XO's Middle Eight

2010: We are not golden, we are neon golden

2009-11-07T23:02:00.007-05:00

Neon Gold is 21st century story. Like counterpart Modular in Australia (Ladyhawke, Cut Copy, Van She, etc), they're bringing out incredible new music that manages to straddle indie, pop and other genres, usually with a keen sense of melody. Based in New York, Neon Gold was started in 2008 by two college students: Lizzy Plapinger (Vassar '10) and Derek Davies (NYU, yr?). Back in the early days of blogging they did a music blog I read called Good Weather For Air Strikes. Despite their New York home base, most of the Neon Gold "roster" comes from outside the US. They told Zaz Report they "spend as much time in London as we possibly can... if we have so much as a few days off school we bolt over to London."

Neon Gold specializes at catching artists at the start of their careers; the singers/groups below are potentially big names for 2010, when they release full length records on other labels. They're starting with vinyl releases via the label. If you are a vinyl junkie, Neon Gold sells their 7 inch singles here.

Ellie Goulding Under The Sheets:

Ellie Goulding is unique for creating a sort of hybrid of electropop and folk-pop. She's even covered Bon Iver, so it'll be interesting see how her debut album disperses electronic sounds across the arrangements. She also has an element of Bjork to her voice that cannot be ignored, though it's perhaps stronger on the blindingly brilliant Under The Sheets, now up for pre-order on iTunes UK with remixes and b-side called Fighter Plane. Follow Ellie @elliegoulding

Marina + The Diamonds Mowgli's Road:

Marina is Welsh, feisty and very funny. She's also very ambitious. Her debut album is out next winter and it's produced by Liam Howe, along with Biffco. Mowgli's Road is a teaser designed to show that she naturally creates left of center pop, but the first major single will be Hollywood, which no one has heard yet. My favorite song is Obsessions. That video, from 2008, captures her intelligence and creativity. If a record biz suit ever suggested Marina dye her hair blond, you jut know she'd give him the finger or worse. Follow Marina @MarinasDiamonds or on her blog.

Penguin Prison A Funny Thing:

Penguin Prison has gained early attention for their remixes, especially the slinky bass-heavy mix of Erik Hassle's Hurtful, which completely re-imagines an already perfect song. Risky, but it worked. Now they have a brilliant debut single - my personal favorite is A Funny Thing, an indie-pop earworm you can download for free here.

Starsmith On Second Thoughts:

Though he's not on the Neon Gold label [update: he is an NG act], 21-yr old Starsmith has worked extensively with their artists, producing and remixing. His real name is Fin Dow Smith and he's a saucer eyed boy(ish) genius who most recently produced Ellie Goulding's Under the Sheets. He's more than a producer, however (see fan-created video above) and he's just signed a record deal, on what looks like a Madmen set. Next up is a Lady Gaga remix and production on Frankmusik's 2010 album, Follow The Leader. I assume a solo record is in the mix too... let's hope. Follow him @starsmiff

Goldsmith:

Finally, another non-Neon act that sort of is a Neon act by association, Ellie Goulding + Starsmith = Goldsmith. Their best known track is the lush Starry Eyed, but check out the snippet of a beautiful new ballad below.

Also keep an eye in 2010 on NG act Yes Giantess and their lovely ginger friend Erik Hassle - his debut album launches in the UK in early 2010.

Decade's End: The Year 2002

2009-11-04T19:40:00.004-05:00

The best day of 2002? July 27, when Jasper came to live with me.

Another fucked up year. Seriously, it was very hard to live in DC at this time. We'd had 9/11, followed by ridiculous anthrax attacks and then, as a final insult, we had a sniper killing people randomly for several months. Whatever. Rather than linger on the drama, I thought this week I'd just comment on the music that made my 2002 list...

I am in the school of thought that finds PSB's Release their worst album, but I LOVE the first single Home And Dry, especially the vocodered middle eight, which I played over and over on a CD Walkman (before the iPod) - when I had to come back from another China trip only 36 hours after I'd landed there. Not good, but I also played I Miss You by Darren Hayes on repeat. I'm not a fan of his Spin album (the blond phase) but I also loved Insatiable... Beth Orton did what Bjork stopped doing by releasing the uber emotional epic string ballad Paris Train... An amazing Alison Moyet return with Hometime, as was the superb pop album by Pretenders... And Beck produced that spoken word track with Marianne Faithfull that is hot hot hot, but also melancholy. I love it when she says, "and now you have betrayed yourself..." The Alanis song was a total earworm (I also liked So Unsexy from that CD)... Tori's Taxi Ride was for her dead friend Kevyn Aucoin, but it's Gold Dust that I have been playing a lot in 2009, for my own lost friend... And in terms of loss, beautiful Lamya died in 2009. Her '02 album is so fantastic. Her Never's Such a Long Time is another song about losing a loved one... An interesting tidbit about the Toni Braxton and Brandy songs is that both were produced by Brandy's babydaddy, whose name I forget, and both are lush. She killed his career when he left her, but he had a unique pop style... At the end of the mix are two Craig Armstrong compositions. Craig had done strings in the 90s for Madonna's ROL album (and Spice Girls!). These two songs were great, especially because they resurrected brilliant vocalists in Neneh Cherry and David McAlmont. Note that the Armstrong CD also has one of the finest post 9/11 songs by - get this - Evan "Lemonheads" Dando. A heartbreaking orchestral epic called Wake Up In New York. Seriously, FIND that song.

Important: if you don't know Stars' MAJOR song Tonight, which is like a lost ballad from the eighties, read this post.

Frou Frou's Details was my album of the year. It remains on my Top 20 albums of all time and marked the appearance of Imogen Heap as a major pop artist.

XO’s Favorite Songs of 2002

Pet Shop Boys Home And Dry
Beth Orton Paris Train
Frou Frou Must Be Dreaming
Alison Moyet Do You Ever Wonder
Darren Hayes I Miss You
Marianne Faithfull Sex With Strangers
Stars Tonight
Alanis Morrissette Hands Clean
Pretenders I Should Of
Coldplay Clocks
Tori Amos Taxi Ride
Richard Ashcroft Science Of Silence
Sophie Ellis Bextor Music Gets The Best Of Me
Brandy Wow
Toni Braxton Selfish
Lamya Black Mona Lisa
Neneh Cherry & Craig Armstrong Twisted Mess
David McAlmont & Craig Armstrong Snow

Arcadia: Maximum big surprise

2009-11-02T21:12:00.013-05:00

Twenty four years on, I still love Arcadia's So Red The Rose. Only 8 vocal tracks, nearly flawless, and each simultaneously lush and angular. It was produced in 1985 by the late Alex Sadkin, who also produced Duran's Seven And The Ragged Tiger, and albums by Grace Jones and Thompson Twins.

Rumor has it the album will be re-released in 2010. I hope it contains the extended versions, which are sublime. Almost everything Arcadia did was solid, but everyone mocked it at the time. It's far more ambitious than anything Duran ever attempted and begs the question of why Duran never worked with someone like Trevor Horn. His Grace Jones classic Slave To The Rhythm seems like a template for much of this album mixed with the boys next move, Notorious.

Arcadia Election Day

I remember loving how they went from blond /tan to pale with black hair. Simon looks great and Nick looks like.. a frail British woman man with dyed hair. Only FAIL in the video: the lack of a cameo by Grace. If you're curious about her lines, here they are:

By roads and backways, a lover's chance down wind
Cut open murmurs and sounds. Be calm hands on skin
Carry further ... entangled strands all sing
Saving some time to slip away. We could dance!

Arcadia Goodbye Is Forever

What is it with all the smiling in this video? Nick looks terrible in this and Simon looks like... Rufus Wainwright! I love this song still - it reminds me so much of Christmas time during my junior year. Maybe it's sentimentality that drives it for me? It should be noted that Pink Floyd's David Gilmour plays guitar here.

Arcadia The Promise

The album version, 7:30 long, features Sting on backing vocals. The quasi-political song was a huge musical step for them. It's much more sophisticated than anything Duran had attempted and the song holds up well so many years on. The album also featured Grace Jones, Herbie Hancock, Pink Floyd David Gilmour, and Mark Egan from Pat Metheny's jazz group.

Arcadia The Flame

This absurd thing was directed by Russell Mulcahy, who did the Simon-dunking Wild Boys.

Fans of Arcadia should be sure to look at Celluloid Dreams: An Arcadia Fan Site. And it wasn't me that told you about this.

The Songs I Cannot Live Without, #3

2009-11-01T07:33:00.005-05:00

Heather Nova's London Rain was released in 1998, the single from her second studio album Siren. Nova is actually Bermudian, but did a lot of her schooling in the United States and lived in London during most of her recording career. The Siren album, on major label Sony, has great producers like Jon (Beautiful South) Kelly and Youth and the strings were done by the amazing Anne Dudley, who'd worked with Pet Shop Boys, FGTH and Llloyd Cole, among many. The album was successful enough to get her a spot on the (in)famous Lilith Fair tour, but it should be noted that her success predates people like Alanis and Sheryl Crow. Heather still releases music and lives again in Bermuda with her partner and her 5 year old son.

I write this post on November 1, and it's grey, chilly and wet outside. Weather that brings out a nesting instinct. London Rain is, for me, a fantasy song, about returning on a day like this to find your lover waiting with a warm drink... and a warm bed. Some might dismiss that as chicklit set to music, but who - male or female - would argue with the potential reality of it? The lyrics...

I'm coming, I'm coming home to you
I'm alive, I'm a mess
I can't wait to get home to you
To get warm, warm and undressed

There've been changes beyond my dreams
Everybody wants me to sing
There've been changes beyond my grasp
Things I'm sinking in

So keep me keep me
In your bed all day all day
Nothing heals me like you do
Nothing heals me like you do

And when somebody knows you well
Well there's no comfort like that
And when somebody needs you
Well there's no drug Iike that

So keep me, keep me
In your bed all day, all day
Nothing heals me like you do
Keep me keep me
In your bed all day, all day
Nothing heals me like you do

And where I'm home, curled in your arms
And I'm safe again
I'll close my eyes and sleep, sleep
To the sound of London Rain

So keep me, keep me
In your bed all day, all day
Nothing heals me like you do
Keep me keep me
In your bed all day, all day
Nothing heals me like you do
Nothing heals me like you do

Nothing falls like London rain
Nothing heals me like you do
_______________________________

As for you seeing, hearing the song, thank you Sony for disabling embedding on the video... you stupid old men.

Watch/hear London Rain here

I should note that in today's music business, there would be no place for someone like Heather Nova. She was allowed for many years to develop her style without ever having a "mega" hit. She sold well enough to finance each project. Today's record label "suits," who have probably been pulled from finance rather than music backgrounds, would say something withering before deleting her demos from their desktop. You can guess whose side I am on.

Note to Pet Shop Boys: Hurry it up

2009-10-31T23:48:00.001-04:00

photo by xneverwherex

One of the highlights of the current Pet Shop Boys tour is their grand version of Coldplay's Viva La Vida. It turns out Viva lends itself well to Pet Shop Boys natural inclination toward grandeur. They give good anthem! And it doesn't hurt that several of the Boys' bestselling songs are covers.

So where are they with their long rumored single version that may or may not be out in December? Swedish popstar Darin - it all comes back to Sweden, doesn't it? - who was a Swedish Idol runner-up back in 2004, has just released his version and I've heard he's launching his music in the UK. Hello, Boys? Announce it and release it or it's going to be an awkward moment!

I don't think Darin has done a video yet, so you can "hear" his version below

Darin Viva La Vida:

Factoid: For those that care, I should note that Darin was working with Moroccan producer RedOne long before that newly famous blond woman.

Shakira's bedroom stories

2009-10-30T20:42:00.008-04:00

As has been said by others, Shakira's new single, Did It Again, is not that great. It should have been Men In This Town. But the video is superb. Why hasn't this been done before? A whole love affair metaphorically danced on a bed. In this case, the male lover is played by Madonna's former favorite dancer, Daniel Cloud Campos.

If you don't remember him, check out the wanky fan video of him below. He appeared with Madonna on both the Reinvention and Confessions tours, as well as Live 8. He also famously made his boss a tribute video for her birthday. Had she not been married to Guy Ritchie at the time, Cloud might have been the "Jesus" of that time period (see bottom clip).

Robbie: Don't call it a comeback.

2009-10-30T09:14:00.002-04:00

Robbie Williams is now doing video podcasts on iTunes - yes, even for the Americans. The third one is below, and here are #1 and #2.

His performance this week at Electric Proms was quite a return to form after years of hiding under a Unabomber beard, roaming American deserts looking for UFOs... and American desserts. You'd also never know from this performance that he increasingly suffers from stage fright.

Robbie's new album Reality Killed The Video Star (the title is witty nod to his producer Trevor Horn) is his best in ten years. I've heard some comments that it is a bit "adult contemporary," but Robbie is a bit adult himself, finally, at 35. The album has a string of great discopop tunes (Starstruck, Last Days Of Disco and Difficult For Weirdos), some lush ballads (Deceptacon and the Elton-y Blasphemy) and some swaying pop (next single You Know Me and Morning Sun). I highly recommend it - someone needs to hold up the mantle for solo male pop stars, an endangered species.

Heaven can wait and hell's too far to go

2009-10-29T19:24:00.003-04:00

Beck vs. Charlotte Gainsbourg Heaven Can Wait:

and I can't say I'm captivé, though it's a poor radio rip. Filles Sourires has heard the album and gives a track by track preview.

Decade's end: The Year 2001

2009-10-27T19:06:00.000-04:00

Paris photo by Stuck In Customs

We know 2001 as a demode Michael Bay movie come to life. Literally, a few hours when we thought civilization was ending, or at least that is what it seemed like here in Washington. I don't like documentaries about that day because they always begin with how pretty the weather was and how la dee da... and then you know what is coming and you can't do anything about it. You know that, in the space of one hour, wars will be spawned and there will be years of pain and tears. It's just beyond depressing, even now.

The nice thing about 2001 was that I spent Christmas in Paris [ed: this is not a normal occurrence]. One night I went out in a misty rain, alone, and walked the length of Île Saint-Louis, peeking in the windows of those tiny, dark restaurants with wood beams and little lamps on the tables. When I got near the end of the road, there was suddenly a choir singing - the voices filling the street from a Christmas concert inside the Saint-Louis-en-l'Île Church - and I literally started to cry. One of those rare moments when you know you're truly happy and that you will always remember this place at this time.

A bit more introspection and less pop on the music list for this year.

Top Songs Of 2001

Shelby Lynne Killin’ Kind
Alison Moorer No Next Time
Dar Williams After All
Mark Kozalek Up To My Neck In You
Rufus Wainwright Grey Gardens (or Tower Of Learning?)
Teddy and Richard Thompson Persuasion
Kings Of Convenience Winning The Battle…
Maxwell Lifetime
Mary J. Blige No More Drama
Kylie Minogue Love At First Sight
Lamb Gabriel
Mercury Rev Nite And Fog
Ewan MacGregor and Nicole Kidman Come What May
Pulp Trees
Ronan Keating Lovin’ Each Day
Prefab Sprout Blue Roses
Travis Side
Stevie Nicks Planets Of The Universe
Bjork Unison

I left a lot off this list!

10 Musical Thoughts, v.?

2009-10-25T09:26:00.001-04:00

First, wishing Morrissey well. Don't leave us now!

Much of the Spandau Ballet redux album is quite good, including Only When You Leave, Gold and To Cut a Long Story Short.

Robbie Williams seems wiser now - matured in to a real person at 35. The Body Double remix of Bodies is tremendous (I really dislike the single version) - and it's on US iTunes too - a rare treat.

Sting believes we choose our parents. This pleases me. That interview is one of the best he's done, by he way, because the writer is fearless. "You're confrontational!" he tells her.

The Right Thing, the closing track of the new Alphabeat album is like crack. Total 90's joy. It reminds me of the summer I had to teach a 30-min aerobics class (just one time) for a grade. One track I recall using was Crystal Waters' Gypsy Woman.

The Rihanna song is not bad, it's just not something I want to play again and again. Simple as that.

If I were Frankmusik, I would actually tone down on the next record and put the voice out front more forcefully. I really feel like not releasing Vacant Heart was a mistake in that sense. Vince, you have a fantastic, emotional singing voice... so bring it!

Cheryl Cole's song 3 Words with Will.I.Am - is superb. Really dark and unexpected. What I hear in it is the beginning of a love affair you know is going to end in total drama. It's a shame one gets the sense her album was rushed. But again, Nicola is the Girl I really want to hear do a solo record.

I cannot tell you how sick I am of this Ryan Tedder rock ballad/epic sound - like what Jordin Sparks does. That trend needs to end NOW because I tune it out the moment i hear it. Faux emotion with no personality. I think Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke need to be realistic that they are going to be compared. There are many people - Simon Fucking Cowell? - who want the latter to be a new version of the former.

Meanwhile, Adele - who Simon would have made snotty comments about - is doing her new disc with Rick Rubin, which I think sets her up for the long haul. Go straight to the top sweetheart.

Nerina Pallot has a new ballad called It Was Me. Please note that it's the piano version of the song (on the bonus disc version) that's literally a classic standard from the moment you hear it. Not the watered down LP version.

Ellie Plus Eight

2009-10-23T06:28:00.005-04:00

Ellie Goulding's new video for Under The Sheets. Pleasingly free of big label interference regarding her "persona" which seems not to need any massaging or - cough - "direction," as we've seen with other good artists this year. My favorite part? The drumming bits in the final minute. The only thing missing? A group bicycle routine at the end.

The song itself is, a few weeks in, just as buoyant and kicky as when I first played it 20 times in a row. A perfect launch.

Florence maximizes the magic

2009-10-22T05:07:00.003-04:00

It's probably not going to rock anyone to their core when they see the tops of my various 2009 lists in December. It's going to be Florence + The Machine in a sweep. I'd been waiting for years for an album like this.

The finest song left off the Lungs album is finally available to Americans on iTunes. It's called Swimming and its grand orchestrals recall Kate Bush's classic Cloudbusting. If you're unsure about Florence, this song is an excellent way in - it's melodic, anthemic and big big big. The US iTunes special edition also has another previously unreleased rarity, Are You Hurting The One You Love (sounds kind of raw). Finally, the new UK CD single for You've Got The Love has another new track called Addicted To Love. It's out November 16.

Florence + The Machine You've Got The Love:

The most absurd piece of news: Unlike U2, who waited 25 years to release a special box set edition their albums, Florence's team has decided Lungs is so classic on arrival that it warrants "a new limited edition" 4 disc - yes, four - box set version, released on November 30th.

Disc 1 is the standard album and disc 3 is a new set of bonus tracks, including her lush cover of Beyonce's Halo. Strangely, that disc omits some of the best bonus tracks on the digital deluxes (including the gorgeous Falling and Hardest Of Hearts). But it's disc 2 that's superb: the audio of their recent live gig at Abbey Road in London, including a cover of The Beatles' Oh Darling. See a live clip below - this set changed up the songs with unique arrangements. Despite the lack of strings, the grandeur is actually enhanced.

Disc 4 is a DVD with all the videos and various acoustic and live performances.

Disc 1: Lungs

1. Dog Days Are Over
2. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
3. I’m Not Calling You A Liar
4. Howl
5. Kiss With A Fist
6. Girl With One Eye
7. Drumming Song
8. Between Two Lungs
9. Cosmic Love
10. My Boy Builds Coffins
11. Hurricane Drunk
12. Blinding
13. You’ve Got The Love

DISC 2: Live At Abbey Road

1. Between Two Lungs
2. Kiss With A Fist
3. Hurricane Drunk
4. Cosmic Love
5. Oh! Darling
6. Dog Days Are Over
7. Drumming Song
8. You’ve Got The Love
9. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)

DISC 3: Remixes, Covers and Rarities

1. Halo
2. Hurricane Drunk (Acoustic)
3. You Got The Love (Fraser T Smith mix)
4. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) (P.E.S.T Remix)
5. Drumming Song (Boy 8 Bit Remix)
6. Flakes
7. An Offering (Rabbit Heart demo)
8. You Got The Love (Pitron & Sanna Remix)
9. Cosmic Love (Acoustic Version)
10. Are You Hurting The One You Love
11. Swimming

DVD:

Live from Rivoli Ballroom:
1. Between Two Lungs
2. My Boy Builds Coffins
3. Kiss With A Fist
4. Hurricane Drunk
5. Cosmic Love
6. Drumming Song
7. Howl
8. Blinding
9. Dog Days Are Over
10. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
11. You’ve Got The Love

Acoustic Sessions:
12. Cosmic Love, 13. Between Two Lungs, 14. Dog Days Are Over, 15. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)

Videos:
16. Dog Days Are Over, 17. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up), 18. Drumming Song, 19. You’ve Got The Love

Florence + The Machine Rabbit Heart (Live From Abbey Road):

Pre-order the special edition at Florence's "Flotique"

Decade's end: The Year 2000

2009-10-20T20:58:00.002-04:00

"Let's all meet up in the year 2000 / Won't it be strange when we're all fully grown?"

Remember that line from Pulp's Disco 2000? I loved that song, actually from 1995, because it was so true to life when we were young. We all used to calculate how old we'd be in the year 2000 and what our lives would be like. For most of us, it did not end up as we'd expected and that's fine.

You may not have noticed the decade is ending. This is the first in a series of posts on my favorite songs from each year of the "oughties" - a silly name I never called this decade. Starting with 2000 - remember the Y2k? - and working forward to 2009, I've done a mix-length list for each year.

2000 was loaded. I finished grad school and became a "professional." They shipped me off to China almost immediately (hmmm?), where I remember being alone and awake at 3am in a hotel room in Hong Kong, seeing/hearing Kylie's Spinning Around for the very first time. A month later, I was in England and Wales for a family reunion, traveling solo for parts of the trip. It was then, in Londinium, that I bought Coldplay's Yellow, having never heard them. Look at Chris in that video, like a baby, pre-millions and movie stars. During that trip I also became obsessed with Samantha Mumba's Gotta Tell You. Poor Samantha, she fell off the face of the pop earth.

The first track listed below (Ashcroft) is my favorite song of that year (I've written frankly - and vaguely! - about it before). The rest are in no order...

XO's Top Songs of 2000

Richard Ashcroft A Song For The Lovers
Shack Comedy
Travis Driftwood
Coldplay Yellow
David Gray Babylon
Sade King Of Sorrow
PJ Harvey Good Fortune
Samantha Mumba Gotta Tell You
N'Sync Bye Bye Bye
Craig David Walking Away
All Saints Pure Shores
Kylie Minogue Spinning Around
Madonna What It Feels Like For A Girl
George Michael First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
a-ha Summer Moved On
Ronan Keating Life Is A Rollercoaster
Craid David Booty Man
Kirsty MacColl In These Shoes
David Gray Please Forgive Me

What did I forget?

XO in mainland China, summer 2000...

Wait. your. turn.

2009-10-19T22:57:00.005-04:00

Click on the image above to hear what sounds like a sample of a new Rihanna track. She's working Grace as her new style icon. You wanna talk about who the next Madonna is? I've said it before...

Update: The song, Russian Roulette, is surprisingly mid-tempo and subtle on melody. It's a bit of a wailer. Not what I expected (and as of now, I don't mean that in a good way).

Mr Hudson, kicking and screaming

2009-10-19T06:12:00.007-04:00

Mr Hudson drops the And The Library from his moniker and releases his second album this week. It's called Straight No Chaser and, for anyone who remembers his debut, this one is much more commercial and beefy. Kanye West produced it and the goal was, as Mr Hudson says in the interview below, to "kick 'em in the nuts."

I've not heard the whole album, but my early thoughts are that the West influence is too strong, For example, Hudson frequently and needlessly employs a vocoder to his voice. Now, if you're Kanye Ima Let You Finish West, this makes sense, but if you can sing as well as Ben Hudson, it becomes quickly irritating. The clearest example is the otherwise achingly pretty There Will Be Tears - I can overlook on that song - but it's sprinkled throughout the album. Hudson also seems a bit more hellbent on "kicking 'em in the nuts" with his vocals, which have become more shouty since the arrival of West as an influence.

For an example of what happens when West grabs hold of a Hudson song, check out the video below. In this case, Anyone But Him, may actually end up better - it sounds grand, even with Kanye all over it (can you tell I don't love him so much?).

The album's lead single Supernova, featuring West of course, was a relative hit, but the new track White Lies just flat out grates. I can't even define what I don't like about it (not to mention the fact Hudson looks terrible with black hair in the video).

Of the remaining five or so songs I've heard, there are some solid tracks, including Central Park, which sounds more like Hudson's debut, A Tale Of Two Cities...

Another quality song is the ballad Time

Jury's out until I hear the album from start to finish. It's got staggered release dates, so the US won't get it until Dec 1. Mr Hudson is opening for equally fit Calvin Harris on his current UK tour (see the Live section of Hudson's site). Kanye West is apparently in hiding.

Stephen Gately

2009-10-17T18:34:00.003-04:00

For some reason, I've really been following the news surrounding the death of Stephen Gately. I'm not a huge fan, though I have some of bandmate Ronan Keating's solo music (a guilty pleasure). I thought these clips were worth seeing if you count yourself among those who've been moved by this story.

SkyNews report on the funeral:

Ronan sang The Blue Nile's seriously epic Happiness at the funeral. You can hear part of that song on this old EPK...

Aviv Geffen, from Tel Aviv to Belsize Park

2009-10-16T18:55:00.007-04:00

An October surprise: A totally new artist who does polished, lush pop. His name is Aviv Geffen and he's from Israel, where he's already been a huge star since the 90s. Trevor Horn and Ken Nelson (Coldplay) are among the producers who've worked on his first English language album, titled Aviv Geffen naturally, which has been two years in the making.

Musically and vocally he reminds me of a variety of people. It Was Meant To Be A Love Song veers between Jay Jay Johanson and Depeche Mode, Black And White and Silence remind me of Martin Rossiter from Gene, and the free song below, It's Alright, is a more obscure reference, reminding me of The Honeymoon's superb first and last album Dialog.

For a bit more on Aviv, check out this Times piece, which is where I discovered him. I love how they describe as combination of Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Maximilian Schell and... Fonzie!

Download It's Alright by Aviv Geffen

Note that there are some solid remixes of that song (The Thrillers mix among them) on iTunes US and UK. Don't get me wrong, this is very commercial pop, but it's good - shimmery and romantic. The album is due out on October 19.

Aviv Geffen It's Alright:

Aviv Geffen It Was Meant To Be A Love Song:

If you live in London, Aviv a will be at The Borderlone on November 15.

Mixtape: This is it?

2009-10-14T20:37:00.006-04:00

Who should Nicola Roberts make an album with? She deserves one more than Cheryl Cole, yes? Which sort of avant garde pop genius is worthy of her? Maybe the guy who did Siobhan Donaghy's Ghosts... or maybe Kleerup? Starsmith?

Speaking of Cheryl "The Hair" Cole, Talia put up her listening party notes. It sounds like test marketed crap, but well see. I do like the title track Three Words, though it has too much of that man's voice on it.

Microfilm have released a new EP, Blips Don't Lie, that features contributions from Sarah Nixey and Del Marquis! I should be clear that those tracks are not really like those artists' solo work. Their voices are transformed for the most part. Matt are very clued in to modern electronic music and worth your investigation. Here are a list of places to buy it.

Madonna in Rolling Stone.

Perhaps an unpopular opinion: I am glad that the tracks Roisin Murphy performed at the Viktor and Rolf show were primarily remixes. I found them to be more groove-based than I'd want. I need a little more melody, a little less thump. It sounds like her next official release will be called... Orally Fixated. Whatever, she looked great and I used this as the iTunes image for the live rip.

I saw two shows this month: 1) U2 - Their amazing "Claw" set turned the stadium (with 80,000+ people) into a sort of cyberpunk cathedral. Just beyond. I forgot that Bono could sing and entertain. He is a master at what he does, so see them live once. Interestingly, my favorite performance of the night is also their worst single, I'll Go Crazy... they did a brilliant remix of it that was urgent and inspiring (see below).

The other show I saw was Maxwell. What is it with soul singers riffing on the nasty?! In this case, he did a bit about getting down with your lady no matter what time of the month it is. "We can lay down some towels." Oh. my. new. levels. of. girl. power.

Where is the Charlotte Gainsbourg / Beck single? It's weeks late! The free track (see earlier post) is not a tune that begs to played over and over.

Which reminds me, Me'shell Ndegeocello has a new record out - Devil's Halo- that's pretty cool, sort of like Joan Armatrading produced by Air. She does a cover of Ready For The World's Love You Down that reminds me of her sexy, accessible early work. Me'shell's first and third albums are required music. Period. I will never recover from her ballads Sweet Love and Outside Your Door. She is Maverick Records greatest signing.

The Divine Comedy is recording a new album and... on Twitter!

Erik Hassle's monolithic Hurtful has been remixed by - haha- Penguin Prison - it's proper brilliant. Here. Can now be played in Brooklyn fair trade coffee houses.

My own twitter comment of the week: The music business is like a big one night stand. You hook up with an act for 2 albums and then you say "I've done you. Next!"

Guilty pleasure: The lovely new song Bigger, produced by Max Martin for Backstreet Boys.

Everything that is screwy with Madonna's new hits collection has been cataloged by music wonk @vinnyvero Tech geeks will like this

Bad Lieutenant is New Order singer Bernard Sumner's new band. It's just more of the same, but it's not New Order, you know? Not special enough.

Catherine AD (album out in 2010) gave away some early demos - pretty piano tunes.

If you ran into Kylie on her US tour, she looked like a very small, normal person

Sorry, I just want to tie Mika to a merry-go-round and leave him there, spinning endlessly into oblivion. http://bit.ly/10WsF2 (Mika's new vid). He is relentlessly shiny happy people isn't he?

The Cure has not aged well for me, sadly. Except for a few songs (like Love Song) from Disintegration. They're releasing a whopping 3-disc version next year!

An album I recommend everyone going back to or discovering: Sting's Nothing Like The sun. He was not exactly hungry when he made this, but the fire/passion was still very much there. It's a near perfect double LP and the less-known album tracks sound particularly sterling 22 years on - Straight To My Heart, The Lazarus Heart, Little Wing among them. 'Tis a shame his head is now wedged so deeply up his own rear end.

Gwenno of The Pipettes. Stuck Records did an excellent interview from one of pop's most MIA groups.

Coming out this week, my review of Annie's finally-released Don't Stop. It'll be on American newsstands in the November issue of Instinct, (which now makes you get a free account to see actual online content).

U2 I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (live):

image from Hedi Slimane

Frankie Say Cash Cow! Hide Yourself

2009-10-12T18:53:00.007-04:00

It is hard to believe it now, but there was a period of time in 1984 when Frankie Goes To Hollywood was so huge that The Washington Post did a 1200 word piece (long for a newspaper) on the front page of their Show section in November 1984. Here's an excerpt:

The demand is unreal, said Sheldon Michaelson, buyer at Washington's Record and Tape Ltd. Michaelson said the Georgetown store alone is moving 100 copies a week of both the "Relax" and "Two Tribes" 12-inche records, and even the standard 7-inch single is selling fast. "People come in off the streets and ask, 'When is the album coming?' -- that's wild...

"They want to be on top of what they think may be the Next Big Thing."They appeal to rockers and disco people, straights and gays," Michaelson says. "They have no form and no substance -- they never do the same thing twice. So people see in them what they want. They're only as controversial as you see it. And the sound is infectious. When they first put it on in the store, I had to come out of my office and ask what it was -- never heard anything like it." Michaelson says he has ordered 2,000 copies of the new album, the biggest order the store has made in a long time -- surpassing even Prince's "Purple Rain."

Frankie's third single, The Power Of Love, is one of my favorites songs of all time (video). It was also their third number one in the UK, though they were knocked off the top after one week by Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas.

On the occasion of yet another Hits collection for the group, Paul Lester of The Times just did a great new piece on the band that's definitely worth your time. Via the same link, you can also see a new video for Relax - one that's depressingly lame until the arrival midway through of a fantastically preserved Holly Johnson.

Frankie, ten blocks from my house and next to some other slightly famous place.

Frankie article quoted above by Joe Brown, Washington Post, Nov 4 1984

For those who want to read something from the era, check out The Road To The Pleasure Dome from The Face's December 1984 issue.

In our house made of vapour

2009-10-10T07:45:00.005-04:00

Still obsessed with Ellie Goulding (and Starsmith and their friend Charlie). Under The Sheets is a great song for autumn. It shimmers.

Follow them on Twitter @starsmiff and @elliegoulding

Caught in a bad romance.

2009-10-09T20:10:00.001-04:00

My problem with Lady Gaga has always been about the music: I don't like it. It's catchy pop; she does have a handle, for sure, on melody, but she relies on a lot of gimmickry. It's all surface with Gaga, no depth. Aggressive bravado in a bad wig.

But I've also said that if she ever released a song I liked, I'd tell you. Her new single, the Bon Jovi-in-Ibiza raver Bad Romance is - for the most part - Gaga/RedOne by numbers.

However.

The chorus is beautiful. When she actually sings in a full, throaty voice she transforms into a sort of Eurodisco Joan Baez. That voice first appears about one minute in and you instinctively want to hum along with the (anthemic) ohhhhhhs. The moment is ruined when she reverts back to her trademark ba ba oh la la ca ca and it gets even worse when she channels a drunken lounge singer on the verses.

The sound of Bad Romance may be a conscious attempt to close out The Fame "cycle" by sticking to the sound of the debut. I would not be surprised if she follows this up with a completely new set of collaborators. If she's as smart as she seems to be, that's what will happen.

So this is where I stand music-wise. I do admire her forthrightness in urging fans to attend this weekend's Equality March in DC. She'll be here for the HRC dinner with Obama, so her commitment is genuine.

Hear Bad Romance via youtube

The Return Of Charlotte Gainsbourg

2009-10-09T07:53:00.001-04:00

Download the title track of her new album IRM now at charlottegainsbourg.com

Not sure what to think of this... it's not much of a song. It was inspired by the sound of the MRIs she had when she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in 2007. It's probably one of those tracks that works better in the context of a full album.

WOW: Ellie Goulding's arrival

2009-10-08T19:13:00.006-04:00

If you've been tiptoeing around the edges of Ellie Goulding, this song, Under The Sheets, will literally suck you into her cosmos. Absolutely amazing, modern pop music.

Get Under The Sheets free at Neon Gold Music.

Don't you love it when a new artist slams up against your sense this way? BOOM. She's here.

Quote of the Week: David McAlmont

2009-10-06T19:10:00.005-04:00

Michael Nyman and David McAlmont

First, the quote:

Aging homosexuals standing around in tight muscle t-shirts, talking about the latest DJs, need to go be given a copy of “Death In Venice”

And now the news:

David McAlmont and the composer Michael Nyman have recorded an album together. Like a bolt out of the blue, it's released on October 26 and is called The Glare (which comes from a song on the record about Susan Boyle). McAlmont took Nyman compositions and wrote lyrics for them based on news stories. The first single Take The Money and Run is below. David's myspace also has a sampler for the album.

I have such respect for McAlmont. He has one of the most beautiful voices of our time and he has always remained true to his muse, only doing work he believes in. He is most known for one of the top ten best songs of the 90's, Yes, which he did with Bernard Butler (watch the video here), but he had several good solo albums. If you don't have his Craig Armstrong collaboration, a ballad called Snow, you simply must get it. Ask no questions, just trust.

McAlmont and Nyman Take The Money And Run:

McAlmont and David Arnold Diamonds Are Forever:

Brilliant! And yes, Rufus Wainwright, David did it first.

I know that I love you... Especially when you do all the things I want you to

2009-10-06T18:55:00.001-04:00

Congratulations to Lucas Miré on his new album, out now on iTunes and bandcamp, where you can hear the songs. He's a folky, yes, but manages to be the cheekiest loverboy on the troubadour circuit. I suspect many people meet Lucas and think he's going to drag them into the cloakroom for a go-round. I mean, the man put a picture of his pillowcase on his CD... he's got that vibe. He's also a great lyricist... Flat Earth Theory (hear it) is terrific. If you date Lucas, you just might ended up immortalized in song, so be nice and be hot!

Lucas lives in my old hometown, Atlanta, where he has a sexy bachelor pad. That I have never been in.