Following the sucess of the‘Nude’ remix contest, Radiohead have decided to cash in follow on with ‘Reckoner’. You can buy the stems from iTunes at 99c a pop. (There’s usually 5 stems per track). Pay what you’d like for the album. Heck, get it for free. Then wait a few months. And charge 5 bucks for the same track. So many people buy it it gets on the iTune charts! And then toss a few grand at a ‘winner’, even though you’ve asked Diplo, James Holden and Modeselektor to remix for you.
I know I’ve used Kanye’s image in vain in the past, but at least he’s giving the ‘Love Lockdown’stems away for free on his blog. No word of a prize or competition, but did you really think you’d do a better remix than James Holden?
Last Shadow Puppets - My mistakes were made for you
The Last Shadow Puppets are Alex Turner (from Arctic Monkeys) and Miles Kane (from The Rascals) and ‘The Age Of The Understatement’ is their new album. I was blown away by this album. While I was beginning to think that nostalgia was old hat ( I’m looking at you Wolfmother!), these guys don a George Harrison coat and deliver beautifully crafted and incredibly mature pop songs. You’ll love it immediately, and then you’ll learn that there is a lot to love.
Do yourself a favour and pick up ‘The Age of the Understatement’here.
In the 31 months of doing Borrowed Beats, the September ‘08 Edition has proven itself one of the least popular. In it’s first week it was downloaded a paltry 81 times.
‘Why could this be?’ I wondered. ‘The cover image of Mr ICE Cool‘ I asked? ‘Probably not’ they said.
‘The theme?’ I offered. ‘Well, you did brazenly state that you were cooler than everyone else’ came the reply.
‘Yeah, but that was a gag - you know, thinking you’re cool and being cool are two different things. It was a link to the Dodgeball line. I though that image pulled all that together - that guy obviously thinks he’s cool, and he’s obviously not. It was all said in parody’ I insisted.
‘Really? So you’re not as hurrah for me as you a sound?’
Well, maybe a little.
But so are these guys. (below)
So lets make Friday Myday.
The day it’s okay to say : Hurrah for me!
UK Grime artist Random Impulse released his second album on Black Unicorn records recently. Apart from the fact that Black Unicorn is a US based label, what sets this release apart is not just it’s length - it runs 17 tracks long - but the production quality of this genre hopping release.
Grime hasn’t made much of an impact in Australia yet, while other more US-centric variants of Hip Hop have managed to get a foothold. Dirty South and Crunk regularly get air play on JJJ - maybe it’s just another indication of how Australia looks to the US for cultural stimulation - surely an oxymoron.
‘Full Metal Alchemist’ samples rock, soul, funk and Sci-Fi, with Jovel’s rapid fire delivery sitting nicely over all of these genre. He plays guitar on most of the tracks, and maybe that’s what elevates this release from other ‘electronic hip hop‘ like Akala. The narrative is strong and not in the least pretentious. There’s not a single ’shory wants to freak me’ track on here. No ’slangin’ crack’ tracks. And that’s another reason why you should check out this album. A breath of fresh air from ‘ghetto-booty-tech’ soaked air waves. ’Full Metal Alchemist’ is one of the most original albums I’ve heard this year.
Jovel Walker ( Random Impulse) answers our questions after the jump -
They really should have named it three times, it’s at least 50% more important to me than New York. (Which, incidentally, isn’t twice as important to me as Bobbin Head.) Friday rolls around and you can forget your woes. Trying to work in a rhyme here….lemme see…hoes? (Nup, too shtreet) Toes? (Too pedestrian.)
Anywho , while I labour with a witty rejoinder, why not check out this weeks booty?
(Booty in the Pirates Booty sense, rather than the poppin’ sense. Don’t get me wrong, do yo’ thang girls! )
