Emo The Letter

IAMX is one of those artists whose music I enjoyed once upon a time but can't really listen to anymore because it reminds me of a difficult time (in this case, sitting the final exams of my undergrad).

However, I'm willing to make an exception for a track he recently recorded with the brilliant Imogen Heap, 'My Secret Friend'.

The song is deliciously melodramatic and overblown and the two singers' vocals fit nicely together. I also really like the cross-dressing video that accompanies it:

Full Moon. Half Moon. Total Ellipse.

Imogen Heap has put her entire new album, 'Ellipse', up for preview. The follow-up to her breakthrough record, 'Speak For Yourself', has been a long time coming, as anyone who has followed her series of vblogs charting its evolution will surely know.

I always think it's a good indicator of an artist's confidence in their material when they're prepared to let you sample the goods before you decide whether or not to invest.


On first listen, it sounds different enough from her older material to keep her loyal fanbase interested although perhaps not radical enough a departure to win over many new converts. I particularly like 'Canvas', 'Tidal', '2 - 1' and (for its utter ridiculousness) 'Bad Body Double'.

Heaps More

Oh, wow.

After debuting 'First Train Home' last week, Imogen Heap has premiered yet another track from forthcoming album, 'Ellipse'.

'Canvas' is a slow-burning, cinematic number with Imogen's layered vocals laid over a gorgeous backdrop of strings and piano. Some people seem to have been underwhelmed by 'First Train Home', but I don't really see how this could fail to restore their enthusiasm for 'Ellipse':



The video can be seen here.

[Image: Count Me Out]

So What? You've Got a Silly Hat On...

Earlier this week, Imogen Heap's Twitter made for some very interesting reading.

A journalist called James Cabooter from the Daily Star had received a copy of her forthcoming album 'Ellipse' for the purposes of reviewing but somehow his copy the album managed to wind up for sale on Ebay.

By the time Immi had been alerted to the Ebay auction by a fan via Twitter, bidding had reached almost $100. A matter of hours after she urged her Twitter followers to "make it the most bidded-on item ever on eBay", the bid-price stood at $10,000,000.

Yesterday, the first cut of the album was premiered legitimately. 'First Train Home' sees Imogen's dreamy vocals coasting over over a backdrop of twinkly synths and the song's lyrics, telling of the morning after a bad night out, are typically quirky.

The track would sound right at home on Imogen's previous album, 'Speak For Yourself', which should keep fans happy but if you didn't like her before, this is unlikely to change that.

Closing In...

Forty vblogs later, the release of Imogen Heap's new album, 'Ellipse', is almost upon us. As if she hadn't already whetted our appetites quite enough, she has produced this lovely little trailer, which sums up the production process of the album in sixty seconds:



The album is due in August and the first single to be taken from it, 'First Train Home', is expected to surface in the next couple of weeks.

Milosh Kosh B'gosh

Imogen Heap has been documenting the production of her third album with a series of vblogs on her youtube channel. As well as being a great way for Heap to maintain contact with her fanbase at a time while she tinkers away on new material, this has also offered a fascinating insight into the various stages of the process of putting her album together.

In her latest youtubular post, the thirty-fifth in the series, she namechecked the excellent David E. Sugar and a Canadian electronic artist called Milosh.

Credit must go to Immi because Milosh is a quite a find. His sleepy, lo-fi lullabies are the perfect companion to the M83 album 'Saturdays = Youth', which has been providing the soundtrack to my January blues.

I really love the video to his song, 'The City', which was directed by Walter the Robot:

Keeping with the theme of lonely robots, this song 'My Name is Lucy' by Lucy London offers a deliciously satirical take on net culture. I heard it when getting my hair cut and, after a great deal of difficulty, managed to track it down.


[Image: Last FM]

Tips For... Er, 2006

I've got so much time for Last FM. The music website "scrobbles" the music you listen to on your MP3 player or computer and then recommends artists you might like based on what people who share your musical tastes are listening to.

Yesterday, it endorsed UK electropop outfit Temposhark, whose duet with Imogen Heap on 'Not That Big' I quite enjoyed back in 2007. Turns out the whole Temposhark album is pretty decent. Thanks Last FM!

Better yet was the recommendation of Dangerous Muse, a campy New York-based duo whose synthy anthem 'The Rejection' bypassed me completely back in 2006 but still sounds fairly awesome almost three years later:



Their debut album is due out in the next few months and news that the record is being produced by Bloodshy & Avant is very promising indeed.