Bass-heavy, always-happy

A second one today! Lucky devil.

Polysics are one of my favourite bands of all time for their wild, energetic, always-happy, bass-heavy brand of new-wave-rock. After touring here in the U.K for years and having a few albums released here (Which is a big deal for fans of Japanese music. When a C.D is only released in Japan importing will cost you a great deal more than any single C.D ought to cost you.) what seemed to be building and gaining momentum just...stopped...New albums kept coming, but not to the U.K. Then Kayo left the band, causing a brief hiatus. They resurfaced to continue without her, but nothing came to the U.K.

And then...

Japan Underground records announced that they had signed Polysics. That was all they said, for a while, but I had my ear to the ground for news. And it came today! Polysics' latest album, the typically silly titled "Weeeeeeeeee!!!" is due to be released here in June for the paltry sum of £8.89 (Bare in mind that a copy of the last album before this, 15th P will cost at least £30 - Prohibitively expensive for an addict like me on minimum wage.) Above is catchy single Everybody Say No and below, Lucky Star.

For damn sure as fun and off-center as ever. Very exciting news for me! I'm hoping that they come back and play here again. I have seen a lot of live music and I can say that Polysics easily put on the most fun show by FAR. Suffice it to say, I once danced so much at one Polysics show that I fell down and coughed out blood. That was not hyperbole. I actually did.

Chart

Good even, traveler!
No tracks for you in this one, just some really cool news!

Daft Punk's Get Lucky is number one in the top 40 singles here in the U.K. That's just awesome! AlunaGeorge are also in the top 40 TWICE, one for their own Attracting Flies and once as the feat. for Disclosure's White Noise. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are also in there twice. I don't usually follow the charts, but this is probably the best state I've ever seen it in.

So that's nice, isn't it?

The purple patriarch

It's been quiet again, hasn't it!? Sorry...Haha! I say that every time, don't I?
You know, I've enjoyed posting up new stuff so much and it's surprised me with how often I've been able to. Because of that I haven't been "Crate digging" to post old stuff like I had thought I would when I started this. Maybe I'll have to start doing that - I'd like to post more than once or twice a week if I can.
Anyway, prattling aside, I have some stuff I just found out about for you. It's not "Hot off the press" but it surfaced this month so I wouldn't call it old news either.

The funky man in purple is back again! I posted up here a while ago about Prince and 3rd Eye Girl. Well, they've been busy and some stuff has appeared which this time, I am able to share with you!

First up, "Plectrum Electrum" which also happens to be the rumoured title for the rumoured upcoming Prince album. Let's face it, tour appearances, new tracks online and videos leaking out? I'd be very surprised if there WASN'T one in the works. Prince just...absolutely kills it on guitar. This entire video is pretty much just an amazing solo. The kind that just grips you and has so much feeling and energy to it.

Next up, a re-worked version of Let's Go Crazy from the classic Prince album Purple Rain. They've slowed it down and funked it up with more awesome guitar work and an awesome nod to a classic rock track I've always loved, Edger Winter Group's Frankenstein.

Lastly, a new single, Fixurlifeup aired on Canadian radio this month. So far there's no sign of it for download, though it's been said it was due to appear on iTunes at some point.

While we're on a Prince trip, I was recently lucky enough to find Crystal Ball, an album which contained 5 cds if you pre-ordered it online...In 1997...(Who was buying shit online in 1997!?) on Ebay. The 3 CDs comprising Crystal Ball are packed full of funk and are just...awesome. As always with Prince, I can't really share anything with you. The bonus CDs The Truth and Kamasutra are interesting too, but the funk is what really grabbed me. Still I'm happy to get to own one of the harder to find albums from Prince. Did you know his debut, For You, recently turned 35? Crazy. And Prince is till working! Now Prince is back harder and funkier than he's been for a long, long while. It's killing me that there's no (Easy) way to get hold of these in MP3 form, most especially Plectrum Electrum, which grabbed me by the balls. Awesome stuff from the purple patriarch! 

Pure and simple funk

A morning update today! (Cause I fell asleep before this dropped last night...Ehem.)

Archandroid Janelle Monae has collaborated with Erykah Badu (Who's name pops up allllll over the place. I really need to check out her solo work, she features with a lot of artists I like.) to put out this female empowerment "I don't give a damn" funk track!

Janelle's vocals sound as amazing as always and the bass is kickin! The initial tune is simple, but the guitars and keyboards all start to riff on the theme and the entire thing sounds just awesome. Pure and simple funk with some string and choir backed rapping from Ms. Badu at the very end. NOICE.
Soundtrack to: Getting ready to go out dancing.

Bloody gorgeous horns!

A second ear parcel for you this morning!

Brazilian band CSS's fourth album, Planta, is coming in June and Hangover is the first single.
This song has a great bouncy, summery feel and some bloody gorgeous horns! I hesitate to say it has a reggae like vibe, but if I do you'll see what I mean. (Or is it 2-step? Dancehall? Ragga? These things are so difficult.) Throw in some machine drums and a wobbly, stretchy, morphing bass and Love Foxx's never-quite-perfect English lyrics and that's the recipe for Hangover.
It's not getting much love from CSS fans since it strays a long way from their more punk roots (but they've been changing direction since the album Donkey...) but I really like this song! It'll be on my summer playlist for sure.
Soundtrack to: Drinking on the grass.

Icy lyrics

First things first!
TISFWO has reached over 1000 views! Thank you everyone!
Secondly, I discovered something I never would have expected today!

Download Shameless Fashion here for free!
Visage are releasing a new album on the twentieth of May, Hearts and Knives, their fourth album and the first since 1984. That's some gap! I would never have expected this not only because it's been 29 years but because, some years ago, I saw Steve Strange on T.V. He didn't seem to be in a fit state to be there at the time. I'm quite surprised he came back to music!
What's difficult about posting this up here is that I want to say "It reminds me of..." but all the bands I want to list are going to be post '84 so really...It should be the other way around, shouldn't it?
Sultry, dead-pan vocals, icy lyrics, wavering guitar, some nice punchy drums and of course, keyboards all come together to make a track that really sounds like it came out of the 80s. It's a lot more up-beat and certainly has more guitar than their biggest hit, Fade to Grey. I dig this a lot! Check it out!
That cover is great too, but I have a thing for masks.
Soundtrack to: The reopening of the Blitz club.

Get Lucky single drops!

Oh poppet, I have been a terrible father/mother/lover haven't I?
I'll be honest, I feel like utter death right now. You know that feeling that all your hairs are on end and you feel absolutely freezing, but your body is hot? That, right now.

But this is a little note to say watch this space because Daft Punk's lead single from Random Access Memories, Get Lucky, will drop at midnight zero one eastern standard time. So, when I wake up tomorrow, I'll be able to hear the official, complete, legit, 100% genuine song.
This, lovlette, excites me.

So, good night for now, I'll see you in some hours!

EDIT: Oh. It was released in America. That's nice! You can't buy it from iTunes or Amazon UK yet (Which is where I live.) though the release dates there say today. I couldn't find the official version on youtube to share with you either, but that's not surprising. It's over run with the leaked version and fan edits! You'll have to search it out for yourself for now, little one.

Bizarre of the sake of it

Oh goodness. Sporadic updates abound, don't they!?

My time's being taken up by work an awful lot of late and it doesn't show any sign of letting up. It's driving me crazy!

Luckily this video seems to be pretty crazy itself, so it knows how I feel.

Basement Jaxx are a band I can never figure out. They change sound and style a lot, use different singers for every track but still, whenever you hear a new Jaxx track you can tell it's them. I noticed this a few albums back and it's still true. I can't put my finger on why it is, but it is.

This is a quirky one for sure! The video is full of bright colours, strange costumes and video effects. It seems to be bizarre for the sake of it but damn it, it's fun! The song is built on a lot of different layers and throws together machine drums with tribal sounding vocals and instruments. Under everything else is a simple bassline that drives the whole thing and on top we have some nature-based lyrics like "I wanna go back to the wild!" and "Take me to the jungle!" The track is pretty short but after a few listens, I want to put it on repeat and dance in my monkey pyjamas!
I can't wait to see Basement Jaxx this summer at Sommerset house. I hope they bust this one out!
Ya le! Ya le! Ya le lelele lelele!
Soundtrack to: Meeting monkeys.

Indian Beatles

There, the other updates have been prettied up and here's Sunday's update!

Nothing new to report today, so here's a song I've dug for quite some years and thought I'd share!

I'm not going to pretend I know this song from it's original source, a Bollywood picture by the name of "Gumnaam." I do know it from the movie version of sarcastic, coming of age comic book Ghost World.
Source aside, it's a great, catchy track with twangy guitars and lyrics you can sing along to even without knowing what on earth they mean. It feels like an Indian Beatles track with a really fun, sunny feeling to it, though as I said I haven't a clue what they're actually singing about.
The scene from the movie it's taken from is really cool looking too. I'm impressed by the female dancer's ability to shake her head like that without falling over, much less dancing while doing it. Seriously. Try doing that with your head while standing still.
Soundtrack to: Bein' on the lam in India.

We're up all night to get lucky!

Oh my goodness.

A new trailer has been released for Daft Punk's upcoming Random Access Memories. The clips we've been teased with before are both from this song which, as you see in the video, features Pharell Williams. I'm a huge N.E.R.D fan, so I'm pretty darn excited to hear the rest of the track. And the album. Eeeeeee! Every day, it's a-gettin' closer, goin' faster than a roller coaster...

Blazing guitar

Well now, I wouldn't have guess this would happen!

Heavyloud noise rap duo Death Gripz have remixed The Prodigy's Firestarter. It's a random choice and seems to have come out of nowhere, but that makes for a great surprise! The original's lyrics and blazing guitars are mashed with skitzo drums to create a cool new sound for the classic song.
Soundtrack to: Pyromania.

Deep, dirty bass buzzes

What's the craik Jack?
Apologies for intermittent silences of late! Things seem to keep popping up to take my time up. I'll always update when I find something new and exciting but I also want to make the effort to go back and post older things I love when nothing new appears.
That said, a wild track DID appear today, so get your pokeballs ready, why don't you?

Mr. Willy Joy who's been featured here in the past has collaborated with Team Bayside High to make this lil' anklebiter. It's a really nice remix of Where's Your Head At? By Basement Jaxx.
The track blurs a line between trap and dubstep, using deep, dirty bass buzzes, 808 snares and build ups to a "Drop." behind the original vocals from the song. It's pretty cool and has a hazardous, haywire vibe!
Soundtrack to: Gang violence.

Maniacal marriage

Last one for today, chicken. 

This is Cousin Marnie.

I don't have much information about Cousin Marnie yet. She's released a few songs and videos up on youtube ahead of her upcoming Carter Family E.P which will drop later this month. I noticed this song and liked it in particular, so I thought I'd share.
It's a creepy, wonky song about maniacal marriage. It's pretty simple but effective with some piano, drums and just ever so slightly distorted vocals. It has kind of a dizzy feel about it. I find it catchy but I'm not sure everyone will. I'll make sure to post about Marnie again once the E.P is here.
Soundtrack to: A victorian carnival side show.

Fun and personal

Something a little sentimental now from the awesome Ta-ku who's cropped up here before.

Ta-ku heard from Trey, a fan who was dying of cancer. He wanted to collaborate with Ta-ku before his time was up. Sadly, Trey didn't live to see the track come together, so Ta-ku went ahead and made it anyway, dedicating it to him and making it a free download over here.
It's a nice track with drums, claps, chopped vocals and little twinkly bits. At the very end we get to hear Ta-ku's voice for the very first time and it's actually my favourite thing about the track - he's singing "lalalas" and laughing and it adds something fun and personal to the song.
My one gripe is that Ta-ku's record label, Soulection, is plastered all over this thing. It's named twice during the song yet Trey's name is never mentioned aloud. It's a little graceless to spread the story of how the track was made around so that people will get a free download and hear your company name. In fact to even download the song you have to "like" Soulection on Facebook. That's why I liked them, grabbed the link and went back to "unlike." Hm. I don't like to end a post on a sour note, but in this case, I guess I have to,
Soundtrack to: Trey.

Something cold, hard and mechanical.

Five days without an update! Shame on me!
Sorry duck, it was a hell of a week and it was only four days long! We've got a lot to get through today though, so it's like all the updates at once.
Let's press on with the marvellous, shall we?

First up it's genre-blurring industrial-dubstep-digital-hardcore from husband and wife duo Rabbit Junk.

They're busy bunnies and release something new every now and then. Their latest track is a driving, throbbing, angry slab of something cold, hard and mechanical.

The song opens with a quick build up before slamming everything down - Guitar, distorted, yelled lyrics, synths and a little hint of "Wub wub" in the background. Everything carries on with a pounding drum and guitar chugs that reminds me a bit of Fear Factory. We get brief rest periods with just the drum, but my favourite part of this track comes right at the end of those when everything comes crashing back in with "OHHH! DESTROY!!!"
Soundtrack to: Breaking shins.

Shaking The Habitual pre-view stream!

That's a surprise!
You can now stream the entire of The Knife's upcoming Shaking The Habitual ahead of it's release on the 8th!
I've taking a listen myself!

Oh my goodness. We already knew the first two tracks. I wasn't very keen on track three (It's mostly a soundscape with a small song a the end.) BUT I instantly fell in love with "Without You My Life Would Be Boring." It's like a feudal Japanese orchestra turned it's sheet music upside down and played it that way instead. It just continues to build into Wrap Your Arms Around me. This album is pretty incredible. Traditional instruments blending with techno and distorted vocals... Wow, I'm getting blown away!
Oh dear, "Old Dreams Waiting To Be Realised" is completely wasted on me, I'm afraid. When I saw a nineteen minute track I was expecting either a tour de force or something totally the opposite. And that's what this track is. A nineteen minute, ambient wall of sound. Not my bag at all, sadly, especially after the huge swell and build up of the previous tracks.
And then we're right back into percussive, bendy-vocal action with the next track! I'm glad it didn't dissolve into soundscapes.

Haphazard style

Sorry it's been so long, lovely!
I've been away attending weddings and messing up my sleep pattern with five days away from work! Fear not, though, books were finished and video games were played, monster was consumed and sleep took the back burner.

So! Back to work today and so back to working out and posting ditties for you! We've got a dilly for you today, yessir!

Meet Deep Cotton and their epidemic inducingly infections "We're Far Enough From Heaven Now We Can Freak Out."

There's scant information on Deep Cotton available besides the fact that they are part of the Wonderland Arts Society fronted by the gorgeous Janelle Monae and that this song was used in a Sonos advertisement staring them all together.

The song itself is just pure fun. Starting off with some echo-y choir vocals and strummy guitar, we quickly break into the meat of the song which is a chipper guitar and tambourine creature. The vocals are right out of a cartoon. They cheerfully and recklessly sing the enigmatic (Or pure nonsense?) lyrics in a style similar to Andre 3000 when he's at his most unhinged. (Like this shining example.) With a guitar solo we're flung into outer-space for the echo-y "La la la" bridge. Switch back and forth with chants of "We're far enough from heaven now we can freak out" and "La la la lalala la la la la lala la la la lala la la laaaaa" until we drift away with more echos until we float so far that we can't hear the song anyway.
Off-kilter, off-center, off-the-wall and a laugh riot. Check it!
Soundtrack to: Doling out chores in preparation for a kick ass party!

This song's been around a while with no new output from Deep Cotton. I sincerely hope they break the silence soon, though something with this much energy and haphazard style is going to be a hell of a tough one to top.