Lopez Blogs

A trifecta of wonderful pop acts for your listening pleasure this very weekend :)

Julian Velard ~ Mr Saturday Night: It's with some delight that I've watched Mr Velard create himself a presence in the UK of late through some charming tv appearances and of course his jaunty, singalong music. His latest album "Mr Saturday Night" certainly cures those lingering "Mr Monday Morning Blues" and injects some melody, rhythm and charisma back into a world full of autotuned music. I've always been smitten by a fella who knows his way around a keyboard and Julian definitely draws inspiration from people like Billy Joel and Elton John. His influences are only the start of his music, however, and he easily imbues each track with a slice of theatrical cabaret that makes for some of the most energetic and enthusiastic tunes this side of the west end. What's most evident is that Julian loves the type of music he's creating, loves musicals, loves movies. From the splendid opening track 'Me & My Mirror On A Saturday Night', you're drawn into the album's word and it's one that easily pleases and delights. If you're familiar with his tremendous tune Love Again For The First Time, you'll have a good idea of what you are getting with this album but don't be fooled into thinking each track is the same. Personality and honest candour shine through and make each track something new, an additional part of the Mr Saturday Night persona story running through the album. So essentially, entirely brilliant and one worth checking out. Oh and if Sentimental isn't a massive hit come Christmas, I'll eat my Santa hat...


Neverest ~ About Us EP: Apparently Neverest were originally conceived as a heavy rock outfit. Thank Christ that never happened, because then About Us (from their debut EP of the same name) may never have sounded quite as good as it does in it's current (and remixed, and acoustic format!). What you have here are four guys who have pooled together their musical talents and created a sound that is high on the power pop spectrum - anthemic singalong stadium ready chanters and highly emotive ballads. They manage to evoke the instrumentation of more sombre rock outfits such as All Time Low and Dashboard Confessional while mirroring the joyous love of pop you get from acts like Big Time Rush and The Wanted. Each tune is carefully crafted so that it storms into life as a fully realised, layered, instant pop classic. Take 'About Us' - it creates a seamless blend of rock and pop, keeping all the necessary cool of indie rock while playfully acknowledging a pop audience. Not an easy balance to make but one that has given massive success to acts like Maroon 5. Totally smashing - and the lead singer is a proper looker too :)


HeyHiHello ~ Goodnight Moon EP: Thank the bloody stars for generally effusive and power-pop loving acts like HeyHiHello. They give us some sparkling song lyrics, choruses that are on the "very" end of the "how catchy is this?" spectrum and tunes so tightly knitted together that they whizz on by leaving you exhilarated and breathless by the end of them. A song like Right Here has sizzling guitars, a propulsive drum beat and an engaging vocal that lifts this song high above what you might expect and carries it forward with a joie de vivre that it's hard not to smile at (oh and check out this live version to see that energy translate to the stage - I love me some crazy dancing!) Alternatively, Goodnight Moon (the title track to their great EP) has a sincerity and charm to it that definitely belongs on an ABC Family drama as a montage to those relationship moments that end every episode. There's a maturity and insightfulness that belies their young years and a talent that will no doubt give them household name status very shortly. I'm definitely very taken by them :) Some free songs if you sign up at their website, but don't be cheap - pop along to iTunes to get the whole EP. It's so worth it...