Ian Brown - Stellify King Monkey may not have that many big tunes of his own (as evidenced at Leeds) but this is certain to join the few in his canon. Lo-fi and clearly dance-inspired with the entrancing piano line. Driven along by an great marching beat and like pretty much everything to do with Brown, it's got a certain swagger to it which is more than enough to propel it into classic status. 9
Weezer - (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To The first release from Weezer's awesome-ly titled seventh album "Raditude" is just what you'd expect from Rivers Cuomo & the other three. The skiffle-y intro makes way for a great pop chorus, with all the ingredients for a classic Weezer tune; girls, lsuting after them, some reference to summer and Slayer. After the 50/50 awesomeness/filler of The Red Album, "Raditude" is gonna be...well...rad! 8
The Black Box Revelation - I Think I Like You There hasn't been a young, brash, permanently-wearing-leather-jacket-type rock 'n' roll group with both tunes and attitude around in a while (The Enemy? Really? Did you hear that second album?!). What Oasis would sound like if they were still 20, playing shite clubs and showed a hell of a lot more passion for what they do, instead of cosying up to Russell Brand or starting fashion labels. It's not what you'd call original and whilst it may have been done thousands of times before, TBBR are making garage rock what it should be; exciting and not giving a fook. 7.5
The Drums - Let's Go Surfing There's no point in anyone releasing any other single this year. This is the best song of 2009. It's what is under all that feedback and droning of the current shoegaze revival; pure classic guitar pop, just guitar, bass, drums and packed to the brim with hooks. "Let's Go Surfing" is the perfect summer song, and had it recieved more exposure, it would have been this year's "A-Punk"...just less annoying. If you can stop yourself from listening to it on repeat/humming it throughout the day, then I'll eat my hat. 10
Hitsville U.K. is basically about music. Simple as. Albums, singles, individual tracks, gigs (when I can get to them). Failing being in a band, music journalism is what I want to do. In the words of Scroobius Pip "having a blog does not make you a music journalist", but it's better than doing nothing.
I'll try to keep it a healthy mix of well known and not so well known. I doubt there's too many people who wants to hear about that uber-obscure nine-piece math-folk band from wherever's currently hip to be from at the minute that have only released one EP, solely available in their street. Unless they're freaking awesome.
If you want to contribute anything to the blog, feel free to contact me via email (alexhitsvilleuk@googlemail.com), Facebook or on here :)
Go visit Music Fan's Mic whilst you're at it. Great writing, articles and taste. The link is down in the link section :)