Lopez Blogs

Time to catch up on some album reviews. This one borrow styles and techniques from the past yet make them sound totally fresh and delightful. I realised recently that history is totally sexy. I was slightly attracted to Jeff Colby yesterday. But i've moved on. It's about being fresh and delightful!! Haha. Oh god, i laughed at my own joke. How embarrassing.

The bar has been raised. It's true, I have raved about Same Difference without even hearing their tunes - yet they are just so loveable that my level of hope and faith remains high. However, their almost guaranteed status of producing "favourite duo album of the year" is in jeopardy thanks to the incredibly marvelous new album from Infernal. It's a mix of synths, beats, retro and modern, mixed into a fully flowing funky batch of tunes that just get better with each listen. Their last album which was issued, reissued, tweaked and reissued again was packed with about 8 singles in different territories; this album is full of potential singles, barely any filler and will probably not only end up challenging Same Difference for favourite duo album (sorry Ting Tings you are nowhere close) but putting up a decent fight against Alphabeat and BWO for my fave european pop group. Downtown Boys is both a brilliant lead off single and a brilliant opening album track. The opening bars are dramatic, operatic and poptastic before leading into a proper disco stomper that is both catchy and cool. Yet this isn't representative of the album as a whole at all. And that's where the album's title is most appropriate - it's a veritable cabaret of styles, eclectism and terrific production values, all led by the lovely Paw and Lina (whose voice, it has to be said, has rarely sounded more ethereal and lovely). Whenever You Need Me is likely to break them back into the UK - it's a beautiful polished pop track with a flawless piano intro. You can never have too much piano in pop tunes if you ask me. Which you sort of were just by reading this blog ;) Electric Light is rumoured to be the third single and is a lovely almost acoustic track with another polished pop chorus that is different again to the two tracks before it. It's a definite grower, which for me ultimately means it lasts longer than the instant gratification of some other pop tracks. And then Punk Disco comes in and blows away the already high quality of the first three tracks. Nick at Alien Hits has quite rightly picked up on the sheer orgasmic nature of this track. It's 45 seconds of build up before launching into what many hoped the Scissor Sisters second album would sound like - quirky club music that sounds equally at home blaring top volume out of your mp3 players headphones (at a sensible volume of course so you don't get your eardrums damaged). If this isn't a single and a worldwide hit, then it's a travesty of the legal system. TRAVESTY! And they have stolen "best pop song every titled Burning Up" from Madonna (Sorry Jonas Bonus brothers) with a little melody before each chorus that sounds suspiciously like an Inspector Gadget sample! I could easily go on and on about each track on the album, but the best way to experience it is to hear it. Be sure to look out for standout other tracks in Silver Surfer, which nearly got me killed today when the beeping car horn sounded at the start of the track. I stopped in the middle of the road thinking something was going on! And nearly got run over. I can see the headline now "Above Average Infernal disco stomper nearly kills virtually unknown blogger" Perhaps that is what they wanted. Redefinition is mega. Mega! It's a little bit Your Disco Needs You meets classic 70s disco meets summer anthem. It will be a nice capper to their album next summer refreshed with some stunning remixes. Preferrably from Jadion. But we;ll see. he will be massive by then of course. And finally there is the lovely trancey instrumental that closes the album and is a stunning piece of work. So yes, indeed. The bar has been raised and Same Difference has got some major catching up to do. Not that Same Difference are likely to be the same as Infernal, but quality is quality, and I trust that Popjustice have got it right with raving about Turn It Into Love :)