Caught in the Net: Gooners sales are not Alexis Taylor's goal
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Your support makes all the difference.Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip has a new solo EP out and it seems he's not afraid of alienating the Arsenal-supporting element of his fan-base.
The self-recorded and self-produced four-track EP, which was released as a 12-inch this week with a digital release on 17 December, is called "Nayim From the Halfway Line".
Football fans will remember this phrase as a taunt used by Tottenham Hotspur fans to their North London rivals in response to a memorable last-minute winning goal scored by Spanish player Nayim (a former Spurs midfielder) for Real Zaragoza in the 1995 European Cup Winners' Cup final against Arsenal. To jog your memory his Domino label has produced an introduction video with the goal – and a small snippet of the music – at youtu.be/7D_6TehlHuk.
Manuva's bananas Tottenham sounds
While Alexis Taylor is offering nods to Tottenham fans Roots Manuva has apparently been holed up in his Tottenham base putting together Banana Skank, a new four-track EP. It's due out on 21 January, but ahead of that the opening track from the always interesting London rapper (aka Rodney Smith) has been offered up online at snd.sc/11crylx. "Natural" sees Smith trade stark verses with fellow member of the Banana Klan collective, Kope, over very sparse electro sounds.
The ambassadors' reception
Last week in London I caught a great show by up-and-coming LA-based duo Foxygen – augmented by a few extra players for the gig. They made a very enjoyable racket full of ragged psych rock, lo-fi pop and all manner of other art-rock sounds; they also had a surprisingly funny line in between-song patter. Their new album We are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic lands in January but first single "Shuggie" is available now – see the video at youtu.be/QPmAO4xpQcE.
Though not fully representative of their more raucous live show, it's a fine, languid, but off-kilter affair. A track from their first record, Take the Kids Off Broadway, is offered as a free downloaded at jagjaguwar.com.
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