Lopez Blogs

I've been very neglectful of blogging this week mainly due to some personal stuff going on! Those who follow me on twitter will know what i'm going on about - and i'll probably give an update in the weekly catch up blog due tomorrow! In the meantime and inbetween time, I'll dive straight into the review of two of the summer's big singles which received premieres/leakage at some point yesterday (next Friday - Kylie!! YAY!)...

Scissor Sisters ~ Fire with Fire: This is very different to the immensicles that is Invisible Light, but after a few listens it is equally as pleasing and amazing. It starts off with a lovely, warm piano riff and Jake's voice comes in sounding delightfully natural and organic. It's essentially a great pop song that has no gimmicks, just keeps building over a strong vocal and persuasive melody until it crescendoes into a soaring epic tune by the time the second chorus kicks in. The lyrics are incredibly uplifting and positive (they progress from remembering they were once number one to realising they are free to be number one if they want to be) and it's all rather wonderful. At times, I thought I was listening to the solo Brandon Flowers single, but the complete package is definitely very Scissor Sisters, and perhaps their pure pop take on the likes of Sex On Fire. This is going to sound very magnificent indeed live. Be sure to check out the much more dark corner of a club sounding Stuart Price remix (courtesy of arjanwrites) of the still intense and still excellent Invisible Light also...

JLS ~ The Club Is Alive: Oh. The much discussed new JLS single has leaked/premiered (I'm not sure which, but hey, I live in a confused post election Britain!) and after a few listens, I do like it. There are some very clever parts of it that work quite well for me. It is certainly what a modern boyband should sound like - part pop, part gimmick and part club. The "Sound of Music" sample is done in the same way that Sugababes worked I'm Too Sexy into their Get Sexy tune, though they could have been a bit more inventive in the way it was done (some wailing operatic nuns wouldn't have gone amiss). The biggest problem is the use of "shawty" and the vocodered to the point of roboticness in the tune. It loses some of the charm that elevated Beat Again and Everybody in Love. Ultimately, it is a catchy tune, it will be lapped up by the fans and it will probably elevate them to the next level of stardom. I just hope their voices shine through a little more on the album...

FYI

• Donkeyboy have just released a rather marvelous remix package of their second single, the elegant and incredible Sometimes. The best is probably the Jason Nevins radio edit which makes it more of a thumping pop pumper than before without losing any of that lovely melody...
• Gravitonas have 77 minutes of remixes on the download package of the soaring (ha!) Kites... My fave (though I haven't persevered with them all yet) is definitely the Soundfactory radio edit which places that heavenly choir in the mix much earlier on. I was introduced (via email) to Andreas (the singer) and given the opportunity to interview them. I'm not very good at these sort of things so any questions would be marvy!

Back tomorrow with The Feeling! Simon Curtis! Same Difference! And the charts...

I have been vaguely stressed all week by the speech that I am due to give as best man (or one of two best men, Darren being the other) at Ruth & Lou's civil partnership today (if you are reading this on Sunday). In one of my most brilliant procrastinations of all time, I literally left it way too long and then panicked over it non-stop since about Thursday morning. And when I say panicked, i mean completely obsessed over the placement of each word to make sure it was perfect - god, if I spent this much time on my novels I'd be a best seller by now! And poor Darren had to put up with one creative strop tonight, but as always he just ignored my immaturity and watched The Whole 19 Yards. Still, it's all done now, hopefully magnificent and i'll let you all know how it goes sometime on Monday...

What this does mean is that I've not really paid attention to anything else for a few days so I'm just going to give you my weekly charts and hopefully be back to sanity (whatever that is) sometime next week! On the plus side, my wedding hair cut (above) on Friday looks quite nice, despite the fact I will NEVER get it to look like this again!!

TOP 21 SONGS OF THE WEEK:

21 ~ Diana Vickers, Once
20 ~ Donkeyboy, Sometimes (NE/VID)
19 ~ Music Go Music, Light of Love
18 ~ Bjorn Johan Muri, Yes Man
17 ~ Mika, Kick Ass
16 ~ Sergey Lazarev, Alarm
15 ~ Darin, You're Out Of My Life
14 ~ Kimberley Locke, Strobelight
13 ~ Alcazar, Headlines
12 ~ Candle Thieves, We're All Gonna Die
11 ~ The Pipettes, Stop The Music
10 ~ Ola, Unstoppable
09 ~ Neo, Human Frontier
08 ~ Simon Curtis, Super Psycho Love
07 ~ Mariah Carey, 100%
06 ~ Maria Mena, All This Time
05 ~ DeeDee, Endure
04 ~ Gabriella Cilmi, On A Mission
03 ~ Sophie Ellis Bextor Jones, Bittersweet
02 ~ Eric Saade, Manboy
01 ~ Adam Tyler, Friction (3 weeks)

Back on mon with pics and tales from the wedding!!

Well after a day where 67 year old men did presentations on how Lady Gaga has changed pop amidst numerous other things, I barely thought I'd have time to get this post done. But i'm all for a quickie, so I'm going to throw it together for you in minimal time. How's that for love and devotion?! PS all links to tv performances where poss...

More essential playlist tunes for May:

• JLS ~ Heal This Heartbreak: The theme of this month's Chronicles is obviously "when record companies attack". Once again, a pop band has been let down by a record company (Shayne Ward starts every diary entry like this). They should essentially be on a 5th single, having missed the opportunity to release the corntastic but charming Close To You at Chrismtas. Oh well. This would have made a brillo single, but for now it's onto album two (next track on playlist pending)...
• Lemar ft JLS ~ What About Love: ...or instead just imagine that JLS had popped out this as a double AA side single (do I need to do 2 As if I have already typed double?!) with Heal The Heartbreak? Just imagine! Are you done imagining? This rather lovely ballad is dreamy and swoony all at once, with a simplistic but delightful melody and some lovely harmonies. Teenage girls could be crying at concerts in the video and all boyband cliches would be restored to the world (especially with some Christ like poses at the end of the video). No, no, album two it is then :(
• Donkeyboy ~ Sometimes: Hmm, are Donkeyboy still not famous in the UK with the lovely Ambitions? bah humbug to that. This track isn't quite as transcendent as Ambitions but it certainly is a rather lovely piece of 80s inspired magnificence - oh and it's definitely the glorious chorus that makes you want to get out your seat and smooch whoever you are standing next to at the time...
• Boyzone ~ Love Is A Hurricane: Wasn't Gave It All Away quite wonderful? Cellos in pop are becoming an increasing necessity. This should really be the boys next single if they are to get any more mileage out the album (though my head nearly exploded at the Corrie where the song played in the background of the Rovers while Shane was pulling pints at the bar. Insanity!) It's a nice upbeat song that's a little bit country, without being a little bit rock n roll. Inoffensive pop as people would call it...
• Westlife ~ Where We Are: Where you are Westlife, is stuck with an album that has only had one single out and that was back in bloody October. Sort it out you goons, and get Nicky naked while you are at it. They could have released Shadows back in Feb and have this title track of the album out to coincide with the tour they have planned. Sigh. It's very drummy, with nice harmonies. Again, not a world changer, but perfectly pleasant.
• Backstreet Boys ~ If I Knew Then: What a perfect opportunity for a Simon Curtis update :P He is supporting AJ McLean at the Roxy in LA on May 6th. My 10th anniversary. So if anyone wants to pay to fly Darren and I out there that would be super. Back to BSB, why Bigger wasn't bigger is beyond me, why All Of My Life wasn't a third single is a baffler and this could easily cap off a successful album/singles campaign but hasn't. MUST I DO EVERYTHING FOR THESE GROUPS? :P
• Natalie Imbruglia ~ Fun: If I was going to stop going on about botched album campaigns, now really wouldn't be the time to do it, but it is getting a bit repetitive isn't it?! Anyway, half of Natalie's album is genius, and half is a bit experimental for me (who won't try sweet chilli flavoured crisps because i feel they are too 'out there'). Fun is a brilliant follow up to Scars though, very radio friendly, nice chorus, lovely vocal. What's not to like?
• Nerina Pallot ~ I Don't Want To Go Out: Good for you Nerina. Sometimes I like to stay in, have a nice hot chocolate and watch a Dr Who or something. It's not all about buzzing your nuts off. I foolishly diverted from Nerina's single releases and chose When Did I Become Such A Bitch for the Feb playlist, which makes this early 2010 single seem a bit dated in terms of it should have featured earlier. In terms of it being utterly magnificent, then it is not dated at all and a rollicking little piano led pop tune. PS, i listened to Geek Love about 5 times this morning.
• Hurts ~ Better Than Love: This song gets better each time I hear it. Are Hurts actually ready to happen just yet, or are they going to be one of those bands that keep having "pre-single" singles out forever? Does it really matter? Not when the song builds up into this crashing chorus that entirely takes over everything in your life for those few seconds it plays. The song really gets going at about 40 seconds and it's full on from there. Keep with it and get rewarded :)
• Keane ~ Stop For A Minute: I'm honestly too tired to write about this again right now, so just go to my most recent post for a still relevant write up. It's really grown on me since then and I'm finding it more endearing with each and every listen. Yes, like Hurts. God I'm repetitive today!
• The Ark ~ Superstar: oh Nick AlienHits will be pleased. A new Ark single preceding an entirely new to be devoured Ark album. Bonza! It's a definite feelgood single with a great guitar riff running throughout it and an almost bonkers glam rock vibe to it. But that's what they do best and like Abba their not quite perfect English just adds to the overall charm of the package. Do check them out :)

You know what? November and December is so jam packed full of new music by some of my favourite artists, plus lots of stuff gets pushed aside for Christmas music, that I don't always have enough time to listen to some of the exciting new artists my friends recommend! So I always make a note of the ones that sound intruiging so I can catch up on them in January! And as it is now January, here is a list of some of the artists that i've been aware of for some time and find intruiging/good looking. I am enjoying checking out (plus links to people who write much more eloquently about them!) Oh, the video above? Nothing to do with pop in 2010, I just really like it for some reason. It's performed very...enthusiastically :)

OH! And if you were tuned in to the Larry Flick show on Thursday morning's Morning Jolt, you would have heard me! I sound very loud! But it was lots of fun :P Here are some links to the artists I talked about (that most of you already know, but just in case you didn't...) - i'm next on Feb 1st. Lordy, better sort out some more euro-pop music!

• Mans Zelmerlow - album review of MZW
• Neo - album review of NEO
• Evan - album review of Under Your Spell
• Sergey Lazarev - interview

NEW ACTS FOR '10 ~ RETWEET EDITION!

• From dontstopthepop... I'm intruiged by Miss Polly Rae who is putting on a burlesque show in London in February. It sounds absolutely magnificent. Burlesque meets pop via the amazing Steve Anderson & Terry Ronald sounds utterly butterly to me. I am SO there :) Bobby also drew my attention to the fine features of Jonas Myrin who not only looks yummers but sounds pretty decent too. Hurrah. (Still anxious for music from LeKid, Isabel Guzman and of course Elouise too)...
• From fabtasticmusic... Ah that adorable Aaron. He (and auspop) steered me directly towards the rather delightful Hugh Sheridan who has gone that traditional Australian route of tv star to pop star with admirable results. I've "spun" his debut album a couple of times and it has me hankering to go back for more already. Plus! Another stunner! Bonus!
• From Project76blog... DanUK and I don't often share the same taste in music, but occasionally the planets align and we go gaga over the same act. Dan injected some taste into my pop sensibilities when he steered me in the direction of Music Go Music who are a rather dreamy pop band who make very excellent music with a hint of Abba influence. Quite wonderful. Plus they are in the UK in february. Very excellent news.
• From thismustbepop... Jessica always does a rather comprehensive list of the more off-piste artists to keep an eye on. One of my favourites from this year has to be Donkeyboy who have the same pop sensibilities as Alphabeat, an album full of rather amazing tunes and a seal of approval from Popjustice. I sense I will be rather obsessed with them and rather soon.
• From worrapolava... Out of the ashes of Daggers rises good looking twosome Hurts. These two have been floating around the internet ether for a while now and are producing some solid good pop tunes, heavy on great vocals, addictive melodies and entirely alluring sax solos. Plus some great remixes are in the bag - this is one of those acts that several bloggers picked up on ages ago and just now all the "official big in 10" lists are all over. (See also XO and AlienHits)...
• From xolondon... talking of xo, he's always got some elegant pop choices up his sleeve; ones that focus on depth of lyric, meaningful choruses and sweeping majesty in the instrumental. He's written lots about, and totally converted me to, Ellie Goulding - she's got pop sensibilities mixed with a certain aura of cool around her music, which like a still pool on a hot day is just heaven to dip into and gently immerse yourself. Big things coming from her, especially as the winner of that BBC Sound of 2010 thingy!
• From billcs... I discovered Bill through a mutual love of acts like Simon Curtis, Dan Black, Mans Zelmerlow and Sammy Taylor. All those acts make Bill's 2010 list as does the guitarist from Avril Lavigne's early days - Evan Taubenfeld, who has been busy creating his own special brand of pop hook for you all to latch onto. He has a new album coming out pretty soon, but has preceded that with a few singles, including the catchy Cheater Of The Year (not a title I imagine many people would want to win!) I do love a bit of malicious revenge pop (check out Simon's Diablo if you haven't already) and this hits all the right buttons. Aces.

Come back Sunday for some tracks that I'm surprisingly loving (as the final part of my 2010 new music thingamabob), then Mon-Fri next week is the vegas diaries. Good lord!