VIDEO PREMIERE: MaJiKer - Tongue

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 - Tongue (MP3)
• MaJiKer - Tongue (GRAND son remix) (MP3) 

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.

Video: Skip James - Devil Got My Woman

This video (below) was recorded in 1966.  Skip James, the man with the guitar and the voice, died 40 years ago, back in 1969.

I'd added a version of Devil Got My Woman to my monthly playlist at the start of the year; this one I'd heard on the Beyond Mississippi compilation and it fitted beautifully alongside music by Nick Mulvey and Shearwater, none of which referenced his Deep South blues style but seemed to me to come from a similar, internal, human place.  His sound, with a slower tempo than the video suggests, remains timeless.

The video, at the time of writing, had been viewed nearly 200,000 times on YouTube.  With that kind of audience, Skip'd make a decent claim for stardom now, 107 years after his birth.

Video: Simian Mobile Disco - Audacity Of Huge

Jas and James are back with a new single, Audacity Of Huge, and Kate Moross has directed the video (see below).

The single is available from all good and legal places on 3rd August, with the parent album Temporary Pleasure following on 17th August.

This excites us just a little, what with its hugeness and everything. And if you can tell us what the purple liquid in the jug is, we'll consider awarding you a virtual gold star.

Here's what happened when we chatted with Jas Shaw last year: interview

We also met James Ford last year, but that was on a dance floor.

Simian Mobile Disco - Audacity of Huge from ISO FILMS on Vimeo.

Video: Amadou & Mariam - Masiteladi

Following their Crisis supporting gig with David Gilmour at the Union Chapel this week, Amadou & Mariam unleash Masiteladi, another infectious single from their Welcome To Mali album, on 29th June.

If by some unfortunate quirk of fate you've still to work out what all the fuss is about, we recommend these courses of action: 

1) Catch them live, either at Glasto's main stage on the Sunday afternoon or supporting Blur at Hyde Park on 3rd July (if you're in the USA you might like to catch them supporting Coldplay on tour) 

2) Join them, together with their artistic director Marc-Antoine Moreau, as they curate the fourth and final monthly residency for African music, L’Afrik C’est Chic, at the Jazz Café on 21st June. Special guests will be invited on stage for spontaneous jam sessions in a stripped down/unplugged set. 

3) Read our forthcoming interview with the duo, which will be published as part of our Africa Week (much more of which soon) 

4) Have a peek at our Welcome To Mali review 

5) Check out the vid to Masiteladi below 

Video: Freeland - Do You

Freeland, comprised of Adam Freeland + band, release new single Do You on 15th June, a week after the release of the album Cope™ (review to follow). Check out the video for Do You below. 

In Freeland's words "The remit on this one was if Led Zeppelin were making electronic music what would it sound like? And this is what we came up with. Helped quite a bit by having Tommy Lee on drums, creating that big John Bonham style drum sound". 

To celebrate the release of the album, Adam Freeland is giving away a mixtape. You can download it for free here. 

Freeland play the Glastonbury and Glade festivals this summer. For more info, check out their MySpaz. 

Video: St Vincent - Actor Out Of Work

Actor Out Of Work is a choice cut from multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter Annie Clark's staggeringly impressive second album as St Vincent.  Called Actor, the new opus is released through 4AD on 4th May. This time she's worked with various members of Midlake and associates of Sufjan Stevens.

On Actor Out Of Work she wraps a fantasy '50s technicolor melody snugly within an indie aesthetic of scrunchy guitars and thwhacking drums; see the video, below.

Clark plays a one-off gig at London's Hoxton Bar + Kitchen on 21st April; in the meantime you can read our review of Actor here, or download album track The Strangers for free here.

Video: Phoenix - Lizstomania

With their fourth album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix set to drop at the end of May through Bella Union, Air's former backing band Phoenix are already selling out venues. 

This week's sold-out London gig at the Hoxton Bar + Kitchen will be followed in June by a date at KOKO - also sold out - and they'll be taking in crowds at the Secret Garden Party, V and Camp Bestival too.

The infectious free download that was 1901 is followed by the album's first proper single Lizstomania. Like the album name, it suggests they want the world to know they're aware of the names of classical composers. OKAY. WE ARE.

A version of this track will appear on May's Kitsuné Maison compilation. The video for it is below... 

 

Get 1901 for free at their website.

Video: God Help The Girl - Stuart Murdoch's new venture

Belle And Sebastian head honcho Stuart Murdoch has a new music project called God Help The Girl. 

The band features singers including Neil Hannon (more on him soon), new discovery Catherine Ireton (we think that's her in the picture) and a 45 piece orchestra conducted by Withnail & I soundtrack composer Rick Wentworth. 

A self-titled debut is slated for a June release through Rough Trade, preceded by a single, Come Monday Night, in May. 

Stuart introduces the project in this 'ere video:  

More at the website: http://www.godhelpthegirl.com

Video: Depeche Mode - Wrong

Everybody of an '80s ilk is either reforming (Spandau Ballet) or bringing out best-of compilations (Erasure, Annie Lennox) or announcing comebacks (Michael Jackson). Meanwhile everybody from the '00s wants to be from the '80s (Frankmusik, La Roux).

Well. Also FROM THE '80s, but like Pet Shop Boys still going at it hammer and tongs, Basildon boys Depeche Mode are prepping our lugs for a new album, Sounds Of The Universe, and tour dates at arenas up and down the land. And Messrs Gahan and Gore still sound as filthy as ever.

The video for the new album's lead single, Wrong, is below. Maybe you're one of the million or so viewers who've already caught it. All we can say is, if Patrick Wolf reckons he's into S&M, he should get a look at this...

 

Video: Lily Allen - Not Fair

Lily Allen's second single from her second album is the countrified Not Fair.  It follows her chart-topping exploits with The Fear earlier this year.

Sporting a glossy mane and Barbra Stanwick heels, we reckon Lilz'd fit right in amongst those line-dancin' midwestern folks. Kooky, no?

Check out the video...