Our love for trippy Londoner songstress Martina Topley Bird runs deep (we told you so), as does our lust for Aussie techno-shoegazers Van She, that’s why I was ecstatic when I heard the sexy pair went half on a music baby (and don’t forget Danger Mouse did the original production for one hot Ménage à trois)! The tune came on my radio last this last Friday, part of The Crystal Method’s exceptionally good radio program “Community Service Radio” for Indie 103.1 (they stream it online, yo!). I immediately set out get that track(!), but sadly, it was beyond my reach. …Until now. Low and behold what’s just found its way to the ‘toofbox:
We likes it! The full ‘Poison’ single drops on May 5th with an additional remix by British electro-rockers The Officers. Martina’s full length ‘The Blue God’ following up shortly after on May 12th, both released on London’s Independiente.
Gnarls Barkley, the eccentric powerhouse consisting of equal parts producer extraordinaire, Dangermouse and soulful rapper/singer Cee Lo are at it again. Surfacing last week, ‘Run’ is rumored to be a new recording that is among a few dozen handfuls in the running for the sophomore record, ‘The Odd Couple’, which is slated for a April release. We’ll see if this ends up on the finished record. If it doesn’t, it’s another testament to their talent that they can throw these kinds of tracks away.
Through the ’90s Cee-Lo got his start in the ATL rap group Goodie Mob, of which he is still a member (alhtough individual members are currently pursuing solo projects). For me, Goodie Mob really helped solidify ATL as a force to be reckoned with—in a time when far-reaching rap records were dominated by NY and LA. I ran these tracks into the ground on weekly basis for years. Goodie Mob is a very different animal to Gnarls Barkley, but that’s what makes Cee-Lo such a dynamic talent.
So smooth. Londoner and trip hop legend Martina Topley-Bird’s new album titled ‘The Blue God’ is around the corner and it’s produced by the man—’round the way New Yorker come UK resident—Danger Mouse of Gray Album, DANGERDOOM & Gnarls Barkley fame. We’re excited. The first tease of the record is ‘Valentine’, a morose and thoughtful song about love.
Martina Topley-Bird, emerged on the world stage in 1995 alongside trip hop artist Tricky, on his debut solo album, ‘Maxinquaye’. Martina Topley-Bird contributed greatly to some of Tricky’s finest tracks throughout the 1990’s (including all but two on ‘Maxinquaye’). A young Martina Topley-Bird was only 15 when she recorded her first song with Tricky, ‘Aftermath’. Her voice speaks of experience well beyond her age, I was properly and delightfully fooled.
Here’s some more favorites from the first pair of Tricky records including a Stereo MCs B-Side remix. And ‘Sandpaper Kisses’ from her 2003 solo debut record ‘Quixotic’:
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