Musica: Doctor Rosen Rosen's Girls, Vol. 1

Los Angeles-based music producer/remixer/writer Doctor Rosen Rosen is not necessarily a household name but I have been keeping an eye on his talents since he released a semi-authorized re-rub of UK singer Lily Allen's 2009 album "Allright, Still".  He used Lily's original vocal tracks but built up a brand new aural soundscape around them delivering a pretty stunning companion piece to the original album.  If you haven't done so yet, you can download all twelve tracks for free here.

If you love the original album and have yet to hear this companion piece, download it here and  It still stands as a great companion album to the original.

The Doctor has also taken stabs at remixing tracks from other artists, some by commission and some not, including Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Kanye West, La Roux, M.I.A. and Phoenix (you can download some of those tracks here).

GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS!: This week, though, brought the release of Doctor Rosen Rosen's first proper original artist album in the form of a 4-track EP called "Girls, Vol. 1".  And, let me tell you, it's a great blast of sugary summertime pop.

On his website, the Doctor explains that this is the first of several EP's he'll be releasing in the next few months and that each track will feature a different female vocalist.

For this release, the tracks are:

"Five O'Clock" (feat. Jessie & The Boy Toys)": A rollicking kiss-off track that starts with the tic-toc of a clock and, at times, sounds like a modern version of "Rock Lobster" from the B-52's.

"Poison" (feat. Meg Myers): Over at Arjan's blog, Rosen says he drew inspiration for this track from The Cure's "Lullaby" but, to me, it sounds a bit more like late 80's Siouxie infused with some M.I.A./Basement Jaxx swagger over a Nirvana-ish grunge guitar background.

"Hot" (feat. Kay): A slowed-down ragga-infused deep-bass party track. "All my party people are you feeling the bass yet?" Kay sings. Oh, yes.

"Sex-Ed" (feat. Anjulie): This is just pure NYC summer fun, circa 1985, probably the best song of the lot. Then again, I've always loved a bouncy, cheeky, blippy track you can blast while driving a jeep.  And I don't even have a jeep.

Really, it's a great EP and I love the fact that it gives four different up and coming female performers a chance to shine.  Go download it now and let me know what you think about it.

LISTEN TO ALL FOUR TRACKS HERE:

ON TWITER:

• Doctor Rosen Rosen
• Jessie & The Boy Toys
• Kay
• Meg Meyers
• Anjulie

Musica: Róisín Murphy in NYC

OMG! So perhaps I should have been sh*t'in' in my pants last night but I still could not believe that I was at Róisín Murphy's first ever solo show in NYC (which understandably was sold out).

Róisín stuck mostly to songs from her last album ("Overpowered") which was OK. Unfortunately she also neglected a great deal of her past catalogue as the lead singer for the band Moloko which produced one of the greatest unsung albums in pop music history ("Statues").

Leaving all of that behind, I did rejoice! The show was amazing even if the place was too crowded. Murphy seemed thrilled at how many people showed up and the gays were certainly giving her lotsa love.

And she certainly lived up to the haut-couture expectations by changing into a new outfit for almost every song (photos below).

For the sake of objectiveness, I must say that the following Moloko video (and song) is among my all-time favorites:


So even if the sound quality hardly matches, I was thrilled that Murphy sang "Forever More" last night in a retooled version (yup! That's me singing along as well):

Luckily I was also able to capture "Primitive" also from the "Overpowered" CD:


as well as the title song:

Make sure you click on the high-quality link below each YouTube video.

Upcoming US Tour: By the way, Arjan says that Ms. Murphy plans to come back in March of 2009 and tour some other major US cities such as Los Angeles, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Austin for the South by Southwest music fest.

Official Sites:

• Roisin Murphy's official website here
• Roisin Murphy's MySpace page here
• Roisin Murphy's MySpace Remixed page here

Related:

• Review: Roisin Murphy does New York (Arjan Writes)
  
• Dance beats and deer antlers (New York Times Blogs)
• Friday (Pitchfork Media)
• Roisin Murphy at Manison NYC (Chez Tune)
• Roisin Murphy @ Mansion (Brooklyn Vegan) - Includes some amazing photos
  
• Roisin Murphy U.S. Debut & Photos (Arjan Writes)
• Roisin Murphy: Mansion (SoundBites)
  
• Roisin and the amazing technicolor overcoats (The Determined Dilettante)
• Fame, Yes; Fortune, Not So Much (The New York Times) (plus photos)
• Murphy's Law (Billboard Blogs: Jaded Insider)
• I got "Overpowered" by Roisin Murphy in New York (Entertainment Weekly's Pop Watch Blog)
  

A sample of Roisin's attire:
The furry feather thingie with shades and cap on...

The little red riding hood thingie....

And the vulture allure thingie with a flat moon hat (we assume you already noticed the deer for shoulder-pads thingie in the "Overpowered" video).

PLUS: One of my videos is now featured on Roisin's official page! Brilliant!