The Golden Silvers- True Romance

Influences on sleeves time: I can hear The Streets, The Clash, Big Audio Dynamite, Squeeze, Happy Mondays, Ian Dury, Arctic Monkeys, Hot Chip and Super Furry Animals for a start.

Not sure how but this is still one of the freshest sounding tracks i've heard in a while. Look forward to their debut on (probably the best label in the world) XL Records later in 2009.

Myspace here....

A few tunes

To download:
M.I.A/ Diplo- Pop (Et Musique Pour Tous)
This is old but I hadn't heard it till now- should have bought Piracy Funds Terrorism back in 2004 I guess. Big. Well fucking huge actually.

Dizzee Rascal- Bonkers (First Up)
A radio rip of Dizzee's new single which (mark my words) will be top 5 by June. Saw him play the Armand Van Helden produced track back in early November at a gig in Liverpool. The crowd loved the commercial beats and Dizzee's strong hook.

Busta Rhymes ft Pharrell- Show Ya G-Stro (Nah Right)

Neither artists are at their best here but it's still a highly listenable tune. Apparently it's from the soundtrack to Fast & Furious.

Jay Z/ P Diddy- Maybe (Nah Right)

A half finished chilled out track which has just leaked but was recorded during the American Gangster sessions- and apparently meant for a Diddy album. Twitter king Diddy has been hanging out with Arctic Monkey Matt Helders and James Ford/Simian Mobile Disco this weekend. And they've been recording.

Red, Red Wine (Plus beer and Sambuca)

Discovered a cool bar last night called Jaguar Shoes. Turned into a messy night- big up the Mile End crew who took me back and let me kip on their sofa.

The bar was very relaxed and un-wanky given that its on Kingsland Road, Shoreditch. Cool name too. The playlist was fairly random- with bar people fighting over a laptop to play James Brown, Bryan Adams, Beastie Boys and bangers from Chromeo and Justice.

HOWEVER the tune that the crowd danced to the most was the above. UB40- Red Red Wine. Think I just lost the small amount of credibility I had.

The Streets Beats

You'll know how highly I rate Mike Skinner from THIS BLOG. I couldn't decide between his first two albums so put both in.

I was dissapointed with both The Hardest Way and Everything Is Borrowed for (many) reasons I won't go into now. He'd set a fucking high standard to live up to with those earlier albums and influenced a slew of rappers, indie bands and certain female singer songwriters.

His blog- which has recently migrated from Myspace- and his twitter are both entertaining. On there for the past few weeks he's released a DJ mix each Thursday. The latest includes a new track by The Streets called In The Middle. It could be a taster from Mike's fifth album which will be his last as The Streets. Although of course it may not even appear on there.

The track doesn't blow me away but if nothing else the mix features Skream's impecible mix of La Roux and a cool cover of the Chem's Star Guitar.

Where The Wild Things Are

This must be the most blogged subject in the (i'm gonna use the word) BLOGOSPHERE today. Everyone loves Spike Jonze, everyone loves Where The Wild Things Are, everyone loves Arcade Fire. What could go wrong? Apparently lots- it's been delayed over a year.

I still can't wait to see it though.

Gran Torino

I wasn't expecting this film to be so powerful. I've very little interest in Eastwood to be honest- as a director or actor- I probably haven't seen enough of his movies.

Go see Gran Torino though. It is very very funny and at the same time raises complex issues about race, ethnicity, age, religion and class. One moment was so shocking it drew the loudest gasp from an audience I have ever heard.

If it really is Eastwood's last acting role (as rumours suggest) then it's fitting.

Best Albums Of The Noughties

Presume Pitchfork et al will produce their 'Best records of the noughties' lists at the end of '09. But its been troubling me recently so I wanted to get it down.... This is my 20. At least till I wake up one night this week having a panic attack that i've missed one out.

Amy Winehouse- Back To Black
Gorillaz- Demon Days
M.I.A- Arular
M.I.A- Kala
The Streets- Original Pirate Material
The Streets- A Grand Don’t Come For Free
Radiohead- Kid A
The Strokes- Is This It
Kanye West- Late Registration
Daft Punk- Discovery
The Beastie Boys- To The 5 Boroughs
Eminem- The Marshall Mathers LP
N.E.R.D- In Search Of…
Broken Social Scene- Broken Social Scene
Outkast- Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below
Jay-Z- Blueprint
Gnarls Barkley- St Elsewhere
Justin Timberlake- Justified
The White Stripes- Elephant

Arcade Fire- Neon Bible

Honourable mentions: Hot Chip- The Warning, Cornershop- Handcream For A Generation, Gwen Stefani- L.A.M.B, Jay Z- The Black Album, Common- Electric Circus, Wu Tang- The W, Dizzee Rascal- Boy/ Maths, Outkast- Stankonia, Basement Jaxx- Rooty, Lily Allen- Its Not Me, It’s You.

Any of which would have made my (pretty populist) run down much cooler. But you can’t leave Justin out, right?

O.U.T.K.A.S.T

Haven't yet blogged about one of my all time favourite groups. But news that Outkast's record label is messing them (and particularly Big Boi) around has prompted me to. (Check the Rolling Stone article here)

The duo have been with Arista for over 15 years- releasing their raw but essential debut Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik in 1993 and then evolving into arguably the most innovative rap group of all time. Plus they've sold records on the way including massive singles Miss Jackson and Hey Ya.

Now Andre 3000 and Big Boi are working on proper solo albums after the split disc Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below. Big' doesn't always get the credit he deserves, his portion of that album is deinitely equal to Dre's. Though he's not a Squarepusher obsessed multi-instrumentallist Big Boi is one of the best MCs in the game- intelligent, funny, polished and yet still raw.

In theory his brillantly titled Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty will be out soon. And Andre's solo record and a proper Outkast LP will follow in 2009. I hope so.

Watch Big Boi ft. Mary J.Blige- Something's Gotta Give here

NASA

Had to decide on the NASA album hence the delay writing about it. Albums with a million guests are nearly always shit- just listen to Fatboy Slim's god awful BPA record. NASA- the work of Squeak E Clean and DJ Zegon- shouldn't work but it mostly does and gets a solid 3 and a 1/2 stars from me.

It sounds crazy but David Bryne and Chuck D, Tom Waits and Kool Keith, RZA and John Frusciante all pull off some worthwhile collabos. The above track is currently one of my favourites recalling the more laidback work of similar hip hop producers Handsome Boy Modelling School.

TV Recently...

Been watching loads of good TV recently. Red Riding on Channel 4 (in three 90 minute parts) was dark but brilliant and featured spot-on direction and class A acting. Paddy Considine, Andrew Garfield, Sean Bean and Rebecca Hall were all brilliant as their conflicted Northerners.

Free Agents (also on 4) is a naturalistic comedy about two 30-something media workers. It is frequently bizarre, crude and features some fairly horrible characters but still manages to be warm and very funny.

Finally i'm making my way through Mad Men's first series/season. 1960 looks amazing but at first I wondered if there was any more emotional depth to it than say Desperate Housewives. It got to episode six and the plot took a few unexpected turns and I realised its fairly amazing.

Like all the best TV it never tells you what to think or signposts what will happen next and it's concerned with Love, Lust, Money, Family and Power. All seen through the prism of a still rigid society- which will soon collide with the (swinging) 60s.

New DOOM

Borrowed a copy of the Doom (formerly MF Doom) album sampler this week. The above track is my favourite what with the strings being incredible and his singing at the end.

Doom is definitely one of the most slept on rappers around. Though I think he likes it that way- keeping out of the spotlight with his mask on. His bizarre couplets are frequently FAR out there, he doesn't do choruses and his production is deliberately lo-fi.

Madvillainy (his album with Madlib) and DangerDoom (his album with Dangermouse) are both alt-rap classics. Born Like This is his third solo album and features production from Dilla, Jake One and Doom himself. Ghostface and Raekwon guest and its out March 23.

This Clash Mag interview is kinda interesting and this Observer Music Monthly review sums the man up.

Plugs In Baby

Recently interviewed Annie Mac for the tour she has coming up. She is way cooooooooler than me and told me about Plugs. There's a bit of Hot Chip to the three-piece who include Morgan from Does It Offend You Yeah? Love the one proper track on their Myspace- All Them Witches. Check it out here....

Royksopp Return

Happy Up Here from Röyksopp on Vimeo.

I've long been a fan of Royksopp but they've been slightly forgotten in the Justice spearheaded Ed Banger invasion. Their new album is really great with serious vocal contributions from that girl from The Knife, Robyn and Lykke Li. This first single is just a cool feel good tune.

Nic Nell Glow

Nic Nell - Glow from Ruth Render on Vimeo.

This guy might just be my favourite new artist. He's certainly one of them. Met Nell briefly before a gig at the Barfly and given that he looks like Elijah Wood in the Lord Of The Rings films I feared some sub-Jack Penate shit.

Instead he played blissed out electro-pop somewhere between Har Mar Superstar and Jamie Lidell. And I mean that as a compliment. He dances like Ne-Yo gone badly wrong and even covered Justin Timberlake- It was completely unexpected and very enjoyable. Nic plays in London again in a few weeks. Myspace here...

Bat For Lashes Mk II

Been living inside the new Bat For Lashes album Two Suns recently. It's fucking dark and dreamy. And even better than her debut. And out April 6.

The unsettling mood of the music reminded me of PJ Harvey's essential breakthrough record To Bring You My Love. I've interviewed Brighton girl Natasha Khan at a couple of events. She is one of the most beguiling, naturally beautiful and modest people in 'the biz.'

Check out the gorgeous new single Daniel here

Guess Who's Back? Back Again...

Finally we got a release date for Relapse this week (May 19) and the news that Em' and Dre have made so many songs that there will be a Relapse 2 before 2009 is over and out.

Lots of people hate Shady including a lot of 'serious' hip hop heads who see him as too commercial. Admittedly he can be puerile, childish, sexist and homophobic- though often he's sending up others' views.

Re-listening to his output you hear a dip in quality around Encore in 2004. He'd ran out of things to say and decided to produce most of it himself. Dr Dre's beats were missed. Now five years on- with The Doc' on the controls allowing him to concentate on lyrics- he should have a lot to say.

But he will also have to convert a new generation of rap fans raised on T.I and Lil Wayne. My 18 year old sister was 10 when Eminem's confessional masterpiece The Marshall Mathers LP was released.

Oh and don't be fooled by Crack A Bottle- Shady always does party records alongside the Stans, Hailies Songs, Toy Soldiers and Kims. Video hits the net this week.

Do You Realize?

This beef between Arcade Fire and Wayne Coyne is a good excuse to post this song. It came on the radio recently when I was hungover and a bit emotional. Nearly cried my eyes out. The lyrics are pretty special.

I like AF a lot but The Flaming Lips have the better back catalogue (having been together over 20 years) and are probably the best live act in the world.

Lil Wayne- Prom Queen

Still not sure about Weezy singing. But I will have to get used to it with his rock album coming soon. If Universal will release it! One things for sure- those glasses really suit him.

The Shining

Had my first Kubrick cinema experience yesterday with The Shining at the BFI on the Southbank. There are too many things to say about this film- not least that it's shit scary.

It's surreal without being too abstract. The director asks questions of his viewers. The soundtrack is fantastic. The set design is beautiful but unnerving. Jack is pretty much one of the best actors ever.

I've immediately booked for A Clockwork Orange in a few weeks. There are still seats so join me for a bit of the old ultra violence in Kubrick's sci-fi classic.