gossip - move in the right direction
[um... this kind of falls under the WTF category. i mean, i don't mind a beth ditto singing along to dance infused music, but this is kind of a misstep don't you think? i mean, even as a 'pop' song it's kind of not very good! i'm blaming producers xenomania for this mess... sigh...]
gossip - perfect world
[returning with new material since 2009, gossip are back and sounding more mature than ever (call me crazy, but i kind of hear fleetwood mac here). with an upcoming album called 'joyful noise', the collection originally started as a collaboration with mark ronson and eventually moved to the UK with the xenomania crew. it's an interesting mix and from the sounds of the 1st release, gossip are focusing on slow burns as opposed to their instant reaction past hits. i dig!]
simian mobile disco feat beth ditto - cruel intentions [just hours after talking about a video and this pops up! i thought the song was already sensual and brilliant, but this naughty sapphic cougar on drugs video is even better!]
spoon - underdog [link 2] [the 1st video from spoon's 6th album release ga ga ga ga ga. personally, this is one of my favorite albums of the summer and i'm so happy that these austin rockers are getting the widespread props that they so deserve.]
great northern - home [link 2] [who knew that LA could be home to this lush indie pop quartet? initially recorded on 4 tracks, the band went through various incarnations before ending up with a four piece that could generate this dreamy sound. if you like what you hear, check out their debut album trading twilight for daylight out now.]
the thrills - nothing changes around here [link 2] [the 1st video taken off of their upcoming album teenager. though the irish quintet have claimed neil young and the beach boys as past influences, this single sounds more like prefab sprout with a bit of seaside morrissey thrown in (i just made that term up, you like?)]
mika & beth ditto - sweet dreams are made of this (live) [after a week of talking about it to the press, mika and beth ditto (gossip) finally combine their talents for an unfortunately lame duet of the eurythmics classic. add to the fact that mika totally hogs the vocals, i'm not quite sure i'd want to hear another collaboration in the future.]
calvin harris - merrymaking at my place [um... this is sound of crap! i don't really understand how he's managed to get any play in the uk, but hopefully it will just end there.]
you just know that the second this photo was taken, a definitive iconic moment in beth ditto's career was born. it's time for the US to re-embrace this diva!
here are some highlights of her conversation with the indie bible:
One of the things Beth Ditto does gives a f*ck about, is body image. So much so, that Beth recently refused for The Gossip to play instores at Topshop, citing her dissatisfaction that there isn’t a clothes range available in her size. She even went as far as to offer to design clothes for them. [wongie note: ironically, i saw this exact cover IN a topshop!]
She’s never claimed to promote her body size (“I’m just saying people should be empowered about who they are,” she tells us), yet it’s worth asking, does she feel a responsibility to pick a side in the size zero debate?
“Not at all,” says Beth, immediately. “Things are more complicated than that – there’s too many factors to pick a side. The older I get and the more models and designers I meet... sometimes models are naturally just thin. Like, that’s their size.”
When you talk about meeting models, do you mean Kate Moss? “Kate is amazing,” purrs Beth. “I spent one night talking to her and she just said the most amazing things about bodies. At first I didn’t think I was going to like her, but she just turned up to one of our shows and said, ‘Do you know what I hate, Beth? When people tell my big girlfriends, ‘You have a beautiful face...’’ I mean, that’s a really radical concept.”
Do you not think Kate Moss actually has a responsibility to answer to the size debate, though? “You can’t hate a person for dieting, and you can’t blame a person for feeling shit about themselves. You have to blame the machine that feeds it, the thing that makes people feel like that. There are lots of things that are part of that machine, and it’s too easy to lay the blame at the feet of women – men don’t know what it feels like to be a woman and be expected to look a particular way all the time. The Beckhams are part of the machine; Paris Hilton is part of the machine. There’s that thing Paris Hilton said about Lindsay Lohan – ‘You’re poor, ugly and fat’. It’s always women who are victims of that machine and the messages the machine gives out.”
“I have this thing where I don’t ever want to bad-mouth a woman. Except for Paris Hilton.” She laughs again. “Please tell me you saw that thing where she was crying in the newspapers, about her going to prison. It was so funny. I was laughing until I was crying.”
Tell me more about not wanting to bad-mouth women... Beth speaks quietly again. “I pick and choose my battles. I think Condoleezza Rice is more of a goddamn shame than Kate Moss, and I think those are the things people should concentrate on. What I’m saying is that, if there’s anyone to blame for size zero, it’s not women. Blame the media. Blame gay men who work in the fashion industry who want these women as dolls.”
gosh darnit the girl is cool!
while we're on a gossip uk high, here is the infamous promo of the awesome E4 teen series skins that brought beth and co. to the british mainstream.
gossip - listen up (2007 uk radio mix /original mix) [i'm in london! taking a week long break post cannes and the first thing i get to see (cause they still show music videos on tv here) is this reworked 2007 mix of the gossip single "listen up". more disco-ey than before, looks like beth and co are primed to cross over into the uk mainstream like the scissor sisters. heck the video even has choreography! awesome really!]
