September 27, 2012

I quite like Foxes - the nom de pop of Louisa Rose Allen - she's like what would happen if one of the cast of Girls decided to make a pop album. Her new single and video Echo are big budget affairs, or at least sound and look like it...

In May 2012, Foxes released an EP called Warriors and promoted it with free downloads on Neon Goldand Facebook. You can hear more on Soundcloud...

September 23, 2012

Dragonette’s sassy lead singer Martina Sorbara is like a supercool big sister to pop’s nerdy discolettes. Bodyparts is the Dragonette we’ve come to love: wicked funny (My Legs Go Out Late), dangerously horny (the amazing Untouchable) and a bit bad girlfriend-y (My Ghost). The latter track displays a rare - and welcome - melancholy. There is, however, a soul-tapping sense on this, their third album, that Dragonette is capable of even more. We love the strong girls best when they show us that they really can break, just like we do.

I played this song more than any other this summer... Jessie Ware: Night Light.

Night Light, soon to be remixed by Hot Chip's Joe Goddard, is big, big tune that allows Ware to cut loose vocally. It's sonically adventurous, with cello and cascading electric guitars. The middle eight delivers a song within a song and an erotic come-on: "Tell me where to follow, I'm happy to be told.I'm happy to be told." This is goosebump territory.

September 13, 2012

I did a chat/interview hybrid thingy with The Darren Hayes recently. Here's a snippet:

STEPHEN: I am FASCINATED by celeb twitpics. Like “This is my breakfast.” But I look at their china or the stuff in the background we are not supposed to look at. When I saw your album “making of “ videos, I looked at the shelves and, like, flooring! lol

DARREN: See, isn’t it funny - you would be shocked how much I hide from the world though in terms of my home, my private life - the intimate bits. It’s always the same room and very restricted angles that I show people.

September 11, 2012

Dragonette’sBodyparts album sampler. My review of it is in the new Instinct Magazine in the US and will be on my blog soon. My favorites are Untouchable, Lay Low, My Ghost (the ballad) and My Legs Go Out.

Bright Light Bright Light just announced his new single - my favorite track off the album - Feel It, out October 29. Extra great news that my boyVinny Verohas done a remix for it AND that the b-side is the album worthy Good Times, the first song I ever heard by Rod.Tracklist:

When I interviewed Rod for Idolator in late May, here's what he said about Feel It:

[Co-producer] Jon Shave and I wanted to do something with more club euphoria, so we made ‘Feel It’. I’d heard Mykal Kilgore, the [wailing diva] voice on it, singing on a track [Scissor Sisters member] Del Marquis had played me, so I wrote some diva vocal lines and Mykal stepped in and added 3000% of fierce to the mix. The production has a little more tongue in cheek — like the opening piano riff nodding directly to early ’90s production — before it goes a bit darker and more clublike. So C+C, Technotronic, the darker sides of Behaviour by Pet Shop Boys and Funky Green Dogs‘ ‘Fired Up’ were the kind of energies we wanted to channel with the track.

September 5, 2012

Summer is an enigma. You never know what it will bring. Kicky clothes, cool drinks, weddings, natural catastrophes, sex... and a broken heart that won't. quite. mend. This playlist is a selection of songs that work really well to tell the story of Summer 2012. My story, anyway. Like the Pet Shop Boys say, happy/sad in the sunshine. If you click on the song title, you can hear it. LOCK THE DOORS TIGHT!Elton John vs PNAU SadFrom the very first second, the most lush track of summer. Elton's gorgeous young voice in a swirling, modern arrangement. My joy and sorrow-oh-oh-oh-ohVan She JamaicaLittle dancing tequila bottles.Two Door Cinema Club The World Is Watching not online yet.Irony free, blissful love song. And that vocal just swoons.

No Doubt Settle DownI love how weird this is: a six minute single with orchestrals and a dubby breakdown.Dragonette Untouchable not online yet.Martina in her dangerously horny mode, trying to nail a holy man. Summer Camp Better Off Without YouPeppy! Bitchy! "He doesn't want you, can't you see?"Sam Sparro Hearts Like Us short sampleFor me this was all about the lovely middle eight: "You are not alone" repeated over and over.

September 4, 2012

No Doubt's new LP Push and Shove is previewed now onlyon iTunes Australia. Sounds like a killer, more in keeping with the variety of Gwen's solo albums than the dancehall-lite sound of Settle Down (which I love).One More Summer screams hit single. It's also more ballad heavy than expected.