Dizzee Rascal and Calvin Harris: New single

We fully endorse Dizzee Rascal’s decision to abandon hardcore grime in favour of ridiculously overblown dance music. He sounds so much better on a big, bouncing pop tune than he does mumbling about knife crime over the top of the Transformers soundtrack, don’t you think?

His new single, Holiday, received its first play on Radio One last night and its essentially a re-working of The Vengaboys’ We’re Going To Ibiza, only, you know… credible.

Although the track features Calvin Harris and Chrome, its not quite as good as Dance Wiv Me. But that’s like saying bacon isn’t as good as bacon butties. They are both brilliant in their own way.

You can hear the song inside this BBC iPlayer gizmo, We nicked it off popjustice, who in turn nicked it off Hattie C’s blog.

Third with the news, as always.

Top marks for rhyming bikini with scenery, too.

Calvin Harris soundtracks new Coke ad

When Jack White did a Coke advert, everyone complained he was “selling out to the man”.

Somehow, I don’t think Calvin Harris will have the same problem.

Two weeks off

Two weeks off

Follow mrdiscopop on Twitter

I am now posting endless trivial updates on http://twitter.com/mrdiscopop. Recent highlights include:

“Watching Obama’s inauguration in awesome HD. Look at all those people!“

“Just think of me as your personal exorcist “

And the now seminal “Going shopping for a new Mini this morning“

If you have no idea what a Twitter is, then (a) Well done and (b) Here is an article which explains it all. But, basically, it’s like an endless stream of Facebook status updates, and it’s “changing the world” (trans: mildly diverting).

Other Tweeters include Stephen Fry, Philip Schofield, Barack Obama, Jonathan Ross and pop music’s Calvin Harris. Sadly, briefly popular r&b star Tweet is not Tweeting or Twittering or in any way making an impact on the public in 2009.

And that is all I have to say about that.

Top 10 Discopop Singles of the Year

There was this festival in Somerset…

…at the weekend, I don’t know if you heard about it. Glasto-something, I think it was called. Apparently some of the biggest names in music were there; Shakin Stevens, Neil Diamond and The London Gospel Community Choir.

But the best performance of the whole weekend wasn’t on any of the festival’s seventy-three stages – it took place in a little tent, in front of a camera crew for BBC Three. The artists were Dizzee Rascal and Calvin Harris, who did a funky acoustic strut to their single Dance Wiv Me, which is out this week.

Here it is in full.

Calvin Harris and Dizzee Rascal – Dance Wiv Me (acoustic)

Oh, and Jay-Z was quite good, too.

Dance yourself Dizzee

Hark at this! Dizzee Rascal has done a Taio Cruz and gone all dance in a bid for chart superstardom and getting “adds” on “Radio One”.

Unlike Taio’s effort, though, Dizzee’s song is remotely tolerable.

For the moment, at least.

Dizzee Rascal ft Calvin Harris and Chrome – Dance Wiv Me

Remix corner

In which we find some of my favourite upcoming singles, retooled by some of the nation’s foremost knob twiddlers.

:: The Ting Tings – A Great DJ (Calvin Harris mix)
Sproingy disco beats + shouty chorus = arms-aloft party anthem.

:: Duffy – Mercy (Thankful mix)
Better because it is longer.

:: Kylie – Wow (CSS remix)
This doesn’t add much, save a few synth noises and a cowbell, but it frames Kylie’s vocals much more sympathetically than the original.

:: Snoop Dogg – Sexual Eruption (Fyre Department mix feat Robyn)
Yes, that Robyn! She’s turned Snoop’s superfly 70s porno talkbox ballad into a europop 90s porno talkbox ballad. “Snoop Dogg, I’m going to sex you up,” she trills. Amazing.

:: Janet – Feedback (various remixes)
The R&B one, the dance one, the Timbaland one. They’re all here.

Remix corner

In which we find some of my favourite upcoming singles, retooled by some of the nation’s foremost knob twiddlers.

:: The Ting Tings – A Great DJ (Calvin Harris mix)
Sproingy disco beats + shouty chorus = arms-aloft party anthem.

:: Duffy – Mercy (Thankful mix)
Better because it is longer.

:: Kylie – Wow (CSS remix)
This doesn’t add much, save a few synth noises and a cowbell, but it frames Kylie’s vocals much more sympathetically than the original.

:: Snoop Dogg – Sexual Eruption (Fyre Department mix feat Robyn)
Yes, that Robyn! She’s turned Snoop’s superfly 70s porno talkbox ballad into a europop 90s porno talkbox ballad. “Snoop Dogg, I’m going to sex you up,” she trills. Amazing.

:: Janet – Feedback (various remixes)
The R&B one, the dance one, the Timbaland one. They’re all here.