International Boy

I received a pretty random email the other day, informing me of some recent musical thievery. Except the email address was from a website that no longer exists and referenced a blog/magazine that gives precisely zero Google search results ('Toy Drive' anyone?). Mysterious, to say the least.

Despite this, the email seemed to have a sense of credibility and accuracy. It was all about Estelle, who is conquering the airwaves with her Will.I.Am produced, Kanye West collab, 'American Boy'. By the way, a BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge version of the track as well as her Scouting For Girls cover can still be downloaded [HERE]. Basically, the email was telling me how 'American Boy' had ripped off a track by Toronto's Arabesque called 'Nature's Phone'.

[Photo credit]

Considering I had nothing to lose and was pretty bored in between revision, I did a little comparison. Mystery emailer person had a very good point. They do sound similar. Mystery emailer even handily provided an mp3 of Arabesque's track, at a rip roaring 320kbps. Which makes me suspect it's simply an elaborate promo email but rather that than be sued for having the track up!

Anyway, have a listen below and hear for yourself:

Estelle ft. Kano - American Boy (Live On Later With Jools Holland) [YOURFILEHOST D/L]//[SENDSPACE D/L]
Arabesque - Nature's Phone [YOURFILEHOST D/L]

Apparently, Kanye had heard about Arabesque quite some time ago so I'm not sure what role he may have played. In the end though, everyone rips off someone or another at some point so I guess we just have to accept it and move on. Or in the case of Arabesque, try to gain some deserved attention!

On a related note, Sam Sparro whose single 'Black And Gold' is almost certain to become a global phenomenon, popped into BBC Radio 1 to play an Estelle cover and 'Black And Gold' recently. He did a most excellent version of 'American Boy' - I never suspected he'd be a competent rapper! 'Black And Gold' was understandably a bit less funky than the single version but the quality of the song and Mr Sparro's soulful voice still shone through.


I have a niggling suspicion Sam Sparro will be a bit of a one hit wonder but he can always follow his father and make music for tv shows like Star Trek. Which is mega cool. Or he could fight out for the role of Brains in a future Thunderbirds movie with the guy from Hot Chip and Esser.

Sam Sparro - American Boy (BBC Radio 1 Estelle Cover) [YOURFILEHOST D/L]//[SENDSPACE D/L]
Sam Sparro - Black And Gold (BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge) [YOURFILEHOST D/L]//[SENDSPACE D/L]

p.s just to say, the rip of 'Black And Gold' has a few imperfections. The BBC radio player has been..err..playing up. I think the original radio output might have gone wrong. Anyway, sorry!

Camden Crawl: Indie Idle

The Camden Crawl [link] fast approaches. If you're unfamiliar with the event, it's a two day festival (ish) in Camden, here in London. It's absolutely packed with bands and fans - the term "clusterfuck" comes to mind. I've also heard it's a bit of lottery to get to see the bands you want but that also means you get to some great new bands you might have missed.

Anyway, there's a couple of interesting competitions surrounding the event. Red Bull are sponsoring a stage at the Crawl as part of their Red Bull Bedroom Jam venture [link], where they'll handpick a band to play on from submitted entries. They're supporting youth music so if you're in a band and you're all under 19, head over to the site and give it a go. They've also got some tickets for under 18 year olds (otherwise not permitted at the Crawl) for their own stage. Check it out.



And gigwise.com are doing a similar competition to play at the Crawl, which I'm focusing on here, where they've whittled down hundreds of demos to twenty finalists, entitled 'Indie Idle' [link]. So today, I'm donning a ginger wig, oirish accent and pulling up my trousers to almost unbelievable heights to judge each of the twenty artists.

Obviously, as there's twenty bands, I'll be giving them a limited review. Typically, I'll just be listening to the song on offer on gigwise.com then giving my intial impressions. Keep it snappy, keep you happy. But if the band have been nice enough to allow other tracks for download, I'll be giving those a listen too. This is an mp3 blog after all.

Yezza ('Fresh Kicks')

"Token hip hop act. Pretty decent though."

Those were my initial thoughts, and considering my inferior knowledge of hip hop, I'm struggling here. 'Fresh Kicks' is quite fresh and downloadable at his MySpace [link] so you can decide.

Medicine Show ('Too Young For Love')

"Hyperactive indie pop, file under The View"

There's a fair bit of talk that they're like The Clash, which I kind of get. They definately sound like The View though.

Grand Pocket Orchestra ('Odd Socks')

"Reminds me of kids and FisherPrice toy instruments."

No mp3s on offer so see you later. Fun stuff, nonetheless.

We've Taped Over Your Cassettes ('Bar Brawl')

"Ace bandname but for a track called 'Bar Brawl', surprisingly inoffensive electro".

Ice. Sea. Dead People ('Hence:Elvis')

"RAWK. Kill kenada meets Jarcrew. Explosive."

Not sure about the bandname but they're lyke freakin awsum. Unless you hate noisy bands.

My Name Is Red ('Something Ugly')

"Satisfyingly chunky bassline. Not as great elsewhere."

BearKnuckles ('Move And React')

"Like the Sunshine Underground but without the dance influence."

Pretty much the Sunshine Underground with a bit of angular-ness (so Gang Of Four then). But there's an occasional spark of immense noise, which is most welcome.

BearKnucles - Move And React [Yourfilehost download]

Catalan Corruption ('A New Way')

"Another mini-maccabees, enjoying their teenage kicks. Good fun."

Little Things ('Brand New Rollerskates')

"A bit Counting Crows maybe? Radio 2 here they come!"

The Muscle Club ('I've Never Read Anything')

"Indie pop but a bit angsty. I don't think they like reading."

Like Los Campesinos! taking on college rock, and they're sort of from Wales too. Classy. Good demo, freely available from their website [link]

The Muscle Club - I've Never Read Anything [Yourfilehost download]

Guildean Gang ('London Road')

"Indie pop but a bit boring. Next!"

So I was unimpressed with their indie-by-numbers effort 'London Road' but luckily for them they have better stuff over on their MySpace. 'Can't You See Emily' is much better, like a cross between Mystery Jets and The Cribs. Although minus points for spamming internet messageboards and forums.

Guildean Gang - Can't You See Emily [Yourfilehost download]

The Ramblings ('Sorry Holly')

"Blues rock with an amusing message about male promiscuity. HARMONICA!"

Not enough songs have harmonica in them. Quite catchy, at times Kaiser Chiefs-esque although you do get the sad feeling they'll never be anything more than a pub rock band.

The Ramblings - Sorry Holly [Yourfilehost download]

Kick Box Riot ('You're Only Young Once')

"A mix between The Enemy and Foos-esque soft rock. Easy on the ear."

My First Tooth ('Sleet And Snow')

"Weather related folky pop. Lovely. HARMONICA!"

Skyhorse ('Don't Open Up')

"Eighties electro at its Radio-1-daytime-playlist smoothest"

*Impending A&R scrum alert* I think this track grabbed me the most. They've managed to meld electro, dance and eighties indie pop in a coherent and dazzling form. Considering they're still teenagers, I expect big things from Skyhorse.

Skyhorse - 1989 [Yourfilehost download]

The Gin Riots ('I Didn't Mean It')

"A tryhard amalgation of pop, punk and indie rock."

I think they've been around for ages but I'm just not feeling it. The more tracks I listened to, the more I felt that they were a disappointing Libertines ripoff.

The Shame ('Cosmic Love')

"Noisy but anthemic. Vitriolic punk."

Love Ends Disaster! ('Suzanne')

"Basically, an indie rock ballad. But with some kerrazy sfx."

The only band in the twenty that I've actually featured on Keep Hope Inside before and another band who have been around for years and years. Bit disappointing really.

Soft Toy Emergency ('Sorry')

"Filthy, sexy electro. Freeform Five fans take note."

'Sorry' genuinely reminds both of glam rock pisstake Do Me Bad Things and electro legends Freeform Five. In fact, it's almost a cover of Freeform Five's 'Electromagnetic'. That's no bad thing though.

Soft Toy Emergency - Sorry [Yourfilehost download]

The Dirty Backbeats ('Shakin' All Over')

"Retro rock. Been there, done that."

I think I was being a bit petulant here and it turns out they have a bit of gypsy punk and psychedelia going for them too. Still, not really my cup of tea.


And that's all twenty. Christ, that took an utter age. Overall, I think the standard was reasonably high but I could easily whittle it down to ten finalists.

My favourites were Skyhorse, Ice. Sea. Dead People, My First Tooth, Soft Toy Emergency and The Muscle Club but in the end I voted for Ice. Sea. Dead People. To be honest, that's more because I met 2/3rds of them at Truck festival a few years ago and played frisbee with them. But their band is great too, and will feature on this blog again in future. Special mention also to Catalan Corruption, who are all only about 14 and are following in the footsteps of Pull In Emergency and Lo-Fi Culture Scene in the systematic underage takeover of indie pop.

I suggest you go have a listen to some of the bands yourself at gigwise.com [link], where you can also vote for one band. You've only till midnight though, so hurry up!

And if you made it all the way to the bottom of this post, I shall reward with you with pretty much the final opportunity to listen to my second podcast, recorded about 51 weeks ago. All the details are [here] and if you like Bat For Lashes, Friends Of The Bride, Look See Proof or anyone in between them, I suggest you have a gander.

Or the worst?

So after yesterday's introduction to the whole "best or worst thing ever" concept [link], we'll crack on with today's contributions.

Ohio trio Times New Viking have had a plenty of buzz around them for sometime now, and not always for the best of reasons. Having released two albums on Siltbreeze Records, they've found a new home at Matador. Those two albums are notorious for their distorted, lo-fi sound which some find completely unlistenable. Yes, the production is that bad. However, that does appear to be half the charm of Times New Viking. At times, anyway. If you watch the embedded vid then listen to the mp3 below, you might sort of understand what I mean.

I'm not a big fan of the intentionally mediocre recordings but I guess that's now a bit of a gimmick. They haven't polished their sound since moving to Matador, as new album 'Rip It Off' shows. If you can detect the tune when listening to one of the tracks, you'll find that it's actually quite good. Overall, however, the jury's still out.

Times New Viking - Drop-Out [Yourfilehost download]

Yesterday, we had new Vice Records signees Dark Meat and today we have another new addition to the Vice Records roster, King Khan And The Shrines. The confusion begins almost immediately, with there also being a band called King Khan And The BBQ Show. And this band also seem to have gone by the name King Khan And His Shrines.


But the music is more important and listening to KK&TS is like stepping back into the sixties. Names like Hendrix and James Brown pop in my head when having a listen to the band but I'm no expert on music from that era.

Now some people might like that, others might wonder what the point is in emulating music that has already been done so well. I really enjoy it and they seem to have achieved some critical acclaim, placing #33 in Pitchfork's Top 50 albums of 2007. Not bad going.

Their new album is called 'Supreme Genius Of King Khan And The Shrines'. They probably thought that was hilarious, I think it's a bit arrogant. Better than false modesty I guess though. I'm sure it's a pretty great album, anyway.

King Khan And The Shrines - Torture [Yourfilehost]

'The Supreme Genius Of' will be out in the States on June 17th, followed by the first ever King Khan And The Shrines US tour in July/August.

Finally, we've got some friends of mine and definately a band that will completely polarise opinion and embody the concept I've been discussing. They're a collective (I say this, simply because their line up seems to change every 2 months) from London called Joy-Rides. If you like The Fall, I suspect you might like Joy-Rides. I don't really like The Fall.


But that's more Mark E Smith's fault rather than music. So I can have an appreciation for Joy-Rides. Although that appreciation more stems in the fact that they are awesomely unpretentious, full of chutzpah and their live shows are shambolic brilliance. The unintiated look on in awe or disgust. Never indifference. And that's surely a good thing?

For some reason, I'm namechecked in their demos or something ('Self Saam'?!) but if you have a listen they could sing about all their friends and every blogger in the universe and you still wouldn't have a clue as to what was coming next. They might make you laugh, they might make you cry but they honestly don't seem to care. They know they're never going to sell out Wembley, they just want to have fun and entertain. And that should be applauded.

Joy-Rides - Drum Beats [Yourfilehost]

Joy-Rides play London's Legion venue on Old Street this Sunday, see their MySpace for more details [link], where you can also download more (distinctly lo-fi) demo tracks.

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If you missed my second podcast way back in April 2007, just a warning that it will be disappearing forever very soon. So I suggest you give it a download and have a listen. Featuring the likes of Bat For Lashes, This Et Al, Look See Proof and Gay Against You, head [here] for more details. If you want to know what's going down in 2008, check my March 2008 podcast [here]. Cheers!

The best?

Sometimes you just can't tell whether something is the best thing ever or quite possibly the worst. Err, WUT?

Ignoring the hilarity of LOST, I think you know what I mean. Think: trashy b-movies (Arnie and Stallone), fast food (tasty yet hideously unhealthy) etc.

Bambi Get Over It are probably the defining example of this concept. Firstly, looking at their name, which I don't think I really like but other people love (judging from MySpace comments). It really reminds me of the Guillemots single! Then, and more importantly, their music is probably equally as polarising. Self confessed rockabilly meets folk, it's quite unique for contemporary British music. But I'm not sure "unique" is really a complimentary adjective.



Nonetheless, the tracks I was sent exhibit some promise. 'Bad Man' is the standout by far, and shows there is radio friendliness in the scope of Bambi Get Over It. Admittedly, that'd probably be BBC Radio 2. Dare I compare to early Razorlight but with a folk twist? Anyway, it is very poppy. And I like poppy. The bassline of 'That Girl' is reminiscent of 'Young Love' by the Mystery Jets, which apparently completely rips off a song from Hugh Grant film 'Music & Lyrics' (yet another an example of the best/worst thing ever). It descends into French halfway through, which is always a nice touch. However, it leaves me even more confused as to whether they are the best or worst thing ever! I guess it's fair to say Bambi Get Over It invoke a sense of nervous excitement, for better or for worse.

Bambi Get Over It - Bad Man [Yourfilehost download]
Bambi Get Over It - That Girl [Yourfilehost]

Dark Meat are new signings on VICE records, and they're literally a bunch of hippies. Seriously, "several members live in Orange Twin, a 100-acre sustainable-living eco-village, where members farm, do bio-diesel conversion and host shows at their amphitheater".

But considering their line up has consisted of members of Gnarls Barkley, Elf Power and Of Montreal amongst others, there must be some kind of musical pedigree there. Still, I'm not sure if they're the best or the worst thing I've ever heard. The fact that 'Freedom Ritual' has been designated their most accessible song (hence mass blog coverage of the track) and is over 7 minutes long should prove my point.



Having listened to the album, I'm almost lost for words. The only thing I could think of saying is that they are clearly completely mental. But that's probably not much good to you. I suppose Dark Meat are a bit like psychedelic devil RAWK. Admittedly, that's a pretty abject description and you really need to hear this band for yourself to decide whether they truly are the worst thing ever, or in fact, the best. I honestly can't tell.

Dark Meat - Freedom Ritual [right click, save as]
Dark Meat - Three Eyes Open [Yourfilehost]
Dark Meat - No One Was There (Warren Zevon Cover) [Yourfilehost]

The 17-piece collective are re-releasing their last album 'Universal Indians' on Vice Records today (presumably only in the States), with some additional tracks. They're also on a 66 show tour around America, check MySpace for dates [link].

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I'll be back tomorrow with more of the same but this time from Times New Viking and King Khan & The Shrines. Goody.

Banjo Or Freakout

As promised in my latest podcast [link], here's a post about everyone's favourite Turin-meets-Londoner Banjo Or Freakout. I featured his ace track 'Mr No' in my March podcast, calling it "tabla infused dream pop". The good people over at No Pain In Pop appear to be releasing it on a 7" this July. Good call.

Banjo Or Freakout is the alias of Alessio Natalizia, from the mean streets of Italy's Turin and now living with his girlfriend in London. He seems to arisen from nowhere, having played only a handful of live shows and dripfeeding his tracks via his very own blog [link]. Saying that, Alessio managed to attract the attention of DFA records co-founder Jon Galkin earlier this year and has also been profiled at DrownedInSound.com. Luckily for me, he added me on MySpace a few weeks ago and I was instantly impressed.

Not only had Alessio been making engaging, progressive music but he had been kind enough to share the mp3s with anyone and everyone using a blog. This was my kind of artist. As for the tracks themselves, Alessio notes that they're not always the most accessible and he often goes down the ¡Forward, Russia! route of naming them after numbers. Except his are pretty much completely random numbers. I'm posting some of his more "poppy" stuff below as well as a couple of covers that he's done lately.



While 'Mr No' is a more uptempo song (at least musically), some of the Banjo Or Freakout material is dark and almost disturbing, like 'I Will Not Kill You Now'. I think the title pretty much gives that one away, although hearing Alessio's vocal at the very end has every hint of deranged psychopath to it. I'm sure he's lovely though.

Banjo Or Freakout - I Will Not Kill You Now [Yourfilehost download link]
Banjo Or Freakout - People And Their Belongings [Yourfilehost]
Banjo Or Freakout - Foundations (Kate Nash Cover) [Yourfilehost]
Banjo Or Freakout - Atlas (Battles Cover) [Yourfilehost]

Alessio has another couple of ace covers over (as well as all the above tracks and more) at his blog, which I suggest you check out at banjoorfreakout.blogspot.com and seeing as it's unlikely I'm going to post about this band anytime soon, here's Battles with a live version of 'Atlas'.

Battles - Atlas (BBC Electric Proms 2007 Live) [Yourfilehost]//[Sendspace mirror]

I still don't really "get" Battles.

el Guincho

2008 has proved fruitful for Spanish "one man carnival" el Guincho, starting off with a nice write up over at Gorilla vs Bear, an 8.3 Pitchfork album review and debut shows in North America and the UK. Unfortunately, I missed his trip over last week, which included what I've heard was a rather good show with Fanfarlo and Munch Munch (both featured on Keep Hope Inside in the past) at London clubnight, White Heat. I believe he's even been signed to XL offshoot Young Turks to release the LP 'Alegranza' over here in the UK.



If you keep your eye on the music blogosphere, you'll be more than aware of Pablo Diaz-Reix, as he's known his mum and dad, by now. His mix of world music puts the likes of Vampire Weekend and Yeasayer to shame, combining bhangra/tabla, tropicalia, tribal beats and just about anything else that he sees fit.

So while I love his joyful mish mash of about 37 different genres, you can go read about all that elsewhere. Or simply have a listen. Instead, I'd like to bring his recent Bjork cover for Stereogum to your attention - 'Cover Me'. So he did. It's very different to the haunting, minimalist original and probably not to many Bjork fans' tastes. Here's what Pablo had to say about creating his version of 'Cover Me'.

"At first, I asked my ex-girlfriend to record some voice tracks for the song and tried to figure out how to fit it with another idea that I had: Like a 6-8 minute trip inspired by the remix Walter Gibbons did for Indian Ocean's 'Treehouse/Schoolbell.' But I ended up discarding the Indian Ocean idea and went a little bit old school UK garage! The other track I was working on sounded kinda similar to the original, like I was looping some all the original parts of the song and using a female voice, too, so I thought it was interesting to try a simple 2-step beat under the same universe, keeping the structure but changing the vocals and the vibe, kinda like dressing Björk in dirty clothes and taking her to the place she's trying to avoid in the lyrics. I am super excited to be a part of this."

That was stolen from Stereogum.com by the way, a site which I'm sure you're familiar with anyway. In case you're not, it is basically the king of all music blogs and occasionally gathers some exciting artists to compile tribute albums. This one features No Age, Liars, Xiu Xiu and some other bands that you've doubt heard great things about recently. I strongly suggest you head to Stereogum to check out the tribute albums and everything else they have going on over there [link].

el Guincho - Cover Me (Bjork Cover) - [Yourfilehost download]

Originally available from Stereogum [link]. If you fancy free (legal) el Guincho mp3s of his own stuff, make your way to his MySpace, where you can download 'Palmitos Park' por nada [link] and 'Fata Morgana' from RCRD LBL [link].