If you're anything like me (honest & truthful) you treated the XX with caution when they first wandered on to your radar. A lot of hype for something that seemed very simple and same-y you may recall thinking. Indeed, if this is one of your first few encounters with the XX's beat maestro then you might feel the same, but if you keep dropping this into your playlists, pretty soon you'll struggle to listen to anything else. 

If you really find yourself struggling, just close your eyes and think of him as Mark Ronson in reverse. He takes pop songs, changes their genre, but ends up making them better. I jest but the concept still stands, he's taking a popular track and challenging people with not oft-heard genres, there's not another human being making music of this quaity and type at the moment.  Let me know what you think of the track by clicking 'comment' or 'like', let me know what your song of the week is as well. Don't be a stranger.  Tree Boy xoxox

P.S. If you want to find out more about Jamie XX check out my post a few weeks back featuring his Eliza Doolittle remix. If you haven't heard it you will lurve it!

It's hardly news, because hopefully you all realised this bloke is a joke. But I know some of you think Black Eyed Peas are great and this farce can DJ... Have a ganders at this post from Zane Lowe's Blog and tell me he is not the bain of music...

And not only does Will.i.am infuriate me, I just cannot understand why Boys Noize would get involved with him a) after he ripped off Daft Punk, thieving from Daft Punk is blasphemy AND b) why he got involved full stop. It's going to do nothing for his already flawless reputation in the minds of so many people... Anyway, I'm baffled and I've waffled. 

And... Much more importantly than clarifying that, that man is a prat; whilst I was admiring Zane's blog I spied the fact that Mike Skinner is remixing The Streets final album himself under the pseudonym "The Death of Marat" and you can listen to the remix of my favourite track on the album 'OMG' by clicking here. Basically, if this is a sign to come... and Mike's going to start producing dubstep then I'm going to tattoo 'The Streets' across my heart. And if Will.i.am wants to engage in some sample robbery, hook burglary, noise slavery or wholesale piracy of The Streets tunes then I will boom boom pow him in the throat. he's such a twat. Tree Boy

P.S. Listen to The Streets ft. Clare Maguire - Lock the Locks. Look at the top comments under this video... They almost made me cry, again. "Roof of your car", I could go on, this album is a spectacle.

Right, the post below this one is filled with iknowasong.com Sunday Love Songs and they're great, if you're loved up and emotionally stable. In case you're not, here's some tracks that won't have you reaching for the kleenex. Well... hmmm. xoxoxo

Ball Park Music - iFLY - Winners of Triple J's unearthed competition for Brisbane 2010, these guys will surely go on to huge things. If I was going to write a love song I'm sure the sentiment would come out a lot like this.

The Wavves - Post Acid - This track came in at number 4 of my favourite tracks of 2010. That's huge! This track will shake any of that melancholy out of you.

Betty and the Werewolves - Purple Eyes - My infatuation with this band and their album 'teatime favourites' has been broadcast on some of my previous indie posts. Their album is the cure for depression, buy it and prosper.

Los Campesinos! - Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks - My 7-piece Welsh Brethren master the art of uptempo. I'm harking back to years gone by with this but it's a staple inclusion for this compilation.

Cancel the Astronauts - I am the President of your Fan Club (and Last Night I Followed You Home) - With a title like that you'd never expect the song to live up to it, but it exceeds it, even.  

Darwin Deez - Bad Day - Basically if you're hating an ex today you need this song in your life! It says everything you've ever wanted to say :)

Ball Park Music - Sad, Rude, Future Dude - More of the Brissy guys! Their music really is perfect for an occasion like this. Hopefully you won't be relating too much to this track but you'll be enjoying it for sure!

Givers - Up, Up, Up! - What a pick-me-up track this is; sounds very Paul Simon-esque and there are plenty more huge compliments I could pay this. Picked by many as the next big thing. I wouldn't be surprised.

Foster the People - Pumped Up Kicks - Certainly the band of the hour in Australia at the moment, this track is immune from being over-played. It's a great note to end on I think. Have fun today :p xxx

Here's a few deep and meaningful's for the couples out there. Some are oldies but they're goodies, have a good one. Much Love xoxox

Felix - Death to Everyone But Us  - You already know from the title that you could fall in love with this.

James Vincent McMorrow - If I had a Boat - One of my favourite tracks of right now, it's a lovely crescendo that'll be tugging the old heart strings all the way through.

James Blake - Limit to your Love - You should've known I'd get a dubstep track in here somewhere! It's nothing like you'd expect though lovebirds, don't panic. High Class subtle German production behind this, James Blakes' Self Titled album is my fave of 2011 so far. If you like this, you'll love it.

Angus & Julia Stone - Big Jet Plane - this Aussie brother and sister duo are unstoppable at the minute. They've just taken home Aussie Song of the year for this track, winning the Triple J Radio's Hottest 100 competition, hundreds of thousands of people voted for this and you'll hear why.

Ellie Goulding - Sweet Disposition (Temper Trap Cover) - Another reason why we shouldn't judge her by that debut album.

The Good Natured - For the Widows in Paradise (Sufjan Stevens Cover) - Sufjan Stevens 'Age of Adz' was on a lot of people's favourite album of 2010 list but this cover will top the original for most peeps.

David Vertesi - All Night, All Night, All Night - So pretentious he named it three times? It's so good he can name it as many times as he wants and we'd still love it.

Emiliana Torrini - Big Jumps - This is one of the older tracks here but I'll be playing it for many v-day's to come I'm sure!

The Veils - Bloom - We'll pick the tempo up to round it all off! My co-writer might like this one, happy valentines babe ;) xoxoxo

Skrillex, aka 22-year old Sonny Moore literally boggles my mind. Not only was he signed to Epitaph records at 16 years old touring alongside the likes of 'All Time Low' as lead singer of the punk band ‘From First to Last' ... not only has he produced and provided vocals for the band ‘Bring me the Horizon’... but now for most people, he’s one of the greatest dubstep / fidget house producers out there and he’s signed to the massive Mau5trap records on remix duties for the likes of Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga!

And with regard to his dubstep, this track is Sonny’s show piece; it’s the shop window display track that’ll have hoards of people rushing inside to buy his back catalogue. Not unlike his tracks that we’ve previously featured, this track is evil genius; he’s taken chart fodder and packed it full anthrax and hand grenades that will poison and disfigure your brain.  I’ve been waiting to hear this track since I first owned headphones, when I first heard this drop I thought I’d developed some sort of chronic asthma, I just couldn’t stay upright, it knocks the wind out of you – I was literally overcome by the filth AND if I’d have died of asthma listening to this track then I would have died happy. And then had this track played at my funeral. 

What this track will become, is an example. Allow me to explain.  People will ask you what music you listen to, you will reply dubstep. People will (still!) say ‘what is dubstep?’ and you will hand them headphones and play them this track. People will go ballistic for it and be like ‘O.M.G. this shit is so fucked up, I love it’ and you will grin, smugly.

And then of course you’ll remind them that if they want any more of this top shelf wobbly bass razzle then they’ll find it all at iknowasong.com.  Enjoy this, I know you will. Tree Boy xoxoxo

I am very excited by this song.

Panic! At The Disco first broke onto the scene in late 2005 with their debut album ‘A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out’ which has subsequently turned out to be one of my favourite albums of all time. The catchy tunes, upbeat tempo to the songs and excellent vocals from Brendon Urie really captured the hearts of teenagers around the world! Singles such as ‘I Write Sins Not Tragedies’ will go down as classic pop/rock songs. And don’t forget the pretentious song titles, they even manage to out do Fall Out Boy, which is some achievement. I recently wiped the dust from this record and put it into my car stereo, and it has now been there for over a week, it really brings back some good memories, so I strongly advise people to dig out their copies!

So following up this album was always going to be a challenge. I remember seeing them at Reading Festival in 2007 where they played a couple of new tracks which were very exciting, one of those was ‘Nine In The Afternoon’ which went on to be the new single from their second album. The album was titled ‘Pretty Odd’, a title that was perhaps fitting for the wrong reasons. I enjoyed listening to ‘Nine In The Afternoon’ however the rest of the album really didn’t get me going, they adopted a different style that I personally did not like. However considering that the album debuted at #2 in the UK charts, I may be talking complete rubbish…?

Since ‘Pretty Odd’ was released in 2008, the band has lost two members Ryan Ross and Jon Walker. The remaining two members, Brendon Urie and drummer Spencer Smith recorded the single ‘New Perspective’ for the Megan Fox film, Jennifer’s Body. This was a very catchy song, and gave me a feeling that this band may not be finished with just yet.

We now find our selves in the present day, and Panic! At The Disco have announced their new album Vices & Virtues will be released on March 29th and that they will have a full UK tour in April. The Ballad Of Mona Lisa is the first single from this record and I believe that it is a sign of things to come. The video to the single begins with a familiar setting, that of the church from the ‘I Write Sins Not Tragedies’ but it is covered in cobwebs… I’m not really sure what this is meant to symbolise, maybe that they have simply come a long way from that first album or that they have some serious arachnid issues…

However, I hope that they have reverted back to some of the style that first took the world by storm, and release another classic album!

Check out the new video below and let us know what you think! – Vizzle.

The indie crowd have been sidelined lately and I can't have that... Here's some tracks to say sorry :( Tree Boy xxx

Faded Paper Figures - North by North
Not quite Postal Service, not quite DCFC but in between, and that's still quite a good place to be!

Little Comets - Adultery
I'd hazard a guess that my co-writer Vizzle won't mind this track too much. Which means if anyone's going to draw comparisons here it's him; I can't tell you who they sound like but I can tell you that it's good.

Hunx & His Punx - Lovers Lane
This sounds like something you're parents play and then say 'Ooh, this is what I used to dance to when I was your age... I was really trendy back then'. It sounds like a cross between a Showaddywaddy track and 'under the boardwalk' - it's a big pick me up, love it.

Alex Winston - Sister Wife
A fellow co-writer brought this girl to our attention all those months back and then she disappeared as quickly as she came. Alex Winston's still here though and we can live with that :p x 

Iron & Wine - Walking Far From Home
Alright, Iron & Wine aren't the indie archetypes but I didn't get this lot the first time round. This song is enjoyable, if not the lovechild of a Robbie Williams love song and an OC soundtrack. Many will enjoy though, I'm sure.

This week there's a mixed bag of remixes, a re-mixed bag... lots of genres so there's something for everyone. They've been in my itunes armoury for quite some while so forgive me if these are old news, but regardless, they're all good news.

The Suzan - Animal (Miike Snow Cover) - Yeah it's a cover not a remix, whatever, it's still one of the best songs of last year and one of my favourite covers of all time. You can't fault the original that's a given, but this is infectious, it's fun, it's beautiful, it's different, it's simple and I could go on. I know nothing about the Suzan and I don't want to; they have the East Asian accent which gives this cover that edge, the mis-pronounciations warm my heart all over again, just as the original did.

Javier Dunn - Animal (Miike Snow Cover) - You're going to love that first track so much you're gonna need some more Miike Snow covers so here we go... I know relatively little about this 29 year old LA based artist but you'd think he was the lead singer of Snow Patrol when you hear the start of this, so what I'm saying is, if you like Snow Patrol you owe yourself this track. It's a bed time beauty.

Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek (Roksonix Dubstep Remix) - call it Imogen Heap, call it Jason Derulo, whoever it was, they just got the treatment from Roksonix. It's not the best quality and I'm to blame for that, but if it sounds this good at this quality be sure to pick it up from beatport  / itunes as soon as you get the chance. This is a more colloquial form of my favourie genre, it's bouncy and care-free so it might not appeal to all the dubstep fans but it's a decent remix, of that there can be no doubt.

Taio Cruz ft. Ke$ha - Dirty Picture (Cookie Monsta Remix) - BUT if this track doesn't appeal to you, then I put it to you that you don't like dubstep at all! Anyone whose anyone should be having palpatations when they see the dubstep trademark 'cookie monsta' next to a track. Signed up on Doctor P and Flux Pavilion's Circus Recordings you always knew this was going to push boundaries and it does, it sounds like a wounded dinosaur. Crying a lot. It's that good you'll need to move your furniture before you play this.

Ellie Goulding - Your Song (Elton John Cover) - You'll need this to calm you down after that last track, this cover is genious. If you fancy more Goulding covers give me a comment because I'm stockpiling these for a really self involved emotional time of my life. It's a great cover, and in some peoples eyes (including my own) it lives up to her hype more than a lot of her original stuff. Oof, I felt better now I've said that out loud. Enjoy them all. Tree Boy xox

I don't know what my favourite line from this mixtape is but it's between 'I'm tired of being a drunk and hiding it... I'm tired of trying to get wasted on heineken / yeah I got into a fight again... Painkillers I'm gonna need five of them / 'cos there was only one of me and there was nine of them' OR 'I used to love you like stir fry / but now you're boring like corned beef' OR 'my heads a mess like Joleon Lescott'.

That's right, this was a special Christmas treat from an IKAS icon; Mike Skinner, and you can download the whole FOURTEEN(!) track mixtape that's softening the blow of the Streets releasing their final album, 'Computers and Blues'. The mixtapes grimey and I like that, with appearances from the likes of Kano, Trim and Wiley this was always going to be more than what I expect from a mixtape. And if you're not one for grime you've been catered for as well, check out the track 'too numb' which Mike recorded during the British winter that's just passed (if it's passed, I don't know, but he sounds as depressed as I'd be) Mike describes it as 'ragga by the way of Duran Duran' and I tell you what (aside from the lyrics obviously) that's spot on. Skinner even recites a poem (or a payer!) with no backing track!

So this is nearly the end of an era, I'll need a lot of hugs when the Streets are no more, but at least there's even more genious here to comfort me. Let me know what you think (that means you as well Vizzle, I know we're not going to cry as much to this one as much as 'Everything is borrowed' but still... ! Remember when we were wrecked on the way home from town and recited the whole album listings song by song, haha! Anyway, I'll shut up now.) Tree Boy xox