super gay wednesday

pussycat dolls feat snoop dogg - buttons


mary j blige feat brook lyn - enough cryin


mariah carey feat snoop dogg and pharrell - say something


christina milian - say i (hani remix)
(as much as i love the backing track for the original, christina's vocals just don't ring true for me. i'm feeling the remix more in this case)

four songs with their accompanying videos that will make any person gay. the mega wattage of fabulousness is in overdrive and basically will either make you wanna learn how to dance (pussycat dolls), get street (christina milian) or wear couture to massive drag results (Mary J Blige/Mariah Carey). i have opted to merge all three!

everything but the girl

since the late 80's i have been a massive fan of the husband/wife duo everything but the girl. ben watt and tracey thorn's introspective yearning lush vocals and tight harmonies helped me though many a dramatic college evening. then as i got older, their neo jazz/folk sound slowly incorperated electronica and other fun elements, yet still had the soul of sentimentality that i love in music.

more than a decade later ebtg still continue to work in different guises. ben is now a successful dj with his hot house label buzzin fly while tracey recently recorded vocals for the new tiefschwartz album. for the fans of the duo, keep waiting cause they have yet to announce any new albums for the time being.

what triggered the ode to ebtg? a collection released by their previous label of older catalog that just gave me a rush of memories. check out the full listings of their platinum collection.
and while you're at it, here are some of my all time fave ebtg songs (of the early stuff):

everything but the girl - come on home (from their first album)
everything but the girl - i don't want to talk about it
everything but the girl - apron strings
everything but the girl - the only living boy in new york (check out ben's more featured vocals on this track)

finally, here is a remix of tracey's latest recording with hot dance act tiefschwarz
tiefschwarz feat tracey thorn - damage (mandy remix)

various covers

i've been feeling kind of guilty for my lack of posts here and i thought i'd ease my conscience with a batch of covers done by some unexpected performers.

i'm actually a big fan of cover versions only because when it's done right, you get to see a side of an artist that they may not be able to express through their own music. i'm also a big fan of the mashing up of genres (hip hop sung by an indie band, folk by a heavy metal posse etc...).

besides the blogs, another great place to find these covers is at jo whiley (which is where i found alot of these). here are a few of my faves of the moment:

ray lamontagne - crazy (gnarls barkley cover)
osunlade and erro - everything in it's right place (radiohead cover)
natasha bedingfield - somewhere only we know (keane cover)
arctic monkeys - love machine (girls aloud cover)
starsailor - push the button (sugababes cover)
david gray - smile like you mean it (killers cover)
belle and sebastian - the boy with the thorn in his side (live) (smiths cover)

and a classic:
communards - never can say goodbye (classical mix) (gloria gaynor cover)

gnarls barkley (again!)

it's finally come! the gnarls barkley phenomenom has hit mega proportions. with a #1 UK single (from downloading alone!) and one of the most anticipated albums of the year, it's amazing that it's taken so long for all of this to finally happen (if you know nothing of this band, check out my previous posting about them back in feb.

thanks to stereogum for passing this hot rendition on the Uk's TOTP via myspace


Get this video and more at MySpace.com

or check out the video:
gnarls barkley - crazy

personally, i've been listening to highlights from the new album and these are the ones that i keep on returning to.

gnarls barkley - just a thought (this has to be the next single. the beats alone is worth cranking up the stereo for)
gnarls barkley - smiley faces
gnarls barkley - storm coming

the knife

the knife are a stockholm based brother/sister duo of Olof Dreijer and Karin Dreijer Andersson. Wacky yet dark at the same time, their mix of electro based music have been all the buzz for the past few months.

extremely camera shy and private, the knife separate themselves by also being canny entrepreneurs and controlling creatives. setting up separate distribution deals around the world AFTER they've recorded their albums, the knife have the ability to record with no pressure from any label. they also have yet to tour since they can't think of any way to make their performances interesting for the audience.

i picked up their 3rd album silent shout and have been focusing on a two tracks in particular every chance i can get.

the knife - silent shout
the knife - heartbeats (rex the dog remix)

while you're at it, check out the cool creepy video of the title track which i can't stop listening to.

imogen heap

imogen heap is a kooky one. part mad scientist, part girly girl and genius vocal layerist, imogen left a very successful venture as one half of frou frou to follow her soul in creating a solo album. mortgaging her home, imogen gave herself a year to record her album 'speak for yourself' and the result is an ingenious pop collection that is both complex and simple at the same time.

i've had this album since last year and brushed through it over xmas. but lately, i find myself going back and really concentrating on two songs in particular (i've included their videos above). every time i listen to these songs, i'm finding new things in these tunes. whether you already have this album or not, hopefully you'll go back and discover something new too. oh to be obsessed.

imogen heap - hide and seek (ciaran strings remix)
imogen heap - goodnight and go

missy elliot

a quickie for the day, check out the latest video by missy elliot. i wasn't overly enthused when i heard this track awhile back, but with all of missy's video releases, she adds a bit of extra niceness. in conjunction to the summer girl flick 'stick it', check out her latest 'we run this'.
turn it up.

missy elliot - we run this (stick it edit)

rihanna

Rihanna - SOS (video)

what a difference a year makes. just a few months back, rihanna, a seemingly one hit wonder from barbados, hit the charts with her catchy dancehall inspired smash 'pon the replay'. the single was everywhere with the cute rihanna in tow.

fast foward less that a year later and def jam have decided to bank some star power into the rihanna project. with a new album, a more urban sound and a complete sexy makeover, rihanna vers 2006 will come out to be a smash.

based on the 1st single alone (watch the video by clicking on the link above) and see what i'm talking about. the girl is HOT!!!!!

rihanna - sos (jason nevins elektrotek club mix)

boy least likely to

can a band be too cute for their own good? in the case of the boy least likely to, the duo of pete and jor, rides that fine line of being sweet and innocent over twee and just lame.

though some songs from their debut album the best party ever barely register over a minute long, the few gems on this alluring collection definitely make up for the rest. personally i just want a few t-shirts of their cute drawings.

boy least likely to - be gentle with me
boy least likely to - hugging my grudge