Single of the week

Late Of The Pier - 'The Bears Are Coming' (Parlophone)

One of the most impressive dance bands to come to the fore late last year with a couple of sell-out singles which grabbed discerning muso ears everywhere. 2008 is their year, and with this brilliant new single, anything is possible.

'The Bears...' overflows with a wonky mish mash of electro and p-funk which has, unsurprisingly, wooed remixes from the likes of Emperor Machine, Joakim and Beyond The Wizards Sleeve.

Impressive stuff.


Dove choice


Best of the rest:

The Juan Maclean - 'Happy House' (DFA) - At last, the US disco electro king is back!

Ray Mang - 'Love Dancing/Holy Ghost' (Mangled) - Trippy disco at its finest.

Toby Tobias - 'Nervoso' EP (Rekids) - Does this man ever cease to amaze?


Album of the week

Goldfrapp - 'Seventh Tree' (Mute)

Alison Goldfrapp may be a notoriously rumoured difficult bitch, but she sure knows how to deliver a solid album. 'Seventh Tree' is the new and fourth offering and is, according to Alison herself "a surreal folk album".

This is not an album to stick on and play loud when you're getting pissed at home before you head on a Friday night - it is quite the opposite. Ideally what you need to do is find yourself an orchard or a poppy field, smoke a pure skunk spliff, get your kit off and roll around like a crazed Britt Eckland in The Wicker Man. Now that's what we're talking about.

Alternatively, if you are sensible like, ahem, us, you could just stay in, sip green tea and really get into it, man. If you buy this on vinyl, you'll even get a poster of Alison chucked in for good measure. Whoop whoop.


Stag Choice


Best of the rest:

Various - 'Nigeria Special Part 1' (Soundway) - Original sounds from original people.

Various - 'An England Story' (Soul Jazz) - The best of black British.

The Ruby Suns - 'Sea Lion' (Memphis Industries) - Folky 80s synth pop for experimental ears.


Events for your diary:


The Grid Plus Special Guests

Wednesday March 26th. 7.30pm. £12 in advance.

Scala, 275 Pentonville Road, King's Cross, London N1 9NL.

The Grid are back! In anticipation of the release of the new album, Dave Ball and Richard Norris return - just a few years older - with what should be a memorable live show.

For discerning music lovers and acid house throwbacks everywhere.

www.scala-london.co.uk


Adventures In The Beetroot Field

Thursday March 20th. 8pm-4am. £13/10.

Fabric, 77a Charterhouse Street, London EC1M.

The biggest night in the Fabric calendar is back with more live bands that you can shake a drumstick at.

The Presets, Ladyhawke, Neon Neon, Gramme, Chrome Hoof and the Fryars are just the tip of the iceberg.

Who needs festivals when you have events like this?

www.adventuresinthebeetrootfield.com


MUSIC TO... INDULGE ONESELF TO

Anna Greenwood is resident DJ at the monstrously successful Guilty Pleasures.

"I’m a major fan of self indulgence" she admits. "One of the many bonuses of being single is that you can do as you please and I take advantage of this factor most of the time.
I’m a firm believer in that a little bit of what you fancy does you good. Be this food, drink, books, films and of course, music."

So, without haste, we introduce you to Anna's very own Guilty Pleasures.

1. Todd Rundgren – 'I Saw The Light'

This long-haired, Meatloaf producer has produced a myriad of albums on the prog rock tip, which in itself is a guilty pleasure (concept albums, multiple musical genres, elaborate costumes and the presence of unicorns = musical masturbation).

Most of these albums contain endless lengthy tracks of not the most danceable music but sometimes a three minute gem of a pop song would pop up. 'I Saw The Light' is one of them.

The lolloping drums, simplistically brilliant melody and lyrics about the early stages of a relationship makes this number one in my chart. This song actually makes me want to be in love, which is a rarity seeing as I am such an insensitive witch, but this would melt anybody’s frozen, black heart.

2. Toto – 'Africa'

I think Toto are amazing. They’re a collection of session musicians who came together and formed a musical force like no other. They played with the likes of Steely and Boz Scaggs and went on to make some brilliant pop/rock tracks.

'Africa' is from their most successful album, 'IV', and any song named after a continent, referencing the climate, environment and wildlife is OK by me.

3. Pointer Sisters – 'Automatic'

This track is like the 70’s version of the future. I 'heart' this song - it’s got the required elements that I look for in a pop track: a beat, slight spacey feel and a brilliant concept. The lyrics are amazing, and I feel an affinity with the line “All I can manage to push from my lips is a stream of absurdities” seeing that I do that without the machinery and wiring that Ruth Pointer’s deep vocals sing about.

4. Girls Aloud – 'Biology'

Taken from the album Chemistry (who says pop isn’t clever?), this song reminds me that my lifetime ambition to be a pop star is still burning within me - I was determined to learn the entire dance routine to this song.

A little bit tragic yes, but if you’ve seen the video, you’ll understand. The song is MASSIVE and is totally unlike your standard chart hit - it’s basically three different choruses and songs in one, but it all comes together brilliantly and affirms the sheer pop majesty that is Girls Aloud.

5. Carly Simon – 'Nobody Does It Better'

This is the theme tune to the Bond film 'The Spy Who Loved Me' and serves as our Erection Section here in this chart, which, I'm afraid, signals the end of this episode of indulgence.

This is a firm karaoke favourite of mine, which I sang on stage at Guilty Pleasures last year for Sean Rowley’s birthday. I cleverly changed the line “Baby you’re the best” to “Sean Rowley you’re the best”.

I know what you’re thinking – 'is there no end to her talents?'.


www.guiltypleasures.co.uk