'Cause this is what I do

I am not posting today's song because it is a good song--it is not. It may have a couple of elements of a good song, but don't let that fool you--it's like someone forgot to write a vocal melody, let alone one that was even mildly interesting, so the lead singer decided to just make it up as he went along and pretend to sing; the chorus is especially bad. With the abudance of good songs out there, this might seem like a waste of time, and it sort of is, but I need to ask for help: what song is that backing riff ripping off? I've been thinking about this for the past day, and I know I know it, but I just can't think of it. Even after listening to the first fifteen seconds, you'll know the riff I'm talking about--what are they "borrowing from"/"inspired by"?

As for the song itself, it's by JT Scam (that band name combined with lyrics like "know your limitations and your restrictions" are going to let music critics have a field day with snarky wordplay), which is fronted by the Jonas Thomassen, a Norwegian singer who was the runnerup to Aleksander Denstad With (whose much much better song "A Little Too Perfect" I wrote about in July) on Idol. The song, "Starstruck Mind," is trying to sound like indie rock, and there is some very good indie rock--as just one example, I love the Fratellis' "Creepin' Up The Backstairs"--but this is not it. That said, I like that opening and the riff, which is (besides peace of mind) why I'm trying to figure out which song this is ripping off--then I can just listen to that instead of this.

Starstruck Mind

To buy JT Scam's "Starstruck Mind," go here (digital).

On a much better note, Melodifestivalen starts this Saturday but, if I'm understand everything correctly, the songs for Saturday's semifinal will be available to listen to on the Internet on Friday--I can't wait! Given that I don't know nearly as much about Swedish pop as I should, the artist I'm most interested in for the first semifinal is probably Andreas Lundstedt, the former Alcazar member, who will be singing a song called "Move."

Paul is back from his trip to NYC and updating The Zapping again--thank goodness!

Thanks to a commenter, I now know that Alex Vargas, who I wrote about a while ago, has in fact released his EP; it's available on iTunes (and not just the UK iTunes), and though it doesn't have "Diamonds In The Dirt" or "All The Way" (I'm guessing he's saving those for an album), it's worth checking out. It's probably best to just search for his name, since the EP is actually titled "EP."

Go grab at least two songs from #1 Hits From Another Planet--well, really, they're always worth listening to, but there's two I'd like to highlight: Bobby's "She's History" and Sky's "Strange," the latter of which I am very into at the moment--it's completely amazing. Honestly--you will love it (maybe unhealthily so). Nick compares Sky to Savage Garden, and if that's not enough to pique your interest, I don't know what is.

The return of girl band No Angels! Don't Stop The Pop has the details and the song.

Will's Eye-pod (newly retitled? or did I just notice?) has more good pop (especially of the Europop variety) than you can shake a stick at--BWO, Aqua/Lene, ATC, Margaret Berger, and Australian dance music group Sneaky Sound System.

I'm Always Right reviews a giant Australian music festival, including Lily Allen and Sneaky Sound System.

I love the fact that Raj of Electroqueer has "Dirty Criminal" by Jim Verraros in his music player...

Next up: the former Norwegian Idol contestant that I've been saying I'm going to write about wasn't Jonas; it's a girl, and hopefully she'll be up next. Her songs are much better and much poppier.