Music Blogs

Welcome to Yahoo! Music's whistle-stop guide to what's happening in music this week. Every seven days in Recommenders we check-out the latest tracks, downloads, leaks, links and video clips from the corners of every genre and let you know whether they're worth getting out of bed for. Today, CHRIS PARKIN puts the microscope up to MUSE, DIZZEE RASCAL, THE CRIBS, WALE, JAMIE T and THE PRODIGY.

Inching ahead of Dizzee Rascal in the race for most OTT single of 2009 are those David Icke-fancying lords of bombast, MUSE. Straddling a fine line between satire and pretentious stadia rock, "UPRISING" is a yobby, stack-heeled masterpiece of goth-disco that imposes itself like Optimus Prime at a teddy bear's picnic: it's the Orwellian, pre-battlefield soundtrack of a thousand steel-boots stomping along to a mix of Queen, the theme to "Doctor Who", The Glitter Band, Jean Michel Jarre, Marilyn Manson, Giorgio Moroder, "Atlas" by Battles and a million other in-yer-face rallying cries. Nothing short of brilliant.

Vacating the asylum for Muse, DIZZEE (pictured) brings things down a notch after wobbling brains with "Bonkers" in the shape of his chart-smashing Ibiza anthem "HOLIDAY", his second conflab with euphoria specialist Calvin Harris. After the late-night aggression of "Pussyole (Oldskool)", "Flex" and "Bonkers", simply listing holiday items (well, a passport and a bikini) over a sun-dappled bed of paw-soft mezzanine-trance serves as a slightly inane pudding.



It's unlikely that those righteous, blood-spattered defenders of "proper indie", THE CRIBS, are much impressed with Dizzee, even if he is signed to his own label. But they should take a leaf from Rascal's book. Even with Johnny Marr holed-up in the back of their splitter van, "CHEAT ON ME" is the least fun thing the band have ever peddled - less tuneful even than their collaboration with Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo. Here the Wakefield four-piece render their buzzsawing power-pop in grey, overcast tones with all the craft of a mardy teenager. In an attempt to pitch themselves next to Guided By Voices they've ended up a few cars down from Shed Seven.

With hip-hop throwing up precious little talent this year, all eyes are on mix-tape ace WALE, a DC rapper who spends a good third of "CHILLIN'" telling us how to say his name (Wah-lay, apparently). As you might expect of a Mark Ronson protégé there's not much going on here aside from an agreeable Kanye-like flow, a very - nay, all too - brief appearance from Lady Gaga and a sample taken from American sports fan favourite "Na Na, Hey Hey, Kiss Him Goodbye" by Steam. Calling this by numbers is an injustice to children's puzzle books.

Cruel perhaps but the best days might be behind JAMIE T already. Once a spirited and sweetly empathetic indie-punk hopeful, south London's white-yoof-with-the-patois is doing his best Mungo Jerry impression on "CHAKA DEMUS", a song that sounds half-baked in its whimsy and resigned to deaf-ears, especially so when played next to the freewheeling, Stella-soaked indie-ragga of his debut. Better to check out "Forget Me Not" on the same EP - it lives up to the global-sampling booze-pop Mr T had been hinting at.

In spite of this late hour there's a Balearic renaissance upon us, something that we'd be happy to big up if THE PRODIGY weren't making it sound so dull by sticking to their machine guns and firing out old school rave that, in both song and video, proffers the nexus between "No Good" and "Firestarter". There's nothing clever about "TAKE ME TO THE HOSPITAL" but there's also no denying its contact-high-giving, pulse-quickening charm.