What's hot now

New music videos are being released almost continuously. This wide variety of choice coupled with new options coming in all the time means that what’s hot and what’s not is on a rapid rotation system. It can be quite difficult to stay on top of the trends and keep up with the changing styles, as world music mixes in the increasing familiarity of the global village. A brief look at a top music video site reveals that the following top releases include:

“Heater” by Samim. Heater has a funky, upbeat dance beat that incorporates the rather unique sound of an accordion in its eclectic mix. The music video itself is quite interesting with scenes of people dancing against various backgrounds ranging from urban to the pyramids in Egypt to a lovely beach sunset. There is one standout guy in a white bunny jumpsuit with giant coloured polka dots all over it. One hopes that there is an interesting story behind that choice of outfit and that it is not every day casual wear, which would be interesting on a whole other level.

Samim is Swiss-Iranian and has a passion for electronic music, which is reflected though his combination of hip-hop and industrial music sounds. He currently lives in Berlin where he is developing a new range of musical opportunities by tapping into the Berlin musical scene.

“Hate on me” by Jill Scott is a women’s power anthem about how men never change and women shouldn’t make it their problem. Women should be proud of who they are and just walk away. She has a rich, strong voice, well suited to the power anthem. The video is shot in black and white, alternating with vibrant colours, and the accompanying scenes are used to good effect.

Jill Scott is Philadelphian born and bred. She began her career by reading her own poetry when she was spotted by Ahmir Thompson, drummer for the Roots, and was invited to join the band in the studio. She collaborated with numerous other artists before releasing her debut album in July 2000. She was nominated for a Grammy in 2003 for Best Female Vocal Performance for her song “A Long Walk”.

“Hollow Men” by Gravehurst. The blurb says that it is quite a hard rock song for the band that started out as a folk band. The music is quite rocking and has pretty nifty guitar riffs, but the actual song is not that hard, it’s much softer, almost a rock ballad. The video is shot in a post apocalyptic style, all grey and muted colours, blurring and fading in and out of scenes and imagery of scarecrows and ravens and the like.

Gravenhurst was started in 1999. The name comes from the title of a song written by an underground guitarist named Dave Pajo. They started out with some folk-influenced murder ballads, which sounds like a bit of an oxymoron, but have since moved into a more rock arena.

“Flux” by Bloc Party is a great get up and dance song. It’s got that body swaying, foot swinging rhythm that you just can’t help moving to. The video is a trip into surrealism. It starts with giant aliens or creatures destroying a city and moves onto a love triangle between some giant robots, also destroying the city. They are destroying the city inadvertently as they dance around.

The band was formed in 1998, when vocalist and guitarist Kele, met up with fellow guitarist Russell. They soon found like-minded band members in Gordon and Matt and formed and cohesive whole with creative ideas and similar concepts of expression.

“Uninvited” by the Freemasons. This song is a cover version of Alanis Morissette’s song that was used in the movie City of Angels. Amanda Wilson, the lead singer, who looks a bit like Sarah Michelle Gellar at times, does a good job of making the song her own. She has a rich voice that carries the melody well and varies in pitch and tone in all the right places.

The Freemasons have worked hard over the last 3 years to become one of the most in demand remix and production teams in dance music. They have worked with some of the biggest names in show business, including Beyonce’s “Beautiful Liar” and “Déjà vu” remixes.

There are many more latest releases to be found on the list; these are just a taste of the wide variety to be found. With the rate of turnover who knows what will be on the list next week? It could feature some of the more prominent artists or it could feature some even lesser known artists, with really new sounds making their big break.

Recommended sites:

http://physical-music.com/data.pl?artist=37

http://music.aol.com/artist/jill-scott/biography/1374041

http://www.myspace.com/gravenhurst

http://www.myspace.com/blocparty

http://www.myspace.com/freemasons