Lopez Blogs

Thanks to my lovely friend, Simon, I am fully aware that delicious drinks served in red cups will be available from my beloved bucks of the Star. Which means I shall once again be obsessed and Christmas can officially start (i swear it starts earlier every single year!) - which is okie dokie with me. I am already starting my 30 days til Christmas countdown which will kick in from Nov 25th, but for now let's see what goodies the letter D has to bring in the pre-pop Christmas cracker...

D IS FOR:

Darin Zanyar - Breathing Your Love: I have already reviewed Darin's ace new single from his sadly not a cover of the Simon Curtis song Flashback album here, but PPG's effusive coverage of him continues to have me in a tizzy over the lovely popstar. I was also going to write a lengthy epistle about "embedding disabled by request" on videos (which Darin doesn't do) but there is a rather excellent report on it here. So it's all about the video then! And any video that starts with Darin in bed is ok with me (even if i did get a bit distracted when i thought his knee was a bit of a "tentpole" if you know what i mean :P) although he isn't quite as brilliant on a motorbike as Girls Aloud were... I could have done with less frenetic editing in the second chorus, and more of Darin looking lovely in shirt and tie with a slick dance routine, but it certainly doesn't detract from the brilliance of this tune. Really if you haven't heard it by now you are doing yourself a HUGE disservice. Go. Get. Job done.

Danny Saucedo ~ Radio: I feel I have neglected Danny "gayest album cover ever" Saucedo (which i probably incorrectly pronounce saw-see-doh). I was a tinsy bit late to his debut album but that doesn't mean I didn't love tracks like Tokyo, Play It For The Girls and Hey (I've Been Feeling Kinda Lonely). I couldn't even be bothered with side project boyband EMD, but I'm totally back on board for his ace new single. It's not really a million miles away from the type of tunes he has put out before - throbbing dance beats, repetitive catchy chorus, subdued piano-esque middle 8 and hands in the air, spazz out dancing final run through chorus. It's either your cup of tea or it isn't. I happen to be quite partial.

Darude ft Blake Lewis - I Ran (So Far Away): So Blake Lewis (who has an infuriatingly poor internet presence - photos on myspace set to private? WTF?!) who graced the world with an eclectic and solid debut album has completed his morph into fully fledged dance dude. (Hey, this is the letter D today!). Don't get me wrong, I like this modern day reinvention of this tune into ibiza-esque rave classic and it suits Blake's vocal rather well. And perhaps it will launch him to a wider European audience (listen to it in succession to the previous two tracks and tell me it doesn't fit in perfectly). However, it seems that he has lost a little of the quirkiness and originality that made songs like Gots To Get Her and End Of The World so lovely and endearing. Still, I remain a loyal Blaker Boy :) Check out what Yuri has to say on the matter...

"Da" Killers ~ Spaceman: Ok Ok it's an enormous stretch to include the Killers under D (blame yuri who came up with how to do it on google chat today!!) but I really wanted to write about this supposed second single from their new album Day and Night! Oh! Day starts with D! Yay! Anyway, I'm positively fizzilating at the maneye (or dudeslit if that pleases John) over the release of the third "proper" Killers album - Human is absolutely one of the most beautiful songs of the year and The Spaceman doesn't let me down at all. It's more guitar driven than Human, and is perhaps more of a link to the first two albums than Human was. There is definitely a hint of Bowie about the track, and this is one of those tracks that (like When We Were Young and All These Things I've Done before it) is going to sound immense chanted by thousands of fans live. It's all massive crescendos and singalong choruses - and therein lies the brilliance of The Killers. No matter what genre they are aping today, they have always been a band that gives back to their fans through enormous sing along ditties like this. Will it be a huge hit for them? Time will tell. Does it deserve to be? Absolutely.

Coming tomorrow: Pop bought to you by the letter "M"
Coming sometime in the near future: Britannia High latest review, Wicked Watch and a look back at 10 years of Steps (Blame d'luvverlee...)