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they have some great pop songs!!
"New Year" is a pop song written by British group Sugababes, and Jony Lipsey, Cameron McVey, Felix Howard, Matt Rowe and Paul Simm for their debut studio album One Touch (2000). It was co-produced by Lipsey, McVey and Simm.

The song was released as the album's second single in the winter of 2000 and reached the top fifteen in the United Kingdom, where it sold 75,000 copies. It also reached the top thirty on the Irish Singles Chart, but failed to make an impact on the singles charts elsewhere.
pretty impressive to have cowritten this when they were all only 16....they are actually all really good singers..well were..the group/band is completely different now! they still make the the odd great pop song, but nothing as good as their old stuff like this, overload and soul sound...link below


Sugababes-New Year
this is actually a pretty christmassey song

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i know i cant afford to stop, for a mooooooment
The King of intelligent hip-hop. Almost 10 years since Black on Both Sides came out, Mos Def will be releasing his 4th solo album "The Ecstatic" with production from Kanye West and J Dilla amongst others (Feb 2009). here is his most famous song, Ms. Fat Booty. the Aretha Franklin sample is genius. his influences include the roots, de la soul, a tribe called quest. he has influenced kanye and lupe. enough said. i was gonna choose the roots' distortion to static, but mos def's "brooklyn" came on on shuffle on my ipod so i went for this. enjoy...

Mos Def-Ms. Fat Booty
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"Around the World" is a song by the French electronic music duo Daft Punk. It appeared on the duo's debut album, Homework and was released as a single the same year. It subsequently became a major club hit throughout the world and arrived at #1 in dance charts. The song is particularly known for the repeated phrasing of its title. It is also known for its music video, which was directed by Michel Gondry and choreographed by Blanca Li. The song has also been used in promotional videos for the video game Rayman Raving Rabbids 2.

More here
Best video ever?
Daft Punk-Around the World
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"Us" is the second single from Regina Spektor's UK compilation album Mary Ann Meets the Gravediggers and Other Short Stories, although it was originally released on her 2004 album Soviet Kitsch. The song is notable for its use of a string quartet in addition to Spektor's usual piano and vocals. The song was also used in a UEFA Champions League Final montage, by ITV.
This is the first Regina Spektor song to have an accompanying music video. It is noticeable for its use of stop motion animation. It shows Spektor climbing into a dark green room and unpacking an assortment of objects from a trunk, including a piano, rug, a globe, and some seeds, which she places on the rug and grows with water. The video contains some bizarre scenes, such as toy soldiers coming out of Spektor's mouth, and ends with her placing everything (including herself) back into the trunk, which vanishes. The music video is a parody of Georges Méliès's silent film, Le Locataire Diabolique][1] (1909), in which a man rents an apartment and furnishes it by unpacking objects from his trunk in the same fashion Spektor does in Us. The video was directed by Adria Petty.

Regina Spektor is a ridiculously good songwriter and piano player. The piano in this song is simple but brilliant, and the lyrics are equally great. Check out the possible interpretations on songmeanings
I think this song is (as one of the posters on that site says) about being so in love with someone that "its contagious" and your love is immortalized in a statue (the "den of thieves" could be people trying to split them up?). but some of the people are reading much more into it saying its a comment on communism or immigration. Whatever she intended, its an amazing song.

Regina Spektor-Us

for a while its gonna be mediafire links, until hotlinkfiles sorts itself out!
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I Dont Love Anyone is probably my favourite B&S song from their 1996 debut, Tigermilk.
The lyrics are simple yet ambiguous and can be interpreted in a number of ways.

1. The writer is constantly asked who they love, and feels frustrated that he is asked this question. He is happy that he doesnt love anyone.
2. The writer doesnt love anyone and is feeling upset about it...They wish they did
   

There are probs loads more interpretations..its such a brilliant song!!!
Belle and Sebastian-I Don't Love Anyone
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Basement Jaxx at their best.
Basement Jaxx-Jump N' Shout
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"Live Forever" is a song by British rock group Oasis, written by the band's guitarist and chief songwriter Noel Gallagher. It was released as the third single from their debut album Definitely Maybe on 8 August 1994, just prior to that album's release.

Gallagher wrote the song in 1991, before he joined Oasis. Inspired by The Rolling Stones' "Shine a Light," "Live Forever" features a basic song structure and lyrics with an optimistic outlook that contrasted with the attitude of the grunge bands popular at the time. The song was the first Oasis single to enter the top ten in the United Kingdom, and garnered critical acclaim.

Loads more here

I am about to listen to the new album right now. I think I might continue this feature for a while actually, I have around 30 more songs I have thought of I can use, I will just have to be more disciplined with it.

Oasis-Live Forever

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"Ready or Not" is the second single from The Fugees' 1996 album The Score. The song contains a sample of "Boadicea" by Enya, and its chorus is based on "Ready Or Not, Here I Come (Can't Hide From Love)" by the Delfonics (written by Thom Bell and William Hart).

Enya was prepared to sue the group for copyright infringement, because she had not permitted the group to sample her music.^[1] She eventually settled out of court.

The song reached number one in the UK for two weeks in September 1996.

U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama named "Ready or Not" as his favorite song in a top 10 list submitted to Blender in August 2008.^[2]

I wish Lauryn Hill hadn't gone crazy. She is standardly one of the most talented musicians of the 1990s/2000s. I want a proper Fugees reunion!!!!

[mp3]Fugees-Ready or Not

2 old skool monday's today as i fucked up last week! KoL new album has leaked, thoughts soon, and thoughts on the new T-Pain esque Kanye!

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From 1991....

""Can I Kick It?" was the third single from A Tribe Called Quest's debut album People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. The song was not a hit at the time of its release but has become much more popular over the years, thanks in part to the wide exposure gained from its appearance as the theme music for the Nike commercial which launched the company's famous tagline, "Just Do It".

It is also well known for containing a sample from Lou Reed's 1972 single, "Walk on the Wild Side".

Amazing album, amazing song, amazing group. I know there were some problems with the hotlinkfiles links this weekend but they seem to be working again, sorry about that....I realise it is 2 weeks since leeds fest now, review is coming!!!

[mp3]A Tribe Called Quest-Can I Kick It?

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I really need to get these on time...20th old skool monday :D. I was shocked that I hadn't included a Nirvana song yet, and I opted for In Bloom, as DPT played a (pretty bad) cover at Leeds this weekend, and it reminded me just how good the original is.

""In Bloom" is a song by the American grunge band Nirvana. Written by frontman Kurt Cobain, the song addresses people outside of the underground music community who did not understand the band's message.

Nirvana made its first music video for an early version of "In Bloom" in 1990, however the song did not appear on a commercial release until the release of the group's second album, Nevermind, in 1991. "In Bloom" became the fourth and final single from the album late in 1992. It was accompanied by a music video which parodied musical performances of 1960s variety shows.

Like many Nirvana songs, "In Bloom" shifts back and forth between quiet verses to loud chorus. The rhythm section of Novoselic and Grohl kept its parts simple; Grohl stated it was "an unspoken rule" to avoid unnecessary drum fills, while Novoselic said he felt his role was about "serving the song". During the choruses, vocalist Cobain and drummer Grohl harmonize while singing "He's the one/Who likes all our pretty songs/And he likes to sing along/And he likes to shoot his gun/But he knows not what it means". The song's intro reappears at the end of each chorus.

Cobain's lyrics address the people outside of the underground music scene that began showing up at Nirvana shows after the release of the group's debut album Bleach. Nirvana biographer Michael Azerrad wrote, "But remarkably, [the song's lyrics] translated even better to the mass popularity the band enjoyed." Regarding the song's chorus, Azerrad commented, "The brilliant irony is that the tune is so catchy that millions of people actually do sing along to it.""

read more here

Nirvana-In Bloom

Coming Soon...new bloc Party album! (first listen average, second listen very good), new friendly fires album (brilliant), hopefully a bit of a cut copy album review, new john legend/andre 3000, new streets, and LEEDS FESTIVAL REVIEW (in the style of the glasto one i did a bit ago) including last shadow puppets, rage, justice, vampire weekend, conor oberst and many more...
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the first since i've been back...leeds themed...
""Killing in the Name" (often misnamed, due to the lyrics, as "Killing in the Name Of") was the first single released by Rage Against the Machine from their self-titled album, and is arguably the band's signature song. On 31 August 1999, it was reissued with one previously unreleased track, "Darkness of Greed", together with the track "Clear the Lane" which was the original B-Side on the white only vinyl first release of the single. The album's cover pictured Thích Quảng Đức, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, burning himself to death in Saigon in 1963 in protest of the murder of Buddhists by Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm's regime."

Cant wait for leeds :D
Rage Against The Machine-Killing in the name
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"Let's Stay Together" is a song by Al Green on his 1972 album of the same name. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and remained on the chart for 16 weeks. It also topped Billboard's R&B chart for nine weeks. The song later appeared on the soundtrack to Pulp Fiction. It was ranked the 60th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Al Green-Let's Stay Together
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2 days late, pathetic i know, but i was still recovering from glastonbury! full review will be coming today with LOTS of nice links (this is real not an empty promise like i usually make on this blog...)
no real reason for picking this track, just that its a bit good, cheesy late 80s house music...
Dee-lite-Groove Is In The Heart
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...god mc...
SATURDAY!!!!
i had planned for a big glastonbury preview, and it may still happen...but there's lots to do today!

"Can't Knock the Hustle" is the third single from rapper Jay-Z's debut album Reasonable Doubt. The song features a beat produced by Knobody, co-produced by Sean C and Dahoud Darien, as well as a chorus sung by Mary J. Blige. Its beat contains samples from "Much Too Much" by Marcus Miller and "Fool's Paradise" by Meli'sa Morgan. Before the song begins, Pain in da Ass delivers a monologue from the 1983 gangster film Scarface. Jay-Z then proceeds to deliver mafioso lyrics about drug dealing and street life.

The song was originally supposed to have Latin singer Veronica sing the hook, but the more popular Mary J. Blige replaced her.^[1] A live version of "Can't Knock the Hustle" found on the bonus disc of Kingdom Come features Beyoncé singing the song's hook. The songs beat has been heavily sampled by UK soul singer Lemar in his song 50/50"

pretty much definate that he'll play this on saturday with mary j blige coming on...
Jay-Z-Can't Knock The Hustle (feat. Mary j. Blige)
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apologies for the lack of posts, after wednesday (last exam!) there will be alot more including, new KoL, new (kindof) justice, old MGMT, NERD, lost, skins etc etc
i went for kings of leon this week, what a band, this was their first (i think) ever single.

"Molly’s Chambers" is the first single taken from the Youth and Young Manhood album by the American rock band Kings of Leon.

The title is taken from a line in Thin Lizzy's version of the traditional Irish folk song "Whiskey in the Jar".

"Molly's Chambers" was used in a 2003 Volkswagen commercial, depicting a young couple dancing in their apartment. Apparently, they are making too much noise, because they are kicked out, and after finding a house, they load up their VW, and move into their new home, and are seen at the end of the commercial, jumping up & down, as Molly's Chambers plays throughout the ad."

Kings of Leon-Molly's Chambers
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18 today!! its a special old skool monday for me, with one of the best songs of all time, from one of the best rap albums of all time, by the best (yes, better than public enemy) rap group of all time, its de la soul!!

"Eye Know" is a single from De La Soul's landmark album 3 Feet High and Rising. It peaked at number 14 on the UK singles chart.

Released during rap's Golden Age of 1986-1992, the song is an upbeat, feelgood love jam featuring a whistle sample from Otis Redding's "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay". The song also includes samples from Steely Dan's "Peg" and Sly & The Family Stone. At the time of its release, sampling laws were very liberal and the now-requisite task of clearing, or even obtaining permission, for using famous songs were almost non-existent. Nevertheless, "Eye Know" is much more famous for its poetically phrased musings on the wonders of love and of course for its pioneering sampling techniques."

the lyrics are truely brilliant. what a fantastic summery song. amazing. heres a sample

It’s I again and the song that I send Is taking steps to reach your heart Any moment you feel alone I can fill up your empty part We can ascend ’till we reach de la heaven And in a spin we’ll hit the top ten Then we will meet mr stuckie And pos’ brother lucky will preach Let the wedding begin Shot by an arrow of cupid Through the string of a g-clef My dear, I claim you’re def And if you can hear me, by golly gee, Trugoy is ready for what you posess We could live in my plug two home And on mars where we could be all alone And we make a song for two, Picture perfect things and I sing of how
De La Soul-Eye Know
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i knoooooow this much is true. classic cheesy 80s music. this has been sampled by nelly, backstreet boys, fleetwood mac, cary brothers, black eyed peas, amongst others, its a classic pop song from 1983, with lots of motown influences in there. it has appeared in the wedding singer, charlies angels, 50 first dates, not another teen movie, wedding crashers as well as shameless, the office, the simpsons, ugly betty, spaced, two pints...etc...
Spandau Ballet-True

sorry its late....
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As you probably already know, Milburn announced they were splitting
in March, with 2 final gigs this week, the second at the new Academy in Sheffield this Saturday. To commemorate probably the most important band (ok maybe 2nd most) of my life, i will post a milburn song every day of the week. Milburn made amazing music, and with better promotion and media support they could have broken the charts, not that that was vitally important, most of the chart indie at the moment (pigeon detectives, ting tings, courteeners etc) are nothing on milburn. For one last effort to get the boys some recognition, many fans are downloading (legally) the bside 17 in an attempt to break the top40! come on you can spare 79p!! (click the picture below)


Old skool monday this week is therefore themed, on Milburn. and we go all the way back to may 29th 2005, from Milburn EP, the amazing lipstick lickin'.
[mp3] Milburn-Lipstick Lickin'

download 17 now!!!
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the first time old skool monday has gone for full on cheesy r&b, back in the days when usher made good pop songs!!
"Pop Ya Collar" is a 2001 single from Usher's leaked 2001 unofficial album All About U, which was later put on some editions of his official studio album that year, called 8701. It reached #2 on the UK Singles Chart. It was inspired by the upturned collar, and helped make the term "popped collar" a popular culture "buzzword".
Saw a bit of his set from one big weekend, looked a bit crap really, but lets not put a downer on things, he has had many good pop/rnb songs over the years; u got it bad, u-turn, u remind me, burn, yeah, confessions, caught up! and confessions is a good album!
Usher-Pop Ya Collar

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Now playing: Soulwax - NY Excuse (Justice Remix)
via FoxyTunes
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I was debating with myself over a number of bands i could have in this weeks old skool monday. it came down to coldplay and death cab, both would have been pretty relevant, as violet hill was made available last week, and narrow stairs leaked, and i will possess your heart is out today. anyways, i went for death cab, and prove my hypothesis, their first ever single. apparently this song is about a drummer leaving a band, possibly Nathan Good leaving Death Cab? or some people think its about the Thermals drummer leaving them? i dont know, but because its written by the ultimate relationship commentator, their are clear connotations of a bitter end to a relationship (whether romantic or not). This is Death Cab at their distorted best, and as Ben does so often in Death Cabs early years (e.g. for what reason, champagne..., your bruise etc etc) the lyrics are "bent with bitterness". Have a look at the lyrics (if you cant understand Bens distorted voice) and see what people think at songmeanings (i love this website!)
Released very limitedly in 1999.
Death Cab For Cutie-Prove My Hypotheses
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