James Arden checks out the garage rockers latest album.
The Christian rock band from Brighton bring religion to the masses.
Recipe for modern R'n'B album: liberal helpings of guest rappers and an overdose of sexual euphemisms.
Tuesday night saw the crème de la crème of the British music industry give itself a royal pat on the back with the staging of the 2010 Brit awards. With it being the 30th anniversary of the awards (technically it started in 1977 but it took a few more years for them to become an annual event) there were a few nods back to some previous award winners alongside the usual Brit Award fare.
To say that the awards were a tad predictable would be an understatement but in the end it is what we have come to expect ever since Justified beat out Elephant and Outkast’s Speakerboxx/The Love Below all those years ago for Best International Album. This year was no different with Lady Gaga picking up three awards (but let’s face it who else was going to win Best International Female) and JLS managing to scoop two on the strength of the public vote. This is precisely one major reason that the Brits have lost their credibility since the public vote ends up giving awards to acts that are not so critically adored and end up disappearing within a few years. The fact that JLS were channel-mates with the Brits due to their discovery on The X-Factor probably played a large part in this as well.
Some awards did end up going to the right people though, with Florence + The Machine getting the Best British Album award for Lungs and a slightly overdue award for Lily Allen in the category of Best British Female. Looking at the competition available it is also fair to say that Best British Male was rightly deserved by Dizzee Rascal for whom 2009 was a stellar year.
The biggest disappointment of the night had to lie at Animal Collective walking away with nothing, which wasn’t a real surprise since it would probably be a grave insult to give them the Best International Breakthrough since many of us actually knew and loved them before they suddenly became 2009’s critical darlings. Also, the awarding of a Lifetime Achievement award to Robbie Williams was just the weirdest move since they awarded it to The Spice Girls a few years ago. This award certainly struck a few chords over the internet with many attendants sending tweets questioning how much he deserved such an award.
As for performances this has been the best Brits in a few years with a great opening by Lily Allen arriving on a random bomb and surrounded by backing dancers dressed as pink paratroopers armed with umbrellas (slightly scary). Also on the cards was one of Lady Gaga’s odder performances with an acoustic version of her next single after which she stripped off to an outfit that has left no one in doubt as to her gender. The highlight though has to be the duet featuring Florence Welch and Dizzee Rascal where they performed a mash-up entitled ‘You Got The Dirtee Love’ which hit number one on the iTunes charts within hours. It was great to see Florence emerge from her mirror ball and for the first time looking like the star she deserves to be and sounding absolutely flawless, also it was a great chance to get a cheap laugh at the height difference between the two.
Overall, it was a really good night for commercial music television.
You must log in to submit a comment.
