Rage Against The X Factor

Firstly, I'd just like to apologise for us not updating this blog as regularly as we should have. In case you missed it Thunder Child wrote in a recent post of his that we're taking a break from blogging over Christmas and New Years. If you're lucky, we might be able to whip something tasty up for New Years Eve but we don't get much time off from writing so we're lapping up this newfound freedom. Expect regular content to start running sometime in the beginning of the New Year.

If you've been paying attention to the outside world, and the charts, in particular, in recent times, you will almost definitely have noticed the Rage Against The Machine VS The X Factor chart battle for the Christmas number one. I was initially going to write about it just before the winner was announced but due to other things coming up I didn't get around to it. In an unprecedented shock victory, Rage Against The Machine took home the Christmas number one with the frankly overplayed and overappreciated Killing In The Name.

When I first heard about this campaign, I was immediately skeptical, both of the intent and the reasoning behind such a campaign. Originally, I thought the idea was somewhat preposterous, primarily due to the fact that I just didn't believe a Rage track could loosen the vice-like strangehold that Simon Cowell's glorified karaoke machine had over the UK music scene. On top of this, I didn't particularly agree with the song choice, because aside from it being easily one of the most overly accentuated tracks of the entire Rage disography, there was a certain overarching sense of irony in choosing this particular track. Firstly, through the slogan "fuck you, I won't buy what you tell me" coming from a group telling visitors exactly what to buy, and secondly, through the fact that the entire point of the song is the promotion of independent thinking. Add to this the fact that Rage Against The Machine are on the same record label as industry mogul Simon Cowell and his X Factor cohorts and there is a good chance he not only has investment in the label, but possibly is a shareholder as well, and to me it seemed like a recipe for disaster; a musical statement by the stateless. Had they chosen Know Your Enemy, which in my opinion is much more lyrically befitting of such a campaign than Killing In The Name is, I would have backed it straight away without hesitation and no questions asked. They didn't, instead favouring a song we've all heard a thousand times individually. I bowed out of contributing but secretly anticipated the results.

While I have nothing against The X Factor as a whole and I'm sure it is quality entertainment for those who sit down to watch it on a Saturday night, I don't think it is really bringing anything new to the music industry. 90% of the artists featured on it make their names through covering other people's songs, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if there is one thing the music industry has taught me its that covers are destined to do well no matter who they're done by. People love a classic song and are willing to lap it up regardless of how many times they've heard it in the past. This has been proven time and time again over the years. Remember A1's cover of Take On Me? Number one. How about Madonna's cover of American Pie? Number one. Or what about Five's shambolic rendition of We Will Rock You? Number one. To add insult to injury, how about Westlife's cover of Uptown Girl or Sam & Mark's cover of With A Little Help From My Friends? Both covers, both number ones. The list goes on and on. The simple truth is that as long as you're relatively known, if you cover a classic song, no matter how old or overplayed, you're almost destined to be number one. Record executives have been tapping into this source for years and Simon Cowell is no stranger to it. This is the reason why every single X Factor finalist releases a cover just before Christmas time. The show is strategically set up to end just as the Christmas boom begins. Everyone knows that the Christmas number one is the most lucrative and prestigious of all the number ones, and again, Simon Cowell knows it. I don't despise him for it either. Business is business.

My opinion on the Killing In The Name campaign did drastically change, however, when a certain Joe McElderry made his frankly unfounded opinions known to the world: "I wouldn't buy it. It's a nought out of ten from me. Simon Cowell wouldn't like it. They wouldn't get through to boot camp on The X Factor - they're just shouting." Firstly, just because a hard rock band wouldn't get through boot camp on The X Factor doesn't in any way hinder their creative or artistic influences. Each member of the band is known to be extremely proficient on their chosen instruments and they're one of the most commercially successful rock bands of the last two decades. Just because Simon Cowell doesn't like it doesn't mean that it's bad. Let's not forget that he is the person who brought the Teletubbies and Zig and Zag into the musical world. I honestly believe that if an unknown Paul McCartney had auditioned for The X Factor, he most definitely wouldn't have made it to the finals and may not even have made it past the first round, due in large part to him not having the look or the sound of the direction pop music has taken. With regards to the 'they're just shouting' argument, I believe that sometimes shouting is a good way to get across the point you have to make if you want people to listen to you. All my life I've been greeted with people who dismiss anything that isn't within a specific genre, claiming it to be noise or just shouting. If you don't get it, fair enough, but don't automatically come to the assumption that it has no artistic merit because you don't see the appeal in it. Is shouting not a form of expressionism? The worst part of McElderry's comments is that Killing In The Name actually doesn't involve that much shouting aside from the ending, which is actually cut off in the non-explicit version. Say what you want about Rage Against The Machine but they are still one of the few bands out there who haven't compromised and have made some very important messages - messages that more people should pay attention to. Aside from the context behind their music, Zack De La Rocha has one of the most unique voices in the business and has flow like very few others. It is clear hip hop has a huge influence on the way he sings and only an idiot would think otherwise. I'd imagine the same idiot might throw darts at a rival singers picture as an ill-fated publicity stunt but that's a debate for another day.

Another main reason I decided to throw my 30p into the mix and buy the single is due to the fact that not only would it be a huge victory for the internet but it would also make a Rage Against The Machine track of all things the last Christmas number one of an entire decade. Serious business, indeed. To me, it is one of the most interesting social experiments to take place in a very long time. Who would have thought that a random guy and his wife could almost singlehandedly command the number one spot with no financial support or backing. It is an incredible achievement in all honesty, made even better by the fact that a large portion of the proceeds are going to charity and Rage Against The Machine are doing a free UK celebratory concert - a concert I most definitely hope to attend. I was shocked at just how motivated I became over this chart battle as I usually couldn't give a damn, but what is most fascinating is that ever since Rage hit the top spot, very few people have been talking about it, proving that more than anything it was a social experiment undertaken by those supposedly real fans out there. Regardless of your reasons for picking up the single, there is no denying that history has been made and it is always something people will be looking back on in years to come. Shock victories like that don't happen very often. I still think they should have went with Know Your Enemy but at the end of the day, the lesser of two evils won. I don't know how I'd feel about the world if a Miley Cyrus cover of all things claimed the Christmas number one spot.

Rage Against The Machine - Know Your Enemy

Easy Like Sunday Morning #11

Ok, so Fridays post was missing. Long story cut short I left my house on Thursday to pre-swall for soulwaxmas and I returned home on Saturday evening, on the Friday between I went to ASIWYFA's gig and went to a ludicrous house party the same night (people were arriving when I was leaving at 9am and it was the most active part of the party). ASIWYFA blew Belfast apart, I missed soulwax and Tiga on the Friday (forgot ticket and had to go back) but mix hell blew the roof of the place, 2manydjs however just did the exact same thing they did at Belsonic, it was rubbish the first time and it was rubbish again if you were to listen to the two sets you'd be convinced that no music had been released in the past 6 months as they were pretty much the same. Because of all this my body clock has been all off, I slept a good bit of today as I didn’t go to bed until lunchtime.

For the first post of the day I'm going to be posting Air's - Ce matin là from their stunning album Moon Safari. If I were to try and explain what Easy Like Sunday Morning was about to someone who didn’t get the title (ie a complete idiot), I would just give them a copy of Moon Safari and they would instantly understand what we were trying to show people. I honestly think that this is possibly the most organic sounding album every made and if I were trying to determine if a pair of speakers were worth my money or not, this is the album I'd use. Ce matin là is constantly a song I find getting stuck in my head, I'll find myself on a bus, train or walking around town/uni just humming the infectious brass lead over and over again. Everything from that typical air-esque bass to the steel sounding guitar are perfect in this track. I'm really actually surprised that I haven't posted this track earlier as it is my favorite Air track from what I personally think is the dynamic duo's best work. I urge you to get a copy of this album by any means necessary even if it means robbing it from a shop (I don't condone any criminal activity, this is clearly a sarcastic comment meant to raise a cheap laugh, however if you do decide to do this just use the ten tracks on the album as your defense and the jury will understand and probably let you off), the reason I urge you to listen to this album is that you will almost definitely find a different favorite track to mine, it's just that sort of album. I discovered this album when I was in my 3rd or 4th year of school during the height of listening to metal bands such as Megadeth and going through a typical stage of not wanting to conform (by ironically conforming to something else…), but that alone says a lot about the album, as it is something especially at that time which I would not have expected to like and it is without a doubt beside Grandmaster Flash one of the two key elements in the change that made me listen to music the way I do today. This is definitely, for me, an in bed sort of album, one to go to sleep to and one to wake up to, its therapeutic in ways that therapy could never be and proves that simplicity is one of the keys to perfection. I could go on and on about why this album is one of the best made and why it's so good but i'd rather let you discover it for yourself than let me impose learned habits in regards to how and why you should listen to it. Ce matin là by some sort of beautiful coincidence means "That Morning".

Air - Ce matin là

The next song I'm going to post is another obvious one that has somehow eluded me up until now, Simon and Garfunkel's always atmospheric The Sound of Silence. Anyone who goes to the cinema even semi-often or enjoys film will recognize this track as it is used on a seemingly regular basis within film. The best use of this track is clearly from the film The Graduate, the song plays at a time when Hoffmans character has finished his time at university, graduated and is having off time discovering who he is before he decides to tackle the world. The song very appropriately plays when his family are bothering him about his future and he lies in his pool then immerses himself underwater, hence the song being used (lots of symbolism going on here film fans). The song is a herald to what Simon and Garfunkel used to be before their constant break-ups and reunification's (as of writing this they are together…kinda). The song opens with simplistic guitar work that progresses throughout the song and is backed by the perfect and typical harmonizing voices of Simon & Garfunkel.

Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence

The next track I want to post is a slight progression for the blog as I don’t think we've talked about the genre yet. Like the track above, most people will probably be familiar with this track through film. The track is Brian Eno's Deep Blue Day which methodical film fans may be familiar with as the track that plays during Trainspotting when Renton dives into the toilet. There's not really much to talk about historically for this track other than it was purportedly first used and written for a documentary by NASA called For All Mankind. It’s a very Caribbean themed track so hopefully it'll warm you up in this shockingly cold winter we're having.

Brian Eno - Deep Blue Day

The next track I'm posting is one everyone should be familiar with, as it was Christmas number one a few years ago, I think it was the last xmas number 1 before x factor began(kudos to rage btw, really didn’t think it was even remotely possible, the internet continues to surprise me). The track also featured in what could perceivabley be my favorite film (after The Trilogy). The song, as the pub-quiz enthusiasts would probably know by now is Gary Jules' Mad World (originally by Tears for Fears). Video game fans may will be familiar with the track through its appearance in one of the trailers for the first Gears of War game (which I personally think completely misled people about what the game would be like). The track is great and one that should definitely be listened to in a relaxing manner (otherwise you'll probably over think it and make yourself depressed) I don’t like to tell people how to listen to music but I'll make an exception here by saying to concentrate on the piano, the keys keep this song alive.

Gary Jules - Mad World

To finish up today, as it's the last Sunday post before Christmas, I thought I'd throw in a Xmas treat for you all to appreciate on this fine Sunday evening. From the nature of the post and what I've just said, some of you may have already guessed that the track I'm going to post; none-other than Oceansize's cover of Walking In The Air. The reason I'm posting this is very specified, so bear with me (in honesty the song justifies itself, kind of making the rest of this post irrelevant, but there is reasoning). Covers to many are a loved thing, to others they can seem gimmicky; I stand somewhere in the middle, mainly because not all covers work and a lot are indeed gimmicky. To me covers can be a work of genius, if done right. The reason for this is that they instantly make genres of music that others may not be familiar with, or willing to explore, very accessible. It gives people an understanding of the track as the cover version will add a "what if?" element to the songs they are applied to. Now I'm obviously talking here about cross-genre covers, covers that try to perfectly emulate the same sound end up sounding shite. Some work (check for Chris Cornell's live acoustic version of Billie Jean, the one he recorded for Carry On just didn’t work imo) and some don't (ie Will Young desecrating The Doors legacy - im not even linking to this one). This is something that works and can easily be enjoyed by all, it's an upbeat and completely original look on a classic that everyone is familiar with, if you want someone to become a post-rock fan this Christmas then show them this, they may just thank you for it.

Oceansize - Walking In The Air

One Troublesome Tuesday

Regulars will have noticed the omission of Mondays post this week, I'd like to say there was a pre-planned reason for this but simply put I was having computer issues. Still not entirely sure what was wrong but a day of stress and a system restore later and everything appears to be fine again, which leads me to believe it may have been a system update of some sort that did the damage. I was going to make the post from my laptop, but it lacks in music and the only thing even resembling metal on it was in fact rock (Soulwax's "Any Minute Now" album for those who are curious). As it is no longer Monday it would go against the blog's ethos to post a Metal article. However the rock genre is going to be a theme within today's post. What I'm going to do is post 10 more than memorable rock/metal mash-ups. Some of these will be mashed with dance, some with other rock/metal genres and even some hip-hop, all of them are classics and I feel that they all are relevant to a lot of the goals this blog is trying to achieve.

Dj schmolli - Scream Aim Dance (Bullet for Lady Gaga) 
Ruff Muff - La La Her Madly (The Doors vs. Goldfrapp)
Jimmi Jammes - Sgt. Pepper's Paradise (Beatles vs. Guns N' Roses) 
Cheekyboy - Smells Like Compton (N.W.A. vs. Nirvana) 
DJ Moule - Black Sabotage (Beastie Boys vs. Led Zeppelin) 
DJ M.I.F. - Tricky Sandman (Run-DMC vs. Metallica) 
Go Home Productions - Don't Hold Back, Sweet Jane (Chemical Brothers vs. Velvet Underground vs. U2 vs. Sugababes vs. MARRS) 
Divide & Kreate - Always With You (Willie Nelson vs. U2 vs. MARRS) 
The Illuminoids with Donita Sparks - Pretend We're Alala (L7 vs. CSS) 
DJ Topcat - More Than On Point (House of Pain vs. Boston) 

It's also likely that with the Christmas break approaching this weekend the blog may decide to take a short break, this however hasn't really been discussed and may not happen. As regulars know the last Friday of every month is home to the blog's essential Mix, however the last Friday of this month is Xmas Day. We hope to get an extra-special essential selection up on the 25th that will more than likely deviate from previous selections. I hope you enjoy the tracks as they are something slightly different from what has went up previously and are something that will more than likely re-appear in the future.

Easy Like Sunday Morning #10

I am definitely getting worse at this weekly blogging business. Sorry, my internet access has been acting up for quite some and while I was attempting to get it fixed I got caught up in other more pressing matters (damn you Burnout 3!). I hope this post can make up for any lost time on my part. Also, on another more brighter note, you may have noticed the return of Thunder Child. Though he'll only be here for a few weeks until his January semester exams start, his return provides a much needed break from overtime for myself. It'll be good to see someone else collaborating for a change.

The first track I'm going to concentrate on is Holy Fuck's Lovely Allen. In spite of their frankly obscene name, Holy Fuck are an electronica outfit who press all the right buttons. Having been making waves since 2004, it is only in recent years that they've been making headlines, almost entirely because of their choice of name. On this topic, the band have stated “It’s been pretty annoying, but it’s gotten us a lot of publicity, so we can’t complain about that." Although listeners may automatically assume that exposure based on a name featuring profanity will almost entirely be bad, the band do well in showcasing a rather synchronous parallel between the positive and the negative. Of course, any negative should be self-explanatory but, as previously mentioned, the positive is without a doubt the free publicity. Thankfully, Holy Fuck aren't another band who leave a licentious trail of destruction in their wake, hoping for the flash of a photographer's camera or a glimpse of adoration from their fans. As a substitute to such shenanigans, instead they produce such a high level of relevant output that their music speaks for them. Lovely Allen is perhaps the auditory embodiment of such productions because in some senses it smacks the listener as being idealistic in nature. As expected, such observations could be considered looking too far into it, but there are no preconditions to my allegories, this is how I feel every time I listen to it. I know I don't speak for myself either, judging by the rapturous reception that hook received when I saw them live. Call it over-analyzation, but I think this song exhibits expansive yet optimistic traits that few songs released in this decade have came close to inventing or even recreating.

Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen

For the second song, I've decided to lower the tempo a little bit with Radiohead's Street Spirit (Fade Out). I don't know what it is about Radiohead but they are one of the few bands out there who can attract a truly diverse audience yet simultaneously attract a large segment of pseudo-intellectuals. Call my accusations unfounded, but nine times out of ten when I'm introduced to a stranger whose favourite band is Radiohead, I am forced to sit through at least twenty minutes of reasoning as to why they are the best band on earth and why I should listen to them. Naturally, I tend to avoid interjecting on my own behalf to state that I've heard the majority of their body of work and find them an extremely interesting band who are mildly depressing at the best of times. If you're wondering why I avoid such actions, its because I have been in this situation more times than I'd like to recount and it always ends the same way. If you haven't heard them, you need to listen to them. If you have heard them, firstly why are they not your favourite band and secondly you obviously don't get it. I know not every Radiohead fan is like this but unfortunately there are quite a few who are. When people listen to music, they do so in order to both entertain themselves and experience its emotive vibes. These emotions can range from tranquility to anger and virtually everything in between. While depressive qualities wouldn't typically be something I would aim myself towards, there are plenty of others in the world who are able to channel such desolation or despondency into something positive or manage to use it to help them envisage or perhaps even clarify past discretions. From this perspective, it is easy to see exactly why Radiohead's appeal is so widespread and Street Spirit (Fade Out) serves as an extension of this engagingness. On one level, it shows their overall competency as a band, on another, it illustrates their songwriting ability and continuing pertinency in the 21st century.

Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Away)

On a more lighthearted note, the middle track is You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon. Like most people, I'm not overly familiar with much of Paul Simon's work after himself and Art Garfunkel parted ways. It isn't a matter of prejudice because I feel the same way about Art Garfunkel's later solo work, but I do think that had they initially continued as Simon & Garfunkel as determined as they had previously been for even a few years more, the world would be a better place for it. Nevertheless, when your time is up your time is up. Unless you're The Rolling Stones, thats just the way the cookie crumbles. When I think of You Can Call Me Al, I think of two things: a huge departure in style and Chevy Chase. Admittedly, the latter is one of the most recognisable aspects of the track due in no small part to his flawless lip-syncing in the now famous video. So much so, in fact, that it could be argued that the track wouldn't quite have been as famous as it became without his contribution but that's a debate for another day. You Can Call Me Al opens with an immediately warm and fuzzy synth hook that provides the blueprint for the entire track from the outset, which is soon wrapped up with a relaxing yet accomplished bassline that is later played in reverse. Though there is little doubt that this song gets hardly anything wrong, I think its allure lies in its upbeat and friendly presentation. This is pop music at its best.

Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al

Fourth up is The Kinks' Living On A Thin Line. Of all the places to be introduced to a song, I was introduced to this one in The Sopranos, which may not seem like that bizarre a place except the song is the type of thing you would never imagine to be associated with a show about La Cosa Nostra. While I consider it to be one of the greatest television series ever made, The Kinks aren't a band I would expect to be featured throughout it, particularly with regards to the context within which they were used. In retrospect, like much of the music selected to be featured within the show, I consider it to be a stroke of genius and it makes me appreciate it even more. Although I have been a big Kinks fan for many, many years now, Living On A Thin Line was a song that was able to slip past my musical radar so I'm glad it got a second lease of life even it was through a television show. Even though The Kinks are considered to be a hard rock act, Living On A Thin Line highlights another side to them. Whilst fundamentally being a rock song, it defies conventions by showcasing their ability to not only show a softer, more melodic version of themselves but also demonstrate just how proficient they were at writing what could later be perceived as contempory classics of an older generation.

The Kinks - Living On A Thin Line

Lastly we have Coldcut's True Skool. Despite listening to Coldcut almost fanatically in 2006, listening to them now feels like two estranged friends meeting coincidently ten years after they originally seperated. I guess you could estimate that this says something about the amount of time I spend listening to music, but there are few acts that alienate me as adequately as Coldcut do and I really don't know why. Sure, I haven't given them a proper listen in a number of years now but thats the case with a lot of different artists and yet few leave me feeling as isolated as Coldcut seem to. You could say I'm being dramatic and I probably am in order to give more weight to the situation, but things like this don't happen to me very often which is why it is so surprising. Although I haven't exactly been faithful to them in recent times, I have made a few attempts at reconnecting to no avail. This is why I'm posting True Skool. It gives anyone who is reading and/or listening the chance to familiarise themselves with the music while the author does the same. With British rap pioneer Roots Manuva on vocal duties and an eastern-influenced beat backing him, this is a track bursting at the seams with creativity and flavour. Oh, and did I mention that I would consider it a sublime addition to laidback Sunday listening. Get on it ASAP.

Coldcut - True Skool

Return of the King

When The King passed there was a rare occurrence of international mourning, we can all say where we were when we heard the news. I was sitting playing Counter Strike with a friend when The Last Junker rang me and told me that there was very strong speculation that the man had died. I told the friend that I was playing with what had happened, he was gutted and we both went off the game. Needless to say it was a very long 2 hours of internet speculation, with rumours flying left, right and center over what had happened and all news sources quoting other news sources over the "death" to keep themselves safe in case it was just a rumour. The news was finally confirmed and the world was left with one less icon.

Shortly after I got wind that Snoop Dogg was doing a live video podcast (I'm still not entirely sure where or how I heard about this) where he'd be playing Jackson songs and doing his thing. I had lost a lot of respect for Snoop over recent years as he took selling out to a whole new level, his music suffered and he just wasn’t the musician or person he should have become. This changed that night as he bust out classic after classic, old Jackson with new Jackson and lots of less familiar tracks. When I joined the video chat there was only 50 other people watching (there was a counter of all the people in the room), at the height of it there was well over 2000 people watching the stream and, more importantly, listening to the songs.

Even before his death we were hearing Jackson tributes all over the place, he was a man who had so much influence that nearly everyone wanted to show their gratitude. After his death there was many, many more, some good and some bad, with memorable ones being Sways's "The King Full Stop" and Cymarshall Law's "R.I.P. Michael Jackson". People were also dedicating entire albums to the man and many mixtapes were released, which is essentially what I am here to talk about.

The first mixtape I want to talk about was released a few years ago and was a collaboration between Rhymefest, Mark Ronson and to an extent, Michael Jackson (I remember hearing somewhere that he'd actually approved it, though I can't seem to find the source now). The mixtape, entitled Man in the Mirror, consists of Jackson songs being used as backing tracks for Rhymefest who is spitting about his life, times, Jackson and his influence on him. They also have some samples of Jackson talking, taken from various interviews and sources, that they have then talked over to form the illusion that Jackson is in the studio with them, which makes for some funny conversations between the three. After Jackson's death Rhymefest re-released this mixtape with 3 bonus tacks added. Both versions were released as free downloads and the re-release is al available as a CD for those who wanted to have a hard version of the mixtape. Both are available here.

The second mixtape was released at the end of October and I finally got round to listening to it recently. This one is brought to us from the masterful DJ Jazzy Jeff, who most will remember as being the Fresh Prince's DJ and also appearing as himself on the show that most people grew up with. This one will probably be a lot more accessible to Jackson fans than the previous mixtape as it is essentially just a huge playlist of Jackson songs. The mix contains a few rare remixes that don't stray too far from the original versions, it should also be mentioned that this doesn’t play that many remixes and stays on course by playing mainly Jackson originals. The list contains lots of songs that many people would not expect to see on the list that would be unfamiliar to the more mainstream Jackson audience, This however doesn’t mean that there is no classics that we've all come to know and love on the list. Jazzy Jeff brings us a perfectly lengthened mixtape here that seems to tick all the boxes and will certainly have Jackson fans applauding his efforts. Mixtape available here.

TFI Friday #9

Another week over, another TFI Friday post in circulation. I don't know about you guys but I have relatively few plans for tonight. There are two reasons for this: UFC 107 is on tomorrow night and Soulwaxmas is next week, so I'm taking it easy, saving some money and preparing myself for the onslaught that is inevitably going to come. Hopefully any of you who are reading this have better plans for tonight. Either way, whether you do or you don't, here are some dirty tracks to pump you up or ease the burden depending on what you have planned.

OldSchoolReunion - Bring Me The Acapella
AC Slater - Jack Got Jacked (Jack Beats Remix)
GRUM - Go Back
Digitalism - Home Zone (The Proxy Remix)
The Body Snatchers - Call Me (Blende Remix)

Ke$ha VS Uffie

I don't know if any of you are familiar with this new artist who has just entered the charts, but her singing style and general music sound suspiciously familiar. She presents herself as an independent woman who doesn't care about anything. The extent of this self-imposed independence can be found in the lyrics to her hit single, Tik Tok, where she exclaims that when she wakes up she "brushes her teeth with a bottle of Jack" and how "when she leaves for the night, she ain't coming back." I know how she feels but who brushes their teeth with whiskey? It sounds to me like this is her attempt at radio-friendly controversy, because while she is not necessarily saying anything that is too vulgar, there are definite implications to how wreckless she is or can be.

The main reason for this post, however, is not to concentrate on this newfound representation of girl power. Instead, it is to highlight certain comparisons between someone who a lot of you may be familiar with, Uffie. Although the original Little Miss Don't Give A Fuck has slipped off the radar in recent times, leading many bloggers to come to the assumption that she was a gimmick used by Ed Banger to keep them in the spotlight, it is difficult not to spot the similarities between the two. In fact, this newcomer Ke$ha sounds so eerily similar to Uffie that it leads me to believe that record executives took a look at the original popularity of Uffie and decided to clone her with certain mofifications in order to appeal to a larger audience and, shock horror, it worked. It is no surprise that there is a market for this type of music. Cute lead singer? Check. Catchy electro-esque backing music? Check. Raunchy lyrics preaching female self-sufficiency? Check. I shouldn't be surprised but I am. In response, I don't feel like posting Tik Tok, so you can check the Youtube video here to see for yourself. I will, however, post a few Uffie tracks because while I feel like she was a bit of a fad, some of her tracks (and the tracks she was featured on) weren't bad. It's a shame she has ultimately disappeared into obscurity, but last I heard she had a feature length debut album in production with DJ Feadz so we'll see what happens.

Uffie - Ready To Uff
Justice - Tthhee Ppaarrttyy (featuring Uffie)

Metal Monday #9

With this Metal Monday post, we've hit a bit of a milestone. I know it isn't much but this is the 50th post to be made on this blog, so here's to hoping that we can continue on with the same amount of consistency and flavour in the future. Meanwhile, I'm unusually tired so you'll have to bear with me for this post.

For the first track I'm going to go with something a little bit different to what you've become accustomed to. It isn't a huge leap in differentiation or anything but it might have some metalheads scratching their heads. The artist is Disturbed and the track to be featured is Stupify. I know there are many Disturbed haters out there but I can't help but like them. Their original album, The Sickness, is just one of those albums that never gets old. Practically every track on there has some degree of merit if that's what you're into. I think most people dislike them because of how successful they've been, selling over 11 million albums and debuting three consecutive albums at number one in the US. I don't understand this logic. Although there have been justified accusations of bands "selling out" (see: Metallica post-1991), the majority of them are entirely unfounded. When a band achieves widespread success they should be congratulated for such a feat, not ostracised. The reason I have chosen Stupify over the likes of Down With The Sickness or The Game is because I wanted to place emphasis on the overall quality of the album rather than the more well-known tracks. The Sickness itself is one of the most congruous and undeviating albums I've heard. Honestly, I had great trouble picking one track because each of them were potential candidates. I went with Stupify in the end because I think it best summarises the early years of the band. I wouldn't say it was the standout track on the album or anything but it contains many of the elements that make Disturbed who they are.

Disturbed - Stupify

The second track is by none other than All That Remains. This was an incredibly tricky one but I decided to go with And Death In My Arms, primarily because of the accoustic/classical guitar opening. All That Remains are a band who are split right down the middle in terms of a love/hate meter. The main reason for this is their album This Darkened Heart. With the release of this album, many considered the band to have engaged in a departure of style, due primarily to the fact that they adopted the use of clean vocals for it. Admittedly, the use of clean vocals in metal bands is something that leaves me a little disillusioned and underwhelmed (this is half the reason I'm not a huge Killswitch Engage fan), but All That Remains do it right by keeping the clean parts to a bare minimum and that's what I'm here to demonstrate. And Death In My Arms is just a great little number and it is one of their tracks that originally made me stand to attention. Like I mentioned earlier, the accoustic/classical guitar opening is just something I've always loved ever since hearing Ride The Lightning and Master Of Puppets. Thankfully, All That Remains have a similar template to Metallica in this respect, because the track jumps straight from accoustic to a relentless barrage of metallic music. While the drums aren't anything to write home about, they keep the tempo and the ruthless riffage does the rest. Though the vocals will most likely turn some heads, it is difficult to argue that they don't suit the music perfectly. Usually I'm not a fan of that metalcore style but even I have to admit that All That Remains really nail it. To make matters even more unyielding, there is a huge breakdown near the conclusion of the song which just kicks it into overdrive and takes this song to the next level.

All That Remains - And Death In My Arms

The middle track for today is by none other than Nevermore and it is the opening track of their album Dead Heart In A Dead World, Narcosynthesis. I've been meaning to write about Nevermore for quite some time but just haven't got around to it. There are few metal bands out there who can attest to the originality of this band. They could be described as the culmination of a melting pot filled with metal subgenres, as they incorporate aspects of thrash, power, neo-classical and progressive metal into their music. I'm not sure why I went with Narcosynthesis over any of the material from my preferred album, Enemies Of Reality. Don't get me wrong, Dead Heart In A Dead World is a fantastic album but I was introduced to the band through Enemies Of Reality, which got a serious amount of airplay on my CD player after its release in 2003. I guess I went with Dead Heart In A Dead World and Narcosynthesis, in particular, because the opening track not only does a lot of justice to the band as a whole but is also quite an uncompromising and forceful track, which is what the band are all about. People can glorify Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen all they want, but when it comes to hardhitting metal few play the guitar better than Jeff Loomis, a true underdog of the virtuoso musical world, especially given the fact that he plays a seven-string guitar and has an extraordinary sweep-picking technique. The track Nacrosynthesis makes use of this technique as well as odd time signatures. The rhythmic approach to the track is compelling because of these time signatures as it manages to keep the listener alert and on the edge of their seat contemplating what's coming next. The drums also add to this approach as they seem to have a mind of their own on this track, delivering a rudimentary pattern while still maintaining the flow, which makes the track stand out amongst the crowd.

Nevermore - Narcosynthesis

The fourth track is Deadworld by Shadows Fall. An interesting bit of trivia regarding this track is that whenever I get a new MP3 player or speakers, it serves as my 'test track'. I don't know why this is but it has become a recent tradition ever since I tried it out on an old IRiver MP3 player around the 2004/2005 mark. Deadworld isn't technically distinguished or anything. In fact, in spite of the level of proficiency within the band, this track chooses to go down the heavy as fuck route in favour of a skullcrushing riffs over abstract guitar techniques and pedal functions. While there is no denying this isn't for the faint of heart, you never really know until you try. It opens with a ferocious yet exceedingly well-composed guitar riff that sets the tone from the outset. The drums are concomitant to this guitar line because while they are fundamentally important to the structure of the song, they never protrude far enough to take the focus away from the guitar. On the vocal front, frontman Brian Fair does a good job of channelling and transcending this musical energy in the form of melodic death metal. Although personally I would consider his vocals to be a little on the soft side for the death metal part, don't underestimate just how low he can go. Deadworld is a good demonstration of how thorough his vocal range is.

Shadows Fall - Deadworld

The last track to be posted today is Closer by Nine Inch Nails. I know this track has become a bit overplayed in recent years but that doesn't mean that it doesn't deserve to be posted. Whilst I will be the first to admit that, with the exception of Pretty Hate Machine, many Nine Inch Nails albums are comprised of a lot of filler material, that doesn't in any way lessen their creative or artistic appeal. Closer serves a nice little manifestation of this appeal, because although like I said previously, it has become a little bit played out in recent years, it is still a great track that pushes the boundaries of what is acceptable in this day and age. In spite of the song being lyrically obscene, this level of obscenity is endorsed by the grinding industrialism of the track itself. Credit where credit is due; Trent Reznor is a genius of the musical world and one of the few people who is able to get alternative dancefloors dancing. Closer is a perfect example of this with its unusual musicality. Even in terms of industrial music, this track is just off the wall. Like much of the work of Nine Inch Nails, every time I listen to it I never know what to expect. It maintains a sense of contemporary descant amongst the surrounding chaos and turmoil.

Nine Inch Nails - Closer

Always Outnumbered But Never Outpunned

Today I have a very special post for you, indeed. It comes in the form of two brand new tracks and one not so new track, all of which can be a bit of a bastard to find unless you know what you're doing. I've been planning this post for a while but unfortunately it has taken me longer than I'd have liked tracking down and obtaining the tracks in question. Many thanks to Chemical Jump, a good samaritan on Youtube and the random punter who decided to upload one of the songs on Zippyshare after any blogs who were willing to upload it got told to cease and desist. It is becoming harder and harder in recent times to run any service that provides music in this day and age due to emerging yet ever-present copyright raids. Although naturally we want to expand and develop over time, sometimes being an under the radar blog has its advantages. After all, if we were any major blog on the circuit right now we would be unable to post these tracks without some form of backlash or removal order.

First up is one I've spent the past couple of weeks tracking down, RackNRuin's Skitzo VIP. You may know this track from the recent Orange Rockcorps ad - the very same place I first spotted it myself. I don't know what it is about Orange but they have some of the best song placement in advertisements there are. This track is no exception either, starting seemingly slow but beginning the build up within the first ten seconds. This build up has to be one of the best I've ever heard because it manages so much despite being so compact. It concentrates on somewhat laidback (if you can call it that) synth work that loops while similar keyboard samples start creeping in only to be complimented by a smooth drum lick, something which phases out as emphasis is placed almost entirely on that synth hook as it builds and builds and then explodes into some of the most contaminated beats you've ever heard. The rhythmic approach to this track is something which I've been missing in recent times that singlehandedly closes the gap. I expect big things from RackNRuin in the future.

RackNRuin - Skitzo VIP

The second song to be posted is Duck Sauce's The Motion, a track which I can already hear you exclaiming has been ripping up clubs and, to an extent, the charts very recently. So how is it rare? Like anything, there is very little that is rare in this world if you know where to look. Unfortunately it looks as if Armand Van Helden and A-Trak are expecting big things from this track because almost every blog who has tried to host it has been asked to remove it. This may not seem like that big a deal but searching on Hype Machine for it comes up with zero, nada, zilch. Thankfully Chemical Jump aren't on the Hype Machine and they seem to have gotten away with hosting it. To be honest, I can't really fault the Duck Sauce boys for wanting to keep this one out of the hands of us internet pirates because this has sure fire success written all over it. The reemerge of disco in recent times has been giving the dance genre a much needed kickstart, especially when artists start blending it with French house hooks. Even if you had no ears you could probably see why The Motion has been setting clubs on fire and making just about everyone in the vicinity get up and break out a boogie. After all, providing you're nothow could you not feel like dancing to this track?

Duck Sauce - The Motion

Lastly is Cold Blank's 2012, a tune that admittedly it hasn't taken me that long to find. I first heard about this track a while ago and I acquired it not long after. Unfortunately even Chemical Jump has its boundaries and despite hosting it a few weeks ago, it was subsequently removed due to the artists request. This is where Google becomes really handy because there is almost guaranteed to be a link out there somewhere, the problem is finding it. I mean, are you really willing to trawl through pages and pages of dead ends in order to get your hands on one track? The answer is that you don't have to because I did it for you (although admittedly in this case it was like the third link on the first page but still). One of the main reasons I love this song so much is because of the sample used within: Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi. There are few things I love more, with the exception of maybe Parisienne baguettes and Michael Biehn, than classical music being dropped into dance music to full effect. It worked with Soulwax's A Fifth Of Beethoven, it worked with Miles Dyson's Live In Mexico and it most definitely works within the structure of this song. Not only do they drop Messa da Requiem early on but they keep it alive through chopped up samples that are accompanied by a bassline that has a dirty, almost primitive quality that'll make you wanna beat your bare chest like Tarzan and howl into the night. Maybe that's just me though. Enjoy the tracks.

Cold Blank - 2012

(Edit: Ironically enough, during the time I have been sitting on this post we actually got a DMCA complaint about one of our TFI Friday posts. We expected this to happen sooner or later but not this soon. Are we starting to get noticed? Who knows. What I would like to point out to anyone who wants their song taken off here is that we will be happy to do it ASAP if you contact us directly. The email address is in the side bar and we'd be more than happy to oblige. Contacting Blogger may seem like the appropriate choice to make, but although the complaint was registered, none of the writers were emailed it, despite Blogger saying an email had been sent. Each of us has checked every email we have and the blog's email itself and there is nothing there, which basically means that the post in question is now in blogging purgatory until we're able to resolve this issue. Next time, if you want a song taken off, please contact us directly. It will make both our lives a lot easier.)