I'm going to do something crazy this week and not even mention the big music industry thing that happened in Brisbane last week. Sure, it ruled, but let's look outside of that for a moment and embrace some of the kick arse music that's been released over the past week or two.
JANELLE MONÁE – The Electric Lady (Remix Ft. Solange, Big Boi and Cee Lo Green)
If you haven't bought Janelle Monáe's The Electric Lady album yet then may I be so rude as to inquire as to what the fuck you are doing with your life? Seriously, if you like music and don't have some middle-Australia, pseudo-racist aversion to hip hop and R&B then you need to at least give it a few spins.
Anyway, there's a version being sold at Target in the US (and nowhere else) that has four bonus tracks. Of course they're all on the internet now and a remix of one of the album's best songs – its title track – is one of them. It's just as good as the original, perhaps even better, with people like Solange, Big Boi, Cee Lo Green and Monáe herself basically just going H.A.M. over this super groovy cut of psych soul. Damn it's good.
CHROMEO – Over Your Shoulder
I often tell people that, if I believed in the concept of having musical “guilty pleasures” then, Chromeo would almost certainly be top of the list. Of course, I don't, so I'm happy to sing their praise – to a degree. They are what they are and, while it makes me sad that I will never be able to enjoy a full record from these two Canadian bros (and they do totally look like dudes you'd bro down with), I do love sucking up short, sharp bursts of their ridiculous '80s sex-obsessed synth pop.
If you haven't seen the video of them going to Darryl Hall's house, change that now.
SLEIGH BELLS – You Don't Get Me Twice
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I'm not sure whether it was because I was avoiding the hype or whether my musical preferences have really changed that much, but I didn't want a bar of Sleigh Bells when they started. Thankfully something clicked around the time their second record dropped and I've happily gorged on their bizarre sugary pop-metal ever since.
Alexis Krauss sounds a little more soulful on this new track than she has in the past and the guitar of Derek Miller is a little more funk and rock'n'roll influenced than the big, fat riffery we're used to from the band. Much like Chromeo, I don't think they'll ever make a really good record, but Sleigh Bells prove here yet again that they have a real knack for penning unique gold.
BECK – Gimme
I once saw Beck at a Scientologist party in Los Angeles is front of 200 people, where he proceeded to play a hits-only set in what was one of the truly great musical experiences of my life. While his output has undoubtedly become a little less awesome after the brilliant, almost perfect Sea Change record of 2002, I still respect him for doing what he wants and making weird music while remaining an alt-rock demigod of sorts and Gimme is proof that his wacky side hasn't diminished one bit.
The choppiness in Beck's vocals makes for such uncomfortable listening, but the overall timbre of the timpani and xylophone feel very classy indeed. You can hardly imagine it's the kind of song to win him any new fans, but it's not as if he really needs any…
SKELETONWITCH – I Am Of Death (Hell Has Arrived)
I'm a relative newcomer to Skeletonwitch, getting onboard with the release of 2011's Forever Abomination which is probably the exact time actual metal fans stopped liking them. The Midwestern US thrashers have been around for ten years and Serpents Unleashed, which is out next month, will be their fifth record. Kurt Ballou is in the producer's chair this time around and if this first taste is anything to go by, this will be another stomper of a record.
I Am Of Death (Hell Has Arrived) is an exhausting two minutes and forty-seven seconds, Dustin Boltjes unrelenting double-kick making sure of that and vocalist Chance Garnette is petrifyingly scary; he sounds like evil incarnate. It's nice to be truly scared of a vocalist again, the clarity of his delivery mixed with the general raggedness of his voice is chilling, and there's not an anthemic Auto-Tuned, heart-clutching chorus in sight.
