Meanwhile, brilliant “ecstatic trance” duo Blondes have just released a video for their new track Wine. Using little more than some flashing lights and a few people on drugs, it effectively depicts the experience of watching the NASA video above.

I wrote about Dems’ new EP Houses for CMU recently. Now the lead track has a video. That’s it up there.

I wonder if the guy with the sign around his neck managed to lose his virginity. Hopefully he stopped proclaiming a penchant for stabbing people. And wearing the sign.

Reid brings together 2-step beats, wobbly basslines and more experimental electronica, but wraps it all up in mainstream pop production. As a result, the tracks could appeal to chin-stroking Zomby fans just as much as they might Girls Aloud aficionados, allowing the listener to enjoy them at surface level or to wallow in their smartness. And then there’s Francis’ voice, which is equally contradictory, flitting through multiple personalities in a matter of moments. From sweet to soulful, her style is unique and utterly infectious.

The duo release their new single, ‘You Know You Like It’, through Super Recordings this week. Their strongest track to date, with a killer chorus, you can check it out below. And you can find more tracks at their website, including a free download of the excellent ‘Disobey’.

Originally written for CMU earlier this year.

Yesterday at The Star Of Kings in Kings Cross, Listener were late. So late that when the support band, Grass House, went on, no one at the venue had seen them yet. But when they arrived 25 minutes before stage time, they unloaded, set up and were ready to go almost before anyone had noticed. Partly because they’d distracted the audience with entertaining conversation as they went. With equipment set up and the duo’s dinner balanced on a flight case at the side of the stage, guitarist Chris Nelson engaged everyone with a lengthy joke while vocalist Dan Smith went to the (ladies) toilet and returned to announce that everyone needed to sit down so that people at the back could see. Everyone sat down.

Then the two men played one of the most honest, sincere, passionate and genuinely brilliant shows I’ve seen this year. If not any year. They played for over an hour and I would have happily watched for longer. It was the kind of gig you rarely see but always want, where you really feel like the musicians are performing for now, and not for their future. They just wanted it to be good now, and if it is then that’s good enough.

Listener’s latest album, ‘Wooden Heart’, was released through Tangled Talk in July. You can hear that, along with numerous other releases, on Bandcamp, and check out the video for ‘Falling In Love With Glaciers’ here:

Being ill in a foreign country is no fun, especially if you don’t know how to tell anyone what’s wrong. If only I’d learnt how to sing “I have food poisoning” in Czech before I went to Prague:

Crime is a harsh reality of life, but being able to chirpily ask an attacker to spare your life will surely brighten up being mugged at knifepoint for everyone:

If you believe that there’s one person out there for everyone, it’s conceivable that the person for you won’t live in your country, or even speak your language. They may also own a sensational dress:

After your date, you’ll need to keep the conversation going:

But sometimes it turns out that person wasn’t the one for you:

She was ridiculed for the cheesy song and video created for her by Ark Music Factory, a vanity record label which offers teens the chance to play at being a popstar in exchange for a couple of grand. The resulting poor quality songs and videos are then uploaded to YouTube for their friends and family to point at and squeal. There were many before Black, but hers was the one which caught the public imagination.

After all that, we were told that she now had a proper team on board. A credible team of managers, producers and songwriters who would help her capitalise on her new found fame, and more importantly show people that she’s actually a great talent.

Sadly, it doesn’t seem like that’s the case. Well, if she’s a great talent, her second single isn’t showing it. That ‘credible’ team now behind her, has simply come up with a slightly more polished version of what Ark might have given her if she’d stuck with them.

The song, ‘My Moment’, (and its video) tells the story of her sudden rise to fame from her perspective. But rather than being the positive spin that was clearly intended, it makes her sound bitter and isolated. Not great. It makes it look as much a cynical grab for cash as Ark’s vanity publishing.

I mean, is this…

…so different from this?

Of course, the News Of The World phone hacking scandal is not new, the story has been rumbling on for years now. Illegal practices have been uncovered, people have gone to jail, and David Cameron’s own press secretary lost his job along the way, thanks to his involvement. But until this week, the story was largely ignored by the mainstream press. Only The Guardian and Private Eye really gave it any time.

The Guardian, in fact, mercilessly followed the story when all around them were saying to give it up. There have been various points along the way when the journalists working on uncovering the shady practices at the News Of The World, while under the leadership of Rebekah Brooks and the aforementioned former Tory spindoctor Andy Coulson, must have thought the rest of the media would join them. Though I think it’s fair to say they’d never have expected that, when that moment finally happened, it would turn out quite like this. But still, at least they’ve finally been completely vindicated for their persistence.

As someone who works in the media, but at a remove from the action of this story, it’s been fascinating to observe. From the emergence of the information that would rally both the other media and the wider public to the story – the hacking of the mobile phone of murdered teenager Milly Dowler – to the closure of the News Of The World yesterday, this story has continued to throw up new and amazing details with no sign of a dip as yet.

There’s still plenty more come. Coulson was arrested this morning, just after David Cameron had issued a speech about the former NOTW editor’s failed “second chance”, it remains to be seen if he’s charged, and what impact that has on the PM. Rebekah Brooks remains in charge of News International, despite her involvement in this scandal (or lack of involvement – as editor at the time of the Milly Dowler hack, both are unforgivable), but for how much longer? And what about the Met, there are huge questions about police corruption that still need answering. Plus, of course, us in the media are especially interested to see how long News International will leave it before launching the Sunday edition of The Sun (a logistical merger of NOTW with its sister title having already been in the pipeline).

News International’s response to all this has been, and still is, fascinating to watch. Not least as it’s all kicked off just as the government was about to approve the takeover by News International owners, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, of the whole of BSkyB, a decision now delayed. Such is the commercial and political power of the Murdoch family and their company, never before have they faced such scrutiny and unanimous backlash. And they were clearly completely unprepared for the assault. Interviews given by Simon Greenberg, News International’s Director Of Corporate Affairs, are testament to that.

One of my favourite moments from this week was Greenberg’s interview with Jon Snow on Channel 4 on Tuesday, just after things started to kick off. Coming shortly after Ed Miliband’s embarassing looping interview, in which he repeated the same answer again and again in response to questions on public sector strikes, News International’s man on the ground proves it’s not as easy as it looks to blindly state the agreed PR line.