Lopez Blogs

There is nothing more exciting than when other people share your enthusiasm for a new artist, and in preparation for this feature, I alerted several other bloggers and thezapping readers to the tracks on Simon's website and asked for their opinions. Some absolutely love him. Most really like his unique yet familiar take on pop. And a couple - well, they didn't like every track, but they tracks they did like they loved! And all agreed that Simon could be a driving force in bringing pop back to the charts. Here is what they had to say...

POPPOSTERGIRL (Veronica Mars):

I think probably an unmissable part of understanding and appreciating Simon Curtis’s music is the lyrics—the commentary they provide swings from personal to political, and they’re meant to be dark in subject, a darkness which the music enhances. What I really like about Alter Boy, though, are the soundscapes Simon and producer Jadion have created. Words are part of that, but in the sense of how they fit in and sound. The album overall is pop, but it’s got an electronic edge, and it doesn’t sound like anything in the Top 40. I’m tempted to start throwing the word “experimental” around. There are moments where that feels especially true—“Halo,” for example, chops Simon’s voice up to turn it into the beat itself. There’s also a sense of greatness, grandeur, or a desire for the epic (listen to that intro and then tell me that’s not what they’re trying for!). It’s a pop/electronica epic, though, so hooks are never in short supply. Over the course of at least sixteen tracks, the album never sounds the same. That’s not to say that it’s schizophrenic; even beyond thematic connections, the album does definitely have musical coherence, but no one song sounds like another.

Some highlights: the soldier chant-sampling “Left Right Left;” the perfect anger of “Sugar Sugar White,” which has a middle 8 that reminds me of Moulin Rouge’s “Hindi Sad Diamonds” (but given that very little of Moulin Rouge is original, they probably used a sample or cover that I just don’t know); the catchy chorus with its stretched-out words of “Alter Boy;” “Halo,” which originally closed out the album and provided the music for the intro and, to me, sums up what the album is about; and “Put Your Makeup On.” And, of course, the song no review of Alter Boy would be complete without reference to: “Broken.” It may not be dealing with social commentary, but it is easily the most addictive song on the album. That chorus—oh my gosh! And the middle 8! And the bridge! Really, the whole song is just captivating for reasons I haven’t yet worked out. Honestly, if you don’t want to spend the next week being forced to compulsively listen to it, avoid “Broken” at all costs. Deliciously dark and, as I said, addictive. For sheer enjoyment, the only rival to “Broken” comes in the form of parts of “Put Your Makeup On,” with Xenomania (as part of the PopJustice theme contest) providing the music backing and Simon singing a super-accessible pop song over the top. The key moment in this song, and one that Paul has mentioned before, has to be near the end, where we get a near perfect combination of music and lyrics, with Simon singing about getting harassed for his musical tastes, written in the form of a back-and-forth between him and his critics: “As a kid, I got a lot of shit for/liking my music, but what is it for?/You should listen to this because it gives more/Yeah, but it’d sound lousy on the dancefloor!” It’s not meant to be an in-depth defense of the merits of pop music, but it is meant to reflect the instinctive response that many people have—the desire for music that’s fun, not caught up in itself—and, in that respect, works perfectly by being itself what it most desires.

The introduction to the album asks, “If you could hear the sound, would you listen?” Given my current lack of faith in the public, I fear I may already know the answer to that question, but whenever Alter Boy is released, I can only hope the world responds with a resounding “YES!”

(thezapping note: PPG and I often have conversations over Broken and Put Your Make Up On and regularly say things like "can simon do no wrong?! ;) Read PPG's previous post on Simon here)

ELECTROQUEER (Raj)

(thezapping note - Raj fell in love completely with Simon's music and kindly chose today to do his own post about Simon that you can read here. he felt that would get Simon more exposure. Here, then is just a sample of his brillo review!)

"At the tender age of twenty, Simon Curtis seems hellbent on bringing a different type of pop to the world which is aching to be heard. His edgy and thought-provoking lyrics have us questioning...Is he old enough to be singing about such saucy subjects? Well the answer is, 'We don't care...it's great music and Simon promises us that the resurrection of pop will soon be upon us. Even if the resurrection doesn't sustain, we are overjoyed to bear witness to a new musical messiah in the making."

THIS MANS WORLD (DanUSA)

I've listened to the entirety of the Simon Curtis CD several times. I do like it - quite a bit in fact. I think Simon has a great voice and a great sound that's familiar enough but new enough to attract attention. I also think that his songs transcend typical pop songs. One of my favorite stories that I tell about pop music is that one time when I was in college, a good friend of mine was having boyfriend trouble, and she said to me, "A pop song should NOT know how I feel." - I think that she was specifically referring to Michael Bolton, and in that respect, I would have to agree. I mean, Michael Bolton able to express what I can't? Surely not! But as far as general pop songs go, my reply to her lament is "If it doesn't, what's the point?" That having been said, I think Simon has a great potential to speak about great issues under the guise of wonderful pop music.

Case in point - "Religion Reduced" which is one of the songs I really like on the album. I don't know what it's like in the UK, but here in America, the word Christian has become reduced to "right-wing homophobic intolerant asshole." And that's really unfortunate. And I think this is the message that gets across in the song - along with the "believe in your own spirituality!" line - which to me says "don't let the right-wingers be the ONLY representative of Christianity." Again, this might not be as big of a deal in the UK right now, but rest assured, in the U.S., it's one of the biggest dividing lines in our culture right now.

As far as fun pop songs go, there's nothing that's going to beat "Put Your Make-Up On." It has a driving pop beat and Simon really sings well on this one. I think I especially appreciate the bridge of the song - and what good is a song without a good bridge?? - talking about he got shit for the music he listened to as a kid and how he should listen to such and such, only it wasn't worth a damn on the dance floor! *raises hand* Hmmm...well, that could be taken straight from the pages of my life.

All in all, I hope that when they release the CD, they cull some songs and make it a stronger, shorter album rather than a long, all over the place album. I mean, the songs are all good, but less is more sometimes. This is so true with so many artists - especially established ones. I'll take a tight 10 song album like Madonna's Music over a meandering 17 track CD that doesn't know when to call it quits. And yeah, some of the songs sound a little bit same-ish, but that's not all bad. I just think that a shorter, stronger album will help quite a bit. But what do I know? I'm certainly not a record producer. I'm a mere consumer.

NATHAN (Zapping reader)

First of all I totally agree that he has super infectious songs yet a differentiating image enough to be mega successful here and in the U.K. As for my personal preference, my favorite songs were: Put your makeup on, Broken, and Naivite.... I also liked: Return to Sender, Alter Boy, and The Kids In.... The rest of them will def stay on my ipod but prob. will get skipped about half the time I listen to this playlist. They were good though ~ who knows? Maybe the rest will grow on me. I would also love to see him do more "fun" songs too about less serious stuff, but maybe thats not what he's all about. I can't wait to see what he has in store for performances (maybe cd:usa or trl) and/or music videos, but I'm sure you'll be right on top of that when it happens.

Thanks to all the bloggers and readers who contributed and gave an objective overview of Simon's music :) Oh! And here is another link we found to someone who wrote about Simon long before i was an alter boy convert!