Brit Sweep: July 8, 2012...

Good evening, folks, it's the tail end of the weekend, and time for this week's "Brit Sweep" of the new music hitting the Official Singles Chart in the United Kingdom.

This week wasn't one for big releases, as the highest debut comes all the way down at #34. It's from seminal 90s Britpop band Blur, so I'm a little surprised it didn't come in higher, though the vague release of the track (live charity performance, rumors that it would precede an upcoming album then no) may have hampered it. Either way, the track makes their 26th British top-40 single, so that ain't bad at all (out of that 26, two made it to #1, 1995's "Country House" and 1997's "Beetlebum"). And they will help close the Olympics in a concert with New Order and the Specials. Here's "Under The Westway"...

(Click to see the rest of the post)


One rung under Blur is another single that may be seen as performing under expectations. Former N-Dubz member Dappy has had all of his solo and featured-artist singles make the top-5, with 2 of the four making #1 (Tinchy Stryder's "Number 1" and his own "No Regrets"). However, his latest entry at #35, "I'm Coming (Tarzan Pt. 2)", wasn't released as an official single (yet), and it's not mainstream-radio-friendly at all, with its thuggish edge and callouts to various celebrities like Simon Cowell and Joe McElderry....and apparently the original edit of the video had a "Free Leo Chindamo" plug, which in England is to the level of a "Free Mumia" shoutout. And Dappy looks seriously messed up. Lohan messed up. Pete Doherty messed up.

Speaking of messes, coming in at #43 is the latest (hit?) single by David Guetta featuring Chris Brown, whose own "Don't Wake Me Up" moves up to the runner-up spot on the UK chart. It's from Guetta's Nothing But The Beat CD (which I'm a big fan of), and the new track is "I Can Only Imagine" with Lil' Wayne as well on a rap break, and damn I love that whole damn thing. It's gaytastic!

Entering at #67 is electronic Major Lazer, which has slimmed down from a duo of Diplo and Switch to now only the former, with their first UK top-100 hit, "Get Free", featuring singer Amber Coffman of the band Dirty Projectors...

Singer/songwriter Newton Faulkner, from southeast England's Surrey region, had a top-10 hit in 2009 with the sublime "Dream Catch Me",  but he's had a little trouble following it up, with six subsequent charting singles missing the top-40 there. His latest (and seventh), the second from his album Write It On Your Skin which comes out tomorrow, is "Clouds" at #68, and it really deserves a shot...

Coming in at #70 is the comedy trio the Midnight Beast, who are among the few musical acts I follow on YouTube, which I've done for years following their hilarious take on Ke$ha's "Tik Tok", which ended up being a top-5 hit in Australia, and over 13 million hits on Youtube (seriously check them out, they're a riot). Their latest, in advance of their debut album, is "Begging"...(sorry it's so weird the video isn't on their channel yet)...

(here's the lyric video with better sound)

 and finally, at #93, is American singer and YouTube vlogger Kina Grannis, with a sweet and delicate version of the Simon and Garfunkel classic "The Sound Of Silence"...you may remember her from winning the Doritos Super Bowl artist contest....

 Up tomorrow afternoon: Part two of this week's "Album Sweeps", as well as this week's "Robbed Hit"....