Lopez Blogs

I love Friday afternoon off. If Friday afternoon off were a hot dude, I would probably be going in for a clumsy first date smooch right about now. It's been a busy week but not an entirely bad one. The highlight was a riotous forty minutes or so, playing some new music on my now regular Larry Flick Morning Jolt slot. So much fun. A lot of time was also spent obsessively analysing queue patterns in Disney World and planning out the Florida trip. I may have overplanned and forgot to schedule "fun" in there... :P Anyway, prior to a mammoth Take That blog tomorrow and of course the monolith that is the X Factor sunday blog, here are some of the things to tide you over through the weekend...

FizzyPop Weekend Supplement:

• Nikita ~ Tonight: I am loving Nikita. Both the new show on The CW which makes me want to pretend I'm a rogue spy bringing down a clandestine government agency and this scintillating Blondie-esque disco track. It's a rather gorgeous, sparkling track that makes you want to grab the one you love and shimmy. Indeed, there is some magnificent layered vocals in the addictive chorus - part of it sounds like an updated I Feel Love while running behind that is the Blondie type Sunday Girl adlibs, all weaved together wonderfully by a pulsating electronica beat. Remember when Annie & Isabel Guzman were going to be the next big dance floor divas? They may have been outdone by Nikita. Instantly massive, this will get dance floors heated through the cold winter months. BTW, I know from personal experience that it sounds absolutely heavenly after 3 glasses of quite expensive wine...
• Annie Lennox ~ Universal Child: Annie Lennox was born on December 25th, ergo I feel she has earned her right to put out her Christmas Cornicopia. This track is the self penned lead single from that forthcoming collection and is an earnest, forthright sweeping song full of inspiring lyrics and a crescendo of instruments that never overshadow that distinctive vocal style. As a charity single it is probably everything that Madonna was trying to achieve with the somewhat weak and watery Hey You. Gets better with each listen and fine for a spin anytime of year. Love it.
• More Christmas albums ~ since I wrote about the upcoming Christmas song releases from various artists here, several more have hit the marketplace including - gasp - one of my fave girl groups Wilson Phillips!! Hurrah! They have done a Christmas album before, but that was back when it was just Carnie and Wendy! I need some Chynna in the mix. Also whipping out festive releases are Lady Antebellum (the boys look f-i-n-e on the cover), Sheryl Crow (a 2010 edition of a previously released album. Ka-ching) and uh, Katherine McPhee. It may only be October, but it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

• Simon Curtis ~ Since 8 Bit Heart garnered him a ferociously loyal following, it seems like Simon has been working hard to move onto the next stage of his career. He's been busy recording the heavenly Andrea Lewis duet (read about it here; my number one song this week!) and hopefully his new album with apparently some Ace of Base-esque beats on there will be available before Christmas. He's also been involved in the Love is Louder campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the struggles bullied teens go through, and provide them with some support and comfort. Vital stuff. Surely a NoH8 photo shoot must be coming?!
• The Feeling ~ In The Year 2525: Talking of charity, while I impatiently await a 3rd Feeling album (due next year or probably whenever Sophie Ellis Bextor deigns to release hers), they have recorded a rather spiffy version of the Zager & Evans number one hit. It's for the 1969 Key To Change album, which raises money for young homeless people. The track retains the slightly spaced out, hippy-esque vibe of the original, but marries it with the trademark layered vocals of the group and it's certainly nice to have this entirely pleasant stop gap until the new album comes out (or until I can start playing Feels Like Christmas again). Dan sounds positively luscious. As normal...

Top 21 songs of the week:

21 ~ Darin, Lovekiller
20 ~ Jesse McCartney, Shake
19 ~ Bjorn Johan Muri, Once Upon A Time
18 ~ Maroon 5, Give A Little More
17 ~ Elouise, The Winner Takes It All
16 ~ Nadine Coyle, Insatiable
15 ~ McFly, Shine A Light
14 ~ Charlotte Church, Back To Scratch
13 ~ James Blunt, Stay The Night
12 ~ Westlife, Safe
11 ~ Brandon Flowers, Only The Young
10 ~ JLS, Love You More
09 ~ Gravitonas, Religious
08 ~ Pink, Raise Your Glass
07 ~ Jessie J, Price Tag
06 ~ Robbie Williams, Shame
05 ~ Joe McElderry, Ambitions
04 ~ Shayne Ward, Gotta Be Somebody
03 ~ Robbie Williams, Heart & I
02 ~ Take That, The Flood (VID)
01 ~ Andrea Lewis ft Simon Curtis, Talk To Me (NE/1 Week)

Coming soon: Sat (Take That full video breakdown!); Sun (X Factor Live Shows 2); Mon (A1 & Big Time Rush album reviews)...

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!!

I was coming back from Sheffield on the train today, and watching a veronica mars on my archos (i'm still mourning the loss of that show, god knows what I will be like when Pushing Daisies has aired it's final episode)(oh and i'm at the point in year 2 where Veronica is pondering why IS Duncan visiting Meg at the hospital every day? I'm thrilled with the debut episode of Half Moon Investigations on CBBC, but really it hardly replaces my teen sleuth loss!) when I was struck by an overwhelming urge to listen to songs with amazing key changes. Because obviously I have no musical tastes whatsoever (and am quite proud of that), I instantly went to Pop Idol 2 winner Michelle McManus' quite ok ballad Meaning of Love and of course shrieky American Idol runner up Diana DeGarmo's Don't Cry Out Loud. Both quite satisfying, but ultimately doing nothing for my cred factor. Yet I needed to escape the fact that this week's transatlantic chart-topper is a cybertronic derivative pile of poo (yes, bah humbug etc) and that did it nicely. Until I came home, booted up the old laptop and was nearly knocked backwards by an incredible need to listen to some Annie Lennox. So I did....

Annie Lennox is one of those artists that is just a constant for me. I may not write as enthusiastically about her excellent music as I do, say Simon Curtis or The Feeling, but that doesn't mean it doesn't feature in my life quite often. I listened to the incredibly haunting Love Song For A Vampire as I read the last few pages of Twilight. No More I Love Yous seemed to be the perfect soundtrack to the end of the year as I gazed out of Ruth's window onto the white frosty fields littered with seemingly hazy silver trees. Thorn In My Side seems to pop up on my mp3 player whenever work bugs me about something. Annie's sumptous voice never fails to soothe and please me. So, much in the way Leona Lewis made Run her own, Annie has put her own glorious stamp all over her cover of Ash's Shining Light (true story - my sister Charlotte once kissed the Ash drummer many years ago.)It's delightfully upbeat with some great hand clapping beats, a swoony backing vocal and perhaps Annie's most joyous song since she teamed up with Al Green for Put A Little Love In My Heart. Definitely the most gorgeous song of the new year, probably only to be challenged by Kelly Clarkson next week??

• Check out DanUSA's review here...

And now for something at the other end of the quality spectrum, but that delights me almost quite as much. God knows what this fantastic lady is called but her song is perhaps THE most bizarre thing I've heard this side of a Lily Allen demo. I must thank Phil Worrapolava for pointing it out to me. The whole thing is just amazingly bonkers. From the casio keyboard quality backing beat to the plinkity plonk piano, it still ends up being catchier than most r'n'b songs I know that have millions of pounds in production spent on them. Add to that the truly terrifying video with an almost lesbian kiss/headbut and a scary faced woman and really that would be enough for me to be obsessed. BUT!!!! It gets better. The middle 8 is a freaking VOCAL TRUMPET and is accompanied by the glorious image of nice Russian lady spitting her milk (nicely captured in slow mo on the video) which then drips down her face suggestively, like she accidentally took a nap in a gay club's dark room. And on top of this, the video is so cheap that it makes Antigone look like she had a budget! I don't know whether to be horrified or addicted, but I am intruiged...

To stop both Darren and myself become too saturated in Abba goodness, we had to divert a bit into Abbaesque, Bjorn Again and of course Simon Curtis approved act, my beloved A*Teens. Now, I've seen a lot of A*Teen videos, but strangely don't ever recall seeing the marvelous little effort above for Gimme Gimme Gimme. I particularly like the bit where Amit casually fingers (!) the keyboard in the toy store to the melody that Madonna was so keen to pilfer and Dhani shaking the snow globe for no apparent reason! It's another reason to remain gleefully optimistic about the Same Difference album (who are number one on the PJ Almighty and probably quite rightly so!) and the return of pop. Which leads to me the weekly round up - there have been a plethora of amazingly well written posts on my fave blogs this week, as well as some healthy debates. Here's an overview of the best and most heated:

• The elegant Mr XO always has good posts, but debates about what should go on a greatest hits are my absolute favourite. Annie Lennox's tracklisting inspired a lot of interesting comments and suggestions. Marv. Plus lovely XO has the lovely cover to lovely William Young's lovely new single. It doesn't really get any better than that!
• Yuri (whom Olga loves) has the spin on all the latest new artists - i am shocked and appalled that Mr Yuri left out the lovely Red Blooded Women, but that was surely a drunken oversight on his part. Probably giddy from excitement that we are going to meet up in November when I'm in Flo-Rida. Aces. Mentioning the ubiquitous Lady Blahblah over RBW though? See the next bullet point down!
• Bobbypops takes on two of the most ubiquitous artists on the block in Katy Perry and Lady Gaga, and I responded in full in the comments section. I actually like Lady Gaga a decent amount. I don't think she's the second coming or anything and she's just so fucking everywhere isn't she? I mean Akon? Have some self respect woman! New Kids? You Think You Can Dance? That godawful promo video? Reel the promo back a bit love and go for a spot of mystery as Isabel Guzman and Ryan Ferrada have done (Congrats to Ryan for leaping to number 8 on the Music Weekly Club Chart with no promotional work done as yet, just sending out his music and letting it speak for itself! Marv!)
• And talking of Katy Perry, the Observer Music Monthly pissed me off royally today with their comment about "the small but vocal section of the gay community that seems to search for things to be offended by has accused her of exploiting lesbianism for straight titillation. Both sides [the Christian community] seem to have missed the point" Actually, OMM seems to have missed the point with some sloppy journalism but completely not mentioning Ur So Gay. Once again, either song is just irritating on it's own, but together with the odious Ms Perry, are just rank. Just replace the word "gay" with a racial slur or something similar and the whole "oh it's just a bit of fun" element of the song is shown up for what it is. OK, I'll get off my high horse now.
• Finally, DLuv ponders whether The Saturdays have done enough for ongoing chart success. Probably not, methinks. They are slightly too glossy for my tastes though I really like If This Is Love - give me RBW anyday. They did me a lovely Christmas card last year :P I think if "pop" is going to come back (i don't think it ever went away, it just metamorphasized into something else) it needs to be a bit more exciting than the Saturdays. Still time will tell...
• Oh and finally part two - Adem has done three fucking amazing posts recently. The VanShe album review, an interview with Matt Van Schie and the Lady Gaga review. While other sites mask their extended press releases behind glossy formats, Adem pours passion and excitement into his work and i just love it. And him!

DISCLAIMER: Opinions are like arseholes :P Everyone has them, and it doesn't mean mine are right or wrong. They are just my opinions! People in the blog world can be ever so touchy sometimes. Just look at D'luv's page whenever he posts about Clay Aiken :P

THE FIZZYPOP 21 TRACKS OF THE WEEK:

21 ~ Daniel Powter, Next Plane Home (NE)
20 ~ Keane, Spiralling (NE)
19 ~ David Jordan, Set The Mood
18 ~ Jason Mraz, Lucky
17 ~ Jack McManus, You Think I Don't Care
16 ~ Jesse McCartney, It's Over
15 ~ Madonna, Give It 2 Me
14 ~ Jonas Bros, Burning Up
13 ~ McFly, One For The Radio
12 ~ Kylie, The One
11 ~ Infernal, Downtown Boys
10 ~ BWO, Bells of Freedom (see video above)
09 ~ Sophie Ellis Bextor, Heartbreak Makes Me A Dancer
08 ~ William Young, Changes
07 ~ Alphabeat, Boyfriend
06 ~ Little Jackie, The Whole World Should Revolve Around Me
05 ~ Bryn Christopher, The Quest
04 ~ The Feeling, Join With Us
03 ~ Regina Spektor, The Call
02 ~ Lily Allen, GWB
01 ~ Miley Cyrus, 7 Things (5 fucking weeks!)

Coming this week:

1. Monday: Christmas Single Career Counselling
2. Monday: Little Jackie album review
3. Tuesday: Noah and The Whale album review
4. Wednesday: VanShe album review
5. Some other stuff....