Roisin Off, Sophie On

Sophie Ellis Bextor's new single 'Off And On' is the latest Calvin Harris produced single to be released, following on from the success of Dizzee's 'Dance With Me' and the failure of Kylie's 'In My Arms'. It features his typical signature beat and jittery synths and a slightly harsh sounding double tracked vocal by Sophie. It is apparent to the listener that the production is unmistakably Harris and the vocal is no one other than Bextor. But what is not known is just why this song isn't being released by it's original singer.

Wikipedia credits the song as being written by Calvin Harris, Cathy Dennis and it's original singer, Roisin Murphy, who apparently rejected the track, plus another due to creative differences with Harris. When Roisin's demo leaked last year, I loved the song. It sounded fresh and new. Now however, upon hearing Sophie's version, it just sounds a little bit too contrived. To take a truly unique artist's cast offs and try and get yourself a hit with it seems a bit too try hard to me, no matter how good the song is. Not to mention Roisin's version is about 100 times better.

Judge for yourself...

Sophie's version


Roisin's version

Sooner Or Later...

...it had to happen. A post about Madonna.

So, "Hard Candy" is the title of the new album. In all honesty, I was just a tad apprehensive when I first heard the leaked demos of "Candy Shop" and "The Beat Goes On". I'm not a huge fan of the whole hip hop genre, although I do quite enjoy the odd bootyshaker. A quote from the woman herself about the album's title:

"I’m gonna kick your ass, but it’s going to make you feel good"

The album features Justin Timberlake (egomaniac) on multiple tracks and production by Pharrell Williams (past it), Timbaland (overkill) and Nate "Danja" Hills (poor man's Timbaland). Its out on the 29th of April and the first single, "Four Minutes," will be out at the end of March.

Massive fan that I am, I feel rather dirty to think that I'm actually looking forward to this reinvention. I just hope she pulls it out of the bag. Madonna Shame isn't fun!

I need some H20 down my throat...

I downloaded an EP today by Sam Sparro, a soulfull voiced white boy from Australia by way of Los Angeles. He learnt his trade in the church choir and from some of greatest session singers LA had to offer. The end product is a fantastic mix of laptop production sounds, keytar, and his soulful vocals. Imagine 80's funk spliced with post-modern electro beats. Fantastic.

The title track sounds like a Goldfrapp, Klaxons & Antony Hegarty collaboration, which to me means perfection.

Download the 'Black & Gold' EP here: http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=73F01EA90EAC0058

Get him on Myspace here: http://www.myspace.com/samsparro

There goes the neighbourhood...

Ok so I decided to get myself one of those blog contraptions that all the kids are going on about, primarily because I'm on reading week and have literally nothing better to do. But I suppose it will become a diary of sorts, when I can be bothered to update the thing of course. If by happy accident you have stumbled across this blog and this is the only post (and it's 6 months old) then feel free to send me a polite yet stern email to update it.

There now follows a little about me that is not included in my blogger profile for one reason or another...

• I am studying for a dance degree at JMU in Liverpool
• It is 3am and Madonna telling me all about the fact that 'you only see what your eyes want to see'
• I'm currently in the middle of reading three books, none of which seem to be able to keep my attention for more that 15 minutes
• I have a large stack of dvd's from Christmas that I really should watch before buying anymore
• I have £145 in the bank
• I am going to see Justice on Saturday

I hope you enjoyed that small insight. Goodbye for now...