Kish Mauve - Black Heart

TRACKLIST:

1. Lose Control
2. Matthew
3. I Don't Care
4. In My Kitchen
5. Can't Get Enough
6. Together In Electric Dreams
7. Black Heart
8. I'm In Love With A German Film Star
   
9. Come On
10. Morphine
11. You Make Me Feel
12. Modern Love
13. Lover
14. Fahrenheit
15. I'm In Love With Your Rock 'N Roll

I only recently got to listen to their album. I had heard of them before, they produced a track or two for Kylie but she just decided to use a cover of their track - TWO HEARTS which isn't on their album. But is still one hell of a track.

So who are Kish Mauve and why am i in love with them so much. Kish are Mima Stilwell on vocals and Jim Elliott on the synthesizer. The videos feature an extra drummer and guitarist, which i think are a part of their live band.

The band have this very modern sound, "synth rock influenced dance pop" is what i would categorize them under. All the songs on their album boast of amazing production, well layered sounds and catchy hooks. Mima's vocals aren't really that strong, but the production covers up for it. Why the hell they aren't famous yet, i'll never know!

LOSE CONTROL is amazing. Kylie was more than foolish to omit that off her album. Kylie's version of the song was incomplete. If you listen to Kish's version, you will see hell lot of difference. Splitting synth and guitar to different channels is a very good idea. I love how guitarry a dance track can be, and still stay within the pop limits. Jim Elliott is genius!

MATTHEW is superb!! Love the bassline, the grunge guitars. If Rachel Stevens recorded this, she would have easily had a hit with it. Beautifully designed. It kinda reminds me of Sophie Ellis-Bextor's "You Get Yours" in the bridge.

I DON'T CARE has got an amazing bassline. The chorus sounds like some old Kylie song. But i can't figure out which one it is.

IN MY KITCHEN is a nice country-meets-modernrock-meets-dance-meet-3009! It could easily be a Girls Aloud song. It would suit them.

CAN'T GET ENOUGH is brilliant. Its featured on a Rimmel advert. It didn't end up on their album, which i think is stupid, but its amazing!

TOGETHER IN ELECTRIC DREAMS, again not on the album, but still such a good track

The only song which i didn't really like is the title song BLACK HEART. I'm not sure why i don't like it. Its actually pretty good, but there's something about the song which puts me off. Maybe it just drags on for the longest 4 minutes. Jim's on vocals here. The song seems like its trying too hard...

I'M IN LOVE WITH A GERMAN FILM STAR is so much better than the other versions i have heard online.

COME ON and MODERN LOVE are singles. They're both really good. Easy fan favourites. That is probably why they are singles. Both have that bit of retro touch to them.

MORPHINE has got to be a single, its freakisly catchy and amazing.. and, this could easily be a Girls Aloud song too.

YOU MAKE ME FEEL is just the sexiest song i've heard since ages. Kylie wrote it. Again, why she rejected this song off X i will never know! But who cares. Kish sound amazing on it.

One of their songs called LOVER is also amazing, its not on the album though. FAHRENHEIT and I'M IN LOVE WITH YOUR ROCK AND ROLL are both really good (Jim is on main vocals on the latter. W-O-W!) And they close the album well.

Some more BEP

As happy as i am to have some new BEP material, i feel let down somewhat... BEP were this crew known for good rap tunes, but suddenly its all about Will flaunting his production skills and Fergie acapelling on most songs whilst Apl and Taboo have minimal parts in the songs... Missing You is an amazing song, i think this would do really well as a single. Meet Me Halfway is gorgeous. Party All The Time is an instant hit type song. I Can't Make You Dance will be huge, i just know it. Ring A Ling is annoyingly crap!!

Tracks from the album which have leaked/been released so far:
Ring A Ling - DOWNLOAD
Missing You - DOWNLOAD
Party All The Time - DOWNLOAD
Meet Me Halfway - DOWNLOAD
I Can't Make You Dance - DOWNLOAD
Imma Be
Alive
I Gotta Feeling
Boom Boom Pow

The BEP tunes

You must have heard Boom Boom Pow on the radio, its playing all the time. If you have heard it and don't know the name and don't know who have performed it then you're an idiot and you should probably lock your brain in your tiny little head..

The song is very techno in the beginning, with a well designed rnb groove, backed by synthesized sounds. Somewhere half way through the song, Fergie introduces Will's production skills and the song dons a whole disco bassline and a manic groove. The song turns itself into a stomper.. Definitely very 3008. But they should have stopped at that...

They continued the 3008 sound on their rumoured-to-be second single Imma Be. This however, is a whole lot more pop in its sound. But i still think the structure is the same as the previous song. Basic rnb mixed with techno in the beginning and after half the song is done, it takes on a serious dance outlook. One good thing is Fergie sounds a whole lot better on this song than their first single.

I wonder if they have some nice rhythmic songs on their album. That live performance of I Gotta Feeling was beautiful. I was hoping for the album to be filled with songs like that, but i guess its turning out the other way...

Added to movies on my "To-watch" list

MONSTER HOUSE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEaT6fNGOHw
Have you watched Chicken Little?? Let me tell you, sometimes cartoon movies are excellent!! I mean, they are so much fun, and its a change from all the other movies out there. Monster House is supposed to be a horror movie for kids of the age group 5-10 and for the rest of us its like watching Jerry throwing knives, maces, axes and bowling balls at Tom. Its supposed to be a really good movie. I'm going to watch it sometime soon

BEDTIME STORIES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z425ucRqROg
Why i want to watch it?? Adam Sandler. Comedy. Hit. Simple. The movie is about bedtime stories coming true, or thats what the trailers made me understand. Looking forward to watching this movie..

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

Some people say, the movie kills your imagination. Well, it did! When i read the book, i imagined the characters so well. For example, i expected Zhapod to have two heads, but it turns out he has one head, and the other one is under his neck, so the first head pops back, and the second head comes back up. But then again, the movie is fine. Its not as funny as the book. The book is a whole lot more hilarious because of the descriptions. And Douglas' writing is amazing. But the movie is just alright when compared to the book...

One good thing about the improbability factor, is the way they've done it in the movie. I somehow couldn't imagine that when i read the book, but the movie made it really exciting for me. Now i'm going to imagine it that way when i read the second book. I already have started reading the second book.. i'm hoping its as funny as the first, or even funnier.

Here are a promo shots from the movie:

a few new singles

Last year, i got into this guy's music when i heard his song on the Puma telly advert. "New Shoes" was a sensation on the radio, and it was such a good song. It was on my top 25 played songs playlist for a really long time. And i expected him to follow up that song with a similar kind of sound. But Paolo did nothing like that, instead he tried a more 80's style soft jazzy-poppy-soul type song, which became an instant hit (to me). "Candy" is yummy. Paolo's voice sounds so mature, despite the fact that people say he sounds like a 60 year old moaning about love. I think this song will hit the girls where it has to. Beautifully done Paolo!! Looking forward to the album.

Green Day, of course, are known for the very catchy singles. I've never been much of an album fan of theirs. Their albums seem to drag on forever. "American Idiot" was a concept album, and that just made it worse for me to listen to it. But i loved all 5 singles from the album. And now they're back, with the same punk rock sound, "Know Your Enemy" is a foot stomper. They're back but they're not going to top the charts with this song, really. Cos lyrically, the song is nothing when compared to "American Idiot" or "Holiday" or even "Basket Case". This should probably have been just a download only freebie to let fans know that they're back. But anyway... Ooh, and i was quite amazed to find out that Butch Vig produced the song, long live Garbage! Can't wait for them to return...

Ah yes! Last year he gave us potential hits like "Low", "Elevator", "In The Air", "Roll" and this year he came out with a completely new bubblegum sound to his rap. "Right Round" was simply delicious so listen to, and now he has "Sugar" which is a bigger delight. "Sugar" features Wynter Gordon, the upcoming female artist, and she's doing the Eiffel "I'm Blue"... The da-da's from that song have been featured on so many songs over the years, but this somehow didn't seem so cliched on Flo's song. Flo Rida is a great artist, and i think he's here to stay. He's got some amazing songs on his album, i wish "Gotta Get It (Dancer)" gets a release soon.

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. There is no need to describe how good this song is! Last year when the original version (which is now stupidly labeled as the "demo") came out, it created such an uproar. Everyone wanted the song to be released as a single, but Sophie was still unsure about her plans. (The was recorded for a GH, but later the plan was scrapped and she decided to bring out a 4th album instead.) Her record label confirmed that the song will feature on the 4th album, but in the meantime, Freemasons jumped at the opportunity, stole the song which they produced for her and released it under their name. Why? They know they're going to get a hit when they work with Sophie. I'm kidding. The song would have gone waste, if not for them. They did a good job remixing the song, but they sucked the emotion out of the song entirely. Now it just remains a dance number. The song isn't released yet, but its got so much of hype, its bound to be a huge hit.

I think its the first time in the history of songs, that we have come across a line called "i'm so 3008, you're so 2000 and late"! Wow!! And definitely, the song does sound like it dropped in from the future. BEP are back! On the first few listens, i used to hate the song. I wondered why they ditched their poppy sound from Monkey Business and donned this electro sound. But now its grown onto me. I love the song. Hell, it even reached #1 on the charts. The album is going to be huge, i just know it!

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

"DON'T PANIC" is what the book reads on the front, and it contains details about the entire universe. What am i talking about?? No, not the book Douglas Adams wrote. This book was not published on earth... Confused?? Yea, i was when i read the first page of the book too..

I don't generally tend to read Sci Fiction, cos there's always so much to imagine. But something about this book just got me to reading, and then out of nowhere i suddenly started to enjoy the book thoroughly. I just didn't feel like putting it down. I would read it everywhere, while eating, in class, before i slept, hell even when i was in the loo...

I know people say don't judge a book by the cover, but i did. That's why i started reading it in the first place. When i got to reading about the book i was amazed. This book is actually a radio broadcast, a show which was done and which became a big thing because luck favoured the author. Then he got to writing more shows, and finally he compiled all the scripts into novels. This is the first book in the series. I've got all the novels in one huge volume, and this first book was every bit as fun as the back-cover says.

The book begins with a scene on earth where Arthur Dent's (the main character of the series) house is being demolished to make a bypass. His friend, Ford Prefect reveals his true identity of being an alien when it comes to saving the life of Arthur, because now the Earth was being demolished to make a hyperspace freeway. He ends up becoming the sole survivor (which later on he discovers, that he actually is one of the two survivors of Earth). They end up on a manic journey, meet an old friend and relative of Ford, who happened to be the Ex-President of the Galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox, who was wanted and charged as guilty for stealing the Heart Of Gold (which is a space ship with an improbability drive). He is accompanied by Trillian (the other Earthling i was talking about) and Marvin, a depressed robot who, in my opinion, is undoubtedly the funniest character in the first novel.

The book is filled with scenes which makes you fall out of your seat laughing. I've laughed so hard that i had to close the book cos i woke my mom up in the middle of the night.. I'm not exaggerating, the book is packed with comedy, and a whole lot of sci-fi details which not every human is going to be interested in reading...

Tonight: Franz Ferdinand (Franz Ferdinand) - Track By Track Review

Alex sings "I've found a new way, baby" on the funk-pop album opener, "Ulysses", but has he?? Yes!! Three albums now, and Franz Ferdinand are still doing the exact same thing. But if you pay attention to the details, you'll find out that the entire album thrives on retro funk. The whole hype about them working with Xenomania and all that didn't do anything for the album though. I don't think there's a single Xenomania track on the album in the first place.. Before i go on to review the album, i must say i'm impressed by their cover-art in this era... its brilliant!! And the theme they're using is very (i wanna say intelligent..but..) clever!! Here are the singles' cover art

Ulysses is a sexy song, with its electro guitar and very funk-y sound. FF are trying something new with this song. The whispery vocals will get everyone raving about this song forever! "Come on let's get high", yes!! You can literally get high listening to this song!! Catchy chorus.

Turn It On keeps the momentum going . Thick bass lines. Catchy choruses. Weird verses. Yes, very very FF. So all that change in the album ended with the first track only.

No You Girls, the current single, is this album's Take Me Out. Extremely catchy. The production on the guitars sound phenomenal. Personally, i love this track best on the album.

Twilight Omens sees FF experimenting with synthesized sounds again, but this time, combining them with their signature crisp 60's guitar sound. Its a song about being mad in love, again, one of my favourites from this album. I must compliment FF for having such weird lyrics even on a love song.
I wrote your name Upon the back of my hands Slept upon it and i woke up with it Backwards on my face Reading forwards to my mirror To my heart

Send Him Away has a very hippy sound to it. The twangy guitar in the song is sexy, but the end is so abrupt, it left me craving for more.. It goes well with the rest of the tracks on the album.

Live Alone is FF's version of Techno pop. But it still thrives hard on retro funk, carrying on the 80's sound from the previous track.

Bite Hard starts like a jazzy ballad, and i was so shocked to hear this when the song started, but a little after 30 seconds, the sound goes back to FF's signature sound.

What She Came For has an annoying groove, its very rnb-esque.. Its a new style FF experimented with, and i for one am somehow not happy with the song. The lyrics are a little strange.

Can't Stop Feeling is an older song, if i'm not wrong. Cos i heard this song much before the album came out. The song is very catchy. Quite a good tune. But i've heard the original before, and i think i prefer that. I know FF said they worked with human bones on a song called "Kiss Me" but it sounds more like this is the song they used those bones on. Listen to the strange sound of the drums

Lucid Dreams is also a re-make of an already existing song. I prefer the original demo which came out before the album. The album version has two faults. One, its very very very very long. Two, the second half is so remix-y that it doesn't fit in with the rest of the album. For God's sake, its an indie album. Not a remix album.

Dream Again is a boring track. I never got into it. But i think the synthesizers and drum programing (it does sound a lot like that) are pretty good.

Katherine Kiss Me is a big mistake!