Portishead Tear It Up

In aid of Amnesty International, Portishead have just released their new track "Chase The Tear" which is available for download exclusively from 7 Digital - profits going to Amnesty's Human Rights work. It's quite wonderful too - Beth's smooth and sinister vocals are set against a strict tempo collision of Moroder style 70's analogue electronics with some monotone guitar brought in for good measure, in a very dark place indeed. Judge for yourself though - the video's just below, and then purchase your own copy.

Andy J's Top 3 Remixes of 2009

As 2009 draws to its conclusion, it's the time of year when everybody tries to decide their favourite album, their favourite single, their favourite film, or perhaps even their favourite version of A Christmas Carol. My thing is remixes. This is my top 3 for 2009....

3: Miike Snow - Black And Blue (Caspa Remix): 2009 was the year where dubstep went overground and indeed woomb woombing free at many of the UK festival grounds. Although it was largely Skream who was responsible thanks to his eventually ubiquitous remix of La Roux's "In For The Kill", it was fellow dubstepper Caspa whose remix of Scandinavians Miike Snow that really performed the magic trick - it just sounds better than the original.

2: Oasis - Falling Down (A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Mix by Amorphous Androgynous): who would ever think that Oasis would make a chart of cutting edge music. Even in their prime, it would be either a Gallagher brother or a madman (perhaps much the same thing) that would describe their music as revolutionary, but thanks to the freaky-stylings of Amorphous Androgynous (better known as The Future Sound Of London), over 22 glorious minutes Oasis finally sounded if not relevant then certainly interesting. Of course they couldn't top this - this is the real reason behind the disbanding for sure.

1: Saint Etienne - Foxbase Beta (Richard X): difficult what to say here as Richard X and Saint Etienne set themselves an uphill challenge - how do you improve upon what is rightly viewed as a classic without ruining the memory completely. George Lucas should take note. Foxbase Beta captured Foxbase Alpha's original London setting and jetted it over to a sunset beach in Ibiza. Around 1987. There is not a bad remix in the set, and the additional quirks of Beta set it apart in a way that neither fades nor tarnishes the original. A triumph.

Get Struck Dumb!

Things just seem to get better and better for Sunderland's finest export, The Futureheads. For the small sacrifice of your e-mail address, new-album taster "Struck Dumb" can be yours to own, forever, gratis, free. Full details on their website. It's the most fun you're likely to have under three minutes tonight for sure. It's also one of the most out and out pop songs (in a early nu-wave kind of way) that they have dared to release yet. A good thing and bodes well for the album.

• Visit The Futureheads

Seeing as I'm in the mood for a remix or two (see above), here's a classic interpretation of "News & Tributes" single, Skip To The End by Digitalism for you to feast your eyes on whilst you wait for the futureheads confirmation e-mail to hit your inbox. It's all about the drop ...

Pete D'oherty Does It Again

You know the old phrase 'couldn't get arrested' well this obviously doesn't apply to Pete Doherty who has managed to get himself banged up again ..this time in Germany. He had apparently just been thrown out of a bar after asking staff where he could buy some cocaine and had decided that throwing a pint glass at a parked car was the rock n' roll thing to do, was promptly arrested and taken to a police station, near to the infamous Checkpoint Charlie, where he was held for three hours before being booked for property damage and then released.

Steve Lamacq Launches Old T-Shirt Day 2 - Hooray!

For some it takes little encouragement to wear washed out, threadbare, mis-shapen band t-shirts to work - and not just on 'dress down' Friday.  But tomorrow Steve Lamacq is encouraging everyone to raid their wardrobes for the oldest, weirdest band t-shirts you can find for national 'Wear Your Old Band T-Shirt To Work Day'.

More information and a great promotonal video can be seen here : http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/steve_lamacq/tshirts.shtml

See how Steve shows his true early 90's indie colours with a selection of Carter USM, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Wonder Stuff and Kitchens of Distinction shirts.  He won't wear Kingmaker though, oh no, he leaves that up to Elvis.  Meanwhile a selection of Radio 6 buddies show just how far back they go with such ancient bands as Metronomy and Grizzly Bear.  Ooh, retro!

Sadly I have tomorrow off work but, if I was going, then a suspiciously musty Back to the Planet t-shirt would be my attire of choice.

XFM Listeners Name 'Songs of the Decade'

Listeners to the allegedly alternative radio station XFM have named their Top 10 songs of the decade with the end result one in the eye for the likes of me who criticise radio playlists for blandly replaying the same hits back to back and those who clamour for a rest from groups made up of four or five white blokes.  It seems the listeners love this shit, so good luck to them.

XFM Listeners Top 10 Songs of the Noughties
1. The Killers - 'Mr Brightside' (2004)
2. Arctic Monkeys - 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor' (2005)
3. Kings of Leon - 'Sex on Fire' (2008)
4. Muse - 'Knights of Cydonia' (2006)
5. Elbow - 'One Day Like This' (2008)
6. The White Stripes - '7 Nation Army' (2003)
7. Ian Brown - 'F.E.A.R.' (2001)
8. The Strokes - 'Last Nite' (2001)
9. The Killers - 'Somebody Told Me' (2004 / 2005)
10. MGMT - 'Kids' (2008)