10 Tracks: The genius of Gonzales

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.

New Releases 14th April 2008

Single of the Week: Ladyhawke – Back Of The Van
This is not the most innovative single released this week, nor is it the most outright beautiful. It is, however, the one that made me sit up, almost spit out my coffee, and go ‘YES!’ It’s derivative in oh so many ways.. the video is all Pat Benetar, the vocals are Stevie Nicks all over, there’s modern touches borrowed from Feist… but it all gels into something that works perfectly. A refreshingly non-ironic take on the 80s, for once, and a deserved best of a good bunch this week. She’s signed to Modular and plays the Camden Crawl this weekend – catch her now, as she’s surely a star in the making.

Click below for the rest of the week’s UK single releases…

Time for some more upcoming and worth a look…

Since I’ve finally caught up with the weekly reviews, I thought I’d do a bit of a round-up of some interesting videos/tracks doing the rounds that are coming out over the next few months. A whole bunch of vids await if you click ‘read more’ below.

Featured tracks include a bit of looking ahead with new ones from Annie and Aly & AJ, the best Eurovision entry in recent memory from Sebastien Tellier, routinely great pop from Robyn, Kylie and, um, Ashlee Simpson, Jamie Lidell dancing with a unicorn, Princess Superstar getting saucy like it’s 2003, and some more dandy tracks from Santogold, Justice, Chromeo and Keren Ann.

Comments and thoughts welcome: loving any of these tracks? Hating them? What other upcoming releases are you looking forward to?

I’m, as always, reserving comment until the week of release… enjoy!