Lopez Blogs

Thank Christ it's Saturday. I'm going to have to get used to doing my weekly catch up post on a Fri/Sat instead of Sunday for the forseeable future as X Factor is back next Saturday and I will be busy doing my write ups of them for each Sunday (though I can't remember whether I blog the auditions or not, or just start at bootcamp stage? I will see how enthused I am!)... Other than that, it's only two weeks til my countryside retreat week and only 105 days til I go for a Christmas break in Disney World. Woohoo! Gotta keep those holiday goals in sight :) Right, what's been occurring this week?

The week that was...

• Reclusive Barclay Brothers ~ We Could Be Lonely Together: I am not exaggerating when I say that A LOT has been written about the business model of RBB this week. Basically, it's billed as they are paying you £27 to listen to their music. What really happens is you enter your email into their website and are entered into a draw (read more on it all here). I'd rather concentrate on the song though because I really like it :) It's essentially an enticing tune with a slightly punky attitude.It's built around a fuzzy glam-rock guitar sound with a vocal style over it that comes across as both a little aggressive and a little sweet. In this type of tune, the vocal has to carry the melody and it's definitely strong and distinctive enough to do that. It gels together with clever lyrics and enough hook to have that chorus swimming in your head for days. If Bowie were a woman he would have been proud to have released this tune. Oh and two things - 1) the guitarist is uncoventionally handsome and definitely worthy of the cosmic horn and 2) my email is thezapping@gmail.com. Just saying :P
• DeeDee ~ Balls: Not enough people are writing about the entirely charming, yet potty mouthed DeeDee. All this will change very shortly I should imagine. I became somewhat entranced with her brilliant tune Endure earlier in the year and it seems she is stepping up a gear as she readies the release of her first EP. Balls is a lyrical triumph that stands out in an overcrowded market of dear diary assertive female singers (see Lily Allen, Kate Nash, Eliza Doolittle et al). It's a devilishly vaudevillian slice of pop-cabaret with vicious putdown lyrics aimed at an errant lover. It's the clever structure of the song that makes it all flow together seamlessly - the verses finish mid sentence and it swiftly continues into a galloping chorus that is instantly a new generation's You Oughta Know. Only catchier. Let's not forget that sinfully delightful middle 8 - a rompy breakdown of "fuck you, you motherfucker/i wanna run you over with my truck-a/you're the reason I'm outta luck-a"... it deserves - no, demands to be sung loud and proud. A gem of a pop tune and surely the start of big big things for DeeDee...
• Elouise - Stardust Live: The ever so lovely, delicate Elouise has launched a brand new website in support of upcoming music and a live show on Sept 11th at the beautiful looking Tabernacle venue in London. The website is full of little treats like a cute video of Elouise in a rather lovely looking garden, some musical treats and of course some nice rehearsal footage of her practicing some new dance routines for the ace gang to master (hello Kris Manuel! :P) Things are only looking glittery and glam for Elouise right now, so if you aren't already a convert, be sure to spend time with her sound as she readies her debut album with the incomparable Mr Steve Anderson. Cannot wait. Oh, ace gang summit today to plan the trip to the concert :P
• Pretty Little Liars ~ yes it's all a bit Twin Peaks meets Veronica Mars via Gossip Girl, but naturally I have become obsessed with ABC Family (surely the new WB?) latest summer smash. And no it's not just because teacher Ezra Fitz is all sorts of apple bringing amazing :P It's just one of those so called Guilty Pleasures and the OTT cliffhanger has me both furious and curious :P Like all these teen shows, there's an element of great music in it (particularly the theme tune) which made me yearn for the days of The OC and Dawson's Creek. Then, via Pip at Entertainment Focus, I discovered a rather great compilation cd with loads of US tv show music in it. Called American Dreams, there is bound to be something amazing on there to remind you of the glory days of the WB. And it's £2 off if you quote "PLAYDREAMS" at Play.com. Bargainings!
• The Baseballs ~ Chasing Cars: I've been a smitten little kitten with The Baseballs for a while now and finally it seems like they are getting their due across Europe with their brand of rockabilly covers of current(ish) pop tunes. Their latest is a typically rollicking run through of Snow Patrol weepy Chasing Cars. It turns it from MOR rock ballad into something that would have propelled Cha Cha DeGrigorio (the best dancer at St Bernadettes - with the worst reputation...:P). The thing that really works about the Baseballs is they put so much energy into their performances, turn familiar tunes into something different and new and exude such charm that it's hard not to like them. Now how about some All The Lovers and Bad Romance on album two please?!

Back tomorrow with Scissor Sisters video and a chart rundown!

August returned loads of viewers back to tv-screen and crisis of Allsång på Skansen seems to disappear.
No secrets who was the most expected person by Swedish Stereo in this episode - Linda Sundblad who gets my eternal credits for her contribution in Lambretta - one of the best Swedish rock-bands ever.
Linda performed her single "To All My Girls" co-written with Max Martin and Alexander Kronlund following images and choreography from music video and amazing version of "Over The Rainbow" perfectly fiting Linda's voice. Among another modern pop-acts you could also see Mange Shmidt with 2 hits "Allvarligt talat" and "Giftig", first performance featured famous Swedish producer Christian Falk's daughter Vanessa, real discovery of the night (was new Swedish dance-princess just born?), hope soon we'll hear more about this girl with such a stunning vocal. Second Mange's performance was supported by another popular Swedish artist - Thomas Rusiak. Pop-star of 80s Jakob Hellman has also made its comeback to a big stage and seems like it was big event for many fans in Sweden.
Foreign guests The Baseballs performed their rockabilly covers for Rihanna's "Umbrella" and Katy Perry's "Hot N Cold" and choir of Alsång performed original version of recently reborn hit "We No Speak Americano" and finally happened something totally unexpected, performance that completely destroyed my mind and made me watch it at least 10 times, I mean performance of Finnish shouters-choir Huutajat, I guess I didn't see such a crazy things if not years then months fo sure, you need to also!

Linda Sundblad - To All My Girls
Linda Sundblad - Over The Rainbow
Vanessa Falk - Private Party
Mange Schmidt & Vanessa Falk - Allvarligt talat
Mange Schmidt och Thomas Rusiak - Giftig
Jakob Hellman - Hon har ett sätt
Jakob Hellman - Vara vänner
Huskören - We No Speak Americano
The Baseballs - Hot N Cold
The Baseballs - Umbrella
Huutajat - Trollmors vaggsång
Huutajat - Stockholm i mitt hjärta
Huutajat - Amsterdam Treaty

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)

In a week where the world lost Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, it's hard to be too cheerful isn't it? Michael the performer remains one of the world's greatest musical influences with a back catalogue so vast that it's hard not to be in love with at least some of his tunes. Farrah - well anyone who can handle such an undignified disease with such poise and grace is always astonishing in my book. So i'll watch Charlie's Angels reruns, listen to Man in the Mirror and admire those people who do tributes so much more eloquently than I ever could.

WHAT GOT ME THROUGH THE WEEK:

It was the always delightful Nick at Alien Hits that drew my attention to The Baseballs (I love how Nick just gracefully showcases excellent obscure music on such a regular basis). An album full of rockabilly covers of some of the greatest pop hits of recent years? On paper it just sounds quite hideous. Yet the album Strike is one of THE pop gems of the year. Clever arrangements, always perky and uplifting, excellent choices of songs and great enjoyable Elvis-esque vocals. Check out the video above to the first single Umbrella - it's totally quirky yet if you are even close to liking it, it has pulled you right in by the time it finishes (And try telling me that the melody at the beginning isn't lifted totally from Kylie and Jason's exuberant All I Wanna Do classic!!). I am just loving this band so much right now - as much for their music as for the fact that I didn't even know I needed a rockabilly covers album in my life. And hurrah - shallowness alert: There's at least one dude I'd like to get down to a bit of rock'n'roll with in the group. Oh and wouldn't they just have gone down a treat at Glastonbury this weekend? Heaven.

Jason Mraz has turned into the ultimate feelgood geezer hasn't he? If you look through his back catalogue (and I do regularly) not only is he the purveyor of some very fine pop songs that deserved to be much bigger internationally than they were (The Remedy, Wordplay, Geek In The Pink, Curbside Prophet) but there are some just beautiful songs in there that rank high on the playlist when I want a positive message to listen to. I mean take the still-selling I'm Yours. A song so full of being able to open up and give yourself wholly to someone that the simple lyrics have made Mr Mraz a worldwide star. Want more of the same? Try the ever so wonderful Life is Wonderful where he ponders all the strange vagueries that make up the world we live in, and still concludes that it's a pretty great place. Then of course there is the best affirmation this side of Affirmation with the inspiring Live High. The lyrical themes of this song are continued in Try Try Try - both urge the listener and the subject matter of the song to at least continually strive to be a better person, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that. We all have our flaws - god knows I do. It's how I try and get better at overcoming them on a continual daily basis that I hope makes me a nice person :) Oh, and yes, it may all sound a bit new age and touchy feely. I don't care - I'm all for throwing off city life and living in a very big house in the country. Growing avacados. Delish.

It seems almost weekly that I am writing about Elouise. She is my greatest obsession on this blog since Simon Curtis and Same Difference. This week, I've been glued to the videos of her performance at Stratford Circus last Saturday. The girl is a consumate performer :) I've literally begged her to at least at some point put her version of the glorious One Night Only on an album, b side or EP. I just need a euphoric studio version by her to dance to. (BTW, check out the lovely Rachel from Dutch X Factor performing it in the finals a few weeks ago. Sadly she didn't win, but i'm quite pleased with Lisa - even if she did get stuck with a carbon copy of Alexblandra's Hallelujah). Other highlights from Saturday include one of my fave Diana Ross songs ever, When You Tell Me That You Love Me and a gorgeous acoustic version of When Will I See You Again which really highlights her vocal ability. I also accidentally let onto Elouise that i thought the guitarist in the vid was a fox, and she informed me it's her brother Tom. Good grief. When will i learn to keep my big mouth shut? :P So long story short: Elouise = amazing future star. The end.

TOP 21 SONGS OF THE WEEK:

21 ~ Take That, The Garden
20 ~ Pet Shop Boys, Did You See Me Coming?
19 ~ Mr Hudson, Supernova
18 ~ Le Kid, Mercy Mercy
17 ~ Erik Hassle, Don't Bring Flowers (NE)
16 ~ Industry, My Baby's Waiting (#1 in Ireland!!)
15 ~ Alcazar, From Brazil With Love
11 ~ Marina And The Diamonds, I Am Not A Robot
13 ~ Dan Black, Symphonies
12 ~ Little Boots, New In Town
11 ~ Freemasons ft SEB, Heartbreak Makes Me A Dancer
10 ~ BWO, Right Here Right Now
09 ~ Mans Zelmerlow, Home
08 ~ Dolly Rockers, Je Suis Un Dolly
07 ~ Elouise, One Night Only
06 ~ JLS, Beat Again
05 ~ Jordin Sparks, Battlefield
04 ~ Jason Mraz, Try Try Try
03 ~ "Abba", Second Best To None
02 ~ Michael Jackson, Man In The Mirror (NE)(VID)
01 ~ Benny Andersson Band, Story Of A Heart (3 weeks)
Other Michael songs on repeat: Will You Be There; Keep The Faith; You Are Not Alone

Coming this week! It's like i'm on senokot! I'm getting regular again :) Best 20 0f the year so far on Tues! July Fizzypop Chronicles on Thurs. Back on Sun with weekly round up. Hurrah, etc.