I’m going to keep it short and sweet today, as I’ve only got a few tracks that you must hear.

First up, and arguably most important- “Let The Sun Shine”, by Labrinth.

Labrinth, a.k.a. Timothy McKenzie, is the mastermind behind this gloriously beautiful record. He’s already got two top ten hits with his work with Pass Out and Frisky rapper, Tinie Tempah, however he’s got signed as a solo artist recently himself- Simon Cowell’s first recruit that’s not from Reality TV in six years. But, don’t hold that against him- he’s superb, so far.

He’s originally a producer, and has created tracks for the likes of Professor Green and Pixie Lott, to name but a few, but he was chosen to work as a vocalist and musician instead. He’s already jumped further into the limelight after he, allegedly, chose not to work with ex-Girls Aloud singer Nadine Coyle, as he’d prefer to work with Cheryl Cole.  But, back to the song…

The song is a pop masterpiece, without the commercial rubbish sound you may think Cowell would promote. His diverse musical influence is apparent and it’s visible on the track. Starting off with nice vocals, a quiet yet hollow, later surging synthy sound, slowly building into a slow yet ,eat- it continues along with perfectly suiting lyrics. Overall, its very well crafted. Yeah, it’s radio friendly, but you wouldn’t be ashamed to have it on your iPod either. It’s one of those tracks that is so good, you know there’ll be many shite remixes released, when really, there’s no need- it’s good enough on it’s own.

Dub him as a younger Timbaland, but that’d be insulting- Labrinth is far more varied, and if this quality of music stays consistent, he’s far more talented. Well, just about. He’s far more likeable, that’s for sure.

I’ve great faith in this new artist; a lot of it.

Labrinth – “Let The Sun Shine”

Let The Sun Shine is out September 26th.

www.labrinth.co.uk

The trailer has been released for the DIT Movie, a groundbreaking-blockbuster tale of life in the Capital.

In short, it’s for those “who want to make the most of their college experience”. It was uploaded by DIT CampusLife, the people behind the services and student support facilities in the IT.

It’s very witty and catchy, and I’ve not seen anything quite like it. It works very well as a compliment to show the lighter, and fun side of the college, in addition to the “serious” videos on offer.

Set in modern Dublin, four students lives are to change… Forever.

It’s brilliant. Watch and enjoy.

Other colleges, take note.

It really is a better campus experience.

Arcade Fire are getting a lot of hype. They are selling out gigs in record time, they’re playing the big festivals, they’ve released their latest album, The Suburbs, and they’re receiving critical acclaim from fans and reviewers alike. And now they’ve launched a website, after teaming up with the developers of the Google Chrome web browser, which helps you experience a visual version of the latest single, “We Used to Wait”, a song which talks about the past and nostalgia. It’s called The Wilderness Downtown.

The website enables you to enter an address, presumably where you once lived. Then it will load a special custom built video for you which takes you on a journey  to the neighbourhood and give you a glimpse of how times once were, or as they are on Google Maps and Street View now. I tested it out, and living in Ireland, a country with has no Street View, it’s not as effective, but if you select somewhere like Times Square in New York, or London, you get a real feeling of how the project operates. You’ll be beamed across the sky, alongside flying birds and a running man (seen in the picture) to witness the area you selected. At the end, you’re invited to write a postcard (as they did to announce their album) for your younger self, which is later added to the experience.

It’s a big step by Arcade Fire, who’ve decided not to moan and give out about the internet “crippling the music industry”, but harness the technology and experience for users so that they can truly embrace the song and see it for themselves, in video, words and pictures. Personally, I don’t want to say how the site works very much, as it’ll ruin the initial moment of awe as you use it. All you can do is view it for yourself.

Arcade Fire play The O2 in Dublin on December 5th and 6th.

http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

http://www.arcadefire.com/

The world is full of talented musicians, many of which stand out for their fashion sense, their political agenda or purely because they create ground-breaking material. Die Antwoord aren’t any of these, as such, They are, however, one of the most bizarre and creative acts I have seen in a long time; and once you get over the laughs and realise that they aren’t a joke- you get to see that they are really trying to make something completely different from the norm. And, they are.

The South African trio are more of a cultural and artistic project than a hip-hop group, in my opinion. The act have already released an EP free of charge on their website and had their music video become a viral internet smash. Plus, they just appeared at LED festival in the UK last weekend, among other European dates. Plus, they are really getting great popularity, even making the radio playlists of some big radio stations.

Their style is very creepy. “Ninja”, the frontman and rapper, plays a unbalanced, violent man, filled with energy, thoughts and emotion, with a great respect for his heritage. In real life he, after “he lied and cheated his way through high school”, went to live in the highly poor Alexandra Township to smoke “zol” (Cannabis) with the “rastas”. He spend a number of years living down by the river in the township purely smoking and eating boiled cabbage. In “Enter the Ninja”, their music video, he can be seen in a dark, damp and dirty room  with his mind- later spitting out fast spoken words and holding no mercy telling listeners. Cue the entry of progeria suffer, Leon Botha for some hard hitting shots, some freely wandering rats and Yo-Landi Vi$$er in a schoolgirl uniform singing. There, and there only is the video. But, the music to go along with it is highly, highly catchy. On first initial listen, it’s drivel- but towards the end, you’re captivated by the group. Then you listen and watch again, you then visit the website and listen more, you learn more, you rinse and, you repeat. They may have a very offensive and alternative style of publicity and presence, but it all adds to the artistic nature. Their website claims that Ninja and Yo-Landi had “a baby by accident” and they are just good friends, because he thinks “chicks are f*cking complicated”, however it’s just part of the act. They have a baby, are married and the child is starting school. This proves that you should enjoy their music and artsy offbeat ways by all means- but don’t read too much into them.

They even played with the electronic mastermind, Aphex Twin, at last weeks festival.

They even released a video talking about themselves and their interests musicially. But this made many of their Cape Town friends dislike them, as speaking about musical interests and lives is somewhat a taboo. It may have upset their mates in the business, but it certainly makes for mindboggling viewing for us.

Die Antwoord won’t set the world alight. They probably won’t explode and become a worldwide sensation, but they will captivate your senses. Check them out, go see them live, enjoy them- do as you will- just don’t take them too seriously.

http://www.dieantwoord.com/

I’ve just uploaded the first of my mixes, available to listen and stream free of charge. It’s a first for me to do this, so hopefully it goes down well with your musical wants and desires. I have always given copies of gigs to the venues or the organisers upon request, but never have I really put any of my mixes online when not on radio or whatnot. Therefore, I hope you like it.

It’s nothing too serious- just a big, varied and fun 90 set that ranges across many genres. It kick starts with the new banger of a tune from Swedish House Mafia (seen above) with Tinie Tempah- a huge track that marks another great release from the trio. As the mix goes on there are tracks (many of which only newly released) from artists such as Example, M.I.A., Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Alesha Dixon, Princess Superstar, Crookers, Fenech-Soler and many more. I didn’t want to stick to one style, so you’ll get a good mix of synthy-pop, indie-electro, big dance tune rock tracks. It’s just a good blend of songs that you can listen to, with a great summer feel.

The full tracklist is as follows:

1. “Miami 2 Ibiza” – Swedish House Mafia Feat. Tinie Tempah
2. “Drummer Boy (Yolanda Be Cool & D-Cup Mix)” – Alesha Dixon
3. “We No Speak Americano (Original Mix)” – Yolanda Be Cool + Dcup
4. “Amazing (Play & Win Mix)” – Inna
5. “Green Light” – Roll Deep
6. “Exceeder (Felguk Remix)” – Mason
7. “Like A G6″ – Far East Movement & Dev
8. “Bulletproof (Diggz Remix)” – La Roux
9. “I Was Drunk feat. Noze” – Riva Starr
10. “Alors on Danse” – Stromae
11. “XXXO (Fulton Yard/Rieces Pieces Remix)” – M.I.A. Feat. Jay-Z
12. “Won’t Go Quietly (Extended Mix)” – Example
13. “Make You Pop (Radio Edit)” – Diplo & Don Diablo
14. “Bang Bang Bang (Count & Sinden Remix)” – Mark Ronson & The Business Intl.
15. “Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix) (Club Mix)” – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
16. “Barbara Streisand (O-God Remix)” – Duck Sauce
17. “Let Loose (Radio Edit)” – Ian Carey
18. “Dynamite (Ralphi Rosario Edit)” – Taio Cruz
19. “All The Lovers (XXXChange Remix)” – Kylie
20. “Lollipop (Crookers Remix)” – Princess Superstar
21. “Lies” – Fenech-Soler
22. “California Gurls (Inner Party System Mix)” – Katy Perry Feat. Snoop Dogg
23. “One” – Sky Ferreira
24. “One (Your Name) ft. Pharrell Williams” – Swedish House Mafia
25. “Billionaire” – Travie Mccoy Feat. Bruno Mars
26. “Rude Boy (TC Remix)” – Rihanna
27. “Voodoo Sabotage (Beastie Boys vs. The Prodigy)” – The Kleptones
28. “Opposite of Adults” – Chiddy Bang
29. “Airplanes, Part II (feat. Eminem & Hayley Williams)” – B.o.B

It’s just a nice little mix to help you enjoy the last few weeks of Summer.

To listen to it you must visit my Facebook page, kindly available by clicking- http://www.davidokeeffe.com/music, and selecting the “Music” page. You may need to “like” the page if you’ve not done so already.

Tell me what you think- I’ll be glad to hear your feedback.

I just had to write about this: only minutes ago, rapper 50 Cent (had his Twitter account hacked) started to tweet genuinely bizarre, hilarious and brilliantly disturbing tweets. And, it was is hilarious.

The Grammy nominated and Billboard award winner usually has, it seems, a hard working promotional team who post regular messages on his behalf; be it about shows or CD’s or TV appearances- you know, the usual sort of things you want to tell fans. However, today things were a bit different- 50 (Real name, Curtis James Jackson III) was shouting about how he hates when his Grandmother makes him do chores around the house, how he “busted his ass coming down the steps in the gym” and how he took out the “garbage”. All of these things pointed towards suspicious account activity, but as I write this article I had confirmation that there was no security breach of his account- so these crazy updates are 100% 50.

The tweets, originally thought to have been sent as a hack from music website AllHipHop are filled with bad formatting, spelling and terrible grammar- but this is what makes them beautiful. Sure, Kanye West may LIKE TO SHOUT IN BLOCK CAPITALS ALL THE TIME AND USE LOTS OF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’S, but 50 does things differently- his own style, if you will. Why? ‘Cause he’s so damn fresh.

But we cannot joke about Mr. Cent, after all, he’s being very helpful in telling some serious life-lessons to his 3 million followers, on a variety of topics.

Be aware, there is a great deal of strong language and sexual content.

For example..

50 Cent on romance-

• “I change my mind info I did know we was gone have wips and shit I’m on my to the sex storeNow lol”

50 Cent on playing “Hide & Seek” with the G-Unit-

• “I’m bin laden mother fuckers actin like they can’t find me lol”

50 Cent on being modest-

• “I was just checkin out miss info.tvAnd I don’t like how you been talkin about meSo I decided not to let u ride nyI nick named my dick ny”

50 Cent on politics-

• “Look michelle obama Need I thug in her life fuck that come hereGirl you can be my mentor”

50 Cent on Nicole Richie-

• “Necole bitchie you just hurt my feelings See dat I tried to be nice throw you a little shot Out dam you owe me a apology”

50 Cent on healthcare-

• “If your a rapper and you sold 5,000 cdsYa fat and turn 44 years old you might want Get prostate checked and your colon cleanseMy advice”

50 Cent on Twitter-

• “They set me up man They wasn’t suppose to show me how To use this shit I’m activated no one safe”

50 Cent on safe driving-

• “Oh shit this bitch almost hit my carTwitter almost killed meYou can’t tweet and drive at the same timeIll fuck wit yall later”

50 Cent on Nicole Richie. Again-

• “I got a gun on me now nigga do something I’m Strapped oh that necole bitchie bitch talking Bout me oh its on”

50 Cent on fine cuisine-

• “I’m hungry but I don’t know what I want to eatI want me some chicken no some fish noI just want some pussy I’m not hungry any more”

50 Cent on 50 Cent-

• “I really don’t like when people call me crazy I’m not crazy I’m special and I don’t wish bad on anyone. Learn to love me”

Highly varied, huh? The best bit: these updates were all posted within a few hours. I think @KanyeWest has just lost some followers, ’cause Fiddy’s killing it.

Plus there’s no reason for his promotions team, who gave him access to Twitter in the first place, to be upset at loss of sales or talk about 50′s work- believe me, he’s got his marketing hat on, clearly, as documented in this tweet…

• “Yo yall heard da shit I did with ceelo its hot I spoke to him yesterday he told me he loved itAnd we made it official. Video coming soon”

Update:

50 Cent just posted what food he did eat, in the end. Apparently it was a “Kim K Burger*” (seen below)

*Kim Kardashian, for those of you who may not know. (It’s not her)

What do you think? Piece of artistic genius, cheap re-hash of stock footage, or drugged out freaks? This is “Drugs” by Ratatat.

Ratatat – Drugs from More Soon on Vimeo.

www.ratatatmusic.com

Today the full daily line-up for the Temple House Festival was confirmed, and as anticipated and stated before, it’s a cracker.

The daily performances stand as…

Friday, 10th September

The Undertones, The Stunning, The Chapters, The Walls, The Dub Doctor Sound System, Peter Hook, NYPC, Paddy Usher Band, Oddsocks Revival, Society X, Hamlet Sweeney, Jezzebelle, The Curtain Thieves & Davide Swarup.

Saturday, 11th September

Howard Jones, Donal Dineen, Reef, 202s, O Emperor, Miracle Bell, The Codes, The Riptide Movement, Terry Hall (DJ set), RSAG, Shouting at Planes, Noise Control, The Trampz, The Aftermath, Little Beauties, The Revolutionary Commandos of the 3rd secret of Fatima, Merchants of Fortune, ronan O’Snodaigh, John Conneely, Jackk & Jones, Bubba, James Morrin, Ester, Test 4 Echo, Joe & Co, Karma Parking, Twin Kranes, Glen Cal, David Swarup and Michelle Nadia.

Sunday, 12th September The Wailers, Damien Dempsey, The Saw Doctors, The Whiteliars, Preachers Son, Bipolar Empire, The Josephs, The Beat Poets, My Evil Ex, The Danger Is, TKO, Relief, Lisa McLaughlin, SIVE, Majella Murphy, Davide Swarup, Stylaman, The Double Ds and The 11s.

Tickets are still on sale at a bargain of €79 for two days with camping, available online at www.tickets.ie and in selected outlets.

It’s going to be amazing. See you there.

www.templehousefestival.com

It’s Music Friday, so brace yourself for quality tracks that I’ve been listening to over the past week, some songs only newly released, or quick simply, just some music that you need in your life.

First up, Fenech-Soler, a band that are by far one of my favourite artists right now. I’ve been listening to them for quite some time now, and I’m shocked (yet, happy) to see that they made this weeks all-important Radio 1 Playlist- an incredible feat for any musician. The song selected to appear is Lies- a fantastic song that you’ll love. The band hails from Kings Cliffe in the UK and formed way back in 2006, with appearances on BBC and other high profile outlets; plus they’ve lent vocals to Groove Armada and have remixed Marina & The Diamonds, along with releasing some superb material in their own respect.

I have been chatting to them on Twitter, and hopefully there may be a Dublin date in the near future. Fingers crossed.

www.myspace.com/fenechsoler

Tinie Tempah has been storming the charts, first with Pass Out- the song with tons of attitude and a huge beat, then Frisky, the song second track that didn’t fail to help cement him as a strong new artist. Now, he’s back with his latest offering, Written in the Stars, with a an appearance from Eric Turner.

The song has the same excellent power that you’d expect, with great lyrics from Tinie and a booming beat, alongside lovely piano sounds and electric guitar; all in all, a very appealing mix. Turner’s voice gives a new dimension and compliments the London rapper wonderfully. This is a big tune, and is going to be massive.

Keep ‘em coming Tinie.

www.tinietempah.com

Tinie Tempah – Written In The Stars (Feat. Eric Turner)

And finally, even though the music scene is dominated by foreign acts, we’re still producing world-class music here on Irish soil. Adebisi Shank prove that.

The band are realising their latest and second album today, aptly titled This Is The Second Album Of A Band Called Adebisi Shank. It’s a mindblowing synthy-industrial-big sound experience; and it’s great.

The album is available for a full and complete listening online below- and I encourage you to support this fine act and see them at their gigs, one of which is tonight, in Whelans. You have to see them live: you won’t regret it.

http://www.myspace.com/adebisishank

This was released yesterday morning from the lovely folks at E4.

Sure, they’ve only gone off and created a ‘ruddy prequel video!

I’m a major fan of the show, and I am very much looking forward to the shenanigans from the boys, and all the various cringe-worthy scenarios the get themselves into.

If you’ve not seen the show yet, you should be ashamed of yourself. Never fear, however, as you can watch the two series in their entirety online at 4oD. I particularly recommend these episodes: The Field Trip, Episode Two (“Bunking off”), Thorpe Park, Caravan Club and Work Experience.

You will have many occasions when you gasp for air, as you laugh your belly out.

The new series is due out next month.

This has been doing the rounds this morning, and I feel it’s only right that I share it.

Basically, experimental music artist, Shamantis, has taken Justin Bieber’s track “U Smile” and modified it by slowing it down over 800%. Glinner is onto it, as are other folks in the Twitterverse- no doubt it’ll be snapped up around the place soon- as quite frankly- it’s special.

Who knew that the boy could create something so good, after it’s fiddled around with.

Check it out for yourself.

J. BIEBZ – U SMILE 800% SLOWER by Shamantis

If you’re, er, unfortunate enough not to have heard the real thing, here it is:

Blind Pilots, hailing from Dundalk, are an atmospheric indie-pop quartet who originally formed as a bunch of sixteen year-old schoolboys, but continued to make fantastic music, up to their current ages of 21. At this age they are releasing their physical double a-side single Rosé Cheeks/Cocktail on August 28th.

Before now, in 2008, they dropped their debut EP, The Toys Have Gone Berserk, which was given critical acclaim from reviewers and music fans, bringing a great deal of popularity and strength to the group- so far as that they’ve played support to big names such as Fight Like Apes, Ham Sandwich and Giveamanakick.

They’re playing tomorrow, Saturday 14th, in O’Neills in Maynooth (Co. Kildare), August 17th in Matt the Millers in Kilkenny and August 28th in Spirit Store, Dundalk, alongside many other Irish dates. It’s well worth checking these guys out live.

The single is available for download free of charge now at bandcamp.

Listen: http://blindpilotsofficial.com/

Download: http://blindpilots.bandcamp.com/

Crooked Mountain, Crooked Sea are a post-rock four piece from Brighton with influences and similarities found in bands such as Fugazi and At The Drive-In. They’ve started to do some touring, and have picked up some support from Tom Robinson of BBC Radio 6, to name but a few.

Their latest EP, “I Watched It From The Roadside”, is out now featuring six solid tracks that you’re sure to love, if you want something dark, powerful and deep, with poignant lyrics and quality hooks.

The group will be playing London (Old Blue Last, Aug 17^th), Bristol (Mother’s Ruin, Aug 18^th) and Brighton on August 19th at Hector’s House. They’re sure to make a stop in Ireland in the future, as their name is undoubtadely going to be a familar one to rock fans alike on these shores.

Download Slow News Day here.

Listen: http://www.myspace.com/crookedmountaincrookedsea

Buy: http://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/its-falling-that-counts-not/id354123049

Have a listen and tell me what you think. I’m sure you’ll really enjoy these.

Many new songs this week, as gathered by my lovely followers on Twitter. Yep, that includes you. As you can now see, you can submit them to me by visiting www.davidokeeffe.com/yourtuneskies and I’ll have them ready to post. I’ve got some regular contributors to the column, and some new folks too, so without further adieú…

Strangely enough, it was an exclusive first-play on ITV2 last night, but it’s also grabbed the attention of Alan Costello. He wrote to me today stating how he loves the new Katy Perry song, Teenage Dream. It’s the latest song since the hit California Gurls featuring the smooth operator, Mr. Snoop Dogg. And, following in the success of the aforementioned track, it’s sure to be a big one.

His reason:

It’s fantastic, starts off slow and meaningful and turns into a massive pop CHOON that will be the song for the rest of the summer, she made a lyric video herself which is frankly amazing and should be the actual video…and I’ve got a certain screenshot as my desktop, also, mmm, man candy…

Er, thanks Alan.

www.katyperry.com

Another little song that is loved this week is Slow by Rumer. It’s out next week and was recommended by John of Warner Music Ireland. As a commenter says “It’s rare these days to hear something to cause a pause in the day…”, and they are most certainly right. This beautiful track that you should pre-order now. Her album is out later this Autumn.

www.myspace.com/rumerlovesyou

He’s also loving God & Satan from Biffy Clyro‘s new album. Check it out.

The single itself is out August 20th.

Alan Rice has again shared his favourite tuneskie; On Melancholy Hill by Gorillaz. It’s on their album Plastic Beach. It’s a fantastic video, and it’s a great track. Plus, they’re coming to Dublin in November.

Gorillaz – On Melancholy Hill

And, for my favourite song this week (well, one of them), it’s got to be The Writer by Ellie Goulding. It was released this week as a single and is sure to get some serious amount of airplay.

Your Tuneskies shall be back next week, and if you want to submit your favourite song for then, write to me on Twitter (@davidokeeffe) or visit www.davidokeeffe.com/yourtuneskies

Arthur’s Day was a huge success, with dozens of gigs across Dublin City, with world class acts and a special shindig in the St. James Gate brewery. As you know, it’s been rescheduled again for 2011, and tickets were quickly snapped up- however, those selling the tickets above face-value (some available online for up to ten times the cost) are being warned and could soon be taken down by the brewery and the folks at Ticketmaster.

In an article posted in today’s Irish Times, the Guinness marketing team have stated that they are “working with Ticketmaster to investigate instances where ticket purchasers have placed tickets on eBay for resale and are endeavouring to cancel these customers” tickets where possible, as they breach the sale agreements in place by the global ticketing firm in charge of the event. It’s been found that two tickets, retailed at €10 each for Brandon Flowers’ solo show in The Academy were sold for nearly €250.

If you’ve bought tickets, you should essentially have forked out vast amounts of hard-earned cash for tickets that may not be usable.

This should be an interesting turn of events, and it shall be very interesting in how this scenario all plays out.

[Arthur's Day ticket tout warning on Irish Times]

Photo credit: September 23, 2009 – Photo by Dave Hogan/Getty Images Europe

Edited: 16.14 due to stupid original typo. Thanks to the tip-off and the monkey who re-typed it for me.

It was reported that teeny-pop sensation, Justin Bieber, got hit on stage by a bottle of water- thrown by a fan earlier today. Well, someone at the concert. Biebs‘ went on with the performance, simply saying that it “didn’t feel good”. The plastic missile was launched just after he said “I love you guys”.

It has been reported that the bottle was in fact still water, and not of the sparkling variety. Only a number of months ago a bottle of water he drank one sip from was sold for over over $800 dollars. The heartthrob didn’t drink the water because he didn’t like the “fizzy” nature of it. You can see the video below.

photo credit: radio1interactive

Firstly, I directly asked Mr. Conor Jay, a highly promising and skilled young Techno and House producer from Ireland (or as he puts it on his profile, between Ireland and Wales). His favourite song? Strangely it’s the same as mine- ‘Barbra Streisand’ by Duck Sauce, a collaboration of Armand Van Helden and A-Trak. It’s a fantastic tune, and it’s up there with the summer songs of 2010, alongside One by Swedish House Mafia. If you’ve not heard it, check it out- it will be big.

James, from Sligo said his favourite song, or tuneskie, this week was ‘Blackout’ by The Game. It’s a new song, apparently, and surely fans of the rapper will love it. Now, it’s hard to get the information on the song (try searching it on Google and not finding a animated piece of procratinating fun), but it appears to be from the recently released Brake Lights mixtape, alongside his accomplice DJ Skee. For your pleasure, here’s some gangsta’ rap from Connacht.

Ian Healy is loving the new song ‘Ready to Start’ by Arcade Fire, from their latest album ‘The Suburbs’. After headlining Oxegen this year, no wonder Irish still love them.

Azrael, simply from Ireland, said his song was ‘Revival‘ by band Deerhunter. From first listen to this track, I get the feeling of dark, heavy 70′s rock, and a Jimi Hendrix style. Just me? Have a listen and tell me what you think.

She got a record amount of VMA nominations yesterday, but Lady Gaga is getting some spins on the player of  Irish student Alan Rice with her song, ‘Starstruck’ alongside Space Cowboy and Flo-Rida. It’s got some serious Timbaland influences, but there are some serious heavyweights behind this track. Yes, it’s very good indeed. Good choice, Alan.

Daniel Pitcher, the ‘sports guy’ from FM104, and fellow twitterer, is loving ‘We No Speak Americano’ by Yolanda Be Cool and D-Cup. Need I say more? Big tune.

And, I didn’t expect the last one, from friend and technology fanatic blogger, Shane McEntee- he’s listening to ‘The Daylight Here’ by indie folk group My Terrible Friend. With various instruments, sounds and some moving lyrics, the young female duo (who are quite popular on YouTube it seems) deliver a strong powerful song that’s quite special. Do listen and watch, now.

Don’t mind the jabbering at the end- it’s not in the song, but it shows how they seem to be fun, nice people.

If you’ve got a favourite song of the week, get in touch. I hope to make this a regular weekly post. You can shout me @davidokeeffe or drop a post on my official facebook page, www.facebook.com/davidokeeffeofficial.

When New York originally came out, it did moderately well, achieving #12 in the Irish Top 40, whereas it only got #15 in the UK; something not too common- but it was so, er, popular, it’s now being released again, featuring Wu-Tang Clan member, Ghostface Killah. Yeah, the guys who wrote “Gravel Pit“. The song got it’s release yesterday.

But has it brought the song to a whole new light?

www.palomafaith.com

photo credit: Hot Grill

Meet The Wanted. They’re the newest boyband on the block, and they’re totally manufactured. And their first track, ‘All Time Low’, has gone straight to Number 1 in the UK , although only Number 19 on Irish shores. But, will they set the world alight?

After a talent search by Geffen [Interscope] Records, three members were picked. Another member, Max George, from The X Factor band Avenue some years ago was then placed into the group, as he wanted to be in a different pop outfit, after his group wound down. Then Irishman Siva Kaneswaran was too selected, already a model who appeared in several adverts. Mixed background, you’ll agree.

The five piece, choreographed by Brian Friedman, are hoping to jump on the boy-band-wagon after JLS have made everyone love them again. Their debut record, out later this year, has work with pop industry fave’s like Taio Cruz and Guy Chambers (who’s known to have been the main songwriter for Robbie Williams), but also dance producers Steve Mac and Cathy Dennis, whose the mastermind behind some of the hits for Katy Perry, Britney Spears and, er, SClub7.

It’s a strong start for the group, and yes, it is different, to a point, from the other boyband work out there. It’s got lyrics with some interesting meanings a melody that isn’t too bad, although the rip-off sample from Coldplay’s ‘The Scientist’.

What do you think?

Who knows; JLS may get worried yet.

www.thewantedmusic.com

After many, many weeks of speculation and overtime at the rumour-mill, it’s was confirmed today that Robbie Williams will be joining his ex-bandmates from Take That.

The group, who have sold over 80 million albums, and have performed live to over 14 million people, have won 19 BRIT Awards, had 13 No.1 albums, 17 No. 1 singles, 8 MTV Europe Music Awards and five Ivor Novello awards are to release an album in November.

Hopefully Robbie doesn’t bring bad luck to the release, like his own album Rudebox. Not many people know it, but EMI, the company behind the singer, recalled unsold copies of the record and shipped them to China to be used in street paving, roads and lighting. Seriously.

Robbie and the band fell apart in the mid-nineties after he fought battles with drugs, at which point he quit the pop super-group, which eventually split. They came back together in 2006 with a boom (and a host of songs that, in my opinion, were composed of pretty good music) and sold out tickets to their concerts in record time. Now, with Robbie back on the team, surely this will mean big bucks for the boys, along with a ton of publicity, airplay and support. There always was, somewhat, a divide between Take That fans who were for and against Robbie leaving, so who knows how this will go down.

Now composing of their original five members, will be the first time they’ve played together since 1990.

This should be a fairly interesting few months, and I eagerly await a listen to the new material, as many will. My fingers are crossed, however, that Rob’s ego doesn’t wreck the band.

You can check out the “official” video below. Note that Stuart Price, who has worked with Madonna, was producing the yet untitled album.

The citizens of the planet are getting hooked on these little fellas’: sloths.

In Brazil they are called “Bicho-preguiça”, and in Costa Rica they are being protected and taken in if they are hurt or injured. The sloths are being taken into the Aviaros del Caribe sanctuary- the home of the world’s most loved video on the internet.

Lucy Cooke went with the intention of filming these charming little creatures, and now her video is being watched by over 160,000 people everyday, according to The Guardian.

I know whenever I go to Dublin Zoo, they are not very active animals, naturally, and they aren’t the prettiest things around, but this 90 second short certainly puts them into another light.

Try and watch this without dropping a sneaky smile or going “awhhhh”. I challenge you.