nananananana...

wow, james lavelle singing, didn’t see that one coming… it’s not exactly anything to write home about, and you can’t really tell him apart from any bland indie-band vocalist, but at the same time, it’s nice to see someone in his position take a risk like that, stepping outside his comfort zone of, ehm, well i’m still not entirely sure what he does (cue lots of jokes about his getting someone else to do the singing for him)... oh and I can’t make out most of the lyrics either. nice bassline though… album is out july 9th, and, leaks notwithstanding, I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

UNKLE - Hold My Hand

release the chickens...

it's been blogged about already, and with better photos, but bonde do role played dublin again on wednesday. unlike their gig in october (which they referred to as one of the best of last year, obviously), this one was quite heavily attended, much to my delight. although it made the gig a little bit more difficult to enjoy. crawdaddy is a great venue, but when it's as packed as it was in wednesday it's kind of annoying. the performance was great, although pedro's mic was acting up early on, which made for some interesting mic-sharing between himself and marina. gorky wandered down into the crowd at one stage to feel the buzz, Pedro and Marina stage-dived as usual, general madness ensued. they had a range of new t-shirts on offer - burt reynolds, pele/maradona/latini, chickens - but there was no sign of their forthcoming album. i did pick up a 7" vinyl of solta o frango though, so it's not all bad. all things considered, i'm very excited about seeing them at the electric picnic in september.

gat in hand, I don't wanna blast her man...

ok so this track isn't exactly new, but i recently became reacquainted with life after death. over the past few years i haven't paid it much attention, listening instead to ready to die. this one song, however, is one that i'll always have time for. tonight, having read about r kelly's new album double up, i decided to finally investigate the infamous trapped in the closet series, something i first read about in mongrel a long time ago. watching this exercise in hilarity brought to mind BIG's track about getting caught sleeping with another man's girl. i know that's what i'd do...

The Notorious BIG - I Got A Story To Tell

that which does not kill me...

kanye dropped a new mixtape with plain pat last week, and everyone seems to be going crazy for his rapping over daft punk's harder, better, faster, stronger. listening through the mix properly for the first time, i'm surprised no one is paying any attention to other aspects, such as his terrible interpretation of peter, bjorn and john's young folks, or his borat impression on stay up. oh well. if this is supposed to make me excited for graduation day, it's not really working... lupe's verse on us placers is probably the best thing here, along with the snippets from common and the beat on sa-ra's white (on the floor).

Kanye West - Young Folks