HYPE

Egyptian Hip Hop are going to be big. Produced by Late Of The Pier's Sam Eastgate, Wild Human Child takes a very similar sound to LOTP's work as well. Loving the tropical breakdown about half way through. Rad Pitt sounds like early work from The Cure, if you're familiar with their first couple of albums this will be right up your alley. Both sound completely different, these guys have a lot of versatility it seems. They have another amazing song called Heavenly but all I can track down is an early demo which doesn't do it justice, so here's a streamable version of it only.

Egyptian Hip Hop - Heavenly by Pure Groove


Wild Human Child - Egyptian Hip Hop
Rad Pitt - Egyptian Hip Hop

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Giselle is an artist from Australia, who once again, is going to be huge; probably bigger than Egyptian Hip Hop actually, because she can make young girls cry. One of her songs, They Stay Down Deep, was on episode 7 of the latest Skins season. Naturally, this means that it will explode very shortly. However it is also near impossible to find, but do yourself a favour and head to her Myspace page where you can play what I assume is a preview version of the track, it's only a little less than 2 minutes, but that's all you need (or so I tell the ladies). She recently collaborated with Flight Facilities (who may, or may not be Nick Littlemore) for the song Crave You, it's pretty shit hot so give it a listen. Very chill, loungey sort of feel, her vocals are easily the stand out aspect of the song.

Crave You - Flight Facilities (Feat. Giselle)

Head to Giselle's Myspace to hear They Stay Down Deep.

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Troels Abrahamsen (who is the frontman of the band VETO) just released BLCK, the darker brother it would seem to his first solo album using his real name, WHT. Quite often when listening to BLCK I'm reminded of Radiohead. Of course the witty insightful people who read this will argue that this is a fucking stupid thing to say, because comparing artists to Radiohead is the laziest thing you can do. All I have to say to them is; spot on.

Stop Making That Noise - Troels Abrahamsen

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Kisses remind me a whole lot of The Whitest Boy Alive, who obviously kick ass and take names like it's going out of fashion. This is all you need to know.

Kisses - Kisses

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Nicholas Roy is rapidly becoming the poster boy for Triple J Unearthed. His indie-folky acoustic singer-songwriter vibe has always been safely competent, but now he has one of those catchy-as-fuck singles that is bound to result in him releasing a really really boring album that's suitably lauded by everyone who hears it (also known as "pulling a Josh Pyke"). So yeah looking forward to seeing this guy at every single festival under the sun come the summer of 2010/2011. Listen to It's All My Fault though seriously, it's really good.

It's All My Fault - Nicholas Roy

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This Town Needs Guns strike me as a less cool version of Foals. This isn't actually as bad as it sounds, because Foals are close to the most stylishly nonchalant band I have ever seen. Their debut album Animals has thirteen tracks, all named after animals. The closer, Zebra, completely changes the mood established by the previous dozen tracks (which, while good, all sound basically the same). It's short and sweet, and has a childlike music-box quality to it.

Zebra - This Town Needs Guns

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TOP 100 SONGS OF THE 2000's (79-70)

The 2000's are really one of the best eras to be in musically. Of course both the very wise and the very ignorant will argue against this statement, but no other point in time before this has it been both so easy to create music and share it with the world, and so possible to have it sound like whatever the hell takes your fancy.

I've always described the 2000's as an amalgamation of all of the best parts that have come before it. Whether it's fashion, design or music, all of it cuts and pastes from trends of the 60's, 70's, 80's and (thankfully least of all) the 90's. However due to the wonderful power of hindsight, we can trim off all those ugly fads that took the world by storm when we knew no better, and what we're left with is the best of the best.

And what better way to celebrate the versatility of this great time we live in (creatively at least), than to count down the top 100 songs of the 2000's.

100 - 90
89 - 80

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NUMBER 79


Streets On Fire - Lupe Fiasco

Lupe Fiasco is one of those artists that tends to get thrown into a group of rappers that he really doesn't belong to. While others are content to cover the undeniably important issues of how the "bitches" love them, or the extent to which they are "fo' real", Lupe's work has always possessed a bit more depth. Streets On Fire is a really good example of this, a down-tempo and atmospheric orchestral track, with a undercurrent of electronic and percussion elements. Lupe raps about a horrible calamity that has befallen society; whether this be a fictional future event or a commentary on the current state of corruption in the world is left up to how you wish to interpret the song. Either way, as soon as the song begins you can just hear how much quality is in the song compared to most Hip-Hop, the whole album follows suit as well.

NUMBER 78


Always Like This - Bombay Bicycle Club

British Indie band Bombay Bicycle Club released their exceptional debut album earlier this year, sounding like an amalgamation of most of the best Indie bands you can think of, but with a unique quality to both their sound and songwriting that separates them from the rest. Always Like This is the second single from I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose, which was produced by Jim Abbiss, the man responsible for both the Arctic Monkeys' and Kasabian's debut LPs, as well as Australian band Van She's exceptional first album, V.

NUMBER 77


Heartbreaker - Metronomy

Sounding like a fantastic combination of The Wombats, Klaxons, and Friendly Fires, Metronomy's lead single from their second album, Nights Out, is definitely a keeper. While instrumentally quite abstract and eclectic, the vocals have accessible indie qualities, singing of love lost, and the pain of a recent break-up. It's interesting to note how Metronomy have developed as a band, with their first album being completely instrumental, and relatively unknown, their new style has been welcomed with open arms by both critics and fans alike.

NUMBER 76


Uncle Sam Goddamn - Brother Ali

Brother Ali is a White Albino rapper from the United States, but you wouldn't be able to tell from his voice. Fitting in a niche of alternative American Hip-Hop shared with the likes of Atmosphere, Ali often raps about race and politics, giving off a Motown vibe in a big way. Uncle Sam Goddamn is a very critical appraisal of America and capitalist society in a larger sense. While it's incredibly common for bands to attack American society these days, it often comes across as pretentious and forced. Not so with Uncle Sam Goddamn, Ali's message really sounds like it comes from his heart and soul. So much so that he's run into sponsorship issues with a large unnamed corporation because of his "anti-patriotism".

NUMBER 75


Tessellate - Tokyo Police Club

Tessellate is the lead single from Tokyo Police Club's debut album, Elephant Shell. Mixing both Garage and Indie Rock into a very appealing package, and vocally sounding almost like a mix of Placebo and The Decemberists, Tokyo Police Club have a rather unique sound. Often writing about strange subject matters, including but not restricted to the inevitable Robot Uprising, apparently slated for the year 2009 some time (better get a move on), TPC offset strange lyrics with an incredibly punchy and succinct sound. Tessellate is no different.

NUMBER 74


All I Need - Radiohead

Radiohead need no introduction, widely believed to be one of the greatest bands operating at the moment, Thom Yorke tends to set as many trends as he breaks, not content to stagnate in any particular sound or genre. All I Need is from the latest album, In Rainbows, which Radiohead famously offered up for digital download for whatever you felt was worth paying. All I Need is one of the best songs on the album, and ranks pretty highly against their entire back catalogue as well. Down-tempo and filled with longing, a love letter to an unattainable object of affection.

NUMBER 73


Ride - The Vines

From The Vines' outstanding second album, continuing down the same road Get Free paved; filled with angst, noise, and youthful self expression, Ride is a two and half minute rock anthem that helped ensure The Vines' position as one of the greatest bands of the 2000's.

NUMBER 72


Something To Talk About - Badly Drawn Boy

Often incorrectly referred to as "About A Boy", Something To Talk About featured prominently in the only good Hugh Grant film ever made, which was actually called About A Boy. This acoustic and heartwarming track was definitely one of the highlights of the 2000's, accessible and memorable, Badly Drawn Boy essentially wrote a perfect indie-pop song.

NUMBER 71


Nothing But Green Lights - Tom Vek

If nothing else, you have to appreciate Tom Vek's incredible amount of style. Everything about this song is dripping in cool, with a funk infused electronic backbone, Nothing But Green Lights was probably one of the greatest songs nobody heard in 2005. Simple and and well executed lyrics wrap the whole thing up into an incredibly stylish package.

NUMBER 70


Changes - Van She

Van She are in my opinion, the greatest thing to come out of Australia in the last couple of years. Their debut album, mixing New-Wave, Indie, Rock, Electronic and all points in between was almost perfect, with every track having it's own identity and impossible quality that didn't wane throughout the whole twelve tracks. Changes is a catchy-as-fuck indie-scenester's wet dream, great; if somewhat hard to understand lyrics, handclaps and "whoa-ohs"; it has everything.


More tomorrow.