Now that the glitter-strewn waters of Eurovision have ebbed, and taken with them their bright shiny pieces of Europop (although they do linger with no complaints from me), there is room for other music to emerge and haunt my iPod. Here are the tunes that surged with Darwinian-determination to the top of my listening queue…
KYLIE MINOGUE – “Timebomb”
She might have been in the biz for 25 years but Kylie Minogue is not done with dazzling us with musical goodness yet. Hot off a sensational series of tours, and smack bang in the middle of celebrating this massive career milestone (all the more remarkable when you take into account today’s 5 nanosecond attention spans) she’s back making waves with a song that propels you onto the dance floor with deliciously insistent swirls of synths.
Even more compelling are the lyrics which beg you to come dance, and dance like there’s no tomorrow, before it’s too late. The time motif, which must be uppermost on her mind at the moment, continues all the way through the song, lending an urgency to a song that has enough melodic urgency to fill a dance floor several times over.
It’s fun, it’s bright, it’s even a little bit down and dirty, with Kylie lending her best kittenish growl to a song that has been released as a stand alone single to mark a very big year in her life. It may point the way to the sound she’s aiming for in next year’s rumoured new album, or it may be a one-off bouncy piece of beat-driven fun.
Either way, it’s impossible to ignore…
POP ETC – “Keep It For Your Own”
You could well be forgiven for wondering who on earth these guys are since the name Pop Etc seems to have bounced up onto the music radar from seemingly nowhere.
But the reality is these hard working indie musicians from Brooklyn, New York via Berkeley, California, have been around since 2005 when founding member Chris Chu began creating music for himself on his laptop. He later co-opted some friends and a band was born.
The reason they probably aren’t registering any delightfully in-tune pings on your hip-and-happening music radar is because just three short months ago they changed their name from The Morning Benders to Pop Etc. The reason for the switch was due to the fact that the term “bender”, which simply refers to a hard night of partying in the USA (and Australia), carries anti-gay connotations in the UK and parts of Europe. Horrified they may be offending anyone, when their message is one of inclusion, and unity, they quickly changed their name.
Thankfully the music, which is exactly as the band’s new name suggests, an engaging blend of pop and more, remains as bright, sweet and fun as ever. This track has an otherworldly lush mix of harmonies that sweep across your musical periphery until the power chorus jumps out at you and demands to be heard.
Beautiful entrancing music that will do your soul good.
SUMMER CAMP – “Better Off Without You”
You have to hand it to Jeremy Walmsley and Elizabeth Sankey, who together make up the indie pop duo, Summer Camp.
They have managed to craft music that at first glance is warm and summer-breezy, redolent with zesty synth flourishes and 60s beach party pop that skitters up and down your aural consciousness, like a kitten playing with a string. But if you listen more closely, you’ll hear dark, percussive undertones with vocal snarls reminiscent of Garbage or Ladytron (or a wondrous merger of the two) and realise that tucked inside the bright shiny melodic wrapping are songs that resemble a very angry big cat on the prowl, seeking retribution on those who wronged it.
I am a big fan of artists like Summer Camp who lure you in with big major key sunniness before reminding you with undertones of minor key melancholy that life can be nasty, bitchy and downright distasteful. The thing is though it isn’t the sort of music that will leave you feeling depressed for days on end at the unending emotional idiocy of mankind. Rather it gives you a chance to work all that latent angst and anger out while whistling along like you’re on a very tuneful walk through the countryside.
That’s true musical brilliance, my friends, and just one of the reasons this band is worth your time…
THE NEIGHBOURHOOD – “Leaving Tonight”
I have to be honest. I am not usually one for emotionally-charged power pop. It feels too intense, too self-involved and arduous to navigate. I am often left feeling like I have gone 10 rounds with a therapist with no glowing strides in self-awareness to show for it.
But there is something about The Neighbourhood that has drawn me in so completely I may well start a cult using them as my gods. I am kidding of course – unless of course you’re interested guys, in which case let’s talk – but they are that good. The music is melodically rich, the delivery heartfelt and the songs carry a sense of emotional authenticity that leaves you feeling like they have experienced all the pain they sing about and more… and in all likelihood that is exactly what’s happened.
The LA pop indies have crafted music that gets under your skin and burrows its way into the further reaches of your soul and while in the case of most other angst-ridden guitar bands, I would be clawing at my skin to get them out, I have no intention of doing anything of the kind with music this pure and soulful.
ELECTRIC GUEST – ” This Head I Hold”
If I had one of those perfect days where my sunny mood is only matched by the dazzling sunshine and iridescent blue of the sky above, and I was walking around my neighbourhood saying hi to all my neighbours, the shopkeepers, and getting all my errands done with a jaunty lilt to my steps, then is the song I would want as a soundtrack.
It is a perfect piece of bright, breezy sunshiny pop. Some online cynics have suggested that it’s all a cold calculating attempt to hijack funked up R & B Soul and use it simply to sell some albums to people who don’t know better – like that would be the first time that has happened in the history of music – but even if that is the case, and I can’t see any validity to the charge, it doesn’t detract from music that is fresh, insanely catchy and an absolute joy to listen to.
Seriously want to bop through your day? Then grab this song and the album, Mondo, who produced the album from these Angeleono natives (produced by Danger Mouse) and never simply walk anywhere ever again.
So which tune will launch itself into high rotation for you? All of them? None of them? Will you stop being so nosy, you cry?