Pigeon's Playlist: Then, That's What We Called Music 2009

Pigeon has lovingly crafted 48 songs which we have absolutely loved over the past year into one, New Year's Eve friendly, playlist.

You could call this a reflection on 2009 through audible brilliance, or you could call it a lazy way of chucking some songs together and passing it off as a reflection on 2009 through audible brilliance.

It's funny to think that this time twelve months ago most of these songs didn't even exist, and now here we are listening to them. *pause for moment of reflection*

You can find the playlist right bloody well here.

Thanks to everyone who has made music this year, and also to everyone who has helped make RobotPigeon's first year mildly average fucking amazing. We love you.

PS. Here's that tracklisting if you are "interested, but not to the point of actually wanting to listen":

'Magic Tank' - T&K
'Starryeyed' - Ellie Goulding
'Silvia' - Miike Snow
'Close To You' - The Venus Stare
'Fireflies' - Owl City
'We Pray!' - I Am Noxious
'Love Bee' - Wolf In Spacesuit
'Good Time' - Bright Light Bright Light
'Sometimes' - Miami Horror
'Mannequin' - Noah
'Superstar' - Joe Danger
'Clean Apart' - The Aspirins For My Children feat. thecocknbullkid
'Into The Clouds' - The Sound Of Arrows (Fear Of Tigers remix)
'Happy' - Kirstenana (Flashworx remix)
'All I Never Needed' - Datostrom (Diamond Cut remix)
'My House' - Kids Of 88
'Me & Your Daughter' - Natalie Portman's Shave Head
'Under The Sheets' - Ellie Goulding
'Take My Picture' - Heads We Dance (Digital Foxglove remix)
'Keep Up' - Hyper Crysh
'Right Hand Hi' - Kid Sister
'Audacity Of Huge' - Simian Mobile Disco
'I Can Make The Pain Disappear' - Fear Of Tigers
'Hurt Someone' - Visitor (Kolt 13 remix)
'Ultra Violence & Beethoven' - Baby Monster
'Biscuits' - Unicorn Kid
'Better Off As Two' - Frankmusik (Justin Faust remix)
'This Must Be It' - Royksopp
'The Radio' - H Boogie
'Tik Tok' - Ke$ha
'Heavy Cross' - The Gossip (Yuksek remix)
'Lies' - Fenech Soler (Alex Metric remix)
'Remedy' - Digital Foxglove
'Raindrops' - Basement Jaxx (Louis La Roche remix)
'Freaky Sweetie' - Cassette Kids (Diamond Cut remix)
'Coloris' - she
'A Question For You' - Bit Funk
'Runaround' - Del Marquis (Louis La Roche remix)
'Overtaken' - Edwin Van Cleef (Mille remix)
'American Boys' - Name The Pet (I Always Wanted A Pony remix)
'Flashmob' - Vitalic
'Fixin' To Thrill' - Dragonette
'I Want You' - Edwin Van Cleef
'Crysteena' - Mille
'Los Feeling' - Visitor (Slaughterbrains remix)
'We Are The Romans' - Monsieur Adi
'The Adventures Of Pippi Longstrum' - Fear Of Tigers (Diamond Cut remix)
'And Beyond' - The Sound Of Arrows

Bloody hell, for a 'frivolous end of year post' that took ages to put together.

Robot's round-up of 2009

Now, Robot wouldn't dream of speaking for Pigeon because when it comes to music we are like Same Difference - "We're the same, but different".

What follows are Robot's thoughts on the past 12 months in music. Robot Pigeon has been around for little over a year now, so we felt a round-up of the year would be a little more fitting than telling you stuff about songs that were released in 2001 in a round-up of the decade. We don't remember much before 2007 anyway, our bad.

Lets get on with this then.

The Darkest Video of 2009

Royksopp 'This Must Be It'
Royksopp's 'This Must Be It' is a dark and worrying music video and not just because it's got loads of elderly people running amok with their willies and boobs bouncing all over the place (almost). The video is savage and even without anything traditionally scary (witches, violence, blood, guns, room temperature milk) this is without doubt the most unsettling video of the year.

Runner-up: MGMT 'Kids'
Now obviously 'Kids' is ancient now, but the video only surfaced this year. While more 'RAAAAAAHH' than Royksopp, the scares sadly tail off at the end and turns into a cartoon. Literally. Discussing these two videos is like comparing 'Hostel' to 'The Shining'.

Best Single That Had A Limited Release But Which Should Have Been A Proper Release
Ellie Goulding 'Under The Sheets'After the pop predictions for 2009 we so unashamedly pop influenced, it was great to see Ellie Goulding leading the BBC picks for 2010, and after the 'success' of 'Under The Sheets', we think this one will go more La Roux than Little Boots. Despite minimal support from Radio One, 'Under The Sheets' still reached No.53 on download alone, even after the track had already been spread across the internet as a free MP3. Her second single is due to be 'Starry Eyed', and as anyone with ears will already know, 'Starry Eyed' is a tiny piece of dreamy girl-pop heaven.

Runner-Up: Sound of Arrows 'Into The Clouds'
Ambitious and epic, Sound of Arrows' 'Into The Clouds' came accompanied with one of the most jaw-droppingly beautiful videos of the year. The attention these guys pay to their visuals matches the care put into their music, and the spectacular video was matched only by the brilliance of the song.

The Album We Wished We Had Made More Of A Fuss Over At Time But Which We Only Realised Was Amazing Later
Friendly Fires 'Friendly Fires'Early in 2009 people like Zane Lowe were going on so much about how amazing this band were that we were put out investigating for ourselves. However, there is a reason that people like Zane Lowe have very important jobs at Radio One and we don't - they are quite often right about music. Friendly Fires self-titled debut is concrete proof that scruffy boys with guitars can make pop music just as easily as a group of pretty girls in nice dresses stood in a line who sometimes do a little dance routine. Essentially the male equivalent of Ladyhawke's album and not just because it has a song about Paris on it. Full of amazing pop melodies, brilliant lyrics and stunning songs - we only wish we had gotten on board with this one sooner.

Runner-Up: Miike Snow 'Miike Snow' We've mentioned Miike Snow over 2009 a couple of times, but we never really got around to saying 'Wow! Miike Snow really deserve your attention people!' And we apologise for this. Their debut album does not sound like the work of three beardy Danes, but there is a saying about book covers which escapes us now but which we know is applicable to the beard reference. Their self titled debut was a totally flawless affair, with solemn melodies and moments of pure dancefloor bliss. An amazing record.

Best Album By A Guitar Band
Mew 'No More Stories...' We don't write about guitar bands as we are generally more keen on pop stuff. However, we're not snobs and we love all music, and Mew have never once disappointed in their career. 'No More Stories...' is a gigantic record, as dark as 'Glass Handed Kites' but with the same unforgettable melodies of 'Frengers'. We saw them live in November, and while Pigeon faffed around saying 'I'M BORED', Robot found it quite spectacular, and in 'Sometimes Life Isn't Easy', Mew have finally recorded a rival to 'Comforting Sounds' in the OMGepic ballad stakes.

Runner-Up: N/A

(Come on, this is a pop music blog, not a charity we are 'running' here).

Best Mixtape
Anoraak 'Indian Summer Mixtape'
From the amazing French chaps at Valerie, Anoraak's mixtape, released at the end of the Autumn was a vicious reminder of how long we will have to wait until we can go and sit in the park with a bottle of cider again. The highlight for us remains the Grum remix of Friendly Fires 'Skeleton Boy' but the Russ Chimes mix of 'Bitch of the Bitches' by Le Corps Mince De Françoise is equally astounding. However, picking favourites from this mixtape is irrelevant, since the whole thing is start-to-finish incredible. If you think you owe yourself one last Christmas present, treat yourself to this, pour a sherry and have a little dance.

Runner-Up: Sidechains 'Sound of Summer'
Another 'summer' titled mixtape kept us going through the summer of 2009, and Sidechains did, as Sidechains does, a stunning collection of '90s house tunes, which would mean the most to people who remember the likes of Strike appearing on Top of the Pops, but even for those who didn't, it is common knowledge that the '90s was possibly dance music's finest hour (*Robot shows his age*)

Best Single of 2009
Yuksek 'Extraball'

Yuksek's debut album 'Away From The Sea' was one of the year's most impressive dance records, but the standout was far and away (from the sea) his collaboration with up and coming and probably-never-going-to-make-it-in-the-UK-at-least hip-hop femme fatale Amanda Blank. Proof that the Daft Punk influence isn't going away anytime soon, 'Extraball' is both a huge dance track and a near perfect pop song, building from an inconspicuous opening to a heart-pumping climax, packing in verses, choruses, loud bits, quiet bits and everything else you would expect from an incredible pop song. Robot loves this track so much he still remembers where he was the first time he heard that beat drop on the first chorus - (it was sitting at his desk at his boring desk job, but it's not been forgotten).

Runner-up: Royksopp 'The Girl And The Robot'
Another collaboration, we spent a good while earlier in the year banging on about how amazing this song was and how it was such an easy Top Ten hit and that it would put both Royksopp and Robyn on the top of their game. It didn't chart in the UK. We don't mean it didn't make the Top 40 or the Top 75 or even the Top 200. It didn't chart - at all. We remain baffled.

Hero of 2009
Yuksek
Yuksek may not have been the most prolific producer of 2009 but what makes us want to name him our hero of 2009 are the live appearances he has put in across London over the year. Blame the beer, blame 'whatever else' but both his appearance at the Eastern Electrics festival and Kitsune Halloween were two of our best nights out of the year. An incredible DJ, his own brand of heavy French electronica is perfect for a 2am set as the/any night reaches it's peak. He is also one of the lucky DJs that no matter what he plays, his own songs are always the highlight of the set ('Extraball', 'Tonight' or 'So Down' for example). We should also mention his remix of Gossip's 'Heavy Cross' which even made us doubt the skills of Fred Falke for a few moments. Yuksek, thank you for making 2009 so amazing.

Runner-up: Diamond Cut

Also astounding us this year is one Mr Diamond Cut (he doesn't use the 'Mr', we added that). As a remixer and producer this man has been on fire all year, with production work for Visitor and remixes for Cassette Kids and Fear of Tigers being some of the most exciting we've heard all year.

Special Mention: Starsmith

Ellie Goulding? Lady GaGa remixes? Loads of other stuff? Starsmith has been generally quiet brilliant in 2009.

Worth a mention: Owl City 'Fireflies'

All of America know about this man, but he's yet to make much of a mark in the UK. He is Adam Young and he goes by the moniker of Owl City.

This is his song 'Fireflies' which our friends in America have gone mad for. We feel we should mention it because it is clearly going to be massive here too.

WARNING: The following video contains an example of extremely bad posture. We saw a documentary on it once and a man had such a bad back he ended up being shunned by society and was living in a church in Paris ringing the bells. Do you want to end up like that Adam Young? Do you?...



Osteopathy aside, we like the song. But we know we're going to be ab-so-bloody-lutely sick of it by about May next year.

And you know what we're going to say next...it really could do with a remix. Fear Of Tigers? Diamond Cut? Slaughterbrains? We're waiting...

Owl City on the Myspace

Christmas slump well and truly blown away by Edwin Van Cleef 'Overtaken' Disco Villains Remix

Mr Edwin Van Cleef has been making us dance around like lunatics for some time now. His tracks 'Lovin' and 'Overtaken' are both Electro-disco to the point of needing to come bundled with a fuse.

He's remixed the likes of Fear Of Tigers and been remixed by Mille (if the artists we talk about on this blog were family there would be a serious problem in the gene pool).

Now we get Disco Villains remix of Overtaken. The whole thing gets a bit of a hands in the air make over, whilst the core vocal sample remains firmly in place so you know this is Van Cleef's work.

Download: Edwin Van Cleef 'Overtaken' Disco Villains Remix

The full 'Overtaken' EP has remixes by Neo Tokyo, FM Attack and Mille. Sometimes it's hard to express how exciting a remix package is by means of text, but let's try this to say how good the 'Overtaken' remix roll call is:

FUCKING EXCITING

All four remixes, plus the original will be on our New Year's Eve playlist. In a row. And then on repeat.

Get the Overtaken EP here
Mr Van Cleef is on Myspace here

Santa is dead, but Ellie Goulding is giving gifts away instead: Download 'Wish I Stayed'

Boo hoo hoo Christmas is over again for another year. Now it's Boxing Day and there are no presents left and all we have to eat is some cold meat and a box of Dairy Milk (someone has already eaten all the Strawberry Cremes).

Fear not, there are still gifts to be had in a musical form by way of iTunes Single Of The Week, which this week comes from the delectable Ms Ellie Goulding.

We've been banging on about her for ages, but it looks like Ellie is set to blow up next year (and not in a terrorism type way). She's already got 'Under The Sheets' on a few radio playlists and the damn thing wasn't even released as a proper single. No mean feat.

Now you can wrap your ears around 'Wish I Stayed'. A version of the track has been on Ellie's myspace for a while, but this new working has been stripped right back. It is now void of the original's electronic beeps and beats, and becomes an, essentially, acoustic affair. It's a neat trick as it showcases Ellie's vocal and saves her being bracketed as simply a product of nifty production.

There's already a tour booked for next year, meaning you need to buy tickets before hearing the album. This is clever because then if the album turns out to be shit (we're sure it won't be) the tour still makes money. With a forward thinking team behind her, and songs like 'Under The Sheets', 'Starryeyed' and 'Wish I Stayed', Ellie Goulding won't be giving tracks away on iTunes this time next year. Get it whilst you can.

'Wish I Stayed' can be found free from here for a short while
(Warning: This will link you to the major music retailer iTunes. If you don't like that sort of thing we apologise and suggest you rethink your capitalism hatred for the greater good of your ears).

We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new Sia

It's not exactly the best time of year to be floating your new video around on the internet when most people are watching Mariah Carey rolling around in the snow in a Santa suit or Shane MacGowan being all toothles and shouty with Kirsty MacColl by a piano. But Sia has never been one to follow the traditional popstar format.

A few weeks ago we gave you a free download of her quite stupendous (RP debut for the word 'stupendous') new single 'You've Changed'. Unlike most free downloads, it wasn't just to say 'HEY WORLD, DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME I AM STILL A RELEVANT ARTIST PRODUCING MUSIC' but was the proper beginning of the campaign for her next album, 'We Are Born'.

The video features the following things: primary colours, Sia pretending to be in a video game and a selection of freaks and geeks getting changed. Changed. Geddit? Changed. Changed. You've Changed. Geddit? Yes. Easy really.

The video is cheap, cheerful and completely brilliant. Hopefully 2010 will be the year when more than a handful of people get excited about Sia. It should/could have happened with any one of her previous albums, but lets hope 'We Are Born' gets her the recognition she deserves.

Here is Sia's 'You Changed' video. There are no mince pies or snowmen in it. 'Soz'.

A Christmas present from Two Door Cinema Club

Our trendy friends Two Door Cinema Club look set to do great things in 2010.

As a 'thank you' for everyone's (especially ours) support, someone has uploaded an mp3 to a server and you can download it onto your computer and then play it on your ipod. To be honest, we were hoping for a nicely wrapped cashmere scarf, but this will suffice.

Download: Two Door Cinema Club 'Undercover Martyn' Whatever/Whatever remix here.

Their advance must have been quite small if they've resorted to eating the bread someone has left out for the birds.

What happened the morning after our Christmas party: Miike Snow 'Silvia' video

Robot & Pigeon quite often have little arguments about what we like and don't like. It's all in jest and no-one ever gets physically hurt we never fall out for long. One thing we do agree on is that our favourite track from the Miike Snow album (also titled Miike Snow) is 'Silvia'. Turns out some other people must like it too as it's going to be the next single.

It took the record label ages to pull its finger out and get a video done for 'Animal', so it's nice to see they're a bit faster off the mark with 'Silvia'. This is what 'Silvia' looks like:

Some men going into a forest and setting fire to that rabbit/deer thing they seem so fond of. Not quite the wintery weep fest we were hoping for, but all very moody and mysterious.

If you are a stalker you may be interested to know that the band have foolishly put a list of times and places of where they will be next year on their myspace so you can follow them round the world. That will keep Robot out of trouble until March.

Silvia is released on Jan 25th

Doesn't look like the next Hadouken! album is going to be one full of acoustic cover versions...

Wow.

Hadouken! - 'For The Masses' Album Teaser from Real Time TV on Vimeo.

This teaser for the forthcoming 'For The Masses' album has got us rather excited (so much so that for 4 minutes 42 seconds we forgot it was snowing...it's settling!!!).

Tracks 'Mad' and 'Turn The Lights Out' hinted at a move in a heavier direction, but now we can see for sure that the Shoreditch ditties are out, and in come the apocalyptic drums and heavy synths. Can we also point out the frankly exceptional use of assonance in the line:
"Surfacing from primordial waters, we are the sons and daughters of raucous".
Eat that Dante.

We were fans the first time round, even more so this time. What's great is that Hadouken! will always sound like Hadouken! because James' vocals are so distinctive. And this time round the whole thing feels a bit more solid and coherent. Roll on 2010.

There's a huge UK tour lined up for February, with Europe in March (see myspace for dates - it's too long, and we're too lazy, to type it all out), and there's a special Shockwave's NME tour show where they're playing with our friend Unicorn Kid (hint: still waiting for our invite).

Whilst we're on the subject of Shockwaves, just a quick note on hair: the Rice bros need a trim, and James has a flyaway section at the back which needs taming. Spooner and Purcell - as you were.

You can get a sampler of the album at the band's website.

'For The Masses' released Jan 25th. There's a pre-order thing where you can get it cheap and the band will deface the cover using a biro. Bargain.

Joe who? Leona Lewis 'I See You'

Is it just us or does the new Leona Lewis song/theme tune to the looks really boring hit movie Avatar sound like Chris De Burgh's 'A Spaceman Came Traveling'?
“I See You” (Theme from Avatar) by Leona Lewis in HD

Trailer Park | MySpace Video
"Ok guys, we have some clips from the film, a smoke machine and a Leona Lewis, what can we get for £5.47?"

The only good thing about this video is that it qualifies to feature on the 'Leona's split ends' scale, which Robot & Pigeon like to look out for on any Leona performance featuring heavy back lighting. This scores about a 5, which means 'Happy' on America's Got Talent remains unchallenged.

And in spite of all this Leona is still amazing.

New Music Monday: Lies

Around 2,010 years ago God sent a little gift to the earth in the form of his son. The other week Lies sent RobotPigeon a little gift in the form of his son(g).

Currently there are only two demos on Lies' myspace, but both tracks caught our attention. 'For You' echoes early (ie the time before they went all pretentious and people actually bought their records) Air, whilst 'Death Is But A Dream' echoes early (again, pre-pretentiousness) Eels.

There's a lo-fi, effortless delivery to this which we find kind of charming, and a real sense of calm and control. In places where you suddenly think the tracks might tail off into obscurity Lies picks them up and moves in a different direction. There's obviously a bit of work to be done, but as a starting point these some pretty robust Lego bricks.

From the sound of the voice we'll assumed the pronoun 'he' (cue being particularly red faced when a gravelly voiced lady steps forward as Lies), but aside from that we're at a bit of a loss with further information on Lies.

We suggest you go to Lies' Myspace and listen to the music for yourself. Rest assured we will investigate further as, based on what we've heard, we're more than a little bit excited (although any excitement this week is going to be overshadowed by Jesus' birthday presents).

PS. Anne Darwin is almost certainly not a member of Lies, but, in the absence of any form of pictorial representation of the band, we thought it was rather apt.

A sad thing

The sad news about Brittany Murphy made us remember this:



We wish she had done some more singing that didn't involve animated penguins because that was a bloody great song and she had a great voice.

: (

Hopefully you can like them without dying: Fan Death

Looking at this press photo it would appear that female duo Fan Death have a penchant for those ridiculous blankets with arms which are all the rage this Christmas. If we get given one we are going to be very cross (yes, we're talking to you Auntie Sheila). Luckily for Fan Death their music is a bit more forward thinking than their choice of stocking fillers.

Their sound is something akin to Karen O doing an impression of the Cheeky Girls making love to Bobby Farrell. Only more in tune, and with no sign of Ra-ra-rasputin. They're also not afraid to use strings on a track. And as you know RobotPigeon have a soft spot for a nice string section.

We also like an interesting music video which isn't afraid to push the band out of the limelight in favour of an artistic concept (or something a little less pretentious).

Those things in mind, have a little listen and look at 'Cannibal':



We like this. We also like track 'Reunited', which takes the band into slightly darker territory. You can download 'Reunited' for free at the band's website (in exchange for a made up email address).

Fan Death have a great image and have persuaded the likes of Erol Alkan to do remixes of their music. So everything seems to be in place for them to do well. There's an EP and an album on the way, and if you end up getting a slanket for Christmas you'll be able to download them without even having to take your hands out from beneath the blanket.

Fan Death on the good old Myspace

Young Punx want a fight and they are ready: Young Punx 'Ready For The Fight'

A band who based an entire track around a sample of Radio 4's Shipping Forecast are always going to have a soft spot in RobotPigeon's heart. So we're really looking forward to the release of Young Punx's second album 'Mashpop & Punkstep'.

The latest track to make its way to our tympanic membrane is 'Ready For The Fight'.

Opening with a 70s blaxploitation groove, it quickly moves into anthemic dance and the vocal wranglings of guest Count Bass D. It's an interesting collaboration which continues Young Punx's trend of playing with genre, and notches them up another point on the really very interesting dance music scale.

The "Ready, ready, ready for the fight refrain" will have implanted itself on your subconscious in all of three seconds. If we hear this in a club there is going to be an embarrassing impressive faux boxing dance routine from Robot & Pigeon.


The Young Punx - Ready For The Fight on MUZU

Maybe the BBC could use this as an idea for spicing up Newsnight? Our favourite bit is at 02:15 when Count Bass D does some luminous blue sick. That's what happens when you have too many WKDs.

If you feel so inclined there's also a Black Noise remix of the track which you can steal from here (don't tell anyone but we prefer the original):

Download: Young Punx 'Ready For The Fight' Black Noise Remix

Altogether these things make a rather nice promotional package for the track, and we've successfully avoided mentioning the computer game the track is appearing on (Fight Night 4). Winners.

Young Punx on Myspace

Take My Parts: Download Digitalfoxglove's Heads We Dance Remix.

Back in September Heads We Dance released a collection of their remixes, and we applauded them for their impeccable taste in people they allowed to fuck about with their songs. Now they've gone and done it again by getting perennial RobotPigeon favourite Digitalfoxglove on board:

Download: Heads We Dance 'Take My Picture' Digitalfoxglove Remix

The original is quite the disco duet, so DFG prepares it for the dancefloor by carefully selecting the finest cuts of vocal (ie the chorus), then shallow frying in some dirty synths, before marinading in a few extra BPM and serving with a decent helping of squelch guitar.

It's another quality addition to the HWD remix collection, and makes us excited to hear DFG's own forthcoming material. He gave us a little listen to some bits and pieces: we're talking synth chords, slide guitar and robot voices, with an abundance of slow builds to an epic 'it's all about to kick off' moments. Exciting. Exciting. Exciting.

PS Very much approving of the new Digitalfoxglove logo.

Digitalfoxglove Myspace
Heads We Dance Myspace

See the video (smoky) to Vitalic's 'See The Sea (Red)'

One of the albums of 2009 we wish we'd made more of a fuss over around the time of its release is 'Flashmob' by Vitalic. Had we remembered to make a fuss, it would have probably been around the 28 September mark, ie, the album's release date.

2009 has had its fair share of great dance albums, and 'Flashmob' is one of the best. At points it's a little hard for our usual liking, but sometimes stepping outside of our comfort zones and listening to an album that doesn't 'feat. Robyn' is a good thing.

We did mention Vitallic's 'Your Disco Song' earlier in the year, and now he has made a video for the album opener, 'See The Sea (Red)'. Essentially, not a lot happens in the new video - it's just a cardboard triangle in a bit of smoke. But not only does some very good film-making turn this into an interesting watch, it is clearly a key video to where Vitalic is visually with his 'Flashmob' album project, since the album cover is likewise, a cardboard triangle in some smoke. It's like he had it planned all along (or had this video made for the past six months).

A sort of really slow dance song. With a rap. Kid Cudi feat MGMT (allegedly) 'Pursuit Of Happiness'

You probably know by now the genres of music we like to write about. It's not as if you come here for the sparkling conversation is it? Yet, whilst our ears are mainly interested in banging dance/soaring pop/electro disco/Maria Lawson, we are also willing to listen to some other types of music too (but not Jazz).

Kid Cudi's latest 'Pursuit Of Happiness' caught our peripheral vision recently and, like a fetching golfing umbrella glanced in a shop window, we haven't been able to get it out of our mind ever since.

We'll admit we were first drawn to this track as it 'features' MGMT. Collaborations of this nature are usually dreamed up whilst an A&R man is having an early morning poo to make people like us say "Oh look, Kid Cudi has worked with MGMT. We like MGMT. If MGMT like Kid Cudi maybe we will like him too." Damn their A&R mind games. In this case, 'features' MGMT means 'doing some backing vocals, sort of, maybe, if you listen really carefully'.

No matter, because 'Pursuit Of Happiness' is all about Kid Cudi. There's no overblown production, at times it's just Cudi with a piano, and it's a relatively melancholic affair. This understated nature is the very charm of the track. From the opening 'waw, waw, waw' we're hooked and once it has you, whilst it never fires in the direction you suspect it might, it never lets go of your ear drums.



Our only complaint is that in these times of economic depression, when we have to scrape together our coppers just to afford a bottle of apple Tango, no-one should be spraying champagne around willy nilly like that.

This song caught us off guard and we're a little bit hypnotised by it. So long as it doesn't make us to quit smoking in the process, we're more than happy to keep listening.

Justin Faust remixes Mille, turns out something amazing and then gives it away for free

We first fell in love with Swedish producer/pop genius/future king of all modern music Mille back in June of this year when everyone was wearing shorts and going to the park after work to drink cider instead of straight home for some soup.

His music sounded amazing in the summer and it sounds amazing in the winter, but as good as it sounds on the internet, it is going to sound a whole lot better on 12" when 'Crysteena' is released through Neon Gold at the start of 2010. 'Crysteena' is a jaw-droppingly amazing piece of retro, eighties-synth-wonder and that well connected people at record labels are paying attention to this man and his work makes us very happy indeed.

Now, of course releases tend to come with remixes and this one is no different. We can't help but approve of the remixers chosen to twiddle with Mille's debut single either as Fear of Tigers (love) Edwin Van Cleef (love) and Justin Faust (love) have all been called on for remix duties.

The Justin Faust mix cleans up the original slightly, taking a more laid-back and funky approach to the track than Mille's version. It's very good and if you click the link below, oh, it's very free as well :)

Download: Mille 'Crysteena' (Justin Faust remix)

Here's the original too, in case you need reminding of how amazing this track is:

Mille 'Crysteena'

What has happened in the past six days for interesting new band Blackroom?

It is almost certainly too soon to revisit Blackroom (nee Lorraine) since we only wrote about them a week ago, but there is new guitar-driven electro-pop music on the internet (ie their MySpace) and we feel compelled to write about it.

First new track 'Live To Tell' sounds like another step away from Blackroom's days as Lorraine. We loved Lorraine, don't get us wrong, but that band sadly did not work and simply changing their name and doing some moody new photos would not be enough fool everyone into paying attention this time around. In the world of the modern pop band black and white photos generally means 'WE ARE TAKING THINGS SERIOUSLY AND WE WOULD LIKE TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY AS A BAND PLEASE'. Fortunately for Blackroom their new music more than backs-up this approach.

'Live To Tell' throws out the soft, dreamy sense of wonder found in songs like 'I Feel It' or 'Saved' once and for all and sees Blackroom slip very comfortably into their new guitar driven sound (to accompany the moody new photos, obviously). It does however share the same sky-bound optimism of everything they have ever recorded, no matter what name they chose to release it under.

Second new track 'Home' is jolly good too and has some very nice guitar on it. However, we prefer 'Live To Tell'. Sorry, but that's just the way things are. 'Home' is very A-Ha and that is good thing.

Take a (highly recommended) listen at the Blackroom MySpace.

Blondie cover 'We Three Kings' in a wood (no really)

The festive cover version is usually best left to fresh new bands hoping to grab a bit of seasonal attention for themselves. It's not usually the hobby of bands who essentially redefined pop music, turned the role of women in music on it's head and held is there by the ankles, shaking it until it's lunch money fell out on the floor. We are talking about Blondie.

Specifically we are talking about Blondie's cover of 'We Three Kings'. It skirts dangerously close to being a huge embarrassing mess, but the fact that the band still sound so good makes up for how uncomfortable they look stood in a wood wearing leather jackets that don't quite fit properly.



They all look a little bit cold, don't they.

We wish you a McElderry Christmas and a happy new career

We've seen what happens when maternal, middle-aged hormones and a restless dialling finger are put to work on voting for TV talent shows. What happens is the success of the likes of Gareth Gates, David Sneddon and Leon Jackson (even if Gates came second, he still did very well in the first UK Pop Idol).

So lets hope that Joe McElderry fares a little better than his smart-suited, cherub-like predecessors now that he has won The X Factor. We were fans of John and Edward from their first audition but despite being both male and nowhere close to the menopause, we were very much sold on young McElderry, his tidy suits and his warbly little voice. We don't imagine we'll ever be in the market to buy any of his music, but we were just two of the 19 million people who watched him win the show, so we're sure there were some among that number who will be prepared to shell out for whatever he has in store for his debut album.

Oh, and lets hope Rachel Adedeji is feeling a little red-faced today after stealing not only Joe's microphone but a good deal of his thunder as he sung 'The Climb' for the second time on last night's show. It wasn't YOUR moment Ms Adedeji...



Please also note that while we are warmed and by John and Edward hugging each other at the 3.25 minute mark, the look of sheer joy on Joe's face when Stacey Solomon lollops towards him as he is singing makes the whole arduous television experience worth it. His parents must be very proud.

Exposing themselves as pretty amazing: Flashworx remix Kirstenana

If you're still in mourning for the lack of worldwide critical acclaim for Pnau & Ladyhawk's amazing 2007 track 'Embrace', then we may have found something which could help heal the wound.

DOWNLOAD: Kirstenana's 'Happy' Flashworx Remix

We have, of course, mentioned the lovely Kirstenana before. And we flagged 'Happy' up as our favourite track way back then.

Now, Italian duo Flashworx have swapped the guitar and drums of the original for an altogether more electro-disco backing, and added a had-a-few-beers-arms-aloft-anthemic feel. And it's bloody brilliant. It makes us wish we didn't have a snivelling cold, and could go out into town, and dance all night until our feet hurt, and then go out and wait in the rain for a night bus and then get a cold.

Flashworx, in a move some might refer to using the word 'ironic', have also remixed 'Embrace'. And, in a move some might refer to as sucking up to RobotPigeon, have also remixed our favourite people Visitor. And, in a move some might refer to as...oh bugger this. They've done a lot of great remixes. Check them out here.

Now, if we could just suggest that maybe their people would like to talk to Kirstenana's people about some production work...

Another Christmas Song We Love: 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)' Slow Club

We're officially over excited about Christmas. There are presents under our tree and everything. Although none of them are miaowing so we're not sure we're getting that kitten we asked for. But if for any reason you find yourself feeling a little de-festived (not a word) then the following two minutes and fifty three seconds will be like a snowing rocket up your bottom:

Download: 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) by Slow Club

Sure, it's pretty much a carbon copy of the Phil Spector/Darlene Love collaboration, but switches horn for guitar, gives it a nice spit and polish, and brings the track bang up to 2009.

It's from Slow Club's Christmas Thanks For Nothing EP (released on Monday blah blah blah etc etc). The EP also includes has a haunting take on 'All Alone On Christmas', which gives us as many goosebumps as Susan Boyle's 'Silent Night'.

It's also nice to hear Slow Club on a slight departure from their usual jolly guitar romps. And did we mention...CHRISTMAS???

The pre-order is sold out, but you can get the mp3s here from Monday.

Slow Club on Myspace

Listen to some nice new songs from Ke$ha's 'Animal' album

We love Ke$ha. No, we REALLY love Ke$ha.

We were wrong when we said recently that tracks like 'Bad Dream', 'Disgusting' and 'This Love' would be on her debut album 'Animal'. While all amazing, dreamy little ballads don't really fit in with the drunken-party girl image she's building for herself.

We tell you what WILL be on the album though - the following four tracks. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Ke$ha album 'widget'.



'Tik Tok' is possibly our favourite single of 2009 and in 'Blah Blah Blah' we already have an early contender for favourite pop single of 2010. 'Take It Off' is a mind-blowing blast of electro-pop, 'Kiss N Tell' sounds like the results of a Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus drinking session and album opener 'Your Love Is My Drug' is very good too - if very much 'an album opener'. Ie, it's good and all, but there's a lot better on the rest of the album - although it does score extra points for ending with the line 'I like your beard'. Robot has a beard, Pigeon does not.

It's all a bit like Lady GaGa with a southern accent, a bottle of booze and cheaper clothes. We love this girl so much.

I always wanted a download of a remix of the new Name The Pet single

'American Boys' is the new single from generally brilliant Swedish pop singer Name The Pet. The video follows the age old way of thinking that a load of girls rolling around in their smalls will help sell records. In this instance however, the song stands up on it's own merits - and making things 'stand up' is clearly the aim of the following video.



Very 'thrusty'. Very good.

Also good is the remix that RobotPigeon favourites I Always Wanted A Pony! have done of the track. It is a little more eighties, a little more synth-y and altogether more I Always Wanted A Pony!-y.

Here is a listening link.

Name The Pet 'American Boys' (I Always Wanted A Pony! remix)

And here is a download link.

Download: Name The Pet 'American Boys' (I Always Wanted A Pony! remix)

Think of it as an early gift from the Swedish santa.

Name The Pet at MySpace.

Old Music Tuesday/sort of New Music Monday: Blackroom (nee Lorraine)

Robot & Pigeon both used to love the band Lorraine. We went to see them lots of times, we had some promo cds that we nicked, we got really drunk at a gig and took Paal's hat off his head when he wasn't looking and wore it for the majority of an evening.

If they had been around today they would no doubt have featured in that silly list the BBC just released of people they will hail as the next big thing in music (and then shamelessly promote for the next 12 months in order to make it look like their list is relevant).

Lorraine cited their influences as Depeche Mode, A-Ha and Pet Shop Boys. Imagine those bands as a collective noise. Now imagine that noise sounds nice. That was what Lorraine sounded like. This is 'I Feel It' and we liked it so much we had it on our ipod twice and never deleted the duplicate:



It was evidently the record label's favourite too, and they kicked it around for a bit before deciding Lorraine weren't going to work and sort of let them fizzle into nothing.

BUT WAIT, put your hankies away. This story has an epilogue, a post script and a sequel. Lorraine, in a witness re-location style move, have been re-housed and given a new identity.

They are now called Blackroom and have a new sound. Well, they don't have a new sound actually, but that is not only a good thing, it is the right thing. Lorraine were amazing. Blackroom are amazing. It's like when Marathon changed to Snickers. Everyone got a bit confused and couldn't work out why, but now everyone just thinks of a marathon as a race and has forgotten it was ever a chocolate bar with nuts. Snickers is just Snickers. Blackroom are just Blackroom.

'Italian Girlfriend' is a particular highlight. Showcasing the band's lyrical prowess, Ole's haunting vocals, and a sound that is both current and also somewhere just down the road sitting under a lightning struck tree having a cigarette.

Sure, they're older, but so are we, and Ole has filled out, but so has Robot. And, most importantly, their sound is as striking as ever. This time we hope the music industry has its ears open a little bit wider and can see that they messed Lorraine up big style, and need to give Blackroom a big record contract right this second.

Blackroom on Myspace

Free Download: Monsieur Adi remixes Reni Lane. Results are incredible...

It's always nice when people we like do things with other people we like. We will, in the not too distant future, attempt a large diagram featuring all the remixes, collaborations and boozy pub nights that have occurred between our favourite artists in the past year. We shall call it the Seven Degrees of Robot Pigeon.

Stuck out on the outskirts of this will be Reni Lane, who we featured recently with her single 'Place For Us'. She will fit into this ambitious and mathematically orientated puzzle because she has been remixed by Monsieur Adi - who has previously remixed Vistor - and Fear of Tigers has also remixed Visitor - and Fear of Tigers has remixed Sound of Arrows - and Sound of Arrows have gotten drunk with Bright Light Bright Light.

Anyway, we will probably never get round to this 'diagram' thing. We have no idea where one would go to buy graph paper these days anyway.

But back on topic; this Reni Lane remix then. Originally the track was some 'soft-rock' affair, an not an especially remarkable one at that. The Glitter and Blitz remix was enough to grab our interest but the Monsieur Adi remix REALLY hits the spot. Monsieur Adi takes a slow, considered approach to his remixes, and the subtle, understated electronica twist he spins on Reni's track is possibly as close to perfect as the song is going to get. It suits her laid-back drawl of a vocal ideally, and chucking in a Daft Punk 'Digital Love'-esque guitar solo in the third quarter is only going to score things even higher with us.

We would like to recommend Ms. Lane puts her guitars and drums under the stairs and gets on the phone to Monsieur Adi to have a chat about her next album.

Download: Reni Lane 'Place For Us' (Monsieur Adi remix)

New Music Monday: she

Japanese girls are scary. This is definitely a fact because we saw a documentary on it called 'The Ring', and then we saw another documentary on it called 'The Grudge' (although we're not sure why Buffy was in a documentary about scary Japanese girls). This is all just a tenuous link to the fact that today's new music is made by a man who calls himself she and uses a picture of a Japanese girl in his artwork. It's all a bit gender/pronoun confusing, but trust us it's worth it.

Think Boys Noize but noizier. Think Vitalic, but more vital. Think Deadmau5 but less dead. Think...no, actually just listen...

This is 'Atomic', it's the first thing that plays when you go to the Myspace. Oh CHRIST ALIVE WE ARE GOING TO EXPLODE:



The expression 'goes off' has never been more relevant. We're thinking it's akin to rigging a dance floor with explosives, and pressing the trigger when the beat drops *website suddenly shut down and Robot & Pigeon arrested as terror suspects*

And this is 'Coloris', which is maybe our favourite:



"Welcome to the future"? This hits you so hard it's not going to send you to the future, it's going to project you through space, and who knows, perhaps even the end of time itself.

So, we have established the music is good. Now here are the result of our google search in-depth research on she:

1. she does not like capital letters.
2. she is called Lain Trzaska, and she is from Poland.
3. she, in spite of the pronoun, is male.
4. she can play the violin. Pigeon can also play the violin (this is of no significance).
5. she has released two albums: 'Coloris' and 'Orion'
6. Coloris is an old Commodore game.
7. Orion is a constellation.

The aforementioned 'Coloris' and 'Orion' are both on iTunes now (we have done some html magic and if you click on those titles you will be taken to iTunes - kerching). You can only get the physical release in Japan - so Robot better get that trip booked pretty sharpish please. There's also a whole world of free music up on she's website here. So, lots to be getting on with.

Now all we want is a physical copy over here of both albums and just plenty more music like this please and thank you.

PS Thanks to our favourite noise maker Unicorn Kid who can take all the credit for making us listen to she.

Who will benefit most from the Frankmusik acoustic album? Island records or 'the fans'?

Yes yes, it is all very interesting that Frankmusik has released an acoustic version of his 'Complete Me' album on iTunes today, but is this a 'fan service' or something thrown together at little cost to the record label to speed Vince Frank towards accomplishing whatever-number-of-albums agreement he entered into with Island Records?

If you were to include the remix collection he released with his debut, that's three albums he has delivered, and without much in the way of commercial success it would make sense that Island would be looking to shake loose young Vince from his deal with them. After all, just think of the time they would gain to spend developing other up and coming new talents such as MPHO or VV Brown. Oh hang on... *sadface*

'Completely Me' is out on iTunes now. They haven't even splashed out on a new typeface :(

Here is what Ke$ha's almost-certainly-brilliant debut album 'Animal' will look like

Ke$ha's debut album 'Animal' is released in the UK on 11 January. This is good news because we love Ke$ha and are pretty sure this will be the first essential pop album of 2010 (and we can't see many rivals being released in the 10 days prior to the release of 'Animal').

Standout tracks are certain to be 'Tik Tok', 'Backstabber', 'This Love', 'Disgusting', 'Bad Dream', 'Blah Blah Blah', 'Dinosaur' and 'Party At A Rich Dudes House' - among other good songs she will no doubt be filling her album with.

Here is what 'Animal' will look like.


Nice - but let's not get our knickers in too much of a twist here, because when it comes down to it, what we have here is basically just a glittery picture of a lady's face.

Kylie Minogue: a little bit amazing when she wants to be

There are a few good reasons why we overlooked 'Speakerphone' on Kylie Minogue's 'X' album. Firstly, we were too busy listening to 'The One' to pay much attention to anything else and secondly, we were put off the album very quickly being adopted by former lesbian-housemates as their shagging record. As soon as the first beats of '2 Hearts' came on we knew it was time to turn the telly up and pretend we could not hear the thudding and grunting from the next room.

But the main reason we overlooked 'Speakerphone' on Kylie Minogue's 'X' album is that it never sounded like a Daft Punk influenced robotronic electro explosion before. Oh but hang on, it does now...



That, ladies and gentlemen was the Steve Anderson remix of 'Speakerphone' and it is quite probably the greatest Kylie Minogue remix we have ever heard. This nothing-short-of-jaw-dropping remix is floating around to promote Kylie's new live album, Kylie Live In New York (released December 14th). The live album is in turn being released to remind people that Kylie Minogue is not only the sister of a TV talent show judge but is in fact one of the biggest popstars in the world and has a new album due for release in February 2010.

Actually, that remix is so good, here it is again.



Nope, it has gotten no less incredible in the past 30 seconds.

Tonight thank God it's them instead of you: Hunks 'The Magic Of Christmas'

We noticed the other day that the DFS advert has Mariah Carey singing "All I want for Christmas is you a sofa" on it. That means Christmas has officially started and we all have to start thinking about baby Jesus coming and what we are going to buy him (if we spoil him now he's not going to be a very nice person when he grows up). It also means people are going to start releasing Christmas songs.

Sometimes Christmas songs are annoying (See: Slade / Band Aid / Band Aid 20). Sometimes they are brilliant (see: The Waitresses / The Pogues / Mariah / Band Aid II). So it's kind of inevitable that every year people are going to chuck a few sleigh bells on some old toss and call it a Christmas single.

For this reason we are going to quality control every song that comes our way which features any form of bell (including, but not limited to, sleigh/church/hand/cow/baby/Alexander Graham).

Here is one we are definitely letting through the rigorous RobotPigeon vetting process: Hunks & Friends 'The Magic of Christmas'

HUNKS AND FRIENDS // 'The Magic of Christmas' from theartof agency on Vimeo.

Hunks are RobotPigeon favourite Bright Light Bright Light and a lovely lady called Jen Long. They have great taste in knitwear. The 'friends' part comprises of Sound of Arrows, Copy Haho, Sky Larkin, James Yuill, Bono, Slow Club, Dananananaykroyd, Los Campesinos!, Sparky Deathcap, The Venus Stare, My First Tooth and The Airborne Toxic Event.

It's nice to hear all these people on one record. It's sort of like a compilation of the sound of 2010, because they're all pretty much bloody brilliant and will all be huge next year if there's any justice in this world (there's not - ask Lemar).

You will notice an abundance of bells, but you will also notice an irritatingly catchy chorus and some wry lyrical wranglings. Our only area of contention is the allusion to Home Alone over the clearly superior Home Alone 2:Lost In New York.

If that wasn't enough to persuade you then this guilt trip will: all the money made will go to the RSPCA to help mangy old cats with one eye, weeping sores and three legs. That's given us an idea for a gift for Jesus...

Well done everybody *cheers with some mulled wine and burns tongue*.

Hunks on Myspace
'The Magic Of Christmas' is on iTunes from 14th Dec.

Something utterly amazing: a free download of the Fear of Tigers album

Fear of Tigers first came to our attention as a remixer to the stars (and by 'stars' we mean the stars of Robot Pigeon) such as Pnau, Visitor and Sound of Arrows.

However, like Cheryl Cole ogling the success of Dannii Minogue's solo career and wanting a piece of the action for herself, Fear of Tigers had much grander plans for his future - and with tracks like 'Sirkka' and 'The Adventures of Pippi Longstrump' has begun establishing himself as an amazing new producer and pop individual. The next step for Fear of Tigers is his debut album, Cossus Snufsigalonica - which you can download in it's entirety right here:

Download: Fear of Tigers 'Cossus Snufsigalonica'

If you're aware of his remix work, you'll already have a fair idea of what to expect from the album - all the best bits of the nineties house scene mixed up with soaring eighties synths to ensure the project isn't trapped in the nostalgia of a single decade.

The album is quite a stunning piece of work from start to finish. Listen to Cossus Snufsigalonica on your way to work and it feels like you're walking a couple of inches off the floor. Listen to it before you go out for the night and you won't be able to leave the house until the final chords of the final track. (That ending, FYI, is the rain-sodden and thunderous rave masterpiece, 'Calling Your Name'. THIS ALBUM DOES NOT END ON A BALLAD. Hurrah).

But let's go back to the start; from the opening moments of 'I Can Make The Pain Disappear' you know you are in for a bloody good time with the album - this track samples Dee-Lite for goodness sake (and not a cheap lift from the 'Groove Is In The Heart' chorus either). It's a gigantic nineties classic that's comparable only with the work of Tony Di Bart or The Nightcrawlers (younger readers, you MUST YouTube both of these immediately). The title track samples Corona's 'Rhythm of the Night' and 'The Rich Cry Too' uses a huge chunk of 4 Strings 'Turn It Around'.

The album's standout tracks do not sample anything from the nineties, but are instead thier own, self-contained, lost house classics. We can't remember the last time we heard dance music as good natured and feel-good as 'Please Don't Leave' and 'What Did I Do'. Both are nothing short of incredible.

However, no album can maintain a level of such brilliance from start to finish, and Fear of Tigers drops the ball for about 20 seconds during the aforementioned 'The Rich Cry Too' with a ruddy saxophone. There are three things in this world which make Robot want to be sick and they are A. room temperature milk B. unnecessary abbreviations and C. saxophones. But lets be honest, 20 seconds of crappy brass is like a tiny fish doing a poo in the ocean - it's not going to stop you going for a swim. And we've not gotten out of the water for about 24 hours now, we're totally in love with this album.

In a huge, rave-filled nutshell, Cossus Snufsigalonica is an amazing piece of work. We've not decided what we're going to do for the end of 2009, but if we put together any sort of Top Ten albums from the year, there's no question that this will be among them. Fear of Tigers; we salute you, we hear you roar.

The Fear of Tigers party continues at:

Fear of Tigers Facebook
and
Fear of Tigers MySpace