RobotPigeon

The awechestral new Kavinsky single, 'Road Game'

2012-02-16T13:34:00.009Z

The soundtrack to 'Drive' was as talked about as the movie itself and the man behind that soundtrack was French producer Kavinsky. He was almost as discussed as Ryan Gosling and how very attractive so many people found him to be.

Using the acclaim from his work on the 'Drive' soundtrack to launch his own return to the music world, Kavinsky's new single is exclusive to the France-only Blu Ray release of the movie. However, it is also all over the internet as well - so not all that exclusive after all, it turns out.

A magnificent blend of strings, beats and breakdowns, 'Road Game' is as cinematic as anything Daft Punk recorded for Tron and as epic as we're likely to hear in 2012.

Whitney Houston: some stuff

2012-02-12T20:17:00.001Z

Whitney Houston died last night. You probably heard.

It’s not like we were having regular phone calls with Whitney, or meeting her in town for a gin and tonic, or taking her to the cinema to see the latest Harry Potter, but still, when we heard, something inside went a bit funny.

This is the weird thing about a celebrity dying. For most of us, we’ll never have any direct interaction with them, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t affect our lives.

We won’t pretend that Whitney was one of our favourite performers, but we respect what she did, know pretty much all her songs, and can recall several of her high profile escapades.

Who can forget Kevin Costner sexily slicing a silk scarf on a sword in order to win Whitney’s heart in 'The Bodyguard', or her tear inducingly perfect rendition of ‘One Moment In Time’ at the Grammys, or when she elegantly flipped off the advances of a drunk Serge Gainsbourg on live tv, or even when her bra popped out on X Factor.

When somebody you know dies there’s an inexplicable feeling of loss. A part of the world as you understand it disappears, and you know that there’s nothing that anybody can do to bring it back.

In today's society celebrities are familiar to us. We’re exposed to their day to day antics (whether we like it or not - thank you ‘the press’) as a companion to their talent. As a result, it’s easy to feel some identification with them, and you can’t help but feel a similar (albeit muted) sense of loss when they are taken away.

Now, we’re not trying to claim Whitney was some kind of philosophical enigma whom Heidegger might have studied. We just wanted to say something about why we feel a bit odd today about a 48 year old woman (on the other side of the world whom we never met) dying. We tried to express it through the medium of cake, but there was a disaster with the icing. So this will have to do.

Whitney, you’ll be missed. We might not fully understand why, but that’s the mystery of life and we’re just a blog about music.

I'm (almost) a dreamer: 14th 'Take Me There'

2012-02-10T17:10:00.002Z

When we heard that garage was making a resurgence we just thought people had started parking cars in the little rooms attached to the side of their houses again. (*stops reading immediately and goes to a real blog*)

Seriously though, this is part of the resurging (a word?) 'garage' scene. It is released on Monday and it's really very good and interesting.

We're not experts in garage music, but we know a good song when we hear it and this is one of those.

It is by 14th and is called 'Take Me There'. There remains, of course, the question of what happens when Livin' Joy get in touch and ask for their tune back. Until then...

Scuba: infinitely more exciting than Aqualung that's for sure

2012-02-09T13:27:00.005Z

On the floor downstairs where Robot works, some people make 6Music's brilliant NowPlaying show. Sometimes, when there's nothing else to play on the office stereo, the only option is to pop downstairs and see what's on their desk.

Yesterday, we were recommended the Scuba album, 'Personality'.

"It's really 90s" we were told.

"Oh, like Azari & III?" asked Robot.

"Not really," he said. "Less New York gay club and more London warehouse."

He also made a hand gesture which looked a bit like the international signal for 'wanker' which was either a reference to New York gay clubs or to Robot not knowing the music of Scuba.

Well, he was right. Scuba is very 90s, not really very much like Azari & III, Robot is a bit of a wanker and there is almost certainly a lot of masturbation (and other such activities) taking place in New York gay clubs.

He was also right to recommend Personality - it is an amazing, unconventional and unapologetic dance record that makes no attempts to be mainstream and at the same time is endlessly listenable (not to mention danceable).

We could go into further detail, but here instead is Scuba's latest video for his single, 'The Hope', one of the album's standout tracks and the sort of thing that makes us want to cancel plans this weekend to go to Sing-Along-A-Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me and find the dirtiest, noisiest club we can.*

*We won't change our plans, we've already bought the tickets.

More Scuba amazingness at his Facebook page.

RobotPigeon go shopping (for Madonna tickets)

2012-02-08T14:07:00.000Z

So tickets to see Madonna live (*ahem*) went on sale for £77 (London - general admission) yesterday. We thought it might be interesting to see what else you could get for that price.

Massive box of Haribo
Amazon price: £8.41
Change from a Madonna ticket: £68.59

A Donkey
NEDDI Adopt A Donkey charity price: £34
Change from a Madonna ticket: £43

Singing lessons (one hour)
Singing Lessons London.co.uk price: £55
Change from a Madonna ticket: £22

(don't need no) Diamond Ring
Tesco Direct price: £67.50
Change from a Madonna ticket: £9.50

One Direction dolls (set of 5)
Amazon price: £69.99
Change from a Madonna ticket: £7.01

Spend it wisely kids!

Figure of 8: 'No One Cries For Me', not even Argentina

2012-02-08T13:25:00.000Z

Now that Sia is providing guest vocals on everything and anything that can be listened to using ears, the floodgates are open for interesting dance tracks with lovely female vocals.

Step forwards Figure of 8 and Sophie Galpin. 'No One Cries For Me' is more subtle than a David Guetta track, but it deserves to be just as huge.

There are throbbing guitars and heartbreaking lyrics (hello co-writer Bright Light Bright Light). With lines like "my eyes are crying on the inside, but no-one cries for me" you know you're onto a hands-in-the-air-blub-fest winner.

There are a billion remixes ("there's no budget, but it will be great for your profile"), but our favourite is the original radio edit. This one don't need no tinkering...

There is a man making music called Owsey and we like him an awful lot

2012-02-07T13:48:00.004Z

Over the past month or so we've become slightly obsessed by the music of a man called Owsey. Best known for turning Birdy's 'Skinny Love' and 'Shelter' cover versions into breathtakingly fragile moments of ABSOLUTE LOVELINESS, he is also somewhat superb when it comes to making music for himself.

Based in Northern Ireland, this downtempo newcomer is the definitive soundtrack to late nights in 2012, and his sample-heavy sounds blend the sensibilities of chill-out pioneers Massive Attack, Cocteau Twins and Zero 7 into one incredibly calming listening experience.

Amazing at making music, terrible at keeping it to himself, pretty much everything Owsey has recorded or remixed is currently free to download from his Soundcloud page. This includes his latest release, 'You Came Out Of Nowhere' - a collaboration with newcomers Shura and Stumbeline. A properly perfect slice of chill-out electronica, the track mixes delicate, distant vocals with ice-cold production that makes ideal listening while we all wait for it to snow again.

Amazing.

All that free music we mentioned can be found right here.

More Owsey bits and pieces on Facebook.

Don't let your blood run cold: Citizens 'Reptile'

2012-02-03T15:39:00.000Z

This song contains our favourite lyric of 2012 (so far - it's still only February).

The song is called 'Reptile' and it's by Citizens.

It's a bit of a mix of Bowie, Sound Of Arrows and the songbook of Space. We don't really like the first thirty seconds, but after that it goes amazong.

There's also a duck in the video. A DUCK! (not a reptile FYI)

They're our favourite band to come from the Kitsune stable since Two Door Cinema club, and if indie was in right now they'd be massive.

Maybe think about getting Nicki Minaj and MIA on the next single?

'Reptile' is out on March 19th. You can probably download it illegally somewhere as of right now.

QUICK GET SOMETHING UP ABOUT MADONNA'S GIVE ME ALL YOUR LUVIN' VIDEO

2012-02-03T14:44:00.001Z

Madonna? Will this eye test do?

We posted it on Facebook and people seemed to like it.

Oh, you wanted the video?

We've coined a new term for this: "Pulling the envelope".

Lol. It appears Ladyhawke is still under the impression she is 'indie'

2012-02-02T21:30:00.003Z

The return of Ladyhawke is a wonderful thing - as new single 'Black White and Blue' proves conclusively.

However, there is a slight difference between what the public thinks (Ladyhawke the popstar) and what Ladyhawke and her record label thinks (Ladyhawke the indie singer who should probably be talked about a bit like Florence - not like Nicola Roberts).

Which would explain why the likes of The Big Pink have been drafted into remix Ladyhawke's new single and not the likes of Benni Benassi, Aeroplane or Eric Morillo. Y'know the type - proper remixers.

So here we have The Big Pink remix of 'Black White and Blue'. It's actually quite good in a moody Eastern way, but hardly one to play at midnight in GAY when they drop all the balloons.

The song that gave us a stiffy: Pariis Opera House 'Kepllerstorm'

2012-02-02T15:28:00.002Z

Pigeon has been trying to think of an analogy for Pariis Opera House's new track 'Kepllerstorm' all morning.

One popped into Pigeon's head, which is very rude, and now it won't go away. So we'll have to go with it.

'Kepllerstorm' is like an erection: the more excited you get by the track the bigger it becomes, and then when you think it can't get any bigger it explodes.

This is a bit of a departure from debut 'IDKWLI', but it's a more polished sound, and if there are more tracks like this on the way there will be an erection epidemic.

We interviewed the POH boys once. After this, they'll probably never speak to us again.

Some things are so good we write about them twice: BIGkids 'Drum In Your Chest'

2012-02-01T15:08:00.000Z

You may remember BIGkids. You may not. It depends if you read our blog, and even if you read it do you listen to what we say? We don't blame you if you don't. We wouldn't.

So here is a reminder of 'Drum In Your Chest'. It's getting a proper release on March 4th (although we don't have a pre-order link for you - HINT HINT friends at BIGkids HQ)

BIGkids 'Drum In Your Chest':

We totally love this. We'd like to see them live.

Handily they have some live dates coming up if you're a Londoner:

FEBRUARY02 - Brixton Academy - London SUPPORTING Panic! At The Disco13 - The Bull & Gate - London15 - Water Rats - London

MARCH09 - Club NME @ KOKO - London

By coincidence, we're going to see Panic! At The Disco so we'll wave to BIGkids. Hope they wave back.

Here is the new David Guetta video, 'Turn Me On', that features Nicki Minaj in the buff

2012-01-31T13:37:00.000Z

Artists like David Guetta make it very easy to write a blog.

They make fun albums, with lots of great singles and loads of guest vocalists.

Then they make videos with said guest vocalist in the nuddy and we tag it as something like 'Nicki Minaj boobies' and we get loads of hits.

Also the song is very good. Which helps.

A sad song by Jack Peñate 'No One Lied'

2012-01-24T09:00:00.000Z

You know sometimes you buy an album, put it on your ipod, and totally forget to listen to it. Then, months later, you'll have your songs on shuffle and something from said album will come on and you think "Oh, this is good. What is it?". Well, we did that with Jack Peñate's 'Everything Is New'.

It's a bloody brilliant album and we need keep meaning to give it more of a listen. But before we had a chance Jack's only gone and recorded some new stuff hasn't he.

This is called 'No One Lied', and it's absolutely hauntingly beautiful and will give you a shivers and might make your willy (or vagine) go a bit funny.

We nearly didn't write this post because it's so bloody hard to find that squiggle above the 'n' in Peñate. It took us so long to work out how to do it here it is agaiñ.

Yes please Maccabees: 'Given To The Wild' album review

2012-01-23T14:30:00.000Z

This came out two weeks ago, but we've been so busy listening to it that we forgot to review it.

Here is our review:
"This album is brilliant."

Liverpool's finest (sorry Sonia) finally get a release: Picture Book 'At Last'

2012-01-23T14:07:00.000Z

An EP called At Last? No shit, Picture Book. We have been waiting for these guys to get a release up together FOREVER.

We think there's been a bit of a delay on the release because vocalist Greta has been off warbling on a Deadmau5 tune and getting Grammy nominations (excuses, excuses).

Anyway, it was worth the wait, as lead track 'Sunshine' proves:

Picture Book 'Sunshine':

Why this is a self-release when it's clearly such a hit-in-waiting is anyone's guess, but at least it's seeing the light of day (ironic) now.

The EP is out on 6th Feb.

A lesson in how to improve boring old rock songs by a man called Doug

2012-01-19T13:38:00.006Z

The following songs are all 'classics' we suppose, but there has never been a rule to say that classics cannot be annoying and shit.

'Twist And Shout' for instance: a classic, but if ever there was a 'fuck this, lets get our coats and go home' song for a DJ to play, it's would be this.

So, to improve moments of tedium and pop dirge ('Smells Like Teen Spirit', 'Ace Of Spades' etc), a man called Doug Naugler (not pictured) has taken a collection of rock classics and turned them into ridiculous and VERY CAMP club tracks. The smell of poppers from his website is overwhelming.

Initially we felt that the following tracks fell somewhere between horrific and genius - but we have come to conclude that it is simply the latter. Besides, anyone who makes the opening to 'Ring Of Fire' sound the way it does here is clearly a man operating some form of above-average intelligence.

'Twist & Shout'

'Thunderstruck'

'Smells Like Teen Spirit'

'Billie Jean'

'Blitzkrieg Bop'

'Ring Of Fire'

'Enter Sandman'

'Livin' On A Prayer'

'Ace Of Spades'

'Wouldn't It Be Nice'

Needless to say, there are a number of musicians spinning in their grave right now. But lets be honest, wouldn't you rather be spinning than just lying there rotting? Exactly.

There is more about this 'Doug Naugler' chap on his website.

Forget that SNL stuff, here is some blubsome evidence of the amazingness of Lana Del Rey

2012-01-17T21:13:00.007Z

IF YOU ARE FEELING SLIGHTLY EMOTIONAL WE ADVISE YOU NOT TO PRESS PLAY ON THE FOLLOWING SOUNDCLOUD PLAYER.

The Woodkid remix of Lana Del Rey's second single 'Born To Die' is a thing of measured, drum-driven and orchestral majesty which is completely and utterly heartbreaking.

Lana Del Rey 'Born To Die' (Woodkid remix)

We'd usually put something lighthearted here about how we had something in our eye, but no, we're just crying our eyes out. Toodle pip.

There is a good reason this is No.1 in the HypeMachine chart

2012-01-17T15:12:00.006Z

It is the most exciting remix of 2012 so far and involves two of the most brilliant guitarpop bands on the planet today.

Foster The People 'I Would Do Anything For You' (Strange Talk remix)

In-cred-ible. And certainly better than that Jessie J monstrosity that is at No.1 in the real charts. 'Domino'? Domi-NO more like it.

Back away from Del Rey

2012-01-17T14:38:00.001Z

Once, we went to Thorpe Park and rode the Nemesis Inferno, and as soon as it took off a fly went in Pigeon's mouth and he nearly died.

This, however, is nothing compared to the roller coaster Lana Del Rey (Lizzy Grant if you want to be all smug) has been on in the past 12 months.

In January 2010 'Lizzy Grant' released an album. It disappeared after a little while, and 'Video Games' emerged towards the end of summer 2011. Everyone loved it, and by December Lana Del Rey had become mega famous.

A few weeks later Del Rey appears on Saturday Night Live. Her singing is a little bit wobbly, and all of a sudden 'the internet' turns on her. Critics jump on the talent they were once so quick to claim they discovered, and lots of lonely old men have been using mummy's laptop to post their expert opinion on Lana's performance.

Building people up only to knock them down is nothing new. NME have been doing it for years. What's surprising here is the speed with which someone has gone from global mega star to endangered species in such a short space of time.

Del Rey is a huge new talent. We know realmusic™ fans want someone who writes their own material and has a unique voice. Here she is. And what does 'the internet' do to her? Shouts her down and declares her finished for one dodgy (it's not even dodgy, it's just not flawless) performance.

Lest we forget, realmusic™'s last pin up, Amy Winehouse, made a career out of being shit live, whilst pop's princess (grandma) Madonna is hardly renowned for her vocal ability.

In this digital age any idiot with a computer ("hello") can have an opinion that is somehow validated by being visible to the world. What people (us included) need to be careful of is destroying the deities we create before they've even had a chance to show us what they can do.

All we can say to Del Rey is "you must be this high to ride, and please fasten your safety belt". We've got sick bags if you need them.

Warning: The Beni remix of Kimbra's 'Two Way Street' will make your pants go funny

2012-01-17T14:03:00.004Z

A lot of people in the UK are getting very excited about the GOTYE single, 'Somebody That I Used To Know' and quite rightly so. It's brilliant.

The lady on the GOTYE track is Kimbra, perhaps best known for her guest spot on Miami Horror's incredible 'I Look To You' single in 2010. An above average solo artist in her own right, Kimbra sits wonderfully among the current Australian pop scene alongside Cut Copy, Strange Talk, Pnau, Bag Raiders, Gypsy & The Cat and all those other musicians who have criminally underperformed (ie sold fuck all) internationally over the past couple of years.

Kimbra has turned to another major player on the Aussie pop scene for a remix of her track 'Two Way Street'. Teaming up with Beni, whose debut album 'House Of Beni' was one of last year's undiscovered album gems, the remix is sweaty, dirty, minimal house reworking that will do funny things in your pants and we therefore running away from any dancefloor where this is likely to be played to save everyone's embarrassment.

Kimbra 'Two Way Street' (Beni remix)

Besides, there's no question that 'two way street' almost certainly means shagging.

Here is something wonderful courtesy of The Rapture and Cut Copy

2012-01-14T17:36:00.007Z

There are no two ways about it - what Cut Copy have done to The Rapture's 'Sail Away' is nothing short of spectacular.

Even at over eight minutes long, there is not enough of this remix in the world.

The Rapture 'Sail Away' (Cut Copy remix)

Congratulations everyone, this is amazing. Imagine a world where people actually BOUGHT this sort of music instead of just getting it free from the blogs. That would be nice.

A celebration of all things Adi 2012

2012-01-14T11:15:00.005Z

It is said there is no rest for the wicked, although it appears there is an equal lack of downtime for the magnificent as well. We are only two weeks into 2012 but things have already been very busy for Italy's finest young producer/remix/dance god, Monsieur Adi.

1. A Video
Monsieur Adi's remix of Fear Of Tigers' 'I Can Make The Pain Disappear' takes one of the most euphoric slices of gay pop from recent memory and smoothes the track into a glorious eighties-influenced chillout track. The following video is suitably 'sundrenched':

2. A Mashup
The world's most popular hydrangea-loathing pop Queen meets one of the UK's most charming pop ladies under the watchful eye (and erect penis) of deceased soul shagger, Marvin Gaye on the following:

Ellie Goulding x Madonna x Marvin Gaye x Monsieur Adi

3. A freely downloadable pop remix
New pop lady is a big favourite with tastemakers Neon Gold and now, thanks to Monsieur Adi's sterling work on her track, 'Youth', she's a favourite with us too - despite stealing a fraction of melody from U2's 'With Or Without You'. Adi's remix elevates Foxes original into a controlled club hit and the finest drum section in pop since Alesha Dixon's 'Drummer Boy' (RIP).

DOWNLOAD: Foxes 'Youth' (Monsieur Adi remix)

The only downside to all this is that we fear Monsieur Adi will struggle to keep up this level of spectacular output over the coming 11 and a half months, but we are willing to be proven wrong on this.

On the brightside: neither Will.i.am or Pitbull are involved in this

2012-01-14T09:06:00.002Z

As subtle as the song's namesake, the 'Elephant in the room' here is simply that Alexandra Burke's new single 'Elephant' is an absolutely terrible piece of work. Lazy doesn't even come close.

What follows makes The Saturdays' 'All Fired Up' seem like a modern day 'Bohemian Rhapsody' or 'Untouchable'.

Alexandra Burke 'Elephant

We love Alexandra Burke but this makes us want to cry.

Let's hope the production values for BBC's 'The Voice' are more impressive than their photoshop skills

2012-01-13T13:03:00.000Z

These people definitely all attended a photo shoot to promote The Voice and in no way, shape or form have been cut and pasted.

Helpfully, we've fixed it for them.

Something with no singing, but still brilliant: Olafur Arnalds

2012-01-12T14:59:00.001Z

We keep telling people about the time we went to a dance festival and on the Sunday afternoon watched a string group (that is definitely the wrong term) play some slow, sad music.

It was so emotional that the people playing the strings were crying. Then we were crying. Then everyone was crying. Then it flooded.

It didn't flood, but we did all cry.

The man at the center of that group (still wrong) was Olafur Arnalds.Olafar has written the soundtrack for a new film called 'Another Happy Day' with lots of famous people in it.

Here is 'Lynn's Theme', one of the songs from that soundtrack.

Excuse us, we got something in our eye.

'Older Times' with bigger beats

2012-01-12T14:44:00.000Z

Remember when Thomas Gold remixed 'Set Fire To The Rain' (here for those with bad memories)? He basically took a really slow, emotional song and made it all loud and bangy.

Well, now Peace has remixed Kevin Pearce (for the love of God someone sign this boy) weepie 'Don't Fall Down'.

Glowsticks at the ready.

Did we mention Kevin Pearce's album is wonderful? We did? Oh.

Refused have refused to break up (ie they have reformed)

2012-01-10T15:15:00.000Z

Swedish punks Refused have reformed for Coachella festival.

Perhaps they were inspired by Steps.

Refused are not the sort of band you might expect us to listen to, but their album 'The Shape Of Punk To Come' is AMAZONG.

We came across it after hearing the Bloody Beetroots' remix of 'New Noise'.This is a good excuse to share it.Here it is (THIS IS SO GOOD):

Which mushroom does Pixie Lott's nose most resemble?

2012-01-10T14:56:00.000Z

It struck us, whilst watching the video for Pixie Lott's new single 'Kiss The Stars', that Pixie Lott's nose looks a bit like a mushroom.

The real question is: which mushroom?

a) Button Mushroom:

b) Horse Mushroom:

c) Mario Mushroom:

d) Meadow Mushroom:

e) Oyster Mushroom:

You can tweet us your answer @robotpigeon #PixieLotthasamushroomnose

Oh and here is the video for her single (no-one cares):

Original Sugababes have reformed?

2012-01-06T13:38:00.000Z

Poor Jade Ewen

This here Oliver EP is the first great dance release of 2012

2012-01-04T13:45:00.003Z

LA remix duo Oliver first came to our attention when they did wonderful things to the already-wonderful 'Fair Warning' by Penguin Prison late in 2011.

They come to our attention for a second time under their own steam, as they release their own EP, 'Dirty Talk' through the endlessly cool french label, Kitsune.

Mixing well-to-do US club sounds with a dirty European edge, these knowledgeable Americans are set to be the go-to remixers for every young artist in need of a touch up. Musically speaking.

Here is a sampler of Oliver's 'Dirty Talk' EP. It is released on 16 Janury, so until then, fill your boots with the following.

Oliver 'Dirty Talk' (Sampler)

Listen to more Oliver at their Soundcloud page.

Behold! The best Ellie Goulding release since 'Starry Eyed'

2012-01-03T13:43:00.001Z

This time last year, Ellie Goulding's collaborators of choice appeared to be the John Lewis marketing department, having been chosen to damage her reputation as an interesting and potentially exciting new popstar with her cover of Elton John's 'Your Song'.

Fortunately, as we start 2012 it appears her taste in music colleagues has improved somewhat as her Skrillex (hotly tipped dubstep blahblah - as we're sure you're aware) collaboration 'Summit' goes to show.

As the closing track on Skrillex's insanely brilliant 'Bangarang' EP, 'Summit' is the quiet one that counters the noisy enormousness of tracks such as 'Right In' and 'The Devil's Den'. There's minimal Ellie on the track, truth be told (less than 30 seconds of unmixed vocals), but her newfound co-workers gives us hope that her second album will feature more danceable collaborations and less videos that feature Ellie in wellington boots and bobble hats.

Now, if only someone could have a word about the 'arty and moody' black and white press shots as well, that'd be brilliant.

New year, new scissors

2012-01-02T14:39:00.000Z

We heard rumours that the new Scissor Sisters' sound might be slightly unexpected.

We're fine with 'unexpected'. As long as 'unexpected' means 'more like Invisible Light'.And indeed it does.

Here is 'Shady Love' (which features Azealia Banks).

SO CATCHY, and also a little Fannypack-esque, which is, of course, absolutely fine by us.

We don't think the person shouting "Annie Mac on Radio 1. Oh my days" will be on the final mix.

Oh look, here's a better version (note to self: research first, write post later)

And a proper video too. New Year's Resolution: get better at blogging.

Lazy post alert: Songs from 2011 to play at a NYE party

2011-12-30T13:33:00.000Z

Urgh, 'end of year lists'. Boring to compile, boring to read. So let's not dress this up in any way.

Here are some Youtube videos of things we've already written about this year.

Adam Tensta 'Like A Punk' (from Jan):<p>&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;P</p>

Pnau 'The Truth' (from Feb):

Starsmith 'Lesson One' (first appeared in March):

Britney Spears [ft Nicki Minaj & Ke$ha] 'Till (SIC) The World Ends' (from April):

Is Tropical 'The Greeks' (May - see where this is going?):

Zola Jesus 'The Vessel' (June, maybe?):

Josh Jakq feat. Cyhi The Prynce 'Freak Some More' (summer):

Unicorn Kid 'True Love Fantasy' (Augustish):

Zowie 'Smash It' (blah blah):

Rihanna 'We Found Love' (this is all we care about):

That will do.

Happy New Year

*pops party popper*

When is a Big Mac meal not a Big Mac meal?

2011-12-23T15:53:00.004Z

When it's all part of Rihanna's 'Talk That Talk' campaign and ongoing rise to become the most popular pop lady on the planet.

Here is a picture of Robyn Rihanna Fenty buying her dinner last night.

Rihanna didn't casually pop to McDonalds any more than she 'just happened' to travel to the O2 on the tube a few times earlier in the year. Both were carefully planned (and carefully staffed) publicity stunts employing the minimum effort and expense for the maximum return - ie free tabloid column inches.

But we don't care who came up with the idea. Rihanna's hungry stomach or a million suited buffoons in a New York office. Rihanna doing things so deeply unpleasant as travelling on the London underground or going to a Central London fast food outlet after dark is exactly what more megastars should be doing.

The sooner we have photographic evidence of Beyonce pissing behind a bin or Justin Bieber wanking into an old sock, the better.

Because for all the world class photographers, designers, songwriters and choreographers Rihanna has at her beck and call, it takes her doing something as banal as buying a burger make us remember quite how few superstars we have and how amazing it is when we see them outside of their normal surroundings.

We hope Rihanna enjoyed her meal. It is a nicely timed coincidence for her that she is getting a lot of publicity on the same day that her East London-filmed 'You Da One' video makes its online debut.

(Good, but could really do with a Calvin Harris remix).

Mixtape excellence courtesy of the very brilliant Yuksek

2011-12-22T17:34:00.008Z

Anyone who has heard Yuksek's 'Living On The Edge Of Time album will know it is one of the best albums of 2011. Less an album, more 11 consecutive potential singles.

Anyone who has seen any of Yuksek's live performances in 2011 will know he has been responsible for one of the most exciting shows of the year. Yes, even more exciting than the Manic Street Preachers doing all their singles in one night.

'Lol' et-cetera.

So, as well as having the album and gig market covered, it's only fitting that Yuksek corner the market in mixtapes as well.

The French Dj/producer/singer/songwriter/Uni-Glo model made the follow collection of exceptional electronic pop music for Australian radio station Triple J, but that is not to say it cannot be enjoyed in other places. Abergavenny for one instance. Plymouth, for another.

Yuksek 'Field Way' mixtape

Here is the tracklisting:

01. Theophilus London: “I Stand Alone”
02. Yeasayer: “Madder Red” [Hermanos Inglesos Remix]
03. Joakim: “Nothing Gold”
04. Yacht: “Dystopia” [Emperor Machine Remix]
05. Foster The People: “Houdini”
06. Yuksek: “Always On The Run” [Villa Remix]
07. Noah & The Whale: “Life Is Life” [Yuksek Remix]
08. Joakim: “Find A Way” [Punks Jump Up Remix]
09. B-52′s: “Mesopotamia”
10. The Rapture: “How Deep Is Your Love: “Emperor Machine Edit]
11. Yuksek: “The Edge”
12. New Order: “Bizarre Love Triangle”
13. Yuksek: “Always On The Run” [Peter & The Magician Remix & original]
14. The Swiss: “Double Or Nothing”
15. Yuksek: “Always On The Run”
16. Gold Fiels: “Moves” [Yuksek Remix]
17. Tyson: “After You’re Gone” [Dimitri From Paris Remix]
18. Yuksek: “Off The Wall” [Live Version]
19. Justice: “Audio, Video, Disco” [Mickey Moonlight Remix]
20. Get Cape Wear Cape Fly: “I Spy” [Metronomy Remix]
21. Yuksek: “White Keys”

Apart from this being start-to-finish amazing, our favourite thing about this Yuksek mixtape is how many Yuksek songs Yuksek has chosen to include.

We are looking forward to the next literal Lana Del Rey video

2011-12-22T17:02:00.007Z

The ending of Lana Del Rey's 'Born To Die' video shocked us all when she, well, died.

We can't wait to see her sat on a pony wearing a riding hat when she unveils the proper video for 'Off To The Races'.

In other Lana Del Rey opinions: 'Off To The Races' makes it four strikes of excellence from the quite rightly tipped Del Rey.

About time too: David Guetta's 'Titanium' gets a proper video to supplement its amazingness

2011-12-22T16:48:00.005Z

It is fact that David Guetta's Sia collaboration 'Titanium' is the best song on his actually-quite good album, 'Nothing But The Beat'. It largely stood out for having no lyrics about being in the club, there being no Akon on the track and it not sounding like another attempt to recapture the success of 'I Gotta Feeling' with a different rent-an-r&b-star on lead vocals.

Now this epic album closer has a fittingly epic video to go with it and at no point during the following four minutes will you see either Sia or David Guetta having an unconvincing good time in a nightclub.

Instead, the little boy with big teeth from Super 8 deals with armed police and telekinetic powers. AS YOU DO.

Our only objection is the lack of Christmas in the above. It is 22 December after all.

Outrage as Matt Cardle tops Guardian 2011 poll

2011-12-22T16:02:00.000Z

The realmusic™ brigade strike again.

Matt Cardle has just topped the Guardian's 'best albums and songs of 2011' poll.

The Guardian clearly realised something was 'wrong' (even we, with our pathetic 'it's ok to like any style of music' mantra, thought it slightly amiss with our stereotypical idea of what Guardian readers like), and tracked the source of the votes to [edit: an alleged] forum campaign by some Matt Cardle fans.

Now, obviously, the Guardian pointed this out. Albeit with a rather smug and outraged prologue.

We're no fans of Cardle per se, but what's amused us is the idea that the paper is upset that Cardle could possibly be the favourite artist of the their readers. We like pop music. We love the X Factor. We read the Guardian.

Basically, what this proves is that end of year lists, awards, polls, and, in particular, reviews and blogs (LIKE THIS ONE) are merely a person/group of people's subjective opinion/s.

We love that people come to our blog. It's very exciting. But we're not trying to tell you what to listen to (merely what we like and hope you like it too). Musical taste is a very personal thing. You should like something because you like it. Not because you're told to, or because it's 'cool', or because the Guardian wants you to. And if that means that someone loves Matt Cardle enough to organise a campaign to make him number one in a newspaper's poll then good for them.

They read the paper, they saw an opportunity to vote, they cared enough for the music they liked to get off their feet and actually do it, and their favourite artist won.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Your eyes deceive you, this is not an end of year round-up...

2011-12-21T14:16:00.007Z

...However, if you are planning to start 2012 without one of these in your music collection, then you have made something of a faux pas.

1. Yuksek 'Living On The Edge of Time'
2. Justice 'Audio Video Disco'
3. The Sound of Arrows 'Voyage'
4. CockNBullKid 'Adulthood'
5. Digitalism 'I Love You, Dude'
6. Pnau 'Soft Universe'
7. Apparat 'The Devil's Walk
8. Birdy 'Birdy'
9. Is Tropical 'Native To'
10. Jonsi 'We Bought A Zoo OST'
11. Chad Valley 'Eqatorial Ultravox'
12. Cut Copy 'Zonoscope'
13. Beni 'House Of Beni'
14. James Vincent McMorrow 'Early In The Morning'
15. Penguin Prison 'Penguin Prison'
16. Benjamin Francis Leftwich 'Last Smoke Before The Snowstorm'
17. Britney Spears 'Femme Fatale'
18. Foster The People 'Torches'
19. The Vaccines 'What Did You Expect From The...'
20. The Whip 'Wired Together'

This is in no particular order, but it's not like we'd list our very favourites at the bottom now, is it...

A Heatwave (but not the Martha Reeves one)

2011-12-19T22:18:00.000Z

Anyone who eats frozen dairy products at this time of year is clearly insane. Although, this ice cream sandwich does look delicious.

Also, we thought it was a bit weird to release a song about a 'Heatwave' at Christmas (well, ok, it was out in November, but still). Then we remembered this is the season where lots of people sing songs about a baby that was born without its mum even having sex. So, with that a mind, a heatwave in winter is not all that bizarre.

The nice, cheery music is by Ash Reiter.

We found it because we have become something of a fan of the video's directors the Perez Brothers. They did the sad video about a robot butler that we wrote about a little while ago.

And now this sorry tale of a lonely, melted ice cream man. These brothers need some happiness.

No, actually, we're enjoying the mini movies that are breaking our hearts. Keep them coming.

More about Ash Reiter
More about Perez Brothers

Upside down Adele looks like upside down Cheryl: part 2

2011-12-19T14:57:00.004Z

This never ceases to be amusing. Ever since spotting that Cheryl Cole on her head looks exactly like Adele on her head we've been unable to separate the two upside down.

This one is from Cheryl's new shoot for her Byker Groove (clever) shoes.

CHERYL ADELE

There are penguins and shit like that in the new Fear of Tigers video

2011-12-15T13:01:00.004Z

And that's good enough for us.

Song: 8/10
Planet Earth: 10/10

This is not the career swerve we expected from Sia but she remains amazing nonethless

2011-12-15T12:51:00.003Z

What Sia has lost in quality control over the past year she has gained in commercial success. After making the David Guetta album listenable with her 'Titanium' track, she has now recorded a song with terminal purveyor of utter shite, Flo-Rida.

Needless to say, the bits Sia sings on his new single 'Wild Ones' will be the only listenable parts - as the following clip proves conclusively at the 30second mark.

Flo-Rida feat. Sia 'Wild Ones'

This single will be, in equal parts, incredible and entirely unlistenable.

Anyone who'd written Lana Del Rey off after one single needs to take a big sip of retraction juice: 'Born To Die' video

2011-12-14T22:55:00.006Z

Hands up, first listen of Lana Del Rey's new track 'Born To Die' we were a bit worried. Second listen, we wondered if we'd make a mistake. Third listen, totally hooked.

This is big. This video is more interesting and exciting than Lady Gaga's most elaborate poo (mainly because it feels so effortless and un-forced).

Lana Del Rey is in it for the long haul, and she makes 'second single syndrome' seem as simple as getting a measles jab.

Fantastic song, brilliant video (especially that last shot which is pretty bloody amazong). Just remember, when you're reading those insider's oh-so-knowledgable predictions for 2012 lists, this girl was nowhere to be seen twelve months ago.

Another 10/10 single from Pnau

2011-12-13T15:09:00.001Z

Three songs into their Soft Universe album and they've still not released the album standout. Well done the Pnau.

However, despite our initial excitement over 'The Truth', 'Solid Ground' and now the imminent release of 'Unite Us', we're now starting to fear that Soft Universe may not be the enormous international hit we hope for, and will instead slip alongside the likes of Miike Snow, Monarchy, Cut Copy and all those other clever, slightly grizzled man-bands making incredible, much loved but poorly selling electronic pop music.

Now lets get 'Epic Fail' out next and we'll all be starting 2012 very happy indeed.

Don't judge a singer by their cover: Leona Lewis and the big 'X Factor ruining music' whinge

2011-12-11T12:29:00.014Z

Seriousface. We need to do a little whinge before the X Factor final tonight.

We couldn't help but notice, on various social media outlets, an outcry of disgust when Leona Lewis performed 'Hurt' last night. And tonight's X Factor winner's song will no doubt be a cover version too, so we are pre-empting more upset this evening.

Lots of realmusic™ fans were unhappy that Lewis was 'ruining' Johnny Cash's song. Of course, they all knew that Cash's version was itself a cover of Nine Inch Nails.

We love Leona doing 'Hurt'. Personally, Cash's version is our favourite of the three. But we can still listen to the original AND to the Johnny Cash version as well (why is his acceptable and Lewis' version not? No-one can deny her vocal talent, or ability to convey emotion in a performance).

The original doesn't stop existing simply because someone else sings it. Anyone who doesn't like a cover (and this is true for any music) can simply not listen to it.

And don't worry about the money side of things (although, of course, it's all about the art). Whoever wrote the track will still get 100% of their publishing money (Cowell, the Devil, et al all make their money from the recordings side). Unless, of course, the arrangement was altered in which case they would need permission from the original writer'/s' publisher/s. So, in essence, there's no way that any integrity of the song itself can be ruined without the permission of the creator of the original.

Surely the thing that people love about music is that it creates an emotional reaction (whether it makes us dance, cry, smile, or even utter expletives at how 'x' is ruining music).

If, in the case of 'Hurt', that reaction is a resonance of the confusion of the human condition then why is there any shame in getting that song heard by as many people as possible. Let's face it, a good majority of people watching the X Factor will never have heard of Nine Inch Nails.

No-one complains when a new production of 'Tosca' appears. Imagine posh people picketing a theatre, in full opera garb, with banners of "YOU'RE RUINING PUCCINI'S ARIAS".

The people upset at Lewis' cover are probably big fans of 'Hey Joe' (The Leaves, not Hendrix), 'Respect' (Otis Reading, not Franklin), 'Hanging On The Telephone' (Jack Lee, not Blondie), 'Hound Dog' (Big Mama Thornton, not Presley), 'China Girl' (Iggy Pop, not Bowie), 'Blame It On The Boogie' (Mick Jackson, not The Jacksons), 'Man who Sold The World' (Bowie, not Nirvana), 'I Fought The Law' (The Crickets, not The Clash)...we could go on.

What's likely to have upset these people more is the fact that the cover has reminded them they've neglected to listen to their beloved original for several years. Or that they're in on a Saturday night, watching a programme they claim to detest, instead of being out at a gig supporting live music.

Music is to be enjoyed by everyone, and good music should be championed and shared. It's the same people decrying popular acts covering their beloved songs who also berate the general public for buying terrible manufactured music. Decide which it is you want and then come back to us. In the meantime quit whinging or change channel.

Oh God, this is what Robot & Pigeon look like when we go out isn't it...

2011-12-09T15:39:00.006Z

On the fourth day of Christmas my BIGkids gave to me: a remix of Foster The People

2011-12-09T15:12:00.007Z

Here is 'Call It What You Want' by the rather delightful Foster The People.

We like it VERY MUCH. But it's always nice to hear what happens when a track gets taken apart and put back together again with some added electronic beats.

That is exactly what our favourite large children, BIGkids, have done. This went online a few days ago:

Foster The People 'Call It What You Want' BIGkids remix:

Also, we meant to put this up a while ago and forgot, here is the tres amusant video for BIGkids' 'Drum In Your Chest' which we got very excited about a few months back.

We like BIGkids an awful lot. We're going to hang out in the sandpit with them next year.

Give a look at each other down the barrel of a gun: You're The Voice try and understand it...

2011-12-09T09:00:00.003Z

This is sad. We were so looking forward to The Voice. SPINNY CHAIRS!

But oh dear BBC. What have you done?!

The full judging panel was announced this week. We already knew about Jessie J. We're kind of indifferent to her. Yes, she's current, but so current that she's only been around 12 months. Plus her stint on X Factor was less than memorable (she was round at Tulisa's house in case you'd already forgotten).

Then they announced Will I Am. Sort of impressive if you need an auto tune expert. Call us sceptical ("You're so sceptical") but was his involvement perhaps to woo a certain Cheryl "I'm Will I Am's best friend and also he is my manager" Cole?

Cheryl didn't take the bait. So her replacement was Tom Jones. Nope, not dead yet.

And then they really pulled it out the bag for the final judge. Danny O'Donoghue. We know. Hold on. *google* Danny O'Donoghue (born 3 October 1980 in Dublin) is an Irish singer-songwriter from the band The Script.

*kills self*

Look, this is really not difficult. It's not as if there's a lack of pop stars to choose from. What happened to these whispers of Will Young being involved? He would have been perfect.

We would have gone: Will Young, Jamelia, Courtney Love and Shane MacGowan.

Presenter wise the BBC have gone for Holly Willoughby and Reggie Yates.

We have no problem in theory with Holly Willoughby. She was great on Xtra Factor, and that's probably where the BBC nicked the idea from.

Reggie Yates on the other hand...this is the man who played second fiddle to Fearne Cotton on Radio 1. Urgh.

These shows either need someone with gravitas (Kate Thornton telling off the X Factor audience for being too noisy was always a highlight) or someone who's genuinely interested in the whole concept of the show. The 'I'm too cool for this but at least I'm getting paid' style just doesn't wash (See: Dermot's 'ironic' dancing this year).

Personally we're big fans of Greg James. Simon Amstell would be interesting too.

Anyway, who are we to argue with the BBC. Pioneers of Fame Academy and Dance X, and foundations of the institution that is was Top Of The Pops.

We're sure The Voice will be a huge success. *snigger*

Don't worry - the second Nicki Minaj album is probably going to be amazing

2011-12-08T12:27:00.005Z

Nicki Minaj is releasing her second album in February next year, which seemed a little soon after the start-to-finish amazingness of 'Pink Friday', released in November 2010.

HOWEVER. All fears have been dismissed on hearing the teaser single from 'Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded'.

'Roman In Moscow' is a rough, unpolished slice of noisy lady hip-hop, the sort only Nicki Minaj can inject with the right balance of credible and mainstream. Amazing vocal quirks and brilliant lyrics ('Who's bad? / Ain't know my period / But I got a new pad') indicate that it's business as usual for Miss Minaj - and 'business as usual' in this case means nothing short of utterly incredible.

Nicki Minaj 'Roman In Moscow'

It is a shame a lot of people seem to think that this song is rubbish however. This is probably because there is no Rihanna guest vocal or it wouldn't suit being covered by Little Mix. These people are wrong.

A song is for life, not just for Chritmas. Slow Club 'If We're Still Alive'

2011-12-07T18:21:00.004Z

Look! A puppy that we can have for Christmas!

Not really, that is irresponsible. And anyway it is just a painting of a puppy and not a real dog at all. It features in the new Slow Club video for their song 'If We're Still Alive'.

We like Slow Club very much.

It reminds of a Phil Spector sort of sound.

Speaking of which (seamless) they do a lovely cover of our favourite Christmas song. After all, that's all anyone cares about at the moment right?

Things we discovered today: if you stand on your head Cheryl Cole looks like Adele

2011-12-06T12:51:00.004Z

This photo of Cheryl Cole was in a free paper this morning.

If you turn it upside down Cheryl turns into Adele.

Look.

See.

Would you like a Sugababe to DJ at your Christmas party?

2011-12-05T12:47:00.005Z

There are some discrepancies on the flyer, but Amelle off of Sugababes has turned her hand to DJing. Not sure who the old lady in the photo is.

Something beautiful and haunting and serious (but still about Christmas)

2011-12-02T21:30:00.003Z

We all know that the true meaning of Christmas is: presents, turkey and selection boxes.

Sometimes, however, people think it's ok to hijack all the fun to talk about charity.

BORING.

We are joking of course.

Charity is our second favourite thing beginning with 'ch'. And it is made even better when people who we like do songs to promote charity.

So we were quite thrilled to find out Paul Thomas Saunders (whose voice can bring us to tears in approximately six seconds) has done a charity thing involving a song AND Christmas.

Here is 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas':

The charity is called Simon On The Streets. It is helping homeless people. The website is here: http://www.simononthestreets.co.uk/ and you can donate here

Ho Ho Ho.

Christmas things

2011-12-01T21:12:00.003Z

Who ruined Christmas? Justin Bieber ruined Christmas.

Who ruined Christmas? Chris Colfer ruined Christmas.

Who ruined Christmas. The cast of TOWIE ruined...oh, we quite like this actually.

Lots of easy jokes about Muppets here: Olly Murs 'Dance With Me Tonight'

2011-11-28T14:13:00.007Z

We used to hate Olly Murs.

Now, we're not afraid to admit, we're kind of falling in with love him. Not total butterflies-in-the-stomach love, but more of a mild crush.

It's not that we were wrong before (his first album was a bit of a soggy fart), but he has really upped his game recently.

'Heart Skips A Beat' was brilliant, and anyone who can hold their own alongside the Muppets is good in our book.

Not totally sold on the new single, but the general public™ obviously are as it went in at number 2 this week.

Well done Olly. We take our hat off to you. Now, if you'll just take yours off too we might totally fall in love.

X Factor's 'Wishing On A Star' feat JLS and One Direction - every "oooh" and every "aaah" documented for future generations

2011-11-25T23:22:00.017Z

"Oooh":

"Aaah":

"Oooh":

"Aaah":

"Oooh-Oooh-Oooh-Ooooh":

"Aaah":

"Oooh":

"Oooh":

"OOOOOH:":

"FAAAH":

"Aaah-Aaah-Aaah-Aaah-Oooh":
You've pretty much seen the extent of their contribution now, but if you feel the need to watch it move...

POPSTARS! Man the fuck up when it comes to picking singles

2011-11-24T16:00:00.004Z

The new The Wanted single 'Warzone' is OK. This is it:

BUT WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU RELEASE THAT WHEN YOU HAVE SOMETHING AS AMAZING AS 'I'll BE YOUR STRENGTH' GATHERING DUST ON THE ALBUM.

The Wanted 'I'll Be Your Strength'

And that, if we are not mistaken, is one of the greatest songs of The Wanted's recording history. It was produced by Xenomania - FYI.

Dear The Wanted,

Grow a pair.

Love, RobotPigeon. x

'When The Thames Froze' (not as impossible as you might think) by Smith & Burrows

2011-11-24T11:29:00.006Z

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas, it's nearly Christmas. We are over-excited. That means we'll buy anything with snow on the cover and sleigh bells on the record.

Step forward Smith & Burrows - aka the singing one from The Editors and the real brains behind 'America' from Razorlight.

Here are the things we love about this project:
1. Christmas.
2. Christmas.
3. They are not taking themselves too seriously (*Ahem* Johnny Borrell) - see picture with angel wings above.
4. It's a proper Christmas song (like Fairytale Of New York) that would sort of be acceptable to listen to at any time of year.
5. Christmas.

The song is called ‘When The Thames Froze (we made a massive ice rink and charged people a tenner for half an hour of skating)' [we added the bracket bit] and is released on December 12th.

It is just as well we don't take dubstep seriously either

2011-11-24T10:00:00.005Z

"What's that RobotPigeon? Discovered some niche electronic pop music that skims the edges of credibility and commercial and will impress readers with how close your ear is to the ground in the music world?"

No. Not in the slightest. We've just heard the new Swedish House Mafia single is all. And it's bloody brilliant.

Out (for now at least) go the pop sounds of 'Save The World' and 'Miami 2 Ibiza', in comes dubstep on the most accessible single to plunder the underground genre since Britney's 'Hold It Against Me'. The Swedes' new single 'Anitdote' is an absolute monster of a track, and is so good, we can even forgive the Will.i.am-esque vocals on the track. Pendulum are involved in the track in some shape or form, but the press release has gone down the back of some shelves in our office and we can't get it out again :(

Anyway, whoever is involved in the following should feel mightily pleased with themselves. Because it is amazing.

Swedish House Mafia & Knife Party 'Antidote'

And if you're really quiet, you'll hear the sound of James Blake weeping softly into her latest experimental EP drifting on the wind...

The RobotPigeon 'Cool' List 2011

2011-11-22T19:45:00.002Z

Azealia Banks who? RobotPigeon have a different idea for a 'cool' list (we could only think of a top nine)...

1. Jesy Nelson - X Factor is shit this year. Aside from two things: Kelly Rowland (who we will come back to in a minute) and Little Mix.

Little Mix's brilliance is due to one person: Jesy Nelson. You know her. She is the one everyone (hello 'the internet') is picking on because she looks like a normal person and not a pop star. And yet, in looking like a normal person, she is saving the whole thing. The technical term for this is the 'Nicola Roberts Effect'.

Basically, deep down, we don't love pop stars. We hate them. They are attractive and self serving and we will never get to date them. What we do love is someone like us, and when someone like us is simultaneously a pop star this makes them doubly amazong.

It's a rare combination, but Jesy Nelson has 'put it down', and she will be the making of Little Mix and of the next big British girl group. Girls Aloud best get Nicola up the front and pronto.

2. Ed Drewett - Ed's debut, 'Champagne Supernova', went in at number 84, which, quite frankly, was the wrong position.

His publisher probably didn't mind though as two of his co-writes for The Wanted went in at Number 1.

And have you heard 'Vital Signs'? BOOM ('BOOM' is probably the sort of cool thing Ed Drewett says, not the sort of thing we usually say).

3. Lana Del Rey - This time last year no-one was talking about Lana Del Rey and her 'hasshehasn'tshe' lips.

Now suddenly, following her debut live show, people are tired of her? Ridiculous.

Get a grip everyone. Lana is the shit, and if Fearne Cotton likes her too we're just going to have to live with it, ok?

4. Rizzle Kicks - We were jealous when Olly Murs got to hang out with them, they come from the Brit School (but they don't do boring old ballads like Adele), and their album is great.

On a scale of one to best friends we want to be best friends with Rizzle Kicks.

5. Kelly Rowland -

6. A*M*E - There's no A*M*E music online yet, save for a youtube video of her singing an Alicia Keys cover, but, trust us, we were in a toilet somewhere doing something we shouldn't have been doing and we heard something we shouldn't have heard. And it was amazong.

If you need proof check out her Facebook page and look at all the writers that are working with her. This girl is going to be big.

We like her photo too.

7. Dot JR - For a start there's the name. It means nothing, yet it oozes excitement. The only real music kicking around at the moment is 'Moonlight' (free here), but there's a drop in the track at 1min14 that sums up everything.

8. Ronika - Lots of this lady's songs are sitting around on various blogs. We're not quite sure what she's planning on doing with them, but they're all brilliant, and we quite like the 'no rush' approach.

We also love this photo that we found of her in what looks like a shell suit.

9. Wotyougot Blog - And finally, if you want to be really cool and ahead of everyone else don't read RobotPigeon read Wotyougot. They get songs online before they've even been written. Their patent for a time machine is still pending, but we bow to them.

I'm not crying I've just got something in my eye, Robot: Kapowski 'Section 8'

2011-11-22T14:16:00.001Z

Here is a sad video about a heartbroken robot. This is also a good representation of what happens when Robot 'tidies' our flat.

The track is rather heartbreaking even without the visual roboticide.

It is called 'Section 8' and it is by Kapowski. We did a wikipedia search to see if we could be at all insightful on 'Section 8', but it just gave us one of those annoying lists.

So the song is either about: a United States military form of discharge due to mental illness and/or problems, or a U.S. government-funded housing program, or an orbital-drop warfare based video game, or a company owned by Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney, or an inept team of wannabe superheroes which appeared in DC Comics' Hitman, or an album by rapper MC Eiht.

Or none of the above.We may never know, but the important thing is it sounds nice.

Kapowski's album, Boy Detective, is due February 2012.

Pigeon opens the post: November's post bag

2011-11-21T21:05:00.001Z

Our first letter this month is from a lovely lady telling us about Gonjasufi’s new mini album MU.ZZ.LE.

She says:
"MU.ZZ.LE although short in length, is huge on messages: political, social and spiritual interpretations that define Gonjasufi as an artist."

Oh Christ. Next.

Our friends at Kitsuné have written to tell us that:
"The 12th edition of Kitsuné Maison compilation is out NOW!"

We assume because the NOW is in caps this is very important news so we are sharing it with you all.

There is a London party in the club XOYO to celebrate the release. We are not going to this one because last time we went it was too hot.

We have had a tip off about "ninja, techno, feline" Bonsai Kat's new single 'Bla Bla'.

To "celebrate" Bonsai Kat has done a mixtape. It starts with Beyonce's 'Countdown', but don't let that put you off it does get better:

Mr Chase & Status writes in to say:
"CHASE & STATUS AND SUB FOCUS FLASHING LIGHTS – OUT TODAY"

Again, important caps. They go on to invite us to spend an evening with the band in a city of our choice:
"catch them here…22nd November Plymouth Pavillions / 23rd November The Forum Hertfordshire / 25th November UKF BASS Culture, London"

Only to throw it back in our faces:
"ALL SOLD OUT".

We will have to make do with that video:

<p>&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;And that is all &amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;</p>
And that is all the post we have opened today.

As was to be expected, the new Jonsi track is something of a masterpiece

2011-11-16T12:15:00.002Z

We all know there's a new Sigur Ros album in the pipeline for next year right? Right.

Do people know Jonsi is working on a live show based on the How To Train Your Dragon soundtrack? We're not sure. Someone we know told us that someone they know has been working on it in Reykjavik. It's all a bit chinese whispery at the moment, but it sounds rather exciting indeed.

In the meantime (and that makes it sound like what follows is filler - it is ANYTHING but), there is new music from Jonsi on they way. The Icelandic frontman has been working with director Cameron Crow on music for his forthcoming movie We Bought The Zoo, which looks OK we suppose, and the first new track from the soundtrack is now online in YouTube form.

'Gathering Stories' sounds an awful lot like Jonsi's solo album, and the happier end of that, and since his debut solo release Go was one of the best albums of 2010, all new material in that vein is more than welcomed.

Jonsi 'Gathering Stories

Amazing. AMAZING. It makes us feel better about everything.

The We Bought The Zoo soundtrack will also include second new Jonsi track, 'AEvin Endar', plus reworkings of solo tracks 'Sinking Friendships' and 'Go Do', plus Sigur Ros calling-card, 'Hoppipolla'.

Evidence, if you need it, of why Nicki Minaj is amazong

2011-11-15T19:22:00.005Z

This is from Britney's Femme Fatale tour. It's Nicki's part from the remix of Til' The World Ends. Confused? It doesn't matter - its brilliance is self explanatory. Watch.

Now imagine if Nicki was really at the concert and did her bit in person.

OH.
MY.
GOD.

Less messy than a necklace, that's for certain

2011-11-15T11:58:00.001Z

It is always sad when a band splits up - unless of course the solo projects than spin out from its demise are by and large amazing. The solo project in question here is by a man recording as Pearl Fiction.

Swedish pop band Zeitgeist split in 2009 (AND YES WE ARE JUST GOING THROUGH THEIR WIKIPEDIA PAGE PULLING OUT THE KEY PIECES OF INFORMATION HERE) after a string of electropop successes with their blend of music, performance and art.

One third of the band, Pearl, is now carving a rather impressive solo career for himself with further adventures in progressive, inventive electronic pop. His previous release, 'Insomnia' was a Prince-esque slice of subtle sex-soundtracking, while new single 'Run' is a gloriously straightforward Fleetwood Mac-esque piece of commercial pop, packed full of very lovely harmonies and retro pop themes. 'Run', like a lot of modern pop, will appeal to you if you are big fan of the 1980s and the pop music thereof.

The video has a whiff of the Bonnie Tylers about it. We approve wholeheartedly of this.

Pearl Fiction's debut album, 'Painted Wolf' is release 25 Janury 2012. And we copied that bit of information from YouTube. Thus ends our introduction to the gentle brilliance of Pearl Fiction. and our lesson in lazy blogging.

A trumpet we should have blown last week for the debut Pariis Opera House single

2011-11-15T11:06:00.000Z

In the middle of our interview with Pariis Opera House last week, we simply tossed in the Souncloud embed of their debut single - with which we have become completely obsessed - 'I Don't Know What Love Is' (or 'IDKWLI' to friends and family) without much in the way of fanfare.

It deserves fanfare. Here is the fanfare we neglected last time around:

'IDKWLI' is all kinds of amazing, and is the best new song of November 2011 by a long, electronic mile. Pariis Opera House (once known as solo artists Kidd Wolff and Modeon) are a new London duo specialising in blending retro electronica (not unlike Justice's 'Audio, Video, 'Disco' album) and bouncy pop choruses.

Listen. Repeat. Repeat again. Try to listen to something else. Listen to this a few more times.

Pariis Opera House 'I Don't Know What Love Is'

Pariis Opera House on Facebook.

Friday evening funk from Holy Ghost!

2011-11-11T17:52:00.002Z

Seriously, our brain has died due to a 6 hour meeting about social media strategy. Can't you just stick a load of cock jokes up on Twitter and flirt with ex-reality TV contestants these days? Geez. Things are so complicated.

Anyway, easing our minds and moving our feet at the end of the week is the new single from amazing US duo Holy Ghost, purveyors of fine, fun, danceable pop. This time around, the boys are back with both a cover and duet.

So, the facts are:

Song is: 'I Wanted To Tell Her'
Cover of: 80s band Ministry
Duet with: Nancy Whang (of LCD Soundsystem) and Juan Maclean.
Good?: Very

This slice of modern pop funk is so damn perfect, if we were Chromeo, we might not sleep very well tonight...

Pariis Opera House interview: 'I thought, yes, that’s the name that’s going to make us famous'

2011-11-11T11:11:00.003Z

Pariis Opera House were once individually known as Kidd Wolff and Modeon, but in their collective guise they are a super exciting new duo, ready to challenge continental rivals such as Justice and Digitalism with their mix of commercial pop and ultra-cool electro.

Due to their popstar lifestyle, their world is a non-stop ride of showbiz parties, secret club nights and award ceremonies. And all before releasing a note of music. We managed to grab five minutes on the phone with this exciting young duo (less excitingly named Chris and Ross) outside a recent industry event to get brief introduction to Our New Favourite Band...

Hello Pariis Opera House. What award ceremony have we interrupted?
The Music Industry Trust awards.

Where is it?
Chris: The Grosvenor House Hotel. It’s quite swanky. At the moment we’re in the red bar. It is red. There’s also quite a vigorous cocktail shaker - and a lot of leather.
Ross: Not enough for my taste.

Are you there because you’re nominated?
Ross: Yes – best newcomers for electronic amusement. No, only Chris is here because of his work.

Poor Ross. Are there any drunk celebrities there?
There’s Jools Holland who is the main guest of honour, Vic Reeves I’ve seen, but he’s not that drunk yet, Imelda May just performed.

Oh dear, is there free food at least?
Chris: Yes! The food is free. Duck’s the main, with Salmon to start. Ross is a fan of salmon...
Ross: I’m not going to tell them about my fish dietary requirements or we’ll get on to diarrhea.

Let’s talk about music instead then shall we? Tell us about the new project. Where does the name come from?
Ross: Basically we were trying to come up with a name. I emailed Chris a long list. 'Paris Opera' was on there, and the only thing he sent back, no comments on anything else, was 'Paris Opera House'. And I thought, yes, that’s the name that’s going to make us famous.

What else was on the list?
Ross: Monkey Jumble Sale, A Table With Five Legs, Plaster of Paris, Paris Eiffel Tower, Paris Rifle Tower, Paris Trifle Tower.

Had your solo projects run out of steam?
Chris: We always direct each other’s solo work, and it’s been a natural progression from that. It means one can say “here’s some new music I think it’s great” and the other one can say “yeah it is great, but this bit’s shit” and cut it out and send it back. Then essentially at the end of the day you end up with a good song.

Plus, dance music is full of amazing duos.
Ross: And for that very reason - you’ve always got someone to bounce ideas off. We were inspired looking at the best acts: Daft Punk, Justice, Air…they’re all kind of French…Chaz and Dave.

We’ve only heard one track is the rest of the music along those lines?
Ross: Not really. I think that it’s the first thing that’s really finished…
Chris: Don’t say that!
Ross: No, it’s not that. It’s just you want something upbeat. You don’t want to go too arty and it needs to be fairly accessible.

Pariis Opera House 'I Don't Know What Love Is':

Is there a specific plan behind releasing a short snippet, and all the mystery around the number 11?
Ross: There are so many bands that follow the rule where you choose a few tracks, give everyone ideas where you’re going, do the live shows, run the course blah blah blah, but this started out as a side project and now it’s a main project so we’re having a bit of fun with it.

So you're not going to tell us the significance of the 11?
Chris: Let me see, 11, 11, 11 there’s a lot about 11. Numerology. Well, kind of. I was born on the 11th? There are two of us, one plus one equals 11? It’s basic algebra.

Is there anything you did in previous project you thought I will never do ever again this time?
Ross: Sending nude Polaroids to record companies. Do you want some?

No thank you. We’ve seen Dappy naked. That image will last us a lifetime.
*Nervous laugh* Does his penis look like his hat?

No it looks like his leg. Let’s move on. If there was one food you could eat for the rest of your life and never get fat what would it be?
That’s hard. That’s a proper curve ball.
Chris: I’m going to say chilli-con-carne.
Ross: Candy floss.

Pop culture question - Are you watching X Factor?
Ross: Dipping in and out. I watch the results and make my mind up purely on the five seconds recap clips.
Chris: I like the guy who can actually sing and could actually be good.

Kitty?
Chris: Yeah he’s pretty hot.
Ross: I think there’s not enough pop stars who might actually kill someone.
Chris: Jack the rapper.

How drunk are you planning to get this evening?
Ross: I have between now, which is 9:38pm, and 1 am. I will do my best. I feel like we’ve been talking for ages.

We have, and we think you may have already had a few. Thank you very much, Pariis Opera House.

Please like them on the Facebook here.

A thing about brilliant new band Dems

2011-11-10T12:48:00.005Z

If London-based newcomers Dems do not show up on a few 'Sound of 2012' lists in January, then we'll be very surprised indeed.

A warming blend of pop, dance and good old fashioned drums'n'guitar sensibility, Dems' debut single 'House' has elements of the softest moment of Foals - but with less of the furious severity with which Foals carry themselves and a whole lot more LOVELINESS.

Other similarities between the two bands end there - apart from the mild beardyness of both. But please do not let this put you off, it has long been proven that men with facial hair are more than capable of making amazing pop music.

Anyway, what follows is a video and a downloadable remix of 'House' by Jean Nipon. We recommend both very highly indeed.

Dems 'House' (Jean Nipon remix)

Get involved with Dems at Facebook.

'House' is released 14 November 2011. Here is the iTunes link.

Electronic french band Cherokee remix electronic french band Daft Punk

2011-11-09T19:05:00.005Z

There will come a time when we are bored of Daft Punk remixes, cover versions and various other tributes to the legendary French duo. But that day people, is not today.

New French band Cherokee have remixed Daft Punk's downtempo classic 'Something About Us' with a warm, poolside groove to deliver something truly special with the perfect balance of the original track's brilliance with the band's own twist.

We guess the reason for this floating around on the internet is to hopefully push people towards Cherokee's own music, which sounds like this and is generally rather enjoyable in the same summery fashion as their Daft Punk remix.

Cherokee 'Take Care Of You'

More Cherokee doodah at their Facebook page.

New girl band alert. Keep calm and carry on, it's The Bandana Splits

2011-11-09T09:00:00.002Z

Goodbye horrid, sweaty, sandal wearing summer. Hello dark, cold, cosy winter. The clocks went back last week and we are delighted. So now our musical mood shifts slightly, and, rather than uptempo partying by the pool dance tracks, we want something warm and moody.

Step forward The Bandana Splits.

We're not usually taken in by this faux-40s singing trio malarkey, but The Bandana Splits seem to have nabbed themselves some decent tracks and err just on the right side of a 'knowing wink'.

The single 'Sometimes' was out, alongside the album 'Mr. Sam Presents The Bandana Splits', recently and is very very good. But we'll be honest, the main reason we're writing about them is with a distinct longing for a Christmas album in this style.

We're thinking O Holy Night, Jingle Bell Rock, Christmas Wrapping, Joy To The World and All I Want For Christmas Is You. Make it happen.

Do you want to see the nipples of a popstar?

2011-11-08T13:02:00.002Z

You do? In that case, the new Sound of Arrows video for 'Wonder' will fulfill your every desire.

Nice jim-jams.

PS. The Sound of Arrows debut album 'Voyage' is out this week. It's start-to-finish amazing and without a doubt one of the best albums of 2011.

Buy 'Voyage' now on iTunes.

'Sexual Lifestyle'? They're just bragging we're certain

2011-11-07T21:15:00.007Z

What you need to remember, as we descent into a glorious winter packed with new scarves, warm socks and chilly evenings under the duvet, is that Australia are currently basking in their hottest time of the year.

Which is why the new Strange Talk single 'Sexual Lifestyle' doesn't really fit with the current UK climate, and really only makes sense if you've got a sausage in one hand and a can of beer in the other, are wearing flip-flops and stood somewhere near a swimming pool and a kangaroo. Yes, it's another example of perfect Australian pop music that was written by and for those handsome tanned people on the other side of the world.

Like a more enthusiastic, energetic Cut Copy, Strange Talk are quickly becoming one of our favourite new bands, and should we be forced to contribute to any sort of 'tips for 2012', we'll almost certainly name-drop this lot.

Strange Talk 'Sexual Lifestyle'

So raise a charred chicken drumstick in celebration of one of the most exciting new bands Australia has to offer. Then scurry off and put on another jumper. It's going to be cold tonight.

This is out on Monday and it's not on a major label so this is a good time to 'support new music' and all that: Kevin Pearce 'Pocket Handkerchief Lane

2011-11-04T23:55:00.001Z

We’ve started this review about eight times. It’s hard to write about a new artist without chucking out some lazy comparisons or using gushing metaphors.

So here are the quick comparisons for Kevin Pearce: Tom Baxter, Beth Orton , Tom McRae, Zero 7, Damien Rice,

And here are some overblown metaphors for Kevin Pearce’s album ‘Pocket Handkerchief Lane’: “like a breath of fresh air after a long gargle of Listerine”, “the most exciting thing we’ve heard since our operation to replace a dodgy cochlea”, “the most lovely thing we’ve been given since the bulk delivery of puppies in bow ties”.

Ok, all that toss out the way, let’s get on with what we really want to say.

‘Pocket Handkerchief Lane’ is something to be marveled. It’s a self release but it sounds like a record that a major label has just invested thousands of pounds in.

Not only is the recording itself quite brilliant, but the man behind it really delivers. Kevin Pearce performs his heartfelt lyric in a haunting and believable tone, and sounds like a recording artist who's on his fifth album.

Tracks like 'Get By' and 'Older Times' reveal an accomplished vocalist with warmth and heart. The standouts are 'Don’t Fall Down', which shows of Pearce’s vision as well as his voice, and 'Vultures', which mixes up the more traditional singer songwriter traits with some gentle synths and a driving tempo.

Kevin Pearce 'Vultures':

We’d say a major label should snap up this release – and sharpish. But that might spoil the charm.

We know we bang on about new music a lot, but if you’re ever going to trust us let it be on this.

It's out on Monday ~~(we'll put a link up when we get it)~~.
Here is a link to it.
Check out the Facebook.

Behold the third best Adele remix of all time

2011-11-03T17:03:00.006Z

Until today, the world of Adele remixes was amazing, but limited. After today, the world of Adele remixes is slightly less limited and still amazing.

Basically, the Leo Zero remix of Adele's 'First Love' is without question the third best Adele remix of all time. Zero puts a UK funky / dubstep twist to the track, and turns it into something very, very warm and very very wonderful.

Adele 'First Love' (Leo Zero remix)

And, should you need reminding of the complete Top Three Adele remixes of all time:

1. 'Hometown Glory' (Chewie Chocolate Cookies remix)
2. 'Set Fire To The Rain' (Thomas Gold remix)
3. This one.

Can I see some ID please? Distantt = child genius

2011-11-03T15:58:00.005Z

When we were 14 we were out on bikes until six thiry, then in for homework, then Birds Of A Feather with a cup of Cocoa, and then straight to bed to have sexy dreams about Lesley Joseph.

We were not making banging bloody dance music.

Unlike Distantt, who is apparently 14 years old.

Although, Mozart was performing from the age of five. So technically Distantt is nine years behind.

Anyway. It's amazong.

Put something towards his pocket money here.

Rebecca Ferguson in 'stood up' video shocker

2011-11-03T12:06:00.002Z

Amazingly, this is NOT the official Rebecca Ferguson, 'Nothing's Real But Love' video.

This is.

We hope this has cleared up any confusion over the matter.

FACT: We rather like the new Matt Cardle single

2011-11-02T16:52:00.002Z

There's no two ways about it, the second 'proper' Matt Cardle single is rather amazing. Sure, it's a rip-off of Take That ripping off Coldplay - but even third generation amazingness is amazing, no?

The video focuses less on his white white teeth than the 'Run For Your Life' video did and more on his model friends and outstretched hand.

V. good. And if he hurries, he might get to sing this one on X Factor before the series ends this year.

Album review: The Sound of Arrows 'Voyage'

2011-11-02T13:21:00.001Z

A rare instance of a band achieving everything they set out to, The Sound of Arrows long awaited (and we really do mean long) debut album is an album for anyone saddened by the lack of magic in the world and still struggling to cope with the fact that trolls and fairies (probably) don't actually exist.

Spilling over with a sense of wide-eyed wonder, the album intentionally captures the spirit of childhood discovery, the sort not captured by any media since the days of Labyrinth or Flight of the Navigator movies. And no, Harry Potter boo-hooing around a castle with a crooked stick and that posh girl didn't come close.

From the sky-high pop of 'Into The Clouds' to lost summer anthem 'Magic', the standard of the album has been set by the singles, with the melancholy of adulthood mixed in among the joyful pop tracks. New release 'Wonders' laments on a broken relationship while 'My Shadow' deals with the fact that most people are totally shit, built upon the lyrics: 'The only one who's got my back is my shadow...'

However, while the epic Sound of Arrows sound is one we're more than familiar with, the album's most interesting moments come when band members Stefan Storm and Oskar Gullstrand mix up their distinctive sound. 'Ruins Of Rome' is a standout for reusing the children's choir of 'Magic' on a more straightforward pop masterpiece, the result being a far more cinematic, downbeat and heartwarming experience.

'Longest Ever Dream' is likewise rather excellent in it's similarities to The Never Ending Story theme tune and use of a female voice alongside Storm's distinctive vocal. Seven minute masterpiece 'There Is Still Hope' sees the boys hit their techincolour high, with inspirational lyrics and a guest vocal from Niki of Niki And The Dove fame.

Each track is packed full of subtle moments, all bound together with a sense of the epic and a love of magic and respect for the power of great electronic music.

The most majestic pop record of 2011.

Do you want to be in my Wolf Gang? 'Back To Back' video

2011-11-01T15:25:00.007Z

Here is the video for Wolf Gang's new single 'Back To Back'.

The video is made up of footage from Wolf Gang's time on the NME Radar tour. So we won't be spoiling things too much if we say the video goes a bit like this:

1. A few cool people start talking about the tour.

2. NME get really excited that some cool people are into the tour and tentaively mention the tour in their magazine.

3. The readers of the magazine like the tour too.

4. NME start to talk about the tour loads and loads in their magazine.

5. NME put the tour on their cover...

6. and on page 7, and on page 15, and on plage 17, and as a poster pull out, and on page 28.

7. NME decide the tour is over-hyped and over-exposed.

8. NME berate the tour for being over-hyped and over-exposed and decide they're not cool any more.

9. NME laugh at all the un-cool people who still like the tour.

10. NME hear some cool people talking about a different cool tour. Return to point 1.

Ok, opportunity to have a dig at NME taken, now here is the mildly dull video for the very brilliant song.

Konnie Huq returns to save X Factor

2011-10-29T14:00:00.010+01:00

Hello and hello and welcome and hello. It is me Konnie Huq. DON'T PANIC MR MANNERING (COWELL). I am here to save the show.

Simon rang me from America and said:
"Hello Konnie Huq and hello. It is me Mr Simon Cowells. We are having some problems with the show this week. I'm sorry for giving you an axe. Will you help us out?"

And I said:
"Hello Simon Cowells and hello and hello. And yes I will help you out."

Problem 1. The ratings dropped by 2 million.

Simon says: "Help me Konnie Huq. The first live show this year was beaten by Strictly Come Dancing on the BBC Ones."

Konnie says: People love the Yeo Valley advert it is so LOLS. Maybe when they are doing the judges' comments the judges could be eating a Yeo Valley yoghurt, and this will make more people want to watch. I have done a mock up below.

Problem 2. Bully Gate (gruff)

Simon says: "Tear Lisas and Louis said on the show the Mischa B has been bullying the other contestants."

Konnie says: Well Simon Cowells, Mel B certainly looks like she is a bully. And she did not deny it and/or apologise. In the words of Timbaland featuring Ryan Tedder I say "it's too late to apologise, it's too late. i said it's too late to apologise it's too late."

The best thing here is if we gang up and bully Mel B. We could get everyone in on it. Including the press. Then she will lose all confidence and that will really knock her down a peg or two YEAH.

Problem 3: A charity stole our name

Simon says: "The girl band, Rhythmix, has the same name as a charity, Rhythmix. The charity, Rhythmix, says the girl band being called Rhythmix makes things confusing. Rhythmix asked Rhythmix to change their name, but Rhythmix said they wouldn't, until the public turned on Rhythmix and Rhythmix had to agree to change their name from Rhythmix so that Rhythmix could be called Rhythmix."

Konnie says: Bloody Rhythmix. I don't even see how this is confusing. The X Factor is so much bigger than some charity no-one has ever heard of.

If they do have to change their name here are some ideas: Nu-Rhythmix, The Eu-Rhythmix, MixMix, Ethnix, Three Men and a Little Alien, Rythmix.

Problem 4: One of The Risk has left so one of Nu Vibe has replaced them.

Simon says: "This year some of the people who weren't good enough to be solo stars were put into groups. Some of the people in groups weren't good enough to be in groups. So we made new groups out of what we had left. Now one of the groups left in has lost a member so we have replaced him with one of the members of a group who has already been voted out for not being good enough."

Konnie says: Oh that will do. Just chuck any old shit together. No-one knows who any of these people are anyway. Look, here is a test. Can you tell who is who?

Problem 5: KELLY ROWLANDS IS OFF SICK

Simon says: "Kelly was furious after Bully Gate, and, totally unrelated, has phoned in sick this week. Well, her dad phoned in sick for her. She is bringing a note on Monday."

Konnie says: Oh this is a disaster. Kelly Rowlands is totally my favourite. I love it when she 'puts it down'. I put my dog down last week in homage to her.

I heard you were getting Nicole Shirtzinger in as a supply judge. I think this is a bad idea. Nicole takes over everything. I'm worried I will come home one day and Nicole Shirtzinger will be standing in as a substitute for my husband. Get Kelly back now to save the show.

Conclusion: X Factor is fucked. But it makes for great press. If only that led to publicity for the tv show. Oh.

You're a head dick. Duck Sauce 'Big Bad Wolf'

2011-10-28T13:00:00.003+01:00

We've been to Sports Direct and the employees are actually far scarier than this.

Lo Fi Fink live fi fink in London Fi Fink

2011-10-27T10:30:00.001+01:00

We went to see Swedish dance pop supremos Lo Fi Fnk play a show at Madam Jojo's in London this week.

As we are mostly in love with this band you can *insert gushing live review* here.

Needless to say there were lots of synths, lots of jumping around, some overhead projectors and brilliant music.

We now want to be best friends in the world with band member August - personifying the Swede's great music through a varied mixture of clapping and accomplished dance moves. Leo was pretty good too, but August sure can throw it down (© Kelly Rowland 2011).

We did try to capture some of this on film, but through a series of complicated mishaps (aka fat thumbs) we kept pausing the recording. So here is our favourite track, 'Boom', played out across three separate videos.

Sorry everyone.

Here it is on Soundcloud if you want to hear it properly:

Fearne Cotton makes it too easy, she really does

2011-10-26T17:35:00.003+01:00

And the rest of the time, she's just a bit of a pillock.

Couple of dates for your diary

2011-10-26T14:12:00.008+01:00

Here are some interesting things that are happening. They are all in London. That is because we live in London. Sorry if that's no good for you, but that's just the way things are, and sometimes life is not fair.

On 17th November we are going to the ESM Launch Party. This is the thing with the rude poster (showing lady bits) to your right.

It is not, however, a big porn-off. It is a show with Fred Falke, Burns and Starsmith. In terms of line ups we would file this under 'very good OMG we're excited'.

Tickets cost a mere £3 or £5 (after 11pm). We are hoping for guest list off the back of this post obvs.

Another thing that is happening is Rex The Dog's Breed night in Dalston Superstore.

Last time we went we got a free tshirt, and lots of people have complimented us on it. They are giving away MORE free tshirts this time around. So we recommend going and updating your wardrobe.

This is on the 4th November in Dalston Superstore and it is FREE. If it wasn't free we would have asked for guest list.

The final thing that is happening is ok. The poster is to the right. The line up is a bit dull. We're not sure if we're going to go to be honest as there are some good things on TV.

WE ARE ONLY LOLING - THIS LOOKS LIKE THE BEST LINE UP IN THE HISTORY OF LINE UPS LINED UP IN A LINE.

Fear Of Tigers! Sound Of Arrows! Visitor! Queen Of Hearts (not on poster but will be there)!

Seriously, this is 75% of our favourite people in the world in one place.

This is on the 11th Nov in 93Ft East and it is FREE. We are going to ask for guest list for this anyway just to feel wanted.

Here is a download of the Le Prix remix of Queen Of Heart's 'Shoot The Bullet' to celebrate *blows party blower*

A perfect thing from James Vincent McMorrow

2011-10-24T15:02:00.001+01:00

There's not all that much room on RobotPigeon for bearded irishmen who sing wistful songs about loneliness and the general struggles of life, but when they're as incredible as 'We Don't Eat' by James Vincent McMorrow, we feel we have to find a little room among the furious French electro and sweet Australian pop.

The song is literally perfect from start to finish. 'Perfect' in the 'completely heartbreaking and at the same time heartmending' sense of the word. There's now a video that involves a motorway too.

Amazingly there is also a dubstep remix of this. Even more amazingly, that remix is also quite something:

James Vincent McMorrow 'We Don't Eat' (Adventure Club dubstep remix)

That sound? Probably the roof being blown off by the new Adrian Lux single

2011-10-24T12:13:00.002+01:00

Adrian Lux, oh he of excellent remixes and other bits and pieces on the dance music scene has a new single coming out and it is of a very high standard indeed. It is also a prime example of how powerful a little bit of patience and self restraint can be when making music. What follows could come as quite the lesson the likes of David Guetta and Will.i.am.

A measured, well paced collaboration with The Good Natured, 'Alive' threatens to do nothing but plod along at a comfortable mid-tempo pace for over a minute, before allowing the whatnot to hit the fan on a massive rave chorus of rather epic proportions.

Adrian Lux feat. The Good Natured 'Alive'

It would be difficult to know what to do if this came on in a club or other music related nightspot, but we'd probably get at least 1:30 worth of good dancing out of it. We'd talk through the rest, if we're being totally honest, but only because we don't know how to dance to mid-tempo bits, not because the slower bits are rubbish.

RobotPigeon's guide to X Factor voting

2011-10-23T14:27:00.016+01:00

Unsure of how to cast your vote in The X Factor?

Here is our handy flow diagram to show you where to spend your hard earned cash on someone else's multi-million pound career.

(Click here for a bigger version, or right-click, then 'save as' to keep it forever)

This is the best thing we have ever seen

2011-10-22T22:15:00.002+01:00

Emeli Sande's 'Daddy' video is not rubbish in the slightest

2011-10-21T17:04:00.002+01:00

We can't put our finger on what it is about Emeli Sande that we completely and utterly adore. It might be the voice. It might be the songs, it might be the AMAZING HAIR.

It's probably the amazing hair, isn't it.

But if we needed yet another reason to love her, her new 'Daddy' video is the one. Simple. Moody. Atmospheric. Cinematic. Everything about Emeli Sande, her songs and her videos just seems a little more powerful, a little more epic than her female pop rivals. She's going to have a massive 2012.

Here is the Scottish singer's very American new video. We love it. 'Daddy' is even better than 'Heaven' and that is not up for discussion.

Amaze.