2013 ONE TO WATCH: angel haze - werkin girls / gossip folks / love of my life / hell could freeze

get ready for the world domination of brooklyn based female rapper, angel haze. kicking into the scene this year with her highly popular underground mixtapes, angel haze is working on being an artist that is uncategorizable, which means collaborating with surprising producers (check out her track with drum n bass superstars rudimental below) and writing highly personal songs about her troubled childhood. all this love with no official commercial release yet, but it'll happen! you have been warned!
angel haze - werkin girls

angel haze - gossip folks (missy elliot) from the awesome classick mixtape, check out angel's flow as she raps over missy's classic track!

angel haze - love of my life (erykah badu)
nice to hear angel's vocals, adding to her ability for all around domination in 2013!

angel haze x rudimental - hell could freeze
working with the hotter than hot rudimental!

WEEKEND CATCH UP: gossip - move in the right direction

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...]

NEW GOSSIP!: gossip - perfect world

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!]

WONGIE SONG OF THE MONTH: beth ditto - i wrote the book

beth ditto - i wrote the book
[gossip frontwoman goes solo for a dance project with simian mobile disco, the end result is an EP that i've been playing LOUD for the past week! LOVE this tune!!!]

DANCE BITCH DANCE: burns - so many nights

burns - so many nights
[uk dj/remixer offers up a sassy smart dance single in conjunction with his just released EP under the same name. already gaining serious buzz via his remixes for frankmusik, passion pit and the gossip, it's nice to see him turn his skillz onto his own music. good stuff!]

NEW GOSSIP!: gossip - pop goes the world

gossip - pop goes the world
[tribal electro calypso beth ditto = hell yeah!]

FREE DJ SET YO!: dave wrangler - sxdw 2010

Dave Wrangler - SXDW 2010 DJ Mix by davewrangler
[check out the latest mix by houston based remixer/dj dave wrangler! hot off the sxsw music festival, dave offers up his mix of the hot tunes of the indie season just for you. and trust me... it's a scorcher!]

dave wrangler - sxdw 2010 (dj mix)
1. Sleigh Bells – Beach Girls
2. Theophilus London – Enjoy the Sun
3. Gorillaz – Stylo
4. The Hood Internet – Just-A-Friendomania
5. Little Boots – New In Town (Golden Filter Remix)
6. The Golden Filter – Hide Me
7. Hot Chip – One Life Stand
8. LCD Soundsystem – Too Much Love
9. The Gossip – Heavy Cross (Yuksek Remix)
10. La Roux – Quicksand (AutoKratz Drags to Riches Remix)
11. David Guetta feat. Kid Cudi – Memories (Armand Van Helden Remix)
12. The Juan Maclean – No Time (Shit Robot Remix)
13. Phoenix – 1901 (The Dirty Tees Remix)
14. Yeasayer – O.N.E. (XXXChange Remix)
15. Asher Roth – She Don’t Wanna Man (Yes Giantess Remix)
16. Gorillaz – Stylo (Alex Metric Remix)

FREE REMIXES YO!: RAC - vol 1.5

RAC - vol 1.5 (featuring u2, the gossip, honeythieves and hockey)
[the great remix artist collective (aka RAC) are offering a collection of their latest remixes for you... free! so go and enjoy the lot! happy new year!]

sliimy - paint your face / wake up (digital dog club edit)

sliimy - paint your face
[from about.com
He is French, so that name is pronounced 'Slee-mee.' This new artist is lucky or in a tough place depending on your opinion of his top benefactor of the moment, gossip blogger Perez Hilton. Sliimy first came to widespread attention through a unique version of Britney Spears' "Womanizer" that spread on the Internet. Then Perez Hilton picked up Sliimy as the first signing to his new vanity record label Perezscious. Sliimy's real name is Yanis Sahraoui, and he is a 20 year old from Saint-Etienne, France. His music is playful, colorful, and it just might definitely appeal to those charmed by artists such as Mika.

Sliimy does have an album out titled Paint Your Face and enough recognition to get nominated for an MTV Europe award as Best French Artist.]


sliimy - wake up (digital dog club edit)
[personally i like this remix much better than the original]

WONGIE SONG OF THE WEEK: gossip - love long distance

gossip - love long distance

gossip - heavy cross (updated video) / heavy cross (fred falke remix)

gossip - heavy cross (updated video)


gossip - heavy cross (fred falke remix)

YOU CAN THANK GOSSIP GIRL: shiny toy guns - season of love

shiny toy guns - season of love
[this band has never been on my blip, but after being heavily featured on the season finale of gossip girl, i think they have a fan... in this song]

LIVE WONGIE: the gossip - heavy cross (live on radio 1 live lounge)

the gossip - heavy cross (live on radio 1 live lounge)

gossip - heavy cross

gossip - heavy cross
[they're baaaack!]

new music wednesday: spoon, napoleon, great northern, the thrills, mika & beth ditto, calvin harris

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.]


napoleon - cleopatra


napoleon - i love my baby (but if anyone touches her i'll kill them) [link 2]
[calling themselves a swedish soul band, this 11 piece posse is going to be making waves throughout the summer as the happy birds to beat. due for US release later in the year, i jump the queue and tip you guys on this fun lighthearted band now! big thanks to ifmv and #1 hits for an alien planet for the intro!]


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.]

best of 2007: fave acts so far (1/2 year report)

this has been an amazing music year so far with new stuff coming at me daily (much that i've shared back to you). but amoung the batch, a few acts have filtered through and kept on returning to my personal playlists.

since it feels like such a slow week, i figured now is probably the best time to re-introduce some of the artist highlights of 2007 from january to june (in no particular order):

[for friends and fans of wongie, you probably know the class of 2007 (so far) pretty well. but for the rest of you, hopefully you can discover some gems from the list below. also you may have noticed that wongie faves mika, amy winehouse, gossip and lily allen aren't here (since they were loved in 06, i kind of took them out of the lineup just cause i'm a stickler like that!)]

tracey thorn - raise the roof
siobhan donaghy - ghosts
just jack - i talk to much
loney, dear - saturday waits
peter bjorn & john - young folks
feist - my moon my man (boys noize remix)
rufus wainwright - sansoucci
rihanna - rehab
glen hansard & marketa irglova (ONCE the soundtrack) - falling slowly
lil mama - lip gloss (absorb the lip gloss mash up remix)
kate nash - foundations
mia - boyz
cherry ghost - 4am
sara bareilles - love song
a fine frenzy - almost lover
roisin murphy - overpowered

hype wongie: beth ditto naked on the cover of NME!

gossip - listen up (a touch of class remix)

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.

skins - uncut promo

gossip - listen up (uk version premiere)

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!]

indie new video thursday: kate nash, the gossip, bloc party, hadouken! pleasure feat brett anderson, duke special

kate nash - caroline's a victim
[she looks like a 60's retro pop act, but for her 1st single, the much buzzed about 19 year old kate nash gets a makeover as her sweet folk renderings gets a rave-punk remix (i actually like this version better). check out her original sound via an xfm acoustic performance recently (thanks to the daily growl). the good news is that everything has been tampered with, here's a lovely fan video of her cute song merry happy posted on her myspace site]

kate nash - merry happy (fan video)


the gossip - jealous girl
[beth ditto and posse are back with a new video! still one of the best voices that i discovered last year, can't wait to see what they're going to do next]


bloc party - i still remember
[updated 1/11: bloc party's US release is a more conventional alternative song than 'the prayer'. i actually like this one more!]


hadouken! - that boy that girl
[oh yes, the rave punk popjustice faves finally release a proper video for their internet hit. i liked it back in november, i still like it now (especially since new beats were added to this single release)]


pleasure feat brett anderson - back to you
[co-written with fred ball (aka pleasure), ex-suede singer brett anderson is going through a bit of a personal renaissance with his upcoming acoustic album and this electronically inclined tune. i dig!]


duke special - free wheel
[i gave a special heads up to duke special back in november and i'm really glad that more singles are being released from his debut album songs from the deep forest. this is one of my favorites with a beautiful animated video to boot!]

dancing is good for you: adventures close to home (november 2006 mix)

the UK hipster club adventures close to home consistantly brings in their fave indie acts for their monthly parties and throws amazing parties in between. being dj's themselves, the organizers create a monthly soundtrack to their club, incorporating their fave acts of the moment and of course bootylicious rock out remixes of the songs their loving.

thanks to the cool site headphone sex i got ahold of november's mix and it is fucking brilliant!

i hope you enjoy just as much i am (turn it up)!

Adventures Close To Home (November 2006 mix)
Kelis vs Kongo Thong (ACTH Edit)
Ali Love - K Hole (SebastiAn Mix)
Epicman & Plan B - More is Enough
Uffie - Hot Chick
Yo Majesty - Club Action
DJ Mehdi - Boggin'
JME vs The Eraser (ACTH Edit)
Carl Craig - At Les (Russ Gabriel Mix)
Indo - R U Sleeping?
Various Production - What About Them?
MIA - XR2 (ACTH Raveon Remix)
Klanguage - Priceless Things
Diplo vs Ramirez (ACTH Edit)
Klaxons - Magick (Simian Mobile Disco Mix)
Futureheads - Worry About it Later (Switch Mix)
(Lotterboys - Superdope
SebastiAn - Ross Ross Ross
Justin Timberlake - FutureSexLoveSound
Standing in the Way of Control - The Gossip (Headman vs Tronik Youth ACTH Edit)