M.I.A NYT

This New York Times article is fascinating. Although admittedly it is also very very long. M.I.A immediately hit Twitter to give out the writer LYNN HIRSCHBERG's phone number cos she was so disgruntled. Which is fairly childish. I still cant wait for the album though.

EXTRACT HERE
Maya seemed to be going for a combination of sexy and militaristic. She showed the girls her fabric ideas on her computer, and they were amenable. “Nike is the uniform for kids all over the world,” Maya said for no apparent reason. “And African design has been killed by Nike. Africans no longer want to wear their own designs.” The designers said they thought that was terrible. “The best sportswear is on Blackwater operatives,” Maya continued, referring to the agents who were clandestine guns for hire in Iraq. The designers nodded, but they clearly had no idea what she was talking about. “I want to have a uniform like theirs.”

Oh and there are some great NYT pics here

Kanye West's Power

is bloody great and can be heard at Pinboard Blog Here

He's thankfully back on form after the very dissapointing 808s period. And he samples this 1969 prog classic....

Shutterbug Vid

I so wish I was as cool as Big Boi. May have to track down ATL style clothes after watching this Chris Robinson directed vid. There are some hip hop cliches in there- but with some nice out there Outkast twists. Bring on the album.

The Suburbs

The new Arcade Fire album The Suburbs will be released on August 2. And you can hear the rather nice acoustic title track (and 12" single) on the group's official website HERE

Going To Glasto?

Bloody wish I was cos this lot will be well good.



FULL DETAILS HERE

A Roundup

A new Estelle track with a Nas verse at Nah Right

A preview of Big Boi's Shutterbug video is at Pinboard Blog

A mix by Jamie from The XX on Abeano.com

The new Klaxons track is not that great but you can hear it on their site

Big Boi Reps For Janelle

We had Big Boi (from Outkast) in the office this week and I had the pleasure of interviewing him.

He was an absolute gent and seems very intelligent. You can see why his group have survived so long (over 15 years) in the rap world. He talked at length about his new album, plans with Andre 3000 and single Shutterbugg. Look out for the interview soon…

When I asked about new artists there were two the Atlanta native raved about. B.o.B- who’s going to number one this week with Nothin On You and whose debut album is worth checking out.

And Janelle Monae- who was originally discovered by Big’ and is now being mentored by P Diddy. Check her out absolutely SMASHING David Letterman earlier this week…

Distant Relatives

Got this on Monday and have rinsed it since.

BUY THE ALBUM AT HMV HERE

The bass-heavy Marley production is perfect as the sun shows itself. On tracks like Land Of Promise there is a healthy dose of politics but classic sounding hooks to back up the message.

Patience takes Amadou and Mariam’s Damon Albarn produced Sabali (which was one of the first things I blogged on here) and turns it into a jerking brooding trip-hop beat. Damian turns in some gorgeous verses before Nas contemplates the world:

“Who wrote the bible?/ Who wrote the Qur’an?/ And was it a lighting star/ that gave birth to the earth/ and then dinosaurs were born.”

As much as I love Nasty Nas his recent albums haven’t measured up against classics like Illmatic. His last ‘N’ album was especially poor. But here verses are used sparingly and the rapper is more focused- thanks to both the topics he tackles and his collaborator Damian.

God knows why Joss Stone features but elsewhere both K’Naan and Lil Wayne turn in decent work.

It sounds to me like one of the best albums of 2010 and I’m already hoping they make another LP together.

LISTEN TO THE RECORD ON SPOTIFY HERE

J Dilla

Spotted this beat on an O2 mobile phone ad today so had to post it. Not bothered about the fact it was on an ad' but was just reminded what a classic it is. Vocal version is here.



R.I.P Dilla.

Jarvis Cocker Writes For Russell Brand

For a spoof music vid released to promote his new film Get him To The Greek. It also features topless women and graphics by Shephard Fairey (also mentioned in the below post). It is unsurprisingly fairly funny. My favourite line is... “Mother Mary Marijuana/ Uncle Charlie top banana!”

WATCH IT AT BRAND'S WEBSITE HERE

New A Trak Mix

Here's A Trak's new house/ hip hop/ mash up mixtape. Most are his own re-works and i'd say look out for Whatever You Shoot and Vampire's Going Ham. The artwork above is by the always excellent Shephard Fairey (OBEY)- who is most famous for his Obama Hope poster.



GET MORE INFO AND DOWNLOAD IN FULL HERE

Ofili

If you're at a loose end this weekend you could do worse than catch the Chris Ofili exhibition. Some of it is inspired by hip hop, some is explicit. All of it is beautiful. It's on at the Tate Britain until Sunday only! MORE INFO HERE

Sunday Girl Vs Diplo

I know nothing about this song. But it is sublime.

Bouncy Brooklyn

I love how The Daily Mail completely abandons it's conservative values when it comes to showbiz news. Just check out THESE extraordinary images.

WooHoo

Christina's New Song With Nicki Minaj Leaked Here
And is worth a listen.

XXXO

Who needs a decent Government when we've got a new song from M.I.A. And XXXO (available from the excellent Abeano blog here) is the star's most pop effort to date.

As the rather good NME feature (and superb pics) this week explain she is a mass of contradictions. Fiercely independent but supported fiercely by Interscope/ Universal and her uber rich connected partner. Trendy indie kids love her yet she's worked with the writer of She Wolf on her album.

I still love her but she's certainly an interesting character.

Swoon

No it's not Christina Hendricks again but actually the new song by The Chemical Brothers. It's nice and you can hear it and watch the video AT EMI'S YOUTUBE PAGE HERE

Election and dat

Thom Yorke published his election playlist yesterday. (READ IT HERE). It included some Aphex, Massive Attack and PJ Harvey. Which reminded me of the below song, which is up there with my fave tracks of all time. Kinda sums up this hung parliament business...

Brooker On Cam

Charlie Brooker is reliably spot-on in his article about the election here:

On Cameron: "I see an avatar. A simulated man with a simulated face. A humanoid. A replicant. An Auton. A construct."

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

As We Enter

Here's the vid for the first proper Damian Marley/ Nas tune. Directed by this guy: http://www.nabil.com/