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Tuesday 23 June 2009

drake

very quick post, just heard this on westwood, its awesome. drake is the big hype hip-hop artist of 2009

i just wanna be successfull
his album is gonna own, hope he can get it out early unlike similar highly tipped new rappers, kid cudi and wale, who are taking fucking ages
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glastonbury tomorrow!!!


very very very exciting. been so distracted at work this week have just been thinking/planning glasto. Im so excited for loads of random bands, here are my probable top 10 excitements
  • Regina Spektor
  • The Maccabees
  • Q-Tip
  • Badly Drawn Boy
  • Bon Iver
  • Blur
  • White Lies
  • N*E*R*D
  • The Streets
  • The Specials
I've never really listened to Blur's back catalogue but i reckon they're the sort of band i'd probably love. Cannot wait for them. After N*E*R*D's confirmation that they are playing on the Friday, i had a bit of an excited day dream today. Mr Hudson, NERD and Q-Tip all playing the same day, linked with the Kanye rumours, and the fact that he is probably in the country, i thought maybe hed come on for all 3! would be so awesome. unlikely tbh....
glastonbury review to come after the festy!
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Saturday 20 June 2009

autumn (fall in american) premiere dates


Oldies
Lost-January TBC (ABC/Sky1)
Scrubs-January TBC (ABC/E4?)
Desperate Housewives-27th September (ABC/Channel4)
Heroes (eugh)-September TBC (NBC/BBC)
Fringe-17th September (Fox/Sky1)


Newbies
Flash Forward-24th September (ABC/?-probably sky1)
V-Midseason, Jan/Feb 2010 (ABC/?)
Cougar Town-23rd September, I won't be watching this, but loads of people will. (ABC/?)

im still gonna do a season 5 lost review/recap, before comic-con and a bit of a preview of the new seasons shows. There a couple of shows i'm thinking of watching before the new season starts, 30 rock (because its supposedly amazing) and How i Met Your Mother (because Sarah Chalke is in it), but not sure if ill get them in seeing as I intend to rewatch all of Lost, all of the Wire and buy the WestWing boxset...
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the worst kanye verse ever?


not quite sure why im posting this, as kanye is one my favourite rappers/producers but still...his verse is far too long, and his voice is shocking, its flat and dull, just not regular kanye. i actually like the original, once kanye finishes his mammoth bad rap it kicks off and is a pretty good beyonce song! youd think a track called ego would suit him, i guess not....still its nowhere near as bad as the video below, which would be the worst song ever, if it wasnt so funny.

sorry if you watched that and wasted 4 minutes, 22 seconds of your life
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Tuesday 16 June 2009

new lupe fiasco feat. matthew santos


Excited much? Download the first single of Lupe Fiasco's 3rd album Lasers below....

Lupe Fiasco-Shining Down (feat. Matthew Santos) (mp3)
He's not retiring btw :D

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Sunday 14 June 2009

A Tale of Two Seasons: Skins Series 3


After an awful start, Skins recovered to make some of the best episodes it ever has. Series 3 was "A Tale of Two Seasons" with contrasts for me pretty clear cut, in acting ability and character development. Below I give a quick rundown on my take on each character/actor and then a few bests and worsts of the season.

Cook
Initially I hated him. My feelings about his centric episode remain the same. The whole storyline with Mackensie Crook was boring and ridiculous. It took 6 episodes for me to begin to warm to him. Partly because Freddie had revealed himself as a bit of a pathetic character, and partly because the Naomi-centric episode finally showed Cook as something over than a complete twat. Don't get me wrong, he is still a complete dickhead and not someone I'd want to be friends with by any means, but by the end of the series and especially in the last episode I was genuinely empathetic for his character, after it was revealed how much of a twat his dad (Super Hans!) is. Jack O' Connell also deserves credit for one of the best performances the program has ever seen, in what was one of the worst storylines the show has ever seen, the love triangle/quadrangle/pentagon/hexagon.
Best episode: Finale
Potential for character development in S4: High
Freddie
My issues with Freddie maybe stemmed from the fact all of his storylines were crap and unrealistic. Or perhaps the fact that Luke Pasqualino has a long way to go before he can match many of his co-stars acting level. His "relationship" with Effy is billed as some sort of epic romance, supposedly in contrast to Cooks sexually charged one. This had no basis whatsoever though, they must have talked about twice before they finally got together in episode 8. The short-lived relationship with Katie was also pretty rubbish and unbeleivable, it was almost as if they didnt want to bring in someone new as a love interest so they thought theyd use an existing cast member, resulting in a relationship we didnt see begin, and generally I couldnt see the point in. Finally got together with Effy in the end, I hope it lasts, or that boring storyline may end up continuing.
Best episode: Freddie
Potential for character development in S4: Low
Effy
Hmmm. Billed by many (myself included) as the star of s3, her character just didn't live up to expectations. Ok she clearly has issues, parents splitting up etc, but that doesn't justify her random and pretty twattish behaviour all series. She didn't seem to have any firm feelings about anything and was always flitting about, not making her mind up. Fair enough, that was probably what the writers intended, to show her indeciseveness and maybe even make the audience empathise with her. This worked sometimes (Pandoras episode in particular), but by the end, and after her centric episode where she was just a twat really, this was lost. Kaya Scodelario is an awesome actress and her character still has great potential. Here's hoping Tony returns sometime during s4 and sorts her out.
Best episode: Pandora
Potential for character development in s4: High
Naomi
Best Skins character ever? Lily Loveless is definitely the best female actor the starring cast has had i think. Naomis character was consistently brilliant throughout the story. I was worried that the lesbian storyline would be handled badly, but it was done in the best way possible, superb. Although peripheral in many episodes, when she did appear the character development and acting were stunning. Both her centric episode and the Twins were outstanding. I was disappointed not to see her, or the twins, in the last episode, hopefully she will take a more central role in season 4. One of my favourite scenes of the season was when she chose not to shag Cook, both actors showed their talent there.
Best episode: Naomi
Potential for character development in s4: High
Emily
2nd best character of the series. Hers was another brilliant performance, showing so much of her character with actually fairly little screentime. Emily is a doormat, always trodden on by her twin, longing for Naomi. Her desire, desperation and frustration with Naomi and her relationship with Katie were portrayed very well in both the Twins and Naomi's centric episodes. She was also great in JJ's episode, in which she randomly shags him, which was seemingly pointless and only used as a plot development in the lesbian love story. Ach well, another of my favourite characters ever.
Best episode: Naomi
Potential for character development in s4: High
Katie
We didn't learn anything about Katie until her centric episode when her relationships with Freddie and Emily were examined. I was intially indifferent to who I thought was by far the less interesting twin, and although I still think she is a bitch, am much more interested in her character after seeing some of the motivations behind her actions. The Freddie romance was stupid (see above) but apart from that its a big thumbs up. Megan Prescott was shaky at first, but excelled at the end.
Best Episode: Emily and Katie
Potential character development for s4: High
JJ
Another character who suddenly became interesting in his centric episode. His role in the fight between Cook and Freddie was really interesting, and his friendship with Emily also nice. Sometimes came across as a bit of a cliched autistic/aspergus character....and some of the writing for him was not the best.
Best episode: JJ
Potential character development for s4: Medium
Pandora
The worst character ever invented in anything ever. Pointless, boring, unrealistic, delusional, the list goes on...Pandora was my least favourite character of the series, and my least favourite on Skins ever. Her relationship with Thomas was godawful (how could anyone be attracted to her? This isnt a shallow judgement of the actress, its the character that is incredibly annoying). Then when she randomly shagged Cook, and then again....Glad we saw little of her after episode 4, her story was largely pointless and irrelevant to the rest of the plot.
Best episode: NONE
Potential character development for s4: Low
Thomas
Hard to judge, he was great in his centric episode but rarely appeared after that. His main storyline was the relationship with Pandora that I was not a fan of (see above). I hope that they don't get back together.
Best episode: Thomas
Potential character development: High


Best episode: Naomi
Best actor (male): Jack O'Connell (Cook)
Best actor (female): Lily Loveless
Best character: Naomi
Best relationship: Emily/Naomi
Worst relationship: Pandora/Thomas...but take your pick tbh

Predictions for season 4
Effy will cheat on Freddie with Cook
Cook will continue shagging Pandora
Naomi and Emily will split up but get back together
One or more of the past stars will return for a couple of episodes, Nicholas Hoult (Tony) seems the most likely contender. Dev Patel is the least likely.

Series 4 starts filming towards the end of the summer. I look forward to it.



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Tuesday 9 June 2009

humbug


Arctic Monkeys 3rd album
1. "My Propeller"
2. "Crying Lightning"
3. "Dangerous Animals"
4. "Secret Door"
5. "Potion Approaching"
6. "Fire and the Thud"
7. "Cornerstone"
8. "Dance Little Liar"
9. "Pretty Visitors"
10. "The Jeweller's Hands"
Entitled Humbug, with Crying Lightning the first single. Release date close to their headline slot at Leeds/Reading. 24th August in the UK, 25th in the US....but randomly August 19th in Japan.
Im very excited...tour to be announced soon i hope!
Here is an mp3 from an acoustic session they did around the release of Flourescent Adolescent i think. Its Only Ones Who Know, which is one of my favourites from FWN, this version is beautiful.
Arctic Monkeys-Only ones who know (acoustic) (mp3)
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she wants to move remix + extras



I missed this 5 years ago. All star remix of N*E*R*D's best song since In Search Of, She Wants To Move. This seems to be the sort of thing DJ Khaled is going for...but Akon, T.I., Rick Ross, Fat Joe, Birdman and Lil' Wayne (and that was the best I could pick from his discography on wikipedia) is no match for Mos Def, Common, Q-Tip and De La Soul. Anyway...link is below, as are a few more mp3s ive been listening to the last couple of days.

N*E*R*D-She wants to move (Remix feat. Mos Def, Common, Q-Tip and De La Soul) (mp3)

everyone was aparently hyping about this track a few weeks back, but i was away...so im only hyping about it now. skream remix of in for the kill, makes the song, which is pretty dam good in the first place, a whole lot better. Both are playing Glastonbury.
La Roux-In for the kill (Skream Remix)(mp3)

I'm still undecided on Passion Pit's debut. Whilst the Reeling and sleepyhead are contenders for tune of the year, the rest of the album hasnt grabbed my attention much yet. Here is a remix of the Reeling, by Miike Snow who released their debut last month.
Passion Pit-The Reeling (Miike Snow Remix)(mp3)

Finally, new Simian Mobile Disco. The follow up to their 2007 debut will be released on August the 17th, and this is the lead single, featuring Chris Keating of Yeasayer.
James Ford has been helping out on the new Arctic Monkeys album (he produced Favourite Worst Nightmare)which now has a release date, title and tracklisting!
Simian Mobile Disco-Audacity of huge (feat. Chris Keating)(mp3)

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Monday 8 June 2009

recent excitements

Having a full time job makes it difficult to post on here, oh well im ill today so here are a few exciting pieces of music i've been listening to this week...

We Were Promised Jetpacks
Seriously good, scottish Frightened Rabbit esque indie. Remind me a bit of the Walkmen as well. Album comes out next Monday (15th), definately worth buying, its awesome. Here a couple of tracks for you to preview.
We Were Promised Jetpacks-It's Thunder and It's Lightning
We Were Promised Jetpacks-Conductor
Mos Def
"The Ecstatic" is out today, sounding good on first listen, especially the following track "History" featuring Black Star collaborator Talib Kweili. Aparently a Black Star album is scheduled for a 2010 release!
Mos Def-History feat. Talib Kweli
Jay-Z
D.O.A (Death of Autotune) has been released as a street single for the September 11 release of Blueprint 3. Although Kanye was speculated to be producing the entire album, this is produced by No I.D.
Have a listen here
Keri Hilson
Yeah you read it right. Knock you down is huuuuuuge. Ne-yo proves his worth once again.
watch the video here
Keri Hilson is gonna be massive.
Milburn
Live set just been released to the internet, recorded at Manchester Urbis in 2006. Here is I Know Something You Don't Know, a song which previously had only been heard live, or on bad mobile phone recordings. Over a year now since they split :(
Milburn-I Know Something You Don't Know (Live at Manchester Urbis)

still got shit loads to listen to and catch up on!!

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