The "Cheer Up" Mix

A Caribbean Ground Orchid - first of many, we hope

As my neighbour India Hicks said today on her blog "I'm sure one should only Twitter when one's up not when one's down. I'm down. No Tweets". It must be a general Caribbean malaise that has all us 'Colonial Leddies' feeling a bit blah at the moment- so nothing better than making up a 'mix' of all one's favourite music of the moment to keep talking to a minimum.

Just ignore the videos' (apart from Rihanna and Swedish House Mafia) and put your headphones on!

First up - my all-time favourite at the moment - a little bit of drum & bass which needs to be played very loudly: Chase & Status - Time

Next, some Caribbean Gangsta ragga  by our local homegrown  girrrrlllllll Rihanna (Bahmian) which as you can only imagine is rather big over here. The video is very Caribbean - it really could be Tortola.

Tinie Tempah is also huge here and I just love him, especially for his sharp Oswald Boateng suits. And for once he dosn't look like Ali G, as is the type.

Here's some brilliant angsty eighties-type indie rock with The Suburb's 'Ready to Start' which I've  listened to on replay a 1000 times. It's got a bit of the Cure, the Smith's, a dash of Jesus & Mary Chain.  This is when I start looking for my old Echo & the Bunnymen cassettes again.  Ohhh, this music makes me so happy!

Still can't stop loving Usher's OMG. Such a sexy, sexy song - it makes the parrot screeching right next to me, just disappear. "Honey gotta booty like pow pow pow".

This is fun, huh? Now for some more drum & bass: The Scream's 'Lets Get Ravey'. Breath-taking!

OK, now for the Boys fave:  Swedish House Mafia. This has to be played full-volume in the car with the aircon on max for that Caribbean effect!  I particularly like this version as it features Tinie (again) and a seriously cool video (vaguely smutty and again a bit Carib).

A little bit of South African pop by Lonehill Estate's Green Pocket. My friend Susie says it's too Randburg Flea Market for her and Tyler thinks it's 'a bit X Factor' and admittedly it has a 'Flock of Seagulls" feel to it, but what the hell, I like it.

Finishing up with Rihanna's ex-boyfriend Mr Chris Brown's Beautiful People. He's a bit of an *hole, but his music's great.

OK, hope I've made a difference to your day. It always seems to work for me, till the good times come back again.