Lopez Blogs

Ooo it really is the most wonderful time of the year. The walk to work this morning was jolly freezing, the fields were glistening with frost and I get to go home tonight and pack for two weeks of Florida! How magnifico. I have lots of posts to keep you going over the next couple of weeks and hope you will keep me entertained with plenty of comments as although I am having a self imposed internet exile (it's so cleansing!), comments will come straight to my phone. Hurrah! In the mean time (and in between time - guess that pop reference, 90s disney group fans!), here are 10 lovely new Christmas songs and one extremely brilliant non festive treat (for more excellent Christmas stuff visit John's writing on top40about.com)...

The non-festive nugget ~ Dirty Disco return with Storyteller:

Sometimes, just sometimes at Christmas you need a bit of respite from the relentless cheer and good tidings that are almost rammed down your throat. Dirty Disco's excellent and thoughtprovoking new single is just the tune to do this. Following on from deliriously bonkers yet quality pop like Sista, Vulture and White Room, the innovative and artsy group have returned with an intense, brooding, gothic electro tune. It's tinged with eerie synth sounds and a stark strumming guitar and tackles aging, our obsession with youth and fitting into a restrictive society while remaining true to yourself. If you need a comparison, try Kidz or SOS on the new Take That album - yet it's different to those and has it's own Dirty Disco charm. Adam's distinctive voice consumes the lyrics to make them both angry and regretful at times without sounding aggressive (though there is a rather glorious "fuck" early on). The instrumental parts weave together and elevate an already good tune into a great one - little touches like the sounds of strings at the end or the guitar playing off the synth give little frissons of excitement throughout. Check the video above too as Adam and the boys in some haunting costumes seek down the Storyteller they wish to become. Tremendous stuff...

10 New Christmas Tunes:

• Hurts ~ All I Want For Christmas Is New Years Day: Yay! Hurts top off a year of quality music with an exquisite new festive offering that examines the bleaker side of this time of year. With a familiar sounding shuffling beat, sound effects that sound like walking over freshly crunching snow and chiming bells through a soaring chorus, the boys look at how the hope can make one feel even more lonely and hopeless as the persevere to get through the season. I like a bit of bleakness at Christmas and this is one beautifully crafted tune that once again proves they are stars in the ascendency. Check out vinny vero's review also...
• Owl City ~ Peppermint Winter: It's Fireflies the festive edition and the complete antithesis of the Hurts track. It's a love letter to all the cheesiness of this time of year and how it's even more magical if you just embrace it. Full of feel good bon mots like "i troll through the driveway with angelic grace/til i slip on the sidewalk and fall on my face" & "the snowflakes are falling and I start to float/til my mean older brother shoves snow down my coat", it's built around a sleigh ride of bells and the glorious refrain "what's december without Christmas eve". Heavenly optimistic and joyful. Love.
• Mans Zelmerlow ~ Christmas (Baby Please Come Home): I shall return to Mans' festive album a few more times before the big day. His big band readings of yuletide faves are brimming with elegance and a genuine warmth and love for the genre and songs he sings. This is a classy addition to any Christmas dinner party soundtrack and gets you fingerclicking along. Brilliant orchestration of the music too. I'm loving Mans formal Christmas look too - you can just imagine him coming home, loosening his tie and smooching the face off you under the mistletoe. Now, that's magic :)
• Wilson Phillips ~ Warm Loving Christmastime: It's not the first time the Wilsons have done Christmas (indeed this song featured on the second Wilson linked Christmas album - Carnie's solo) but it is the first time they have all felt the seasonal pull together. And hurrah, it's glorious, particularly for a long standing Wilson Phillips fan like myself :) It's a swinging and fun pop song with enough added jingle and bells to make it feel as Christmas morn as possible. And those choruses are saturated in their amazing harmonies. So so lovely. Well worth the import charges!!
• Jessica Simpson ~ My Only Wish: Jessica gets a lot of stick and I'm not sure why. I'm glad she's done a Christmas album anyway. This single from it is a decent pop tune and a nice ode to her new fella. Showcases her great pop voice (come back from country music!) and reminds me of how fun some of her music has been. Bits of it are reminiscent of Darlene Love's Alone on Christmas (which Britney liberally borrowed for her christmas tune) but it's a catchy little number with a lovely intricate piano middle 8. marvy.
• Indigo Girls ~ Mistletoe: Who would have thought that a blue(grass) Christmas would be so enchanting? The Indigo Girls did - their Happy Holly Days album alternates between rollicking joy and reflective pauses. This is one of the most beautiful on the album - a stripped back lyrical poem, resonant in a superb tenor vocal and supported by subtle harmonies and a gentle guitar. Makes me stop and luxuriate in it's beauty each time I hear it. Reminds me a little of Bette Midler's The Folks Who Live On The Hill. Never thought i'd make that comparison, but it's a complimentary one :) Delightful tune that you should really check out...
• Pink Martini ~ A Snowglobe Christmas: It's like being transported to a simpler time when the movies were black and white and people wrote to each other using pen and paper. This is a timeless, hawaian tinged classic that would sound beautiful whatever time period you are in when sung like this. it's from a whole album of magical wonder and one that should really investigate. As close to Doris Day as you are going to get this snowglobe Christmas. Like a festive hug and kiss. Melts me every time.
• Mariah Carey ~ Christmastime Is In The Air Again: I'm sure I'll return to Mariah's new Christmas album again lots more before the 25th December. There are lots of fun moments on that but this is one of the slower, sipping mulled wine by the fireplace moments. It's a string laden track with a restrained and impeccable vocal from Mariah that enables the song to transcend genres and time. The pull of the tune is undeniable and I soon find myself having little memory flashbacks to the ghosts of my own Christmas past. Dickensian!
• Lady Antebellum ~ Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas: A lovely little reading of this classic tune from the country group du jour. The cd of Christmas faves is (I believe) only available at Target but it's worth tracking down as it's full of faithful renditions like this that just sparkle with sincerity. Plus the fellas look proper foxy on the cover :)
• Puppini Sisters ~ Step Into Christmas: SCREAM! The Puppinis are back! And they have stuck to their absolutely delightful Andrews Sisters for the new millenium mantra. This has led to an amazing album of jazz tinged, boogie woogie Christmas faves and their turn on this Elton John fave is a fizzy explosion of joi de vivre all wrapped up in their tightly knitted harmonies. So much fun yet put together so very cleverly, very carefully and very well. Check out their older christmas tunes too like Jingle Bells and Little Match Girl. Top drawer!

Top 21 songs of the week

21 ~ Gabriella Cilmi, Defender (NE)
20 ~ Jessie J, Price Tag
19 ~ Ola, Riot
18 ~ McFly, Shine A Light
17 ~ Shayne Ward, Gotta Be Somebody
16 ~ Joe McElderry, Someone Wake Me Up (VID)
15 ~ Darin, Drowning
14 ~ Eric Saade, Break of Dawn
13 ~ Westlife, Safe
12 ~ Kylie, Better Than Today
11 ~ A1, In Love & I Hate It
10 ~ P!nk, Raise Your Glass
09 ~ Deborah Gibson, I Love You
08 ~ EMD, What Is Love?
07 ~ JLS, Love You More
06 ~ Le Kid, We Should Go Home Together
05 ~ Andrea Lewis ft Simon Curtis, Talk To Me
04 ~ Take That, The Flood
03 ~ Daniel Boys, To Make You Feel My Love
02 ~ Gravitonas, You Break Me Up
01 ~ Elouise, You'll Never Walk Alone (1 week)

I was in bed last night (steady!) watching an episode of Gavin & Stacey... it just happened to be the series 2 Christmas episode (with that gut wrenching ending). Well, the first few minutes put me in a proper good mood - you've got Stacey in the midst of the seasonal shopping bustle at Marks & Spencers (Jamie Redknapp looking fine on their new clothing range adverts this year! Ooo and of course Shayne Ward at Next. Sorry. Distraction). Then you've got Smithster and Gavlar singing Do They Know It's Christmas at each other down their phones. Tidy is what it is is what it is, i tells ya. And while I promise to hold off on my annual deluge of Christmas posts til at least Thanksgiving, it did get me fingering my amazon wishlist looking at the upcoming festive releases from some of my favourite stars...

• Mariah Carey ~ Merry Christmas II You: I may be in the minority about being very excited for this Mariah release. Her 1994 Christmas album, Merry Christmas (and it's glorious accompanying single All I Want For Christmas) remains a yuletide staple, and entirely enjoyable 16 years later. I'm optimistic that the vibe of MCIIY will be more in keeping with a cheeky Ally McBeal festive episode rather than a tricked out, pimped up, slapped down ghetto-ho fiasco but it remains to be seen. Contains some classic tunes, new songs (including single Oh Santa) and a remake of All I Want for Christmas Is you (past remixes of this have been dire so I may skip that track altogether!)...(Nov 2nd)
• Annie Lennox ~ A Christmas Cornucopia: She's a bit "worthy" nowadays is our Annie, but that doesn't mean her voice isn't still a compelling listen when it crops up on the radio. She's dabbled with Christmas before (the rousing Put A Little Love In Your Heart and the more sombre reading of Winter Wonderland) and if she can balance that with the chilling icy cool of Love Song For A Vampire then I'm all in (contains interpretations of classics, and one new song "Universal Child"...(Nov 22nd)
• Mans Zelmerlow ~ Untitled Christmas Project: Sigh. Mans. He's so dreamy, etc. Anyway, (shake it off their mister) it's rumoured that pop magnificence Mans will have a whole album of Christmas tunes out in Sweden sometime in November. I can't work anything out from his blog because a) i'm too busy gazing at his pictures and b) it's all in Swedish. Though i think there was an outcry over his facial hair. he can give me stubble rash anytime, etc. But he did do a lovely ballad version of the aforementioned mariah classic, so I do trust him with a seasonal song selection...(TBC)
• Indigo Girls ~ Holly Happy Days: Glory be! The Indigo Girls are one of those acts that I perennially love and purchase every release of (see also Dashboard Confessional, Barenaked Ladies), but don't blog about as much as I should. So i'm very pleased to the power of indeed that the lovely duo have their first Christmas album out. Squeal, etc. Not only does it have three brand new tracks (including probable single The Wonder Song), each album comes with holiday decorations. Amazeballs! If there's something as lovely as The Wood Song on there or as ebullient as Gallileo, I'll be a proper happy chappy! (Oct 12th)
• Pink Martini ~ Joy To The World: I do enjoy a bit of Pink Martini (the drink and the group) when i'm in the right mood. The group delve into a rich musical tapestry, laced with ace symphonic leanings and so are perfectly poised to deliver a grandiose festive album. It's mostly traditional tunes with a few surprises in there, but the album cover is like a classy Christmas card and so far away from the normal yuletide trash that adorns these things :) Well done! (Nov 2nd)
• The Broadway Boys ~ Hark!: Not just Hark, but Hark Exclamation Point! I live for the day when someone has the nerve to do a uk group like this (granted, there was Teatro for a while but I really want the group to be called West End Wendys). Quickly following up their theatrical Lullabies of Broadway album from the summer, the boys have musical theatred up some favourite festive faves for your musical enjoyment. It's jazz hands and santa hats at the ready then. I can't wait...(Nov 2nd)

Well do let me know if there are any festive releases you think I should be aware of that I've missed. For the record, some of the big autumn/winter albums I'm looking forward to include Rumer, Shayne Ward, Take That, JLS, The Overtones, A1, Magnus Carlsson and of course EPs from gravitonas, elouise and deedee. hurrah.

Back tomorrow with a europop round up!!