Robyn Live

Only a live performance (with a bit of miming maybe?) but WOW! So good!

For the band that has outgayed itself…

… the only thing left to do is to create copy Frankie Goes To Hollywood. I mean, where else can you go? Above is the new Scissor Sisters track. It’s very different to what they’ve done before, for which kudos are deserved. I would rather listen to the real thing though. Just my opinion!

New Music: Penguin Prison

OK, so not very ‘new’ (he’s been causing havoc on the blogs for a good few months now) but I’ve just realised that I haven’t bigged him up, and he’s one of my most listened to artists in the last 3 months according to my Last.fm

Anyway, this is nothing more than fresh, forward looking electro that’s a bit too cool to be pop but is easy to fall in love with at the same time. He’s coming to London later in the month which is nice as it seems he’s been stuck in his native New York for ages! Check out here.

New Robyn!

I love Robyn. I have done since I was at school (in the 90’s), which is kinda embarrassing to admit to, as she wasn’t always very cool! She ditched a big recording contract and an already successful career back then because she wasn’t happy with how her label was selling her.  So she went her own way and paid for her huge 2005 album ‘Robyn’, which had all those big hits like ‘With Every Heartbeat’.

A sampler for the first album called Body Talk Pt1 is here. You can here a snippet of her first single, Fembot, on that link. So far, I’ve heard Dancehall Queen which is pretty sweet (produced by Diplo- I can’t find a link for the full clip!). Looks like it’ll be a fun summer when the first album is released in June!

Arthur Erickson

I only just stumbled across Canadian architect Arthur Erickson. His work was stunningly elegant, Im surprised at myself for not already knowing about him. His estate has a website here which isn’t the friendliest site to work through but the photos of his buildings (specially the residential stuff) are beautiful.

Oxford v Cambridge Goat Race

If you’re reading this from outside of the UK, yesterday was the annual Oxford vs Cambridge Boat Race. These two universities row their way down the river Thames and the winning team get a prize or something. For the last couple of years though, there’s been a far more exciting alternative, held at Spitalfields City Farm, called the Oxford vs Cambridge Goat Race. Same idea- only goats race around the farm. Last year the event was tiny, this year it was absolutely huge- there were crowds everywhere! Winning goat? Cambridge!

New Music: Salem Al Fakir

It’s so rare to see people from Syria (my own home) get famous in the western world (for the good reasons!). Enter Salem Al Fakir, who’s a bit of a pop star in Sweden. I didn’t know about him til I saw a clip of him performing ‘Keep On Walking’ which is absolute perfection in my eyes. He’s already released 3 albums since 2007 in Sweden, so it’s only a matter of time before the rest of Europe clocks on! Check out here.