Golden E.L.Oldies

You know those times when you discover a band, only to discover straight afterwards that you already know several of their songs extremely well and were wondering for ages who those songs were by?

Well that's just happened to me (again). It's criminal I hadn't heard any of Electric Light Orchestra's songs before (or at least, thought I hadn't heard them). I'd always dismissed them as a throwaway '70s band that dabbled in string orchestrations, sort of like a later-era Beatles.

Then one day recently one of their Best Of compilations was randomly put on rotation in work, and, as I stocked the Bordeaux wine shelves, I found myself more and more intrigued. That's the song from that really annoying Guinness ad about the dot! That's the song the Pussycat Dolls sampled from! And I don't know that song but it's really really cool!

Thus upon discovering the identity of the perpetrators of these songs, I did what every proud fan of a band does - "bought" the album! Enjoy these highlights.

Evil Woman - Electric Light Orchestra (Zshare)
Mr Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra (Zshare)
Shine A Little Love - Electric Light Orchestra (Zshare)

Director's Cut

While I'm on the subject of The Chemical Brothers, it would be criminal of me not to remind you of (introduce you to?) this super amazing, unbelievable, incredible video Michel Gondry made for them. And, while I'm on this, I might as well share everything else Michel Gondryish with you. Enjoy!

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My favourite bit is, without a doubt, the bit with the masks. I've been considering wandering around town some day wearing a massive mask of my face (possibly followed by entourage wearing progressively smaller masks of my face). And to think I've actually met people that don't like this video. Freaks.

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This needs no introduction... Except maybe this epilogue. God I love the way French people say 'Daft Punk'. "Daft Peeewwwnkk". Mmmmm...



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I don't know how I didn't twig this was Michel Gondry when I saw it. I mean, it ticks all the boxes (by the far the biggest box being, of course, Björk). Such a simple yet incredible video for a simple and incredible song.

New Chem Bros - Noice...

Yum yum! I do love The Chemical Brothers, so the news that they're bringing out another album was sheer angelic music to my ears. Unfortunately, a quick glance at the track listing for Brotherhood reveals that this is another Chems greatest hits compilation, despite the fact that they've released only two albums since their last best-of compilation. Still, if you have a cash cow, you're gonna milk...

There is one new track among the classics on the new greatest hits though - a compilation with Spank Rock called Keep My Composure. Spank Rock are pretty shit-hot at the moment so this is natural, given the Chems tendency of collaborating with hawt artists de jour - see Klaxons for We Are The Night, Wayne Coyne for Singles 92-03, etc.

Something else Brotherhood promises is the 2CD version that includes all the Electronic Battle Weapons so far. For those of you unfamiliar with the latter, the Electronic Battle Weapons are Chems tracks released as promos to test out in clubs, with the view that if the audiences loved them they'd get rejigged a bit and included as tracks. Electronic Battle Weapon 8, for example, appears in a shortened form as Saturate on their last album.

I first heard Electronic Battle Weapon 9 out in Doyle's about a year and a half ago (random, I know). I'm absolutely amazed it never made it onto an album - it's freaking amazing, and was so positive it would make it onto We Are The Night, but alas they opted for the (in my opinion) far inferior EBW 8. Boo-urns.

Keep My Composure - The Chemical Brothers feat. Spank Rock (Zshare)
Electronic Battle Weapon 9 - The Chemical Brothers (Zshare)

You might want to check this out as well. It's their new single, a reworked Electronic Battle Weapon 10. I'll be honest - I'm not a fan; the drums are a bit weak and there's not a huge amount to hold you onto the song, and the video is meh. Somebody in the comments on Youtube suggested that this would be the next La Rock 01, which leads me to believe that the commenter in question has never heard La Rock 01. To be honest the Chems are capable of a lot better; this just feels a bit tired.

Perhaps Ed Westwick Should Stop Putting His Photos Online

But I'm not complaining!

Race For White House Takes Unexpected Turn

You might recall that John McCain cheekily compared Barack Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton in one of his more recent campaign advertisements (video below). The divil! It was a pretty desperate ploy by a man who really should be sitting in a retirement home instead of attempting to grab the most stressful job on the planet, but that hasn't stopped the folks from Funny Or Die from taking the piss out of the ad in question.

I'll be honest - I am flabbergasted. I really, truthfully did not think Paris Hilton would be capable of uttering the words "new technologies to cut foreign oil dependency" without her face spasming into a hideous mask of anguish, but she has proved me wrong. Kudos Paris! I am also strangely in awe of her acting abilities (apart from the bit where she pretends to read that magazine; they probably should have picked something a tad more believable than Conde Nast). Bear in mind that I haven't seen House of Wax yet, and can only assume said film would shatter any illusions I have about Paris being an acceptable actress.

The video has left me somewhat bitter that she isn't running for the position. I'm thinking possible running mate, Barack...

Truth Is Truth!

This is so gay you can't not love it. I've put episode 5 up first because Debbie is such a success.



Offence de jour: "Your nose looks like a cat!"

Aiiiiiieeeeeee!

I'm totally on a roll here. A disgusting roll I'll admit, but a roll nonetheless. AND her name is Elaine? Whaaat??! Apparently she's the Guinness World Record holder for most number of piercings on a body. Don't quite know why anybody would want that record, but congrats Elaine! In case you're wondering - that's 720 piercings. Her airport security HELL.

Uggghhhhhh!

Jebus! Possibly most disturbing part of this video" "my fiance" - somebody is actually engaged to this person. I can only assume his surname is Rothschild or Rockefeller, or else he has somehow obtained a massive amount of money and also has an incurable disease. God knows it's not his disarming good looks.

Cleveland's Next Top Model: Cycle 1

Sexy Walk = amazing. There are 4 episodes in the cycle; I've put up the first one, and the all access one (episode 5) because I'm so in love with Sexy Walk; you can catch the other 3 episodes on Youtube.

A Few Remixes

It's been out for three years so I can't believe I never heard of this!

NY Excuse (Justice Remix) - Soulwax (Zshare)

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While I'm on the subject of Soulwax - MGMT need to release their Kids remix ASAP. And why oh why does Erol Alkan always have access to these fantastic unreleased tracks? Someone needs to do a Paris Hilton's Blackberry on him and hack into his iTunes.



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My suspected theories about Immuzikation (that he is a robot whose sole purpose in life is to cram as many songs as possible into one song, and will only achieve true happiness when he has compressed every release in history into one single three-minute mashup) were essentially confirmed when I saw these. Especially the second one - even typing it was stressful. They're still good though!

One More Time To Pretend (Immuzikation Mashup) - Daft Punk vs. MGMT vs. The Doors (Zshare)
Just Another Call With You (Immuzikation Mashup) - MGMT vs. Soulwax vs. Prince vs. Chromeo vs. Afrika Bambaataa vs. Stardust (Zshare)