Technicolor Paradise: Rhum Rhapsodies & Other Exotic Delights (Numero Group)
Hong Kong Score (Wan Chai Records)
Saigon Supersound 1964-75 Volume 2 (Saigon Supersound)
Piero Piccioni – Camille 2000 Soundtrack (Camille 3000)
Gulden Karabocek Volumes 1 & 2 (Pharaway Sounds)
The Harlem Shake phenomenon has us feeling somewhat vindicated. But we should not feel too clever. I was chatting with a a couple of the neighbourhood kids last Monday and quizzed them about the number one track in the country. These two are usually singing Carly Rae Jepsen and every other Top 40 radio hit. They had no idea what I was talking about. This was even after I reminded them that they had laughed at me when I played the track for them during the summer. I did my stupid superior dance internally and moved on. I did, however,…
Further to my last post, the winners have been declared and “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me” is the Christmas refrain on the top of the UK charts. The Grauniad (look it up) has a good round-up of the news and reaction: Rage Against the Machine beats X Factor’s Joe to Christmas No 1 | Music | guardian.co.uk One item of particular interest is that claim that RATM won on downloads alone. It makes sense, given that the campaign for RATM and against the X factor winner was launched and mostly conducted online. Also, it’s unlikely that…
The UK Christmas Number One Single tradition has lead to all sorts of silly stuff over the years (Oasis vs. Blur for one), but the last few years have been dominated by awful, treacly pop songs spewing from the “winners” (or “indentured servants”, take your pick) of Simon Cowell’s X-Factor TV show. In the last few weeks a strong campaign has developed to make Rage Against the Machine the number one single this christmas. The campaign is specifically targeted at the Cowell machine, so the choice of RATM is particularly apt. The song the campaign has chosen is “Killing in the Name” ,…
Malcolm Middleton used to be in Arab Strap. He’s released solo record and one of the songs on it, We’re All Going To Die, is about to be released as a “Christmas Single” in the UK. The “Christmas Single” is a long-lived and somewhat odd little artifact of the UK charts. Basically, it comes from the fact that the UK market is so small that if a (not always huge) number of people all buy a single on the same day, and for a couple of days afterwards, the song stands a very good chance of getting into the official…