Heaven Knows He's.. Bloody Old Now..

I know, his birthday was yesterday, but I was busy and so didn't have time to pay homage to the God of Gloom, the Third Sex, Mr Stephen Patrick Morrissey. Sycophantic enough for you?

PA Photos

So, Mozzer has reached the grand old age of 50- hard to believe isn't it? For anyone over the age of 30, The Smiths doesn't seem like that long ago, and to any teenage fans it doesn't sound like he ever really grew up in terms of his music. After 25 years since his first single, Morrissey's lyrics are still as poignant and meaningful as ever, and I predict that his songs full of love, loss and loneliness will be heralded as some of the finest songsmanship in years to come.

Personally Morrissey and indeed Marr's music has given me an outlet to all the pitfalls that a teenage life can bring: the occassional splurge of jealousy when our friends 'Become Successful', the over dramatic tales of rejection and the general feeling that nobody understands. Morrissey's lyrics are in my eyes beautiful yet tragic at the same time, despairing yet hilarious, arrogant yet humble. Love him or loathe him, nobody can deny that Mr. Morrissey has an amazing gift for writing songs that are relateable in some way or another. As far as I'm concerned, he is a total legend- Happy Birthday Mozzer!

Magnetic Attraction

Lame title I know, but I'm running low on creativity this week.

I may be a little behind the hype, but I just HAD to blog about The Magnetic Fields. They are truly brilliant in the way that they sound both enlightening and miserable at the same time.

I love it.

The Magnetic Fields sound like Joy Division being injected with prozac and rainbows whilst being beaten up by The Pet Shop Boys- some day huh? Still, if you listen to the track below you'll see what I mean. There's also something slightly Mouldy Peaches about them too, not sure whether it's the bemusing lyrics or just the vocalist's voice, but I can't seem to shake the comparison on some of their tracks.

What do you crazy folks think?

A Midweek Pick Me Up

So, in my next attempt at a mini-post during the run up to exams I shall let you in on one of my favourite singer songwriters, the wonderfully surreal folk outfit known as Sue and the Unicorn.

Photo by Matthew Cotton

Now you may have seen this quirky mademoiselle, aka Sue Denim, in chaotic electro duo Robots in Disguise, but what you may not be aware of is that for the past year or so she's been extending her talents to the realms of folk.

Sue and the Unicorn has been a not so guilty pleasure of mine for some time now, always meant to post about her but never quite got around to it. Sue's songs are brilliant due to their sheer simplicity: It literally is just her and a guitar, and there's no better song to highlight this than 'Like Brewster McCloud.' The acoustic guitar is a perfect backdrop for her slightly otherworldy lyrics about wanting to be free to laugh and live and, errm, fly. A more Ska-influenced version of the track also fails to disappoint. The song sounds entirely different to the original, the Reggae lilt creating a much brighter and chilled tone, which is in itself quite an impressive feat seeing as the original is more than a little bit wistful in comparison.

My favourite track, and what I think epitomises everything I like about Sue is 'Til the Sweat Dries.' Sue's vulnerable pleading for more than just a one night stand almost mystifies. There's no pretentiousness here as is with some musicians of this calibre; what you hear is more certainly what was intended, and there's definitely no smoke and mirrors. Just simple chords and Sue's soaring vocals, enough to give me goosebumps. And then, just when you think it's getting too sappy, Sue changes her mind and cheekily commands to get inside me. Brilliant.

My only qualm with Sue.. is that even with two mini tours under her belt, she has yet to release an EP of any sort and most of her songs are still in demo form. Get a move on woman!

However, in the meantime there's always this upbeat and thoroughly cute track, recorded in some random park in Germany. Enjoy.

SUE AND THE UNICORN : PICK ME UP from brian belukha on Vimeo.

For the mentioned tracks and more, visit
www.myspace.com/sueandtheunicorn

Free Love!

If you're from the UK you may have seen the advert for the new range of Toyota cars- which, I must say look exactly like every other car they've brought out- but maybe it's just me being dense? Anyway, if you have seen it you'll have heard a nice little acapella track to accompany the ad. After seeing this advert a couple of times and having absolutely nothing better to do, I attempted to track it down using my musical mojo. Sadly, my detective skills were somewhat lack lustre to say the least, so i promptly gave up- don't think I'll be the next Nancy Drew..

But, ramblings aside, a Tweep (that's Twitter person or 'peep' to you Twitterphobes) managed to find it, hidden in the murky depths of... Youtube.




I'm pretty sure this song is the smiliest, quaintest song I've ever heard. This track is quite literally dripping with sunshine, so much so that it deserves to be in a retro Disney film (none of this Hannah Montana rubbish, I'm talking propa old skool Disney). It's not completely acapella but compared to a lot of other music around at the moment it's very minimal. Each vocal part is crystalline and mesmerising when intertwined with the other parts- uplifting even the most stressed out teenager. What I love most about this song is not only the inspired lyrics (I swear I heard something about catching a Pikachu) but the fact that it just sounds so effortless and dainty. This is wholesome, twee folk at it's best.

I've only recently found how therapeutic this style of music can be, shows that you don't necessarily need to drown your songs in Garageband samples and looped drum beats (or any drums for that matter) for it to sound impressive.

Some People Think I'm Bonkers

..for liking the new single by Dizzee Rascal. Now I may not be the most lucid of them all, but I'm sane enough to recognise a good tune. And that, this track most certainly is.




Ok, so he may have sold out by adding more electro-induced sounds, but it's definitely a lot more inviting than many other grime artists I know of (which ain't a lot to be fair). You don't necessarily have to be a fan of hip-hop to like this track either; there's no bitches and hoes, pimpin' or any of that malarky, just a good bassline and irritatingly catchy lyrics.

One of his best? Possibly.

He's definitely a strong contender for my Glastonbury to- watch list at any rate- who's with me?

WhizzBit

Anyone else sick of the synth?

No?

Just me then.

I've just mooched on over to I Haunt Wizards' myspace page to find a couple of new chunks of 80's Glam-Pop.

Aside from the screechy synth parts that get a bit too 80s-tastic for my liking at times, the vocals on the new tracks by I Haunt Wizards are quite impressive. At times it comes off as sounding too much like a pastiche of every other song from the decade of ridiculously coiffed hair and even more ridiculous Kylie and Jason, but at its best is great to pop on if you're feeling a bit nostalgic.

However, they're only samples, so I'm withholding judgement until I hear the finished versions.


More than a Friend is out soon.
www.myspace.com/ihauntwizards

Inject Some Sunshine

..into your life, this song is a disco hand clappy, shouty jem of a track.

Kennedy featuring Yelle- John and Yoko.MP3

*Apologies for lack of posts, it's coming up to exam time yet again, so am spending my Easter holidays reading textbooks, memorising notes and trying to find some sense in Determinism!*