Pick of the week
Yo Majesty, Club Action
(Domino)
I don't know much about butch topless NSFW female hip-hop, but I know what I like. This is amazing; please listen to it. It's not a song so much as a controlled rap explosion: a sensation, a memory, of arriving at night, scared and thirsty in a hot foreign town, when a stranger appears from behind a corner, offering a shaken-up bottle of Coke, which, when you open it, explodes in your face. At once sweet, terrifying and oddly refreshing.
Queen & Paul Rodgers, C-Lebrity
(EMI)
Hello and welcome to "How to take something that was once great. Fantastic even. Important. And turn it into the kind of band that plays at the launch of a new credit card, Biro or deodorant" starring Paul Rodgers, the man who puts the "D" in Rodgers. Perfect listening for these dimming suicidey nights.
Uh Huh Her, Not a Love Song
(RCA)
Not for the first time, I have decided to love a musical artiste before hearing their music, just because I love them on TV. It happened in 1987 with Kylie and - good lord, pop open the prosecco - it's happening again, this time with Leisha Hailey, who plays Alice in everybody's (my) favourite lesbian soap opera The L Word and also plays keyboards in everybody's (my) favourite LA electropop duo Uh Huh Her. She is adorbs in both, and (important) highly YouTube-able.
Ladyhawke, Dusk Till Dawn
(Universal/Island)
Excellent! But still, a quick note about accents: an American one makes a song sound profitable and mainstream, a French one makes a song sound sexy, a British accent makes it sound gritty and real, while a New Zealand one (heard here in an otherwise brilliantly electric and shady pop song) in this day, this age, this time, overshadowed by the threat of poverty and armageddon, makes it sound like a Flight Of The Conchords hidden track.
Will Young, Changes
(RCA)
Is it a thoughtful and provocative reflection on talent shows, the soaring highs (the bit in the Leave Right Now video when his blazer's ripped off as he's kicked out of a gallery), the crashing lows (that Oxfam Unwrapped advert), or is it a bleak, disappointing and loveless comeback for Young, lovely, lovely Young, who'll always be Pick Of The Week in my heart, if not the Guide.
Estelle, Pretty Please
(Atlantic)
Conversation with Estelle and a record exec, last month: "All right Estelle, how have you been?" "Yeah good thanks, you?" "Fine, fine. But listen. Sit down. American Boy was good. Really good, we liked it a lot, but you know how it works - your follow-up single to the smash comeback will traditionally be rubbish. Don't worry about it. Have fun with it. Do something, I don't know, retro. Don't bother trying to get people to dance and have a blast like you did last time, we'll just shlep over a couple of guest stars so you can have a bit of a rest, OK? Good. I'll text you later."
