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The 20 Best Tracks of 2012 So Far: 10 – 6!

Posted in Best Of, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 16, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

  

10. Fun. – We Are Young

You might know We Are Young for a multitude of reasons. There’s the unforgettable clip, which recreates the perfectly normal behaviour of a party that runs out of booze. You might know it for the ridiculously epic chorus, that no matter how stupid you’re going to sound singing it – you have to. Chances are, you know it because it has been no.1 on every country on Earth for eternity.

However, demerit points for hiring one of the most talented singer/songwriters in the world right now and doing absolutely NOTHING with her. A corn on the cob could have contributed as much as Janelle Monae’s bridge.

9. Nicki Minaj – Starships

There are two types of people. There are those that understand the berserk amazingness of Starships, and then there are fucking idiots.

Starships was a risky move for Nicki Minaj. Although she can’t decide whether she wants to a pop princess who scales the charts with tracks like Super Bass or the fresh indie mixtape maker, Starships cemented her as the former – in fact, Starships just broke a record by spending more consecutive weeks in the Top 10 than any other song in history.

The song makes zero sense,  the lyrics could have been written by a foul-mouthed pre-schooler and the vocal-free chorus sounds like a robot orgy, but I love the shit out of it. NB, her next single Pound the Alarm is exactly the same song except for…no, it’s exactly the same.

8. Santigold – Disparate Youth

I make no secret of my love for Santigold. She’s realised two incredibly high-calibre albums and when I saw her live at Parklife last year – she was simply remarkable – and the highlight of the event.

Her most recent album was another success and deservedly I gave it a glowing review. Sandwiched between a shitload of amazing songs was Disparate Youth, an R&B/rock fusion that has Yeah Yeah Yeah’s fingerprints all over it.

To me, Santi is the perfect artist. Commercial enough to be accessible to the masses but credible and indie enough to change the game, it’s no wonder I dress up like her on a Saturday night and sing into an empty Shiraz bottle.

7. Florence & The Machine – Never Let Me Go

Lungs was an out-of-the-blue triumph for Florence & The Machine. Refreshing then that the band survived sophomore album syndrome when they released an arguably superior Ceremonials. Managing to find the happy medium between giving their fans more of the same and also challenging by taking us in a slightly different direction, Florence & co nailed it.

Never Let Me Go is a remarkable achievement. In an album where the filler is more capable than most lead singles from other artists, it manages to hold itself on par with tracks like Shake it Out, a track that isn’t  disposed of the second it leaves the charts.

While most popstars bang on about getting drunk in a club, rooting around and how fast their cars are, Florence (and her machine) leave this as their legacy, “In the arms of the ocean, so sweet and so cold, and all this devotion I never knew at all, And the crashes are Heaven, for a sinner released, and the arms of the ocean, deliver me.”

NB: Spectrum and Breaking Down are also proper amazing.

6. Icona Pop – I Love It

Sweden. It’s fucking cold. There are lots of Vikings. For a country with not much going on beyond icy rape and pillage, they sure do churn out amazing musicians. Robyn, Miike Snow, The Cardigans, Lykke Li, Kleerup, The Knife as well as The Hives, Peter Bjorn and John – not to mention ABBA?!

The latest Swedish global threat comes in the form of electro-pop duo Icona Pop’s I Love It. Written by Charli XCX (also amazing), the track is a monster. The girls are the epitome of cool, the semi-spoken singing has that head banging 80s feel and the whole production is perfection.

Unfortunately the song has been attached to Snooki & JWoww’s new reality show, which means you now have to secretly like it. Sad face.

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Singles: Cheryl Cole’s “Call My Name”, Dia Frampton’s “Don’t Kick the Chair”, Mark Foster & Kimbra & A-trak’s “Warrior”

Posted in Singles, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 10, 2012 | 2 Comments »

Cheryl Cole – Hear My Name

Any way you look at it, Cheryl Cole’s last album was a disaster. In fact, it should have been called Hot Messy Little Raindrops.

While debut album 3 Words triumphed with current dance/pop anthems not too far removed from her Girls Aloud origins, Messy Little Raindrops was rushed, awkward and desperate.

For Cheryl’s third album in only as many years, A Million Lights, she’s come full circle and with the help of pop juggernaut Calvin Harris, has produced her catchiest track since Stand Up was never released.

While essentially a remodelling of Harris’ previous global pandemic We Found Love (Tulisa should also be named and shamed for doing the same),  Call My Name succeeds in Cheryl finally trying to sound MORE like Girls Aloud, rather than denying her roots. She’s also not trying to be Cheryl And The Machine, this is just unashamed and frivolous pop.

Call My Name isn’t immediate. You don’t realise its pop greatness the first, second, even third listen, but when it does it smashes you. Throw in a scorching hot video clip and you have the poppy club anthem of the British summer. A serious return to form. 3.5 stars.

Dia Frampton – Don’t Kick The Chair (feat. Kid Cudi)

Javier Colon may have had “The Voice” but Dia Frampton’s slightly off-centre, Feist-esque pop feel made the first season of The Voice US incredibly watchable. Renditions of Kanye West’s Heartless and R.E.M’s Losing My Religion showed potential for an artist, not just a performer.

Don’t Kick The Chair is light, breezy and full of chimey goodness – exactly what you’d want in an anti-suicide anthem! It’s also precisely what you’d expect from Frampton, being an easy transgression from the artiste she was on the show to the one she wants to become. Kid Cudi’s presence is as welcome as it is curious, with his genre-crossing talent being the highlight of the song.

While the chorus is catchy, the repetition means the life cycle on an ipod is a few weeks – tops. Nevertheless, it’s a worthy introduction to post-Voice Dia. 3 stars.

Mark Foster, A-Trak and Kimbra – Warrior

Part of Converse’s consistently amazing Three Artists, One Song campaign, Warrior brings together Mark Foster (Foster The People), A-Trak (Duck Sauce) and Kimbra for an 80s synthed ménage-a-trois. Sounding like some sort of sequel to Mark Ronson’s Bang Bang Bang, Warrior might just be the finest addition to the Converse campaign yet.

Between Kimbra’s sensational debut Vows, her scene stealing spot on Gotye’s Somebody That I Used To Know and her career peak of Miami Horror’s I Look To You, she can barely put a foot wrong. Ditto Mark Foster, for while this pushes the envelope on Foster The People’s sound, still h as his fingerprints all over it.

Belligerently appealing, the track has that kind of indie-electro feel that is heroin to hipsters. 4 stars.

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Nicki Minaj – Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded

Posted in Albums, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 5, 2012 | 3 Comments »



When Lauryn Hill sold over ten million copies of her debut CD, went bonkers and disappeared as quickly she surfaced, a giant hole left gaping in the music market. Mariah’s dominance over America’s charts cannot be disputed, but by the time Lauryn had fallen off the radar, Carey was about to hit 30.

America craved a young, dynamic female who had grassroots upbringing and a story that made them relatable. Not an easy childhood, Minaj migrated from Trinidad with a drug-taking alcoholic father, who when Minaj was only five, tried to murder her mother.

Her rise to stardom was astronomical. She stole the show on Kanye West’s “Monster” and had an almost inconceivable eight singles from one album that flooded America’s airwaves. However, it was global hit “Super Bass” that kept Lady Gaga and Beyoncé waking up in a cold sweat.

It was impossible for Pink Friday not to succeed. Condensed with track after track of radio-friendly R&B/Hip-hop hits like “Super Bass”, “Your Love” and “Moment 4 Life”, the public were tickled pink.

On her sophomore release, The Young Money Barbie manages to capture some of the glorious anthems of her debut, but they are scattered amongst way too much album filler. At 19 tracks long, Roman Reloaded is both way too stretched and completely directionless.

The first half is filled with minimalist (aka lazy) raps to maintain her street cred like “Roman Holiday”, “I Am Your Leader” and “Roman Reloaded”, while the latter half is radio-ready pop anthems that fans of “Super Bass” will devour.

As disjointed as Roman Reloaded is, there are moments of glory. The RedOne (or should it be ReDone) produced current hit “Starships” and “Automatic” are Minaj at her finest, “Young Forever” could be her catchiest effort to date, while that and “Marilyn Monroe” echo the previous album’s highlight “Your Love.”

Nicki Minaj has thankfully spared us of a concept album, but she seems unsure of what kind of artist she wants to be – something she better figure out by album no. three. 3 stars.

Album highlights: Young Forever (below), Starships, Marilyn Monroe, Automatic

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Madonna – MDNA

Posted in Albums, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 24, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Between the sixteen trillion Facebook posts, massive build up via Youtube and the blogosphere effectively going into some sort of homosexual Chenobryl – it feels pointless to write a review of MDNA. You know how it sounds, you know what to expect and yes, you know it’s a damn good album. However, there are three stand out tracks that deserve particular attention.

Love Spent is essentially all the things that have worked about Madonna since 1983. The song wouldn’t be out of place on Ray of Light, American Life, Confessions, Hard Candy, Erotica, Music – everything! Mixing her consistently inventive lyricism with banjos, Mario Brothers electronica, a banging beat and a few kitchen sinks, this is exactly what we want from Madonna.

If Turn Up The Radio isn’t released as a single, than I should give up blogging because I clearly have no idea about what is going on in the music world. Infectious and brimming with Martin Solveig’s current sound, Turn Up The Radio demands you have fun. It’s the most commercial track on the album but shouldn’t be punished for it – it perfectly rounds out the first four clubby tracks of MDNA.

Preceding Radio is I’m Addicted, a track that one ups Girls Gone Wild’s Benassi helmed dance feel. Pulsating, aggressive and catchy as sin, it plays out like the evolution of Confessions on a Dancefloor. One criticism? Shouting MDNA towards the end of the track comes across as both desperate and pointless.

MDNA is one highlight after another. Coming across as Ray Of Confessions, it reinforces Madonna’s irrepressible ability to make us dance and think at the same time.  Nearly 30 years into her career, she hasn’t just given us an easy pill to swallow – she might have just made her best album to date. 4 stars.

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Singles: M.I.A’s “Bad Girls”, Chris Brown’s “Turn Up The Music”, Nneka’s “Shining Star”

Posted in Singles, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 21, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Chris Brown – Turn Up The Music

If it wasn’t bad enough that this year’s Grammy Awards almost entirely neglected multiple winner Amy Winehouse’s death because of Whitney Houston’s, I also discovered that a young man can make mistakes and be forgiven. Right? Wrong.

The slick beats, synthesisers and Chris Brown’s lightning feet  aren’t enough to distract me from the fact that he violently beat Rihanna. The song is rubbish enough to be played on commercial radio every four minutes, I’m just hoping that it only goes to no.1 in countries where it’s ok to hit women.

As for the Grammys – shame on you for the invitation, performance and wins of Chris Brown. 1.5 stars.

M.I.A – Bad Girls

M.I.A has struggled with the balance of being a badass Bollywood bohemian and top-of-the-pops Timbaland tart. Her first album was groundbreaking, yet alienating, while her second proved to be surprise hit, with her Clash-sampling “Paper Planes” assaulting the US charts.  However her third album, Maya, received tepid reviews and failed to achieve airplay (because well, it was a giant wank.)

With “Bad Girls”, it appears M.I.A has nailed the happy medium. The Eastern influence is as undeniable in the tune as it is in the video, but the hip-hop percussion is Americanised enough to hear it in retail stores globally.

A welcome return to form. 3.5 stars.

Nneka – Shining Star

Nneka has been hovering around the lower parts of the UK charts for the last few years with her socially-conscious-for-the-masses, Michael Franti meets Neneh Cherry thing going on.

“Shining Star”, as twee as it could come across, is incredibly charming. Nneka’s vocals are sweet and infectious, the hip-hop-lite beat is accessible and the song could grace more cafes than a pretentious cafe blogger.

Nneka might never reach the top of the charts, but she’s at least of the top of the drab, dull mass heap of current radio. 3.5 stars.

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