A Mouthful Of Melody – Fa So La Te Do!

Ludacris w/ Shawnna & Lil Fate “P-Poppin'” – This is from Ludacris’ charmingly titled (and I mean that sincerely!) Chicken N’ Beer LP. I’m pretty happy with the record, and I think it’s a big step foward for the guy. Prior to this record, I’d written him off as a spotty MC with a few singles which annoy me, but either I was just hearing the wrong songs or the guy has really improved a lot. I’m very fond of the production on this song; especially the way that the keyboards don’t sound quite like typical West Coast hip hop keyboards (i.e. like Dr. Dre and his imitators) and are much closer in sound and feeling to old Kraftwerk records. Very impressive.

Dressy Bessy “I Saw Cinnamon” (live at Maida Vale, Peel session) – I simply adore this song. It’s one of those perfect 90s indie pop tunes that may seem simplistic and mundane to indie haters and people hung up on innovation and novelty, but can sound utterly sublime under the right circumstances. I think that this live version from a Peel session blows away the studio recording; mostly because it’s recorded a little better, but also for the extra energy and the more distinctive and confident vocals from Tammy Ealom.