Ich bin ein Berliner

Going to Berlin for a few days and realised I own hardly any German music. I do have a copy of the Tiefschwarz album Eat Books which was recorded in the capital. Two banging tracks below, one has German lyrics- natürlich.

MP3: Tiefschwarz- Fly

MP3: Tiefschwarz ft. Malte- Schmetterlingsflugel

Gonna try to get to this place tomorrow when Hertha Berlin play Frankurt. A win would take them to the top of the Bundesliga. Oh and listen to the breakdown on Fly at about 3mins30secs.

Remix of the year already?

Had a root around Hype Machine recently and as usual there are some great remixes on there. Check the Herve dubstep remix of Lily Allen's The Fear and Diplo's version of Britney's Circus.

The best though is A Trak's restrained take on Sebastian Tellier's latest single. It's string-tastic. Also below is (probably) my favourite Diplo remix which doesn't feature on his decent new album.

MP3: Sebastian Tellier- Kilometer

MP3: Gwen Stefani- Hollaback Girl (Hollatronix remix by Diplo)

Somalia

K'Naan is a Somalian refugee who fled to Canada and became a rapper. He hangs around with the Marleys and Mos Def. This track came out in December when the pirates were all over the news. It speaks for itself. It's also an apt day to post it...



BONUS K'NAAN

The Prodigy & Big Daddy Kane

The Prodigy recently covered for Zane Lowe on Radio 1 and played a couple of new tracks plus some influences. My fellow Essex boys were awul hosts and definitely not radio DJs but they played some stonking tunes.

Their album comes out very soon and sadly the copy I have is so encoded it won't play on any stereo or pc. Anyway hopeully they will rock it again after the relatively unsuccesful Always Outnumbered.

On the show Liam said his favourite period of hip hop was 89-91 and it certainly shows in his production. And they played Big Daddy Kane whose beats mostly came from Marley Marl and Prince Paul.

MP3: BIG DADDY KANE- It's Hard Being The Kane

George Bush: Saviour Of Hip Hop?

I distinctly remember an NME interview with Jay Z around the time Blueprint came out. The interviewer was told that he couldn’t ask the ‘greatest rapper alive’ about anything politics-related because he didn’t feel qualified to answer and wasn't interested in the subject.

Fast forward seven or so years and Jay was on stage around the world (including Glastonbury and London) shouting ‘Fuck Bush’ and campaigning for Obama. Under Dubya it wasn’t just Mos Def, Talib or Dead Prez who went political. Eminem was suddenly a conscious rapper protesting against the Iraq war on Mosh. And after Katrina Kanye West announced on national TV “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”

So I guess what I’m saying is- the former President was good for Hip Hop. Yes I said it. Songs about Barack are currently coming out but love-letters to the promising President will certainly get boring over four (or maybe eight) years.

Posted are two of my favourite anti-Bush tracks from Mos Def (certainly one of my Top 5 MCs) and Big Boi- who was never political on early Outkast albums.

MP3: Outkast/ Big Boi- War

MP3: Mos Def- Dollar Day for New Orleans

D-D-D-Dan

I recently interviewed nine tips for 2009 artists. A lot of these lists all have the same artists and yes I did Little Boots, Lady GaGa and White Lies but also a few others.

The nicest was this guy Dan Black who seems to have good taste in music name checking Outkast, Timbaland, Prince and Bjork. He could be a pop Jamie Liddell- and maybe that’s what his label are aiming for. Great first single above.

Have Chromeo Sold Out?

Actually I don't care much about the question of the title. They haven't sold that many copies of their two really funky and fun albums so fair play to them.

It's just a bit of shame that only big brands (in this case Kickers) can still afford to put decent money into music videos. I'm all about the song though. I always dig CSS remixes- they reversioned Kylie, Keane, Bloc Party and Lykke Li in 2008.

Just a shame it's so short but then I guess that's because it's essentially an advert.

Jamie T Returns

I remember arguing with someone at the end of 2007 that Panic Prevention wasn't one of the albums of the year. But it was. I just hadn't realised yet. The disc was slow-burning but rewarded repeated listens and I seem to listen to Ike and Tina once a week.

Fire Fire is the first taste of his new album. It's noticeabley heavier and quite rough and ready. I'm feeling the bassline. Although this track might be polished more on the album I like that Jamie is still DIY and hasn't called in Paul Epworth, Jacknife Lee or some other indie super-producer.

Get a low-fi demo of the track at his Myspace

Albarn, Amadou & Mariam

I bought the latest Amadou and Mariam album Welcome To Mali recently. I'm not gonna claim to be a massive fan- to be honest I got it because Damon Albarn has written and produced a few tracks.

It's an uplifting and often surprising listen though. And that's not just down to Damon- whose work I always buy. The opening track Sabali (below for ya) is the most obvious collaboration with the Gorillaz and Blur man. It's pulsing beat never quite hits the house-y heights you expect it to. Somehow that's what makes the track so enthralling.

Amadou & Mariam- Sabali

As an aside I was thinking about Albarn and Danger Mouse's excellent Demon Days the other, um, day. Along with The Streets- A Grand Don't Come... it has to be the best concept album of the last decade. Any other ideas?

A thing for you (and me)

Metronomy are definitely a band i've slept on. I've got a lot of their remixes but never explored the bands' own stuff. This new single is great though. For me it's very Human League and also sounds a lot like the long forgotten Zoot Woman.

It's cold and electronic but the crisp vocals still have heart. The no-budget video is probably the best i've seen in ages too.

Guess Chad and Pharrell have done it again...

The Neptunes’ first phase- from Kelis’s early work and tracks for Jay Z to the pop of Justin and Britney- dominated radio and the charts. Hence it was ripped off left, right and centre. Despite writing Milkshake and standout tracks for Gwen Stefani, Lupe and Clipse there was a dip in quality around 2004 to 2006.

It’s no surprise that Chad and Pharrell (now both in their mid 30s) have switched their sound up or that it has worked. Now they seem to be using more electronic European sounds in their sort-after beats. Certainly Common’s most recent work and much of Madonna’s Hard Candy include lots of beats and bleeps. Spazzz was pretty much a drum and bass track.

Lil Wayne ft Pharrell- Yes

On this Lil’ Wayne song (presumably for one of his Carter projects) Pharrell takes influence from another British scene- dubstep. A genuinely innovative genre. Williams will tell anyone who will listen about his love for Bristol. On this evidence he hit some clubs in the bass loving city the last time he was over.

Life After Death

The Biggie biopic is out and I’m dying to see it. It’s Produced by his mother and Exec’d by Sean Combs (P.Diddy) so it might just brush over the whole ‘crack dealer’ thing.

But hopefully it will be a true portrait of one of the most talented lyricists of the last twenty years. Christopher Wallace told stories about what he knew and often it wasn’t pretty- a lot of what he knew was violence and drugs.

On Another he traded verses with on-off girlfriend Lil Kim (who is angry at her portrayal in the film). Both used their rhymes to attack the ex that has been cheating on them in explicit sexist detail. Gimme The Loot talks about guns and robbery.

Going Back To Cali' is a love letter to the state one minute and a warning to West-Coast rappers the next. What’s Beef goes even further- as a scorching threat that the New York MC will murder his enemies. I won’t even go into Ten Crack Commandments…

It all sounds pretty grim but The Notorious B.I.G had the most effortless flow and knew exactly when to let the emotion in his voice out. And the words that came out were clever, honest and sometimes funny- they pull you deep into his world. He died at 25 after only two full albums.

Slumming It

A few weeks ago I saw Danny Boyle's new one Slumdog Millionaire which is a rather great feel-good but still gritty and realistic flick. The kids playing the lead characters at various ages are particularly wonderful. Unsurprisingly it's tipped for Oscars.

M.I.A- whose two albums would probably make my Top 20 records of all time- has worked on the music. Below is a taster of the film set to the DFA (James Murphy/ LCD Soundsystem) remix of Paper Planes.



This is also a good excuse to post the Davinche remix of Maya's classic Bucky Done Gone which came with one of the CD singles. If you don't know Davinche you should. He's one of the best grime producers around. "Whatcha want Bucky Done Gun?"

M.I.A- Bucky done Gun(Davinche Remix)