M.I.A - Born Free

M.I.A is back. Her Diplo-produced, as-yet-untitled third album is due for release around the 29th of June, and the first song to appear from it is "Born Free", an 100mph electro-punk racket which comes off a little like "Sandinista"-era Clash, with a bit of Yeah Yeah Yeahs thrown in. It's not quite "Paper Planes" but it's pretty damn close. Enjoy...

M.I.A. - Born FreebyTheProphetBlog

LCD Soundsystem - Drunk Girls (video)

Some hate it, some love it. The lead single from LCD Soundsystem's third and final album "This Is Happening" is one of the party songs of 2010, and also has the best video of the year so far. All I'm saying is panda anarchists who like a party.

WHICH BLITZ?

>>>Yeah Yeah Yeahs>>>It's Blitz!>>>
2009 has been a good year for reinvention. Franz Ferdinand have gone from angular indie-rock to experimental disco-dance, The Horrors have morphed from being a bad goth/Sonics tribute band to something a world away (more on that later) and Lily Allen is now Britain's official "state-of-the-nation" addresser according to The Guardian, which says a fair bit about The Guardian's musical taste and knowledge. Moving swiftly on, previous to this year, Yeah Yeah Yeahs were the archetypal 21st Century garage rockers; squalling vocals, choppy distorted guitars and a simple but danceable beat to get them played in indie clubs. But with third album "It's Blitz!", they've dropped the guitars (for most of the tracks) and unexpectedly gone from punk to pomp. Surprisingly they take to electro like ducks to water.

First single "Zero" is a modern classic, mixing the new electronic elements with guitarist Nick Zinner's underrated riffing and Karen O's vocal acrobatics, lodging itself in your memory after the first listen. There isn't much else on "It's Blitz!" that matches up to the superb opener, but that doesn't mean it's all filler. "Heads Will Roll" uses the electronic and guitar parts more liberally and makes for a masterful piece of pop, outstripping the efforts of Lady Gaga, La Roux et al who have attempted the same but fallen well short. "Skeletons" more laid-back synths and militaristic beat allows for a welcome change of pace for five minutes. "Dull Life" brings the album back to life with it's spaghetti western-esque riffs and a return to the YYYs of old in the middle of the track.

But to my ears, this isn't the "spectacular" and "epic" album raved about by the music press. The first half is fantastic, no doubt about that. But past that point everything gets a little samey and dull, apart from album closer "Little Shadow" which sounds like it should have been on Glasvegas' Christmas mini-album with its thumping drums, shimmering synths and bittersweet vocals. If album four is a mix of "Zero" and more of their earlier work then YYYs will have produced a classic. But for now, we're left with a simply alright electro album.
ESSENTIAL TRACKS: "Zero", "Heads Will Roll, "Dull Life", "Skeletons", "Little Shadow"
FOR FANS OF: La Roux, Blondie, The Raputre, Friendly Fires
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SOUP OF THE DAY
Oooh look! It's a new feature/article type thing. It's basically me going on about whatever artist/band has been taking over my brain recently. Along with the "Obsession of the week" bit on the sidebar. Predominantly new bands, since if I did a SOTD on The Beatles, it would be rather pointless. Anyways....

LITTLE BOOTS
FROM: Blackpool
GENRE: Electro-pop
SOUNDS LIKE: What Madonna's been striving to get with her last few re-inventions; massive slabs of electo disco heaven
BEST TRACKS: "Stuck On Repeat" (the normal version and the Fake Blood remix), "New In Town", "Meddle"
SIMILAR TO: Lykke Li, La Roux, Kylie
ALSO CHECK OUT: Her cover of Hot Chip's "Ready For The Floor", her MySpace, and her blog