Lopez Blogs

I had a bit of a brolly misadventure yesterday. There i was trotting (mincing along at speed if truth be told) to the train station to make sure I got the 5.27 (the 5.29 stops at every bloody station and takes nearly twice as long) holding my umbrella like a rifle (for some reason). I went barrelling round the corner only to stab some poor bloke in the gut area with my pointy weapon (oo-er)! (Enough with the parenthesis)! I wasn't going to miss the train, so I just yelled my apologies and scurried out of there while he was winded - he looked pretty solid and could have kicked the poop out of me so I was glad when the train doors shut and I could safely breathe again. Like Toni Braxton. That's not a very festive advent calendar type story is it? Oh well - I did hear some old dear on the train say "oh I find it ghastly when people say xmas instead of Christmas. It really removes Christ from Christmas" Her companion (with the most massive purple rinse hair-sprayed hair ever) replied "absolutely dreadful. It really is the purple pin!" AMAZING. I shall use words like that in sentences all week now. For it really is the purple pin.

CHRISTMAS FUTURE:

7 years ago Girls Aloud changed the perception of reality music show winners songs (and the face of pop in general) with the amazing Sound Of The Underground. Obviously they are currently on a break while Cherevyl (lump of) Cole markets her admittedly successful solo career, so the vultures are circling and hoping to be the next huge girl group by this time next year. I certainly don't mind elements of The Saturdays and Girls Can't Catch music, but the two I'm liking most at the moment are below:

• The Dolly Rockers - North vs South: Available for a free download on their Bebo page, who knows when proper releases will surface from the cheeky chops girl group next! Despite songs like Je Suis, Gold Digger and Boys will be Boys absolutely dripping in charm, they haven't really connected with the public yet. North vs South may not change that but it's certainly an enjoyable track - almost their version of Perfect Match, albeit totally British. "Meet me in the midlands" they sing as a suggestion to their errant lover and this plus the middle eight makes them more Fuzzbox-y than ever. And i love it. There's also an element of Kate Nash in there - and if that's your bag then check out the amazing Champagne Shirley. Not only does it start "she thinks she's fit with her new fake tits", it is the most Kate Nash song since Foundations. Perhaps they will always hover on the periphery of success, slightly too cool for mainstream. I adore them though.
• Mini Viva ~ I'm Hooked: Already they have won the hearts of a nation with their spunky Left My Heart In Tokyo (wonder how many journalists have asked whether they really did or not!) and are about to have a second strike at the charts with the winning I Wish. Their album sampler is doing the rounds and while it won't quash any comparisons to Girls Aloud, there is certainly a large dose of their own personality mixed into the songs. The best is the swoony midtempo I'm Hooked which tinkles along with a great singalong chorus and a dreamy middle eight (infused with great synths). I'd be more than happy if something like this was the third single - already potentially one of my fave pop songs of 2010 :P Hurrah!

CHRISTMAS PRESENT:

Well this really is the purple pin. Sugababes 4.0 have only gone and recorded temptress anthem Santa Baby ("for radio") and gosh darn it, it's quite good. Appropriately seductive with spot on harmonies, it's yet another version that will get reeled out year after year as the nights grow darker and the evenings grow colder. Is it special enough to stand out against other such stellar versions done by Eartha Kitt, Kylie, Madonna and uh, Ally McBeal? Well it doesn't top Eartha or Kylie but it is rather pleasant and will tide the latest incarnation over nicely until Wear My Kiss in February.

CHRISTMAS PAST:

Rounding off this all girl group post with something else estrogen based is quite easy. Every year I reel out the bonus CD from Girls Aloud almost exemplary Chemistry CD, often referred to as Christmastry. While the album got a bit lost in the festive shuffle (as did rush released single See The Day - shoved out unceremoniously like afterbirth a mere four weeks after the VASTLY superior Biology), it's impact on pop culture remains to this day and the festive addition is still a lovely treat to dive into every year. And every year I get a tiny little bit drunk at our Christmas party and lead a singalong of "Bish bash bosh wooooooo" from the I Wanna Kiss You So... Smashing versions of christmas classics mixed with all new saucy numbers making this a winning mini album that could have done quite well on it's own. Please go find it (as I implore you to every year) if you haven't already!!

Back Friday with a round up of the week, late Saturday with first X Factor write up and late Sunday with the second. Blimey! It's all go around here lately isn't it?

If I were to be a popstar (I wouldn't ever be - it's not something I particularly want to be; I can carry a tune but frankly I'd only get one yes at an X Factor audition and only then because I outrageously flirted with Louis) starting out in this crazy business of show, I think I'd want to be a bit like The DollyRockers. I don't mean a girl in a crazy frock, no not at all you silly sausages. I mean just that if I had not made the X Factor finals, I'd like to step back, re-evaluate and then carry on with a brand new attitude. Which frankly is a bit of fresh air after all the 17 year olds on the show stating how this will be it for them if they don't make it through. The Dollies are proof that there is life after the X Factor - no matter how uphill a struggle that life is.

I was ever so smitten with the tune that more or less introduced the popjustice lovers of the world to the Dolly Rockers - Je Suis Un Dolly. It was fun, quirky, a little bit novelty, a little bit rebellious and with a viral video that most groups when spend a fortune on to get the same wickedly enjoyable impact. I was ever so slightly bamboozled by the fact that the similar but not quite as good Gold Digger was their first single proper - it was very similar to Je Suis, yet didn't quite have the same magic for me. Still, pop from The Dolly Rockers is still massively enjoyable and luckily they have a second shot at the fame game with the ridiculously catchy Boys Will Be Boys. It's ever so slightly reminiscent of Brooke Valentine's I Want you Dead and pogos along to a dynamite chorus, encapsulates a bit of Girls Aloud (the middle eight vaguely reminds me of Models) and yet still retains all the who gives a shit charm that you have come to expect from the girls (lines about trust fund bitches make me want to jump up and down with glee). So getting the chance to ask them a few questions was a chance not to be missed...

The burning question I have to start with is - Gold Digger: why on earth was this not a massive top ten success?!
We would love to know!! No, we kind of always knew it would be a struggle as even though we are a girl band, we have the background of a indie band. Everything has been done from scratch and nothing was ever going to happen for us over night. We weren’t put together by a label who already had a huge tour waiting for us to support on or had our album finished before we were together so were still growing the Dolly Rockers brand and it just wasn’t strong enough when we released our single. We didn’t have radio backing and we didn’t have a tour to go on so in a way it was like no one really knew about it for it to have a chance for people to like or not like the song.

How will Boys Will Be Boys redress the balance?
We’re very lucky it wasn’t all riding on the first single and we have a chance to release a second, we know now that we just need to create more awareness about us with the second single and obviously the most important thing, an amazing song. Boys will be boys isn’t 100% yet but what ever it is needs to be a smash!

To raise more awareness you're doing a campaign with KangaROOS shoes. What's happening with that?
It's sort of Bebo's Got Talent - basically we are launching a talent search where girls can record themselves dancing to Gold Digger and upload it to the My Kangeroos Bebo page. Each week one video entry will be selected to go through to the final and get the chance to be the "KangaROOS - How Do You Rock Your Roos Dance Champion 2009"! And of course they will win a day with us, a makeover and loads of goodies...

Oh sounds brillo except it's only for girls so I can't enter. Curses. I got some nifty moves too :( Oh well - I bet the girls are rocking their Roos for you from all over!
We’ve actually had a few videos of these amazing girls KEG doing ‘je suis’ style videos they are very fun to watch - definitely check out the Bebo page to see what's coming in on a week to week basis! But hurry if you want to enter :)

I'll put the word out! Ok, back to Gold Digger ~ if it wins an award and Kanye West runs on screaming "I'm sorry girls but my Gold Digga is the best Gold Digga/Digger song ever", will he live to autotune another day?!
What do you think!! Ha ha I love how Taylor swift was so composed and didn’t say a word that suits her but if he did that to us....bladdy el! Can u imagine He'll see my backhand!

Feisty! I'm a little bit scared of you already :P Ok, BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge - you SO need to do this. Little Boots did Beat Again, JLS did The Fear; what song would you cover (I'm seeing you doing a brillo version of Love Game by Lady Gaga!)
I actually would love to cover the new Arctic Monkeys song or maybe a Jamie T song could be interesting!!

You should do that anyway. It could be a youtube smash. No one did anything like that on the X Factor this year. Talking of which, the X Factor live auditions - brilliant new reinvention or epic fail and rip off of Britain's Got Talent format?
I actually really don’t like the new audition format its very cringe. I used to love the editing of the x factor I thought it had a very dry British sense of humour to it, which, shows like American Idol and Britain’s got talent didn’t. That’s why I could never watch them.

Why didn't you return to The X Factor like Ricky with the scary eyebrows from last Saturday's show? Everyone is on about this poor kids eyebrows I didn’t actually notice them! I don’t think X-Factor is for us anymore, we couldn’t go on anyway because we have a record deal but were we wouldn’t be able to stand up there singing someone else’s songs being styled by someone else - it wouldn’t be us at all.

Very wise. I think you have your own little niche carved out now :) Ok, I'm gonna leave you be now but lastly - fashion tips please. As an "aging" gentleman (ie, i look on my twenties as my youth!) which KangaROOS should I wear on Saturday night with the classic jeans, shirt/tie and waistcoat look?!
Definitely the shiny gold ones!!

Thanks for the advice girls. And there you have it. Dolly Rockers, KangaROOS, and shiny gold shoes. I'm off shopping :) Come back tomorrow for the latest Fizzypop Chronicles playlist :)

Well good golly miss molly - the autumnal rush of new music to flood the Christmas sales market is coming at ya thick and fast. It seems that every day a new song from one of my fave artists hits the internet - and I wonder whether I'm really having enough time to take it all in enough. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving having enough new music to take a bath in, but I sort of miss the days when there was a lot more anticipation about music and the first time you'd hear a song was when you rushed out to buy the cd single. Now it seems as soon as a song is announced, it's available as a radio rip on one of those naughty mp3 blogs or on youtube seconds later. Still, these times they are a changing, and I guess the modern pop artist just has to keep up! So without further ado, here are some of the week's best new tunes...

• The Baseballs ~ Hot n Cold: The Baseballs aren't exactly new and this has been floating around on their wonderfully different album for a while now ~ they have, however, done a shop window type video to rival that of Dolly Rockers and their lamentably poor selling Gold Digger :/ The oddly attractive lads seem to getting increasingly popular in Germany and I'm just itching for them to bring their hillbilly-esque rock'n'roll to the UK. Check out their live on tv performance of the track here and a recent reworking of Lady Cuckoo's PokerFace. Marv!!
• The DollyRockers ~ Boys Will Be Boys: Talking of the Doilies, yes yes Gold Digga didn't do quite as well as it should and I'm as sad about this as anyone else, but it's time to move on. Nary a week after they peaked at #46, they are back with their very important now indeed next single. What you need to know is a) it's very good indeed, b) it pitches itself somewhere between The Veronicas and Shampoo and c) it's (almost criminally, but manages to be ace on it's own) not a cover of The Ordinary Boys song...
• Preston ~ DS Sessions: Talking of Preston (I don't just throw these posts together you know :P), I can't tell you how distraught I am that the bloody enjoyable (if the Doilies can say bloody so can I) Dressed To Kill is apparently not going to storm the charts at #128. Bah to the lot of you who didn't buy it. I still think the Ordinary Boys were grossly underrated and i'm liking stripped back Preston - check him out doing the single and a new song on Digital Spy, which is called Heart of Gold and sounds possibly like it could be about Chantelle. Or not. I'm usually crap at these song interpretations.
• Dragonette ~ Pick Up The Phone: Everyone got a bit excited in bloglandia this week about the debut of a new Dragonette song and video (XO as usual covered it best) ~ less immediate and less in your face than the punchy Fixin To Thrill, it does a rather fine job of reminding people that the group not only write rather brilliant pop songs, but also (like Dangerous Muse ~ where the fuss is I Want It All?) should be entirely massive by now. Sigh...
• Natalie Imbruglia ~ Want: Much like William of Young and Annie Lennox, Natalie seems to exist just to pop up on the pop radar every couple of years and serve up an elegant slice of music for the world to feast on. It's always done with effortless class and "Want" is absolutely no different. It comes with a gorgeous video where Natalie looks stunning and has a rather insiduous groove that gets 'hookier' with each listen. Lovely.
• Nerina Pallot ~ Real Later Starter: There is nothing that I do not love about Nerina. I bought her debut album based on an advertisement in Heat and quickly fell in love with songs like Watch Out Billie (Piper?!) and Jump. The second album bought greater success and the gorgeous Sophia and Nerina is finally back with a new single ahead of her album The Graduate in October (and a concert in Birmingham that Ruthiepoos and I will be attending). The song is a quirky slice of pop with some lovely piano work in the middle 8 and the brilliant line in the chorus "oh my god if I was somebody you'd be kissing my ass right now". Genius. Point to note - Nerina's really embraced interacting with fans via twitter and her youtube page (link above). Love it.

Other songs floating around written about on other blogs...

• Ken and Mel point out that Cheryl's debut is nothing to write home about...
• Nikki gives the quite good Sugababes song "About A Girl" a middling 2.7/5. Now what the ecky thump was that Amelle stuff about?!
• Poptweetz gives his two cents worth on the only just top 40 Bananarama single :/ It's very good everyone. Please buy it!
• Mike PTA and I bond over the return of Vanessa Amorosi! She's proper bonza when she wants to be :)
• It's not new but ADH did a rather lovely write up about why he is still smitten with Robbie William's Angels...
• PosterGirl not only has the skinny on the excellent new David Jordan single, but also her views on a new Darin track floating around.
• Finally, lots of people wrote about James Leon's debut single Purple Heart. Quite rightly so too. It's very good indeed.

Top 21 Songs of the Week:

21 ~ Nerina Pallot, Real Late Starter (NE)
20 ~ Benny Andersson Band, Story Of A Heart
19 ~ Backstreet Boys, Straight Through The Heart
18 ~ Bananarama, Love Comes
17 ~ Little Boots, Remedy
16 ~ Preston, Dressed To Kill
15 ~ Mini Viva, Left My Heart in Tokyo (NE)
14 ~ Pet Shop Boys, All Over The World
13 ~ Industry, Burn (Download free legal remix here)
12 ~ The Yeah You's, Getting Up With You
11 ~ BWO, Love Comes Crashing Down
10 ~ Alexandra Burke, Bad Boys (NE)
09 ~ Same Difference, Better Love Me
08 ~ Alphabeat, The Spell
07 ~ Madonna, Celebration
06 ~ Mariah Carey, I Want To Know What Love Is (NE)
05 ~ Whitney Houston, Million Dollar Bill
04 ~ Sugababes, Get Sexy
03 ~ Leona Lewis, Happy (NE)
02 ~ Mika, We Are Golden
01 ~ Robbie Williams, Bodies (2 weeks)

About the same time I learnt that Bananarama's excellent new single "Love Comes" is hovering around the edges of the top 30 in the midweeks, I was contemplating that, while they might quite like a more mainstream success, Bananarama don't really need to be huge to make a pop impact. Much like their 80s counterparts Erasure and the Pet Shop Boys, they have managed to carve out a very respectable career with a solid fan base that keeps them going long after other more successful flashes in the pan have fallen to the wayside. So while Viva is still totally relevant for today's pop market, it's still got that devil may care attitude that makes Bananarama Bananarama in the first place.

I need to get this out the way straight away. Viva is not a perfect album. However, it is a jolly fun album and quite entertaining all the way throughout. In terms of where it fits into the Bananarama catalogue, you're probably best listening to alongside Pop Life, Ultra Violet and Drama (and although I adored it, best skip Exotica from the pop-dance canon of the Rams!) It's pure pop dance from start to finish. And what a start - Love Comes is brash, energetic and totally in your face. Hardly what one would expect from a pop group that's been around nearly 30 years and I can't help but feel that if The Saturdays had recorded something like this instead of that Forever is Over dirge, I might be feeling a darn site more positive about their comeback right now. Check them out performing the song (at 5.04 onwards) above on This Morning as a medley with the groovetastic update of Cruel Summer. Immense comeback single whatever the chart position - and if it's not followed up with the album's best track Love Don't Live Here then my whole world will just fall off kilter. Not only the best song on the album, but one of the best Bananarama songs period (American period, not British period because that would be repugnant). It's all strings, dramatic keyboards, gothic backing vocals, lyrically downbeat and a chorus so sumptuous Harrods will want to put it in their soft furnishings department. The fairytale may be dead and gone, but with songs like this Bananarama will live on long into the future...

The album could easily support five singles. Tell Me Tomorrow is a sleek modern classic that recalls some of their S/A/W work if it was recorded with todays production values. It's almost hypnotic in it's delivery and the girls sound quite delicious in the chorus, while the middle 8 is positively seductive. Album closers aren't often singles but We've Got The Night totally deserves to be single number four. Parts of it (baby i want you) are almost Could It Be Magic samples, while the chorus line of "say that you want me" yearns to be mashed with Kylie's Come Into My World. It's a comforting moment of familiarity in a song that pulsates and throbs with synths, electro sound effects and yet is still softened by some gorgeous harmonies. Quite marvelous. Fifth single I hear you ask (Well I don't - I'm not that schizo)! I have to go for their cover of The Runner. It's a fairly traditional cover version with an updated dance sound that completely pays tribute to the disco original. Now wouldn't it be entirely delightful if they borrowed Elouise's choreography for the video? Yes it would be delightful is the answer to that rhetorical question. I can't get enough of this song this week and the girls just ooze spunk and vitality in their delivery.

Other winners on the album include the enjoyable Dum Dum Boy with it's Spice Girl tribute middle 8 ("who do you think you are/you ain't no superstar), the sultry Seventeen which succeeds mainly because of it's subject matter, it's delirious lyrics and an insistent beat, and the brilliantly bonkers Twisting. Possibly the most innovative track on the album, it's all weird sound samples, random drum patterns and a fuzzy electroclash vibe to the whole thing. It all sounds quite dark and strobe light worthy, it's a bit dirty and you feel a little bit naughty just listening to it. And that's really what Bananarama do best. It's a pity that the more generic songs on the album (such as the average S-s-s-single Bed and could-be-sung-by-anyone Rapture) don't aspire to these lofty heights. It's not that these songs are bad - just that compared to the 8 very very good songs on the album they could've done so much better. Overall though, a rather brillo and enjoyable album. And hey, even when Bananarama are just being average they still make me feel like Marilyn Monroe (ie, they are still a cut above the rest!). Long may the reign...
(Read DontStopThePop's review here)

PRETENDERS TO THE THRONE:

Dolly Rockers ~ Something has gone very wrong in the Dolly Rockers camp. They debuted at 46 with Gold Digga and I'm certainly hoping they get a second stab at the pop pie. For me the problem was the chosen single was not quite as good as the song that created all the buzz for them over three months ago. Je Suis... was fresh, exciting and a bit in your face (much like when Bananarama launched on the scene). Gold Digga was just more of the same, albeit quite enjoyable same. So the British public needs to be convinced. I just hope the record company gives them a real shot at the giddy heights of success they deserve.
Mini Viva ~ Conversely, Mini Viva - the latest horse to bolt forth from the xenomania stable - must be doing something very right. Their Mel n Kim'esque Left My Heart In Tokoyo is all set to debut top ten this week and feels both funky and fresh. Bedroom Viber is still a bit reminiscent of a Girls Aloud album track so they might want to remain entirely distinct while they stake out their musical sound in singles... (Must stop calling them Mini Vulva though)
Beauty Skool Dropout ~ Ok, not strictly a girl group (cos one of them's a dude), but instantly part Veronicas, part Shampoo, part Fuzzbox and part something quite brilliant that draws you into their f*** you sound. It's all fuzzy synths, electro clash and genius choruses that seem to embody the raw spirit of rock n roll in an unconventional pop setting. They seem - in the nicest way - utterly loony and I really can't wait to hear more and more from them.

Thurs ~ some boyband stuff. Maybe.

UNIMPORTANT EDIT: Oh dear Whitney Houston :( And to think I was saving her to lead off the August fizzypop chronicles in style :( As a massive fan I'm quite sad!

I am SO not feeling July as I am an anomaly. I do not "do" the sun. It is too hot and bright for my delicate disposition. I prefer to draw the curtains ("drapes" for my american compatriots) and sip iced tea (that is only me being pretentious. It's really the cheap tesco diet lemonade). If I was being really pretentious I would say I then listen to depressing music like The Smiths or The Cure. Everyone who visits here would know that to be a lie, as I am more likely to be found in a darkened room bopping to Same Difference or Industry, or pumping fist over the dirty ads at the back of the latest Attitude (I jest of course. Ahem). To top off the outpouring of love I have for these summer months, a sceptic pipe has leaked at work so I am literally swimming in my and others own plop and piddle. And am not even allowed to go home. I draw the line if a used sanny pad floats past :/

Clearly, that is all utterly charming so I will get onto the musical musts for the month tout de suit. Tootle pip.

MUSICAL MUSTS FOR JULY:


01 - Preston, Dressed To Kill: I always knew Preston Ordinary Boy had it in him - a brilliant pop career. Under the ska overtones of most OB tracks lay the heart of true pop musicians focused on melody and catchy lyrics. This shines through on solo Preston's synth charged electrolicious debut single where his voice sounds glorious and the 80s vibe still comes across as unique and quirky. Love the middle eight where Preston positively purrs "you make me come..." before pausing just a fraction of a second to add "...undone". The whole single is a sex kitty kat that has been sprayed in kitty kat juice. Ergo entirely astonishing :)
02 - The Baseballs, Umbrella: I wrote about this on Sunday so I really don't have that much more to say about it. The genius of this type of group is that they take songs you love/know; deconstruct them and rebuild into their own genre. See also The Puppini Sisters (40s big band) and G4 (popera). This is still mega by the way :)
03 - Anders Fernette, Hungry Eyes: Ah my favourite song from Dirty Dancing (apart from the bit where they go "1-2-3 cha cha cha, hey! Where's my frame? Where's my pleasing arms?" Love) given a dance makeover and some tip top Swedish pop production values. It's all very ace indeed. Tragically if Westlife came back with something as brillo and enjoyable as this, they would be slated. Life is so unfair sometimes :/
04 - Dolly Rockers, Gold Digga: Channelling the spunk of Bananarama, the sass of the Spice Girls, a dash of Vanilla and even the lyrical genius of the Arctic Monkeys and you have the Dollies. Their first single proper (criminally not Je Suis...) is all feisty, taking a pop at those lazy girls who just coast through life on being married to someone famous. The video had better be amazing is all I can say :)
05 - Star Pilots, Higher: Well they keep churning out the dance orientated, smash hits don't they and in general the world keeps ignoring them. Not entirely true, but I can't help but feel if these songs were performed by big busted women in bikinis then they would be a lot more omniscient than they are now. Evacuate the dancefloor indeedy.
06 - Danny, Set Your Body Free: Let's ignore the frankly ludicrous fact that silly Danny released the tepid Emely as his third single in Sweden because that is positively bonkers. This track (the old Avenue song) is far more uplifting, danceable, paletable and screams "international pop hit" from the very first second. Some people, eh?!
07 - Britney, Kill The Lights: I can't have Radar as her fourth single because i allocated it as her fourth single from Blackout. Lazy bitch. And honestly, I'm as shocked as the next person at her "sexy horse" video. God forbid the directors cut leaks where she is wanking off a stallion :/ So i'll focus on this song instead which is about paparazzi. Not the Lady Gaga single.
08 - Sugababes, You On A Good Day: I'll continue mining the latest not as terrible as everyone thinks album even if no one else can be arsed! This (if paired with their recent cover of Teardrops) would be a nice addition to the charts with it's stomping Northern Soul production values and lyrics about the erstwhile partner. Men eh? Can't live with them, etc.
09 - Girls Aloud, Rolling Back The Rivers: I could have picked any of a number of tracks from the fine OOC album, but settled on this mid paced delight. Mainly for the aaa-ooos that proliferate it. Now don't get me started on the Cheryl solo album/one year off debacle because my ears will start to steam with rage and impotence...
10 - Lily Allen, Who'd Have Known: Well thank god she lost the awful grammar that marred the title of the demo version floating around last year! The official next singles are F*** You/22 but I am in love with the more loved up Lily trying to lure her man into the sack, all set to a tune that's a bit reminiscent of Shine. All in all, it's quite lovely.
11 - Anastacia, Defeated: I'm still trying to work out why she let Mary J Blige be on the cover of her latest album. Once i'm done working that out, i'll start on pondering why i like this entirely generic mid tempo r'n'b groove when surely there is much better out there. I'm clearly settling here, but sometimes that's enough to get you through the next 3 minutes...
12 - Daniel Schuhmaker, Anything But Love: Mein Gott! following on from the musical rape of Hallelujah by both British and Dutch X Factor winners, and the entirely generic but still brilliant winners single by Kevin Borg, comes the best entirely generic but still almost brilliant winners single from Germany. It's they type of big booming ballad that I sort of wish Mariah Carey would remember she can do quite well once in a while, only everyone would moan about how she never moves forward if she did that. Pop - it's a delicate balance isn't it?
13 - Erik Hassle, Don't Bring Flowers: Well flap me sideways and bugger me gently. Music Week informs me (not personally, I just read it) that this generally incredible dark booming 80s synth track will be the first single in the UK, with the equally genius Hurtful being released closer to Christmas. I bow to their wisdom because while Hurtful gets all the press, this is equally bonza and actually there is not one dud track on the dudes album. The hair still bothers me though :)
14 - Paolo Nutini, Coming Up Easy: Sunny Side Up is convincing me less and less with each listen which is quite distressing for me as I was in total adoration of These Streets. This track staves off the diminishing love somewhat as it's quite a nice motown style tune which sounds quite nice in a car with the windows down in the summer... The boy can write a decent lyric still though :)
15 - Leon Jackson, All In Good Time: All in all, as I come to the point where I have exhausted all possible single releases for poor underrated Leon (this is his 5th on my "chronicles") I have decided that perhaps Leon was too much like a male Vonda Shepard for the world. He could probably get a job singing songs in a bar to lawyers who see dancing babies. This sounds like an insult, but believe me it's not. All hail Leon (no a, hence no record company money invested in him).
16 - The Gossip, Heavy Cross: I'm all over the new Gossip album like a rash. The lead off single which, yes, I'm a bit behind on, sounds like a montage of all the great 80s songs performed by a time travelling Debbie Harry. It's utterly stomping and a great track to convince you to buy the epic and culturally significant Music For Men. End of sermon. amen.
17 - Franz Ferdinand, Can't Stop Feeling: I only sort of remembered that the Franz were still going when I heard this new single on Radio one t'other day. Which sort of speaks volumes for their marketing campaign doesn't it? This is an entirely decent single from their latest album yet no one even knows it exists. Incredible.
18 - Kaiser Chiefs, Addicted to Drugs: Ditto everything I said above, but with a Robert Palmer sampling chorus and the sad news that they won't be working with the one and only Sophie Ellis-Bextor Hyphen Jones. :(
19 - The Killers, Dustland Fairytale: Has my love for the Killers diminshed since they were one of the three groups I fell in love with in 2004 (along with Maroon 5 and the Scissters)? Not a jot. I still find them effortlessly entertaining no matter what musical genre they attack and no matter what B-Flo chooses to dress up like. This is less instant than Alex Rybak's Fairytale but a bit more pleasing over all.
20 - Keane, Disco 2000: Keane are very good at performing almost note for note cover versions that don't deviate much from the original. This can be quite good, when they add a bit of rollicking piano in there for good measure, but a bit boring otherwise overall. This is a perfunctory cover of the Pulp classic that makes me want to listen to the Pulp classic. Oh :(
21 - The Feeling, This Is Love: The Feeling boys do better than Keane at cover versions, but they honed their skills in an austrian ski lodge for a few years so have probably had more practice at it. Dan sounds positively filthy as he growls some of the lyrics and if I weren't so enamoured with Richard right now i would lust after him all over again. A decent little tune to keep me going til the third album arrives.

See you Sunday with pics from gay pride, London Sty-leeeee...

I had a whole pre-amble written today how someone at work pissed me off royally by stating (during an epic whining session) that they thought they were done learning all lifes lessons (It was much longer than this and I deleted it by mistake!) Uh, excuse me? If you think you have learnt all lifes lessons by your thirties, you are either too freaking arrogant for words or too stupid to know any better! The great thing about life is you are constantly learning and evolving and growing. Good grief. I said as much, and then of course the people pleaser in me felt incredibly guilty and full of remorse for being so candid. Of course I had just heard that I didn't win an award for my dementia work, so it was a great time (it's a honour just to be nominated etc etc :P) to unburden on me. But that's not really why you came here today is it? Probably want to know what music has been gently fingering me into submission this week? Well read on my pretties, read on...

THE WEEK THAT WAS (WELL D'UH):

• The obsession with Elouise continues. Tragically at the last minute, I was unable to make her show in London, but I imagine that it was as shiny and shimmery as the black and white bits of Girls Aloud's The Promise video. Only she did it all herself, with an eight piece band and performed for 90 minutes. How amazing is that? It feels like the end of an era - the end of Elouise being on the periphery of blog buzz to the start of something bigger. She's busy working with Steve Anderson (Kylie) and Terry Ronald (Girls Aloud) on some epic sounding tunes that take her sound to the next level. Until those appear, be sure to check out the summery pop of Since You've Been Gone and Miracle Man on her myspace.
• (Simon Curtis really needs to come to the UK and put on a full live showcase. I'll sponsor it :P)
• I've been all Abba related this week. I've spent copious amounts of time perfecting the perky pop hit in waiting (it just needs someone to cover it and give it a more modern edge) Second Best To None and devastatingly heartbreaking ballad Story of A Heart (album out this week!) on the piano and they do sound quite good. Even if I do say so myself :P Plus I dug out my old written-by-Benny-&-Bjorn Gemini cds and fell in love all over again with Just Like That. And on a particularly gloomy morning walk to work in the rain this week, Happy New Year popped up on shuffle. Only Abba can make supposedly uplifting songs sound so positively traumatic...
• I'm quite excited about the return of Preston from the Ordinary Boys as a solo artist. I always thought that had the Ordinary Boys been marketed as a proper pop act rather than an indie band, they would have been perhaps significantly more successful than they were. Like a more ska McFly if you will. So solo Preston looking fairly handsome with a proper dancey pop song is quite a mouth watering proposition. His first single Dressed To Kill is out in August, but you can check out a full song entitled Teenage Zombie on his myspace...
• Mariah is back with Obsessed. Much like Kylie's 2 Hearts, I have gone from thinking "oh dear" to thinking "oh well, it's quite ok I suppose isn't it". I have accepted that Mariah will probably never make an album that makes me fall in love with her as completely as I was in the 90s, so it's all on Whitney now...
• While Love Takes Over is a decent enough summer song (I do quite like it), I think that it should probably swap chart positions with Sophie Ellis-Bextor this week and the vastly superior Heartbreak Makes Me A Dancer (which frankly hasn't become any less appetising since it leaked on line last June...)
• Talking of last June, Lily Allen's Fuck You isn't any less brilliant than when it leaked back then either. It's now an official single in Europe (with a dirt cheap, slightly wanky vid) while England gets 22. Oh. I wanted Who'd Have Known...
• Dolly Rockers = 1 part Spice Girls + 1 part Arctic Monkeys lyrics + 1 part Bananarama. Ergo, Gold Digga is, uh, solid gold pop.
• Julian Velard called me a nerd on twitter. I knew I worshipped him for a reason. Well, being insulted (though he redeemed himself by crowning himself King of the Nerds) and the rollicking piano-pop tunes he puts out. I absolutely must draw your attention to his brillo cover of Hot n Cold on his myspace, as well as a rather brillo blog he has written about the difficulties in getting his album The Planeteer out to the masses...
• The more I hear the pop-by-numbers JLS single "Beat Again" and see the literal interpretation of the lyrics dance moves, the more I fall in love with it. It's bloody brilliant. And I love JB's fashion sense in the vid too...
• Finally, the Greek season finale was aces. Especially the line "Oh paging Dr Grey. No you're worse, you're Joey Potter. No, you're the F word. You're Felicity!" which elicited a "you bitch" from loveable but lovetorn Kasey Cartwright. And a Felicity-esque cliffhanger too. Bring on August 31st!
• Finally, part 2. It's taken 10 years for me to admit it, but Big Brother this year is actually unwatchable. Though I reserve the right to get sucked back in at any point :P

TOP 21 SONGS OF THE WEEK:

21 ~ Le Kid, Mercy Mercy (NE)
20 ~ Alesha Dixon, Let's Get Excited
19 ~ Same Difference, All Roads Lead To Heaven
18 ~ Pet Shop Boys, Did You See Me Coming?
17 ~ Take That, The Garden
16 ~ Mr Hudson, Supernova
15 ~ Dan Black, Symphonies
14 ~ Marina & The Diamonds, I Am Not A Robot
13 ~ Alcazar, From Brazil With Love
12 ~ Industry, My Baby's Waiting
11 ~ JLS, Beat Again
10 ~ Mans Zelmerlow, Home
09 ~ Little Boots, New In Town
08 ~ Freemasons ft SEB, Heartbreak Makes Me A Dancer
07 ~ Dolly Rockers, Je Suis Un Dolly
06 ~ Jason Mraz, Try Try Try
05 ~ BWO, Right Here Right Now
04 ~ Jordin Sparks, Battlefield
03 ~ Elouise, One Night Only
02 ~ "Abba", Second Best To None
01 ~ Benny Andersson Band, Story Of A Heart (2 weeks)

Back next week, then some more regular posts coming (July mixtape, half year wrap up, the tens...)

FROM ABBA TO INDUSTRY...

The finest ever mixed sex pop group performing their finest ever song!

Pop music is proper bonza really isn't it? I mean, I love boy bands (I still mourn the loss of near-massive Digital and Avenue, but have high hopes for Avenue; viva the Take That concert tomorrow night!!!) and girl groups are quite wonderful (while Girls Aloud can't be bothered to promote their singles, I am quite happy awaiting Red Blooded Women, Candy Coated Chaos and The Dolly Rockers to become massive; viva GA supporting Coldplay in Sept!!!) However, some of my very favourite pop groups of all time are mixed sex combos. Abba happen to be my favourite group of all time. Steps reached a pinnacle of pop with amazing tracks like Deeper Shade of Blue and You'll Be Sorry. S Club in various formats delighted with Don't Stop Moving, Sundown and the grossly underrated Hey Kitty Kitty. Heck even less successful acts like All*Stars (ooo remember Sam Bloom? He was fine!) had entirely brilliant tunes like Love Is. So it's definitely about time that an amazing mixed sex combo entered the pop charts again to dazzle with their dance routines, enchant with their catchy melodies and wow with some beautifully blended harmonies. Enter Industry...

Industry interviewed on Xpose

4 piece combo Industry first caught the eye of the blogging world in April when Chartrigger bought them to the attention of a soon to be adoring public (and later did a proper interview with Donal!) Lee, Donal, Morgan and Michele have been busy working on a selection of brilliant new tunes, videos and a live show that will wow audiences at the Pussycat Dolls concert in Killarny this summer. The Irish and Swedish debut single, My Baby's Waiting, is a sunny slice of perky pop that is perfect for the summer months with a sun-drenched video and a chorus so delicious that you are screaming for seconds by the end. No matter what trends temporarily dominate the charts, I'm always thrilled when proper pop makes a return, so took every opportunity to feel completely ugly by sitting down with the glorious looking boys and girls of Industry and ask them some very serious questions...

The group at cool Swedish club Le Bon Palais (taken by Filipe Cederholm)

Despite being very disappointed that Donal hasn't bought me an edible offering (he writes a brilliant blog called Good Mood Food), I'm quickly won over when the conversation starts off with the pop idols of the group - and Donal declares that Abba were his idols growing up, followed by Michael Jackson (of course - find me a pop group that doesn't have the former genius, current nutter as an idol!) and the boombastic Queen. The group quickly agree with Michael Jackson and throw in some other suggestions as diverse as Backstreet Boys & Marvin Gaye (Lee - who starts to croon "let's get it on" but sadly/mercifully stops just short of grinding his hips) and Kylie, Spice Girls and Take That (Michele). In fact, Michele, like my good self, turns out to be quite the enormous Take That fan. " I loved them when I was 10 years old and I adore them now with the comeback albums. They are so so talented and have had huge success and longevity!! I just wish Robbie would come back now and my life would be complete!! " I can't help but absolutely agree with all of that, except of course I have completely resigned myself to Take That being amazing as a four piece. Michele is also rather enamoured with the career of the Spice Girls, with Geri being her favourite. I then ask what nicknames the group would give each other ala the Spice Girls...

Donal ~ Myself and Lee would be drag spice!
Lee ~ Uh, actually I'd be spice man! Or Rocky Spice...
Michele ~ Morgan would be Thumper, Lee would be the Naked Cowboy and Donal would be Pavarotti...
Morgan ~ Michele would be tinkerbell, Lee would be Lala, Donal would be Minerva and I would be Explicit.

Amazing stuff. Strange, bewildering amazing stuff. It's clear there is a love of pop music history and fun within the group and I wonder which artist's careers they would like to emulate. Michele and Lee both like Take That (with Rocky Spice also admiring U2, though probably not their recent chart positions!). Morgan is all about Destiny's Child, while Donal goes for the more diverse Robyn ~ "She is the comeback queen and she is so creative and quirky, I love how all her stuff really has her personality throughout". All the group seem to adore Robyn and how she's stayed in control of her career. It's part of the reason they decided to work in and launch their debut single in Sweden. Lee thinks the debut single will go down well with "the sweedies", and is an ideal product for that market. There is quite an indepth discussion about different pop artists from Sweden that the group love - lee recommends a soul singer called Samuel Ljungblahd, while Donal reels off literally everyone from Lena PH, Carola, BWO, Mans Zelmerlow, Amy Diamond to September, Shirley Clamp, Patrick Isaksson and Hello Saferide. I try to get him interested in my beloved Oh Laura, but apparently he already has the album and it wasn't for him :( Donal - the wikipedia of swedish pop! And of course, mention acts from Sweden and inevitably Abba comes up. Morgan is firmly of the opinion that Abba songs are perfect first time round and nobody should cover them. Lee's not a huge fan, but admits to liking a bit of Super Trooper for a laugh. Michele however is more enthused and raves on about her and Donal's priceless Abba impressions of tracks like Waterloo; Donal even offers up a bit of Voulez Vous' "ah ah" bit - and i ask him whether he has heard of my latest obsession, the Hotel Rival track... "I absolutely love that track, have you heard the latest the latest track from the Benny Andersson band? LOVE IT! I'm pretty sure Lee could write us a fancy little number about a hotel too, we could call it "Come stay at Casa De La Industry", it would have an amazing chorus, and lots of people would like to come and stay in our hotel, and we would leave mints on their pillow and love in their hearts." I'll take that as a yes then. HURRAH!

I note that successful boy-girl pop combos seem to appear in ten year cycles, with a decent ten year gap since Steps and S Club hit the big time. I wonder why Industry will succeed where my beloved Same Difference failed? Lee ponders this for a few seconds before offering "we all have something different to offer, we're very versatile in our sound, morgan has one of the best voices in the bizz, we can perform live acoustically with guitar, we have brilliant and very dedicated managment and were buzzing with a love of music and a lust to succeed!" Morgan adds that "we have a clear insight as to where we wanna see our career go and know what market we want to capture...with this confidence we know what music this market wants to hear and continue to pick songs that will suit that market,while keeping our followers interested." It's clear that all four think the management team behind them are so creative and hard working that they failing to become the next S Club is not even an option. I'm sure you have all seen the brillo video where they all look entirely beautiful (loving Donal's white on white layered top combo) and where Morgan possibly inadvertantly channels Alannah Myles :P I need to know how they keep so slim and spunky!! Lee recommends a morning gym session and a protein shake but points to Donal for healthy living. Donal suggests wholegrain foods, five a day of fruit and veg and plenty of water (and no doubt recipes from his Good Mood Food blog!!) Morgan's also all about the water and vividly tells me how it flushes out all the toxins (yum!)and Michele reckons some street dancing and hip hop will get me into shape. I choose not to notice how NONE of them think that I actually am in pretty good shape to begin with. Charmant!

Finally, I quiz them about the upcoming album and whether they have all practised their J'Ai Ho dance moves for the Pussycat Dolls support slot. Morgan's particularly excited for the support slot and tells me there will be a live band and lots of energetic bubbly songs. Lee states that the performance will be very attentive to the small details. Michele and Donal however promise to get cracking on those brillo J'Ai Ho dance moves. And frankly the album sounds like it's going to be a corker - a mix of pop, electro, r'n'b and ballads. Apparently there is an amazing ballad that Lee has written called In Ur Arms that gives Michele goosebumps. I suggest that perhaps they should give away stickers with it, just like Smash Hits used to do in the day. Donal is particularly enthused by that idea... " think stickers would be so COOL! Maybe we could have holographic ones, so it looked like we were jumping out! Now that would be fun! I hope people will be able to stick the album on and be able to enjoy each track!" As we part, I ask if they can come up with a fizzypop chorus, perhaps to put on a future b-side :P The results are of course quite amazing. Viva Industry and all who sail in them :)

Gonna drink you down like a can of fizzy pop, throw some glitter in the air ain't neva gonna stop, take a big filthy chorus show you what we got, we're Industry, peace out.

TOP 21 SONGS OF THE WEEK:

21 - Mans Zelmerlow, Hope and Glory
20 - The Killers, World That We Live In
19 - Paolo Nutini, Candy
18 - Mr Hudson, Supernova
17 - Same Difference, All Roads Lead To Heaven
16 - Annie, Anthonio
15 - Take That, The Garden
14 - Alesha Dixon, Let's Get Excited
13 - Alcazar, From Brazil With Love
12 - Pet Shop Boys, Did You See Me Coming
11 - Jason Mraz, Try Try Try (NE)
10 - Mans Zelmerlow, Home
09 - Industry, My Baby's Waiting
08 - Dolly Rockers, Je Suis Un Dolly (NE/VID)
07 - Marina & The Diamonds, I Am Not A Robot
06 - Jordin Sparks, Battlefield
05 - BWO, Right Here Right Now
04 - Elouise, One Night Only
03 - Little Boots, New In Town
02 - Sophie Ellis Bextor, Heartbreak Makes Me A Dancer
01 - "Abba", Second Best To None (4 Weeks)

Note: Little Boots may have given me the most instantly accessible, instantly gratifying yet richly rewarding album of the year so far. Amazing. See you next Sunday :)