Lopez Blogs

The week before any holiday (vacation for my Go-Gos loving American buddies) is always interminably slow. There is always loads to do at work. There is the insanity of helping your OCD other half pack his suitcase (tip: make a list of what he is putting in as he does it otherwise you will be packing and unpacking all night to check whether the double ended dildo has batteries in it). There is the very very important decisions about what tv shows and music to put on your archos. And then there is the thought that you have (some would say wisely - there is a real world out there!) committed to a week cycling around the mountains of Austria with no internet or blackberry. It's like a www detox. In the meantime, as succinctly as I know how (and I know I'm not the most concise person ever to blog - was any of this introductory paragraph necessary? Probably not, although without it I wouldn't be able to tell you that Darren went to an old ladys house for work today, only to be shown coasters which were close ups of her deceased husband's willy. Now imagine going all week without knowing that!!), here are some of the highlights of the week (that will take you til I'm back on Sun 16th to read!)...

MUSIC:

• Hurrah for pop music and all who sail in it, I say. Sure I get mocked for liking music that is allegedly designed to appeal to teenage girls, but there is goodness and cheerfulness in appealing to that demographic that appeals to me. There's already the mighty lovely Industry "burn"ing up the Irish charts, and out of the ashes of Beyond and Discotheque rise the ace of basetastic Waterloo. Featured on today's always reliable popjustice, this four piece has all the right ingredients - voices that harmonise together nicely, two stunning looking ladies, two quite handsome dudes (oh no, here's that mp3 pornography again!) and tunes that are entirely too catchy for their own good. I'm always up for high quality melodic pop that is hopefully destined for chart success. Forget the 80s, it's all about the sound of the 90s and I'm right back there with them. Check their myspace here...
• Talking of popjustice, they are on an absolute roll this week. Case for the prosecution - exhibit A: An absolutely free download of Erik Hassle's Don't Bring Flowers - with MPHO!!! Yes, the MPHO all the reliable music blogs like Dan Uk, XO and Phil are talking about. It's ever so magnif as a duet.
• Exhibit B: The return of Robbie Williams looking quite decent (let the Triga boys keep the "trackie" look Robster) and with the match made in heaven pairing of him and Trevor Horn. And don't forget PJ had the low down on the brillo sounding Alphabeat new single as well - The Spell. Both these acts should be brightening up my autumnal months...

• Oh finally! I've been looking out for new act Jaymi ever since he graced the main stage at Birmingham Pride in May. His debut single keeps getting postponed, but now he has finally thrust his way (ooer) onto the world wide web with a website and some single snippets. I seem to remember he did a rather corking cover of Let's Get Excited by Alesha Dixon, and his own a*teenstastic version of I Promised Myself. I particularly like the way the latter (the first single) builds the anticipation before kicking in with a hi-nrg disco beat. It's like S/A/W never went away and I love it. His version of Human is rather nice too.
• Talking of S/A/W never going away, there is a clip of the original mix they did for Same Difference's Turn It Into Love on the PWE website. It's a lot more "european" sounding than the finished version - and the lovely SD siblings twittered me that they hope to release this version in Japan soon. Hurrah.
• That very same website has a whole tracklisting of the Sinitta greatest hits album. No longer will she just be sitting around doing some undetermined job for Simon Cowell on X-Factor but reminding us all of great songs like the hideously inappropriate video to Toy Boy, the ace So Macho and summery Right Back Where We Started From. Plus unreleased mixes and tracks. D'luv will be in heaven...
• Lumme! You can tell the final quarter is coming up because there are greatest hits coming up all over the place - including the imaginatively titled Hits from William of Young! He wisely leaves off that Gareth duet, and I'm hoping for a couple of super dooper new uptempo tunes to boogaloo down to at Christmas parties...

• The Baseballs always delightful Strike album (current fave = their hillbilly reading of Bleeding Love) has gone gold in Germany. Now bring the show to England boys (bring the show to London boys would have worked better in a postmodern ironic pop culture way, but there's a world outside our capital you know)...
• Natalie Imbruglia is back and I am very happy for 2 reasons - one, i love saying her last name as many times as I can and two, she is one of dazpanteloons favourite singers. While the video song Wild About It isn't the official single, there is something quite enchanting about the song and accompanying video that I have fallen in love with. I can almost imagine William of Young singing this. She sounds and looks great anyway.
• Lenka has done a new video for the brilliant Trouble Is A Friend of Mine, and Marit Larsen has finally got a video for the always lovely If A Song Could Get Me You. Both very 2008 both still very amazing.
• Erasure's still super The Innocents album is 21 years old this very year and is being released as a special edition. I am practically love weeing at the thought of this - I could not get enough of that album when it was released. And it's a double disc!! And there is a Phantom Bride EP coming! This is obviously all very exciting for me :)
• Finally, I discovered Larry Flick's brillo radio show on Sirius radio this week and low and bloody behold if it isn't the most chatty, smutty, hilarious show I've heard for ages. And with great bloody music. And low and bloody behold part 2, he's only gone and fallen in love with the delightful Elouise (and bobbypops a bit!) - if you want to here the amazing Another Day tune into his show. If she doesn't release this song soon, I will combust faster than she does in Fireman of my Dreams...

NOT MUSIC:

• Darren and I have become ridiculously obsessed with Rupaul's Drag Race and subsequently his Champion album. The former is frothy, addictive, catty fun and the latter is an enjoyable set of dance-pop anthems. Loving your work miss Bebe Zahara Benet - those eyes are amazing...
• Everything about the 10 Things I Hate About You sitcom screams "TGIF" block on ABC circa the Clueless/Teen Angel/Sabrina era of the mid 90s. And you wouldn't be entirely wrong. But where that is the downfall of Ruby and The Rockits, 10 Things manages to rise above and sparkle & sizzle with some Greek-type wit and humour in it's writing. Definitely worth 22 minutes of your time...
• I have my holiday reading all set. I was thinking about re-reading Wicked by Gregory Maguire for the nth time, but i'm sticking with my much anticipated first read of the always hilarious Grace Dent's Diary of a Snob and another re-read of the final Harry Potter. (PS be sure to follow Grace on twitter for insightful BB10 observations. STFU Lisa indeed. god that woman gives Birmingham a bad name...)
• Finally, Britannia High graduate alert! The lovely Jez (Matthew James Thomas) is currently starring in the London stage version of one of my fave novels Dorian Gray, and quite phenomenal it is too. Full review coming soon...

TOP 21 SONGS OF THE WEEK:

Be sure to check out pop trash addicts on Sunday, particularly as I give two songs 4/5...
Be sure to know that Elouise would be powering up my charts with Another Night if they put the full studio version online...:P
Be sure to be back here on Sunday 16th for all the salubrious gossip from Austria. Comment away until then...