Twenty Compact Songs
Twenty Songs, 2nd April 2006
Another late, late Twenty this week. I was busy last weekend and then I was busy this week. To be honest I've mostly been busy transfering music from vinyl to mp3 which is a painstaking process but still, it means that next weeks chart is unlikely to be quite as hit and miss as this one. Again, like the last few weeks, the chart isn't quite as reflective as it could be of the music listened to but then, we weren't listening to a great deal of focused music here in Chez Unlixes, what with work and other duty calls.
I've mentioned Random Play before having I. It's what informs most of the music here. The infamous Random Playlist churning out Belle & Sebastian all the time (the Unlixes Last.fm page will attest to that) and now it seems the Random Portable Playlist playing nothing but Underworld. Or, at least, that's how it seemed. Still, no complaints when songs like Banstyle / Sappys Curry (which I always think of as Bansappys Curry), dubby epics that they are. Other tracks thrown up from randomness were the increasingly special sounding Birds In The Sky by D Double E produced, I believe, by the prodigious Mizz Beats. We also get another showing from Fifty Weapon's #001, that kooky Fiddy Cent remix as well as the spectacular Sticky classic (as most of his are) Tales Of The Hood featuring Tubby T.
We also are interested in the progress of Ladyfuzz, especially since Yeah Yeah Yeahs (as denoted especially by their low placing this week) have so categorically failed to follow up Fever To Tell with anywhere near the gusto we hoped. Ladyfuzz are a surprisingly good sounding band, considering how bad sounding their name is. The Pipettes are also up there with their latest single although we are quickly realising that We Are The Pipettes, their theme tune, was a pop fluke and they may never reach the dizzying sing-a-long heights of that again.
Elsewhere our friend's boyfriend's band Semifinalists and their unique brand of pretentious avant rock (pretentious is part of the genre name here, no doubt) are also gaining kudos 'round these parts. Dreamy chanteuse meets soaring guitar and on-the-fly-sounding song structure. Is good, is good. They appear twice here, the top ten placing being an absolute gem of a song. Piskie Sits are still up there but mostly due to popping up on our playlist, randomly, so often. Their single Props, doesn't really live up to the hope we had for them on the back of their mp3 samples. Blood Red Shoes, however, are definitely living up to early promise and songs from both of their current singles continue to populate the chart.
Kano is in the top five with the remix of Sometimes, possibly mostly because it's just a much better use of a good beat than the original was. Editors are in the number three slot because, frankly, they're a fantastic band. Not a huge amount of variation but no shortage of excellent songs. I say no shortage because every single of their singles comes with about three b-sides and they're still good, after all this time. They've recorded one album, Editors, do you know how many songs I have for them? Thirty three. Only seven of those are alternate versions, which leaves twenty six songs to come off one eleven track album. Superb.
Penultimately, at number two, we have the Jitset remix of Catch It! by Test Icicles. A fantastic remix and a good fusion of two disperate genres. Luckily it leans heavily in favour of Grime because while Hip Hop does rock and indie quite well, the same is not true the other way, with rapping indie kids being a plague. However, it must be said only Catch It! makes it into this chart because, despite excellent production by Statik on the Boa Vs Python remix, it also features Fumin and the More Fire Camp who are pretty lacklustre as MCs. The Jitset Cat Shit Remix of Catch It!, a more subtle remix but not necessarily better on the beats, features Ruff Sqwad who just sound more the part. They remind me a little of Dynasty Crew, relaxed and casual and just at ease with lacing the beat. Hot shit.
Which leaves with, featuring at various points, are the wonderful Help She Can't Swim who have followed up the excellent in places Fashionista Super Dance Troupe with an inspired EP (although we are yet to get the same sort of inspiration from the follow up single, Midnight Gardens - early doors for that, mind). They are at numbers thirteen, five and one, again, for the second week. Making them, funnily enough, the first band to hold on to the top spot. Good going in such a fast moving world as Unlixesland. Still, we are a words people here, much as we love music, and the lyrics in Got Yr Number never fail to excite us in their veracity or diction. She can't see her friends cuz he thinks they're wrong, he bolted the front door cuz she was out too long. Utterly delicious.
At this point, to the credit of I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, What We Do, Going Steady, Sæglópur, Destroy Everything You Touch, He Shoots Presidents, Terror Tricks and all the other number ones over the past months, last week we didn't get much chance to listen to the new music that made it into the building. Which is why Help She Can't Swim are the only double-#1 artist thus far. Still, credit where it's due eh?
Another late, late Twenty this week. I was busy last weekend and then I was busy this week. To be honest I've mostly been busy transfering music from vinyl to mp3 which is a painstaking process but still, it means that next weeks chart is unlikely to be quite as hit and miss as this one. Again, like the last few weeks, the chart isn't quite as reflective as it could be of the music listened to but then, we weren't listening to a great deal of focused music here in Chez Unlixes, what with work and other duty calls.
I've mentioned Random Play before having I. It's what informs most of the music here. The infamous Random Playlist churning out Belle & Sebastian all the time (the Unlixes Last.fm page will attest to that) and now it seems the Random Portable Playlist playing nothing but Underworld. Or, at least, that's how it seemed. Still, no complaints when songs like Banstyle / Sappys Curry (which I always think of as Bansappys Curry), dubby epics that they are. Other tracks thrown up from randomness were the increasingly special sounding Birds In The Sky by D Double E produced, I believe, by the prodigious Mizz Beats. We also get another showing from Fifty Weapon's #001, that kooky Fiddy Cent remix as well as the spectacular Sticky classic (as most of his are) Tales Of The Hood featuring Tubby T.
We also are interested in the progress of Ladyfuzz, especially since Yeah Yeah Yeahs (as denoted especially by their low placing this week) have so categorically failed to follow up Fever To Tell with anywhere near the gusto we hoped. Ladyfuzz are a surprisingly good sounding band, considering how bad sounding their name is. The Pipettes are also up there with their latest single although we are quickly realising that We Are The Pipettes, their theme tune, was a pop fluke and they may never reach the dizzying sing-a-long heights of that again.
Elsewhere our friend's boyfriend's band Semifinalists and their unique brand of pretentious avant rock (pretentious is part of the genre name here, no doubt) are also gaining kudos 'round these parts. Dreamy chanteuse meets soaring guitar and on-the-fly-sounding song structure. Is good, is good. They appear twice here, the top ten placing being an absolute gem of a song. Piskie Sits are still up there but mostly due to popping up on our playlist, randomly, so often. Their single Props, doesn't really live up to the hope we had for them on the back of their mp3 samples. Blood Red Shoes, however, are definitely living up to early promise and songs from both of their current singles continue to populate the chart.
Kano is in the top five with the remix of Sometimes, possibly mostly because it's just a much better use of a good beat than the original was. Editors are in the number three slot because, frankly, they're a fantastic band. Not a huge amount of variation but no shortage of excellent songs. I say no shortage because every single of their singles comes with about three b-sides and they're still good, after all this time. They've recorded one album, Editors, do you know how many songs I have for them? Thirty three. Only seven of those are alternate versions, which leaves twenty six songs to come off one eleven track album. Superb.
Penultimately, at number two, we have the Jitset remix of Catch It! by Test Icicles. A fantastic remix and a good fusion of two disperate genres. Luckily it leans heavily in favour of Grime because while Hip Hop does rock and indie quite well, the same is not true the other way, with rapping indie kids being a plague. However, it must be said only Catch It! makes it into this chart because, despite excellent production by Statik on the Boa Vs Python remix, it also features Fumin and the More Fire Camp who are pretty lacklustre as MCs. The Jitset Cat Shit Remix of Catch It!, a more subtle remix but not necessarily better on the beats, features Ruff Sqwad who just sound more the part. They remind me a little of Dynasty Crew, relaxed and casual and just at ease with lacing the beat. Hot shit.
Which leaves with, featuring at various points, are the wonderful Help She Can't Swim who have followed up the excellent in places Fashionista Super Dance Troupe with an inspired EP (although we are yet to get the same sort of inspiration from the follow up single, Midnight Gardens - early doors for that, mind). They are at numbers thirteen, five and one, again, for the second week. Making them, funnily enough, the first band to hold on to the top spot. Good going in such a fast moving world as Unlixesland. Still, we are a words people here, much as we love music, and the lyrics in Got Yr Number never fail to excite us in their veracity or diction. She can't see her friends cuz he thinks they're wrong, he bolted the front door cuz she was out too long. Utterly delicious.
At this point, to the credit of I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, What We Do, Going Steady, Sæglópur, Destroy Everything You Touch, He Shoots Presidents, Terror Tricks and all the other number ones over the past months, last week we didn't get much chance to listen to the new music that made it into the building. Which is why Help She Can't Swim are the only double-#1 artist thus far. Still, credit where it's due eh?