Lopez Blogs

Summer is here and I automatically turn into a sun hating version of Ebeneezer Scrooge. I'm not a summer fan - the hayfever, the sweaty blokes on the train, the stifling heat. Bah humbug I cry, bah blooming humbug! The one positive thing about the summer though is it seems to put everyone else in a proper bonza mood and there is lots of delightful skybound anthems to get your feet tapping along. Here are some of the latest that I've discovered via Larry Flick's Morning Jolt/Feel The Spin - always a great source for up and coming artists :)

WEEKEND ESSENTIALS:

• Bright Light Bright Light ~ Love Part II: Apparently this will be the engaging Rod's first single proper later in the year (around September 2010 I believe)... It's a deliciously synth driven, very smart, melody drenched pop anthem in waiting, and one that makes me think he'd do an outstanding job of writing for Kylie Minogue. It's all about finding love after a probably rubbish experience with some cad. It's so giddily optimistic and uplifting that it is incredibly difficult not to feel entirely joyful each time you listen to it. Based on this and his free download single A New Word To Say, his forthcoming album is shaping up to be quite the enticing prospect. Absolutely essential...
• Bailey Tzuke ~ Strong: Big things are happening for the lovely Bailey - Larry Flick has been promoting the heck out of this song; it's the number one track on gaydar radio; and rather thrillingly, Kylie Minogue is a fan! Bloody nora! Equally as wonderful is the physical cd package which looks like a vinyl single with grooves and everything. But the song - oh the song! What a particularly gorgeous slice of powerful, emotive music with insightful lyrics, a glorious vocal performance and a chorus so instantly endearing and raw that it delivers a hefty wallop of gut wrenching honesty. I feel like the song is screaming "good grief have some faith in us" and is full of lyrical genius like "I know your heart like the back of my hand". Hauntingly brilliant (or amazingly danceable in the dealer version). You must check this out (live acoustic version here).
• Todd Alsup ~ How I'm Made: I've been grossly negligent in reviewing Todd's rather top notch album. I'm getting round to it, i promise - i just want to give it the words it absolutely deserves. This track is just one of those instantly timeless, classic soulful pop songs - driven by some deeply luxurious piano, some muted choir background and the most soaring vocal from Todd that just gives me goosebumps each time I listen to it. Candidly honest, emotionally devastating - it's not just a song you are listening to: it's a full experience of love, heartbreak and disappointment. Be prepared!
• Sam Taylor ~ It's A Mistake: Young Sam has certainly built up a lot of good will and support over the past couple of years based on his plainative ballads on the Beautiful People soundtrack and his flawless reading of I Don't Know How To Love Him. This latest track is written by Charlie Mason, who has also penned tracks for Kyle Brylin, Eric Saade and many others. It's a downbeat ballad that shows off Sam's vocals to fine form and would perfeectly soundtrack a melancholy evening, glass of wine in hand watching the sunset.

Top 21 songs of the week:

Thanks to the rather good video above, my interest for Sergey Lazarev's fun but generic track Alarm has been totally reignited. For many reasons - Sergey looks quite good in a high class dirty rent boy sort of way; it has some quite good dance moves including the slow running on spot style of Eric Saade's Manboy (52 seconds in vid above; 2m02s here); i'm not a huge fan of the studded jacket and boots, but I do like a guy in a suit; the touching of the vagina area ruffles; the way the jumping in the chorus is essentially exactly the same as Same Difference We R One; the visuals somehow make the song pop a lot more for me, particularly when the boy kneels in front of him at the end. Hurrah, etc.

21 ~ Mariah Carey, 100%
20 ~ Simon Curtis, Super Psycho Love
19 ~ Mika, Kick Ass
18 ~ Kimberley Locke, Strobelight
17 ~ Sophie Ellis Bextor, Bittersweet
16 ~ Gabriella Cilmi, On A Mission
15 ~ Gabriella Cilmi, Hearts Don't Lie (NE)
14 ~ Eric Saade, It's Gonna Rain (NE)
13 ~ DeeDee, Endure
12 ~ Donkeyboy, Sometimes
11 ~ JLS, The Club Is Alive
10 ~ Gravitonas, Kites
09 ~ Sergey Lazarev, Alarm (RE/VID)
08 ~ Adam Tyler, Friction
07 ~ Maria Mena, All This Time
06 ~ Chanee & N'Evergreen, In A Moment Like This (NE)
05 ~ Josh DuBovie, That Sounds Good To Me
04 ~ Lovestoned, Thursdays
03 ~ Eric Saade, Manboy
02 ~ Scissor Sisters, Fire With Fire
01 ~ Kylie, All The Lovers (2 weeks)

Coming this week (best laid plans, etc) - the Eric Saade album review because it's bloody perfect pop; the return of one of two of my fave acts... and maybe some other stuff. Who knows?!

This weekend is kind of a big one as it represents a few significant milestones in my life. To commemorate these, Darren and I are going away to "the north" to stay in a nice B&B (not featured on tv's 3 In A Bed) and doing lots of exotic stuff, like seeing Jane McDonald live! Anyway, here are some of the things I am celebrating over the next few days...

• May 1st is 10 years since i got the all clear from the big Cancer...
• May 3rd is not only my birthday, but also 10 years since I met Darren, when i was all bald still and blotchy from treatment :)
• He loved me anyway because May 6th is our 10th anniversary!!

So that's all rather splendid. I'll be computer free (by choice! Gasp!) for a few days, but feel free to leave comments, say hello on twitter, email me. I like to come back to a plethora of e-ness! Right, here's some stuff to tide you over :)

Video magnificence:

• Mans Zelmerlow & Maria Haukass ~ Precious To Me: I happen to think lovely Mans is one of the finest specimen of man to walk the planet. Plus he puts out stonkingly good pop music, which always delights me. He's back duetting with Maria on a song from her album, which is basically not only a rather lovely modern take on Kylie & Jason's Especially For You in aural form, but a visual nod of the head to it too. Mans looks heavenly in his shirt/tie/cardi combo while Maria struts around in killer heels giving some vixen colour to the mix. It's ever so dreamy and romantic and the perfect song to soundtrack the weekend ahead :) More please, more...
• Alphabeat ~ DJ (I Could Be Dancing): The title in parenthesis works much better as the official song title for me. Possibly because it then puts it in line with epics like SS I Don't Feel Like Dancing and SD If You Can't Dance. Both aces. The remix makes it a bit fresher, a bit funkier and the video - well Stine and Anders both look great. Loving the loose limbed tambourine playing :)
• Alexandra Burke ~ All Night Long: Oh dear. The beginning sounds like Don't Stop Gleelieving. The chorus sounds like a bit of a reheat of Paparazzi. No one else agrees with me on this theory. I still quite like the song though. The video is a slightly more frenetic, less polite, debauched version of Steps' Stomp... (And Alexandra has way to much eye makeup on)! PS I do love a piano at a party. I always go down well when there is one :)
• Hurts ~ Better Than Love: I initially fell much more in love with Blood Tears & Gold but I'm willing to cheat on it with this song. What i love about this video is that it puts the formal nature associated with a suit outfit and puts it against a more sleazy, underworld background. The two boys both look beautiful and the song is a slow growing, mid paced ditty that on a few listens becomes an absolute belter :)

Things I am looking forward to...

• The video to Sergey Lazarev's single Alarm - the thought of the vid (still above) has halted it's decline down my charts for several reasons. He has robbed my new hair"do" from last week; he ALWAYS looks good in a tie; those boots are quite amazing; it might invigorate and give new life to the song. Aces.
• Brandon Flowers solo album - oh yum yum indeed. I shall miss the Killers til they return but this will be a lovely interlude hopefully. D'Luv has all the details - I just hope it does better than my beloved Preston Ordinary Boy :(
• New singles by the Scissor Sisters and Kylie have me anxiously awaiting the first radio play - both have the potential to be utterly massive. The internet may very well explode. Check out XO for some scisster love...
• JLS are already moving onto a second album and have a new single out in early July. It's called The Club Is Alive and apparently samples The Sound of Music. I suspect in more of a I'm Too Sexy Sugababes way than a Gwen Stefani Wind it Up sort of way. I'm just said they haven't covered KLS... "JLS are gonna rock ya/ancients of mumu"; now that would be ace...
• Once the black smoke (monster) has settled over the Lost finale, season 3 of Tru Blood starts. Cannot. Wait!

Top 21 tracks of the week:

21 ~ Diana Vickers, Once
20 ~ Bjorn Johan Muri, Yes Man
19 ~ Gravitonas, Kites (NE)
18 ~ Music Go Music, Light of Love
17 ~ Donkeyboy, Sometimes
16 ~ Sergey Lazarev, Alarm
15 ~ Darin, You're Out Of My Life
14 ~ Kimberley Locke, Strobelight
13 ~ Alcazar, Headlines
12 ~ Mika, Kick Ass
11 ~ Ola, Unstoppable
10 ~ Candle Thieves, We're All Gonna Die
09 ~ Neo, Human Frontier
08 ~ Simon Curtis, Super Psycho Love
07 ~ Mariah Carey, 100%
06 ~ Sophie Ellis Bextor, Bittersweet
05 ~ DeeDee, Endure
04 ~ Maria Mena, All This Time
03 ~ Gabriella Cilmi, On A Mission
02 ~ Adam Tyler, Friction
01 ~ Eric Saade, Manboy (1 week)

back early next week catching up with aceness from Miley, Music Go Music, foxy shazam, the ark, etc...

I am assuming that Sergey is focusing completely on the Russian market to begin with as he launches his latest album Electric Touch on the world. I seriously had to enlist the services of a Russian Orthodox priest I know to get me a download copy of the album. Of course, as soon as I had entrusted all my financial details to some website that for all I know is robbing me of my identity as I type (how do you know this is even me typing?!), it popped up on several fileshare type websites! Typical. Still it's a fairly decent album and here are some initial thoughts on it...

Electric Touch: It's been quite a long time since Sergey's rather charming album TV Show. Tracks like Everytime and his cover of Shattered Dreams were quite lovely nuggets of bloke pop, tinged with underlying club grooves. Since then, there's been a couple of club stompers (both of which make the album) and even the Russian version of High School Musical. Sergey has gone for a more in your face 'banging' club approach with this album, with the pop elements added later. For the most part, it works although it's very Lord Gaga sounding and some parts are overly vocodered. Leadoff single, Alarm, was vaguely disappointing to start with - it's a rather generic, albeit quite good, cascada-esque track. It does have, however, a rather storming chorus and the visuals from performances help the track immensely. The title track continues in a similar vein and has some rather good 'hey's in the chorus that always work for me, as well as stuttering the tou-tou-touch just like Kylie did with "i-i-i wouldn't change..." Definitely worth a few minutes of your time, and potentially a future single. There's more of the same with Money on Love, She Said and Slo Mo (not an ode to a gay who can't run very fast). It's not that the songs are bad - they are not. They are catchy, fun and memorable, yet they have no distinctive personality that makes them definitely Sergey. It could be anyone performing this tracks ~ at times, it is a bit soulless and that doesn't make the tracks less poptastic, but it does halt them from ascending to greatness. Luckily the very lovely indeed piano ballad Emotions is just around the corner. Sergey delivers an emotive vocal performance over a pretty melody, some melancholy strings and a genuine passion that reminds of the greater pop moments on TV Show - and is a little reminiscent of the start of Earth Song (which Sergey has performed in the past). Although it's not similar at all to Simon Curtis' 8BitHeart track, it has that potential to explode as a much covered song in the future. Ever so heavenly and a much needed human injection to the album...

Lazerboy has been around for a while and yet remains one of the strongest tracks on the album. Quirky, clever chorus and the "say ooo" snippets make it ever so slightly novelty, but not too comedic. The production is spot on too - it doesn't go too far in order to beef the song up, it relies on the little gimmicks and catchiness of the tune to carry it through. And carry it, it does. Rather good. She Is is one of the more pop tracks on the album - ever so slightly reminiscent of a more daring Westlife track had they popped to the studio and accidentally loaded the backing track to JLS' One Shot and tinkered with it a little bit! Plus once again it shines above other tracks for allowing Sergey to be the central focus of the track. Talking of JLS, Heartbeat is reminiscent of their Beat Again via One Republic - I wrote about this song a while back and it's grown on me a lot since then. Sexy Automatic is back to the more generic sounding current trend type track, although I do appreciate the slightly dirty lyrics ("got you down on your knees"!) Luckily there's a couple more corkers rounding the album off. Another old-ish track Stereo is given a bit of a reworking and now is called the HarDrum version. It's the spiritual successor to the theme of his TV Show album and the million-miles-an-hour delivery of lyrics like "Catch me on YouTube, on MySpace, on Facebook/Download on ITunes, your Ipod, your IBook/Got no limits, got to be/What you want me/To be your everything" are wonderful little additions that make the song super. Finally, Instantly is another beautifully performed ballad that reminds how charming Sergey can be when he wants to be. The vocal is pure, his emotions are laid bare for the world to hear and the protracted elegant melody all work to make this a really lovely tune.

Overall, it's an album with some great pop-club tracks that mostly make for a enjoyable listen. It's the ballads and the more "pop" tunes where Sergey's personality shines through that elevates the album (in places) to greatness and I'd like to hear more of this in the future...
Potential singles: Lazerboy, Stereo, Alarm, Electric Touch, Instantly, Emotions

If you like this, you might want to check out:

• Quentin Mosimann ~ Exhibition: An album that is as colourful, addictive and alluring as it's cover. Though it's mainly in French, it's a pop triumph of catchy tunes, inventive samples and delicious beats. Toc Toc is a fresh and witty lead off single, while Gimme A Break continues that theme with it's funky vibe and giant singalong chorus all to an enticing back beat that doesn't seems familiar yet new all at the same time - no mean feat. I Love I Love and Golden Boy continues with these enticing pop thumpers, and the energetic delivery & great production keeps it from getting repetitive or stale. There are ballads too (the lovely You Will Recognise & I See The) which give a change of pace and a chance for some seductive vocals from Quentin. Gainsbourg Zero-Ten closes the album with a lovely classical music sample running through the track - it caps off a lovely rhythmic, quirky, off the beaten pop track album that is full of sensuality and wit (if my french translations can be trusted). Highly recommended :)
• Christophe Willem ~ Cafeine: The French have absolutely got it going on at the moment with their inventive pop matched by lovely cover art (compare Christophe and Quentin's to Sergey's nice but mismatched "serious rock artist" pose!) Christophe (currently having his French tour put together by the wonderful Steve Anderson) is part Robbie, splash of Kylie and a smattering of Madonna all wrapped up in an unusual but wonderful big bow. From the dreamy album opener (L'Homme En Noir), the stage is set for something a little bit different - there are atmospheric chillouts with tracks like Yaourt and Lavabo, Fragile and a lovely piano-vocal moment Si Je Tombais. There's also the heavenly Entre Nous Et Le Sol which is a lovely laxidaisical pop gem. This is mixed with more creative pop like his duet with Kylie on the bi-lingual Sensitized, an homage to Prince on the funktastic Trash and the lovely straightforward pop epic Heartbox, sung in English and a definite summer smash. The album is bold and experimental (check out Coffee!) and perhaps not instantaneous enough for today's demanding market, but it is so rewarding on multiple listens that you can't help but be dragged into loving it and returning to it often. Vive La France! (read my initial thoughts on Quentin and Christophe here)

Ooo, this month's fizzypop chronicles is a weird one. On the one hand, it has lots of brilliant songs on it. On the other hand it doesn't seem to flow quite right for some reason. So I'm not entirely happy with it, though I emphasise I think the song choices are - once again - flawless. They are here, presented in no particular order, except the first one and last one tend to be favourites so the playlist begins and ends on the most euphoric of highs with more euphoria on each song in between. Glad that's cleared up then, innit?

• Sophie Ellis Bextor-Jones ~ Bittersweet: It's really all sorts of magnificent isn't it? If this song were a person, I'd want to hug it while shaking a groove thang in glitter-infused hot pants. The chorus is an insane belter of a tune, and Sophie sounds as marvelous and gorgeous as ever. I didn't think it was going to be possible to top the ever so wonderful Heartbreak Makes Me A Dancer, but good gracious me, she's only gone and done it. If this peaks outside the top ten, my whole world may implode quite heavily...
• Gabriella Cilmi ~ On A Mission: Tip - I was walking my usually deserted early morning route to work whilst this was blaring out in my earphones and I think I was actually quite audibly strutting along singing "I am a woman, on a mission" whenst I came across these old women and we all gave each other quite a start. I mean I didn't literally come across them, because that would be frightful, but I think you get the gist. The song is excellent, by the way. Love the faux bad girl rap. I sound well 'ard when I do it...
• Michaela Wright ~ Never Gonna Give In: There are multiple reasons to adore this heavily addictive song. Michaela seems rather lovely on twitter. It's a Larry Flick show staple. It has some rather amazing dance remixes of the song that send it soaring to the glitter ball and then bounce like little shards of multi-coloured lights around the dance floor. And whatever genre you hear it remixed into, it still has an ace melody and chorus. Bonus - it features the rather handsome Alex Kordek in the video. Yum yum pigs bum.
• Kimberley Locke ~ Strobelight: I worship Kimberley Locke. I still think that the heavenly 8th World Wonder is one of the best pop songs to come from American Idol. Her Christmas album was just a retro dream. And her last album was a corker that was criminally ignored. So I'm all ready for her new single, which is produced by Cutfather - who apparently has worked with Kylie and, er, the Pussycat Dolls so he's half way there. All of this is a very long way of saying, I haven't heard the song yet because the release dates been pushed back but I'm so eager to hear something dancetastic from l'il kim...:P
• Ke$ha ~ Blah Blah Blah: Hmmm, it seems a bit criminal to follow these classy dames with the dubious morality that is Ke$ha. However, I did quite like Tik Tok (did you hear it blended with Kylie's Love At First Sight? Almost as genius as MaDonna Summer!) and while this follow up single isn't nearly as brillo, it does have me blah blah blahing along sometimes. Though everyone knows Marina blahs better in the Girls song she has :)
• The Bang Bang Club ~ Chemistry: Rather brilliantly, I have heard this track described as Erasure on testosterone. Not much has changed since I last wrote about it - it remains a rather charming little 80s pop synth ditty with an excellent chorus, great production, enticing vocals and yummy boys. For a more grown up opinion than that, why not check out Nick Alien Hits, where you can download the track for free as well! Jonas Bonus - it's released on my birthday. Wizard!
• Adam Tyler ~ Schizophrenic: I actually had another Adam Tyler track which is really out of this world, but I don't think I'm allowed to write about it yet, so I'd rather draw everyone's attention to a down and funky Dirty Dasmo remix of this track which has just surfaced on his myspace page. It's a trip down the rabbit hole (for the overstimulated puppy!) as the remix adds mind-bending beats and effects to the slick electro club banging original. As with all Adam songs it's firmly focused on delivering a chorus so pleasing that you end up pinching yourself to check it's real. It is. Amaze and a half.
• Kyle Brylin ~ If They Only Knew: I wrote about this track quite recently, and quite frankly it's a pleasure to write about it again for two reasons. One is that the more you listen to it, the more the insinuating beats hook into your memory and the chorus creates a heady atmosphere of synth and song that is just delicious. Two - Kyle is quite dishy so any excuse to visit his myspace page as he looks quite nice in a shirt and tie. With good popstar cheekbones and hair.
• Sergey Lazarev ~ Alarm: On the one hand I remain intensely disappointed that this song isn't quite as brilliant as it should be. By Sergey standards, it's not one of his finest and actually rather generic sounding. On the other hand (for I have two), it's such a fun tune that fits in with "today's sound" so jolly well that it's hard to be peeved for long because you are having such rollicking good fun singing along to it. So what's the harm? To be fair the video above (ghastly sound) really enhances it with a fun dance routine and energetic performance :) The album better be superb though...
• Quentin Mosimann ~ Gimme A Break: Ah franglais! Quentin follows up his exciting single Toc Toc with a song that has the chorus mostly in English, the verses in French and tests my translation skills to the limit. He's a rather giddy mix of bonkers electro-pop though and utterly contemporary and fab. It's always nice to sing along in French too, even if you don't know what you are saying. And from SUCH a great album. Go check him out now. Bonkers and wonderful, possibly unofficial clip below - but exuding such fun and energy! Go! Tout de suite...
• Magnus Carlsson ~ A Little Respect: Oh my days. If Bang Bang Club are Erasure on testosterone, Magnus' version of A Little Respect is Erasure doused in perfume and poppers and kept in a handbag for a week. It's more festive than me at age 11 when I dressed action man Julian in a barbie evening gown and stuck him on the Christmas tree. It's totally europop, and fairly faithful to the original but with even more glitter and bells added. If that is at all possible. Too much, yet not enough...

Part two coming tomorrow!

Someone in the office today actually said in a non-ironic quoting way "oh my god, you look like Shakira" and I thought I was being dead witty and urbane when I quickly threw in there "no, no she's Catherine Zeta, actually her name's Marina" only to be met with a barrage of clueless stares. Sigh. It was then that I knew my day could only get better with some lovely pop to listen to when I got home. And hurrah! It was! So let's have a look at some of the super new tunes I got to aurally assess...

Industry ~ I played Industry's My Baby's Waiting when I was on Larry Flick earlier this month (on again on Thurs March 4th!) and I thought, hmmm, as much as I like your ballads (particularly My Mistake), where is this balls to the wall, pecs on patrol, sweaty gonad disco stomper you've been promising? And ta-dah! Much like buses, you wait for one and two come along at once. Splendid. Kill The DJ is a dark ominous electro thumper with some rather saucy lyrics and a swirling chorus. Love the opening line "party's packed/but the music kind of sucks/sick n tired of hearing the same old ga-ga" and the chorus "if you don't keep this song on replay/we're gonna have to kill (kill) the DJ". Genius. Drown In The Music follows along the same theme of excellent electro frippery and a massive skybound pop chorus drenched in dance beats and sing along lyrics. They've been building a following for a while now, but I'm about to go crazy for these tunes. Immense.

The Candle Thieves ~ I wrote about their EP earlier this month, and have since become rather besotted with their lovely brand of sunshine pop. Luckily (as happens when you discover a band a little bit into their career), I didn't have to wait too long for something new and smashing to come along. Their new single We're All Gonna Die is already up on youtube and released for your purchasing pleasure on March 29th, which isn't very far away at all is it? And honestly, it's well worth several of your pennies because it's equally as marvelous as anything on The Sunshine EP. Scott and Glock have created another winning melody that lets their quintessentially English charm shine through (the vocal has shades of my beloved Upper Room's All Over This Town) ~ the single has a positively joyous feel that juxtaposes nicely with the gorgeously bittersweet lyrics, all mixed together in a jangly casio-pop production. It is not only entirely endearing but a real delight to listen to again and again. Their debut album is getting more and more promising with each note they play. Essential.

Rongedal ~ After the mika-tastic Just A Minute "dropped" two melodifestivalens ago, I had a bit of a love affair with the maniac music that was Rongedal. Absolutely adored their debut album, milked it for singles harder than a call girl milks her john in the last five minutes of his paid hour (ew). So hurrah for a second album having just been released in Sweden, because i'm all over it like a rash. The first single proper (Day In Day Out) isn't a million miles away from the jaunty pop sound they showcased on their debut; however I'm going with Nick's recommendation of Because of You as a great example of how they have progressed to a more aggressive, electronica vibe that works well with their penchant for dramatic piano and ridiculously memorable hooks. Can't wait to spend more time getting into the album - full review no doubt some time soon!

Sergey Lazarev ~ There was a bit of a sneak peek last month of Sergey's forthcoming album when Heartbeat leaked on the net. I did quite like that track and wished I'd thought of what one commentator said with "it's like Beat Again over a One Republic beat". It's safe to say that Alarm is radically different to that song. It's Simon Curtis' Diablo/Quentin Mossimann Toc Toc mixed with a Lord Gaga rising instrumentation that slams the beat down in the chorus. It's a great tune, and great to see some boy pop in this vein; very reminiscent of what Darin was doing a couple of years back but Sergey manages to make the tune stand out and remain memorable after a few listens. Could be enormous depending on how saucy the video is :)Plus the dude does look ridiculously good in a suit...

Oh I do love it when old favourites return to visit. It's like an completely unexpected knock on the door and instead of the mormons, it's actually someone you want to see. So two acts I really quite like but probably not written about enough have returned this week with fairly exciting new music. Let's have a looksie, shall we (yes, we shall is the correct and only answer to that question)...

Dan Black - Weird Science:


I first noted Dan as one of my acts to watch in 2009 and he didn't disappoint me. Alone was a jerky, intruiging slice of electronica, although it was the arrival of Umbrella-sampling, instantly euphoric Symphonies that had me completely hooked. I found it so inspirational, so engaging, so elegant - I fell in love with the way it made me feel about me each time I listened to it :P That's entirely too cheesy but it's actually quite quite true. Quirky inventive tracks like Pump My Pumps kept my interest in the album through to the autumnal deluge of Christmas contenders at which point I sadly neglected it. The wise and venerable XO is quite right though - on return to the album, while Symphonies is still utterly brilliant, it's the less immediately glitzy tracks like Let Go and Life Slash Dreams that now stand out. Weird Science is a brilliant free mixtape that mixes together his favourite pop hits, strips them down to bare essentials, then lovingly crafts them together so they seem altogether familiar yet totally like a Dan Black song. While there are 6 goodies to choose from, I'm going with the obvious - Gimme Into The Cloudbursting is a near flawless, inviting mash of Into The Groove and Cloudbursting. Not only a creative piece of music (with painted pictures to match the tunes), but an excellent way to market yourself to a new audience (note: Simon Curtis mixtape 8BitHeart is still on it's way and still excellent. Just thought you should remember that!)

Sergey Lazarev - Heartbeat:


Ah adorable Sergey is finally returning with the long awaited (by me anyway) follow up to TV or Radio. Again, I've experienced a surge of renewed interest in Sergey lately thanks to the enthusiasm of Larry Flick when I introduced some of his songs to him :) He's been piddling around with the (admittedly quite good) track here and there since Flyer, so bring on a planned album and lots of singles please. The first one is Heartbeat. Built around an insistent, continuous drum rhythm (linked carefully to the lyrical content - I like when songs do that!), and pretty piano chords before building into a laid back yet addictive percussive groove powered forward by those sweet Sergey vocals. It's perhaps more organic sounding than some of his recent electronica and more suited to those that fell in love with Everytime and Shattered Dreams. Shayne Ward would and should kill for a song like this - it seems very now, while borrowing from the elements of classic pop tunes (I can't listen to any song with a syncopated drum beat without thinking of Abba's seminal Soldiers Write The Songs...) All in all, a pleasing return to form and obviously an album I'm quite excited about...

More soon. Work so so busy!!

First of all everyone, it's absolutely no fun going to Poundland (the sentence really could end there, couldn't it) buying some blackcurrant cordial and then have the lovely sunny day turn to pissing down cold rain and having to run home without a coat and then the bloody bag breaks as you dash between the taxis crossing the road. No fun whatsoever. Listening to The Pipettes album (more on why later) should have cheered me up, but for some reason while listening to it (not being able to find any cherry flavoured lip balm for my chapped lips) I decided that in the absence of said lip balm that my lips (always kissable) would be soothed by a gentle dab of TCP. I was very very wrong. After several minutes of rolling around the floor in agony, i immersed my lips in a glass of icy cold water (Britta filtered) for about 30 minutes. I still look slightly swollen and like a stunned mullet. I'm such a twat sometimes! Anyway on with all the random stuff I didn't have time for this week...

• Without even realising it, I'm having a Jim Sturgess week... First of all, let me get out the way that he is quite pleasing on the eye in a cheeky chappy way. He plays George Boleyn in the quite good The Other Boleyn Girl movie (more historically accurate than The Tudors but less Henry Cavill-y so it all balances out), he's in new movie 21 (which Darren and I are watching on Sunday, though he doesn't know it yet. Darren, not Jim. I doubt Jim cares) and he's in my new favourite obsession Across The Universe. I know i'm late on that, but i bloody love that film! And the soundtrack. Oh my days...
• Talking of The Tudors (always ace, and I prefer Natalie whatsername as Anne Boleyn) here is a weird six degrees type thing I didn't think I would ever write - link The Tudors to ace-ish new act Joe Lean and The Jing Jang Jong. Lead singer Joe was a choir boy who got bummed in the Tudors, and was also one of The Pipettes backing band! What a varied career he has had. More on their album next week...
• The very doable RyanDan twins release their debut album in the US this week. One can't help but feel that if they swung by Oprah it would debut quite highly indeed. Maybe Kylie went on the wrong shows?

• Sigh. There's never a bad time to post a Sergey picture. However, i totally forgot to mention in my big interview write up that he is currently busy recording the Russian version of High School Musical! How exciting...
• I'm freaking overstimulated with musical soundtracks at the moment and it's all thanks to utterly amazing website The Singing Stage. Such a plethora of musicals I have never before come across. It's feeding my Wicked obsession too, though I feel listening to the German version of that soundtrack twice today might be taking it a tad too far...
• Maybe Robyn will have better luck with tv show and album success stateside than Kylie, as she is appearing on Letterman. And she is still wearing that fucking scarf thing. Give it up love. It's as tired as oh my days. Oh!

Additional links of great importance (added late saturday 12th)

~ The blogger formerly known as the dj plays my favourite songs who was formerly known as Digital Technique is back. Again. And stuck in the most delightful of grooves :)
~ XO has an ace snap crackle fizzy pop type round up posted - his are called mixtapes and I curse that he thought of that name first :P
~ Poppostergirl has an ace snap crackle fizzy pop type round up posted - including chatting about Jesse McLovely's version of Bleeding Love! Aces.
~ Bobbypops has an ace snap cracle fizzy pop type round up posted - it has Isabel Guzman in it! Though I have gone off The Tough Alliance since yesterday! I'm fickle. Sue me.

TOP 21 FIZZYPOPTASTIC SONGS OF THE WEEK:

21 ~ Duffy, Warwick Avenue (N/E)
20 ~ The Feeling, I Thought It Was Over
19 ~ Ferras, Hollywood's Not America
18 ~ Idina Menzel, Brave
17 ~ Maroon 5, Goodnight Goodnight
16 ~ Jonathan Fagerlund, Playing Me
15 ~ Sugababes, Denial
14 ~ Girls Aloud, Can't Speak French
13 ~ David Jordan, Sun Goes Down
12 ~ Blake Lewis, Got To Get Her
11 ~ Rongedal, Just A Minute (N/E)
10 ~ Alphabeat, Fascination
09 ~ Leona Lewis, Better in Time
08 ~ Mariah Carey, Touch My Body
07 ~ Jason Mraz, I'm Yours (08)
06 ~ Jesse McCartney, Leaving
05 ~ Shayne Ward, Stand By Your Side
04 ~ BWO, Lay Your Love on Me
03 ~ Sergey, Flyer
02 ~ Madonna, Four Minutes
01 ~ The Feeling, Without You (2 weeks)

View interview in Russian here - Пузыри шипучки Fizzy: Интервью Sergey Lazarev - "поп-музыкы будет существовать forever"

We start off by discussing Sergey's current album TV Show. Sergey explains that actually he is most often asked to describe his sound, which he finds difficult because he feels the music should speak for itself and that he does not pigeonhole himself into one particular genre. However, he does explain that there is a european pop feel to the whole affair - the one Russian aspect of it is Sergey himself. Clearly excited by his music and upcoming third album, Sergey describes his plans to break big outside of mainland Europe:

"I have released two solo albums in Russia and am currently recording the third one. Here we started the promo last year, we released the first single "Fake" - it's a light pop song that we released in clubs last year. It was like the first step for me. Then we followed that with the single Shattered Dreams - it's a huge 80s song by Johnny Hates Jazz. We did a few different mixes of the song and released it in the clubs. Then I released the third single Everytime and now I am here to promote my next single - "Girlfriend". So it's a step by step process and I am trying to promote myself as the new person, the newcomer from Russia. English people know something about Russia, but not very much and not very well. I'd like to explain more, especially through music."

When I mention that there is a variety of different sounds peppering his two albums, Sergey drops some Robbie Williams "The Ego Has Landed"/McFly "Just My Luck" type news into the conversation...

"Actually we are releasing the album here (in the UK) on the 26th May and it will be a mix from my first two albums. I will choose the songs that really sound the most 'now'. I have to choose carefully because the first album was released two years ago and recorded even longer ago - but I wanted to do this mix because I believe that there are a few songs on the first album that are very strong and modern, even now."

When talking about one of the key ways to break into the UK, Sergey and I discuss his current club dates and how they compare and contrast to work he has done back home in Russia...

"We have a few club shows in different areas and to different audiences. I was quite surprised that in one of the clubs it was for under 18 year olds, which I believe is quite common in England. We don't have that in Russia and then I was told that you even do school tours in England! I was actually very nervous but the children were very excited and I got excited, and relaxed a little bit and actually the performance went very well. Girlfriend (which is released in May) has already started in clubs."

I mention that it must be a huge difference to perform in these clubs to say, performing Flyer in the Eurovision finals. When Sergey raises an eyebrow as if to say "you saw that??" i tell him it is on youtube, and he nods 'of course!' - a theme that will return several times later in the chat...

" I recorded that song especially for Eurovision and we didn't have a lot of time to put the performance together. My dancers and I had about a week to do it, and everyone thought we did a great job and that it went very well. We are not going to do it here, but today we are going to wear the costumes as they are very nice costumes and especially at Heaven, I think they will love it! Eurovision was a great opportunity to show my song to a russian audience and also to compete. Sometimes when you are an established famous artist, you don't always have the feeling of a challenge. This is why I did it as well as tv shows like Dancing on Ice and Circus With The Stars. I need that challenge. I need something more."


And i'd be happy to give it to him, but there really isn't time :P Already Sergey is moving on to talk about his opinions on Eurovision...

"People had been asking me for about 3 years now to do Eurovision and i had said no. It's a very different type of show - it's one day and no one really remembers you afterwards. It's a different type of contest to how it used to be and it has a different image. [I mention that in England it's not taken particularly seriously] - oh but in Russia it is VERY serious [and Europe - particularly Sweden?] Yes yes yes - Sweden! In fact one of my dancers is from Sweden which is where I went to record the song. Actually my dancer was more upset than anyone else that we didn't get through to Eurovision because he wanted to dance in the contest, but i'm okay with it. Russia took it very seriously and if you win the contest from that date til next year you are a superstar - but then everyone will forget about you. And it's hard to move on from there because you always have the stamp of Eurovision."

It stikes me that actually music and activities Sergey makes for a specific audience are - thanks to the internet - now global commodities. I ask him if he enhances the power of the internet, or just lets it happen naturally (after the interview we briefly chat about pop sites he looks at and I know a surprising amount of them. I'm looking at you PPG!)...

"I think it's natural for people to discuss music and some people will like you and some will not. It's impossible to assume that everyone wil like you. I do think it was better when people wrote letters and had more 'secrets' [like no one gets to go the shops anymore and buy a single by their favourite artist that they are hearing for the first time?] Yes yes yes! Everything has to be so open! [Like Britney Spears?] Like Britney Spears! Every move is documented. And she is more famous for her private life now than she is for her music. Which might be ok now, but in a few years she will have to do something about the music."

As Sergey drinks his peppermint tea (it's good for his vocal chords), I'm eager to discuss Dancing on Ice as I'm such a huge fan. We chat a little about the current series and the popstars that come in 3rd or 4th place. Not second like Sergey which elicits a laugh and a "of course"! I'm interested to know whether he suffered any injuries that seem to dog the UK version...

"It actually was quite dangerous - i didn't break my leg or anything, but I did take it all the routines very seriously. I spent a lot of time practising on the ice because I really like this show and I am really happy that I took part. After this show people looked at me in a different way and had a better idea of what i was trying to represent. Actually I did almost win the show. The judges did actually award me first place, but the audience voted me second. But what happened was the voting was not very, um, 'clear' and it turned out to be even better because after I did a tour across Russia and every person I met said they thought i was the best, and all I could say was thank you thank you!"

Ooo voting scandals in reality tv shows? That's very ITV isn't it?! I ask Sergey if he still skates, and he replies that of course he can but doesn't always have the time. Straight after the show he did his tour and then Circus with the Stars which I am also anxious to hear more about...

"I actually won Circus with the Stars which was great as I wanted to do different directions, expand my experience. They are doing the second season of Circus now and after I get back from England I will be doing a new performance for the show. You can check the old performances on youtube - I did several categories: Clown, working with animals, acrobatics, trapeze and illusionist. I did a lot of things, but my favourite was trapeze. So i'm sure it will be on youtube because I am going to do trapeze again. Check it out!"

I promise to do that and can't help but think how great it must be to have been a Sergey fan and follow him on all these shows. Simon Curtis take notice - movie, soundtrack, dancing on ice, and UK tour please. I ask Sergey who he is a fan of....

"I've always liked Robbie Williams [though later reveals he doesn't like the tag "Russian Robbie"!] and I like Justin [ i love how Justin is now a one name commodity!], Kanye West, Chris Brown and Usher. [A lot of r'n'b?] Um, it's just more 'now'. I like pop music and I like dance pop music and i think it will never die - it will exist forever. People are passionate about pop music, they like to drink and dance and have fun to it, so pop music will never die."

As I am obsessed with artists doing the occasional cover of other artists songs, I ask Sergey if he will do a cover for his third album or whether Shattered Dreams was the last one for the time being?

Sergey performing Earth Song

"I did a famous song for my first album by Michael Jackson called Earth Song. Maybe I will do something for the third album. I like to take a song that was popular ten years ago or whenever and turn it into something more modern. [I purport that Shattered Dreams wasn't an obvious choice for a cover version] No! Whenever I start to play it here everyone starts to dance because they know it, but yes in Russia the adults they may recognise the song but not who sang it. They always think it was Duran Duran! Teenagers though it is totally new for. Shattered Dreams is still really big in Russia and I was on the Song of the Year award show. It's rare for a song in English to be on the show because the Russian tv channels don't like to play English music. But sometimes they have no choice - the song was popular and people wanted to hear it. "

And sadly with that my brief time with Sergey was up. We had a quick chat about what he likes about England (White Chocolate Mochas with cream on top and the cold but sunny weather); weird blogs that want to be his best friend; the crapness of the name "zavvi"; and me trying to persuade him to perform Flyer at his PA that night (he agrees to consider it, and actually does sing it! Woo hoo! The power of fizzypop rules!). Then he tells me of his plans for his upcoming birthday (April 1st - i don't ask for an invite as I don't want to be one of these weird blogs he mentions :P ) and has to dash off for a radio interview. And i'm left totally enamoured with this super talented yet down to earth and friendly chap. Marvelous.

ESSENTIAL LINKS:
Sergey's UK Music site
My review of TV Show
TV Show makes PPGs top 50 albums of 2007
Sergey Fansite (For the Americas - great site, check it out!)

Slightly edited mp3 audio of interview

Thanks to Lander PR!