What better Christmas present than a new demo from The XX? Recorded whilst creating their second album, if this is anything to go by, then its going to be incredible.

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“I always tell the girls, never take it seriously. If you never take it seriously, you never get hurt. If you never get hurt, you always have fun, and if you ever get lonely, you just go to the record store and visit your friends“.

- Penny Lane, Almost Famous

Certain songs, albums, bands even will always keep their association to the person they remind you of. No matter what happens, even if you want to lose that memory, you never will. My choices within this entry of my 1000 minutes all made it for that reason, some for that reason alone. I won’t go into the memories and the reasons because to most they will be pointless and probably quite boring, but I’m pretty sure that if the people they relate to read this post, they’ll know who they are and hopefully they will agree.

139. Frightened Rabbit – Fun Stuff [3:30] [time remaining 480:34] (YSI Download)

140. Martin Solveig Feat. Dragonette – Hello (Single Edit) [4:41] [time remaining 475:53] (YSI Download)

141. Delays – Valentine [4:52] [time remaining 471:01] (YSI Download)

142. Say Anything – Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too [3:01] [time remaining 468:00] (YSI Download)

143. Sugababes – About You Now [3:33] [time remaining 464:27] (YSI Download)

144. Tim Berg – Seek Bromance (Axwell Bootleg) [8:17] [time remaining 456:10] (YSI Download)

See the full list so far HERE.

tbc….

I was forwarded this video by my housemate who has shown me videos of her younger sister, Elli, singing before. I’ve always been impressed by Elli’s vocal and her incredibly natural charisma given off as she sings, but I could tell by Alex’s face when she told me about Elli’s collaboration with YouTube channel TstyTV that this one was going to blow me away. It did.

Alex’s enthusiasm was definitely justified too and not just created from sibling pride, Elli’s cover of Kanye West’s ‘Runaway’ is original, cool and a sign of things to come for her.

If you fancy hearing some more from Elli, check out her own YouTube channel HERE.

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So today is a dark day for me. Today, Thursday August 25th 2011, is the first day I will be without my iPhone 4 for approximately 3-5 days. I sent my poor little smashed screen phone off this morning to be replaced on insurance and normally this wouldn’t be an issue because the courier hands you a new one at the same time right? Wrong.

Now, due to all the little life ruiners who call and fraudulantly claim new phones, they have to take them away to inspect first and then send a new one. Not exactly ideal when like me, you’re the kind of loser that has their iPhone attached to their hand at all times.

This may seem a little lame, but when you’re in constant communication 24 hours a day with one of your best friends via Whats App, when you have an addiction to Facebook, when you check your emails on the move, when you listen to your iPod all day everyday and have a mild obsession with growing strawberry crops in CityVille, this becomes a serious issue.

I’ll admit quite freely that I have an addictive personality, so maybe I am a unique case here, but when you spend your days at work plugged into a computer (I’m a web designer 90% of the time) the world becomes very quiet when you can’t send a pointless text or give someone a ring for a break.

So yes, day one, its pretty tough and I’m only an hour and a half in. My friends tell me that by day 4-5 I’ll prefer it and not want my phone back. I’m not convinced, but I’ll keep you updated.

In the meantime, I’ve picked a selection of ecletic tracks linked to my temporary misery.

They’re all favourites of mine, so think of my pain as a benefit to you, because quite frankly, you should own them already.

Lady Gaga Feat. Beyonce – Telephone (Crookers Remix) (YSI Download)

“You’re not gonna reach my telephone” – Never a truer word said Lady Gaga. Who’d have thought that one day I’d be able to relate to her lyrics? I certainly didn’t. As a sidenote, I absolutely love this remix, so it did brighten up my day of despair for a moment.

Robyn – Call Your Girlfriend (YSI Download)

Robyn comes across as abit of a desparate homewrecker in this song doesn’t she? If I was receiving one of these calls, she’d probably get a smack in the mouth, so its probably good, for her sake, that my phone is out of order.

Tegan & Sara – Call It Off (YSI Download)

Luckily I don’t have a girlfriend that is planning to call and break up with me. But if I did, she’d have to email me I guess, which by the way, is not a break up method I condone.

Blondie – Call Me (YSI Download)

Oh, thats right. You can’t……

Stevie Wonder – I Just Called To Say, I Love You (YSI Download)

Again, not something that happens to me on a regular day, but it would be nice to know that if someone fancied doing it, even my Mum, they could.

Metric – Collect Call (YSI Download)

Ok, so this ones not particularly relevant. Although, it is a brilliant song, I am a lazy dancer and if I wanted to make a collect call (do people still do that? Do those terrible adverts with Holly Valance still exist?), I still could, so theres a ray of sunshine!

Sigh.

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Finally, The Squatters are back with a BANGER. From two artists I literally used to obsess over, this is the sound I have been missing…

Turn it up LOUD.

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One thing I love about Brighton Pride is the likelyhood of going to a random house party, meeting a friend of a friend, having a drunken ramble about music and then finding something genius. This happened last week at an afterparty when I met a girl called Gina, otherwise known as MissB.

Djing since 2007 and with a love of vocal house music, MissB has played a variety of clubs across the North of England and states a highlight as playing the Dance Village of Glastonbury in 2009. Since then she has started producing her own music and opened ‘MissB Studios Limited‘ a place for collaboration and production which welcomes people of all ages to record and to learn about the process.

Check her out on her website HERE and then get your ears round this remix, its an absolute beaut.

Zoe Badwi – Release Me (MissB Remix) (YSI Download)

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I’ve had countless amounts of friends recommend that I listen to Little Dragon over the last year or so. I remember specifically a work colleague of mine, Sarah, bigging them up beyond belief after seeing them a few times in Brighton last summer, but for some reason I never really sat down and gave them a proper listen. I drifted over tracks found on Hype Machine but never fully opened myself up to them.

Anyway, with the release of their album ‘Ritual Union’ this week I decided it was about time I boarded the Little Dragon hype train and actually gave them some thought. Yet again I’ve been faced with a classic scenario of my life of late and ended up kicking myself for waiting this long. Seriously! I need to sort myself out and start prioritising my music collection above everything else like I used to.

From start to finish ‘Ritual Union’ carries real confidence and attitude. This is an album to chill out to, an album to accompany you on your daily journeys and real summer soundtrack. I think its fair to say that an album has not gripped me simply by its effortless cool factor since the The XX’s debut. Like ‘XX’ you can find influences of R&B throughout, mixed in perfectly with their base ingredient of indie – electro pop, this a sound which is becoming more familiar in bands of late, yet Little Dragon still manage to claim it successfully as their own.

So, Highlights? ‘Ritual Union’ gets off to a great start with its title track and second single. Yukimi Nagano’s vocal compliments the bass and synth lines perfectly resulting in a melancholic yet cheerful pop song. Lyrically, this is the puller for me – “Love is not like they say / A lie, that it’s hard to make it stay / It drowns my feelings in the sea / I dried out over on the beach“

Five tracks in and we find ‘Please Turn’ definitely the more club heavy choice of the album. Everything here become more urgent, the synths become more driving, the rhythm more danceable and Nagano’s vocal delivers her into the ranks of respected indie frontwomen we love and look up to.

The downtempo ‘Crystalfilm‘ is repetitive but seductive and ‘Precious‘ is going to be the hands down winner for any dub fans out there, I predict the remixes coming in thick and fast.

First single, ‘Nightlight‘ is the one that successfully drags Little Dragon into the mainstream. If theres an indie club you’ve been to that hasn’t been spinning this to get the girls dancing, I’d be surprised.

Overall this album is an absolute gem. Will it bring Little Dragon the recognition they deserve three albums in? Who can tell, but I can assure you that after my lazy attempts to discover the band previously, they can certainly count me as a fan from now on.

Little Dragon – Ritual Union (Tensnake Remix) (YSI)

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Literally cannot get this song out of my head….

Too commercial for you? Well, check out the Skrillex edit below, you’ll be sold within minutes, guaranteed.

Benny Benassi – Cinema (Skrillex Edit) (YSI)

On the day that the sad news broke across the world regarding the death of Amy Winehouse, M.I.A posted an unreleased song on her Soundcloud account. ’27′, which she said was in memory of Amy and all of her friends who passed at the same age.

A fitting tribute.

M.I.A – 27 (YSI Download)

LYRICS:
“said your all mouth and no brains
all rock stars go to heaven
you said you’ll be dead at 27 seven
when we drunk in a English tavern
the owner poured you the Bourbon
and you drunk your self so rotten
so he got so rich he bought a Bentley
and moved himself to Devon

you started dirty dancing
and you bar tended a dozen
i took you to the clinic
to get you clean but you couldn’t
said in 2 days ur 27 and and ur destiny was comin
so ur papa passed so sudden
and left you with lil somin

you blew that money on a mountain of drugs
and staged your self a bed in
a month later when i popped in
your still high but the winter set in
i bought you a coffee and a muffin
and you quoted me some Lenin
i wished i was that clever
but thats what kept me coming
your friendship did mean somin
but you left me for nothin
when i left, you befriended a rope
and i saw you both were hanging.”

R.I.P Amy Winehouse

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This track is pretty relevant to me in several ways right now. Firstly because my ridiculously busy schedule has meant that I’ve let this blog ‘Fade into Darkness’ recently (Did you see the link?!) and secondly, on the lead up to Brighton Pride next month I’ve been searching for that summer time anthem to drop into the peak of my set for weeks. Well, its become clear to me today that that search is over.

‘Fade Into Darkness’ is a remake of Avicii’s earlier released beaut of track, ‘Penguin’ which has incidently recently been sampled by Leona Lewis on her single ‘Collide‘ (Seriously, what?! I’m not sure how I feel about that, so I’m probably just not going to comment). Lyrics were written by John Martin who also penned Swedish House Mafia’s most recent single, ‘Save The World’ and if you ask me, they’re the perfect fit.

He did it last year with Bromance and this year Avicii (Tim Berg) has done it again…

Turn this up loud, let the sunshine in and enjoy.

Avicii – Fade Into Darkness (Vocal Club Mix)

Added Extra:

Another absolute anthem with a sprinkle of the Avicii special ingredient…

Tom Hangs Feat. Shermanology – Blessed (Avicii Remix) (You Send It)

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