Blog: Musick

We weren't about to leave you with nothing. Musick is dead, but in its place is 3mins30secs, a brand new blog that picks up where Musick left off. CLICK HERE PLEASE

That's it. It's over. Musick is no more. Thanks to everyone who read it and commented, but it's time to move on... See you soon maybe.

Right, is this some kind of pathological disorder we're dealing with here? Do you want to make us track down each and every one of you (yes, all twenty!) and talk sternly at you for ten minutes? For fucks sake, what's going on? How can a song as instantly catchy and indescribably amazing as 'Better Than Love' by Hurts enter the charts at number 50? How? It defies belief. Sure, Villagers missed out too and the chances of Sleigh Bells denting the charts was up there with Susan Boyle's next covers album featuring a [...]

Who doesn't enjoy a good scrap? Well, there's a bit of a humdinger taking place at the moment between the never-knowingly subtle M.I.A and New York Times journalist Lynn Hirschberg. Basically, the New York Times magazine ran a fairly scathing 8,000 word piece on M.I.A in which Hirschberg repeatedly framed the Sri Lankan-born rapper as some massive hypocrite. This reached it's zenith with an extended paragraph in which M.I.A describes the injustice of the world whilst ordering some fancy Truffle-flavoured chips (Trufflegate as it has now become known online). M.I.A initially retaliated by posting the journalist's [...]

Apparently this is the first single from Kanye West 's fifth album, Good Ass Job. After all the hullabaloo about him 'violating' Taylor Swift's right to freedom of speech, it's nice to have him back doing what he does best. This is 'Power' featuring Dwele : This probably won't be online for long so get your ear holes around it NOW.

This here is the video for Rihanna 's new single (in the US), 'Rockstar 101'. Rumour has it that her label have already got Rihanna working hard on a 'poppier' follow-up to last year's Rated R, a record that showcased her harder edge (i.e. she wore black a lot and talked a bit about shooting people). In all honesty, this campaign has at least given Rihanna a bit of an edge when a lot of other pop stars have faded into the background like some fairly pleasant wallpaper. Either [...]

We've always had a slight problem with Arcade Fire . Sure, Funeral had its moments and some of Neon Bible was OK, but the general fawning of critics mixed with THE VERY SERIOUS expressions the band seem to wear at all times made them slightly hard to love. Regardless of our general sense of "meh", the band have somehow decided to carry on recording music and two brand new tracks have found their way into a shop in Glasgow. Let us explain; basically, a man [...]

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti have a pretty amazing new album out at the beginning of June. Entitled Before Today and released via the legendary 4AD label, it's a brilliantly odd mix of psych-pop, glam and full-blown pop that reminds us of everyone from Pavement to Super Furry Animals . This here is a live version of 'Menopause Man', which is all about a man wanting to be a woman. Altogether now, "Castrate me, make me gay / Lady, I'm a lady from today".

Hands up who remembers the Klaxons ? You do!? Seriously? OK, well they've spent the past fourteen years working on the follow-up to the Mercury-winning Myths of The Near Future and finally the first fruits of their intensive labour have found their way onto the interpipe. This is 'Flashover': So, what do you reckon? Was it worth the wait? Certainly you can hear producer Ross Robinson's influence, especially in [...]

Everyone hates Mark Ronson . We get it, don't get it twisted; it's that ubiquity, that smirk, those horns, the fact that he's a good-looking chap with some nice threads. But at the same time, it's weird because he's made some pretty great songs - the majority of Back To Black, for example - and he clearly knows his stuff, but at the same time he's easy to dismiss. Whether you like him or not, his new album, Record Collection, is shaping up to be pretty interesting. Featuring a host of guest vocalists - including Boy [...]

We need to have words. Seriously. Move closer, sit down and just fucking listen for once. How could you let Kelis ' new album enter at no. 42? For those of you without a degree in maths, that means she missed the Top 40, whilst albums from the likes of Boyzone and Scouting For Girls pranced around in the upper echelons like they owned the place. Disgraceful. Still, LCD Soundsystem managed to gatecrash the top 10, which just goes to show that acres of press and a handful of amazing reviews do have an influence after all. [...]

There are rumours circulating that Swedish pop supremo Robyn 's record label wanted her age to be kept out of interviews or at least played down, simply because she's over...wait for it...30 years of age! Given this nugget of information, it must have been hard for Robyn to film this video for the mind-meltingly good 'Dancing On My Own', seeing as much of it takes place in a club with loads of young people getting off with each other and being all young and gross. Whatever her age, the woman knows how to wring every drop of [...]

You must know how it works by now. If not, allow us to remind you; a new band start generating some buzz, we miss it completely, then six months down the line we catch on and tell you about it as if you've never heard of them (when of course, by then, even Mildred who lives opposite the Post Office knows about them). With that in mind, allow us to introduce you to Warpaint . Four young ladies from LA, Warpaint have caused [...]

There's much to hate about Jo Whiley - that voice, her fawning over every new band as if they were the second coming, creating Fearne Cotton - but perhaps her biggest sin is the legacy of The Live Lounge. For those unfamiliar with the concept, let Musick enlighten you; basically, every week a band or singer arrives at the Radio 1 studios ready to "revamp" and "re-contextualise" a current hit single. So, for example, Scouting For Girls will rock up, play their new single and then delivery a irony-free take on 'My Humps' by The Black Eyed [...]

It seems our mild indifference towards Foals second album didn't put people off buying it; entering at number 8, it's the band's second top ten album in a row. However, their debut peaked at no. 3, so that's five chart placings they've lost in the interim and at the end of the day, five chart placings are five chart placings. Or something. Holy Fuck did diddily squat, whilst the fresh-faced Mini Viva may soon be stacking shelves in the Minute Mart (or not, seeing as it's fictional) as their third single misses the Top [...]

This is the new single from Kylie Minogue . It's called 'All The Lovers' and is taken from her millionth album, Aphrodite. Very nice.

This is the rather great new video for Wildbirds & Peacedrums new single, 'Bleed Like There Was No Other Flood'. Filmed in Iceland and continuing the visual water theme started with the forthcoming EP, Retina, it's all rather hypnotic. The song itself is relatively straight forward in the fact that it 'only' features a full choir, some clattering percussion and Mariam Wallentin's spooky vocals. It builds and evolves slowly into something quite beautiful. Retina is out on 24 May.

We all know that Beck is prolific - he covers albums in a day, helps produce records by Stephen Malkmus and Jamie Lidell , is on the new Twilight soundtrack - but such is his work rate that some amazing things are being lost amongst the sheer weight of his workload. We know next to nothing about Tobacco - only that it's, like, super-bad for you - but whoever he is, he's got some stellar connections. Beck adds his mumbled brand of nonsense beat poetry to the charmingly haphazard, 'Fresh Hex'. [...]

Derek Miller (guitar/production) and Alexis Krauss (vocals) make up Brooklyn noise-pop duo Sleigh Bells . Not only do they make music your mum used to warn you about - "it's just noise" is actually completely accurate - but they're also signed to M.I.A 's N.E.E.T label and Miller helped out on his bosses brand new album. Not bad for a band who only got together after Krauss - who had just left a crappy girl band - and Miller were forced into making music together by Krauss' mother. Their debut album, Treats, has just been released [...]

This is the official first single from M.I.A 's third album that we mentioned yesterday when we were going on about how she'll probably never sell any records. Unfortunately for us, it's a massive, full-on pop single, with a brilliantly chopped beat, three or four hooks and a chorus that is sung in a slightly emotionally detached fashion, a la Britney . This is 'XXXO': GOING TO BE HUGE.