Emmanuel Jal - From child soldier to Rap star.

Emmanuel Jal has had a very turbulant life. His story is not your traditional rags to riches, street to studio tale we are used to hearing from rappers however as Emmanuel was once a child soldier fighting in Ethiopia. His story is so fasinating that it has been made into a feature length documentary. The documentary is called War Child and is critically acclaimed, as is Jal’s music. His latest album, also called Warchild has gained great reviews from Q magazine and Rolling Stone.

As previously noted, Refugee Week, which is supported by the British Red Cross begins on the 16th of June. The Red Cross have produced a podcast interview with Emmanuel Jal in which he tells his story and explains why he is supporting Refugee Week. The podcast is available to download from the Red Cross Refugee Week page.

There are lots of other events planned to celebrate Refugee Week which are listed on the Red Cross site.

The 5 best music videos of the year so far.

I was planning on making a list of the best music videos of 2007, but its time to look forward to the future people. Or at least the recent past!

2008 seemed pretty futuristic when I was growing up, I figured we would be zooming around on hover-boards in silver suits eating pills for food. I never will forgive television for raising my hopes so high only for them to be dashed against the rocks of disappointment, or something.

One thing I never thought about was that one day we would be able to watch videos online, which might explain why I’m blogging right now not being paid to theorise about the future.

Maybe these audio-visual treats will help you (and me) to overcome the disappointment that is living in the future.

1. Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor

Hot Chip have a knack for great videos. Lots of bright colors and geeks dancing, what more could you want?

2. Boris - Statement

Perhaps not the most exciting video ever but the song is great. Experimental Japanese Doom anyone? For the epic album Smile.

3. Art Brut - Pump Up The Volume

Art Brut have always been pretty ‘meta’ and tongue-in-cheek (their first single was called ‘[We] Formed A Band’) so I’m going to assume this wasn’t really filmed for an Australian television station. EMI didn’t actually tell the band they were releasing this single, which seems a little bit rude.

4. Kanye West - Flashing Lights

We all know that Kanye throws a hissy fit if his videos don’t receive enough attention so I’ve put this one in at number 1. If you find rappers being killed with shovels by women in fancy lingerie offensive, don’t watch this (sorry, that might have given away the plot a bit).

5. MGMT - Time To Pretend

This video is amazing, if somewhat un-embedable. As The Complete Sound points out, ” Record labels seem to have forgotten that videos are PROMOTIONAL material”. Below is a link to the hi-res version. Click if you like flying dolphins, tribal themes and really low quality effects. This is my favourite song of the year so far, by far.

Quicktime Link.

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Kanye West Mixtape.

Once again I have another great mix for you to download. This one is by Kanye West to support the realease of the single ‘Can’t tell me nothing’. Features Kanye (obviously) along with Common, Ne-Yo, T-pain and the always excellent Talib Kwel. This is mixed by Plain Pat.

Tracklisting:

01. Kanye West - Friday Morning, May 25th, 2007 (Intro)
02. Kanye West - Stronger (Snippet)
03. CRS (Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West & Pharrell) - Us Placers
04. GLC - I Ain’t Even On Yet 05. Kanye West - Can’t Tell Me Nothing
06. Common feat. Kanye West - Southside (Snippet)
07. Common - The Game
08. Kanye West - Porno (Interlude)
09. 88 Keys feat. Kanye West & Malik Yusef - Stay Up (Snippet)
10. Talib Kweli feat. Kanye West - In The Mood
11. Bentley feat. Pimp C & Lil’ Wayne - C.O.L.O.U.R.S.
12. Kid Sister feat. Kanye West - Pro Nails
13. Kanye West - Young Folks
14. Kanye West - Interviews (Interlude)
15. Common - The People
16. Big Sean - Get’cha Some
17. Consequence - Don’t Forget Em
18. Sa-Ra - White! (On The Floor)
19. Ne-Yo feat. Kanye West - Because Of You (Remix)
20. T-Pain feat. Kanye West - Buy You A Drank (Remix)
21. Kanye West - Throw Some D’s (Interlude)
22. Kanye West - Throw Some D’s (Remix)
23. Tony Williams - Dreaming Of Your Love
24. Really Doe feat. Jennifer Hudson - Magnetic Power
25. PM - Hater Family

Size: 73.3mb

Download the mix from megaupload here.

Here is the video for ‘Can’t tell me nothing’.

Update: This is a .rar file. It needs to be extracted using WinRAR which you can get for free here.

Top 10 Albums of 2007

I know its a bit late but here are my top 10 albums of 2007, in no particular order. Let me know what you think!

 

Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala

(Service/Secretly Canadian)

 

Who: Soulful indie crooner.

Sounds like: Sufjan Stevens but with a Morrissey-like sense of melodrama.

Best bit: ‘Postcard to Nina’ a story about pretending to be a lesbian’s boyfriend in order to appease her father.

Listen to: Mournfully in your bedsit.

 

Justice - †

(Ed Banger/Vice)

 

Who: French electro duo.

Sounds like: Fuzzy synths, disco grooves and huge basslines.

Best bit: The single ‘D.A.N.C.E’, complete with school assembly choir.

Listen to: At maximum volume in a car with an unnecessary spoiler.

 

Kanye West - Graduation

(Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam)

 

Who: Sampling genius and owner of the biggest ego in hip hop.

Sounds like: Funky, soul-sampling hip hop.

Best bit: “They say I talk with so much emphasis,
OOOO They so Sensitive.
Don’t ever fix your lips like collagen
Say something where you gone end up apologing”

Listen to: In your private jet.

 

Burial – Untrue

(Hyperdub)

 

Who: Secretive south London Dubstep genius.

Sounds like: A stark, cinematic journey through a decaying landscape.

Best bit: The completely out of place vocals.

Listen to: Driving around deserted inner city streets.

 

Les Savy Fav - Let’s Stay Friends

(Frenchkiss)

 

Who: Fugazi with a sense of humor.

Sounds like: Loose, catchy indie punk.

Best bit: ‘The Equestrian’

Listen to: Whilst crowd surfing.

 

LCD Soundsytem - Sound Of Silver

(DFA/EMI)

 

Who: James Murphy, master producer and music geek.

Sounds like: Stripped down disco punk.

Best bit: ‘New York I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down.’

Listen to: In converse.

 

Battles – Mirrored

(Warp)

 

Who: American Post-Rock super-group.

Sounds like: A Math-rock band playing funky prog songs. In Space.

Best bit: The weird, looped vocals on ‘Atlas’.

Listen to: Through headphones.

 

The National - Boxer

(Beggars Banquet)

 

Who: Brooklyn based indie rockers.

Sounds like: Editors but with a whisky swigging crooner on vocals.

Best bit: ‘Fake Empire’

Listen to: Staring dramatically towards the horizon on a windswept beach.

 

Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam

(Domino)

 

Who: American indie mavericks.

Sounds like: Epic, almost tribal indie songs built from loops rather than riffs.

Best bit: The vocal whoops on ‘Fireworks’

Listen to: Dancing around in an animal costume.

 

The Tough Alliance - A New Chance

(Sincerely Yours)

 

Who: Swedish pop duo.

Sounds like: Catchy synthpop, kind of 90’s yet kind of amazing.

Best bit: ‘Something Special’

Listen to: In a tie dyed t shirt.