Lopez Blogs

Honestly you turn your back for 2 minutes (ie, 2 weeks in Florida - part two of holiday diaries here; cutesy EPCOT video here)and a plethora of aces new Christmas songs pop up in your absence. Most festive and delightful they are, like biting into a slightly warm and heavenly moist mince pie on a cold winters night. Here are five of the best new tunes, with some more to follow on Friday. Amazes...

• Hotel Rival ~ A Rival Christmas: Oh. My. God. Remember when I was obsessed in 2009 with the penned by Benny and Bjorn Abba "Second Best To None" song that was sung by their staff to promote their Swedish hotel? It was (and still is) an epic tune, ideal for X-Factor finalists to release as a charity single. Less brilliant is a festive little effort from them to promote their holiday sales on room rates (or something, probably). To be fair, it's a cutesy folky effort and it's always a delight to get anything Abba related. Plus the hunky barman is there (top right) which is always a must. Pleasantly singalong rather than outstanding, but a nice Christmas gift for any Abba fans out there. PS, I do like the theme of "let them in" - both good for hotels and of course Mary and Joseph, etc. Tres bon.
• Darin ~ O Holy Night: Two facts. I adore little Darin, think he is one of the finest male popstars of the new millenium. And! I adore O Holy Night. It's a bit more of a carol than a song, but it can sound great sung by a heavenly choir or by a strong vocalist. Thank heavens then for Damian over at Swedish Stereo for alerting me to Darin singing O Holy Night. How absolutely magnifico. He sounds both reverent and delightful, and is rocking the bow-tie look. What an angelic little choir dude he is. Oh the thoughts running through my head... :P
• The Pipettes ~ Santa's On His Way: I played this (among others) when I visited Larry Flick on The Morning Jolt for a festive natter with him and lovely Ryan Brockington. It's not the first time The Pipettes have done a Christmas song and this one is certainly less melancholy than their last effort. It's more true to the sound of their debut album but their are some adorable fuzzy/fizzy synths in the middle 8. Look, basically it's a frothy peppermint white chocolate mocha of a song that sparkles like a beautiful snowflake from start to finish. Jingle bells, chimes, echoey vocals and a riff to die for. Santa's on his way and he's already granted my musical festive wish with this little bauble...
• The Unconventionals ~ Long Distance Christmas: Remember The Unconventionals from a few x-factors ago? They put out an actually very charming album earlier this year and now have an equally lovely Christmas song that is heavy on harmonies, tambourines, finger clicks, a mention of Starbucks (it like they wrote it for me!)and a brilliant ad-lib vocal over the chorus at the end of "ring out the bells" that is so blinking joyous you can feel festive goodness eminate from your speakers. Just so perfect in every way. Je t'adore...

• The Killers ~ Boots: Hurrah! A festive tune for AIDS charities by The Killers is now as traditional as hearing Last Christmas as you rush round Tesco to get the last Christmas Pudding with an orange in the middle. I was hoping that at least sexy B-Flo would get down with a Christmas tune, but yay, he convinced his Killers buddies to contribute too. There is a heartbreaking clip from It's A Wonderful Life to start it all off, before a pleading vocal from Brandon set over a shuffling instrumental and thought provoking lyrics that all swell together to make an anthemic addition to their festive pantheon. When i (repeatedly) listen to this, it strikes me that it's pure vocal, no autotune, chiming bells and muted choral additions. They know how to craft a great tune and this is up there with their best. Lovely.
• Coldplay ~ Christmas Lights: Ooo it's already creeping up the UK charts and may be a festive top ten. And perhaps should have been the new winners single from Matt Cardle. I wasn't sure about this on my first listen, but suddenly on the second listen, everything clicked into place and I was a smitten little kitten. The song details how sometimes the harshness of winter and bleak emotions can contrast with the seemingly forced joviality that Christmas brings. Lovely piano, great chorus and a slither of hope as the Christmas lights continue to light up the street. Is that a celtic influence I hear in there??
• VIT ~ The Ghost of Christmas Past: Frankly, I love an alternative musical view of Christmas. A song with brilliant, wistful, melancholy, reflective lyrics set to a haunting melody with a gothic overtone to it. It's got a somewhat eerie feel to it, like walking down a dark victorian street with snow falling on your face as you hear an unwelcome footstep behind you. Basically, it's a wonderfully vivid Doctor Who Christmas Special in song! The vocal delivery is just perfect for the tune and the lyrics are so vividly evocative that you can't help but be transported by the song. I hear there is some lovely single art work by Liam too...
• Kylie ~ Let It Snow: Kylie has ventured into sex kitten Christmas before now (Santa Baby) and now she's back! Back at Rockerfella centre (leg kickingly beautiful), draped in pure white and delivering a simply shimmering orchestral version of Let It Snow. With a hand swaying and a woooo in the middle. The only way this could get any more adorable is if puppies with ribbons round their necks ran onto the stage. What I love about Kylie (everything) is that every performance she does seems so natural yet so carefully planned out to give the production and visuals maximum effect. God she's gorgeous :)

The forgotten classic:

Just play it and tell me that isn't the most discotastic festive amazingness you've heard in ages?! Totally and criminally forgot about it til I heard it playing after this in Abercrombie!! Back Friday!!

EDIT: Possibly the best blogger post ever...
EDIT2: SPECTACULAR leaps to #44 on the Billboard 200!!
I know I said I was going to do some more singles reviews today of "exciting" songstresses like Lenka, Laleh, Marit and Eloise, but I just wasn't in the mood. Plus like a proper numptee, I realised I had already written about Lenka singing the glorious Trouble Is A Friend and Marit chirping about The Chase here. Eloise deserves a post of her own such is her magnificence, and Laleh, well I'm sure i'll get around to her at some point. Instead, here are 5 albums that I was aware of and listened to when released but for whatever reason got shoved onto the "discard" pile until I was drawn back to them with a vengence this past couple of weeks (and no, Lady Gaga isn't on the list!)....

Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke: Why on earth I metaphorically shoved the Ladyhawke cd to the back of the closet is a mystery. A mystery that may never be solved. I listened to her album on a whim a couple of weeks ago when I was hankering for an ear burst of the glorious My Delirium. Beyond that anthemic fist pumping classic, I found that I had been missing out on a whole bunch of equally beautifully produced, 80s inspired pop tunes that are positively shimmering with 80s allusions, yet still sound fresh and inspired. So this isn't Stefy 2.0 at all then. Magic is a ballsy pedal to the metal type singalong track that just rattles along like an out of control rollercoaster, while Another Runway and Crazy World are delicious 80s throwbacks dripping in nostalgia. However, current favourite has to be the soon-to-be-rereleased Paris Is Burning ~ like most of the tracks here, it's steeped in 80s influences but still innovative enough to sit alongside popstars du jour such as Little Boots and LaRoux. Utterly cracking.
Coldplay - Viva La Vida: I've always had a bit of a cool relationship with Coldplay, possibly because i think it borders on child abuse to call your child Apple for crying out god's sake. However, when I put my ridiculous prejudices aside, I begrudgingly admit that Mr Martin is one of Britain's best singer songwriters. I'm STILL obsessed with the title track and think that it is one of the best songs to come out of Britain in the past five years. Those strings, the soaring chorus, the near perfect vocal delivery - it's all cosy enough for radio but epic enough for huge stadium performances too. And so I thought I would give the album a bit of a try. The hallmarks of their previous albums are there (emotive lyrics, strong melodies, gentle rock rhythms) but are mixed with a more experimental Coldplay than we've previously seen - african and latin influences, mixing up the structure of songs, instrumental tracks, kitchen sink, etc. It's all entirely pleasing, and as I may have mentioned before, I'm rather taken with the XO track listing which mixes the best from the album with the best from the Prospeks March EP. Genius...
Pink - Funhouse: The thing about Pink is she is always there isn't she? Solid, reliable, churning out fairly regular albums and hits, so I don't always give her time she is entitled to this far into what has been a fairly decent career. It's the lovely new single Please Don't Leave Me that has drawn me back to this album - yes, So What is a great thrusty pop song, but it always seemed a bit gimmicky to me (though the remixes are aces) and that put me off the album a little bit. Retitle this album to it's rumoured original ("Heartbreak is a motherf***er!") and it perfectly sums up the range of emotive pop song and rock balladry contained within. The eventual title track is demonically destructive - there's bitterness in the breeziest of her pop tunes, and that I like. Mean puts most of Kelly Clarkson's most recent album to shame with it's southern fried chicken rock roots and an amazing vocal performance. And the entirely romantic Glitter In The Air evokes gorgeous imagery and is simply more powerful for it. I'm kicking myself for not having the whole album on repeat earlier :(
Cyndi Lauper - Bring Ya To The Brink/Donna Summer - Crayons: Frankly I wasn't sure that Donna could top the mighty SAW produced album Another Place and Time. And I'm not sure Crayons does, but my yen this month to revisit Donna has made me realise what an upbeat, unapologetic, in your face album this is. Similarly, the latest dance epic from Cyndi is perfectly designed for the clubs and puts many of her younger peers to shame. Neither album is deliberately rooted in the past and neither do they pander to current trends (except when Donna gets a bit vocoder-ised which can be slightly annoying) - instead they mix the sounds they are most comfortable with from their respective pasts with intoxicating rhythms, beats and melodies that make for two should-have-been career revitalising sets. Play Cyndi's gyrating pulsing synths of Into The Nightlife with it's cheeky flirtatious lyrics alongside Donna's fun, frothy and respect commanding Stamp Your Feet and this twofer whammy makes me even more incredulous of some of today's leading electro-dance ladies successes. I know DanUSA, XO and Chartrigger all liked these in the past, so I am once again chagrinned for not enjoying these on the whole mostly super albums earlier...

Other more recent albums I'm still loving: Take That "The Circus"; Lily Allen "It's Not Me, It's You"; Same Difference "Pop"