Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

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Rihanna – ‘Te Amo’

Rihanna at Big Weekend

Say what you like about Ms Fenty and her apparent lack of an easily-understood public persona, but as anyone who was at Big Weekend will attest, she can SURE put on a unique show.

I mean to say…Look at this! Just LOOK at it! There are dancers in German WWII helmets – with WWI spikes coming out of the top – dancing about and carrying pink rifles. And that’s just the first song. Pink rifles though! It’s like war, only for girls!

As for the music, well, she’s stripped out the icy robotic central nervous system of her songs and replaced it with a hot-blooded, meaty rock band, including Nuno Bettencourt on widdy-widdly guitar. I know!

(Here’s the video. ‘Te Amo’ is around the 12 minute mark.)

WHO-no Bettencourt, you ask? Well, way back in the lost rock hinterland between Motley Crue and Nirvana, when metal wasn’t metal unless it came dressed like an S&M poodle with clown fetish, there was a band called Extreme. They weren’t particularly: extreme, that is. But they did have this one song called ‘More Than Words’ which was a pretty acoustic ballad, in an Everly Brothers style (srsly, I can’t keep explaining all these references, look ‘em up). A tad rambly in the lyrics, perhaps, but a big hit nonetheless.

Anyway, their guitarist was Nuno Bettencourt. He wore black nail varnish, had long flicky hair, and could do widdly-widdly guitar until the first rays of the morning sun. Someone even made a Nuno Bettencourt signature guitar, a mint condition of which would probably be worth literally POUNDS these days.

20 years on, he’s STILL wearing the black nail varnish, still has the flicky hair, still plays the widdly-widd, but instead of being in a second string rock band, he’s blowing minds on a nightly basis with Rihanna. Which HAS to be considered a massive stroke of good luck on his part.

She, after all, has the songs (and the fans). Hell, he even gets to play Spanish widdly-widdly guitar on this mournful tale of doomed love across gender AND language barriers. A song which manages the rare feat of beating Extreme’s best song in both emotional impact and lyrical silliness.

It’s that old, old story: Girl meets girl. Girl speaks different language to girl. Girl loves girl. Girl doesn’t love girl. Girl sad. Girl sad. We’ve all been there, right? And Rihanna’s captured that feeling beautifully (she actually has, even though I sound incredibly insincere about it).

That’s got to be better than trotting out a fistful of damp funk rock to a not-getting-any-younger crowd who just want to hear Their Song so they can smooch, right?*

Four stars Download: Out now
CD Released: May 24th
www.rihannanow.com/
BBC Music page

(Fraser McAlpine)

Digital Spy says: “Rihanna’s taking a well-deserved break from titillating the blokes here.”

Tiny Mix Tapes says: “An Ibizian bit of sapphic role-playing”

Unreality Shout says: “['Te Amo'] takes her back to her origins but still sticks to her new and modern sounds.”

* Yesyesyes, Nuno fans, I know he’s done other things since Extreme.

View full post on BBC Audio & Music | Radio 1 Chart Blog



Don’t Watch This…Watch That!

Big Weekend

Hello! Just a quick note to say…it’s Big Weekend. This means everyone’s in Bangor having the BEST TIME of ALL TIME, and generally kicking up a ruckus.

Which leaves me wondering how best to mark the event. A special website devoted to the goings on? Well there already is one. Carry on as usual? I was gonna say something about Rihanna’s ‘Te Amo’, but what could I add to the fact that she’s performing it in front of a bazillion screaming fans in Bangor this Sunday night, beyond saying it’s a nice song, she’s a nice pop star, and by the way, you should totally check out the Big Weekend site.

You should, by the way, totally check out the Big Weekend site. And then join me back here on Monday for more of the same old nonsense.

TTFN!

Fraser

View full post on BBC Audio & Music | Radio 1 Chart Blog



Chiddy Bang – ‘Truth’

Chiddy Bang

“Is anybody there?” shouts a worried Chiddy, while something slowish – namely Passion Pit’s ‘Better Things’ – plays far too fast in the background, “I mean I hope somebody out there can hear this right here. Just listen…”

It’s a curiously insecure way to start an upbeat pop song, donchathink? It’s more the sort of thing you’d expect from a guerilla radio station, broadcasting from the middle of the end of the world, or a last transmission from an abandoned spaceship, set to music, because it’s in a sci-fi musical. A hip hop sci-fi musical, no less.

And it raises an interesting philosophical question: if a rapper busts rhymes in the forest and there’s no-one there to hear him, can he still boast?

(Here’s the video. Some vandal has drawn all over it. I know!)

Well, in Chiddy’s case, the answer is Most Definitely. And, being a bright spark, his boldest claims come dressed in scholar’s robes, like “I am well endowed like Harvard and Yale”, or “periodically, I’m in my element, phospherous”. You don’t even have to have paid attention in Science class to get the gags, especially when he’s claiming to be able defy the laws of physics by jumping over the Empire State building and just gliding back down to Earth again.

Important Note: He can’t, so don’t mention this in your gravity homework, unless you want an F-minus.

Getting back to Passion Pit for a second, that’s the second cracking sample in a row for the Bang, after using MGMT’s ‘Kids’ in their calling card, ‘Opposite Of Adults’. The song’s been sped-up, touched-up and chopped-up, so it now sounds less homemade, and more streamlined and immaculate.

So we’ve got unashamedly intelligent lyrics, and an unusual sample treated with absolutely no respect, in order to make the most of what it has to offer. Someone should tell Chiddy that so long as he keeps up the good work, when it comes to people listening, he’s got nothing to worry about.

Four stars Download: Out now
CD Released: May 17th
www.myspace.com/chiddybang
BBC Music page

(Fraser McAlpine)

It’s A Rap says: “These guys are really showing how to change up music .”

Kickin the Peanuts! says: “if there’s anyone to trust to make it big, it’s these two!”

Arjan Writes says: “This year will be the year of Chiddy Bang. These guys are making fire!”

View full post on BBC Audio & Music | Radio 1 Chart Blog



Owl City – ‘Umbrella Beach’

Owl City

A confession: I’m writing this at 3am. I had to. See, I read this interview with Adam Young on the BBC Slink site, in which he explains his battle with insomnia, and how it has affected his working life, and it seemed like the best way to really appreciate his work – or at least, gain an understanding as to why his work is the way it is – would be to try and go to the wellspring of his inspiration. Lack of sleep is the key.

Now, I’m someone who normally finds Owl City’s output to be a little whiny, a smidge twee, a trifle over-reliant on autotune. To such an extent that, by the end of one solid listen to the album, I was desperate for some red meat, some AC/DC and a fight with a bear.

(Here’s the video. It’s crafty.)

But that was during the day. Now it’s the middle of the night, and reality seems a bit stretched and thin. Suddenly the eurodance backing seems less cheesy, somehow the whispersoft vocal becomes more dreamy, as my tired and overheated brain starts to confuddle the line between what is real and what is imaginary.

I tried to write that exact thought down about five minutes ago, and then realised I hadn’t switched the computer on. Then I was staring at the back of my hands as if they’d suddenly become unfamiliar to me.

I find I’m grateful for the blasts of syntrumpet, for the backwash of Netto Pet Shop Boys synthpop, cos they’re doing what the coffee has long since failed at, namely keeping my brain focussed. I also find the lyrics start to make a crazy sort of sense, in the way that unreasoned things tend to sparkle in the middle of the night.

I’m all like “underwater ferris wheel? Cool!” and then “uh, my feet are too hot” and finally “*deep sigh* Tomorrow I am really gone SORT MY LIFE OUT, things have been going on for TOO LONG and I need to just START making everything BETTER. How hard can it be? And…hey, I like that twittery breakdown section, that’s purdy!”

Now, I should really think of a way to finish this before I fall asleep on the keybssgaasgrnrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr….

Three stars Download: Out now
CD Released: May 17th
www.owlcitymusic.com
BBC Music page

(Fraser McAlpine)

The Beat Review says: “You can hear positivity from the track which makes it absolutely radio friendly.”

Strangeglue says: “From Umbrella Beaches ridiculously over-used bass thump to Dental Care’s stupidly poppy structure and lyrics, the record just seems to get worse and worse.”

Emily Is Smiling says: “Adam Young’s style of writing is both descriptive and imaginative.”

View full post on BBC Audio & Music | Radio 1 Chart Blog