so, Shangela has a video

I've got to be honest: as much as I adore 'RuPaul's Drag Race' - and I have, more than once with complete sincerity, declared it the best show on television - this whole every-drag-queen-is-a-popstar thing is getting a little tiring.

However.

Shangela has just raised the bar. THIS is how you fucking do it, ladies:



It is the longest five minutes you'll ever sit through, true, but it's also a bit like an outtake from Geri Halliwell's masterpiece of insanity 'Scream If You Wanna Go Faster'. In drag. (Like, actual drag, not Geri Halliwell-always-looked-like-a-drag-queen-anyways drag.) With a gratuitous Popeye's cameo. Guest starring the insufferable Abby Lee Miller, who is actually perfect for this. On top of that, the video threatens to turn into "Cold Hearted Snake" for a few seconds.

Hot. Mess.

Fantastic.

(Thank you, Frank, for opening my eyes to this.)

Suede 6

And like that, the first new results of the Suede reunion are upon us. After pretty incessant teasing through their Twitter feed, this morning they announced new LP 'Bloodsports' - a horribly non-Suede Suede album title if you ask me - and free download of new single "Barriers". (NME reports an "official" single "It Starts And Ends With You" - such a cliche late-period Suede song title it's amazing it hasn't been used yet - is due in February.) 

They've been mouthing off about going back to a sound that's part 'Dog Man Star'/part 'Coming Up' and not releasing anything unless they get it right, which can only set you up for some sort of disappointment. (Really, both of those albums were lightning in a bottle for completely different reasons, it's absurd to think you could re-create either of them individually, let alone mash them together but I'll give it to Brett. He was excited.) On the bright side, the latter proves to be true enough - this is no grand slam Suede return, more a gentle toe dip to test the waters and see what people say, but a legacy tarnisher it is not.

I'm willing to accept not a total disaster - for now - but they're gonna have to do more than a fleshed-out re-write of "Oxygen" for the experiment to be a full-on success. I think they can do it, as long as they stay out of their own way and let the music do the talking. (And even more importantly, not completely distance themselves from work they're obviously proud of if public opinion doesn't mesh. coughcough"Attitude"coughcough)

Freemonster's 20 favorite records of 2012

2012 has come and gone - thank God, it was a bit of a rough one, wasn't it? As always though, there were plenty of good records coming out to soundtrack the year. Here are twenty of them in some sort of numerical order:


20: The Last Names - Wilderness


19: Gaz Coombes - Here Come The Bombs


18: The Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania


17: Ash - Little Infinity EP


16: The 2 Bears - Be Strong


15: Silversun Pickups - Neck of the Woods


14: Mirrors - This Year, Next Year, Sometime . . . ?


13: Pet Shop Boys - Elysium


12: Toy - Toy


11: Gotye - Making Mirrors 


10: Robbie Williams - Take The Crown


09: The Men - Open Your Heart


08: Lamps - Under The Water Under The Ground


07: The Frogs - Squirrel Bunny Jupiter Deluxe


06: Van She - Idea of Happiness


05: Pop Levi - Medicine


04: Sylver Tongue - Something Big EP


03: The Ting Tings - Sounds From Nowheresville


02: Imperial Teen - Feel The Sound


01: Ultrasound - Play For Today

2012 according to last.fm

An extremely well curated career spanning box set will do that, but I'm surprised to find Ultrasound so low - I feel like I listened the hell out of 'Play For Today'.