(Nearly) all of our dreams have come true.

When we heard news of this possibly happening a few weeks ago, it genuinely felt like some higher power had delved into the Files of Things We Really Want to Happen and agreed. Beth Ditto is one of our genuine heroes - when we were beginning to develop individual ideas and thoughts on what it's like to be a teenager who happens to be gay in 2007, she was the first figure in music we encountered who seemed to make it fucking cool. "Standing in the Way of Control" was the anthem of that year, and we followed Gossip obsessively from that point onwards. A gig in September of that year saw her jump, writhe and grind on the faces of my friends and I (we were on the front row, duh), before we had a Spontaneous Crazy Moment and threw our t-shirt (which we had written our MySpace address on - bless - and pleaded with her to contact us on it) onto the stage. She picked it up as she left the stage, before coming back on for the encore - wearing it. Actually... *scurries to YouTube* oh no, someone had uploaded a video of her actually wearing my t-shirt but it seems that in the three years that have since passed it has disappeared into the ether. Hang on... *checks photo archives on computer and travels back in time to MySpace* OH MY GOD

We feel sixteen again! We used to exchange MySpace messages occasionally as well, during which (upon asking her what her favourite Madonna song was) she said that we would completely re-think our opinions of Madge if we watched Paris is Burning, the famous documentary about the underground vogue ballroom dances held in the late eighties/early nineties - we still love Madge because she steals everything and we've always known that. This all came about the years during which our musical taste directions were solidifying, and having such interaction with a genuine musical hero of ours was phenomenally exciting. Messaging on MySpace in 2007 was as liberating to interacting with musicians as Tweeting them is in 2011. We had a chance to meet last year when we won tickets to see Gossip in Manchester which included a meet & greet afterwards, 'cept from post-gig, it seemed like they couldn't be bothered as the manager came out and told us they were too tired. Extremely disappointing, but it couldn't dim our love for her.

We have always thought she had a voice perfectly suited for throbbing, dance-floor magic; people have been saying for years that she is one of the few white singers who could pass for black, such is the power of her voice box. Gossip's most recent album, Men in Love, took us as close to dance music as her voice had ever come before, with "Love Long Distance" being a particular highlight, yet it was last year's collaboration with Simian Mobile Disco, "Cruel Intentions", which was Beth Ditto doing dance. It was incredible, powerful, spine-tingling stuff, which was a perfect evolutionary step towards completing her first solo EP with the dance outfit. Cleverly entitled The Beth Ditto EP, it's comprised of four wonderfully crafted pop-dance tracks; "Open Heart Surgery" and "I Wrote the Book" press all the right buttons in terms of euphoric melodrama melded with stomping floor-hitters, while the remaining half "Do You Need Someone" and "Goodnight Good Morning" are more than good.

Beth Ditto EP preview by Deconstruction Records

We love Beth Ditto, and if you don't - you're mistaken.
PS, thanks for coming on this little journey through the past few years of our musical life, we didn't plan for the MySpace/PhotoBucket hacking to cut in half way through!