Not only is this song killer, but the dancing is amazing. You can just make out the roots of Dee-Lite’s classic ’Groove is in The Heart’ underneath the new melody they’ve got going on here. It’s a perfect post-summer, winter warmer type of song that you need when you get to a club and want something to come on that isn’t a Britney Spears remix or some hard-house vibe that actually rumbles your whole body. It’s also not trying to be some sort of Eric Prydz rip-off with lots of girls in short bikinis wearing skirts, but truely has an interesting range of characters doing some great moves. Plus, fantastic video editing. Inexpensively, but well done.

From the Get Weird Turn Pro blog:

This track by Hamburg’s Se:Sa (aka Skye ’n’ Sugastarr), in collaboration with Mousse T, is going to be huge and features an excellent vocal contribution from Sharon Phillips, who you might have last heard on the Trentemoller track ‘Want 2 Need 2′.

“For everything sold on iTunes, we get the majority of the 70-79p per unit sale price,” [one independent label owner] said, then added: “But for everything sold on the Ruckus Network we receive the princely sum of £0.005 per unit. That’s half a pence. My distributor then takes their 25 per cent off of that, leaving myself and the artists to dish up the remaining fractions of a penny between us.”

It’s not much better through Real Networks, he informed – for sales through that service, his label receives a penny per track, he claimed. The thousand tracks sold so far have accrued £10 to the label (to share with the artists) rather than, “the £790 or so we’d have got for the same amount of sales through iTunes.”
MacWorld: iTunes income substantial for music partners

“I’m not going to give up school because Mike is two years older than me”

The pair talked to The Advocate magazine about their music and their style. With their raunchy and risque photos and ambigous lyrics to their most popular songs, the pair are an advert for new ‘modern’ sexual freedom. When the liberation movement of the 60s was all about empowering people to break free of society’s pre-determined roles for their lives, the current revolution appears to be pushing for the ability to attract, outrage and be whoever they want to be.

“There’s no such thing as ‘out’ anymore,” Mike interjects. “It’s like, everybody’s out. People are always trying to attribute behaviors to labels, and a lot of these behaviors are being stripped from genders. Even though you look like a man, you don’t have to act ‘like a man.’

Their music can be found at online distributors like iTunes, but can also be listened to via their MySpace profile.

Dangerous Muse: Official Website
MySpace: Dangerous Muse
The Advocate: Rhythm and muse sample
Looksmart: Rhythm and Muse full article

Is it any good?

We do not know because, as keen supporters of the forward-thinking notion that record sales are the only way to make money from music and that downloading songs illegally is directly taking money from recording artists’ mouths even if the word of mouth generated from such an act would more than compensate for the three pence revenue lost from that initial download, we have not illegally acquired the song.

She performs the song on the 2006 MTV Movie Awards which are broadcast in the US tonight, having been filmed June 3rd. Photos from the evening are below.

Queerty: Xtina’s Ain’t No Other Man
Spine Magazine copy of Ain’t No Other Man no doubt soon to be removed
Popjustice: The leaky return of Christina Aguilera

The Blow: Hey Boy

Hey boy, why you didn’t call me?
I waited for days,
I can’t believe you didn’t call.

A, you’re gay. B, you’ve got a girl friend,
C, you kind of thought I came on too strong, or
D, I just wasn’t your thing, no ring.

When we sat, uh-uhunh, outside for an hour at the party and talked I thought something good could be starting. It’s not a lot that I want, just some talking, and really, you just made me feel kind of uncool.

Susan Ploetz says that maybe you are scared. Shelley, Jim Brown’s brother’s girlfriend, said there always is a reason, which was somehow strangely comforting. And Chris Browning says you’re probably surrounded by girls, and I’m just not one of them that you’re needing.

thetouchmefeeling.com <-- the website of 'The Blow' aka Khaela Maricich and producer Jona Bechtolt.

Anyway, I like to sing along to songs as I get obsessed with them, so I wrote out/worked out/muddled out the lyrics to Spiral and here they are:

We bust a red light
And I’ve got no fight
Moving in a mad rush
No limit, I can’t stop
We’re into overdrive

Hopelessly into you
‘cause you know how to
Unwrap my feelings ‘til I’ve
Opened up from inside
No reason to be shy
Every reason to be mine

Nothing’s really sane but everything’s amazing
Slowly taking over me
Baby have you noticed, the sky is rearranging
I feel it move in me

Oh, the ground beneath us crumbles and we fall
So I wonder, will we fall?
‘cause I don’t want to be alone
Caught up in a spiral

Adrenaline rush
The moment we touch
Breaking out a hot sweat’s
As good as it gets
I can’t get enough
Fall into a head space
Deep into a new place
Spinning out of control
You should know
I don’t want to be safe
Every reason to be mine

Nothing’s really sane but everything’s amazing
Slowly taking over me
Baby have you noticed, the sky is rearranging
I feel it move in me

Oh, the ground beneath us crumbles and we fall
So I wonder, will we fall?
‘cause I don’t want to be alone
Caught up in a spiral

Yeah, yeah
It feels like I’m shaking up
Took all cool to fight it up
All I am is mesmerized
Can’t believe what’s happening,
Polarised

Nothing’s really sane but everything’s amazing
Slowly taking over me
Baby have you noticed, the sky is rearranging
I feel it move in me (Yeah yeah)

Oh, the ground beneath us crumbles and we fall (fall)
So I wonder, will we fall?
‘cause I don’t want to be alone
Caught up in a spiral

Da da da, da da da, da da da ,da
Spiral
Da da da, da da da, da da da ,da
I’m caught up in a spiral
Da da da, da da da, da da da ,da
I’m caught up in a spiral
Da da da, da da da, da da da ,da
Spiral
Da da da, da da da, da da da, da
Caught up in a spiral
Da da da, da da da, da da da ,da

Video-C: Listen to the album ‘Hello Waveforms’

From Reuters.com:

The designation by California’s Air Resources Board starts a process that could lead to further smoking bans in a state that has often led the nation in health and ecological regulation. “I think there is no question that this puts California way ahead,” said John Froines, chairman of the Air Resources Board Scientific Review Panel.

“To actually have the major air pollution agency in the state of California to list ETS (environmental tobacco smoke) as a toxic air contaminant is going to have immense impact, we think, in terms of public education around other states,” he said. “It will clearly lead to regulatory changes within the state.”

Seattle Times: Punt, pass and plié: Ballet has its Seahawks fans, too – The Seattle Times looks at the worlds of Ballet and NFL Football ahead of Seattles groundbreaking Superbowl game. The Seahawks have never been in the superbowl before so this is a 30 year first for them. At the same time Seattle has an amazing ballet company, the PNB. The two cultures don’t seem to mix, but in a funny way, they sometimes do.

“I wish my art form created the emotional fervor that this thing does,” said [Ballet instructor] Wells, a Tacoma native. “We struggle with our ticket sales for the ballet, and my understanding is that they can’t sell Seahawks T-shirts fast enough.”

The Guardian: ‘I can win this time’ – Having just come out to the party and public through in interview with a UK tabloid paper, Liberal Democrat Party MP Simon Hughes is looking for support from his party to become leader. He gave an interview to the Guardian a couple of days ago saying that he wasn’t gay. Now he’s singing a new show-tune and the paper reviews his position.

The Guardian: Apple Print Ad Top of Tree – An advertisement for the supermarket chain Tesco has won the top prize from the Awards for National Newspaper Advertising. With the simple image of an apple and accompanying text the ad declared:

“What’s the difference between ours and our competitors?”

“Not much really. They’re the same quality as Waitrose. And the same price as Asda.”

The Guardian: ‘Sea power could provide 20% of UK electricity’ – A new report from the Carbon Trust, out prior to a report on the UK’s position with regard to Nuclear energy, says that 20% of the UK’s energy could be produced through the adoption of wave and sea power souces. With investment and greater production of equipment the costs of wave power could be brought down to current levels of carbon-emitting power sources. It’s a challenge the government could meet, but may not like to due to the likelihood of failure.