Following on from The Independent listing musicOMH as one of the 25 best music websites in its feature last month, we've now been longlisted in the Best Digital Publication category in the 2009 Record Of The Day Awards.
After producing singular French diva Camille's last two award-winning albums Le Fil and Music Hole, Birmingham-born, Paris-based MaJiKer released his ambitious debut album Body-Piano-Machine earlier this year.
Made up of body percussion, piano and the sounds of a Yamaha PSS 270, it's one of 2009's most original releases and we've been obsessing over it ever since.
Now, ahead of his three-date UK showcase tour in November comes MaJiKer's second single, Tongue. Already available as a free download, it now gets a video treatment in time for the release of two remix EP packages.
"The whole song is about yearning to understand somebody: what they feel, what they think, where they came from, and where they are going," says MaJiKer. "It's about desire, empathy and emotional connection."
The lyrics include a rhythmic mechanical mantra – a machine speaking in tongues – that echoes the meaning within the track.
The Tongue EPs are released as a download package over two weeks: AfterTastes (26th October) and TasteDubs (2nd November).
musicOMH is delighted to host the premiere of the mysterious and not a little pervy Tongue video, which you can see below. It was directed by Raphaël Neal, with cinematography by Julien Gidoin.
We'll have a full interview with MaJiKer, aka Matthew Ker, later this month. In the meantime you can give the uplifting electro GRAND son remix of Tongue - and the original version - a good licking for free, after the jump.
MaJiKer: Tongue, from the album Body-Piano-Machine
MaJiKer plays Birmingham's Hare & Hounds on 3rd November, Brighton's Unitarian Church on 6th November and London's ICA on 9th November. The album Body-Piano-Machine is out now through Gaymonkey. Check out his MySpace for more here.
According to The Sun, Lily Allen has been lined up to star in the West End transfer of reasons to be pretty.
The inevitable internet babble has begun over whether this is a move of huge cynicism on behalf of the show's producers - grab a famous name, any famous name, and people will fork out for tickets - or something altogether more savvy, especially given the nature of the play. reasons is the final part of Neil LaBute's loose trilogy of plays about body image, a follow up of sorts to his previous plays, Fat Pig and The Shape of Things.
reasons focuses on Greg and his girlfriend Steph, whom he insults by calling "regular" (which, in her book, is worse than "ugly"). It started life off-Broadway at MCC Theater at the Lucille Lortel Theatre last year before making the leap to the Great White Way (and being considerably re-written in the process).
The casting of musicians and 'non-professional' actors is par for the course in shows like Chicago, so it seems a tad harsh for some commentators to already be citing Madonna's ill-advised stint on the West End stage in comparison. We were early adoptors on the Allen front, so we will refrain from passing judgment until we've seen her in action. But whatever happens with this play, it's sure to make a noise.
Bestival 2009 is now at an end. We couldn't have asked for anymore as each day and performance progressed it simply got better. Review and Bestival in pictures to follow in next few days. Good night friends.
"You bunch of faggots! What are you lookin at?! What the fuck are you looking at?!" pipes Johnny Woo to the crowd waiting for his next move.
Yes he is scantily clad, yes he's wearing a bikini and yes he's just led the Bollywood tent through an outrageous Footloose dance-off. Trashy italodisco is now pounding out. Yes, this is why we love Bestival.
Afternoon all, late night last night (no sleep til 8am).
I have joined Tim in having the thousand yard festival stare as well.
A serene midday performance from the ever improving Peggy Sue and a suitably uplifting Michael Nyman-conducted set have eased this tired head and these weary eyes. Bjorn Again and Fleet Foxes should do the trick shortly.
... is the most original and worthy of merit in the British album stakes - I wonder what planet some of our 'tastemakers' are on.
An upgrade to a quarter-full big top tent for a drab half hour did nothing to justify the hype. Next.
So to recap. That was day 1 of Bestival. At least we think it was. In some ways it's hard to tell. Out of the four acts we saw on the main stage (Friendly Fires, Florence And The Machine, MGMT and Massive Attack) we only heard one - the Bristolian trip-hoppers.
And that was only because there was enough of an outward migration to allow for easy passage to a more central position.
Is it atmospheric? Is it geographic? Is it symptomatic of a larger problem affecting festivals all over?
Because, you know, when people go to a music festival isn't the expectation that you want to hear something of the artist performing?
You can't help but feel that the moving of the main stage to a position proudly atop a hill wasn't the best decision. Good for defending against Viking hordes. Poor for festival crowds. And the atmosphere has really suffered.
Will things improve? We shall see...
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