Right now!

Oh, thank fuck (again). Another tedious and busy week's starting to fade away...

...and it's the magnificent Fatboy Slim's birthday!

A perfect excuse to get the party started [and it is, indeed, my dear sister Hils's 60th birthday party tomorrow]. Thank Disco Big Beat it's Friday!

Fatboy Slim - Right Here, Right Now

Have a faboo weekend, dear reader!

---

STOP PRESS (11pm 31/07/2026):

Just when I thought it was safe to go back into the water the whole Blogger Reading List time-lag issue was sorted [every post I have published this week seems to have arrived in the feeds immediately, as it should] - no!

I published this "Thank Disco It's Friday" post at 7.40am. It still is not showing in the list.

Fuck those Google Gnomes!

Música nueva

And so here were are, officially in that "bit-in-the-middle" - and were off en famille to John-John's for an afternoon/evening of jolly japes and a "picky tea". Meanwhile, how about a little selection of some of the "newer" choons that have caught my ear of late?

I heard this on on the radio very recently, and I was hooked!

Jamie xx ft. The Avalanches - All You Children

Here's another one from the "final fling" of Saint Etienne that I loved back in late summer, but neglected to feature up to now:

Saint Etienne - Glad

Twenty-five years on since it was a popular bootleg that Fatboy Slim used to use in his DJ sets, the Rolling Stones have finally given their blessing to the release of this remix/mash-up of two magnificent hits - and the result (even with its AI-generated video) is rather good:

Fatboy Slim & The Rolling Stones - Satisfaction Skank

I can absolutely, categorically state that my office party last week was nothing like this:

Kylie Minogue - Office Party

Yay! Robyn's back...

Robyn - Dopamine

...as is the very lovely Robbie Williams!

Robbie Williams - Pretty Face [Live on The Graham Norton Show]

And, finally...

...the campest of the lot [and another Madam Arcati discovery], this!

Monsieur Periné - Aguaráchate

Thoughts of warmer weather are upon us as we speak - our next trip to Spain is just over a month away!

As ever, dear reader, I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the selection...

Shivers and butterflies (padam)

I have spent another mammoth session in the sunshine in extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers today, potting-on a whole load of plants that were practically crawling out of the pots I'd moved them to less than a month ago. This is definitely the season of growth [now that we at last appear to be having some decent weather, after a dreadful Spring] - we were only away a few days, and several plants are almost double the size they were the week before; our "Gertrude Jekyll" rose is bending under the weight of its huge display of blooms, and the Hesperis matronalis, Campanula glomerata and Scilla peruviana [as featured yesterday] are flowering fit to burst!

Tulips and daffs have been cleared (and "heeled-in" in another pot) to make way for some of the older, woodier fuchsias that needed a refresh - especially as I purchased new cuttings of those varieties at Easter which will take their place as specimen plants this summer. The first of the houseplants (the giant Taro) has come outdoors for the summer, and the rest will follow tomorrow or Monday. My back is aching already!

Time, methinks for another selection of "newer" choons that have caught my ear of late...

Opening the proceedings, a singer who I have a suspicion might be "a gayer" (not sure what makes me think that!)...

Rhian! - NO!

How about abother brilliant Bill McClintock mash-up to follow? Oh, go on then: [June 2023 update: Gone. Already!]

Champtera - Fucquila (The Champs - Tequila vs Pantera - Fucking Hostile) [Bill McClintock mash-up]

How to follow that? With a very refreshing and joyful "Northern Soul" cover of a beloved 80s classic, of course!

Betty Black & The Family Fortune - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

Speaking of "old classics", Blur is back - with a bit of an earworm:

Blur - The Narcissist

Dame Sophie of the Ellis-Bextors' new one is just dreamy...

Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Lost in the Sunshine

Not usually "my cup of tea" - and she certainly gives me the impression of being a spoilt bitch - this surprising collaboration between Miss Ora and Mr Cook (aka Fatboy Slim) is actually very catchy indeed:

Rita Ora feat Fatboy Slim- Praising You

Among my fave recent discoveries was this little oddity...

The Blessed Madonna - We Still Believe

However, nothing beats this, the new barn-storming release [already the best-selling single in the UK as we speak; and a new entry in the "official" chart, which also counts streaming and YouTube "hits" for some obscure and illogical reason] by Our Princess Kylie [who is 55 tomorrow - gulp]!!!

Kylie Minogue - Padam Padam

As ever, dear reader, let me know your thoughts...

---

FOOTNOTE:

I did some research, and apparently the phrase "Padam, Padam" stems from a French acronym Pas Avant D'être Amoureux, which means someone who won't shag on the first date! It translates literally as "not before being in love".

It has more recently been used as a lyrical metaphor for the sound of a heartbeat, which is evidently the way Kylie's using it...

Tank Fly, Boss Walk, Jam Nitty Gritty

And so the Festering Season reaches its denouement, as zillions of people get caught up in the crowded, cramped transport rush-to-get-to-family [or not, given the fact that the utter cunts in the rail unions have chosen to take an extra day's holiday go on strike on mainline routes across the UK on the last day before Xmas], or in the last-minute rush on supermarkets that inevitably greets Xmas Eve. How many masks are in evidence is to be seen.

Me, I prefer to avoid all that and exercise caution where mixing with the great unwashed is concerned - I'll be logging-off early from the benighted laptop and not give another stuff about the whole thing from now on, until the countdown to New Year begins next week...

Meanwhile, we keep everything crossed that the slew of recent research on Omicron gives some hope that things may not be as apocalyptic as originally feared, and that we can indeed have a "Happy New Year"

Referring back to the pic at the head of this post, here's a choon to get us in the mood for a party... Thank Disco Beats International (aka Fatboy Slim) It's Xmas Eve Friday!!

Beats International - Dub Be Good to Me

I think she was taught to dance by her Auntie at a wedding reception.

Have a very merry one, dear reader!

Bah, Humbug.

Walken on sunshine

It's 35C and rising out there, peeps - and guess where I am? Yup. Indoors, working. And what's the forecast for the weekend, I hear you ask? Twenty-two degrees. Of course.

Never mind, eh? Once the clock strikes 4pm, I shall be locking that bloody laptop away FOR A FORTNIGHT! Two whole weeks away from work - and a weekend in our beloved Amsterdam in between - to look forward to. Yay!

It's also Fatboy Slim's birthday today - so let's get the party started early, in the company of one of the greatest dance music geniuses this country has ever produced - and Thank Disco Christopher Walken It's Friday! I wish I could do this...

Fatboy Slim - Weapon Of Choice

Have a great weekend, peeps!

Keep the beast in my nature under ceaseless attack

One of the bloggers I follow, Cookie over at Doing Hard Time in Shaker Heights, is feeling sorry for himself. The eyedrops he's on contain steroids, which means he "can't get no sleep". I was looking for something appropriate(?) to play - such as Faithless' timeless dance classic - when I came upon this instead - excellent orchestrated versions of Insomnia and other choons from the mega-clubbing '90s, courtesy of the BBC Proms 2015 "Ibiza Prom", with DJ Pete Tong and the BBC Heritage Orchestra.

Of course I love it...

Pete Tong and the BBC Heritage Orchestra - Insomnia (Faithless)

Pete Tong and the BBC Heritage Orchestra - Right Here Right Now (Fatboy Slim)

Pete Tong and the BBC Heritage Orchestra - One More Time (Daft Punk)

Pete Tong and the BBC Heritage Orchestra - Lola's Theme (Shapeshifters)

Brilliant! I wish I had been there.

Shoes and frogs

Today, an oddity opens in the Dorfman Theatre (formerly known as The Cottesloe) at The National here in London.

An unlikely collaboration between two musical icons - David Byrne of Talking Heads, and dance music's own "national treasure" Fat Boy Slim - a "sequinned, disco-dancing spectacle" charting the rise and fall of shoe-lover and tyrant Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines is an odd choice of subject for a musical, one might think!

Quoted in The Guardian, Mr Byrne said:

“I knew that Imelda was given to memorable pronouncements and aphorisms and outrageous behaviour, some of it amusing and some of it horrific, but the fact that she immersed herself in the disco club world was a big selling point.

“When I heard she had a giant mirror ball in her New York townhouse and turned the roof of the palace in Manila into a dancing club, I thought ‘she really surrounded herself with this music and created her own soundtrack to her life.’ Disco was a genre that I was uncomfortable with but keen to explore, so with those factors in mind I thought, ‘let’s see if there’s a story to be told here’.”

Lyrics in the show [Here Lies Love] were often lifted directly from speeches, interviews, recordings from the time and even Marcos’s high school yearbook. One song is taken verbatim from a speech that Benigno Aquino gave about President Marcos building arts centres and not doing enough for the shanty towns in Manila, while another is based on quotes from an oral history of the People Power revolution that Byrne stumbled across.

Apparently.

It might well be a hoot! We'll see...

In tribute to this remarkably odd piece of news, here's another unlikely combination - none other than Kermit the Frog's very own tribute to Talking Heads' biggest hit Once in a Lifetime...

Kermit the Frog - Once in a Lifetime

Excellent.

David Byrne and Norman Cook's Here Lies Love is on a strictly limited run at The National Theatre from 30th September 2014 to 8th January 2015 - book tickets here

Because I know it's amazing

Time, Laydeez'n'Germs, for my first selection in 2014 of the newer music that I have stumbled across recently, presented here for your delectation...

Let us open this shebang with a trio of Russian tarts pop performers calling themselves Serebro, and the totally infectious slab of Eurotrash that is Mi Mi Mi;

Serebro - Mi Mi Mi

Not actually brand new, but new to me, the Gothenburg Gadjos are apparently Scandinavia’s hottest Balkan beat band. I love this type of music, and here is my pick of their crop - it's Osman Aga:

Gothenburg Gadjos - Osman Aga

From Sweden to Canada, here is the latest from the very strange Austra, with their bewilderingly creepy video for the new single Hurt Me Now:

Austra - Hurt Me Now

White Prism - aka Aussie singer Johanna Cranitch - takes us on a bit of a retro 80s trip with her new single, the esoterically-titled Song 52. Sort of "Sally Oldfield meets A Flock Of Seagulls", I reckon:

White Prism - Song 52

Upping the ante with a song that just about sums up most weekends for me (ha ha), here's Brighton's finest - and it is good to have him back! - Fatboy Slim with Riva Starr and Beardyman, and Eat Sleep Rave Repeat!

Fatboy Slim - Eat Sleep Rave Repeat

Now here's a novelty - a Mary J Blige song that I am rather keen on! Here she is, teamed with BRIT Awards nominees Disclosure, and F For You. [Eternal thanks to Kevin at The Lisp blog for this one!]

Disclosure & Mary J Blige - F For You

From the funky to the sultry, here's a soothing number (with a fab video) by Kyla La Grange - it's Cut Your Teeth:

Kyla La Grange - Cut Your Teeth

Many, many moons ago (back in 2011, actually) I featured the maddest-of-mad bands by the name of Hi Fashion, and their very wonderful I'm Not Madonna. Well, I am glad to report that the fruit-loops have not gone away - and here's their newest, it's the fabulous Pupusa!

Hi Fashion - Pupusa

Last but not least [thanks, Jason at Night is Half Gone blog for drawing my attention to it!], and just because this is utterly magnificent, here's another song of theirs from a couple of years ago that is likely to become an anthem here at Dolores Delargo Towers... It is Amazing:

Hi Fashion - Amazing

I don't care if you don't like my hair
Because I know it's amazing
And I don't give a damn if you don't like my tan
Because I know it's amazing
And I don't give two hoots if you don't like my boots
Because I know they're amazing
And I don't give a shit if you don't like my tits
Because I know they're amazing

Ah, amazing. Ah, Ah, amazing.
Ah, amazing. Ah, Ah, amazing.
Ah, amazing. Ah, Ah, amazing.
Ah, amazing. Ah, Ah, amazing.

I don't give a crap if you don't like my hat
Because I know it's amazing
And I don't give a poops if you don't like my hoops
Because I know they're amazing
I don't care if you're in my underwear
Because it all feels amazing
And I don't give a fuck if you think I suck
Because I know I'm amazing

Ah, amazing. Ah, Ah, amazing.
Ah, amazing. Ah, Ah, amazing.
Ah, amazing. Ah, Ah, amazing.
Ah, amazing. Ah, Ah, amazing.

I don't give a hurl if you say you like girls
Because I know that you're gayzing
And I don't give a bung if you say that you're hung
Because you're probably praising
And I don't give a fart if you say that you're smart
Because you're boring and lazing
And I don't like dicks 'cause I like chicks
And you know that's amazing

Ah, amazing. Ah, Ah, amazing
Ah, amazing. Ah, Ah, amazing
Ah, amazing. Ah, Ah, amazing
Ah, amazing. Ah, Ah, amazing

Phew! I think they are my favourite band of the moment...

As ever, enjoy... and let me know what you think!

Goodbye to all that

We avowed sport-phobes still had to watch the Olympics Closing Ceremony - it was a must...



Certainly it was a bit of a mixed bag, but nonetheless this was an excuse for a party - perhaps one in which the stereo system is a bit knackered (the sound levels were atrocious!), maybe the sort of party where some unwelcome gatecrashers make a bit of a mess on your favourite carpet, but a party nonetheless!





Best bits? Stomp!; Fatboy Slim's octopus; the Spice Girls and their motorised zimmer frames; Annie Lennox and the magnificent gothic pirates; Eric Idle with roller-skating nuns, morris dancers and Welsh ladies with beards; Take That looking sexier than One Direction; Waterloo Sunset (despite Ray Davies's voice cracking up); Pet Shop Boys on futuristic tuk-tuks; the tributes to John Lennon and Freddie Mercury; the fireworks; Running Up That Hill; Darcey Bussell as the flying phoenix; the fact that most of the acts performed on moving vehicles; the sheer joy on the faces of the athletes themselves.





Could have done without? Jessie bloody J, Teeny Tiny Tears Tempah and the other one; Russell Brand's smirk; Muse; George Michael's new song; the pointless Only Fools and Horses reference; Ed bloody Sheeran; the fashion show that fizzled out; the long-drawn-out ushering of the athletes into the arena with repeats of the music we'd just heard.

"Ouch" bits? Annie's too-quiet microphone; the shock of seeing Liam Gallagher looking so haggard; Suggs singing flat; the Who singing "hope I die before I get old" when their average age is 72; Timothy Spall doing a really bad Churchill impersonation; Boris Johnson dancing.

WTF bits? The whole Brazilian section. [And who the fuck are Elbow anyway?]

Disappointments? No David Bowie or Kate Bush as rumoured; nothing from the punk era.

Blessed reliefs? No Elton John, Cliff Richard, Phil Collins or Paul McCartney.





Despite some bad reviews (to be fair, the closing ceremony could never stand up against the magnificent opening one), I think it was quite brilliant. We thoroughly enjoyed it! I think, if it achieved anything at all, the ceremony demonstrated in its eccentric mixture of diverse age-groups, cultures and styles of music and art, that Britain is a truly unique nation - and for that I am eternally grateful!

Watch the whole thing on BBC iPlayer (if it is available in your country, of course)

Highlights on The Guardian website