Lopez Blogs

Spring has all but sprung. Except for yesterday when it was raining quite heavily while i was outside in just a shirt (not just a shirt, i had trousers, etc., on too of course) and left my feeling quite see through and nippular. Let's not pause over mother nature's cruel sense of humour though - there is music to be heard so pop on your listening ears and pay attention...

Lenka ~ Roll With The Punches: I am shamefully behind on Lenka, take two. The lead off single was out at the tail end of last year and I completely missed it. This is shockingly unforgiveable when you consider Lenka is an artist who came out with debut single so charming and bold that it had the lyrics in "i want my money back, i want my money back"... in a song called The Show!! And had the confidence to know that people would only be singing it in a self aware ironic way at her concerts. Marvelous. She then whizzed ahead with a delightful debut album and a gorgeous Christmas song (All My Bells Are Ringing), and now has decided to sally forth with new music for her forthcoming second album. Roll With The Punches is almost a teaching aid on how to deal with life once it (as it so often does) gives you a swift kick in the knackers - and frankly what could be a better treatment than this vibrant dose of endearing pop majesty?? Lenka makes the most of her engaging vocal style and her ability to make tune she touches eminently catchy and as a result Roll With The Punches is a fine introduction to the next stage of career. Delicious :)


Lena ~ Taken By A Stranger: Good gracious! Not content with winning last year's eurovision song contest with the oddly wonderful and wonderfully odd Satellite, Lena (Meyer-Landrut) is the first person in 50 years to represent her country twice in a row! She performed 12 new songs to the adoring German public (all of which make up her new album, Good News) and then picked this single as her entry. Initially it doesn't seem the most immediate choice for her - a rather dark tale set over a plucked bass rhythm with no discernable melody. However, as the song progresses, it lures you into it's shadowy world (and yay, there is a dance routine, always a plus) and ingratiates it's way into your heart. As a standalone single and an example of Lena's work, it's a solid entry in her canon, but competing against other songs in Eurovision? It's a brave choice, but may suffer against those that are more instant. One dilemma - two songs with breaking glass? Let's hope she doesn't look as terrified as Eric did :)


Nerina Pallot ~ Put Your Hands Up: I do adore the artist also known as Lady Chatterley. Geek Love remains my favourite but her output of music since Dear Frustrated Superstar has never failed to provide me with many hours of emotion filled pleasure. I once met her in Borders (RIP) where we discussed Otto Titsling from Beaches & she was a real treasure :) Despite having two incredibly fine tracks on the Kylie album (Aphrodite & Better Than Today), this is not a cover of the other song from that set that's currently doing the rounds. No sirreebob. In fact it's produced by Sir Bernard of the Butler and is a lush and layered soundscape of stirring strings, essential handclaps and has a deeply swooning 60s vibe to it. It's a bit of a departure, but then Nerina has never stuck to one musical style, always preferring to experiment and examine new ways of presenting her music. From the clips around, she sounds absolutely tremendous here and the song has a classic, timeless feel to it from the start. I'm loving this mature approach and it bodes well for a startlingly accomplished album - which frankly is what i've come to expect. *bows in awe*