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I am not a dubstep fan at all, but this remix is something very very special. Annie Mac dropped this on the mashup last night, and I've ripped it (apologies for her talking over half of the song...). Also, she's been playing this Herve remix of Kidda for a while now, its maybe even better, i am a sucker for piano loops. catch both mp3s below...

The Streets-Blinded by the lights (Nero remix)
Kidda-Under the Sun (Herve Remix)

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The proton beam is circulated for the first time in the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and the highest-energy particle accelerator, located at CERN, near Geneva, under the Franco-Swiss border.
1. The Streets-Everything is borrowed
Album no.4 was a big hit for me, far from perfect but a huge improvement on album no. 3. Heaven for the weather is a fantastic summery upbeat tune, and one of my favourites of the year!
Best track: The Streets-Heaven for the Weather
if you want to read a bit more, check my previous posts on The Streets

2. Friendly Fires-Friendly Fires
This album is essentially a blend of

Awesome pulsating electronic beats
fantastic soft vocals
surprisingly good lyrics
sparkling clattering electro-pop
so its awesome. Love this band, randomly found the album for about 5 euros in a record shop in Paris. Go and see them live on the NME tour (youd also get to see the amazing White Lies), they were great at Glasto.
Best track: Friendly Fires-Paris
Bonus: Friendly Fires-Paris (Aeroplane remix)

3. Kings of Leon-Only By The Night
For some reason a switch has turned in my head and I am suddenly not so keen on this band. First 3 albums are all brilliant, but I cant get so enthusiastic about album 4. I have gone from loving Sex on Fure to finding it really annoying, and it even annoys me when its played in a club. It is frustrating that a load of randoms suddenly think they're big KoL fans, after hearing two songs (hearing Fearne Cotton rave on about her two favourite bands being Take That and KoL is a good example of this). Anyway, they deserve any success they get because they are a great band, and this album does have some great tunes on it, it just seems to lack the energy of previous efforts.
Best track: Kings of Leon-Use Somebody

4. Kano-140 grime street
Hmmmmmmmm. You gotta feel sorry for Kano, he always seems to follow the wrong trend. Last years pop-slanted London Town didnt get him the recognition he deserves, yet both Dizzee and Wiley have had huge success this year from very poppy tunes. Then, as Kano returned to his grimey roots, grime appears to be pretty dead. Wiley seems to have left the genre completely, JME's album was awful and Skepta's average at best, no-one seems to be interested in the grime scene anymore (maybe Tinchy will get big, maybe not). This is quite a good album. Kano is blatantly the best grime MC out there imo, but his talent has never been maintained over the course of an album. album 4 anyone?
Best track: Kano-Hustler

Honourable Mentions:
Jenny Lewis: Acid Tongue
Definately need top listen to this more as well! she is a fantastic singer and a very talented lyricist.
Jenny Lewis-Black Sand

Glasvegas: S/T
Im not a big fan of this album, but there is enough to like about it that I think I can be swayed towards really liking this band. I've heard they're crap live though.
This isnt even on the album, but its better than the album version tbh.
Glasvegas:-Daddy's Gone

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Brilliant, forgot how much of a legend Skinner is. The setlist was perfect, the gig was amazing. Could Well Be In was probably my favourite song of the night, possibly due to the memories it brings me (randomly) of a family holiday in Italy in 2004 i think, when I really got into the Streets. All i listened to those 2 weeks was A Grand Dont Come For Free, The Eminem Show and Justified! Good times.
Here are a couple of reviews of the gig, firstly from the Guardian, secondly from my good friend Sean, which has been published on the leedsmusicscene website.

The Guardian's
can be read here

Seans
""Do you think your weekend could get better?" Mike Skinner asks the crowd as opening track (also the opener, title track and latest single from his new album) Everything Is Borrowed comes to a close, and he is greeted with euphoric response from the crowd packed into the new (though you wouldn't know it from the state of the floor) Academy in Leeds.

Personally, I'm still sceptical about the venue. Not so much as a gig venue, the sound is great, though they seem to sell far too many tickets and as a consequence it's a bit crowded. I'm more concerned about how it will cope as a club, especially if they pack that many people into it. Anyway, tonight is not about the venue as it quickly becomes obvious that wherever Mike Skinner is onstage, whether it be a tiny club or the main stage at a festival (memories of Leeds Festival in 2006), all eyes are going to be on him.

Following the opener, Skinner and backing band kick straight into Don't Mug Yourself and it's instantly apparent that this is going to be a sweaty night to say the least. With everyone clearly really up for it, Skinner rattles through an hour a bit of his back catalogue, drawing heavily from debut album Original Pirate Material, and indeed, it's the older tracks that get the best reception. The likes of Has It Come To This, Let's Push Things Forward and Could Be Well In are of course present, but the inclusion of album tracks such as Turn The Page, It's Too Late and Same Old Thing is great.

Other highlights included On The Edge Of A Cliff, from the latest album, Weak Become Heroes and, the only track to be played off 2006's The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living, Never Went To Church which ended with a rendition of Daddy's Gone by Glasvegas from Skinner's backing vocalist Kevin Mark Trail. There's also the mandatory "Go Low" during Has It Come To This, whereby everyone crouches as the music slows down, then jumps up as it kicks in again, this time accompanied by Skinner shouting out the chorus from Hot Chip's Over & Over. The main set is closed with a spine-tingling mass sing-along to Blinded By The Lights.

The encore encompasses single's Dry Your Eyes and Heaven For The Weather and closes in rapturous fashion with Fit But You Know It, followed by the chorus of Who Knows Who, a track Skinner recently recorded with Muse.

Skinner puts pretty much any indie frontman I've seen in a long while to shame with the way he can play off and manipulate the crowd. The heavy emphasis on his first album, despite it being the tour for his 4th, is hardly a bad thing as with the live band, these tracks themselves are almost reinvented. The choice not to play singles Prangin' Out and When You Wasn't Famous shows Skinner's recognition of public opinion that his 3rd was by far his worst album, and as I agree with this opinion I'm not complaining. I'm not sure the gig was actually a sell out, which possibly helped the venue. Do I think my weekend could get much better? Well, if you've got 1500 people and Mike Skinner in a room, it's pretty much a fact it's going to."

the setlist was...
Everything Is Borrowed
Don't Mug Yourself
Let's Push Things Forward + Out Of Space
The Escapist
Same Old Thing/Too Much Brandy/Sharp Darts
It's Too Late
Could Be Well In
Never Went To Church + Daddy's Gone
On The Edge Of A Cliff
Has It Come To This + Over & Over
Weak Become Heroes
Blinded By The Lights
----------------------
Turn The Page
Dry Your Eyes
Heaven For The Weather
Fit But You Know It + Who Knows Who?

The Streets-Heaven for the Weather
The Streets-Everything is Borrowed
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First things first, awesome album cover. I am still undecided on this album, it is definitely better than "The Hardest Way To Make an Easy Living", which is no achievement. It is very different from any other Streets album. Not one of the tracks could slide easily onto OPM or AGDCFF, it is far from the electro/garage/grime/rap hybrid Skinner originally created. However, I do like it when artists try new things, and change is not, in this case, a bad thing. It was clearly time for a change after THWTMAEL was so poor and disappointing, and as Skinner says the new album is a refreshing one giving "peaceful positive vibes" in stark contrast to album 3. There are some truly outstanding tracks; Everything is Borrowed, Heaven for the Weather, On the edge of a cliff, on the flip of a coin and i love you more.. are all brilliant, but alleged legends and the strongest person i know seem slightly pointless and let the album down. However, overall, I am thoroughly enjoying listening to this album, Skinner is on top form lyrically, and the live instruments work very well. I doubt The Streets will ever reach the standards of albums 1/2 but this is an impressive effort. Time will tell just how good this is. Album 5 will be the last under The Streets, called Computers and Blues...

[mp3] The Streets-Everything Is Borrowed

[mp3] The Streets-Heaven For The Weather

[mp3] The Streets-On The Edge Of A Cliff

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im so glad the streets have returned, this song is a grower, its better lyrically than anything on the abysmal 3rd album...
full UK tour tickets still available...
THE STREETS Manchester University THE STREETS Venue map Manchester University Manchester SUN 05/10/2008 19:30 buy tickets
THE STREETS Plug THE STREETS Venue map Plug Sheffield MON 06/10/2008 20:00 buy tickets
THE STREETS Carling Academy Birmingham THE STREETS Venue map Carling Academy Birmingham Birmingham THU 09/10/2008 19:30 buy tickets
THE STREETS Carling Academy Newcastle THE STREETS Venue map Carling Academy Newcastle Newcastle FRI 10/10/2008 19:00 buy tickets
THE STREETS Carling Academy Oxford THE STREETS Venue map Carling Academy Oxford Oxford SAT 11/10/2008 19:30 buy tickets
THE STREETS Southampton Guildhall THE STREETS Venue map Southampton Guildhall Southampton MON 13/10/2008 19:30 buy tickets
THE STREETS 53 Degrees THE STREETS Venue map 53 Degrees Preston TUE 14/10/2008 19:30 buy tickets
THE STREETS Norwich U.E.A. THE STREETS Venue map Norwich U.E.A. Norwich THU 16/10/2008 19:30 buy tickets
THE STREETS Carling Academy Bristol THE STREETS Venue map Carling Academy Bristol Bristol FRI 17/10/2008 19:30 buy tickets
THE STREETS Rock City - Over 14´s Only THE STREETS Venue map Rock City - Over 14's Only Nottingham SAT 18/10/2008 19:00 buy tickets
THE STREETS Academy Leeds THE STREETS Venue map Academy Leeds Leeds SUN 19/10/2008 19:30 buy tickets
sorry for the mess. leeds academy for me
:D
The Streets-The Escapist

album out september
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The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living was awful. Its time for Mike Skinner to deliver again. I am hopeful yet apprehensive as to whether the heights of OPM and AGDCFF can be reached. He upped a 4 minute sample with small clips from 4 songs on the new album. The first one is pretty meh, the middle 2 good and the 4th excellent. Late August for release probably.
the 4 tracks are
'The Escapist'
'The Way Of The Dodo' (appears to be some sort of climate change crusade!!!, so that wins me over to it slightly :D)
'The Sherry End'
'On The Flip Of A Coin'
The Streets-New Album Deep

have a look at Mike's myspace blog here, its pretty good
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The reason why i like it is because of that piano loop, ah i love piano loops. High Contrast did a really good remix.
Something Good-Utah Saints (this is the one from the early 90s)
Something Good (High Contrast Remix)-Utah Saints
and while we're on the theme of piano loops...
The Streets-Weak Become Heroes
what a perfect song...
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