New Music: Ben Montague

I’m a sucker for solo dudes with guitars- I know they can be incredibly boring sometimes but Ben Montague is pretty great. ‘Haunted’ is lush, I think it’s my favourite song right now. Check out here.

New Music: Liam Bailey

This guy is a cross between Amy Winehouse, Nate James and some Daniel Merriweather. And he reminds me a bit of Otis Redding, don’t know why. It’s good. Check out here.

4 months and 2000 lovers

Last night came my 2000th visitor to this blog. It’s only been 4 months since I started Alfitude, and only one month since I had my first 1000 visitors. So in the last month, I’ve averaged around 30 hits per day- without posting any MP3’s or naughty stuff. Love it! Thank you, keep coming back!

New Music: Dyno

I’m don’t really know much about Dyno other than they’re a Swedish trio that make cool pop tracks. Their video for ”I Don’t Speak Love’ is wickeed, don’t you think? Check out here.

New Music: Niki and The Dove

I stumbled across this randomly on Myspace. A little haunting. ‘DJ Ease My Mind’ is like a mesh between Lykke Li and The Knife. amazing. Check out here.

Live: Robyn at Heaven, London

This must be the millionth time I’ve seen Robyn live, and once again it was amazeballs! You can still catch Robyn in London tomorrow night at G-A-Y, which is also at Heaven.

Simply Stunning

I feel like I’ve been hiding under a stone now that I’ve listened to this album. This is just about the best album I’ve heard all year- PERIOD. Seriously, every song… just flawless. Flawless. Going through this album reminded me of how I felt when I listened to Amy Winehouse’ Frank for the first time. Rox is without doubt the British Lauryn Hill. Check out here. Buy it here. This girl deserves points!

And the sexiest album artwork for the month of June goes to…

OK, I know they both look cacky online- but that’s why they’re so great! In the real world where you buy real CD’s from real record shops, both of these albums are so special when you remove the plastic rappers. Uffie’s album comes packed in a denim pocket- with a working button and stitching and her logo screen-printed on and everything.

And Robyn’s new album could pass off as a pirate copy of an original album- yep, she made her own album look like someone copied it and sold it to you at the back-end of a dodgy street at 3am, as you do. The CD itself has Robyn’s logo written in marker pen on a blank CD interface, and the sleeves look like the ones you get when you buy those multipack empty CD’s from PC World. Even the case looks cheap.

Don’t forget to support your record stores folks!

Jamiroquai London tickets go on sale this afternoon: get ready!

Tickets for an intimiate gig in London with Jamiroquai on the 24th of this month (next Thursday) go on sale TODAY (15th) at noon on his website. It’s in a tiny venue in London Bridge and something like 1000 people ‘liked’ his Facebook status when he announced the gig last week so good luck getting tickets! If you don’t manage to get tickets then you can still catch him next Sunday at Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park with Stevie Wonder. UPDATE: I’ve uploaded some really good videos from this gig here!

ALFITUDE WANTS TO KNOW WHAT MAKES YOU AN INDIVIDUAL! Head over to our e-survey and let us know!

New Music: Eric Solomon

Eric Solomon is a remixer to the stars, and much as I’m not a huge fan or remixes, Eric’s own stuff is pretty good. Antarctica is a great tune. Check out here.

Thought your taxes were high?

Swedes pay up to 60% of their wages in taxes. That’s a lot of cash! Check out this article about Sweden’s attitude to taxes- it’s not as boring as it sounds! I love what they do to job seekers!

I Heart Jack Johnson

The great thing about Jack Johnson is that you know you’ll get exactly what you were expecting, every time. I like Jack Johnson a lot more than I let people believe, because I get a bit tired of hearing the ‘he’s boring… all his songs sound the same…’ dribble. But there’s no denying that his music can cheer up the grumpiest monkey around.

Looking at ‘To The Sea’s album cover, it took me a while to figure out that what he was building was a big surf (or is it a ship?). And when you open up the sleeve, the first thing you see is a dedication to his dad. So you’re led to think that this will be a sad collection of songs- but they’re the complete opposite. I prefer this album to ‘Sleep Through The Static’ and the one he did for the Curious George movie.

New Music: Jamaica

French electro/ indie from the Ed Banger family. More sensible than Breakbot but a more playful than DJ Mehdi. Will see them in London at Barfly tommorrow. Check out here.

New Music: Love Generation

A new girl band from the RedOne production team (the guy who makes Lady Gaga’s stuff). It’s fresh, makes you want to dance a little. Check out here.

New Music: The Superimposers

The Beach Boys have returned to the 21st century in the form of… The Superimposers. Check out here.