Has MTV Changed my Life?



I've not lived anywhere with either Cable or Sky for a while, meaning that I don't normally get to see a lot of music telly. Since moving to my new place though, I've found myself watching more and more MTV and it's sister channels. Last night I flicked over to "MTV Dance Hits" to find a new song by Tracey Thorn of Everything But the Girl fame. It's a really good tune, and the video is cracking too. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it on YouTube to post here, but it's worth keeping your eyes peeled for.

MP3 Tracey Thorn - It's All True

Reforming Blues.



Rather like a Chicken McNugget, the Police have decided to awkwardly reform for the purpose of making millions of pounds. It's actually quite funny to think that Stewart Copeland (that's the drummer, kids) actually played their last tour with the words "Sting is a Cunt" written on his tom-toms. All fair enough really considering the band were in their final throes, however, what leads Mr Copeland to believe that the Tantric-Twat is any less of a cunt in 2007? Answers on a postcard.

MP3 The Police - Roxanne

Motivational Issues



I've been experimenting with music the last couple of mornings in the hope that my motivational levels will increase, therefore I'll be able to get through a full days work without going completely mad. It's not working. Yesterday, the new Trousersnake album accompanied me to work. And yes, while it's funky like Prince I'd crashed and burned by 10am. This morning I tried LCD's "45:33", only to find it's now ten to ten and I'm about as interested in working as I am jerking off in front of primates. Ergo: Not very fucking interested at all.

MP3 Peter, Bjorn and John - Let's Call it Off (JD Twitch's Optimo Remix)

Take Me Home.



I know I shouldn't like this. Guilty, Little, Pleasures.

MP3 Sophie Ellis Bextor - Catch You

General Aceness



Children. If the scary crack-hop by Clipse is scaring you with it's naughty words about things Mummy tells you to avoid and crisp Neptunian beats, simply download the following remix to send you gently to sleep and help avoid those nasty drive-by nightmares. Awwww.

MP3 Clipse and Fields - Mr Me Too (Z.A.K. Remix)

NME Chart 21st January



I may as well turn this into a regular feature - it does make for easy posting. As a rule though, I'll try to not post songs that have appeared on BCG before, and please also remember that some tracks are rather difficult to track down first thing on a Monday morning. If anyone would like to contribute a track which isn't available here then feel free to get in touch.

1. Klaxons- 'Golden Skans'
2. Bloc Party- 'The Prayer'
3. Biffy Cyclo- 'Semi Mental'
4. The View- 'Same Jeans'
5. The Long Blondes- 'Giddy Stratospheres'
6. The Shins- 'Phantom Limb' MP3
7. The Enemy- 'It's Not Ok To Be A Slave'
8. The Gossip- 'Jealous Girls'
9. Jamie T- 'Calm Down Dearest' MP3
10. The Automatic- 'Raoul' MP3

Restored my eyesight after 36 years.



"I feel that we are truly blessed to exist on the same planet as two obviously extremely talented individuals. I almost gave up on the music industry until this couple came along. My cat was dead and now it is alive."

More here.

MP3 Peter Andre & Katie Price - A Whole New World

Grrr! Arrgh! Roar! METAL!



Could this be a highly original title for a blog post or the next cult indie-schmindie band name? Not sure on either count, so as promised, here's some Mastadon.

MP3 Mastodon- The Wolf is Loose

Best New Music



It's amazing the boost in profile a band can get through Pitchfork's "Best New Music" accolade - I knew very little about Menomena prior to yesterday, and in fairness don't know much about them now. Still, more to learn - I'm not so arrogant that I can't accept that my knowledge lacks in certain areas. It's called being humble.

MP3 Menomena - Wet and Rusting

Next Post: Mastodon.

Yoof.



I just can't get enough. Wow.

MP3 Sonic Youth - Jams Run Free

PS - Like the above picture? Check out more here.

Bossy



Yep, it's another of my "blind" posts, whereby I've not been able to listen to the track that I'm posting for one reason or another. You should all like it though, given the volume of hits BCG gets for the Alan Braxe remix. This is another remix by a French bloke, though this ones called SebastiAn. Enjoy.

MP3 Kelis - Bossy (SebastiAn Remix)

Burned.



Slow on the uptake again... I've only just started listening to the most recent Sonic Youth effort, Rather Ripped. In my defense I've had it for ages, but I'd just not got around to listening to it. More fool me. It's fucking ace, and just makes me wish that the Pixies would pull their fingers out of their asses and record something again. Soon.

MP3 Sonic Youth - Incinerate

Quicky



OK, I've ruthlessly pillaged both Pitchfork and noWax for these MP3's but they're both exclusives so you should all enjoy. Yep, new RJD2 and Chemical Brothers tunes. Not collabs of course you dummy, 2 seperate tracks. Oh look, just fucking grab 'em anyway. I'm in a bad mood.

MP3 RJD2 - Get it

MP3 The Chemical Brothers - Electronic Battle Weapon 9

Glam Stomp



A couple of weeks ago, me Paul and Helen were sat in the kitchen listening to the new !!! album. While the consensus was that it's ace, a funny moment happened when track 7, Yadnus, kicked in. Basically, it has a rather long glam rock drum intro, which prompted many talk overs, such as:

"I really love your Tiger Feet"
"Be a Blockbuster!"
"The beautiful people, the beautiful people"

Try it yourselves. Hours of fun guaranteed.

MP3 !!! - Yadnus

Girls Rock Too.



You all know I love ladies that rock and play guitar and stuff. Yum fucking yum.

MP3 Metric - Monster Hospital

MP3 L7 - Pretend we're Dead

Whip it Good.



I don't think I've ever posted about the Whip - a fact that I should really be punished for. For the unitiated, the Whip are Manchester duo Bruce and Danny, who formed the band from the ashes of their previous venture Nylon Pylon. They've been going for a couple of years now, and last year released an electro underground smash called, err, Trash. They've a new single out on Southern Fried in February called Muzzle No. 1. Umm. That's it really - check them out.

MP3 The Whip - Trash

Top of the Pops



It dawned on me this morning that the NME chart on MTV2 is actually now a more relevant reflection of what the nation is listening to than the official UK top 40. For those of you that haven't heard, recent changes made to the chart means any track downloaded can be counted as a record sale, regardless of it's release date. Therefore, it's entirely possible an old Queen or Beatles track could find it's way into the top 40. Maybe if MTV put together all of their specialist charts (Base, Hits etc) which have all been voted for by the public then that would accurately show what everyone is vibing?

1. Bloc Party - 'The Prayer' MP3
2. The Long Blondes - 'Giddy Stratospheres' MP3
3. The View - 'Same Jeans' MP3
4. Klaxons - 'Golden Skans' MP3
5. Jack Penate - 'Second Minute Or Hour' MP3
6. The Automatic - 'Raoul'
7. Fall Out Boy - 'This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race'
8. Biffy Clyro - 'Semi Mental'
9. The Enemy - 'It's Not OK To Be A Slave'
10. The Gossip - 'Jealous Girls'

Something for the Weekend.



I'm staying in London this weekend so I'm not sure that I'll be able to get online to post you guys some songs. I know you'll find it tough, but if you can bear with me until Monday then all will be back to normal. I do feel however that I've been more than generous today, but I'll expand on that generosity now with a few more tunes. Have a good weekend peeps, and I'll write again on Monday. Inabit.

MP3 Simian Mobile Disco - It's the Beat

MP3 Dead Disco - The Treatment (Metronomy Remix)

MP3 The Shins - Turn on Me

Spanking



I could sit here and write a long and expletive led rant about how MTV is killing music, and while it's daytime output does, their specialist channels often play some quite decent stuff at night. Last night I flicked over to MTV2 when the adverts were on during Prison Break to catch up on some "Spanking New Music". I watched 3 videos in succession, and while I knew 2 of them, the third by TTC was new to me. Here's the tunes.

MP3 I Was a Cub Scout - Pink Squares

MP3 Pull Tiger Tail - Mr 100%

MP3 TTC - Telephone

Mash.



Mash-ups are one of the those strange, slightly dated things in music which can sound absoulutely brilliant when done well, or incredibly bad when half arsed. As much as it pains me to say, Diplo is quite guilty in both camps. While some of the stuff he releases under Hollertronix is pure genius, there's often a filler track thrown in which frankly doesn't make the grade. Take the My Love remix for instance: A great premise - the vocal from the best song of 2006 thrown over LCD's "Someone Great". Sadly though, after an encouraging beginning, it falls flat and fails to recover. A real shame. See what you think.

MP3 Justin Timberlake - My Love (Diplo Remix)

BONUS!! Not quite as disappointing, but still not great:

MP3 Diplo - Shake it Over and Over

Long Shout to Manchester!



Imagine my surprise when looking at Pitchfork today, to not only see some ace new Clipse remix but also that one of the featured albums is by Manchester folksters Starless and Bible Black. I've got to admit, I never thought I see a review for these guys on there, but still it's pretty fair. Pat on the back for a certain Pasta Paul, as he's put them on at Quiet Night Out many a time. Nice work dudes.

MP3 Starless and Bible Black - Every Day and Every Night

Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese



I've just eaten one of these. I feel really sick. Time for some Panther.

MP3 Panther - How Well Can You Swim

Violence is Good.



I fucking love Low. They're the complete and total antithesis to everything else that graces my ears. I found myself listening to the Great Destroyer a lot over the festive period, and it inspired me to such an extent I sat down and learned California on the guitar. That in itself was something of an experience considering it's in a bizarre tuning I've never encountered before. Anyway, enough geek speak, here's something from their new album, Drums and Guns. En-fucking-joy.

MP3 Low - Violent Past

Hard-Fi?



A few emails I've received overnight state that the new Klaxons track I posted yesterday sounds like Hard-Fi - a band that I absolutely hate. And yes, indeed, it's true, BUT I CAN'T HELP LIKING THE FUCKING SONG ANYWAY. Here's a remix that I haven't listened to yet.

MP3 Klaxons - Golden Skans (Erol Alkan's Ekstra Spektral Dub)

Trendy Names



Over the last few years, there have been 2 notable trends in how bands construct their name:

1) "The xxxx" - See The Strokes, The Killers, The White Stripes, The View, The Whip, The Young Knives...

or

2) "Kooky" - See Clap Your Hands Say YEAH!, iForward Russia!, Dead! Dead! Dead!, Get Cape Wear Cape FLY...

You get the script. So what the fuck is Ra Ra Riot about then?? Any ideas what the next major trend in band names will be?

MP3 Ra Ra Riot - Can You Tell?

I'm your Puppet, now SMILE dammit!!



Ace.

MP3 Lily Allen - Smile (Mark Ronson Revisit)

Good Song Shocker: Part 2



I never thought the day would come when I'd write this: I quite like the new Klaxons single. No actually, replace "quite" with the word "really". I don't know quite why these guys branded themselves with the dreaded term "New Rave" because they're actually really indie. Not that I like indie any more of course - it sucks.

MP3 Klaxons - Golden Skans

What the Bloody Hell are you doing with your hands Fordy-Face?



I'm back in London, meaning my recent flow of quality postage will start slowing once more. There's a glut of Bloc Party remixes going around at the moment, with this the best of the bunch I've heard thus far. Enjoy.

MP3 Bloc Party - The Prayer (Hadouken Remix)

Help the people



In November last year, a local Mancunian by the name of Cherry Ghost was bestowed with the honour of playing on Jools Holland. I've followed him since he emerged in late 2005, and his most memorable performance took place in my mate Helen's flat in February 2006. Amazing. One to watch for this year.

Will Hip Hop Suck in '07?



I used to be quite a massive hip hop fan, though as regular readers of this blog will know, I've become somewhat disillusioned over the last year or 2. It's not that my taste has changed dramatically, more that there's not really been anything that's got me by the balls and slapped me in the face. That was until the tail end of 2006, when new stuff by Clipse, Ghostface and Nas kinda gave me some faith back. OK, none of them were absolute classics of the genre, but were enough to ensure that 2006 wasn't a complete right off. Here's to hip hop in 2007.

MP3 Clipse - Mister Me Too

MP3 Nas - Hip Hop is Dead

Use Casually and Dispose.



I fucking love the darts, even nearly as much as the snooker. That's what's great about this time of year - you get World Championships for both the week before Christmas and then the week after New Year. Awesome. You can't deny that darts is a "proper" sport - just take a look at the above picture of previous world champ Andy Fordham if you want to know what a real athelete looks like.

The launch of the latest tournament was spent at a mates flat. As you can imagine, the action was simply enthralling, and while the TV was largely muted, my friends iTunes was supplying a suitably indie soundtrack. Bringing me promptly onto the Shortwave Set. I never bothered at all with these guys first time out, but recent single Casual Use is an absolute blinder. AND it's based around a Madness sample. So not only have I been entertained with top quality sports action, but I've discovered some new music to boot. Thanks for the tip Fordy-Face.

MP3 The Shortwave Set - Casual Use

With Every Heartbeat



A bit late on this one, but still it's fucking quality. If those of you who are mid 20's (and over) and from the UK, you might remember Robyn and her single, "Show Me Love", which by all accounts was really Euro-pop and quite shameful. Anyway, she's back now, and the blogworld and press seem to be falling all over her. Which leads me to a track she did last year with Kleerup. Yeah, it reminds me of Annie, but it's still great. Give it a listen.

MP3 Kleerup - With Every Heartbeat (Feat. Robyn)

Try to Keep Up



It's been a while since I've played out. 3 weeks to be exact. Still, it's nice to take a bit of a break. I'll be back behind the decks on Saturday 3rd February at Night and Day for a new shindig called Get Girl, Kill Baddies, Save Planet. OK, I'm part of the team behind it, but don't let that put you off. We've got Leeds grindie stars Yes Boss performing at midnight, and myself and Pasta Paul will be supplying the tunes. I'll let you all know about cheapy guestlist and stuff closer to the time. In the spirit of things anyway, here's the tune by Black Country Superstars Pop Will Eat Itself that inspired the name. Cheesy, but ace fun.

MP3 Pop Will Eat Itself - Get the Girl and Kill the Baddies

There is an End.



I'm having another lazy, lazy day today. I've got to get up in a bit to go and help a friend move house, but at the moment I'm being entertained by some cookery programs and the internet. Ho hum. I know I've got boring lately - I'll perk up soon.

MP3 Nu-Yorican Soul - Runaway

MP3 The Greenhornes - There is an End (Feat. Holly Golightly)

Resolve.



Only 2 resolutions from me this year - I never normally make them.

1) To not shave during July and August.

And,

2) To stop smoking in October.

That's it really. Here's some tunes:

MP3 The Long Blondes - Giddy Stratospheres

MP3 Joan as Police Woman - I Defy

MP3 Grinderman - No Pussy Blues


Music posted up here is for evaluation only, and only online for a limited time. If you're an artist, band or label that would like something removed, please get in touch. Otherwise, enjoy the blog!

About me

  • I'm jonthebeef
  • From Manchester, North West, United Kingdom



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