Sunday, February 27, 2011

Minaj(j) Vs Kim

The Kills mixtape from the house of jj has been kicking round since Xmas Eve last year. The Swedish duo cut-up familiar samples and songs, adding their Balearic R&B finesse. Like other outstanding mixtapes of this season (MIA's Vicki Leekx, Polo Club's Don't Believe The Hyper Colour), it's remained close at hand/ear. And the track that's most returned to is 'Believe'. On 'Believe', jj Auto-Tune the US urban diva Nicki Minaj from a radio interview where she finally broke her silence about her beef with Lil Kim. Not only do jj make a bitchy swipe sound sweet (similar to how they made dirty party anthem 'Birthday Sex' sound like a love song when they covered it) but right at the end they slip in a wonky snippet from Abba's 1981 disco 12" 'Lay All Your Love On Me'. Class.

jj - 'Believe'
(Kills is available for download from Sincerely Yours)

Nicki Minaj talks Lil Kim beef

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Wanna Shrag?

Brighton, UK's Shrag have managed to avoid being genre-fied over the past few years. They have somehow been left alone to develop their riotous grrrl/boi noise away from fadish sounds that might have seen them swept up, and then just as quickly swept back under the Shrag-pile carpet. A steady flow of singles and downloads culminated in last year's release of their Life! Death! Prizes! album (through Where It's At Is Where You Are). "Ghosts Before Breakfast" is the latest single from the album (singing a sentiment no one would disagree with: "Don't wanna see ghosts before breakfast..."), its punk'd-up Bis-ness being a sidestep away from the lo-fi indie garage of 2010's close-to-breakout-track "Rabbit Kids". The band's label is currently offering the track as part of a free downloadable EP that also includes non-album cuts "Gutless Wonder" and "Heart Open/Mouth Shut" - definitely worth the click through.

Shrag - "Ghosts Before Breakfast"