I would be your only dream

Nine times out of ten it's a rare delight to find one of your favourite artists has covered another, and done it well. Lykke Li's version of "Silver Springs", an absolute gem on Fleetwood Mac's Rumours could have been directly lifted from either of her albums. Antony Hegarty's sublime golden syrup vocals sweep across one of our all time Mac songs, "Landslide", while hipster-band-of-the-moment-for-some-time-now Best Coast have taken "Rhiannon" from the Welsh moors to the Californian beach. We're not usually all over tribute albums but this looks like it's gonna be a good'en.

YOUTH KNOWS NO PAIN

Tonight we saw Lykke Li at Manchester Academy 2 and she was absolutely fantastic. We apologise if you're currently sprawled on the floor, blown away with the intricacy, depth and profoundness of our prose but there's no other way we can really put it. Well, apart from what we're about to write. We've seen Miss Li before, a few years ago at Latitude, and even then we were totally shaken with how overflowing with energy, fun and magic her performance was. Tonight proved no less different, and we were enormously impressed with the creativity and spark of the set. A drab, miserable stage in the students' union was transformed into a blustery, apocalyptic landscape (alright well not quite a landscape but just go with it) and song after song after song segued into one another proving just how high the standard of quality of her two albums are. If you were to listen to her albums alone you'd be forgiven for thinking she would be quite laid back on stage, but she very rarely stood still - wailing, shaking and grinding from one side of the stage to another. For £12 fucking pounds and 50 pence. Absolutely ridiculous. Lykke Li is an incredible artist, but an even more incredible example of why live music is important.

One of the best album tracks of the year done acoustically...

Moody.

I HIPSTER HAIR BACK AND FORTH

The amazing and incredible Lykke Li is snatching all and every wig with her latest video. She manages to outquirk almost every other woman releasing music videos this year without even appearing to try. No costume changes, no product placement, no celebrity popstar cameos (although Stellan Skarsgård is in this). No slickly choreographed routines. No conceptual hats.

Just Lykke, dancing seductively and sadly for... her dad? Her sugar daddy? Creepy, bittersweet, sad. Amazing.

Perfect for this crisp Spring morning (eurgh, did we really just write that? How twee and presumptuous of us)

Lykke Li is blessed with beauty, charm and talent. Beguiling, and all that. Watch her perform an acoustic version of album track "I Know Places" from her stunning recent album Wounded Rhymes. According to Li herself it is performed 'live on the moon' (??). Allow it to carry you away on a cloud of melancholy-tinged sadness mingled with bliss.

Sadness is my boyfriend

Disclaimer: this article was originally written for publication in the University of Manchester Students' Union's newspaper, The Mancunion. As its author also writes for this fabulous blog, it's also on here, however regular readers may note a change in style and voice. Just go with it, pretend you're reading a paper.

Apparently, if Swedish songstress, prolific hipster go-to girl and all-round drama queen Lykke Li “ever got as big as Madonna”, she “would want to run away and die”. As charming as this news is, her message, loud and clear, is that the Top 40 simply isn’t for her. She doesn’t need chart figures or sales numbers, especially not when she is producing material on the level of quality of sophomore effort Wounded Rhymes. Swerving toward an alternative direction from her debut, Li has dropped the endearing frailty and replaced it with neurotic pining flecked with spells of romantic rebellion. Opening track “Youth Knows No Pain” calls for an end to the moping and depression of teenage love, while “Unrequited Love” floats back into the hormonal despair she manages to write about so well.

This slightly bi-polar attitude toward l’amour keeps the listener on their toes throughout, reaching a peak with “Sadness is a Blessing”. Lifting lyrical and instrumental motifs from the up-tempo paens to disappointment pumped out by the House of Motown and turned into anthems by the likes of the Supremes, lines such as ‘Sadness is my boyfriend / Sadness is my girl’ pinpoint the characteristic melancholy stomping she seems to effortlessly produce. Countrywoman Robyn seems to also have the formula locked down, albeit with an electro dance-pop backing track. What is it with these Swedes and their sadness? They love it.

As pleasurable as listening to a consistently brilliant album is, there of course has to be tracks which seem to stand above the rest. “I Follow Rivers”, the album’s second single, re-uses instantly recognisable imprints from “Little Bit” mashed up with aggressive, commanding lyrics. An impressively powerful song, it’s an excellent example of her ever-improving song writing and production skills and why Swedes do it better.

*shudders with delight*

The intro to this remix is incredible. The actual remix itself is pretty good, all jazzy shoulder-shimmying horn stabs, evoking Judy Garland gurning and shuffling in sombre black and white...

Where were we...

Oh, yeah. The remix is pretty good, but THAT INTRO.

It doesn't scream its brilliance. It's not a kitchen-sink affair.

But it cuts through to the soul.

(Do humans have souls?) (Please don't go there - Ed.)

Waste(land)

This is Lykke Li's new video for "I Follow Rivers". It's ace and everything. Technically it's very, very brilliant. Not much happens but it kept our attention for the entire thing (most pop videos don't). It's visually sumptuous and bleak (hard to achieve both, dontcha know). It goes great with the song. It doesn't remind us of anything.

The only problem we have is that... if you're Lykke Li and you are beautiful and charming and beguiling and sexy and have a hell of a presence YOU SHOULD BE ON SCREEN FOR MORE THAN JUST 20 SECONDS AND YOUR FACE SHOULD BE VISIBLE FOR US ALL TO ENJOY AND BASK IN AND BE JALOUX OF.

That's all. Other than that, great.

Oooh, BROODING.

This is Lykke Li's next new single. We're not sure if "Get Some" was a proper single or just a buzz malarkey but seeing as it was both a free download AND a limited edition 7" vinyl, we're guessing it was probably the latter. Or maybe, the former, after all that's how they tend to do things In Da WoRuLD ofF INiDIe MuSiCzZ.

Anyoldgays. This is "I Follow Rivers" and it's gorge and effortless. On its own it would probably be quite sumptuous and enticing, but what really makes it great is that odd percussion, as if Ms. Li is bashing pots and pans with a wooden spoon! Unexpected and lush.

Her Hand/ A Hand.

Just when you think you've found something utterly perfect and complete within itself, a song wistful and oblique with an opening bass that reminds you of Kate Bush's "Sunset" and echoing piano that brings to mind empty rooms, motes in thick afternoon sun and Laura Veir's gorgeous "Don't Lose Yourself", you find it rendered even more impossibly beautiful with a... metal cup.

Stunning.

Lykke Li's second album, Wounded Rhymes, is out in 2011 and has this artwork (above). Haunting, no? What is it? At first it looks like a huge, looming rock, but on closer inspection, we're pretty sure it's fabric. Is it a person, a costume, a billowing cape, an installation? A bit of a shame not to have Lykke's pretty face on the cover, but, you guys, she's a serious artist, she don't need to show her face!

The tracklisting for the album is below:

1. "Youth Knows No Pain"
2. "I Follow Rivers"
3. "Love Out Of Lust"
4. "Unrequited Love"
5. "Get Some"
6. "Rich Kid Blues"
7. "Sadness Is A Blessing"
8. "I Know Places"
9. "Jerome"
10. "Silent My Song"

Wet with excitement!

Saucy!

This is the video for Lykke Li's "Get Some" (if the song still doesn't want to make you stomp and jive, you're medically deaf) and there's some rather salacious crotch rubbing in it, a lot of hipster triangles and candles and kaleidoscope effects and a screen in the background playing media whose origin we are unaware of. If you know where the footage is from, do let us know.

The Return of Ms. Li

Lykke Li, one of our favourite Swedish female singers (not that that's saying much, we seem to wuv them all, but y'know...) is on the cusp of releasing her new single, the lead song from her second album campaign. The song, which you can enjoy above, is called "Get Some" and features some rather sordid lyrics: "I'm your prostitute / you gone get some". It's a barnstorming, handclapping, mashpotatoing retro bonanza that makes us want to 'throw down' (whatever that means) and engage in some twisting and jiving. As with Lykke's previous work, the wondrous woman manages to make a series of acoustic sounds, all jangly and clattery, sound almost futuristic (the work of producer and star of Peter Bjorn and John, Björn Yttling).

Speaking of Lykke Li, if you visit her website (or click below) you can currently watch a short film of hers called Solarium. It's a bizarre mix of Maya Deren's Meshes of an Afternoon, an All Saints ad and a Ke$ha video (in black and white) and is bonkersly good. We suggest you 'check it out', as the kids say.

A new Lykke Li video that isn't for her second album...

This is for that awful vampire sequel about chastity and sparkly foreheads (what? We're Buffy worshippers and True Blood lovers and refuse to be involved in a vampire phenom so ridiculously limp, tame and focussed on abstinence). The song is sweet and atmospheric but not going to change your life, we don't think (just wait, give it a week and we'll be banging on about it like nobody's business). Anyway not much happens in this 'moody' and 'monochrome' video... we would have watched it til the end but then we couldn't be bothered.

To be honest, as with a lot of artist 'content' we'd rather Li just got on with her next album

Double-yew. Tee. Eff.

Are you having a strange morning? A bit of a queer turn? Are you feeling odd? Are you sitting down? Are you capable of operating heavy machinery? Are you pregnant? Well if you are, take heed, because the above video of Robyn and Lykke Li singing "I Want To Break Free" in shimmery burkhas is enough to push you over the edge.

The Latitude Report #4: Lykke Li

It was with much excitement that we queued to see Ms. Lykke Li. There is always room in our heart for a Swedish maiden, and Lady LiLi is no exception, with her starkly unique sonic landscapes, constructed from angular, almost atonal beeps, bonks and grooves all sewn together by Lykke's soft yet formidable vocals... *drifts off into trance*

Anyway, we being the ignorant donkeys that we are, thought the Lady called Li might be rather subdued and coy live. Not so. Complimenting her softly biting pop treats with striking dance moves and a confidence it's hard to fake, she put on a top notch show from start to finit. There was even a short interpolation of Lil Wayne's "A Milli" (WE KNOW!!!!) and some new material (a sort of African lullaby). We urge you to see her if you get the chance.

The whole fantastic experience was almost ruined by a group of idiots next to us who were moshing horrendously (at a Lykke Li gig!!!!) and persisted in making borderline sexist, louty remarks about "laying her good" everytime Ms. Li did a vaguely saucy dance move. Nevertheless, fabulousness won the day and in all it was brilliant showcase for Wicked Wi's talent. (You're fired forever - Ed)

Top Ten of the Week: Scandinavian Blondes

10. Frida Hyvönen


9. September


8. Margaret Berger


7. Stine Bramsen


6. Annie


5. Karin Dreijer Andersson


4. Lykke Li


3. Bertine Zetlitz


2. Agnetha Fältskog


1. Robyn

It's literally a "chocka" day for music videos...

This is a new video for Lykke Li's Tonight. It wasn't on the album. We're not sure where it's from but we've got a less good live version knocking around in mp3 format somewhere.

The video's ultra understated. It's fairly boring. Lykke Li isn't very conventionally pretty, is she? But she draws you in with her Swedish eyes. It's an emotional affair. We quite love her, the kooky bat (that was a joke, sexism watchdogs).

Several weeks, but finally we bring you

We know, we know. It was meant to come all the way back in early December, but due to us having far too much fun or better things to do, like working on getting rid of all those pesky hangnails, it's being delivered just under a month late. Doesn't make it any less amazing. You may have gathered Shiny & New is predominately authored by two main (and mayjah) hemes (homos in Polynesian), with one massive lesbian occasionally flitting in to inflict scorn on everything anti-kd lang and various other sluts and wannabees writing now and then. The two mayjah hemes took it upon themselves to compile this list, in their opinion, the ten best* albums released between January 1st and December 31st of 2008. You will find the favourite album of each writer and their explanation, along with the eight runner ups, SCROLL DOWN NOWWW.
*Best, in this sense of the word, being defined as anything sufficiently amazing, fierce, fabulous, 'on it', hilarious, spine-chilling, etc.

Adele – 19
Layers upon layers of lush strings, enchanting xylophones and shiver-inducing bass fail to mask the magnificent sound bursting from this born-and-bred-and-yes-genuinely-common-as-muck Londoner’s lungs. Her debut features heart-breaking paeans to lost love alongside breath-taking soul orchestrations, showing a wide range of musical capabilities concealed by a mistakenly brought about “new Amy Winehouse” facade.

Camille – Music Hole
The French Bjork done good with a thigh-slapping, knees-up, non-stop whirldwind tour through her sprawling imagination. Perfectly formed little acappella vignettes depicting everything from wild ducks, to tea parties, to vocal Divas, monks and waves this was a unique album of assured genius.
Girls Aloud – Out of Control
Continuing their practise of improving their craft with each new album, the Girls returned with perhaps their most consistently brilliant album yet, exhibiting epics crawling with early 80s disco synths, Motown-referencing calls to the dancefloor and a surprising jig featuring an ex-member of the Smiths on mouthorgan defying the listener to stay still.

Joan As Police Woman – To Survive
Similar to Feist in her skill of making ordinary musical instruments and hushed vocals sound extraordinary, Joan Wasser crafted an album of astounding beauty and mastery. Blending unconventional structures with almost classical sounding musical turns, this was a triumph.

Lady GaGa – The Fame
This was the sound of a thousand synthesizers exploding musical cum all over the world. Many hailed a successor to Madonna’s throne. We think they might finally be right. A club brat from New York turned disco dance diva, this was an album packed full of spooky, otherworldy super smash megahits. All attempts to keep from dancing to this ended in failure.

Ladyhawke – Ladyhawke
Lauded as “Cyndi Lauper for the American Apparel age”, Ladyhawke continues the trend of referencing (and down-right stealing) 80s alternative pop motifs and splatters them all over her menacing, neurotic lyrics. We particularly love the merciless destruction she plans to unleash upon the next male she happens to be scorned by.

Lykke Li – Youth Novels
Not the new Robyn, but the antithesis to her. Shy, awkward and self-conscious, this was more than just a polite alt-pop opus. It was the sound of Nordic pop colliding with trumpets, handclaps, piano, saxophones and a heap of musical promise.

Santigold – Santogold
Insultingly so, Santigold’s reputation has yet to stretch further then “the new M.I.A.”. Her musical boundaries happen to stretch much further than our favourite Bangladeshi child-bearing self-publicist, with no less than eight stark genres woven together in amongst the masterpieces that lay in wait on her eponymous debut. This girl knows her shit – and don’t you dare tell her she’s an R’n’B artist on the basis of her skin colour.

Madonna – Hard Candy
Madonna’s most recent incarnation sees her as the confectionary-toting dominatrix of 2008, a nod to her Miss Dita persona of the early 90s Erotica era, but with lollipops ñ made from sugar. Reviewers, fans, record executives alike ñ even Madonna herself ñ were quite aware 2005’s Confessions on a Dancefloor would be a tough act to follow, and while I don’t think anyone would say Hard Candy topped Confessions, I’m sure I’d have some support in stating it gave it a good shot. Attitude’s brief review stated it in a satisfyingly succinct manner; ‘A brilliant pop album, but Madonna can do better.’

Opener ‘Candy Shop’ attempts to set the tone for the rest of the album, however the thinly-veiled call to eat Madonna’s vagina is quite separate from the lush synths and layers of the electro-guitar lament ‘Miles Away’, the Nile Rodgers nod from the menacing ‘She’s Not Me’ and the irresistible ‘Beat Goes On’, complete with token rap from well known African American rap artist.

It may encroach on flawlessness, but debut single ‘4 Minutes’ is really the only track which puts Timbaland’s tricks of the trade to noticeable use, while the follow-up ‘Give It 2 Me’ stands with La Stefani’s second album in the Hall of Pharrell’s Not So Amazing Work. However, Hard Candy definitely does show promise. While an anomaly in Madonna’s track run of working with 'unknown’ producers, her personal stamp on the album is clearly recognisable amidst the fog of Justin Timberlake’s irritating backing vocals and Danja’s repetitive synths.

The glorious ‘Devil Wouldn’t Recognise You’ demonstrates the entrancing song-writing talents of Madonna’s folk singer brother-in-law Joe Henry (see ‘Don’t Tell Me’ and ‘Push’), while album closer ‘Voices’ provides the listener with a spine-tingling climax to a mixed bag of tricks. For every dull ‘Spanish Lesson’ there is a captivating ‘Heartbeat’. The listener cannot help but wonder whether it would have been in the better interests of the album’s quality if Madonna was not so blatently intent on making a mark on the American charts; either way, it cannot be denied that Hard Candy is a pleasurable dessert to end the Queen of Pop’s reign at Warner Bros.

Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
Erykah Badu has been enchanting listeners as the ‘First Lady of Neo Soul’ since her first album, Baduizm, was released in 1997 but until this, her fourth studio album, she hadn’t taken such a risk, artistically. Her first three albums, whilst solid and beautifully crafted works, serve more as patchworks of interweaving thoughts, drifting amongst slowly shifting grooves, beats and Erykah’s distinctive voice, as opposed to being fully formed and cohesive collections of songs, like New Amerykah Part One.

Quite what prompted her to make such a change in direction, from being content to essentially go with the flow musically, to make an album like this, of such stark, unusual and controversial beauty, one can only imagine, but whatever it was, it can only be good.

Opening with Amerykahn Promise on which Erykah appears to be welcoming immigrants to the US of A and explaining the skewed principles of the ‘promised’ land upon which they have arrived with biting irony, she makes her mission clear. This is not just an album of existentialist breakup songs, or hazy grass-fuelled musings on life. This time, it’s political. And despite the potentially disastrous results of that, it turns out fantastically well.

This year Solange Knowles declared that she’d like to be “the black Björk”. Unfortunately for her, though, Erykah Badu comes much, much closer. Working with a kind of feverish musical genius and finding that magical balance between being a true sonic innovator and making gorgeous and life-affirming music, Erykah turns out the most artistically adept album of the year.
Whether it’s on The Healer on which she declares, over spooky and achingly slow swells of darkly rhythmic chimes and bells that hip hop is “bigger than the government”, or on Me in which she sing-songs a potted version of her childhood accompanied by a slow, rubato trumpet, there is plenty to savour here.

And Erykah makes her strange political reflections manifest without beating you round the head with them. On Twinkle, the track breaks down half way through giving way to genuinely eerie African chanting and a sample of Peter Toole’s infamous society-bashing monologue from Oscar-winning movie Network (also used to frightening effect in cult internet conspiracy-theory movie Zeitgeist). From images of drug dependency to addressing Hurrican Katrina or black-on-black crime, Erykah expertly melds musical innovation with lyrics of substance and importance – a rare and wonderful skill.

The album closes with Telephone, a seven minutes tribute to J Dilla, a neo soul music producer and close friend of Badu’s, and provides the listener with material much closer to her previous work: personal, ambling, gorgeous in its relative simplicity. One hopes that soon she feels comfortable enough to return to that ground. But in the mean time, her scathing yet subtly and brutally beautiful attack on the so-called “American Dream” is so captivating and inventive, we can only hope the second installment lives up to the first one’s artistic merits