My very clever fella has hooked up with the ever genius Mr. Lewis to form Big Tasty. This is their first track, Bi Winning, created ‘after a visit to ASDA then feasting on McDonalds, Czech lager, fruity cocktails and of course massive amounts of the drug they call Charlie Sheen’.
Sampling a few of Mr. Sheen’s killer quotes, it’s a pretty big tune. I know I’m biased, but I think it’s great – I’m sure Charlie would approve.
Once again my talented friends (two of the masterminds behind Hardboiled Wonderland plus the Rosy Cheeked Viking) have produced another cracking track – this time a tongue-in-cheek rap about their beloved Kemp Town.
So here they are J.J.R with ‘Straight Outta Kemptown’
J.J.R – Straight Outta Kemptown by Mr Lewis Mixes
John Lennon would have been 70 this month, and this short interview by Jerry Levitan seems a fitting memorial.
In 1969, at the age of 14, Levitan snuck into Lennon’s hotel room on Toronto with a recorder and asked the revolutionary performer a few questions. This video uses drawings by James Braithwaite and digital illustrations by Alex Kurina to beautifully illustrate Lennon’s words and the meaning behind them.
Africa by sleek 80s band Toto has to be one of my all-time favourite retro tunes. It’s a truly epic track, and the chorus is particularly incredible; it’s the perfect way to get a whole room singing along (usually very badly – it’s not the nicest octave for karaoke…).
But has anyone ever really thought about the lyrics? They’re seriously terrible. I mean, ‘Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti’, are you kidding me? That doesn’t even fit into the music.
All I can assume is that ‘bugger it just scribble something down’ Toto were so busy congratulating themselves on their incredible melody-writing skills that they simply couldn’t be arsed with the rest. “But Toto, what about the lyrics?” “Lyrics, schmyrics – have you heard that bloody chorus?! We’re gonna be rich!”
TOTO – Africa
I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation
She’s coming in 12:30 flight
The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation
I stopped an old man along the way
Hoping to find some long forgotten words or ancient melodies
He turned to me as if to say, Hurry boy, it’s waiting there for you
Chorus:
It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had
The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what’s right
Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I seek to cure what’s deep inside, frightened of this thing that I’ve become
Chorus
(Instrumental break)
Hurry boy, she’s waiting there for you
It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa, I bless the rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa, I bless the rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had
Norman Cook is dusting off his Fatboy Slim persona and is releasing a long awaited new single Machines Can Do The Work.
Working alongside electro house producer and dance DJ, Hervé, owner of music label Cheap Thrills, Fatboy’s latest offering is a glance back to 80’s acid house, and the single package (out June 14th) is said to include remixes from Joris Voorn and Modeselektor.
Hopefully we should have a new album on the cards pretty soon…
So being a huge fan of Fatboy Slim I was delighted to hear that not only has UK/Canadian electro star Lazy Rich remixed the 2001 hit Weapon of Choice, but it also happens to be OFF.THE.HOOK.
I like this and so should you. Listen, tis good.
Fatboy Slim Feat Lazy Rich – Weapon Of Choice 2010 (Lazy Rich Remix) by also_tribalizm
MGMT’s second album, Congratulations, has met with many mixed reviews from critics and fans alike, mostly because it differs so greatly from their debut Oracular Spectacular.
Missing the electro-rock beats of tracks like “Kids” or “Time To Pretend”, their latest instalment has a summery, yet psychedelic sound that harks back to the 60′s and 70′s. I found it reminiscent of a range of artists from this time, from the Beach Boys and The Beatles to Pink Floyd and even includes harmonies akin to The Mamas and The Papas.
“We dropped any sort of irony that was on the first record, and Congratulations feels true to who we really are,” 26-year-old Andrew Vanwyngarden of MGMT told SPIN.com in an interview in January, explaining their shift in musical direction. “It’s definitely going to shock people… the honesty of it; it’s very plaintive. In a weird way, it’s like a soul record.”
This is a ‘no single’ album, with the band encouraging listeners to take in the album as a whole rather than picking out key tracks, which would swiftly overpower the rest of the album. A brave challenge, and an equally as brave musical change for the band who rose to fame for a very different sound.
That said, I loved the first album, and I’ve really enjoyed my first few listens to Congratulations.
While their influences are clear and each track seems to blend together easily, there’s also a pleasant range of different sounds and feelings throughout the album.
For example the upbeat first track, “It’s Working”, starts the album on an upbeat tone that has us all reaching for our surfboards and then carefully placing them back as Vanwyngarden sings about the highs and lows of surfing a drug-ridden wave, whilst the final title track, “Congratulations”, has us sinking into a beanbag, staring at a lava-lamp whilst toking on the kind of fatty-boom-batty that could have easily had us all thrown out of college.
Meanwhile, the schizophrenically entrancing 12-minute long Siberian Breaks, which is really about 4 separate songs in one, has the stringy harmonies that leave me longing to float through a poppy field in a paisley kaftan before edging me towards a synth journey to some far-out space exploration in the type of 70s-style futuristic vision that would have me donning a silver jumpsuit and tinfoil helmet (although according to VanWyngarden it was actually written about surfing in the Arctic Circle, so I’m really nowhere close).
Okay, so maybe I’ve taken the 60s/70s references too far, but you get the idea.
Give it a few listens and try not to judge Congratulations by its differences to Oracular Spectacular. Both albums have their own highs and lows, although without the pop-friendly anthemic sounds of their first few singles I think this album has taken me a tiny bit longer to warm to.
That doesn’t detract from it’s greatness though – I can see 70s inspires MGMT soul fast becoming a soundtrack to the summer.
Peggy Sue (previously Peggy Sue and the Pirates) are a folk-pop mishmash band made up of Rosa Rex, Katy Klaw and Olly. They strum, drum and hum their way through a range of styles, using intertwining vocals to woo their listeners into a merry submission.
Rosa and Katy met at school in London and continued their friendship musical career after a move to study in Brighton. They were then joined couple of years later by drummer Olly.
I find their voices so beautiful – quiet and melodic at times and powerful and lusty at others – and they intertwine them together with a number of instruments (including a lovely accordion) to create a unique sound that gets me nice and tingly.
Makes me sad to be such a musical dunce, although I was able to play My Heart Will Go On (badly, mind) on the piano when I was 13, so maybe my full potential is yet to be revealed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7q12dz0y-I
New Song, was the first of their songs that I heard back in 2007, and it’s still one of my favourites – although their latest Watchmen is absolutely gorgeous.
The band has kindly just released a free compilation of their earlier work to download on Soundcloud, which I snapped up yesterday.
It’s currently proving to be my listen of the week.
Peggy Sue: A Body Of Work by brilliantlydifferent
I’ve been a big fan of Peter Serafinowicz since he played the huskily voiced Duane Benzie in my favourite UK sit-com of ALL TIME, Spaced. But he’s also had his own award winning sketch show – The Peter Serafinowicz Show – and appeared in countless other UK comedy faves such as I’m Alan Partridge, Look Around You, and Little Britain, as well as Shaun of the Dead. Now he’s lending his hand to the music scene and has directed the latest video for Hot Chip’s I Feel Better Now. 
It’s more than a little strange, but I think I like its weird creepiness. The JLS fans amongst you may not be so keen though (you know who you are… shame on you). I’m not convinced I totally ‘get it’ just yet, but it did make me smile. Well, I say smile, it may well just have been a confused grimace.
See what you think…
Some good friends of mine have started making music under the name Hardboiled Wonderland. They wrote it, played it and produced it all by themselves (which I think is exceedingly clever) and it’s also rather good.
Here it is, have a listen and see what you think:
The incredibly tall and hairy Chris Cole sings and strums, the all-knowing Rhys Peterson plays more than one type of guitar and the whole lot is produced by the cheeky grin of Jamie Lewis.
Who knows, maybe they’ll be huge. In which case, you heard it here first and hopefully I’ll get some kind of commission.
I'm Laura Wilkins, and this is where I write about all the things I find interesting - art, music, fashion, telly and anything else that pops into my head.
I'm a writer and digital media bod, living and obsessing over all things Brighton.
I love cheese, lie-ins and finally have my very own kitten.
contact me at:
laura [at] thewilkyway.co.uk