Rap Just Got Real

Heath Ledger rap tribute. Two years later.

Some say it's his 'I'll Be Missing You'.

I Wanna Be Friends With Big Boi

Here's the video for Big Boi's new song 'Shutterbug'.

It's got everything. Bitches, puppets, technicolour Jaguars...

The song is from his upcoming debut solo album Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty which is set to be released on June 6.

Who needs that Andre 3000 lad eh?

Doing The No Pants Dance

This guy is intense. I respect that.

Please don't lay anything on me, Chris.

I never had much of an opinion on Chris Klein before...but good God, he's never going to get a job again.

Do You Think You're Better Off Alone?

For a Sunday night, it was tough to get into the high energy that Kele Okereke's support act Mama with her ridiculously slinky dancers had going but no sooner than the first bridge of Kele's opening track, the entire crowd rediscovered the meaning of second wind.

For his third solo show ever, it is fair to make the assumption that he was the ultimate driving force behind El Bloc Party.

He had only slyly released 'Tenderoni', 'Rise' and 'Walk Tall' before his Irish tour but those tracks are nowt but a ripple in comparison to the tidal wave of awesomeness that he has in store for us with The Boxer later this month.

Kele is going for a more techno-electro slant with his solo stuff which is what suits him best. He seemed completely at ease performing previously unheard material and thrived off the reaction of his loyal followers.

This may be a bold statement, but judging by the Cheshire Cat smile he had on his face for the entire gig, it feels like it was the music that he was meant to make.

He treated us to a medley of songs by the band he "used to be in" (make of that what you will) including 'The Prayer', 'One More Chance' and the finishing number 'Flux'.

I left The Academy completely in love with Kele. Apart from the fact that the man is completely ripped (yes, that description makes me feel like a woman in her early 40s that is in love with Jason Orange), Kele has a stage presence that is entrancing and inclusive.

It's almost as a weight has been lifted off the man's shoulders and we are so very lucky that it has resulted in some damn fine music.

If The Boxer doesn't become one of your essential albums, then I will have to reconsider my opinion on the human race.

I kid you not.

Yours Sincerely, Arcade Fire

I never married but Ohio don't remember me

I'm not going to say much about this video.

Except for purrrrr - what a bleedin' ride.

The National - "Bloodbuzz Ohio" (official video) from The National on Vimeo.

And that he looks a little like this guy from Notting Hill, James Dreyfus:

Killing gingers not for you...?

Right, the video for 'Born Free' is awesome. But the song itself seems like a tough one to break out a few class-A dance moves to.

But good aul M.I.A. has gone and released 'XXXO' which is quite the bump-and-grind-tastic song.

It was played on BBC Radio 1 yesterday and has already ticked all the boxes for commercial success unlike 'Born Free'.

No video as of yet but I know she won't disappoint.

Kele releases video for Tenderoni

Look at his space warriors go.

'Tenderoni' taken from his forthcoming album The Boxer.

The track is definitely growing on me like some sort of sexy STI.

Looking forward to seeing what else he brings to his gig in The Academy on May 16th.

Beyonce scares me

Is she taking one for the team or is she enforcing that women are lunatics?

It's hard to know. Either way, I am going to try my best not to get on her bad side.

Have a look and you'll see what I mean.

"Why Don't You Love Me" - Beyoncé from Beyoncé on Vimeo.

Think I'll just go back to listening to 'Dreadlock Holiday'.

Tenderoni baloney

So Kele has released his first single from his forthcoming solo album The Boxer which will be released on June 21.

It's different from Bloc Party that's for one thing.

He seems to be a little too influenced by David Guetta and Akon's 'Sexy Chick' on this track here, 'Tenderoni'.

Oh nose.



The tracklist for his solo venture is as follows:

1. 'Walk Tall'
2. 'On The Lam'
3. 'Tenderoni'
4. 'The Other Side'
5. 'Everything You Wanted'
6. 'New Rules'
7. 'Unholy Thoughts'
8. 'Rise'
9. 'All The Things I Could Never Say'
10. 'Yesterday's Gone'

No alarms and no surprises

The lovely Regina Spektor has done a cover of Radiohead's 'No Surprises' for the charity Doctors Without Borders who do some mighty fine work in poor and underdeveloped countries.

The song is available to buy on iTunes and all the proceeds will go to the victims of the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile.

Yup. This will make the very last hair on your neck stand.

Launching Violets

The National's album High Violet is due for release on May 11 and the lads in the New York Times are kind enough to stream the album for free on their website.

This album continues with the bands finesse of creating painstakingly beautiful lyrics on top of music that makes you stop in your tracks.

So far, there have been many live performances released including the album's opening track 'Terrible Love', which I think needs the intensity of a live show to really make your skin shiver.

That being said, you are in safe hands if you want some decent skin shivering because The National do a top notch job with mixing the macabre (see track 9, 'Conversation 16') with agonising romance (see track 2, 'Sorrow' and track 6 'Bloodbuzz Ohio').

Since seeing them live in The Olympia last year, my heart has actually reserved a little place for the Brooklyn-based group and so far, High Violet has just heightened my need to see them again.

Be still my bacon-laced heart.

Panda Watch

This video brings one hell of a smile to my face. Kudos LCD Soundsystem.

You Don't Have To Say You're Sorry

Broken Social Scene have released a sneaky stream listen of their new album Forgiveness Rock Record before its official release on 4 May.

They already gave us the teaser of 'World Sick', which didn't disappoint and so far, the album is already nestling itself comfortably in my brain.




In a press release from the band, Charles Spearin says the following about Forgiveness Rock Record:

I know that some bands write their songs, rehearse them and then record them. Not Broken Social Scene. In recording Forgiveness Rock Record we did it our usual way: swimming in chaos and making it up as we go along. We started by loosely sketching out 30 songs in my garage, driving to Chicago, recording 20 of those, and then writing 20 more. The point was to never stop working. Whenever we got exhausted or overwhelmed we would take a breath, pick up our instruments and jam purely ‘for spirit purposes’. It was musical-therapy of sorts. Part of what kept the ideas flowing was Soma’s smaller, second studio where we could test out new ideas and experiment with overdubs. While John worked in the main room, this B-Room quickly became our musical kitchen where we cooked up soups of sound without the pressures time and money.

One evening, as a kind of exercise in spontaneity, Kevin, Brendan and I each took turns writing and recording minute-long “songs” with minimal overdubs just to see what would happen. We kept saying to John “we’re making you an EP!” It was a sort of first-thought-best-thought approach to music making. Within a few hours we had six lovely little soundscapes, one of which ended up being the closing song on Forgiveness Rock Record, ‘Me & My Hand’, and the rest became the beginnings of Lo-Fi For The Dividing Nights.

As we continued to work on Forgiveness the B-room became more and more important as both a musical and social outlet - there are a lot of us in Broken Social Scene and it’s hard for us to sit on our hands – so naturally Ohad, Sam and Sebastian each recorded a song in the same spontaneous way. ‘Song For Dee’, the only traditional “song” on Lo-Fi For The Dividing Nights, Brendan, Kevin and I recorded when we found out that our good friend Wayne’s dog died and we wanted to cheer him up.

All of the songs on Lo-Fi For The Dividing Nights were recorded in Soma’s B-Room while Forgiveness Rock Record was being made. What these songs have in common is that they were all written in a spirit of playfulness and fearlessness where we could throw our discrimination to the wind and let the judges and critics take the night off. This tiny B-Room sanctuary fomented a very positive frame of mind, ultimately leading to one of the most enjoyable album-making experiences we’ve ever had. We hope you enjoy listening to these songs as much as we enjoyed recording them.

It's not about quantity...

Blur have just released their single 'Fool's Day', their first single to be released in seven years.

It's a shot little ditty (at 2 minutes, 26 seconds) that ends abruptly but, as ever, the lads don't disappoint (it's hard to hide what a huge Blur fan I am at times).

They are even giving the single away as a free download on their website so that their loyal fans do not commit any illegal acts.



'Fool's Day' will definitely be circulating on my summertime playlists next to The Kinks' 'Sunny Afternoon', Hall and Oates' 'I Can't Go For That' and anything by the almighty Rev. Al Green.

Have a listen and feel that weight lift off your shoulders when you realise that maybe they're back to stay.

The XX-rated

I was passed on a few links to The XX and Notorious BIG mash ups from my mates Saffie and John.

This lad, Charlie Kubal, is responsible for the remix album, The Notorious XX, which was available for a free download up until "The Man" got involved. Damn you, Man.

I am very fond of The XX and have an extremely hard spot for anything Biggie-related so, of course, this mash up ticks many boxes for me.

With such tender music mixed with the pure filth of the BIG lad, what's not to love?


Here's the vidjoe for 'Juicy vs VCR':

juicy-r [the notorious b.i.g.'s juicy vs. the xx's vcr] - wait what (mashup) from wait what on Vimeo.

Some songs that have invaded my head this week.

Some solid tunes of the week that follow absolutely no pattern to my life whatsoever:

Tom Jones - 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor'





George Baker - 'Little Green Bag'



Jason Derulo - 'In My Head'





And all of The Cast of Cheers' album Chariot






YOU.ARE.WELCOME.

Shroud of Mystery

Researchers for The History Channel have undergone 6 months of intense digital study to compile the first credible image of Jesus Christ. The below image has been constructed using the highly controversial Turin Shroud as a blueprint. The shroud is said to have been what Christ's body was wrapped in at the time after he was crucified.




Ray Dowling, who was one of the chief artists on the study has said that:

"It (the shroud) is the only object that can purport to be the actual image of Jesus with any kind of credibility."

The thing is, 6 months, probably millions of dollars of research and we get the above image - it's crap. I'm fairly sure that they just gave Jim Caviezel a quick buzz and asked him to take along a a few props from The Passion of the Christ along, and Bob's your uncle. Whilst I have no real issue with anybody investigating the credibility of Jesus Christ, at least do a decent job of it. This is exactly what any person in the Western World would think Jesus looked like at the time of his death. In fact, I'm fairly sure that I drew a picture like this when I was in 4th class.

Granted, due largely in part to my cynicism, I won't be satisfied with any image of Jesus until Bartholomew gets the finger out and uploads his pics from the Last Supper to Facebook. Then, and only then will any degree of faith that I ever had be reinstated.

Anyway, as Duane "Dog" Chapman would say, "Go with Christ brah". And we all know he's the picture of common sense.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

The Cast of Cheers are the latest band from Dublin that seem to be tickling the fancy of all the right people.

They are sort of hitting the nail on the head with their Foals-esque rhythms and unbelievable catchiness.

They played Whelans last month and I feared that I had missed my chance to see them while the oven was still hot (that is a saying, right?).

But lo and behold, they are playing The Academy this Friday the 9th with Phantom's First Friday. Happy days.

Not only that, but the lads are giving their album away for free anseo.

Give them an aul listen and get ready to be pleasantly surprised by their awesomeness.

And for a fiver, you can see them, Readers Wives, The Riptide Movement and Yes Cadets.

Not too shabby at all.