It's only a phase

This week I've mostly been listening to..

Scouting for Girls - Nice guys 'Scouting for Girls' not only have a great philosophy but have some really top tunes too. Particular favourite, 'It's not about you' originally struck me as a bit Emo, but now has become a real scream along-song! I'm hooked.

Swedish band Oh Laura - fronted by vocalist Frida Ohrn never fails to move me every time I hear 'Release Me'. The song was recently featured on a Saab advert & credit to their marketing team as it's hard not to be drawn in by those haunting vocals. The remaining featured tracks are somewhat more middle-of-the-road, with strong Sheryl Crow influences, but I'm still hotly anticipating the album.

Kate Nash, the hotly tipped chum of Lily Allen - If this 19 year old can keep banging out singles as good as 'Foundations' I think she could go on to have a lot more longevity than Lily. She's from my neck of the woods in Harrow, and although the similar vocal style and song content will draw obvious comparisons with Lily, musically I think she's already a few steps ahead.

Tags: music, scouting for girls, kate nash, oh laura

Some music for 2007

Here's some music that I'll be looking out for and listening to in 2007!

The four-piece indie band from Dundee, The View, look set to become rather popular in 2007. With a loyal following already and no-doubt set to be heavily hyped before their album launch on Jan 22nd, I for one am really looking forward to it. You can listen to most of the album in rough-demo form over at Skag Trendy, but hurry I doubt it'll be hosted there for much longer! Highlights are a-plenty, including the indie-disco floor fillers Superstar Tradesman and Same Jeans, complete with the signature high-pitched gravely screams from front-man Kyle Falconer - great stuff!

For some reason the happy, jangly indie-pop from The Holloways has worked its way into my head this year, & while their album "So, this is Great Britain?" has been released a while I think with a bit more promotion & touring they could work their way a bit higher up the charts. Particular highlights for me are the ever-so catchy Generator - some tracks are available for a listen on their Myspace too, including a limited edition Christmas track for download!

On a rather different, more worldly note, I'm a huge fan of French artist Jehro, which (I think) I originally stumbled across via the fantastic Aurgasm. A mix of Caribbean and South American, with obvious influence from Bob Marley, the self-titled album is full of distinctive tracks that describe all-sorts of tales from Jamican to French life. Most of the album tracks can be sampled over at Calabash Music.

tags:music

Music for Kids - Colours are Brighter

In my opinion not enough bands write tunes about monkeys escaping, being an astronaut or tidying up your room.

Belle & Sebastian have set about putting this right by releasing an album of songs for kids, all written & performed by modern indie and pop bands. Their offering on the album 'Colours are Brighter' - a project by the band to raise money for 'Save the Children' - is a fantastic little dittie "The Monkeys are Breaking Out of the Zoo" which unsurprisingly tells the story of some monkeys that break out of the zoo past a snoozing zoo keeper. Complete with full-on sound effects from those kind of instruments you only ever see at primary schools, it certainly had me smiling on the way to work! (until the next traffic jam that is)

Other bands that contributed include Franz Ferdinand, Snow Patrol, The Divine Comedy, The Kooks and Four Tet (Full track listing is on the main site) who shed the indie-coolness for a minute and sing about stuff ranging from ninja dinosaurs and horrible boys to sensible shoes and skeletons.

Modern bands and songs repackaged for children isnt a new thing, BabyRockRecords for example, create "cherub rock for a new generation" by transforming rock & pop classics into lullabies. They transform whole albums so you can introduce your tweenies to Nirvana or Coldplay EPs before they can even speak! Jack Johnson also recently got in on the kids music market too with 'Sing-A-Longs & Lullabies for the Film Curious George'.

So long as this type of thing stays in the realm of providing good, fun music to kids rather than allowing parents or the music labels to introduce the notions of cool, status and branding into kids lives even earlier, then I think it's a lovely idea.

If I had kids, or was going to buy some music for kids, then 'Colours are Brighter' would be my first choice, since the proceeds are for a good cause. I can't get the monkey tune out of my head now, so I might even get a copy for myself, just in-case I do ever have kids! At least it'll beat listening to tweenie pop like Girls Aloud.

To get a copy, & to help 'Save the Children' follow the link below.

tags: charity, music, kids

My First Animation

Be gentle!

why not email this post to a friend!?

Edit: To add this to your blog copy and paste all the code below. If you want to tweak the size and are feeling adventurous, find the height and width tags and modify them to suit your blog!

tags:
animation
flash

The Genius of Google Idol

I recently stumbled across Google Idol, via Garys blog, & instantly spent about an hour just watching all the different entries. What a FAB idea!

It basically invites people to make a video of them lip-synching to their favourite songs, like Pop-Idol but in their bedrooms! Most are hilarious, check out the Hall of Fame for the best entries.

My favourite is this rendition of Respect by Aretha Franklin from two dutch teens Pomme & Kelly:

I'm prob a bit old to get away with doing something this daft now but secretly I'd love to have a go making one!!

If you ask me this is exactly what the internet was made for! It's a fun harmless competition for people that love to have a laugh, listen to music & get creative - man I wish this was around when I was in my teens!

Links:
Google Idol | Unearthing the world's talent
pomme and kelly
lynee and tessa
google idol

Lily Allen - Alright Still, the Album

A little follow up to my post earlier this year about Lily Allen, who's album 'Alright Still' is out in early July 2006.

Things have gone quite crazy for the young lass, who seemed rather unprepared for it all. I myself even messaged her about her forgotten myspace page http://myspace.com/lilyallen where the current single, LDN, was still availble for free download, presumably from the days when she was still trying to just get her music out there. (It quickly got removed before you go & check, & without a reply of thanks I might add!! :( I might have saved her thousands in royalties!)

Most of the tracks have been extensively picked up by the radio stations, and you can listen to quite a few on her normal myspace page or her new 'proper' site lilyallenmusic.com

Here's my thoughts on the other tracks on the album which aren't available on her myspace pages:
Not Big
A nicely polished track that suits Lily's style really well - It's a pretty harsh story about an ex (if it's true I feel for the guy she's talking about!) and has just the right balance between hip-hop & cutesy pop chorus. "I'm sorry if you feel that i'm being kinda mental, but you left me in such a state - now im gonna do what you did to me, I'm gonna reciprocate" & boy she sure does, attacking his bedroom antics, intelligence &, as you can guess from the title, the size of his naughty bits!

Shame for You
Quite a funky rolling number, complete with deep horns & a wicked chorus. Not quite as strong lyrically as some of the other tracks, "Oh my gosh you must be jokin me, if you think that you'll be poking me!", but still pretty entertaining.

Alfie
"Oh little brother please refrain from doing that, I'm tryin to help you out so stop being a twat!" - IMHO this is one of the greatest tracks on the album & tells the story of Lily's little brother who basically smokes too much pot! It's got a great fun circus-style vibe to it & has some great samples thrown in there based around the lyrics. More like this Lily!

The links to some of the tracks still work from my last post, & if you really want to get a preview of the rest of the album tracks, drop me an email as I don't want to post them here for obvious reasons.

Overall I reckon it's an album well worth owning, just cos its got that something a little bit different to anything else out there at the moment.

technorati tags: music, Lily Allen

Illustration Friday - Dance

Cheekily for this weeks IF topic I'm using a digital illustration that I already posted here recently - but I think it fits in rather well!

Picture the scenario - it's the 'Monsters Ball' final year school dance (get it, duh!). All the boy-monsters on one side, all the girl-monsters on the other side but then the last slow song has come on & this poor monster can't pluck up the courage to ask anyone to dance!