Lopez Blogs

I think I woke up in a bit of a funk and a bit of a mood. Just one of those days I guess. I have them every so often so I won't bore you with the details ) I did sort of wonder today "ooo what do I blog about now?" as for the past 4-5 months, the blog has had a real focus - first the x-factor posts, then Christmas and of course most recently the Vegas diaries! I think I have sort of forgotten how to just blog spontaneously! I'll need to get back into the habit... Anyway, while not particularly groundbreaking or shockingly new even, here is some solid boy pop that has caught my ear recently...

Adam Tyler - Lullabies for Rattlesnakes:


2010 needs someone like Adam Tyler. I've expoused his many attributes on this blog over the past few months (and love that his press releases take the most random quotes from those like "a thoroughly nice chappy" and "over excited puppy" which makes it sound like I don't write about his music at all, but obviously I do :P) and am quite excited that his electro-tinged, doused in pop debut album Lullabies for Rattlesnakes is nearing completion. An album megamix is doing the rounds and includes ace dance tracks with a sizzling edge like Masquerade which grooves down with a seriously funky twist and Take It To Extremes which behaves like it's auditioning for a sci-fi musical. Friction remains a fave of mine and is so chartbound it's almost popping out at the seams, while Over The Top has been rewhizzed from the Luigi Masi track it originally was (!) into something quite brilliant. It's all looking quite promising indeedy and I still maintain that Adam has the fun factor going on in spades. Plus he'd be ideal for my proposals for a second series of Britannia High (which could totally work in the post Glee world!!)
See also:

• Adam Tyler ~ Ghost Of Christmas Past: An eerily melancholy tune that's both wistful and yearning all at once. christmas may have gone but it's perfect for those cold frosty mornings...
• Simon Curtis - Diablo: More amazing electro pop from a boy! Girls may have ruled last year but the testosterone is coming back with a vengence (PS - there's a Diablo show mix?!)...

Boyzone ~ Gave It All Away:

Let's focus on the positive... there is a new Boyzone single. It features Stephen. It's actually quite good and very "must listen again quite soon". There's some terribly sad pathos going on as Stephen sings the opening line ("I will learn to live before I die") set to some lovely piano juxtaposed with cello. Bits and pieces are added here and there (e.g. a shuffling beat, some quite nice harmonies in the chorus and some spoingy - yes it's a word - sound effects as verse two kicks in) until it's chugging along like someone has done a gentle remix of a Lilt commercial. Oh, and there is a rather brilliant (depending on how much you like this sort of thing) middle 8 which sounds like it's lifted directly from Lion King: The Musical. So yes, I really like it. The slightly down side is that it probably would have been a brilliant Joe McElderry single and I can't quite get that out my head when I listen to it. Also, the video isn't really my cup of tea - it straddles a dangerous line between genuine grief and record company exploitation. I don't need to be visually reminded of how sad the bandmates must have been at losing Stephen. Anyway, sandwich the negative! It's one of Mika's better tunes and a lovely Stephen tribute.
See also:

• Mika ~ Rain: one of the better tracks from his second album and the one that seemed to lyrically match how my day was going
• Stephen Gately ~ New Beginning: Quite poptastic and magnificent actually. As was Shooting Star...
• Boyzone ~ Melting Pot: They were never as brillo as Take That were (and continue to be) for me, but this was their finest moment...

A1 ~ Take You Home:

A1! 3/4 of them have returned! And they are making new music! This was actually out in November in Norway but inexplicably I've only just gotten around to it. It's a rather welcome return for the boys too as it takes a bit of what made their third guitary based third album so brilliant, adds some of the pop sensibilities of Ben's solo music and dashes it all off with the maturity of solo Christian (who has frankly always been quite a delight). What's surprising is that it's the sort of soaring pop classic that Take That and Coldplay and The Feeling have recently built very large careers on, yet still retains a cheeky wink that the more serious musicians seem to be missing out on. Even better news is that their next single (a contender for Norwegian eurovision heats) Don't Want To Lose You Again is an even more accomplished pop ballad that shows that this may be the best boyband comeback since Take That, because the talent is a) there and b) being shared around the group. Aces.
See also:

• A1 ~ Caught In The Middle: Quite quite brilliant and - like BBMak - laid the foundation for ace guitary boyband pop from McFly and the "ilk"...
• Ben Adams ~ Sorry: Why Ben's solo career didn't take off is a great shame - he had some quirky tunes, good looks and a gap in the boy pop market. Sigh.
• Christian Ingebrigtsen ~ Adorable: Like Mark Owen, he was ridiculously overlooked, particularly when putting out sweet little ditties like this one...

Lemar ~ The Way Love Goes:

Well flap me sideways and bugger me gently with a banana! I frankly never really paid any attention to Lemar but then he goes and announces a duet on his greatest hits with JLS so I thought, oh I better have a quick butchers then. So I investigated his comeback single and gosh darn it, if it isn't the perfect Shayne Ward return vehicle. It's a brillo Stargate produced pop tune that absolutely soars from the first note through to a kicking little chorus through to a ridiculous yet more catchy the more I hear it middle 8. Love it when he breaks into "someone's coming to save me"... well done Lemar, you 've got me hooked on your new tune to a ridiculous degree. Quite delicious. Curse Shayne Ward for not getting to it first... :/
See also:

• Lemar ~ If There's Any Justice: Oh, apparently I am more aware of Fame Academy Alum Lemar than I thought as my word perfect singalong to this quite nice tune shows...
• Shayne Ward ~ Melt The Snow: There were lots of tracks as decent as The Way Love Goes on Shayne's abandoned far too soon Breathless album. This is one of them, although not quite as upbeat. Still lovely though...
• David Sneddon ~ Best of Order: Another Fame Academy alum (who is now apparently done bits of work with the very excellent Hurts - more on them soon!) - this is one of his best and still outstanding after all this time...

Jedward ~ Under Pressure/Ice Ice Baby:

Jesus Christ on a cross. It's actually happened. It seemed like a gentle joke, something to guffaw about while I enjoyed their ghastly yet brilliant (for all the wrong reasons) X-factor performances. Yet here is the debut single and of course it's instantly more entertaining than any note Joe sang on The Climb. Oh let's throw caution to the wind and say that I'm actually quite enjoying it. They are having a ball, i love their clothes and of course it's not going to change the face of pop as we know it, but it puts some much needed fun back in the charts and every now and then that can be a good thing. Divisive as ever of course - there is a rather brillo moment at 1m35s where a young man in a suit looks like he might attack them viciously, yet at 1m38s a dude in glasses is practically moist that they are so near. Good God, Jedward has landed!

Back tomorrow with the girls!