MP3 OF THE DAY No.2 – Del Shannon ‘Runaway’

So today’s MP3 of the day is a bit of a classic. After waking up really early (hand in… and not done all the work) I put on a 60’s compilation and on came Del Shannon. Now some of you will most likley remember this song from various films and TV shows… so hopefully it will make you go “Oh yeah! I remember this” ’cause it’s a fucking tuuuuuuuuune mate.

Not the MP3 of the day No.1 – She & Him

Now if any of you have seen the movie 500 Days Of Summer you would know of Zooey Deschanel. Well she sing’s in a two piece called She & Him with the musician M.Ward.

Below is a track off their one and only LP. It’s a cover of Smokey Robinson’s You Really Got A Hold On Me. Fantastic. Their album is on Spotify, if you like blue grass and folk, this is for you.

Football Hero

Kaka - Sony Bravia ad

Anyone who knows me knows I’m quite a football fanatic. Love it. Reading various blog’s I came upon this YouTube video of five incredibly good freestyle footballer’s playing a customized game of Guitar Hero. Projected on a wall is the conventional Guitar Hero game programmed with the song Underdog (it’s off a Sony ad for a TV with Kaka… hense football ties) by the band Kasabian.Below the screen are five coloured boxes, these are connected to sensors like on a Guitar Hero guitar. Simple.

Now, this couldn’t of been easy… think about it – you’ve gotta’ kick the ball in time with the notes like on the game… but that would mean you have to kick it before the note is in time with the box, so it’s definitely ten times fuckin’ harder than Guitar Hero.

Have a little look.

Kasabian – Underdog Football Hero

MP3 OF THE DAY No.1 – REAL ESTATE ‘FAKE BLUES’

Real Estate

Decided to do a MP3 of the day. Here’s the first one, It’s Fake Blues by a band called Real Estate.

Real Estate Fake Blues

These guy’s a amazing, releasing stuff via the great label Under Water Peoples they’ve had the odd 45 released. Think Pavement with a little reverb and from Jersey not California.

That was it?

Napoleon Jackson

So ever since June his label have re-released or released a terrible compilation with nothing really to standing very strong for the legacy of Michael Jackson. Wasn’t there a rumor that there were hundreds of un-released cut’s from all his albums? Surely we don’t need another version of Off The Wall or Thriller (why isn’t there ever a re-release of Bad?).

Well along with this movie of his fateful O2 shows, we’ve got one brand new never heard track. Rumored to be from back in the Off The Wall day’s – ‘This Is It’ does indeed have the feel of his debut release but it’s questionable. The label must feel the cut is THAT good because two versions of the song are on the new soundtrack to the This Is It movie… BACK TO BACK!

Michael Jackson This Is It

Jackson in the studio with Jones & Spielberg

I’ve yet to see the movie, I really want to. According to that crazy old lady Liz Taylor he’s a modern day prophet… hahaha, what a load of shit. Don’t get me wrong, the bloke seemed to have a sort of Midus touch to him when it came to his music (we don’t speak of his last original material album), but the guy was a troubled man. Well and truly fucked in the long run.

So what I’m saying is, try and find these unreleased things. They will sell like nobody’s business and all go to number 1 even if they are like his last album. We don’t need any more re-releases.

Back in June, the day after he died I made a Spotify playlist. Here it is if you wanna download it: Michael Jackson & The Jacksons Playlist

Franz Ferdinand – Brixton Academy 24/10/09

If you’re a regular attendee or viewer of the festival season, chances are you’ve seen Franz Ferdinand a thousand times.

It seems like they’ve played every festival ever year since their formation back in 2002; their music is played over everything from montages on Match Of The Day 2 to that iPod advert; You know you’ve drunkenly danced to one of their songs playing at a club with your mates and more than likely played one of their songs on Guitar Hero or Rock Band (can’t remember which one it’s on…).
So tonight at the O2 Academy in Brixton the four-piece entertain an incredibly (middle aged) energetic crowd all playing air guitar to that song you can play on that video game and get a incredible 5 star score on. After an incredibly long wait that consisted of the bands roadie’s tuning the guitars AT LEAST five times (no one has touched it since the last time you tuned the thing… it’s not gonna’ go out of tune that fast buddy), the guys grace the Brixton stage.

During the near 20 song set, the Glasgow boys fire through most of the songs you can’t help but tap your feet to when you hear them on Edith Bowman’s Radio 1 show including that damn catchy number ‘No You Girls’ from the iPod add and opening with ‘Do You Want To’. After the opening number, the ‘Franz Ferdinand’ back drop falls to reveal a incredibly large LCD screen which projects various short films that you could see included in the next James Bond movie and the band’s music videos to accompany the number of hits this band just seem to churn out time-after-time. 2004’s ‘This Fire’ really get’s the crowd arm-in-arm and creating a competition which seems to be seeing who can jump higher than the person next to them. Out of the whole set which the band sailed through with incredible ease and a sense of wise-professionalism, it’s the inclusion of ‘Michael’ that really sticks out like the soar thumb. You can definitely tell it’s an old song as it sounds nothing like anything the band has done since – but It’s a breath of fresh air showing the band don’t just make sing-along advert friendly pop.

One of the greatest victories you can gain over someone is to beat him at politeness

Monday – 11:30 am. Clapham Junction, the busiest train station in Europe, like always it’s full to the brim with commuters.

Getting on the scheduled 11:50, I see – like always, a ridiculous amount of people populating the train. As the doors open, the cramped conditions soften for only a couple of minutes with people lugging baggage off the high step train, mothers with buggies the size of a St. Bernard having to get their baby’s somewhere to the ground without losing them between the platform and the train.

Eleven fifty seven. The train arrives – and like getting on, exiting the carriage is just as hard. I see an elderly lady with a bag the size of her attempting to haul it up the isle. She stand’s next to me – I think to myself “do I help? What if I do?” The doors open, I just walk off.

Opinion – Work No.1

One thing I do know about Shoreditch – and surrounding area’s, is that there is fuck all cash machines. It has an abundance of kebab shops, charity shops and more Vietnamese restaurants than you would find in Saigon, but no cash machines.

Traipsing the streets of East London, we finally found a ‘hole in the wall’ (which I find out during this trip that seemed to be as long as Frodo’s voyage to Mordor. that ‘hole in the wall’ is actually a trademark of Barclay’s Bank) in the middle of a council estate connected to Hackney Community Centre. This place is nothing but a run down, cheap place to live.

I can only really imagine that that is why it’s so popular. The place is ridden with so-called artists, fashion designers, musicians, bohemians and the ever so popular student.  At a time of financial crisis, we all want something ‘on the cheap’, but from the looks of the décor of some of the shops, you know that won’t be the case. During my trip down the ho-chi-minh trail, I see a convenience store that would be on the list of filming locations for MTV’s ‘The City’. You know the kind of place, brick walls, dimly lit light’s (probably so low because you don’t want to see or even remember the price your paying for your organic factory farm free product) and your token dirty blonde haired, iPhone wielding, daddy’s girl shopping there.

I honestly don’t understand it, these people live in this area and think themselves as individual people, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, East London is a cool place to live, but the population of the area seem to give of this fucking arrogance that makes you want to bludgeon these people till they snap-the fuck-out of it!

An odd evening

Paris

Turning the clock’s back is an odd thing. Looking at a clock after you’ve turned the clock back or forward, I always find myself thinking “well this time yesturday I was sitll doing…..” – something along those lines.

Around this time of year shops start to stock christmas material.Various ball-ball’s, tree decorations and other themed items appear in your supermarket or local Wilkinson’s and this made me re-buy the great thing about Christmas – fairy lights. Now fuck you if you think Christmas light’s are gay. That couldn’t be further from the truth – they instantly make your room a better and more atmospheric place. Add the crackle of a record player or a strum of an acoustic guitar and I find i’ve created a place of sanctuary out of the cold. It was better last winter, I did this in my old room in the previous shit hole me and six others lived in and it made my cold place I liked to call home that more appealing… until the cheap bulbs started to blow. That’s the worst part, the trail of light’s you first turn on with a little happiness slowly burst. It really is a shame…

Fantastic Mr. Fox Soundtrack Review

Ever strolled through a long cornfield on a hot day? Sun blasting down with a bit of said corn hanging from the coroner (no pun intended) of your mouth, and all you need to top it off is to have a nice album playing on your iPod – Well, the Fantastic Mr. Fox soundtrack is that album.

Wes Anderson films are immaculate pieces of art, with nothing done in half measures, and that includes the soundtracks. Where some directors couldn’t give a damn about the musical side of their work, directors like Anderson really take care in picking what is played along side the film.

The ‘strolling adventure’ feel plays through the whole entire album, beginning with The Wellingtons ‘The Ballad Of Davy Crockett’, it just oozes the feel of leaning a bamboo made fishing rod and making your way down to the lake with you best buddy Chuck by your side, know what I mean? Alongside original compositions by Alexandre Desplat you have the archetypical sound of a Wes Anderson soundtrack with a song by The Rolling Stones (they have featured many of Anderson’s previous soundtracks) as well as an original song by Jarvis Cocker – who also lends his voice to the character Petey in the motion picture and two songs by The Beach Boys ‘Old Man River’ and ‘Heroes and Villains’.

A tack by track listen really gives you a feel of what the film will be like (if you haven’t seen it yet). Too often do you find soundtracks to feature films that get cast aside as an important part to a films creation – that said, Mr Anderson actually really does cares.

taken from http://www.virgin.com/music

Fantastic Mr. Fox