Said the Gramophone

SHARPNESS AND THE SHAPES

While the rest of MBV salutes the debut album of Micachu & the Shapes, streaming here today online, (and Dan will be writing about a song tomorrow), here's a few words on tracks from Filthy Kids, the Micachu mixtape that got me so excited in the first place.

Micachu - "Had Enough".
Micachu - "Train for a Brain". (with Golden Silvers?)
Micachu - "Soon Dun Blud".
(These tracks obviously feature other vocalists, but I can't squint through the mixtape liner notes to figure them out!)

Three short half-scampers of something, one-minute two-minute clips of sound, of whistle and grime, London swagger and Micachu's twee-wonky production. Yes, she's released an album called Jewellery with her band, the Shapes, but Micachu is also a fine London producer, a woman who slips into studios with garage MCs, grim spitters, and makes them songs. I think I prefer her production work to her own pop stuff; the way her sugar-twinges rub off on these growly rappers, the way she sprays sweet corn-syrup blood in the clubs' darkness.

Each of these scraps-of-song is something you could keep in a pouch at your belt, Wily-Kit or Wily-Kat, things to throw at the slightest provocation. Face a muggger, a wild dog; toss "Soon Dun Blud" and in the smoke, flee.

[Download the Filthy Friends mixtape for free at Micachu's MySpace. / Stream her album at MBV, today (Monday) only. / Listen to "Calculator" (and read Matt's comments) at Fluxblog. / Listen to "Lips" (and read Ryan's comments) at Catbirdseat. / >Album review at Chromewaves. / She plays SXSW and NYC soon.]

(photo source)