Spinning Around

M.I.A. - Boyz
Material from M.I.A.’s new album (rumoured title: ’Kala’) continues to leak and this, a bonkers sort of space-age Bollywood waltz played backwards, is exactly the kind of thing that makes us think the follow up to ‘Arular’ will be something very special indeed.

Andermay - Entre Tu Y Yo
Shimmery pop from Spain; more information about which can be found in an article about European pop music we are (probably not) going to write next week.

Dragonette - Galore (LP)
This is brilliant. Review next week.

Hadouken! - Liquid Lives (single version)
We’re desperately trying to figure out whether getting rid of the weird beat is the biggest mistake in the history of recorded music, or a career-based necessity. Hmm. At least the chorus appears a lot sooner, and the ’DRINK! - SMOKE! - FUCK! - FIGHT!’ bit is ace.

Tom Fletcher’s Ten Number Ones
Apart from the shit ones.

Rihanna - Umbrella
Unusually for a song with MASSIVE FUCKING NUMBER ONE written all over it, this track actually made it to the top of the charts. Deservedly so too, as this giant-sounding paean to love and friendship is basically one of 2007’s best songs. We’re even willing to admit we were wrong about the Jay-Z bit. Wow, etc.

Spinning Around

Groove Armada - Song 4 Mutya (Out Of Control)
Every now and again something comes along to provide reason for the continued existence of music. This is one of those things. It is, to put it mildly, FUCKING BRILLIANT.

Calvin Harris - The Girls
A not-entirely-choosy Calvin tells us about all the different types of girl he likes. “I’ve got a lot of love to give”, he says, which is presumably why the list is longer than our arm. Either that or he’s desperate. Anyway, the really important thing here is that Calvin is admitting to being a commitmentphobe - are you listening, Kylie?!!

Battles - Atlas
Anyone who likes listening to songs but not knowing what the fuck is going on could do worse than give this a try. It's also recommended if you've got a thing for elf vocals, overbearing drums and prog rock. And it isn't actually shit!

Feist - My Moon My Man
We haven’t got the foggiest who “Feist” is, but this track and the video that accompanies it are both very good. Shame she forgot to press the stop button before legging it from the studio at the end, mind.

Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare (LP)
Hilarious Self Parody, more like. A 4/10 at best.

Rihanna - Umbrella
Shades of Rihanna being a pop-lite version of M.I.A. without the rapping here, on a track whose true quality is only revealed after a few listens (and a hasty ffwd past Jay-Z’s bit). Quite why she keeps refusing to actually sing remains a puzzle, but when the songs are as good as this and S.O.S., she could basically fart down the mic for all we care.