White Lies have taken the unprecedented step of offering their album as a free instrumental download. It may be Friday 13 th but maybe it's our lucky day? Whether this is to try out some new software (you go to a web page that checks you have bought their album) or just to promote their new single, Farewell To The Fairground I don't know. However, if you have bought their album either through iTunes or as a CD you can go to here and download the whole album. I have only [...]
Now I think I should explain what the BBC Radio 1 Mini Mix is as I don't think enough of you took advantage of the last Mini Mix I posted by Mark Ronson . It's a five minute mix where an artist is asked to mix as many or as few songs as they like. Some DJs like to use it as a way to promote their own music. In this mix Fatboy Slim mixes in some of his tracks, some other tracks he likes as well as some of the original tracks that he's sampled from. Let me [...]
Elbow recently played with the BBC Concert Orchestra and previous winners of Choir Of The Year for Radio 2. As you might expect the result was fantastic. Listen to this recording of One Day Like This. I would have thought the whole concert will be released on CD at some point. MP3: One Day Like This (Live) - Elbow With The BBC Concert Orchestra
OK, I've just found out I'm way behind with this but who cares. It's the first track I have ever bought off iTunes solely on the preview. I don't know how I ended up looking it up but it is my favourite track to run to at the moment. It gets your heart racing, it gets quicker and you half want to turn it up and half want to turn it off! Have a listen and see what you think. It's the live version taken from the Ed Rec Vol III compilation. [...]
Rocknrolla came out on DVD last week and it was hailed as a return to form for director Guy Richie. It certainly has its moments, his films are steadily getting more polish (and better actors). The star of the film has to be Toby Kebbell , nominated for a BAFTA rising star award*, who is excellent. He plays a gangster's son, think Russell Brand crossed with a young Al Pachino . The soundtrack sounded great as well, which is no surprise going on the past [...]
I thought I'd post about something a little bit different today. You've got the long end of month playlist to be working through so I thought I'd point you in the direction of a talented artist. Martin Joiner runs the Open Mic Night in Taunton at Perfect. He's a former art student who is know for his Explosion paintings and is establishing himself more and more, recently moving in to a new studio. Martin's also a bit of a poet (hence the open mic nights) and I thought I'd point you in the direction [...]
It's back and better than ever, no not Lost, but the world famous What's Wrong With The Mainstream end of month playlist. After a rest in December I am back with the playlist that has the best tracks I've found from other blogs, radio and free downloads from bands. They're not always brand new tracks, sometimes they've been out a while and are new to me. That's especially the case this month with lots of people posting their "best of" lists. First up are three tracks with female lead vocals. Now normally [...]
Excellent covers band The Mighty Rufus fronted the brilliantly named Barry White, yes that really is his name, recently added Carly Simon's Nobody Does It Better to their set. Sadly I haven't got an mp3 I can share with you of their performance. However, fear not, I have a cover of it by lesser know band Radiohead, I'm sure you guys will be big too one day. MP3: Nobody Does It Better - Radiohead
OK, so I've been watching lots of Spaced recently but who can blame me, it's a great series and more to enjoy the more you watch it. I've just found out there's a homage-o-meter extra that you can switch on and it will tell you what film they are referring to so the geek inside of me can't wait to do that. There are two tracks that I have managed to track down thanks to the excellent Spaced Out web site. First up is the a-team remix from the scene in the club, a great scene [...]
I've been downloading a lot more dance mixes recently to listen to while I'm running. A great site for this is Pearson Towers go on there and have a look at the mixes. It's got a great selection and one of the most popular on there is Mark Ronson . His Essential Mix is great, I definitely recommend that and to give you a taster here is his Mini Mix he did for Annie Mac on Radio 1. MP3: Mini Mix - Mark Ronson
How come I've only just found out about this? It was announced in September that there will be two new epsiodes plus a "making of" epsiode and that will be "followed by a "no holds barred" episode without sets, special effects or autocue." accotding to the bbc. A quick look at http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/ and it really does look real. Robert Llewellyn has been in to have his head measured and has even had a cast made for his part as Kryten. To celebrate this news below are two classic clips [...]
My White Lies album review has been taken down despite me only offering songs that the band had previously made available free elsewhere. If only they'd asked I'd have taken them down, now i've lost my album review as I didn't think I'd need to back it up...
"The last Monday in January, is apparantly, the worst day of the year" I'm not sure what Ghosts are hoping to acheive with a line like that in their happy go lucky pop but it always sticks with me. Just look at it this way, once you're through today life can only get better. "Open your eyes, the world's outside" have a great Monday! MP3: The World Is Outside - Ghosts
It's been a while since we've had an album review on What's Wrong With The Mainstream and what better way to kick off the new year than with White Lies. I have to take my hat off to the record companies as they often give us a big album release in January to look forward to (Arctic Monkeys first album springs to mind). I think the White Lies album is everything I expected and hoped for. Yes they seemed to be death obsessed and they wear black but actually their music isn't actually as [...]
The Jones are a band I've come across through my good friend QShoes (no, I don't know why that's his nickname). They're quite similar to The Music and The Sunshine Underground, with fast paced rock. Their first single In My Head is due out early this year on Atomic records (thanks to Ben from their management for giving me the OK to post the track). If you like either The Music or The Sunshine Underground I definitely recommend you check out this track. They currently have three gigs coming up: [...]
That's right, Call The Doctor are going to be playing in Bristol and I'm going to miss it! Sadly I have a 30 th birthday party to go to, may be I can catch them when they play the Louisiana? Full gig listing: 7 Feb 2009 20:00 The Mother's Ruin w/ Hair Traffic Control Bristol 24 Feb 2009 12:00 bristol radio acoustic session bristol 4 Mar 2009 20:00 louisiana bristol 9 Mar 2009 20:00 [...]
I was recently discussing how I could see the great track For Tomorrow by Emerald Park being used in a film or TV programme as a soundtrack. It is was agreed that it would be great as a soundtrack to a montage, maybe some friends moving in to a house and decorating. Then low and behold I'm watching the last episode of the great Spaced series and on comes the Stanton Lick by Lemon Jelly . Not only is it a very similar track to For Tomorrow but it's used in a montage about a group [...]
Did you get it? Of course you did! Yep, the thing that the last 10 tracks have all had in common is that the lyrics mention the title of the album in which they're taken from, without those lyrics also being the title of the song. Got that? By way of explanation, the full list is given below: Cannonball - The Breeders (Spitting in a wishing well, Blown to hell... crash I'm the last splash ) Country Girl - Primal Scream (You gotta keep on keepin' [...]
What's Wrong With The Mainstream
Avicii – Two Million
Beck – I Just Started Hating Some People Today
iamamiwhoami: kin - Teaser
