I Eat Music

Yes, it’s one of CMU’s very favourite festivals this coming weekend, the early Summer little brother of the mighty Bestival. The three-day Camp Bestival is well and truly one for all the family – think village fete meets music festival. In a castle. Music wise, Bestival-chief Rob da Bank has once again got together an eclectic array of top quality bands and artists for your enjoyment. Here Team CMU picks ten of its favourites to offer you at home a Camp Bestival CMU-Tube selection.

01: Baddies – Battleships
Let’s kick things off with a solid rock track, shall we? This track shows off everything we love about the still buzzy Baddies: it’s loud, slightly odd and a little bit poppy. The video also matches this description. Plus, it might give you motion sickness, which is a great way to start things off, I think you’ll agree.

02: Dan Black – Yours
I’ve always said that the problem with most music videos these days is that they don’t have enough people with massive guns for heads in them. Thankfully, this one goes some way to rectifying that. “I don’t wanna be yours no more”, says Dan. And nothing says “It’s over” like having a massive gun for a head.

03: Florence And The Machine – Dog Days Are Over
We love Florence And The Machine, and we don’t care who knows it. That lady has quite a voice on her. She also knows how to have a weird party in the woods, as this video proves.

04: Laura Marling – Ghosts
Laura Marling also has a good voice, but she keeps it quieter that Florence. By which I mean she’s sings quietly, not badly. This video features a nice combination of Fuzzy Felt and digital animation. And Fuzzy Felt is another thing too often lacking in music videos these days.

05: Micachu And The Shapes – Lips
The thing about Micachu And The Shapes is that they sound like they’ve just stumbled across some instruments and decided to have a go at playing them. In a good way. Possibly. I’ve still not made my mind up, to be honest. All the more reason to check them out at Camp Bestival.

06: Phoenix – If I Ever Feel Better
This song came out nearly ten years ago, and in that time has carved itself a special little place in my internal jukebox. There’s something comforting about its chorus that means I don’t mind when it revolves endlessly around my head. It’s nicer when the whole song is played properly all the way through, though.

07: PJ Harvey – C’mon Billy
Do I need to say anything about this? It’s Peej. She is good. This song is obviously quite old now, and I probably should have picked something a little newer. But, hey, it’s a good song and she’ll almost certainly play it at Camp Bestival.

08: Roots Manuva – Witness 1 Hope
How have I never seen this video before? It is a work of genius. Still reeling from the fact that he came last in every event he entered at his school sports day when he was aged nine, Roots decides to get in shape and have another crack at proving his sporting prowess. I won’t spoil it by saying any more.

09: Tinchy Stryder – Number 1
When this single was released it went straight to number one in the singles chart. We feared that if it stopped being in that position it could bring about the end of the universe. It didn’t though. Everything was fine.

10: Will Young – Leave Right Now
This is going to do little for my hyper cool image, but this is one of my favourite music videos ever. Pop acts don’t tend to make good videos (I refer you to the previous Tinchy Stryder video), but this is a major exception. All filmed in one shot, the visuals and lyrics combine to tell a story. I like stories.

Now you’ve read the blurbs, find out what we’re banging on about by actually watching the videos, here:

For more CMU-Tube stuff, go to www.theCMUwebsite.com/tube. And to check out all things Camp Bestival at www.campbestival.net.

Okay, so I refused to talk about Lady GaGa last week, but she’s number one in both the single and album charts this week, so I guess I’m going to have to. For everything worth saying about Lady GaGa, see the previous sentence.

Elsewhere in the singles chart, there’s very little going on. It’s not until we get to number 17 that there’s a new entry – it being ‘Embers’, the first single from Just Jack’s forthcoming new album, which is due out in June. The next is another Jack – Jack Penate – at 23 with ‘Tonight’s Today’. Then at 28 it’s Doves with ‘Kingdom Of Rust’. Down at the bottom end, Pink steps into the top 40 from 56 with ‘Please Don’t Leave Me’, Flo Rida gets another song in the chart, ‘Sugar (feat. Wynter), at 35, and Lady Sovereign enters at 38 with ‘So Human’.

Over in the album chart there’s similarly very little going on. Flo Rida’s second album, ‘R.O.O.T.S’ is a new entry at five, then the next comes from Leonard Cohen with ‘Live In London’ at 19. Lionel Richie and The Commodores’ ‘Definitive Collection’ goes in at 23, while PJ Harvey and John Parish’s second collaborative album, ‘A Woman A Man Walked By’, is in at 25, and down at 35, Metro Station make their entrance to the album chart. On the Re-entry front, Pink’s ‘Funhouse’ is back in at 33, White Lies’ ‘To Lose My Life’ bobs back up to 37, and Nickelback’s ‘Dark Horse’ is in at 40.

The most interesting chart position this week is that of the Pet Shop Boys’ new album, ‘Yes’. Last week there was talk of them missing out on getting the number one position because the album was released three days early on iTunes, meaning that the first rush of sales did not count towards its official first week on sale. It seemed like a ropey excuse for not selling enough records to me, and any hope that the duo might sustain sales high enough to see them rise up to the top now seem dashed, as this week they’ve slipped all the way down to number 21. Maybe some sort of collaboration with Lady GaGa would help them to appeal to a wider audience. Oh wait, didn’t they…

The chart is compiled, even on weeks when its completely boring, by The Official Charts Company.

This article originally appeared in CMU Daily on 6 Apr 2009