Gillingham, Kent, UK (By Mikey:
[email protected])
RECORD OF THE WEEK
Ashanti - Rock Wit U (Awww Baby) After a short acting stint on Buffy, The Vampire Slayer unfortunately she got slained by Buffy, boy did she kick buffy's arse. Ashanti is back on the music scene, with one of the most infectious hit of the summer, this is a nice r'n'b soulful sound, welcome back Ashanti. Multi-platinum selling r'n'b princess Ashanti returns this week with the first single from her forthcoming Murder Inc album, the aptly titled 'Chapter II'. Produced (as was the last album) by hip-hop guru Irv Gotti, 'Rock Wit U' finds Ashanti honing her sound into an even silkier r'n'b flow.
HOT SHOT RECORD
Jennifer Ellison - Baby I Don't Care Proving that there's is indeed life after soap, Brookie babe Jennifer Ellison makes her musical debut this week with this infectious cover of the Transvision Vamp classic, 'Baby I Don't Care'. Ditching the rock vibe, and instead opting for a feisty upbeat blast of pure pop goodness, this is a brilliant cover, and one that sets Jennifer out as a real chart force in her own right.
Darkness - Growing on me This week sees camp-metal rockers The Darkness return with another glammed-up insight into their highly anticipated debut album, 'Permission To Land'. Staying faithful to their own intensely individual (if slightly tongue-in-cheek) style, 'Growing On Me' is a good time rock stomp that should win the band plenty of new fans.
Dillinja ft. Skibadee - Twist 'Em Out One of the biggest drum & bass tunes of 2002, Dillinja's mighty 'Twist 'Em Out' finally resurfaces this week (on Trouble On Vinyl) with a whole slew of worthwhile new mixes. The awesome original's fierce beats and dancefloor pummelling basslines are present and correct, whilst elsewhere; Skibadee, Bad Company and Dylan all rise to the challenge and deliver top-notch remixes. A must, even if you own the original or not!
Fast Food Rockers - Fast Food Song This song should be thrown out with the bathwater, its awful, novelty records don't do it for me. It is damaging to support novelty records. They bring the charts into disrepute, and they take the attention away from music being produced by more worthwhile struggling artists. But whatever the politics, it's inverted snobbery to despise a bouncy chorus that chants "McDonnnnnalds! McDonnnnnalds! Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut!" while three empty-eyed fast food workers and a man in a dog costume prance around to a thumping dance beat.
Flip & Fill ft. Jo James - Field Of Dreams Remixers/pop-dance producers du jour; Euro-stars Flip & Fill return this week with 'Field Of Dreams', another insanely infectious dancefloor hoe down delivered in their own inimitable style. Already working its bouncy sing-a-long magic on the nation's more 'up-for-it' floors, this single, as with all Flip & Fill releases also comes with another brilliant (not-to-mention contrasting) set of top-notch remixes.
Delta Goodrem - Lost Without You Having taken the UK charts by storm with her debut single, the supremely uplifting 'Born To Try', taken from her forthcoming album 'Innocent Eyes'. Aussie singer/actress (she also plays Nina Tucker in Neighbours) Delta Goodrem returns this week with, well... more of the same really. A wonderfully breezy slice of contemporary pop, 'Lost Without You' shows that its predecessor wasn't a fluke whilst at the same time setting Goodrem out as a genuine pop force in her own right.
Kurtis Mantronix presents Charmonix - How Did You Know (77 Strings) Fresh from being one of the hottest tunes in Miami earlier in the year, 'How Did You Know' is also gearing up to be one of the biggest dance tracks of summer 2003 as well. Released last year on Fatboy Slim's Southern Fried label as just '77 Strings', the slamming house original has had a new vocal added, been given a new title, and now looks set for dancefloor domination.
Public Domain ft. Voodoo & Serano - Back 2 Back Largely due to public demand, Xtravaganza do us all a favour this week and re-release two bona-fide dancefloor monsters from their impressive back-catalogue this week. First up is Public Domain's classic 'Operation Blade', huge on its original release, it's one of those rarities that can still, even to this day, move the harder dancefloors. Whilst Voodoo & Serano's 'Blood Is Pumpin'' also sees the light of day once more and remains as skull-crushingly effective as it always was.
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Universally Speaking Third single taken from their highly acclaimed best selling album 'By The Way'. It's fair to say that 2002/2003 saw the Chili Peppers scale new heights. They released another classic album, had hit single after hit single and toured the UK (and the world) to some incredible reactions. Well, the band's latest, 'Universally Speaking', is another classic from an album that seems to be jam-packed with 'em. Another classy Chili Peppers funk-rock-pop workout.
Royksopp - Sparks Royksopp keep their seemingly unstoppable momentum rolling along this week with yet another potential classic from their awesome 'Melody AM' album. 'Sparks' is already one of the duo's best, a laidback groover, it has late nights and long summer days written all over it. Whilst this single also features the previously unreleased track 'Don't Go' alongside mixes of 'Sparks' by Roni Size and Murk and a remix of 'So Easy' by Derrick Carter.
Shakedown - Drowsy With Hope The long-awaited follow-up to last year's club and chart smash 'At Night', 'Drowsy With Hope' once again features dreamy vocals from Terra Deva and, once again, establishes Defected as one of the labels at the forefront of the UK house scene. A slightly deeper (but no-less effective), outing than its brilliant predecessor, the funky-assed original is also, as usual, joined by a remix package that's second-to-none.
Wayne Wonder - No Letting Go With Sean Paul blazing a trail into the mainstream on both sides of the Atlantic, Wayne Wonder steps up to the blocks with 'No Letting Go', a single that's already looking like it has the potential to be one of this summer's most memorable. A sun-kissed blast of laidback reggae (the complete antithesis of Sean Paul's rough-and-ready delivery), this brilliant debut single, as with Paul's 'Gimme The Light', should see Wayne Wonder coast into the UK mainstream whilst at the same time sacrificing none of his underground appeal.
OTHER SINGLES RELEASED THIS WEEK
The Bandits - Take It And Run
Blak Twang - Public Order
Lloyd Cole - No More Love Songs
Cranebuilders - Just Idleness
Cursive - Art Is Hard
DJ Format - The Hit Song
Gus Gus - Call Of The Wild
Har Mar Superstar - E-Z Pass
Heartless Crew - Why?
Kinesis - Forever Reeling
KV5 - Flying Right
Lacquer - Behind
Timo Maas - Unite
Massive Attack - Butterfly Caught
Mew - Am I Wry? No
Moony - Flying Away
Noonday Underground - I'll Walk Right On
Nu - Any Other Girl
OK Go - Don't ask me
Placebo - This Picture
Sizzla - Thank You Mama
Sugar Ray - Hey Bartender
Tahiti 80 - Soul Deep
Train - Calling All Angels
Un-Cut - Falling
SINGLE RELEASE SCHEDULE
June 23
Anotherside - This Is Your Night
Athlete - Westside
Aurora featuring Naimee Coleman - Sleeping Satellite
The Bangles - I Will Take Care Of You
Blazin' Squad - We Just Be Dreamin'
Boy Sets Fire - Last Year's Nest
Michelle Branch - Are You Happy Now?
Burning Brides - Arctic Snow
Cosmic Rough Riders - Because You
Delerium - After All
DJ Shah - High
Siobhan Donaghy - Overrated
The Donnas - Who Invited Who?
P. Diddy featuring Kelis - Let's Get Ill
Fabolous - Can't Let You Go... Damn!
The Flaming Lips - Fight Test
Foo Fighters - Low
Hommos - Cosmic Rock
Metallica - St. Anger
Minimalistix - Magic Fly
Moloko - Forever More
Morcheeba - What's Your Name?
Gary Numan - Crazier
Erlend Oye - Sheltered Life
Panjabi MC - Jogi
Peppercorn - Hyperventilating
Bonnie Raitt - Silver Lining
Roxette - Opportunity Nox
Nitin Sawhney - Falling
Scooter - The Night
Simple Plan - Addicted
Three Doors Down - When I'm Gone
Tommi - Like What
Ultrabeat - Pretty Green Eyes
Underworld - Twist
Barratt Waugh - Skip A Beat
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Pin
June 30
50 Cent featuring Nate Dogg - 21 Questions
Bent - Stay The Same
Beyonce ft. Jay-Z - Crazy In Love
Rob Dougan - Furious Angels
The Foundation featuring Natalie Rossi - All Out Of Love
Peter Gabriel - Growing Up
David Guetta vs David Bowie - Just For One Day
Emma Holland - From Now On
Whitney Houston - On My Own (12" only)
Ladytron - Evil
M Factor - Come Together
Lisa Marie Presley - Lights Out
Mario - C'Mon
Mis-Teeq - Can't Get It Back
The Moony Suzuki - In A Young Man's Mind
Keith Murray featuring Def Squad - Yeah Yeah U Know It
N-Trance ft. Kelly Llorenna - Destiny
NRC - Here Comes The Rain Again
Ocean Colour Scene - I Just Need Myself
Sinead Quinn - What You Need Is
S Club 8 - Fool No More
Seal - Get It Together
Something Corporate - If You See Jordan
Star Spangles - Live For Speed
The Thorns - I Can't Remember
Paul Van Dyk featuring Hemstock & Jennings - Nothing But You
July 7
Alkaline Trio - We've Had Enough
Blur - Crazy Beat
Harry Brooks - Dance With Me
Joe Budden - Pump It Up
D-Side - Invisible
Eminem - Business
Haven - Tell Me
In-Grid - Tu Es Foutu
Intenso Project - Your Music
Javine - Real Things
Kaci - I'm Not Anybody's Girl
Avril Lavigne - Losing Grip
Longview - Further
Madonna - Hollywood
Kym Marsh - Come On Over
Moby featuring Princess Superstar - Jam For The Ladies
Laura Pausini - Surrender
Planet Funk - The Switch
Polyphonic Spree - Soldier Girl
Rocket Science - Being Followed
Kate Ryan - Scream For More / Desenchantee
Simply Red - Fake
Vega 4 - Sing
Vitamin C - Last Nite
Zena - Let's Get This Party Started
July 14
Appleton - Everything Eventually
Benny Benassi presents The Biz - Satisfaction
Blu Cantrell featuring Sean Paul - Breathe
The Cardigans - You're The Storm
Coldplay - God Put A Smile Upon My Face
The Coral - Pass It On
Flint - Aim
Harry - Follow Me
Jane's Addiction - Just Because
Jinny - Keep Warm 2003
LC Anderson vs Psycho Radio - Right Stuff
Lisa Maffia - In Love
Cerys Matthews - Only A Fool
Pink featuring William Orbit - Feel Good Time
Super Furry Animals - Golden Retriever
Triple Eight - Give Me A Reason
Yomanda featuring Ultra Nate - You're Free
July 21
All American Rejects - Swing Swing
Daniel Bedingfield - Never Gonna Leave Your Side
The Dandy Warhols - The Last High
Deepest Blue - Deepest Blue
Discovery - Missing
Lamya - Black Mona Lisa
Kosheen - All In My Head
Mario Lopez - Always & Forever
Sash! featuring TJ Davis - I Believe
Stereophonics - Maybe Tomorrow
Maria Willson - Chooza Looza
July 28
Mariah Carey - Bringing On The Heartbreak
Craig David - Spanish
Dejure - Sanctuary
The Hiss - The Clever Kicks
Hot Hot Heat - No, Not Now
Junior Senior - Rhythm Bandits
Phixx - Gett Off
RZA featuring Xavier Naidoo - I've Never Seen
Wheatus - American In Amsterdam
Pharrell Williams featuring Jay-Z - Frontin'
Robbie Williams - Something Beautiful
August 4
4 Strings - Let It Rain
Alien Ant Farm - These Days
Melanie Blatt - Do Me Wrong
The Cheeky Girls - Hooray Hooray (It's A Cheeky Holiday)
Elbow - Fallen Angel
Good Charlotte - The Anthem
Dana Glover - Rain
Louise - TBA
Jason Nevins presents U-K-N-Y featuring Holly James - I'm In Heaven
Nio - Do You Think You're Special
Stacie Orrico - Stuck
Mark Owen - Four Minute Warning
QFX - Freedom 2003
Kelly Rowland - Train On The Track
David Sneddon - Best Of Order
State One - Forever And A Day
Crystal Waters - This Is My Time
Y Traxx - Mystery Land
August 11
Abs featuring Nodesha - Miss Perfect
Busted - Sleeping With The Light On
Jewel - Intuition
Liberty X - Jumpin'
Courtney Love - Mono
Monica - So Gone
Venus Hum - Soul Sloshing
Richard X vs Kelis - Finest Dreams
August 18
4 Strings - Let It Rain
Electric Six - Dance Commander
Foo Fighters - Have It All
Girls Aloud - Life Got Cold
Nightlife - Shining Star
Elvis Presley - Rubberneckin'
Queens Of The Stone Age - First It Giveth
August 25
A - Good Times
Big Brovaz - Baby Boy
Cooper Temple Clause - Promises Promises
Groove Armada - But I Feel Good
Lemar - Dance (With You)
Lemonescent - Unconditional Love
Love Inc - Here Comes The Sunshine
Mya featuring Missy Elliot - My Love Is Like... Woo!
Finley Quaye - Dice
Justin Timberlake - Senorita
September 1
Christina Aguilera featuring Lil' Kim - Can't Hold Us Down
Tim Deluxe - Less Talk, More Action
Travis - TBA
September 8
Kelly Clarkson - Miss Independent
Dido - White Flag
Ian Van Dahl - I Can't Let You Go
September 15
Blondie - Good Boys
Gareth Gates - TBA
