Some things

that I like. That you might too.

1. David Mitchell talks about the election (from the Observer)

2. Damon Albarn is working on a new opera (MTV.co.uk)

3. A spot on rant about the death of music journalism.

4. The stars of Glee on the cover of Rolling Stone. With Lea Michele looking especially fit.

5. AND CHRISTINA HENDRICKS BEING GENERALLY INCREDIBLE

Rusko & Dirty Projectors

Tracksuits, glowsticks and poppers at the ready! The new Rusko track Hold On is like a proper old school drum n bass belter. Except it has a member of indie heroes Dirty Projectors on the hook.

STREAM IT AT PITCHFORK HERE

The artwork to Rusko's album OMG! (due out next month) is below.

M.I.A's Really Back...

With a garage-rock track called Born Free. It’s a departure for the Sri-Lankan-born-London-raised-New-York-based singer but is also essentially nothing special. It's certainly not as strong as any other single she's released.

The video on the other hand (Directed by Romain Gavras) is pretty bloody brilliant. It’s brutal, looks cool and of course has political meaning. What more do you want?

WATCH IT HERE AT MIAUK
WARNING: NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED

Then look at the tracklisting for her third album, which was released on Twitter today.

There's An Election On!

I know this is journo geekery but the news that Rebecca Wade and James Murdoch walked into the Independent's office unannounced to rebuke the editor is pretty amazing.

The Guardian's political don Michael White also writes in the same article about the Tory press attacks on Nick Clegg.

READ THE ARTICLE HERE

R.I.P Guru

Mos Dub

My little sister tipped me off about this. It's well worth the listen and is ideal for the tube. If you go on a tube. Maybe try in a car if not. Click here to stream or download.

Blur's Fools Day

THIS NEWS is very, very, very exciting.

It's apparently only coming out in 7" format but i'm sure some enterprising fan will stick it online as soon as they get the vinyl. Well I hope so anyway.

I love Pure Groove's quiz idea and am tempted to get down myself.

In other Damon news (sometimes I think I should rename the site Albarn-arama) the below Gorillaz dubstep-y remix is pretty decent.

You Wanted A Hit?

LCD Soundsystem's third album This Is Happening is now streaming at their official website.

HEAR THE ALBUM HERE

I've had it a while now and it's DEFINITELY one of the best records of 2010 so far. I'm not sure it's as good as Sound Of Silver- but I genuinely believe that LP is a masterpiece.

Stand out tracks for me are opener Dance Yrself Clean(look out for the collosall drop after about 3 mins), Pow Pow which reminds me of Us Vs Them on SoS and the Bowie-a-like All I Want.

Hit is one of the best tracks i've heard in ages though. Over 9 minutes it morphs from a gentle bubbling synth riff to include screeching guitars, smart-ass lyrics and James Murphy's strongest chorus yet.

"You wanted a hit- well that's not what we do."

Akala

I've been avoiding UK rap for a while to be honest. I'd lost faith in a genre which is represented in the charts by acts like Chipmunk, DJ Ironik and Tinchy.

I've got into the Tinie Tempah and Pro' Green singles recently but this has fully restored my faith. Akala is hugely under-rated and this SBTV rap is just fucking exceptional....

Two Dubstep Tunes

Both very different. This is on a rave tip....



And this (as one of the Youtube comments says) just makes me want to 'brukk out'!

Primo Pays Tribute To Malcolm Mclaren

Hadn't realised how early Malcolm Mclaren was championing hip hop until now. Basically as soon as he'd finished with punk he was in New York getting into rap.

And because of this DJ Premier has put together a cool tribute mix which is well worth listening to if only for the first five mins which feature Malcolm's amazing tale about hitting a Zulu Nation party and being the only white man there.

STREAM THE MIX AT SOUNDCLOUD HERE

You can probably skip the last 5 mins of the Gangstarr man and crew babling about their own importance. And bizarrely plugging the Richard Curtis film The Boat That Rocked (which is titled Pirate Radio in the US).

Roots & Suzanne Vega

Here's another suberb Jimmy Fallon performance with house band The Roots. Perfect for this sunny Thursday afternoon.

Big Boi's Shutterbug

This is exactly what you want from a Big Boi single. Twisting, confusing, unusual and yet utterly banging. DOWNLOAD AT THE FADER

Thankfully his 'Sir Lucsious Leftfoot' album should be out soon after the Outkast man switched to the Def Jam label. I've said it before on multiple occasions but I CANNOT WAIT.

Escape Velocity

Here's all TWELVE minutes of the new Chemical Brothers single. It's the first release from their next album Further- which from what I hear will be less focused on guest vocallists and all about straight up rave tracks. The below certainly suggests as much...

Xtina

This new track is alright. But I know it’s gonna be one of those songs where I come to in a months time and decide its either amazing or amazingly shit. Only time will tell.

More excited for the album Bionic though- which will feature production from Ladytron, Switch and Le Tigre. Woah.

Through The Fire I Come

This Heptones tune sounded great by the pool on holiday and is warming me up for Sunday at Koko. YOU SHOULD COME

The Olympic Tower

I‘m excited by the 2012 tower commissioned for the Olympics and designed by artist Anish Kapoor and engineer Cecil Balmond. (Info & news report here) Not sure about the artists’ impression but then a lot of Kapoor’s work is about how people physically interact with it.

I saw his show at the Royal Academy last year and it was really interesting- playful, funny and kinda mind-boggling. Balmond meanwhile is responsible for the below incredible piece of architecture. China’s CCTV building-

HBO Weekend At The BFI

There are always cool films and events on at the BFI. This month to coincide with the launch of The Pacific there is HBO Weekend. I'd quite like to go to all the events though sadly Larry David's talk is already sold out. I booked tickets for David Simon's Treme premiere though. There's still a few left so get in there quick.

GET DETAILS, TICKETS AND THAT HERE