Black Holes and Revolutions

Heard a few good tracks on 6 Music at work today so I thought I'd share.  Being less strict about music this Ramadan, though my listening is basically limited to work or the few times when I'm alone, so a lot less listening going on than normal.

First off, a track by a new quintet from Liverpool called Outfit.  I quite like it, even though it reminds me of Hot Chip a bit:



Next a track I know nothing at all about.  It's got that afrobeat sound that was big a few years ago.  Funny how certain styles become fashionable and then go out of fashion again just as quickly?



Last track is an old one by Muse which I hadn't heard in ages.  I like it's relative simplicity, especially when compared to Muse's more current output:



I'll end up with some links which you can check out if you're fast!  They're album previews that won't be up long:
NPR's got Moderat's latest and it's well worth a listen.
And AlunaGeorge are streaming their debut album on their website at the moment.
That last due are also coming to DC in September.  Quite a lot of good shows coming up actually -- off the top of my head there's Toro Y Moi touring with Classixx, Mount Kimbie, Bonobo and Gold Panda both coming back, and at least a couple more gigs I'm forgetting.  Roll on autumn!  

Jewels on Jools

It's been pretty quiet around here as of late, what with Ramadan and all, but I did watch Jools Holland's programme the other day (gasp!) and there were a couple of standout tracks on it, as well as an entire performance by the Manics!  Not putting any Manics up though.  Instead these...

First off, a track by Mark Ronson and his band with some guests, one of whom is Boy George.  Boy looks quite strange but I like his voice on this.  Not sure if he's doing more work that I'm not hearing about but he still has a voice that's worth hearing, I think, though he does seem to run out of puff a bit here and there:



Incidentally, the other track that Ronson and his band performed was a bit crap so I forwarded it -- something I also did with my second selection, by Klaxons.  Quite liked this though; singer's a bit strange looking isn't he?  But who am I to judge:



One more post to finish things, unrelated to the two above.  Tim Westwood, Radio 1's longtime rap and hip-hop DJ, is being pulled off the air.  He's a bit of a character but even I heard some good tunes on his show back in the day, only to return to the States and find out the tracks were quite underground.  Came across this video when reading about him some more -- it's a UK hip-hop documentary from 1987 that Westwood put together.  Probably worth checking out if you like that sort of thing: