Lopez Blogs

Work has been horrific this week. Ridiculously long hours. Ridiculously short tempers. On the plus side, I had a rather lovely day out with Mr Pants of Daz in Stratford Upon Avon yesterday (e.g. one of the most lovely places in the world ever and one of the most lovely people in the world), though i clearly scrimped on the sun protection lotion as now I have quite red arms with a big white line where my "bracelet" was. On the other plus side (can you have more than one? Let's celebrate the plusses and say yes you can!) I also finished re-watching season two of Buffy (ie the one where Angel goes a bit mental, Buffy gets stabby and Willow grills Jonathan about the dark arts - hereby planting in him the seeds needed for year six? Discuss) and got all misty eyed again over that Sarah McLachlan song that soundtracks the closing moments. And on the final plus side, I was very lucky to get sent a proof draft (one of 42! In newspaper format!!) of the new Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy Book by the Artemis Fowl creating genius Eoin Colfer. I'm scared to touch it in case my fingers have destructive oils... :P OK, on with a plethora (good word - try and use it in a sentence today) of new(ish) acts...

NEW AND NOTEWORTHY:


Killian Wells: It's been a while since I wrote about Killian and stated that he had brilliant pop star hair! His hair is still quite popstar, and he has now released a proper single (VIP) that is actually quite hook laden and gets multiple extra points for spelling out his name at the beginning of the song. It's a great commentary on the fame game, with an almost robotic sounding middle 8 that is instantly on my "sounds brilliant done in a posh british accent" rap list that I have to walk around quoting. The song is just proper bonza, and it name checks Nelly Furtado which really more songs should do. On top of all this, Killian was one of the first pop singers to do the admirable NoH8 campaign in the USA - taking a stand for gay rights. It's both brilliant and sad (inasmuch that the campaign has to exist at all)... Now come to the UK to launch your pop career young sir, and let me take you shopping. I still maintain you will be popstartastic in a bow tie :) Be prepared to ask Who The Hell is Killian Wells, because I suspect the answer will be very forthcoming!

Daniel Boys: Earlier this year I was very taken indeed (ie obsessed for a few months) with the flawlessly performed I Know Him So Well that Daniel did with John Barrowman on the latter's most recent album and tour. Since then, Daniel has resumed his run in the hilarious Avenue Q and been busy releasing his debut album. I really need to write more about both, but for now I'll just point out my current favourite track on the album - the piano driven One Day More. I just need a song that is filled with hope and optimism in my life right now, and this delivers. Not only is the piano riff glorious, but the added strings and the fact that I could listen to Daniel's voice all day make this a total winner. No wonder I was called a west end wendy at school - musical theatre rocks. Plus of course i may have noticed that Daniel is quite charming to look at too :P

Daisy Dares You: Oh aces, another pop star that spells out her name. That sounds sarcastic, but i love spelling in pop songs. DDY has been all over popjustice (and a good write up on the always reliable Ademwithane) recently and with good reason ~ she produces punky-pop electro tinged songs like the epononymous Daisy Dares You (that you can legally download here) and the sweet meets indignant anger of No. One Enemy (again free and legal here!) I suspect that she may be the love child of Transvision Vamp and Fuzzbox, which is a very good thing indeed as I worshipped both acts "back in the day". It's the amazing Talk About The Weather though that got me totally hooked - particularly the lovely piano trinket that starts the song. Quite an astonishing talent for a 15 year old and perhaps my fave Electric Youth since Debbie Gibson hit at an early age in the 80s :)

Mini Viva: Another popjustice beloved act. What with Girls Can't Catch (great song that The Saturdays could've sung) and the spunky amazing Dolly Rockers (new Gold Digga video is the logical extension of Je Suis...), I wondered what Mini Viva could bring to the table. Basically they have a xenomania sound that updates the Mel and Kim vibe from the 80s, mixes in some Girls Aloud friendly verses and sprinkles it with some Betty Boo type rapping. It's like a tour through the greatest hits of pop and could well bring the girls some attention and success. I quite like it, but I can't help but feel the best is yet to come from these girls... (Aaron's views here!)

Ben Montague: I honestly thought I'd written about Ben before, but I guess I didn't. Shame on me, because I have been loving his brand of piano charged, good old fashioned timeless melodic pop for a few months now. The very gorgeous tune Haunted is a classic ballad that digs deep into your soul and gently strokes your emotions, and the absolutely rollicking honkytonk Can't Hold Me Down channels the best of The Feeling and Elton John into a tightly produced pop tune that Ben commands from start to finish. Apparently a debut album is on the horizon so I'm quite looking forward to more tunes that embed themselves into your brain and refuse to budge for days.

Other bonza tracks heard this week:

• The new Backstreet Boys song "Soldier Down" is exactly what I wanted a BSB song to sound like in 2009. Quite funky, melodic, harmonious and entirely uptodate. I'm liking quite a lot so far... (Nikki likes it too! Hurrah!)
• Whitney's I Didn't Know My Own Strength has really grown on me, so I'm pleased that her latest leak I Look To You is quite lovely also. After reading D'Luv's exclusive run through her album, I am committed to continuing loving her come what may...
• The Sparkling Arrest (who I first wrote about here) have released the epic tune I know they had in them. The Seventh Sigh is a gently increasing wall of sound that crescendos into a terrific arms in the air stadium anthem. Crashing piano, blistering guitar and an impassioned vocal - it belongs on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. People would "lose their shit" as the kids on the street say. Quite wonderful.
• Finally, i've long loved the ska-pop stylings of the lovely Just For Kicks - in their latest tune C-c-c-crazy, there's a definite mariachi influence from The Last Shadow Puppets; it's a spaghetti western of a song that cleverly builds the frustration of the lyrics into the backing tack - an urgent instrumental that powers the song through. It's quite subtle at first, but the more I listen the more I go back for, well, more. Bring on an EP or an album already boys!!

TOP 21 SONGS OF THE WEEK:

21 ~ BWO, Right Here Right Now
20 ~ LeKid, Mercy Mercy
19 ~ Jordin Sparks, Battlefield
18 ~ Dan Black, Symphonies
17 ~ Mans Zelmerlow, Home
16 ~ Marina & The Diamonds, Obsessions
15 ~ Erik Hassle, Don't Bring Flowers
14 ~ Ola, Sky's The Limit
13 ~ Dolly Rockers, Je Suis Un Dolly
12 ~ Blake Lewis, Sad Song (NE)
11 ~ Lily Allen, 22
10 ~ Jason Mraz, Try Try Try
09 ~ Sugababes, Get Sexy
08 ~ Mr Hudson, Supernova
07 ~ "Abba", Second Best To None
06 ~ Elouise, One Night Only
05 ~ Mika, We Are Golden (NE)
04 ~ Little Boots, Remedy (VID)
03 ~ JLS, Beat Again
02 ~ Preston, Dressed To Kill
01 ~ Benny Andersson Band, Story Of A Heart (7 bloody weeks!)

This week, if work doesn't get in the way - a madonna post, some unsolicited career advice for take that, BWO and Mans Zelmerlow and a new fizzypop chronicles...

In some respects, it's been a bloody awful week. I started running every day before work, and my leg muscles have seized up from lack of proper stretching, so I am walking around like I couldn't catch a bull between 'em in an alleyway. Also my most favourite ever person at work is leaving. Which is just so bloody tragic I could cry right here on my packard bell keyboard. Oh my effing god, my keyboard is Hewlett Packard! I didn't even know. And finally the American Kath & Kim was very disappointing (though the American Brett - now Craig - is much hotter than the ozzie version!) Still, all this stuff was perfectly balanced out by some good stuff this week - A Lion Among Men (the latest book in the Wicked series) was delivered not once but twice by Amazon (buy the second book that wasn't charged on ebay! It's a credit crunch people!!); My running is already making me look less like a bloated pork pie; Darren had his beautiful long locks cut and looks even more buff and handsome; and there is an amazingly huge amount of brilliant new music floating around the ethernet on an almost daily basis. Check out this week's contributions below (hint - links will take you to the music)...

Darin ~ Breathing Your Love: Ah 2008 has been a good year for love. If it's not bleeding, then it's breathing and my favourite elfin faced turned hottie Swedish pop dude has returned with a song that is part r'n'b clubster (the type Chris Brown does) mixed with those electro vibes that made Insanity so irresistable. Add a dash of europop and a dollop of rave and you pretty much have this "grab the one you love and shimmy down with your bad self" down. It's very glorious indeed. Two things - one, it makes me wish people who mattered paid Shayne Ward's career more attention. Secondly - I'm still a sucker for the amazing Darin tune B What U Wanna Be. Still convinced that would be an ace Gareth comeback ve-hick-cal! More Darin on PPG...

Ace of Base ~ Wheel of Fortune 2008: Ooo look. You wait for one amazing swedish anthem to come along and then two come at once. Yes Ace of Base are back and frankly I thought I would have a major le sigh moment over their "re-imagining" of their classic track (James Leon's fave AOB track fact fans) from their debut album because quite honestly old tracks reswizzled to try and recapture former glories do not work. Kudos then to the Acers for making this sound like a new track. Love the "i'm in love with you, i like your style" moments. Now bring on the new stuff.

Alesha Dixon ~ Boy Does Nothing: A very lovely friend of mine pointed out today that Popjustice has been rather brilliant. And you know what? He was quite right. From their flip flopping over the new Christina single to giving us a taste of S'Diff, they have been on top form lately. And one of their latest "heralds" is this perfectly bonkers piece of Mambo Number 5 sampling xenomania ragamuffin styl-ee pop lusciousness. Alesha does a fine job of creating a fun "get off your arse you lazy fucker" type anthem, that actually when i am out running, I start shaking my hands in the air in despair to the "he does nothing the boy does nothing" so into the song I get. Check out the ace of base (not the group the expression) middle 8 which i can TOTALLY hear Girls Aloud singing... and it's adem approved/auspop approved :)

Killian Wells ~ Flatline: Ah Killian. He has amazing cheekbones. Quite good popstar hair (I haven't discussed popstar hair in a while, PPG - we should definitely start doing this more often!) and very decent dress sense. So all in all a good start. Luckily the music is ridiculously catchy too. Check out Flatline on Killian's myspace page. It samples his favourite song "I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight" and is a solid pop tune that transforms the sample into a modern and catchy chugging dance tune. It's quite a clever sample actually as it keeps the familiarity of the original tune and works in a new tune on top that is equally as addictive. Two more important future potential popstar things - one is that he was in a Kelly Rowland video and to be fair, one of Kelly's better songs. Two - he is remixing songs from his debut album to add a bit more magic and swizzle. Can't. Wait.

Britannia High ~ Start of Something: Another PJ covered track that is available for free, gratis, nothing on the BH website. Yes this is the Gary Barlow involved series which is a bit like Kids From Fame but without the bow legged cello girl or the scary haired piano man. This first single is like a much chirpier version of Alphabeat (if that's possible). Basically it's S Club meets High School Musical meets Same Difference meets Hairspray. In other words, it's entirely too sugary and catchy and therefore everything I adore about pop music. Plus they say bitch and cheesy within 2 lines of the second verse. Marvelous. I do not like the bloke from the amazing Skins curly hair though...

And in other major news, Take That are premiering their new single "Greatest Day" on radio 1 at 8.15am on Monday morning! How freaking frilling!

Top 21 songs of the week:

21 ~ Daniel Powter, Next Plane Home
20 ~ Miley Cyrus, 7 Things
19 ~ Leon Jackson, Don't Call This Love
18 ~ Infernal, Whenever You Need Me (NE/Vid)
17 ~ Rongedal, Hello Euphoria (NE)
16 ~ Alphabeat, What Is Happening
15 ~ Lenka, The Show
14 ~ Miley Cyrus, Driveway
13 ~ Darin, Breathing Your Love (NE)
12 ~ Alesha Dixon, Boy Does Nothing (NE)
11 ~ Annie, My Love Is Better
10 ~ William Young, Changes
09 ~ The Feeling, Join With Us
08 ~ Ben Folds/Regina Spektor, You Don't Know Me
07 ~ McFly, Lies
06 ~ P!nk, So What
05 ~ Jason Mraz, Make It Mine
04 ~ Sugababes, Girls
03 ~ Marit Larsen, If A Song Could Get Me You
02 ~ The Killers, Human
01 ~ Girls Aloud, The Promise (2 weeks)