JANUARY. It’s finished now. Good riddance to it.
It was largely cold and rubbish. But it produced some good music and some good music videos.
Here are my ten favourite tracks I’ve written about on this here blog so far in 2011. If you’ve missed any of them, go and check them out. You won’t regret it.
What have I missed that’s rocked your January?
Yesterday I posted the video to Gonzales’ excellent new single You Can Dance. I thought now was as good a time as any for a run through a potted history of Gonzo. As a producer, songwriter, performer and self-proclaimed Entertainist, he’s been involved with some of the greatest (and occasionally silliest) moments in leftfield pop for over a decade.
Click below for 10 videos, featuring Feist, Peaches, Jamie Lidell, James Blake and of course the man himself.
I’ve also put together a slightly longer Spotify playlist, featuring all the tracks below plus a few more gems from over the years.
Jason Beck has been making genius, genre-hopping music as Gonzales for over a decade now. Along the way he’s become a Grammy-winning producer (for frequent collaborator Feist), set piano endurance records, and appeared on Apple ads (first as producer and more recently as performer).
Last year’s Ivory Tower soundtrack, a collaboration with Boys Noize and released on Erol Alkan’s label, got people talking again, with its slickly produced mix of commercial-sounding tunes and (as usual) lyrical madness.
You Can Dance should be the moment Gonzales finally goes mainstream. No lyrics about armpits and chest hair to get in the way, video featuring lots of bums dancing, and a serious earworm of a tune. General public: pay attention NOW.
(And if you liked that, I’ve now written a companion piece, a brief history of Gonzales in 10 videos and a Spotify playlist.)
Getting juicier now. All being well this should be finished by Christmas.
For now – here are 10 more amazing popular music records that came out in 2010.
Spotify countdown playlist continues, but for the full experience of me aimlessly rambling about songs, please click below:
1. He’s still got it
2. “I’m gay pastry and racist cappuccino”
3. Look, it’s Tiga
4. …
5. AWESOME