Hard Back. Stern Face.

Nobody needs another blog entry giving you the whole Dizzee Rascal backstory. One google search and you'll learn way more about him than I can tell you. I will tell you this though. He's top of the pops in the world of grime and he's about to unleash his third album "Maths and English". This time out he's taken his flow in a new 3rd coast Houston direction. Needless to say some of the kids are loving it but other folks are hating hard. Most notably his one time mentor Wiley, who may or may not be the intended target of a diss song included on the new album.

The first cut I heard was "Hard Back Industry". " The song's I'm Just a Bill steeze is helpfully instructive. Dizzee breaks down the rules of the music game, schoolin youngins on the finer points of business. He's got advise worth heeding and seeing as this is his third album in a genre that produced mostly debuts, he might be on to something. Then he came round the bend blasting the single "Sirens" with a fly little video hot on his heels. There's a full hunting party dressed for the occasion, with Dizzee playing the role of resident sly fox. He slips in and out of corners in the video, paralleling his flow through the beat. Staying completely in the shadows you can hear how dark things are for him.

Dizzee Rascal - "Hard Back Industry"


Dizzee Rascal - "Sirens"

Sparkling

Talent. Its not something that's requisite for kid singers. Don't get me wrong, most of the Mousketeers in Mickey's club are fairly talented but for every Christina Aguilara blowing that old soul truth, there's a Britney Spears sexy whispering her way to better record sales. If talent were the deal breaker in this equation Avril Lavigne would've slipped off her skateboard and broken her neck years ago.

So imagine my surprise when I stumbled across 15 year old Amy Diamond. Another product of pop heavy Sweden this little girl is the real deal and easily my youngest friend on Myspace. She broke out in Sweden at the age of 12 with her debut single "What's In It for Me" off of her album This is Me Now. The song tore up the Swedish charts making it all the way to number #1 even though some Swedish TV stations wouldn't show her video because she was so young. From the wholesome look of the video it's hard to understand what they didn't like. She's dressed like a normal, well adjusted tween should be. "Hit Me Baby One More Time" this is not. To prove she's packin bone fide chops, and not just studio wizardry, I included a video of her singing her newest single, "Don't Cry Your Heart Out", live. You might not like your tunes quite this sachrine but you can't front on her pipes. She's like a teenage, bubblegum version of Neko Case.


Amy Diamond - "What's In It for Me?"


Amy Diamond - "Don't Cry Your Heart Out"

Is it Rock? Is it Rap? Is it Crap? I dont Know...

Pop music enterd the sphere of hipster credibility sometime in the past couple years, and I for one thank god. Its not time to get carried away and start reppin for bullshit trad-rock like Nickleback, but we can all agree at this point that shiny, happy harmonies can still sweat out the liquid irony that fills the core of every postmodern conception of cool. Lilly Allen, The Bird and The Bee, Cold War Kids and others like them have ushered in the current era of "Sophisti-pop" thats brought glossy out of the shadows and onto the most descerning of tastemaker IPods. Don't be ashamed of liking Justin Timberlake. Simply reclaim his MJ apping style as yours all along cool kids. Is that Kelly Clarkson I hear you listening too? I surely hope so.

Enter 21 year old Jamie T out of Wimbledon South London. NME has named him their next big thing but according to these guys that magazine is worthless and I shouldn't be reading it any way. Its a sacrafic I'm willing to make. Doesn't matter what the critics say about this guy any way. I'm onboard right or wrong, in shallowness and in depth. Jamie makes a rocky, rapish, jangle pop fuss all over his tracks and best of all he makes them in the catchiest way possible. He sorta splits the difference between the Artic Monkeys and The Streets, and he's got drunk, everyman wail-speak down pat. The cockney accent keeps the top button of his very blue collar undone and you can hear him thinking about another pint as he's singing.

The song to download, "If you Got The Money" nearly made its way up into the top 10 on the UK charts and rides the little ragga swing its built on all the way to the bank. The video is for his song "Sheila" and stars everyone's favorite rabbit sidekick, Bob Hoskins. Jamie fishes the waters of human interaction for a lot of his themes and Bob plays the father of the song's title character while mouthing the song's words at the camera. Its strangly affecting and I'll bet you watch it twice if you watch it at all. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to mine Radio Disney for my next pop-perfect discovery.


Jamie T - "If You Got the Money"



Jamie T - "Sheila"