Video: Dizzee Rascal – Bonkers

In which Dizzee Rascal goes straight to the loony bin, with a little help from Armand Van Helden.

The video was shot using a special 360-degree camera that uses 6 lenses – a first, we’re told.

I’m more impressed with the shark costume, though.

Dizzee Rascal – Bonkers

Test page

I’m experiencing some “technical difficulties”. If this page publishes, the Gremlins have been vanquished. Pass the message on to Phoebe Cates.

Video: Katy Perry – Waking Up In Vegas

Wow. EMI apparently believes that Katy Perry’s One Of The Boys is up there with Thriller and Born In The USA, because they keep churning out the singles*.

This time round, it’s Waking Up In Vegas, which is notably bereft of melody in both verse and chorus. Still, Katy gets to try out some new wigs, meet Penn and Teller, and fulfil one of my all-time ambitions: sliding down a bowling lane on my stomach.

Katy Perry – Waking Up In Vegas

*Of course, Shania Twain’s Come On Over had about 11 singles off it, too.

Prince breaks 33-year silence!

Fans know that Prince is notoriously media-shy, almost entirely withdrawing from interviews after a couple of early, awkward encounters with journalists at the start of his career.

Those of us who saw his hilariously bizarre appearance on BBC Two’s The Sunday Show (Prince wore a scarf over his face and refused to speak, whispering his answers into his then-wife Mayte’s ear) formed a sort of understanding that he’d never give away much to anyone with a TV camera.

The media freeze has thawed in recent years – coinciding both with his becoming a Jehovah’s Witness and a decline in record sales. He’s done a few Oprah-type interviews, which were predictably self-congratulatory and unprobing, and gave an interesting insight into his creative process to Guitar Player Magazine in 2000.

But those of us looking for back-story and biography were resigned to gleaning what we could from the pop icon’s former collaborators and friends (this interview with Wendy & Lisa is fascinating on Prince’s work ethic and prolificacy, for example).

So imagine my surprise when the dimunitive superstar popped up for a two-part, in-depth interview on Tavis Smiley’s PBS show this week. He delves into his troubled childhood, his musical inspirations and his decision not to vote in the last election. He also confirms that he had epilepsy as a child, something he first alluded to in the lyrics to The Sacrifice Of Victor on 1992’s “Love Symbol” album.

Less pleasingly, he reinforces the idea that he’s completely batshit mental by preaching about his belief in Chemtrails – the conspiracy theory that says emissions from commercial airliners are purposely laced with chemical agents for secret purposes. Oh dear.

Amazingly, the full video is up on the PBS website, but here’s a taster to whet your appetite:

Round and around and around

I just can’t get this song out of my head today.

Tragically, this includes the slide guitar solo.

Video: Green Day – Know Your Enemy

Hello, we’re Green Day and we’d like to bring you some corporate-sponsored rebellion.

Green Day – Know Your Enemy

Do you like the colour palette? We hired a Hollywood cinematographer to achieve the atmospheric lighting and the beautifully rich skin tones.

Power to the people!!

PS: Sorry the song’s not much cop. The album’s amazing, though.

Video: Green Day – Know Your Enemy

Hello, we’re Green Day and we’d like to bring you some corporate-sponsored rebellion.

Green Day – Know Your Enemy

Do you like the colour palette? We hired a Hollywood cinematographer to achieve the atmospheric lighting and the beautifully rich skin tones.

Power to the people!!

PS: Sorry the song’s not much cop. The album’s amazing, though.

Pixie Lott: Loads of new "content"

We mentioned hotly-tipped teen sensation Pixie Lott a couple of weeks ago and, while not exactly slating her, suggested that perhaps her Duffy-lite pop ditties were a touch opportunistic.

We were instantly inundated with (two) comments, protesting that Pixie has an amazing voice and a catchy single. These statements are hard to deny, but they also applied to Joss Stone two years ago, and look how that turned out.

Anyway, I actually managed to see the young hopeful record a Radio 2 session a couple of weeks ago and, to be completely honest, she’s very good. And very tall.

Her debut single, Mama Do, is a surefire top 10 hit and the follow-up Gravity is a cracking ballad, even if it does crib from Bleeding Love a bit. But I was most impressed by Cry Me Out, a huge, string-drenched Philly soul groove which bears a slight resemblance to Alicia Keys’ You Don’t Know My Name and, creditably, does not suffer by that comparison.

Videos of the session, which featured the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, are up on the Radio 2 website until the end of the week, and audio versions are available on Pixie’s official Youtube channel.

The video for Mama Do was also released last week (this train is really building up steam, isn’t it?). Unlike Little Boots, Pixie at least has a go at the choreography…

Pixie Lott – Mama Do (Uh Oh)

Pixie Lott: Loads of new "content"

We mentioned hotly-tipped teen sensation Pixie Lott a couple of weeks ago and, while not exactly slating her, suggested that perhaps her Duffy-lite pop ditties were a touch opportunistic.

We were instantly inundated with (two) comments, protesting that Pixie has an amazing voice and a catchy single. These statements are hard to deny, but they also applied to Joss Stone two years ago, and look how that turned out.

Anyway, I actually managed to see the young hopeful record a Radio 2 session a couple of weeks ago and, to be completely honest, she’s very good. And very tall.

Her debut single, Mama Do, is a surefire top 10 hit and the follow-up Gravity is a cracking ballad, even if it does crib from Bleeding Love a bit. But I was most impressed by Cry Me Out, a huge, string-drenched Philly soul groove which bears a slight resemblance to Alicia Keys’ You Don’t Know My Name and, creditably, does not suffer by that comparison.

Videos of the session, which featured the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, are up on the Radio 2 website until the end of the week, and audio versions are available on Pixie’s official Youtube channel.

The video for Mama Do was also released last week (this train is really building up steam, isn’t it?). Unlike Little Boots, Pixie at least has a go at the choreography…

Pixie Lott – Mama Do (Uh Oh)

Little Boots – New In Town video

The video for Little Bootses first “proper” single has leaked – and it’s a good old fashioned romp through 80s video cliché land: Lots of choreography, lots of colour, lots of daft vignettes where tough gang members suddenly start dancing.

In many ways, it’s a recreation of Janet Jackson’s Nasty video – only where Janet can’t dance and just walks through the streets lip-syncing. This is the Leona Lewis “single threat” school of pop stardom.

It’s bound to be yanked off Youtube (youtube) as soon as the lawyers get in tomorrow morning, so here are some screenshots to tide you over ’til it premieres exclusively on Channel 4 at two in the morning, or whatever.

Little Boots – New In Town