Begging me to stay doesn't help it anyway

Vlad Topalov was one-half of popular Russian duo Smash!!; the other half was Sergey Lazarev, who I've featured here a couple of times before. Let me preface all this by saying that I don't know any Russian, so my sources for this information are fairly limited and could be unreliable--feel free to correct me on any of it! After Sergey left Smash!!, Vlad released one more album by himself still using the Smash!! name before releasing a solo album under his own name. The album, Lonely Star (all right, technically, I think it's title is Одинокая звезда, or Odinokaya Zvezda, but I'm going to refer to it as Lonely Star for simplicity's sake), is, unlike Sergey's, mainly in Russian. Though Lonely Star lacks a really stand-out, excellent track like Sergey's "Fake," I think it might be the better album overall, though it still seems to be missing something; often, the backing track is let down by a not-quite-interesting enough part for Vlad (for example, the strings in "Can't Take It" are nice--I was tempted to post it just because of how promising the first ten seconds are--but there's just nothing special about the sung part). Vlad has also been linked to one of the t.a.T.u. girls in the past.

Kinda Crazy--this song isn't really typical of the rest of the album at all, which tends to be more on the mid-tempo, pretty side. "Kinda Crazy" opts for a little more of an agressive attitude and, especially in the chorus, is a little rockier (or at least trying to be rocky). Besides the guitars in the chorus that seem to have been tossed in at the last minute, though, it's got some interesting orchestration and even gets a bit atmospheric in the middle 8. It's a typical "girl, I love you but I just can't take this anymore" song.

No More I'm Sorry--doesn't this song start out with potential? It's got quite the interesting, fun little beginning, and really, with that catchy little phrase repeating and then the entrance of the strings used in the song, I guess I'm willing to forgive it the lack of a really killer hook in the vocal part (and it is pretty cute as is; it just feels like it could be so much better). "No More I'm Sorry" is surprisingly sweet-sounding for a song all about breaking up with a girl.

Поднимусь высоко--maybe I just like Vlad's songs for the string parts in them. This is another case of some interesting ideas, but not enough of them. The title translates to something like "I Shall Rise Highly," and I suppose it does have a bit of a rising feel to it, especially with those strings (I know I'm mentioning them all the time, but they're far and away the best part of these songs--even though they wouldn't stand up without the vocals--and I really like that he uses them).

As for buying Vlad Topalov's album Lonely Star, I don't know my way around any Russian music stores, so the best I can recommend is that you check eBay, and point you in the direction of his official site.

Next up: I just found out a really surprising fact about a song I posted earlier, so I might write about that.

Ain't no need to audition

Credit for introducing me to the focus of today's post goes to Russkipop, which featured him back in March. Sergey Lazarev (on the right) was one-half, along with Vlad Topalov, of Russian duo Smash!! (I don't know that much about Smash!!'s history, but I like to imagine that some Russian music producer decided it was a shame Wham! wasn't around anymore, found two attractive guys, chose an onomatopoeic word reflecting collisions, upped the ante by adding two exclamation marks instead of one, and released them upon the world). After a couple of years of success, Smash!! split up and Sergey and Vlad decided to pursue solo careers. Sergey was first out of the gate with his album, as Vlad chose to release one more album under the name "Smash!!" before recording under his own name.

Fake--when I first listened to this song, I liked it, but I didn't think it would have any staying power. Surprisingly, months later, I am still listening to it. Yes, the lyrics are somewhat ludicrous (and there aren't even that many of them), but when has that ever hindered a good pop song? Good electro backing, catchy chorus--even the half-spoken, half-sung parts are catchy. According to his official site, "Fake"--the fourth single from his album Don't Be Fake--has been released to UK clubs. Crazy as it sounds (I still can't believe I'm writing this), I really recommend this song; it's just...fun, for lack of a better word.

In other news, two new songs by these two young men have been revealed. I'd still have to give "The Rejection" and "Give Me Danger" the edge in my favorites of theirs contest, but they are good. I don't want to refer to them by name (I'm hoping that anyone who finds out about them because they read this blog is likely to buy them once they are legally released, as opposed to finding them here because of googling and not buying them once they're available, even though they'll probably be everywhere quite soon--given that this is an mp3 blog, I don't know what makes this different than any other post, but whatever), but they are here and here (links removed since I just found out the EP is available to buy from iTunes today; since it's newly released, I don't want to post download links for it); for more details, go to Arjan Writes (see the blogroll on the right).

I would give you a site for buying Sergey Lazarev's first album, Don't Be Fake, but I don't know any sites that sell it and I don't know much about Russian music stores, so the best I can do is recommend eBay; to buy the first EP by the latter group (which doesn't have the songs featured today), go here (digital; only valid for US residents) or to iTunes.

Next up: Matt Willis releases "Hey Kid" tomorrow, so I might write a bit about him, or post about Vlad or Smash!! (and I'll try to use fewer parantheses).

sergey lazarev