Calvin Harris

I mentioned in my post on BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend in Preston the hilarious Cribs spoof by Calvin Harris and finally here it is along with other videos by him from his tour with Faithless and others.

Mr West Is Back... At Last

Now Kanye West is probably my favourite artist so you can imagine my disappointment when he delayed the release of his new album Graduation from December 06 to June and now to September (It's still a doubt). At least now he has some new material out in the form of the mix tape Can't Tell Me Nothing. The mix tape includes the title track which is rumoured to his first release from his new album. The mix tape also includes snippets of two tracks almost certainly on Graduation. The first Stronger features a sample from Daft Punk's Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger and from the clip I have heard it is going to be a tune. The other is Young Folks again featuring a sample but this time from Young Folks(surprise, surprise) by Peter Bjorn and John. Also on the mix tape are some remixes by Kanye including T-Pain's Buy You A Drank, Throw Some D's and Ne-Yo's Because of You. The rest of the mix tape is a collection of tracks that Kanye features on or he has produced. A highlight is Us Placers by CRS, which is Kanye, Lupe Fiasco and Pharrell, who hopefully will release an album of their own. The first video is the new video for Can't Tell Me Nothing produced by the legendary Hype Williams and if you are lucky enough to have access to itunes USA then you can download it for free. When I forst heard the song I'll have to admit I didn't like it but after a few listens I think it is a great track but maybe not as good as some of Kanye's previous work. The second is the funny video for the witty rap Throw Some D's remix which is one of the best tracks on the mix tape in my opinion. Enjoy!

Unsigned Music

On all the other music blogs on the internet there seems to be a lack of British unsigned (i.e. not signed to a major label) artists getting recognition and blog space so I though at POYDS I would attempt to change this trend. Most of the bands on this site I will have probably heard through the Radio 1's Best Of Unsigned podcast and that is I heard the two bands I am going to write about and both of them are cat themed.

First is the bigger of the two as they actually have an album out and that is Autokat. Their debut album Late Night Shopping was released on February of this year and they recently played one of the fringe gigs at Radio 1's Big Weekend In Preston. The band are from Manchester and are signed to independent label Akoustik Anarky. You can listen to their album here and check out their myspace page for all the latest news on the band. Here is the video for their newest single Dish Out.

The second great unsigned and cat themed band is Whiskycats. Another link between the two bands is that they are both from Manchester but the similarities end there as the Whiskycats sound like nothing you have heard before and have been described as being like, "Bagpuss on tequila". The band themselves admit that they are difficult to categorise. Saxophones and trumpets make regular appearances in their songs and they certainly seem to have jazz influences. They are currently working on their debut album in the Charlatans studio and a special package is currently available with your name inside the album booklet,

a copy of the album, a framed, personalised album artwork print singed by the band and the CD and the artwork recorded delivery to your door a week before the release to help pay for production costs. This package costs £16.99 and to get this deal you can buy it here. Four mp3's are available at the bands website here and I would recommend checking them out. Here they are themselves performing Yes at the 3 Student Music Awards.

Random Tune Of The Week

This track is brilliant, so is the video and very random. You've got to love it!!! Its Dashboard by Modest Mouse

Albums Of The Week

As I said in my welcome each week I will chose two albums from the list on the right and post a top video from each. Well this weeks choices were fairly straightforward despite there being numerous well known artists with new albums. Paul McCartney, Rihanna and Mutya Buena I passed over for obvious reasons. There are also new releases from Marilyn Manson and R Kelly but I'm not really a fan of either. So this week I chose Queens Of The Stone Age's Era Vulgaris and DJ Khaled's We The Best.

Two years after Lullabies To Paralyse QOTSA are back and their new album contains collaborations with Julian Casablancas of the Strokes and remixes by Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie. Alain Johannes has left bass to be replaced by Michael Shuman and Dean Fertita has joined as keyboard/guitar player. The track I have chosen to show is their first single from the album. Its 3's and 7's live on Channel 4's Transmission with T-Mobile as they don't seem to have an actual video.

Now DJ Khaled is someone I kinda stumbled onto by accident while browsing the USA itunes store to see what was happening across the Atlantic and still his new stuff hasn't hit the U.K. Anyway in his new album DJ Khaled has collaborated with half of hip-hop. Backing artists or whatever you want to call them include T.I, Akon, Ludacris, The Game, Dre and Fat Joe. I think that We Takin Over has been fairly huge in the U.S as it should because it is a top track and it is the video I have chosen to post. We Takin Over includes T.I., Akon, Rick Ross, Fat Joe, Birdman and Lil' Wayne

You can pre-order Era Vulgaris at amazon or play.com. Unfortunately no word of a U.K. release for We The Best but I'll post the release date as soon as it comes available.