good deal

The Ladyhawke album is up for pre-order at amazon.co.uk for a ridiculous £5.98. No idea why it's so low, but with VAT discount and shipping it comes to around $16. If the singles are anything to go by - and PopJustice's raving about it - then that's the deal of the year.

'Dusk Til Dawn':

electrical is the way to go

[Thanks to Joe and Dingo for both passing this along to me - you boys know me too well. ;)]

We'll just get down to it - Parralox are fucking hott. Apparently they formed back in February, are from Australia, and are responsible for 'We Believe In Electric Love' which is one of the most amazing pop songs of 2008 so far. [What's up with all the pop love from Australia lately? Speaking of, I really need to get the Van She album.]

There's no YouTube videos to post that I could find, but pop on over to their myspace to check it out. Avoid 'Black Jeans' while you're there because it's a bit shit - sample lyric: 'I wear black jeans on my ass'...seriously? - but also check out 'I Fell In Love With A Drum Machine' [amazing title] and the megamix. Lots of megamix love lately...I'm glad to see it return as an artform. :)

So thank you California boys. I am in your pop debt once again.

I was hoping they'd do this

There have been a ton of fantastic remixes to come out of the Whip's "X Marks Destination" singles so far. Being the fan of remix and repackage that I am, more than once I thought "wouldn't it be nice if they put together a remix album?"

Apparently they read my mind because such a thing hit iTunes today. While the tracklisting leaves a little to be desired - and no vinyl release makes me very sad - it's another fantastic way to enjoy possibly my favorite album of 2008.

01 Frustration [Van She Remix]
02 Trash [Crookers Remix]
03 Muzzle No. 1 [Bloody Beetroots Remix]
04 Frustration [Hadouken! Remix]
05 Trash [South Central Remix]
06 Blackout [Ashley Beedle's Next Generation Edit]
07 Frustration [Black Affair Instrumental]
08 Muzzle No. 1 [The Black Ghosts Remix]
09 Sister Siam [Bitchee Bitchee Ya Ya Ya Remix]
10 Frustration [Hearts Revolution Remix]

4 remixes of 'Frustration' out of 10 tracks seems a bit much - especially since one of them was just released on the 'Blackout' pacakge. Personally, I was hoping more for the "Telegram" route where each album track was represented but what can you do? A bit of a missed opportunity, but I'm glad to see it. [Though it seems to imply that there won't be any more singles from the album, since this is essentially a single for 'Frustration'. Oh well. No 'Fire' remixes after all. :( ]

this makes things more interesting

Apparently, a Fred Falke remix going to be part of the Sugababes' 'Girls' package. That makes me very excited.

On an unrelated - outside of being about another brilliant pop band - note, a video for Dragonette's 'Competition' finally surfaced. Will we get a single after all? Probably not, but here it is in super low quality [the fidelity, not the video itself - it's awfully fantastic and fantastically awful]:

...For me today, I really see this as the gateway Smashing Pumpkins album - there's still parts of the old band I loved peeking through, but there's also glimpses of what they band would become in there messing everything up. Mostly, I find it hard to listen to because it signifies the end of a very special band at the beginning of an insufferable one.

i've been waiting for you to belong to me

So apparently there's a new Emiliana Torrini single and album coming out next month. They're both called 'Me and Armini' and the the single sounds something like this:



Someone's decided to use a sound that's been working lately, haven't they?

In actuality, it's nowhere near as dull as the awful "Fisherman's Woman" but not quite as good as the charming "Love in the Time of Science". So I guess the moral is I don't really care anymore. Oh well.

[How has absolutely everything that GusGus has splintered off into turned into complete shit? Outside of the stunning Daníel album, of course. The Blake/DDD/whatever Mangnus is calling himself these days tracks are quite fun too I suppose. OK, so not everything is shit, but the stuff that is is shit enough to make up for the good stuff. Right?]

he's not your boyfriend, he's mine

So I've been on the fence about Alphabeat - it took me a while to get into it, but 'Fascination' grew on me. Follow up single '10,000 Nights of Thunder' was more of the same, but it kind of bored me.

Third single 'Boyfriend', however, is brilliant. That amazing pop single they seemed capable of making but hadn't quite found yet.



Even better is the Alex Metric remix.


It's quite Daft Punk, isn't it?

Of course, they're not putting out a proper remix single release - only a 2-tracker with a cover of 'Black and Gold'. The remixes are only available digitally in the UK, or if you go promo hunting...which I am more than happy to do, of course.

that's heavy, man

My copy of the new Supergrass single 'Rebel In You' - only available through Supergrass records and only on 7" - just came in the mail. It's gorgeous.

Numbered edition [I got 226], hand signed by the band [only the first 200 were supposed to be signed, but hey I'm not complaining], super duper heavyweight white vinyl. [I thought there were like 3 7"s in the package it was so heavy.] Hooray boys!

Off to give it a spin and see if the b-side 'Car Crash' is any good. [I'm not exactly holding my breath - Supergrass b-sides tend to be hit or miss - but maybe they'll surprise me. "Diamond Hoo Ha" is way better than I thought it would be.]

is that all there is?

I can't help but feel a bit disappointed.

That said, I didn't like 'Push the Button' much at first either, and now I think it's one of the greatest singles of the '00s, so perhaps it'll grow on me.

Here's hoping.

is it album six already?

According to the ever fantastic PopJustice - from whom this picture was nabbed - the also ever fantastic Sugababes have a new single out in September entitled 'Girls'. It's the first single from the as yet untitled sixth [!!!] album, due out in October.

They assure us it is brilliant, and I'm generally one to trust their opinion. So bring it.

Let's hope the album as a whole is better than "Change" - a bit of a step down, wasn't it?

happy birthday Siamese Dream

I'm about 10 days late on this, but can you friggin believe that "Siamese Dream" came out 15 years ago on July 27th? FIFTEEN years old. Christ, we're getting up there, aren't we?

For whatever reason - maybe subconsciously I knew it was its birthday - I've been listening to it a lot lately. Like, a lot a lot. And somehow, it has only gotten better with age...which is pretty amazing considering how fucking fantastic it sounded back then.

Forget what came after it, be selective about what you remember from before it, but always keep in mind that it is one of the greatest albums of all time. Full stop.

'Cherub Rock' : [album openers rarely get better than this]



'Rocket' : [videos rarely get better than this]



'Disarm' : [via "Vieuphoria" - I've always LOVED this version]



I could go on and on. *sigh*