive, bold yet soothing song managed to not infect the airwaves globally akin to an Owl City's 'Fireflies' I don't know but it's bloody good. Drawing inspirations from punk, metal, hip-hop and pop his songs are certainly a mash of genres leading to a mixture of emotions across the album from ballards to sheer anarachy and screaming.

Bruno believes that listeners should find their own interpretation in a song, instead of being forced fed the ideals of the artist, this struck huge sense with me. Not only do I think of multiple meanings to songs by myself when listening to them but you can go on any website such as songmeanings.net to find fans debating and arguing over the meanings of individual lyrics. Just sit back and take in the music, make it what you want it to be. That's what I'm going to let you do now. Enjoy guys.

Chairlift - Sidewalk Safari

Yoyo so one of my favourite bands consists of these guys below (minus Aaron Pfenning in the middle who has left) they are called Chairlift and well you may have heard of their song Bruises before, an unbeat, summery infusion of synths, a constant drum beat and happiness.

I luckily found out last minute that they were playing a show in London at the Electrowerkz and one of my favourite songs they played on the night; Sidewalk Safari (seemingly about hunting someone down and running them over) has had a pretty head spinning live video made for it.

Check it our below! Or else I'll come and hunt you down and trust me Caroline Polachek may not be good with guns and arrows but I am.

The Ting Tings - Silence (Bag Raiders Remix) Video

So the Ting Tings have released another video for their song, "Silence". I very much like the simplistic take which resolves around the duo getting verbally and physically for Katie abused through the streets of Salford. The grey sombre feeling throughout perfectly matches the intention of the song.

I can also reveal that in a recent interview with the band with NME the new album is going to be titled; "Sounds From Nowheresville", myself I personally prefer the edgy "Kunst".

When explaining the title Katie White is quoted as saying: "We've lived in kind of nowheresville for two years and we've put the songs together in that time. You go to some little shitty town in the middle of nowhere and it's so cool and interesting there. We find that more interesting than bigger cities full of cool wankers".

The track listing from the album is as follows:

1. Hang it Up
2. One by One
3. Hands
4. Hit me Down Sonny
5. Soul Killing
6. In Your Life
7. Help
8. Guggenheim
9. Give it Back
10. Day to Day
11. Silence

I myself is personally looking forward to hearing the studio version of Day to Day, the live one of which can be heard from a performance on the Jools Holland Show, little over a year ago when the band were promoting Hands.

Summer Camp - Green Door Store

So on Saturday I took the train to Brighton to see the duo play a wonderful set at a pretty sweet venue; The Green Door Store.

Okay so the train there was very cringy, pretty much everyone on the train was drinking before hitting the tiles in Brighton and the women sat next to me at one point were talking about their teenage children's sex lives. At this point I put my headphones in and whacked on some CSS.

So I arrived a bit early, like erm two hours aha. But I was more than happy to have as when I scout out the venue hidden on a side street who do I see but Summer Camp playing an acoustic set for a film crew. Having a little taster of what was to come was more than appreciated!

The venue itself was very nice, a small bar was at the center adorned by random articles such as a Woolworth's sign, some kind of resuscitation mannequin, dismembered arms hanging form the ceiling as well as plenty of other quaint treasures around.

The venue was also the most intimate I have been to yet, with the stage being in a small room off the bar which reminded me of a a small outhouse you would find in a farmhouse.

The support act Theme Park were surprisingly amazing, they had the crowd dancing and swaying and the talent these guys have is shown by every member playing various instruments, with two of the members switching between bass and electric guitars between songs.

Summer Camp came on giving a slow rendition of Better Off Without You walking through the crowd giving me a warm tingling feeling inside. The duo made their way through a very decent set list including my EP favourites Round the Moon and Veronica Sawyer which definitely topped off the night for me as I feared their lack of presence on their debut "Welcome to Condale" would write them off from being played.

Throwing in humour, chatter, vintage visuals and playing amongst the crowd made this a very special gig for me and I may just have to buy tickets for their tour in March now.

Listen below to Summer Camp's latest single, "Down".

Anddd "A Mountain We Love" by Theme Park

CSS - City Grrrl

Okay, so I'm one of those shameful people who once they have found a mind splitting, catchy-ass new song it's on repeat, repeat, repeat for a week.

SO, introducing this weeks fine example is "City Grrrl" by Brazilian indie-punk-pop-don't give a fuck band CSS.

Don't they just look like they could cause a lot of damage? Aha.

City Grrrl is the bands next release and well if you aren't wishing to dye your pink or put on black lipstick at the end of listening then your loss.

I've been a fan of CSS for just around a year now and I'm finally getting to experience the much talked about live shows they put on in London on Dec 7th. Can't wait!

Oh and if you're life isn't like a movie it's not worth living

Ladyhawke Returns and it's Magic

"It feels like I've been away for a while, but I haven't been hiding - honest," - Pip Brown.

Despite a good absence from the music scene since the end of her debut album campaign I can reassure the unsure that Ladyhawke a.k.a Pip Brown will stick to her roots in the electro-indie-rock niche she carved out for herself back in 2008. Hoo-ray!

I was one of the lucky few in getting tickets for her hotly anticipated London Club 100 show on Tuesday with tickets selling out within a minute. Her set on the night combined the best of her debut with eight new delights also being played.

My insights into the night; fans shouldn't be worried of the rumours flying around about her direction into a more guitar heavy Britpop album, it isn't. Her new tracks are just as uplifting-synth filled-with the "na-na-na" choruses as Back of the Van, Magic and Danny and Jenny. Secondly her new logo is AMAZING.

Thirdly she is super friendly in real life, a real down to earth individual.

Set List:
Blue Eyes
Anxiety
Magic
Girl Like Me
Professional Suicide
Quick & The Dead
Dusk Till Dawn
Vaccine
Paris Is Burning
Sunday Drive
Back of the Van
Black, White & Blue
Gone, Gone, Gone
My Delirium

x

Hang on and Hang It Up

Ok so previously I wrote a blog entry theorizing that The Ting Tings would make a years absence since Hands with a new single, Silence.

Now I was wrong, instead the indie pop duo have come back with Hang It Up, which bears more resemblance to Shut Up And Let Me Go / That's Not My Name than the electro route taken with Hands.

In terms of a comeback single I don't think it essentially that strong, despite being catchy, bolshy and similar to their material on their highly successful debut I feel that the song is lacking a missing ingredient to give The Tings Tings the "hit" to put put them back on the radar after a near four year absence. Comments on the video itself remain generally positive with fans expressing their excitement at their return, but I'm not surprised at some who comment how they have left it too late to make an impact second time round.

The Ting Tings however remain as my favourite band and the release of Hang It Up get me excited for album two.

Are You Ready for Kate Miller-Heidke?

I clearly wasn't as despite being a fan of Kate I only recently came around to hear this instantly catchy pop offering from her side project, 'Fatty Gets a Stylist'.

The song which is a clear departure from her solo sound is much more electronic and 80's sounding and uses a different vocal range, which she apparently found whilst in the shower and has since transformed into the personality of an individual called Fatima (hence the wonderfully bizarre band name if you were by chance wondering).

The song has not only been making the sound waves down under in Oz but also in the US and has been used in the New York Lottery advertisement.

So guys and gals get ready. 

Marina and the Diamonds - Radioactive

So summer is starting to roll to an end (where the hell the sun was I don't know) but there's still time for Marina and the Diamonds to give us a good old party pumping, dance floor filling hit to give the summer a good send out.

Marina's latest offerings prior to a 2nd album release is 'Radioactive', upon first listen I was hooked. The lyrics are clearly Marina's own and stick to the formula used on her début album 'The Family Jewels', the sound however is a transformation from her previous releases and I can hopefully predict that her second album won't fall into the sophomore album trap.

Here's a snippet of what Marina herself had to say of the track, “I wrote “Radioactive” in New York in the middle of a heat wave. Introduced to a glittering new nightlife, I fell in love with New York; it has this magic, fizzing white energy that no other city in the world has. I felt happy and was inspired to write a song that felt light and euphoric, a more streamlined, minimalistic style of songwriting. I have changed my approach to songwriting completely, and as a result, written songs I would never have written on my own (i.e on my shit Argos keyboard alone in my bedroom in London).

Enjoy below pop peeps!

Artists waiting to shine - Sky Ferreira

Okay so when I say waiting to shine I actually mean severely overdue!

Sky Ferreira an American singer/songwriter/model/actress is a true gem but is alas a classic example of how a music label can truly screw over an artist.

To begin with, why the hype with Sky?

Back in 2006, a 15 year old Sky equipped with only a few demos under her belt bravely approached over myspace music production duo Bloodshy & Avant requesting a collaboration between the two parties. Her request, which may seem a bit naive played to her advantage. The Swedish team (who were the co-writers and producers of Britney's smash 'Toxic') were hugely interested in the young talent that had approached them. Sky since then has continued to work with Bloodshy & Avant on her latest EP As If!, more specifically on the songs '108' and 'Hater Anonymous'. 

Sky certainly has recorded a large number of songs, a simple search on youtube will bring up many demos, so why have we not yet had an album? We've had a UK single, 'One' and a further US single 'Obsession' along with lead EP single 'Sex Rules'. But despite all the reassurances over the past year and a bit from Sky over twitter and in interviews of an album coming soon, my iTunes still has its spaced reserved.

The delayed album clearly is by no means Skys fault, which is clear from her tweets. Unfortunately I believe that Sky just isn't suited to her label EMI, she needs a label which is suited towards the current trend of non-manufactured female popstarlets who have risen in recent years. I personally feel that the best move Sky could make is to leave behind EMI with her head held high and move over to Cherrytree Records, where her label mates would include; La Roux, Ellie Goulding, Robyn & Natalia Kills.

It's so sad to know of a great talent who isn't being able to give it the go she so thoroughly deserves. At this rate Sky is going to become more recognised as a model (which she also does very well) and therefore not what she intended out to be back when she sat at her computer desk  on myspace clicking send on the message  to B&A.

So if you haven't yet heard anything by Sky my top three picks are:

Enjoy and spread the word of this deserving and promising young girl.

Mika - Elle Me Dit Video

So Mika's latest pop offerings was of an upbeat, bouncy pop tune layered with French lyrics, the song now has a video for the single, which has recently placed itself in at #6 on the French Music Charts. The video is far from the expense and grandeur of some of his others but I guess this would come with the fact the single is not an international one.

Enjoy.

The s*#t that is Grenade

One of my favourite youtubers ItsKingsleyBitch pretty much sums up what I feel of Bruno Mars' 'Grenade'.

Logic prevails.What the stupid ass song below.

Please check out the other videos Kingsley has to offer, for some equally strong views on pop culture and life.

Oh he also does a good impression of Rihanna.

Chromeo ft Solange - 'When The Night Falls'

Pop music needs more videos like these, ones which are funny, genius and creative. Long gone should the days of boring ass bitches dancing in a club, or pining after some "perfect" gal/lad in some three way love triangle drama. Bring on the videos which bring a smile to your face and leave you asking; "how did they think of that".

Britney Spears, Lady Gaga to duet?

Post is what the title says really.

The low down: Britney performs at concert with Lady Gaga in the audience. The two apparently struck it off quite well with each other and "gossiped" for a few hours together, with Gaga already having two songs in mind.

The two have kind of already worked together already, with Lady Gaga being the writer behind the track "Quicksand" on Britney's 2008 album Circus.

I personally feel that the pop music space time continuum may implode if the two go ahead with the rumours.

Bitches, make it happen!

For now listen to this mash-up of the two.

Lady Gaga looks more manly than Justin Bieber

Well lets face it Lady Gaga may not be a hermaphrodite but posing as her male alter ego, Jo Calderone for new single You and I she can certainly pull off the male look.

It's all a rather scary experience in my opinion.

Oh and she isn't the only pop star to pull off the opposite sex look for a photo shoot.

Wait he's not actually posing as a girl? Awkward.

What is Jagger?

So first we had "Swagger Jagger" by Cher Lloyd who recently has been bordering the cockiness/too big for her shoes persona recently.She's going to be the next Simon Cowell, that's right one single in and she already dreams of setting up her own record label, reality check for the Cole look-a-like please. Although I hate to admit it but it looks like she continues the trend of X-Factor number 1's.

The Jagger trend now continues with Maroon 5 ft Christina Aguilera

Hmmm the better of the Jagger's so far.

The Ting Tings - Silence 2nd Single

To say that The Ting Tings are my favourite band would be like saying this child's favourite meal is his Maccy D's.

Harsh, but more than likely true.

Swiftly moving on, the first ever concert I went to was The Ting Tings back in February 2009 and it certainly set the bar high for previous concerts I have ever been to. Katie's raw energy on stage is second to none and Jules' multi instrumental talents were put on show.

The simplicity of the lyrics, "That's not my name, that's not my name, THAT'S NOT MY NAME!" may irritate some whereas for me they are catchy, infectious and often have a deeper meaning than some may give credit for. Clearly demonstrated by their Ivor Novello Award win for their début album "We Started Nothing".

With MTV VMA wins and Grammy Nominations later they settled down to record their next slice of alternative pop. With the release of the single "Hands" last year however things since then have gone kind of silent.

Until recently however and whether it was intentional or not, when referencing to their quiet period in between they are set to release the next single, "Silence" from their yet unnamed second album.

You can hear a low quality version above along with some other new tunes I am eager to hear in high quality.

The video for Silence has already been shot in the bands birthplace of Salford and an image I saw on Katie's tumblr is hopefully an insight into what the video may look like.

I personally can't wait to see what this video is going to look like, but I hope it matches the creativity of previous singles "Shut Up and Let Me Go" and "We Walk".

Return of the Black

She's back

Well this time not on Friday, not on Saturday or the day afterwards but on Monday. On July 18th Rebecca Black is debuting her next single "My Moment" and will be released shortly afterwards on iTunes and other sites the next day.

This time round she has ditched the Ark Music Factory and has been working with Brandon Hamilton (previously working with the Bieber-nator) and producer Charlton Pettus.

Lets hope RB sticks to her Ark roots however and provides something FUN FUN FUN.

Artists waiting to shine - MNDR

Amanda Warner better known by her stage name of MNDR (also comprising of Peter Wade, production partner)  first graced mainstream music media attention with her contribution to Mark Ronson's hit track "Bang Bang Bang". With one listen to MNDR's whimsical and alluring vocals it is instantly obvious why Ronson chose the relatively unknown musician to feature on the track.

Checking out the duo's myspace and listening to four tracks found on their E.P. such as Fade to Black and C.L.U.B show that aside from the success with "Bang Bang Bang" they are bound to make their own solo assault on the charts in time to come with their euphoric electo-synthpop gems.

My personal favourite track of theirs; Cut Me Out  keeps align with their other offerings and this moody elctro pop track and the video doesn't fail to disappoint either.

Oh and in case it's bugging you, her glasses are prescription ones.

POP SINGER DOWN

Collection of falls and tumbles of pop singers, a hazardous career path to take. 

1) Katy "I kissed the ground and I liked it" Perry

2) Britney Spears

3) Fergie

4) Katie White

5) Rihanna "MAN DOWN"

6) Lady Gaga, because she likes to outdo all others here's a collection dedicated to her falls

"L.A. to Africa"

JLS, the four piece boy-band from the UK premièred today their new video for the single, "She Makes Me Wanna" ft. Dev. There's nothing pop revolutionary about it, it keeps up with the current trend of up tempo/trance/dance along to in a club music that listeners are eager to consume and musicians equally eager to churn out of the pop factory.

The lyrics are somewhat similar to J Lo's smash, multimillion selling track "On the Floor" ft Pitbull. Take a listen to the two and you might catch that both songs contain the lyric "L.A. to Africa" the coincidences between the two songs carry on as they were both produced by industry favourite RedOne and of course the presence of the two rappers.

So do I think JLS' single will give the group that "international break" they are hoping for? No. Without sounding pessimistic I can see the single being taken to the top of the charts in the UK however it's lacking the WOW factor I feel is needed to propel them into the international spotlight.

Sorry lads.

Oh and Blogger couldn't find the official video so what you gonna do? http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FuwTgZOKcf8

Lady Kills? Natalia Gaga?

I found this recent interview with Natalia Kills to be rather amusing.

Skip to 5 minutes in where the topic of the conversation resolves around what many interviewers have asked Natalia before, whether she see essentially sees herself as a Lady Gaga clone.

Natalia to me at first seems taken back by the interviewers question and I somewhat sympathize with her. After all Natalia is trying to be a credible artist in her own right and constantly being asked whether she is trying to be someone she clearly isn't (minus the whole same label/Akon/RedOne thing going on) must be tedious.

What I find funny is what she states when the interviewer suggests they have the same hair, her reply whilst pointing out her towering top knot is that Lady Gaga "doesn't have this hair"...

Ohh erm she had it two years ago...

Ohhh snap, a similar top knot/beehive style worn by Lady Gaga yesterday at a press conference in Singapore just a couple of days after the interview posted above...awkward.

Mika - Elle me dit

Mika recently premiered his new single, entitled "Elle me dit" taken from his upcoming third album, "The Origin of Love", the infectious little pop number sang solely in French is sure to be a hit in the home of the Eiffel Tower.

It leaves me wondering that with the news of his French song writing, bundled with the fact that French DJ Martin Sloveig has given his hand to production of the album which is to take a Daft Punk inspired route, is all a move to focus in on the market which Mika may have recognised to be his most accessible. After all it's where his first two albums have both sold consistently well, when he recent offerings of "The Boy Who Knew Too Much"  failed to sell as well as his debut "A Life In Cartoon Motion".

However what's important is that "Elle me dit" sounds very promising, the simple piano beat and the upbeat sounding nature of the song just shows that Mika is a true deliverer of power pop tunes.

Listen to "Elle me dit" below.

"Swagger Jagger"

  

"You can't stop looking me, staring at me. Be what I be, you can't stop looking at me"

Cher, the once favourite to win X Factor contestant who plagued the show with her rap/sing style recently premiered her bizarrely named debut single, "Swagger Jagger". The term "Swagger Jagger" is one that instantly isolates me, a brief Google later and the term refers to;

"A person who always cramps your style. A form of hating" Wait here. "A person who always cramps your style." I think we know who's good at that. Overall I feel that releasing a single about your haters and claiming that people can't stop talking/tweeting/whatever the fuck over you is a bad move, or a bold move by her PR team. She didn't exactly leave the X Factor on a high note, with numerous insider reports highlighting her diva persona and I doubt this song is going to transform her into a "British Sweetheart" anytime soon. I'm sure it will go down a treat with clubbers as its trance inspired beats sets in on full volume, which I will pleasantly enjoyed but like most "post X Factor music" these days it will get its air play before fading into obscurity. Quite why she wants us on the floor baffles me as well.