Garage Convert

Garage Convert - The Observer interviews Wookie, who seems to be plugging his new album all over the place. The idea of him remixing American artists to promote the music in America brings up the fact that UK Garage is already making slight progress on the other side of the Atlantic. K-Ci and Jojo’s last single, while painfully cliched in its execution, couldn’t have been described as anything other than UK Garage. My new concern: will the name have to be changed to “UK Garridge” to avoid American pronunciation problems?

Daft Punk

Daft Punk feat. Romanthony - “One More Time”

Friday, 20th October, 18:00
“I have no interest in the new single by Daft Punk.”

Saturday, 21st October, 18:00
“Well, I was wrong.”

The moment comes just over two minutes in.

“One More Time” kicks off as typical Daft Punk stuff: all effected vocals, big synth sounds and metronomic kick drums. Just when I start to get fed up with the ubiquitous vocoders and think the band have spent the last couple of years churning out more of the same old stuff while “inspiring” Madonna, the majority of the synths drop out. Then the beat goes, and the next minute or so proves to be the best breakdown ever. Well, maybe not, but at the very least it beats anything Darude could come up with. And that’s exactly the point: whether or not this is a classic, it’s a welcome kick up the arse to the countless trance by numbers records of late. Whether it’ll stand the test of time remains to be seen; it certainly has a sizeable chunk of “Stardust”’s magic formula of disco influences and melancholy-tinged vocals.

“One more time, we’re gonna celebrate. Oh yeah, alright, don’t stop the dancing.”

A classic of the “list” genre

A classic of the “list” genre: Thee Headcoats’ “We Hate The Fuckin NME”. Over two chords, Billy Childish intones the reasons he doesn’t like the NME: “Elvis Costello in the NME… David Bowie in the NME… Morrissey in the NME… NME owned by IPC/Melody Maker owned by IPC… We hate the NME/We hate the fuckin NME!” Fantastic.

The

The Spiller article Tom linked to gives me the impression that it was written by an indie fan. (At this point I admit that I don’t read Tangents so I’m going entirely on the one article here.)

“Groovejet” is, in effect, no different to recent FatBoy Slim output: it’s obvious and tired and cliched and it’s absolutely fantastic on the dancefloor. The only substantial difference is that FatBoy Slim would not use a vocalist who’d give a performance so thin and dull as Sophie Ellis-Bextor gives on “Groovejet”. Indie fans can make as much of a fuss over the “girl done good” situation which arose, but Sophie is ultimately working as a session singer, and that’s exactly what she sounds like here. If pointing out the fact that Sophie appears on the record gives it indie credibility then who can blame the promoters for doing so? Well, she doesn’t sing it very well but, you know, she used to be in theaudience so it can’t be all that bad, even if it is bloody dance music.

Personally, I’ll dance to it for sure (or would have done before I got fed up of hearing it - about a month before it came out) but I won’t try and pretend it’s anything more than popdance fast food to me. Tom said in his review that “Spiller [has] turned respectable heads.” That’s all great, but it’s those not-at-all-respectable pop kids’ heads that generally get it right, and if “Groovejet” can only manage a week at number one, who are we to argue?

Smashing Pumpkins Star To Quit Music?

Smashing Pumpkins Star To Quit Music? - the official Worst Band In The World seem to be carrying out the Worst Split In The World. The idea, my friend, is that you split. See? Not write another 14 songs and carry on going for a couple of years before you do it. Leave the industry, do us all a favour.

At least Tom managed to remove some of the pretentiousness

At least Tom managed to remove some of the pretentiousness from the actual title: MACHINA/the machines of god.

DJ Luck And MC Neat feat. JJ - “Masterblaster 2000″

DJ Luck And MC Neat feat. JJ - “Masterblaster 2000″ (mp3)
B15 Project feat. Chrissy D & Lady G - “Girls Like Us” (mp3)

UK Garage as “Pop!” and I love it. Replacing Sweet Female Attitude’s “Flowers” in my affections come these two… Why is the latter called “Girls Like Us” when they’re obviously singing “girls like this”? Why is the former’s keyboard line (0:53) so enticing to me? Will the answers lie in one of the many UK Garage albums I see advertised on TV? I think the time has come to buy my first ever trashy chart mix CD. Ministry’s Ayia Napa compilation (mixed by the Artful Dodger!!!) is ranking increasingly higher in my mental list of must-haves.

Whereas normally my right-on intelligent music fan credentials would come to the fore when making a purchase in a genre I didn’t know too much about, I feel that this time nothing is important to me except getting my chart-friendly little hands on the HITS!!! Until Craig David’s poorly titled “Born To Do It” LP is out I’ll suffice with something on Polygram TV records…

Take another listen; this is sexy pop.

The UK Number Ones

The UK Number Ones - and it is just that. A complete list, and the best I’ve seen. Nice little facts, links to band sites and the chance to look up what was number one at key points in your life. Captain Sensible was at number one when I was born, for instance. Look at the early entries on this page and witness my introduction to pop music.

Bookmark this page now.

Save Napster

Save Napster - how much more Napster commentary do you want? Just read it.

Is it only me that actually thinks the

Is it only me that actually thinks the Crawley Love Parade sounds like quite a good idea? That playlist is good and if Altern8 re-formed I’d be there like a Meatloaf out of hell.