Lopez Blogs

Blimey. Slight diversion before I start this post. One of my staff at work, Alison Bouye (pronounced Boy) announced today she is marrying her long term boyfriend! Hurrah I say as she is quite lovely. As is he. Amazingly though his name is Nick Batty! And Alison wants a double barrelled surname. Seriously. She will be Alison Batty Bouye. Am I the only person in the world who thinks this is very titterworthy? Oh apparently Nick does to. That is ok then. Anyway, it's been an AGE and a half since i featured some decent new pop! So let's get down to the most mega catch up of new pop you have seen since the last one...

THE DIGITAL RESURRECTION:

Remember Digital? They were the next big boyband to happen throughout 2007. Then one of them pissed off and the rest of them called it a day. Suddenly there was no getting one's kit off, or doing me dirty. The colourful electro pop band who could have been the next V (or at least the very next Phixx), inspired in me a lust for a boyband revival and contributed to the creation of one of the internets funniest ever woe-is-me posts, were no more. But individually the boys carried on and I managed to stay in touch with Dean and Ian in particular. And look at them now! Dean (right) has gone for a slick pop dance route and an exclusive listen to his song See Through shows that it has paid off. It's full of subtle beats, innovative hooks and a dancey chorus that will have the trendies lining up to shake their "thangs" (shows my age!) on the dancefloor. If I had to describe it, I would say it's the Jason Donovan (love him!) version of Sam Sparro i.e. more pop oriented and with better fashion sense. Not only that but he has great hair and is a lovely chap to boot. As is Ian (left) who has been busy pumping out a solid range of synthy electro tunes that take the best elements of Digital, smooth out the cheese and leave behind a lovely array of melodies and beats to entice the leftest of two left feet. Goodbye To Yesterday is rather aces, but it's the utterly delicious See You Again Soon (note the soon! It's not the miley song!) that brings a laid back erasure vibe to the table with Ian's vocals just gliding effortlessly around the summery chorus. Wicked Kinda Love has top ten smash embedded into it (for him or a girl group I'm not sure yet, but it sure is mighty). And *if* Ian was working with a rather ace Swedish singer then the song that he has written for him *might* be the best slice of alcazar pop this side of a solo Magnus Carlsson tune. Aces. So much more to come from these lovely chappies...
Link: Ian's myspace
Link: Dean's myspace

TELL YOUR MOM YOU'RE IN A BOYBAND:

Smell ice can ya? Bleeding Christ! Everyone and his dog is jumping on the post-Digital-surely-a-boyband-must-break-soon phenomenon. Here and in unusual-for-me concise 5 lines or less are some of the latest contenders that I've found, pilfered from D'Luv and Poppostergirl or just literally had shoved in my inbox. What a charming euphemism!

• Menudo are "a well known brand" revitalised for the new millenium.
• Their single Lost is actually quite a pleasant little number - it's a bit dancey and a bit r'n'b
• But it's not too much of either, so it fits nicely in the "quality Chris Brown" folder of music
• The video is a bit of a hostage situation type affair.
• For an American boyband, they are styled pretty well. Take note, Jonas Bros...

• RaiDen may not be the most visually aesthetic group ever, but who cares?
• They are my 2nd fave Danish X Factor contestants (after winner Martin)!
• They were rather brilliant at picking ace boyband classics to perform on the show, in particular When You're Looking Like That...
• New single, the lovely Goodbye for Good shows they have a decent grasp on what makes an ace boyband song. All gentle piano intro and brilliant harmonic chorus.
• I Gave You Love is also fab. It's part A1 and part lovely baritone. What more could you ask for?
  

• While popjustice quite rightly rave about rejigged Avenue, it's Futureproof doing it for me!
• They've lost one of the tall dudes which is a shame cos the taller ones are much fitter
• At first I didn't care what the music sounded like as they had pics of themselves with Same Difference on their myspace (and a bit of a lusting for Jakeypoos Gyllenhall)
• Then I heard Disco Ball and Chain which not only has an amazing title, some Will Young type "doo doo doo"s at the start but also as a demo makes me very excited for more more more :)
• The day you lost your guy and their cover of Feeling Good are also great. Very male amy housewine.

GREAT GIRL SONGS:



Everyone has an opinion on who will be the next great girl group. Will it be RedBloodedWomen? (of course!) Will it be Caracola? (Sadly not) Will it be Raen (Doubtful, but not for lack of trying) Or will it be The Saturdays? Possibly. For polished and gleaming pop, then you probably can't go far wrong with this. It's a slick production of a track (called If This Is Love) with some pleasant harmonies and a decent chorus that you can sort of groove to in slow motion rather than get down to. It's a promising start, but i can't help but feel that some personality should be injected into the songs. What an example of that? Then check out Cathy Dennis' sister - Georgie Dennis has possibly one of the greatest pop tunes of the year and it will probably go unnoticed - forgotten faster than it was written :( Which is a real shame because it's a corker. Typical is anything but - it's perhaps the song that Kylie or Britney should be considering to launch their next stage of their career. Just the right level of cool mixed with the novelty factor, it's a worthy dance pop contender from a promising artist. Brillopad. Check it out here...

Probably some album reviews tomorrow and a catch up with fizzypop potentials from the past!