26 November 2014 - Tove Lo - Habits (Stay High)

Look, the message of this song isn't the greatest.  I get it.

But the song itself - it's really cool.  Tove Lo - real name Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson - has a really powerful voice, and brings a lot of passion to this song.  I don't think we're dealing with a one-hit wonder.

But, maybe for her next song, she can not promote substance abuse as an answer for depression, mmmmkay?


(Update! 18 June 2015) So since I posted this today.....  I just wanted you all to know that I still think this is a better song.... but since I've listened to Queen of the Clouds all the way through - by chance, really.  I was bored and had time to kill - I love it so much more.  And I no longer have the problems with the message, in context.

I also heard this bonus track, which, on the surface, is just a remix of this song.  However, it is a lot more than that.  In some countries (the UK comes to mind) this version was a bigger hit.  It's a sparser version, and in my opinion a completely different song, but it's still a valid good song - and a lot more nihilistic.

24 November 2014 - Nicki Minaj - Anaconda

She sampled the song and back beat of "Baby Got Back", a classic.  She even lifted the title right from that song.  So why the hell is this a pleasure?

Because Onika got this one right.  She took a great hook and added something great, making it her own. Even Sir Mix-A-Lot had to shout.... well, OK, he didn't shout, but he does love the song. (And the video - he is a documented ass-man, after all).

And I like it, too.  It's hummable, and let's face it, Nicki Minaj has got skills.  She understands hip-hop, both musically and culturally, like few other artists, male or female, do, and it shows.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.

21 November 2014 - Snap! - Rhythm Is A Dancer

Sure, I've been taking a break from this blog for awhile.  I've been listening to a lot of new pop music, and I want to share it all with you.  But, today, I want to talk about a different epidemic.

Yeah, I'm talking about THAT SONG.  That stupid, atonal song by Jeremih - "Don't Tell 'Em" - that just sounds whiny and out of tune.  First line of his song is "Rhythm is a dancer", but there's no energy behind it.  There's no.... passion.

And there's certainly no soul companion.  There's no soul at all.  I can't feel it, no.

Compare that to the power of the 1992 single by German dance group Snap!  It's passionate, it's powerful.  Thea Austin on the lead female vocal has a huge voice, and doesn't let the power of the words or the synthpop overcome her.  It's a song that is still remembered more than 20 years later, and not just because Jeremih lifted a couple of lines from it.

To be fair, Snap! did get a songwriting credit on "Don't Tell 'Em".....  And, as you will see next week, it's not always a bad thing to lift pieces of other people's songs.

15 October 2014 - Zedd (feat. Foxes) - Clarity / Foxes (feat. Matthew Koma) - Clarity

I waited an awfully long time to post this.  Mostly because I got really sick of it when it was overplayed.  I mean, it's a well-written song, and Zedd is a pretty good DJ, and Foxes has a pretty solid voice, and was able to own this very emotional yet heavily electronic song despite being so young and untested.

Then I heard this.  And I heard the ache and longing.  I heard the power of Foxes's voice - who really makes this song hers with a simple piano accompaniment - and I heard the power of Matthew Koma's (who wrote the song and is an excellent performer in his own right) (and who still couldn't stand up to Foxes) and suddenly I wasn't sick of it anymore.

10 October 2014 - 5 Seconds of Summer - She Looks So Perfect

Forget that these very photogenic boys are being compared to and adored to the levels of One Direction (they are colloquially known as 5SOS).  Forget all the comparisons to Blink 182 and Green Day. Forget how absolutely boring "Amnesia" was. Forget the clear American Apparel name drop.  Forget how ridiculous this video is and how many people they got to take off their clothes for it.

This song absolutely rocks, from the opening rift to the last chord.  No one can forget that or deny that.

9 October 2014 - Transvision Vamp - I Want Your Love

I don't know why I haven't posted Transvision Vamp, one of the most underrated bands of the 80's and early 90's, before today.   Why were they underrated?  Probably because Wendy James was too sexy, had hair that was too blonde, and showed too much boob and leg.  Oh, yeah, she was blonde AND British AND dared to be the front person of a rock band, so they must be just like The Darling Buds (let's not even get into the fact that Andrea Lewis is Welsh here.  We'll do that on May 6th.) and The Primitives (Tracy was going more Marilyn with her look than sexpot). 

The fact that Transvision Vamp had their roots in Agent Orange and X-Ray Spex (Anthouny Doughty), and members went on to somewhat successful solo (Wendy James) and band (bassist Dave Parsons was in Bush after TV) careers... that doesn't seem to matter.  But the fact is, they were an excellent power pop band with two great albums and a 3rd that wasn't awful.

And I'll say it.  I'd love to hear a 4th.

This is a song so good, it was on both of their first two albums, the excellent Pop Art and the woefully underrated (in the United States) Velveteen (in my opinion, one of the five best albums of all time) The song was only included on US pressings of Velveteen, but I still have my copy purchased on the day of its release to prove it was there. 

But this song is just a perfect piece of power pop that will get you going even on your worst days.  A top 5 hit in most of the civilized world in 1988, it failed to chart in the States.  Which is just a crime.

3 October 2014 - Natalia Kills - Zombie

I am on a bit of a Natalia Kills kick of late.  Scott posted one of her songs more than a year ago, and that is a gem.  Of course, that song is called "Problem", which just happens to have the same title as a little Ariana Grande song that did a little better on the charts (and was also a gem).