At. Last.

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues by subpop

May 2nd.

Bring it on.

I saw a guy on the Tube earlier who had Bowie hair circa 1977.

It was a magical moment.

The Brits Nominations Through the Eyes of The Jaded and Vaguely Sarcastic

I had meant to post this before the show aired, but didn't get the chance. Apologies.

On Thursday of last week I found myself at the O2 Indigo, cheering my head off for The Wanted as I watched them perform a shabbily choreographed dance routine to a backing track. No, this isn't some kind of hallucination, you are still on Irrelevant Twaddle (I'm not about to let loose on a rave about how TOTES AMAZIN Bieber is or anything like that, don't worry, I haven't quite lost my marbles yet). Why then, you may ask? Well, you see, it was a very special night. It was the night in which the nominations for this year's Brits were announced. And I was there to witness all the excitement.

Ooh arr.

Photo taken from the Brits site.

Now if you know anything about the Brits, you'll know that in all honesty it's nothing more than an excuse to shift a few more copies of dreary mainstream pop fodder to the nation's chavs and write stories about celebrities getting plastered and making arses of themselves (which in turn creates more sales. Ah the circle of life). But it's not all bad; the shortlist for this year holds a few gems amongst the predictable fools gold of Cheryl Cole et al. Both Mumford & Sons and The XX each received 3 nominations, including one for the former for Best British Breakthrough Act. Not too shabby. Shockingly Biffy Clyro even received a nod for Best British Group: which, considering they've been going strong for at least 10 years, is good to see, even if their latest album is the tiniest bit sub par. Considering they're up against the likes of the 2 mentioned above as well as the mighty Take That however, the chances of them actually obtaining the little statuette remain forever elusive. Sorry chaps.

But of course it's not what most of the blogging world has been buzzing about since the release of the nominees. Since New Year I don't think I've gone a day without hearing about The Vaccines and how amazing their 2 songs are. Now I can even find them in the nominations for Critics' Choice Award. Sadly, they missed out to Brit school alumni Jessie J (conspiracy? Hmm...), but it does show that whoever draws up these lists has actually had their ears on more than just Radio 1 for a change, it's quite refreshing. Jessie J was actually at the launch night and treated us lucky people to a beautiful acoustic rendition of her appallingly written Do It Like a Dude. Dressed as some kind of Egyptian princess, she managed to make a song I originally despised sound wonderful; not the easiest of things to accomplish by any means. She really does a remarkable voice, the Brit School have clearly trained her well.

While I'm nattering about performances, I may as well explain the rather bizarre position I found myself in back at the beginning of this spiel. That-band-that-appeared-from-nowhere-to-become-one-of-pop's-rising-acts, aka The Wanted, performed a track that was not only live, but so catchy it seems to have wormed its way into my head (where it has lodged itself for the past 4 days. I am not amused). Obviously a live setting can make all the difference when it comes to the more commercial side of music, but they definitely lived up to the teenage hysteria that seemed to exude from the slightly pissed crowd. I'm not exactly going to go around wearing an 'I love The Wanted' t-shirt after watching their performance or anything, but I will admit that for what they are they're pretty good at what they do. Mcfly watch out.

The best performance of the night however was obviously going to be Tiny Tempah and his electropop sidekick Ellie Goulding. Whilst I'm not a huge fan of Ellie, I bloody love the Tempah for reasons unknown, and his rather bombastic performance failed to disappoint. In theory I shouldn't like Tiny, but his charisma and energy always make up for his achingly elementary lyrics (rap by numbers anyone?). I can't say it was much of a duet though; from where I was standing you could hardly hear Goulding, not that I'm saying that's a bad thing necessarily. All in all, an interesting if slightly mind opening evening.

If you're actually bothered about the results of the Brits then you'd better get voting. Voting is taking place on the Brits 2011 website until 12 noon on February the 11th. Just do me a favour and vote for anyone but Scouting for Girls.

I can understand why there’s so much hype surrounding The Vaccines. I wouldn’t have thought it possible to make a perfectly formed, solid rock track in only 1 minute and 28 seconds, yet here we are.

Short but sweet.

Nice.

Get Lippy

This is a perfect accompaniment to the family arguing and chocolate bingeing that usually befalls Boxing day. I've been dying for Elbow to come back after the mass success of last album Seldom Seen Kid; Guy Garvey's voice does wonders to make the cold winter months that little bit cosier. If this is any kind of barometer for how the new album is shaping up, then we can only really expect good things.

Elbow are set to perform a couple of dates at the massive O2 arena in the new year, and about time too! After all the years of hard toiling, the Mancunian band definitely deserve all the success they've accrued in recent years. Now, if they could just add a certain festival slot to their lineup..

Build a Rocket Boys! is out on 7th March. (Eeeee!)

The man never stops working. Ever.

Merry Christmas and all that.

Whilst I'm feeling political, I may as well show you what's destined to be the underdog in the fight for Christmas number one this year. No I'm not talking about that ghastly X Factor song or the inspired yet frankly bizarre Cage Against the Machine (although as I understand it profits from that are going to charity, so if you're buying it then good on you). I'm talking about a ska song. I know, I'm as shocked as you are. Not just any ska song though, an anti-Condem ska song. Wonders truly never cease. If you're as intrigued as I was when I first heard about it then check it out and see what you make of it:

Well, as far as Christmas songs go, this is definitely, errm, perky. No sleighbells, East 17 or Noddy Holder (thank God). A Scrooge's heaven. But there is some method behind the madness. This song, in my eyes, encapsulates the essence of what the student movement has been about. Of course, if you only know what you've seen on the front page of the Daily Mail then you may take a different perspective, but having been on the frontline so to speak, I saw an entirely different atmosphere to the protests. This wasn't a group of thugs intent on destroying Whitehall, this wasn't (initially) a riot, this was a mass celebration of solidarity. Former students, current students and even schoolchildren united, even though the impending tuition fee rise would not affect 2/3s of the groups marching there. There were also members of unions and even grandparents there, all showing the country that they actually care about what happens to the next generation.

I don't want to get too political here as this is a music blog first and foremost, but what I saw was beautiful. I of course condemn completely the subsequent violence that a small minority of people carried out, but I cannot stress enough that this was the minority.

What struck me most however, was that amongst the chanting and the witty banners there was almost a carnival vibe to it all. The lovely folks at SOAS even brought their band to play to the protesters, playing to their hearts content and being met with dancing in the streets. At times it felt more like a party than a protest, but the message of direct action never seemed to be lost. No matter how many kettles they were corralled in, they fought back by staging more protests, more university occupations, more lobbying of their MP's. And ok, so we lost, but for me this was about more than just the fight for the future of education; it was about awakening a whole new generation of people to the unifying power of politics, that's got to be worth something right?

So I think this song strikes just about the right tone of it all. It's clever and has an air of tongue in cheek at times (maybe that's just me though, I can never take brass seriously for some reason, I blame the circus), but more importantly it's something we can all sing along to. Maybe at the next protest eh?

Liar Liar is out from tomorrow on iTunes.