When will the world wake up to Aiden Grimshaw!? After releasing one of the best pop albums of the year, Aiden’s back with a new free track, co-wrote with Dimitri Tikovoi, who is best known for his work with Charlie XCX, Mikky Ekko, Goldfrapp, The Horrors, Bebe Black and Paloma Faith. Aiden releases a new 5-track EP of songs in the Autumn.
And following on from Morcheeba’s reinvention, we now have these folks coming back on to the scene. It’s nice to see Goldfrapp return to their subtle, cinematic sound again. Songs like this sent me to sleep as a restless teenager, and hearing this just makes me feel so at ease.
That almighty bastion of British radio that champions the new and interesting, Radio 6 released a ‘Music Live’ double-CD compilation to celebrate ten years of live music at the station yesterday. I was planning on doing a quick review over the weekend but as the last four days have been sent from hell I’ve only managed to muster some energy to fully enjoy this now.
You just can’t beat a great band singing a classic song in somewhere as intimate as a radio booth. There’s entries on this compilation from established greats such as Elbow, Amy Winehouse, Beck, Goldfrapp, Friendly Fires, Groove Armada and Manic Street Preachers. But there’s also an equally impressive selection of fresh new talent coming from the likes of Lana Del Rey, Foster The People, First Aid Kit and Michael Kiwanuka.
Overall the compilation blends effortlessly, and would have been ideal garden-listening had the weather been good. Highlights are of course Amy Winehouse’s live rendition of ‘Stronger Than Me’ and Friendly Fires’ ‘Paris’- two gorgeous songs that really stand their own in an intimate setting. Check out the album right here!
Goldfrapp have consistently played a part in the soundtrack to my life in this last decade. I remember watching them for the first time on Jools Holland performing this and being blown away:
And then moving away from home to a new city and dancing to the height of their popularity with anthems like this:
They seemed to jump from one sound to another and making it always sound like it was always the way it was. Their most recent album didn’t really shake the airwaves much because it got a bit too folky but this is one of my favourite tracks:
But now they’re back with this beautiful track that seems to mix up all the genres they’ve played around with over the last ten years while also sounding really cute and fresh. Just as well, for a Singles album.
