Lopez Blogs

This week has been all sorts of horrid and ghastly. Mainly because my mom collapsed on Thurs, is still in hospital and they still don't know what is wrong with her. Plus, when I visited her again on the Friday, the bed was in a horrific state, they ignored all her questions and gave her a limp tuna sandwich for dinner. I was not a happy bunny... It's improved a bit, but you have to keep on at them all the blinking time. Oy vey. Anyway that has pretty much been my life since Thurs, other than work and a much needed night out with the Ace Gang. Prior to all that drama though were some pretty decent things in the week:

The Feeling ~ Live At The Water Rat: The Feeling are all sorts of amazingness and I continue to adore them. I'm eagerly anticipating their third album after the brilliance of 12 Stops/Join With Us, and that anticipation is reaching fever pitch after their immensicles tiny gig on Wednesday where much new material got a preview. There were some rather gorgeous ballads like the heavenly Undeniable (where he got upstaged by a 2 headed teddy bear) which builds slowly into that 70s rock anthem they are so good at, and that sound so wonderful. Mrs Jones (ie Sophie Ellis Bextor) showed up for a tremendously engaging tune called Leave Me Out Of It (above) where her and Dan sounded great together (reminding me of those vocal trade offs Beautiful South used to do) over some lovely layered instrumentation. Another Soldier was a slightly more uptempo tune with a sparse chorus and a militant chant of "another soldier, another soldier/another hit to the heart when he told ya" - however, it was the brilliant singalong feel of future hits like Say No and Seven Years that really stood out. The new album feels like a natural progression from their previous work, yet ensuring they take the brillo bits everyone loves without resting on their laurels. Bring on the new reign of The Feeling...

Simon Curtis ~ Live At The Roxy: I have to say that it's always quite hard to give an opinion on a concert that you weren't at, despite that being made a lot easier by wobbly youtube clips. It's obviously much better if you are there, in the midst of the atmosphere, enjoying the crowd reaction and losing yourself in the music, rather than trying to recreate it scrunched over your laptop. Having said that, while I would have killed (not literally) to be at Simon's big debut show, I suspect this is just a taster of what is to come. The show was Simon and his dancers showcasing tunes from his fine 8BitHeart album - much as you'd find top notch and upcoming popstars doing on a Saturday night at G-A-Y or Nightingale in Birmingham... You can find the full set list here as well as videos to the entire show so you can recreate it in your hallway if you so desire (and you probably do!) My fave (after Super Psycho Love and Beat Drop - I particularly loved the theatrical, almost puppet like choreography of the former, especially the arm moves in the first verse) of course is my top single of the year (so far) Diablo. I've been dying to see a performance of the song and I'm pleased that the dance moves were effective enough yet not overly complicated so people like me can pick them up fairly quickly :) As a teaser of what can be achieved, I'm satisfied but I suspect that given a full band and backing troupe for a solo tour this will just be the tip of the iceberg of what can be achieved. PS, does anyone know if Simon sang live? Apart from some adlibs, I couldn't quite tell...

Christophe Willem ~ Coffee Tour: Another tour I was desperate to go and see is ace French pop star Christophe Willem. A - because his album is an accomplished and exciting piece of modern pop and B - because it was put together by the always impressive Steve Anderson. Oh and because Christophe looks like he is having a rather amazing time in this video preview. The show opened in Lille this weekend and clips have started to surface on youtube, including a rather glorious version of the Kylie track Sensitized. Love love loving the bondage trousers, the riding crop and the pendulating undulating grinding hips! It's sex come alive on stage (particularly when he merges Bombe Atomique into Madonna's Erotica) and makes me so eager for Christophe to be huge in the UK so the show can come here :) He shows that there are smart, gay male popstars out there (Will Young is also phenomenal live) who understand what audiences want and are raising the standards for everyone. Bring it on :)

Top 21 songs of the week:

21 ~ Darin, You're Out Of My Life
20 ~ Alcazar, Headlines
19 ~ Neo, Human Frontier
18 ~ Ola, Unstoppable
17 ~ The Candle Thieves, We're All Gonna Die
16 ~ Gravitonas, Kites
15 ~ Donkeyboy, Sometimes
14 ~ JLS, The Club Is Alive (NE)
13 ~ Kimberley Locke, Strobelight
12 ~ Mika, KickAss
11 ~ Josh Dubovie, That Sounds Good To Me (NE/Vid link ~ where's the budget?!)
10 ~ Mariah Carey, 100%
09 ~ Scissor Sisters, Fire With Fire (NE)
08 ~ Simon Curtis, Super Psycho Love (Live vid link)
07 ~ Lovestoned, Thursdays (NE/Vid)
06 ~ DeeDee, Endure
05 ~ Sophie Ellis Bextor, Bittersweet
04 ~ Gabriella Cilmi, On A Mission
03 ~ Maria Mena, All This Time
02 ~ Adam Tyler, Friction
01 ~ Eric Saade, Manboy (2 weeks)

Next week: new music updates from tomorrow's stars (inc Bright Light, Michaela Wright, I Am Noxious and Todd Alsup), lots of top notch Swedish albums and the next segment on Larry Flick (thurs!)PS see my participation in Pop Trash Addicts singles panel here (wk1) and here (wk2)

Don't. Blink. (ooo spooky yet potentially brilliant Doctor Who reference) because if you do the weekend will be over before you even blooming well know it. And it very nearly is. It's Sunday evening as I quickly type this up - the weekend was very pleasant indeed, but is now drawing to yet another of it's inevitable conclusions. Luckily, as the sunny days begin to tentatively poke their head like a little baby crowning (?!), there are three very lovely songs that will make you Sunday evening a whole lot nicer. And all three should be played in this order, with a nice glass of wine. Or some raspberry swirl cheesecake...

1. Lovestoned ~ Rising Girl: I'm very behind indeed on Lovestoned but have decided to throw myself into their music with a vicious vengence - particularly since their rather glorious melodifestivalen entry, Thursdays. Rising Girl was indeed their first single last year in Sweden and is a gently bubbling, reggae tinged slice of sunshine. Sure it has shades of Jason Mraz's I'm Yours, but that can only be a good thing and the unimposing chorus sways along so nicely that it soon hooks into your head for dear life. Thursdays is like Ace of Base never went away but decided to mix their sound with a bit of Dolly Parton's Those Are The Days, and brand new single (I Know Nothing) is possibly their most radio friendly track yet, complete with some aces dance mixes. A debut album is coming, and I'm very excited indeedio...More soon!
2. The Living Sisters ~ Double Knots: While the world and his pet budgie await the release of the third Scissor Sisters album, I've been busy enjoying myself with another group of Sisters, this time a trio of female singer/songwriters. They have put together an album of perfect, laid back, thoughtful, essential, heavenly pop tunes that sound just ever so ethereal and delightful on a Sunday afternoon. Double Knots has gorgeous harmonies, lushly layered over a subtle but giving melody. It's a song that is both timeless in it's delivery and memorable for it's sheer stark brilliance. There is an air of The Puppini Sisters (or what they would have been if they had continued) about them and the music floats around your consciousness and makes you feel quite marvelous, whatever the lyrical subject matter it deals with. An album review soon no doubt...
3. Aston Band ~ Confide In Me (Kylie cover): Based on the introduction alone, it seems that the Kylie classic would be ideal for a classical cover version. Australian band Aston have done so much more than just using the dramatic opening strings, they've added an absolutely crucial piano riff to it and build and pause the tension in the song through volume, delivery, crescendo and urgency. It works incredibly well and builds to an almost frenzied climax with all the instruments complementing each other perfectly. Quite an astonishingly rewarding piece of work. Oh, and because i ALWAYS notice these things, the guitar player dude is indeed quite the looker :) Plus it's Mr Steve Anderson approved...

Top 21 Songs of the Week:

21 ~ Diana Vickers, Once
20 ~ Kimberley Locke, Strobelight (NE)
19 ~ Mika, Kick Ass
18 ~ Bjorn Johan Muri, Yes Man
17 ~ Music Go Music, Light of Love (Vid)
16 ~ Elouise, Fireman of my Dreams
15 ~ The Candle Thieves, We're All Gonna Die
14 ~ Sergey Lazarev, Alarm
13 ~ Darin, You're Out Of My Life
12 ~ Alcazar, Headlines
11 ~ The Pipettes, Stop The Music
10 ~ Maria Mena, All This Time (NE)
09 ~ Neo, Human Frontier
08 ~ Ola, Unstoppable
07 ~ Mariah Carey, 100%
06 ~ Eric Saade, Manboy
05 ~ DeeDee, Endure
04 ~ Gabriella Cilmi, On A Mission
03 ~ Sophie Ellis Bextor, Bittersweet
02 ~ Simon Curtis, Super Psycho Love
01 ~ Adam Tyler, Friction (2 Weeks)