Wonderful Life: Win Tickets To Hurts

Hotly-tipped Mancunian synthpop duo Hurts touch down at Whelans in Dublin this Thursday for their debut Irish gig. With tickets costing just €14, it's well worth heading along to see if they can deliver on the promise of their unfathomably brilliant debut single 'Wonderful Life'.

But, then again, why pay at all? The lovely people at Heineken Music have kindly given me a couple of free tickets to give away.

Inspired by the band's name, I'd like you to tell me about your most hilarious injury to be in with a chance to win. E-mail your answers to thebubbleboyblog@gmail.com pronto.

In case anyone's wondering, my most hilarious injury was probably when I started jumping with joy upon discovering I'd been hired for a new job, jumped so high that my head connected with a beam, and gave myself a mild concussion.

The job was doing market research in a call centre.

Anyway, less about my idiocy. Here's the video for Hurts' new single, 'Better Than Love':

Everybody Hurts

Manchester pop-noir duo Hurts have been deemed the act fourth most likely to succeed in 2010 by the BBC's 'Sound of 2010' music industry poll.

Their obscenely brilliant track 'Wonderful Life' surfaced early last year and, since then, members Theo Hutchcraft and Adam Anderson have done their utmost to shroud themselves in mystique, divulging scant details about themselves and steering clear of live performances.

This strategy seems to have paid off as interest in the band has steadily mounted. Having already heard 'Wonderful Life' played in high-street stores twice this week, I have little doubt as to its crossover potential, but what remains to be seen is whether Hurts have anything else in their arsenal to ensure continued success.

Hurts - Wonderful Life

More Than Dior

One of my favourite music blogs, Cream Team, has introduced a new feature focusing on the role of contemporary music in art.

The first instalment introduced me to the work of French fashion designer Hedi Slimane who, after helming the Dior Homme fashion line for seven years, quit in 2007 to pursue various other projects.

Among these were a number of musical ventures, including collaborations with British band These New Puritans (whose recent 'We Want War' video is something of a modern masterpiece), designing album artwork for the likes of Phoenix and Daft Punk, as well as dabbling in music photography.

Hedi Slimane - Esser



Hedi Slimane - Lady Gaga



Hedi Slimane - Hurts



Slimane's latest project is a little more ambitious: a video depicting dancing by Oscar Nilsson of the Royal Danish Ballet Theatre, synchronised with live drumming by a bare-chested, bear-headed man.

I can think of ten people off the top of my head that would probably vomit with disgust upon seeing this sort of mildly homo-erotic arty-fartiness but, honestly, I think it's brilliant.



More of Sliamne's work here.

He Thinks That He Begins To See...

Two of my most reliable sources of new music are Illegal Tender and Popjustice. There's rarely any crossover between the recommendations they make but Manchester-based band HURTS have managed the impressive feat of garnering endorsements from both sites.

The band's debut single 'Wondeful Life' is slightly excellent and pulls off the throwback 80's/turn of the 90's synthy keyboard-driven sound extremely well. Even if the attempts to appear cryptic on the band's Myspace verge on obnoxious, I quite like the bizarreness of the low-budget video that accompanies the track: