Send "The Streets " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 Skinner announced Cyberspace and Reds, a new freely-available mixtape that Skinner released a week or so before his new “proper album” (to, I don’t know, make a point?) through a blog post that seems to drift between a legitimate existential crisis and a mischievous sort of self-deprecation. At one point in the blog post, Skinner says that “i feel negative about everything i’m doing at the moment because ive been doing the same thing for as long as i remember.” He then goes on to describe his new mixtape as “painfully repetitive”, and mentions that “the lyrics will make no sense” as if he is bragging. He closes this blog post by telling us that “im going to watch live and let die so that i don’t think about the throbbing sensation engorging my inner soul,” which reads so much like the Facebook status of a hormonal 15-year-old that it’s impossible to shake the feeling that Skinner is taking the piss.Of course, then he released Cyberspace and Reds by releasing an iPhone app (called “Mike Scanner”) with which a prospective listener is supposed to scan two bar codes: one on the Streets’ website, and one off a can of Heinz soup. Because really, why not? This weird mix of irreverence and ennui may seem ridiculous, but it fits the mood of the album it announced perfectly. It’s confrontational, vulnerable, messy, and really kind of fascinating. Maybe he’s just trying to keep himself interested. Maybe he’s brought along so many of his friends to add some verses to these songs as a way of looking for what makes them interested. Or maybe, as he says on final track “At the Back of the Line”, “This is the very end of me rapping,” and he’s just putting together a send-off that he can be proud of. Most of the mix is a combination of grime, breakbeat, and straight-up hip-hop beats, with about half the raps by Skinner himself, and half by his guests—really, Skinner sounds as though he’s the guest on a few of these tracks. “Cross That Line” is mostly Fumin relating an angry breakup over a slowly-developing piano-dominated R&B backing. Skinner shows up for 30 seconds for the sake of making sure he appears on his own track, but his contribution is neither important nor memorable; this is Fumin’s track. Even on the aforementioned “At the Back of the Line”, he only shows up at the end to announce his exit and offer some advice (“Like Sinatra said to Bennett, just never sing a shitty song”) before the track abruptly ends....full text |
| Boxmusique |
| Mike Skinner recently posted an interesting passage on his blog which articulated some sort of creative depression that consisted of him sitting on his sofa, aimlessly playing with his iPad and watching James Bond films. Perhaps more relevantly to us as fans, he also announced the creation and release of a new album entitled Cyberspace and Reds which would comprise ‘ragga by way of duran duran’. In all honesty, that sounds amazing. It’s like someone just told me I could adopt a half-bear, half-lion house pet and train it to eat anyone who told me they liked Betty out of Mad Men. In other words, bring it on. Well, this afternoon — or yesterday if you go by the regular 24 hour clock — he posted what might just be the first track from this project, a tune entitled ‘Too Numb’. [Possibly coincidentally] intensely relevant to the last few days of snowstorms, Mike cites that “the cold will blow through the doors” and says you may as well fry bacon instead of grilling it on foil, a line that really speaks to me (and all bacon lovers). I can also see where he’s coming from with the Duran Duran reference. The bassline and guitar riff seem straight out of the ’80s, twanging and stabbing with that extravagant shoulder-pad swagger. The sporadic rearing of a break is also a nice feature and seems to inject a little more emotional energy into the tune, making the melancholy invariably more sinister. Basically, I lost a little interest in The Streets after Everything is Borrowed, but this has a different feel about it and I’m excited to what else Skinner has up his sleeve or perhaps, at this point, deeply-rooted in his brain....full text |
| Elbo |
| Mike Skinner's precursor to Computers and Blues is confrontational, vulnerable, messy, and really kind of fascinating. One gets the sense that Mike Skinner is bored. Skinner announced Cyberspace and Reds, a new freely-available mixtape that Skinner released a week or so before his new "proper album" (to, I don't know, make a point?) through a blog post that seems to drift between a legitimate existential crisis and a mischievous sort of self-deprecation. At one point in the blog post, Skinner says that "i feel negative...full text |
The Streets lyrics
