I still need you here

Sorry, you all, it's going to go personal here again for yet another day. No interruption of service this time, though, I think.

We've received the awful news that my uncle's partner committed suicide. It's difficult--they were the only people in our family to live on the West Coast, so getting there to be for him--well, it's not probably going to be an option for all of us. I know none of you knew him, but he came from the most difficult background but was honestly one of the most fun people you could ever meet. Back when San Francisco's mayor legalized gay marriage, he and my uncle were one of the first couples to get married. My uncle, who I love, was the one you'd go to if you wanted help with your chemistry homework or wanted to go see, say, the Monterey Bay Aquarium; his partner was the one who'd go get facials with you and take you to go shopping. To be me-centric for a second, the summer my cousin, stepsister, and I spent out with them in San Francisco was one of the best times of my life, and he did one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me. His presence will be incredibly missed by everyone you knew him. And my uncle--I can't imagine being forced to deliver a eulogy for your sister in October and then losing your husband in December. I love you. Both.

This song goes out to both of them--I was just telling Digital Technique the other day that's it's one of my all-time favorite songs; beyond the lyrics, it's that effortlessly swoony chorus that makes it so perfect and so gorgeous.

Sinéad Quinn - Ready To Run (album available here or here)

Don't listen to the others

Quick post today: rumor has it that Kostas Martakis will be in Greece's national Eurovision final with a song by Dimitris Kontopoulos. I was just saying a few days ago in that post with the Sakis song how much I was liking Dimitris's work (behind the times, yes), so I'm really excited about this. The following song is a Kostas Martakis song written by Dimitris Kontopoulos (edit: or maybe not, but it's in a similar style to songs he's done)--if we get a song like this in the national final, I'll be thrilled!

Astous na lene--I'm a sucker for revvy electro sounds in the background of pop songs (maybe one of the reasons I like "Lena Anthem" so much), and this song definitely has them, though they might be more squiggles than revving. It's an uptempo pop song that is I imagine what Kostas is referring to when he says song of the song on his album are dance, though really, it's pretty much a pop song. And a very catchy one at that.

Kind of interestingly, if you really want to hear it, there's an English version of this song, called "People Are Talking," on Kostas's MySpace, or you can watch him perform it below (it's one of several performances from a contest). I definitely prefer the Greek version, but it's still great.



Or, actually, you could watch him perform the Greek version here:



Here's another good song of his, "Thelo epigontas diakopes," which, if I'm remembering correctly, Robpop introduced me to. Good chorus--less dancey (more just upbeat pop) but still uptempo and catchy.



OK, that's probably enough. It's just so easy to embed a bunch of videos instead of writing!

You can by Kostas Martakis's album Anatropi here (physical).

Next up: something non-Eurovision related.

Hearts all over the world tonight

This just screams "let's make a male version of 'Irreplaceable,'" doesn't it (musically, not lyrically)? Only, you know, not as good (though I'd be very interested to hear if I'd like it more with a different singer's voice on it). StarGate are getting so easy to identify--not only that, you could pretty much peg that it wasn't just going to be the StarGate duo, but Espen Lind and Bluefish as well, and--shock--it is.



Much as I love the Ne-Yo template*, it's kind of nice to see them making carbon copies of this other style for a change. Speaking of which, they should be proud--that style has become so prominent that other writers are using it now (see also: Timbaland and Monrose's "Hot Summer," US5's "Rhythm Of Life (Shake It Down)," and the latest, Room 2012's [another German reality TV group, three guys and one girl] falsetto-filled "Haunted"). I'm in real love with Jordin Spark's "One Step At A Time" (not a single, but listen to it here)--it's a fantastic pop song that sounds very influenced by StarGate, though it's not written by them (thanks J'ason!).

*Edit: I should say that yes, Ne-Yo co-wrote "Irreplaceable," but I'm referring here to the songs he sings and that kind of kicky drum machine beat sort of vibe (and often that plucky string-like effect, though it could actually be keyboards) of things like "Sexy Love" and "Because Of You" (and even "So Sick," just slowed down) instead of the guitar strum-based beat of "Irreplaceable" (a song which you can probably hear Ne-Yo's influence in, but more in the vocal melody than anything else, I'd guess.)

Será tan fácil poderte olvidar

I'm not sure why, but for some reason I always think of High School Musical while listening to Mexican duo Lu. I mean, the imagery they use in their videos doesn't evoke that, but there's just some inherent sweetness in their music that I think must draw those thoughts out in me. Don't expect Same Difference-type levels of bubbly fun, though; most of Lu's songs are more ballads. The duo is made up of one girl and one guy and they specialize in a very melodic kind of pop that, despite still using what sounds like "real instruments" (but definitely other production techniques as well; it's not all that--see the good uptempo song "Grita" for that) manages to still sound very "pure pop" as well as made by people with a very strong sense of what makes for good songwriting. They've released two albums so far, the last in 2006, with decent sales.

Será--one of Lu's uptempo songs; I've mentioned that they really do ballads more often (well, at least most of their big successes have been) and this, even though it's uptempo, still feels influenced by a ballad mentality or sense of awareness. It's very sweet-sounding (musically) with a nice contrast between drawn out and rapidfire words in the chorus.

To buy Lu's first album Lu, go here (physical) or here (digital) (or check iTunes).

Next up: I really have no idea!

Took the key to my will

It's been almost a month since I was introduced to Swiss singer Patrick Nuo via Don't Stop The Pop's countdown of the best songs of 2006. I was pretty much in love from the first listen to "5 Days," and couldn't believe I'd never heard of him before. It's with a lot of thanks to DSTP for writing about him, then, that I feature the song that hooked me in today. He's released three albums so far, the most recent just this year, though, as Mary Cherry wrote, it's really kind of shocking he got to release another album given his general chart positions.



5 Days--as a warning, this isn't top audio quality, but I prefer this version of the song to the version on the album (I think it's one of the versions on the single, which I keep meaning to buy, but haven't). I'm kind of shocked there was no attempt to launch him to a wider market with this song (well, I guess it didn't exactly become a huge hit in his native Switzerland or Germany, where he also releases music), since I could've seen it being--well, not a huge smash, but one of those nice solid #15 hits along a la Ryan Cabrera's "On The Way Down." Upbeat and (or but) mid-tempo, the song is one of those that kind of comes from the teen-pop subgenre right when there was a slight change beyond just boy bands--in other words, I think what I'm trying to say is that it's not, say, Ola's "S.O.S." kind of poppy pop but it's still very very pop. And, most importantly, very catchy and very good. And has counting! I pretty much love everything about it--it's got my sort of music written all over it.

I think you can get this version of the song on the single, I think, which you can buy here (physical); otherwise, the album version of the song is on his debut album, Welcome, available here (physical; that's the version with his German national final entry "Undone," which isn't on the album's first edition), here (digital; also the reedition), or on iTunes throughout the world (the first edition; some countries have the second edition as well).

Next up: maybe that Danish song.

Miss American dream since I was seventeen

Gosh, I'm such a music dork...

Britney Spears's new video for "Piece Of Me" just came on TV over here and I got wayyyyyy too excited about actually getting to hear Robyn's voice on American television.

In other news, the video is such an improvement over the one for "Gimme More" (it actually looks like a real music video made by someone aware that she was being filmed, for one). Reactions from people besides me included "wow, she looks so much better than the tabloids are always making out" (she genuinely looks great during the scenes with the purple dress), "she's really going after the papers with this one, isn't she?", and some laughs, as well as a generally positive reaction to the song.

I have pretty positive feelings towards Blackout, even if I don't think every song is great, but I've not really been much of a fan of "Piece Of Me." I think it might be one of those songs that becomes a single and I really start to "get," though.

Do a whole lot more

I've got huuugge gaps in my music knowledge about music from the past ten years, let alone the past fifty years, so it's probably not surprising at all to hear that I'd never heard Etta James's "Seven Day Fool," released in 1961. I do know, though, that today I'm enjoying Canadian singer Jully Black's cover of it. It came out back around this late summer/early fall and did pretty well. "Seven Day Fool" served as the lead single for her second album, Revival, released this October; I've not heard anything from it beyond this yet, though (well, except a preview of the of the YUG Remix [Radio Edit], which I now really want!).



Seven Day Fool--I've read some people bashing others for mentioning Amy Winehouse in their review of this song since Etta James's version came out years before Amy was even born. That's ridiculous--the song's sat around for forty-six years and we're supposed to think it's coincidence that it's just getting covered (and in keeping with this style) now? I doubt it. Regardless, though, I'm enjoying it today, though I'm not sure that that'll last too long. For now, though, it's catchy, very '60's sounding (well, of course), and fun in a sassy (I'd say despite of the lyrics, but actually, some of the lyrics are as well, unless I'm reading too much into them) kind of way.

And, in lieu of that mix I mentioned, since that's only available on Canadian iTunes and even then only when you buy the whole album, here's another dance edit (radio length, don't worry) of the song instead.

To buy Jully Black's album Revival, go here (physical).

Next up: maybe a Danish singer doing a kind of '80's-sounding song.

Do you know what that's worth?

"Were you a fan of boy bands?"

"Totally!"

As if I wasn't sold on Blake Lewis as popstar enough already...now he's giving us lines like this.


You are probably wondering how much longer I'm going to be able to dedicate posts to him. I promise, their frequency will decrease eventually. He's still doing enough to inspire posts, though, so I'm going to keep writing them. I'll try not to make tomorrow's song-including post about something related to him, at the least.

On a slightly more serious but actually really interesting note, the second half of that interview has him explaining the inspiration for and creation of his version of "You Give Love A Bad Name;" he says he heard Orbital's live version of "Halcyon + On + On" that incorporates Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven Is a Place On Earth" and Bon Jovi's "You Give Love A Bad Name and that it really stuck with him--when it came to Bon Jovi week, he automatically knew which song he wanted to work with.

Thus, we get the choice of today's song: Orbital's "Halcyon + On + On (Live)," but not in the full eight-plus minute version--I thought that might be pushing it (it is maybe worth listening to just a little bit of the original though if you want to get a better feel for where this edit is coming from), but basically a version under about three minutes that skips the first six or so minutes of just "Halcyon + On + On" and instead picks up where the mashup starts. Even if you don't want to hear the last minute and a half or so of wordless vocals over an electronica backing (though the way "Heaven Is A Place On Earth" mixes with the twisted vocals from Opus III's "A Fine Day" is great), definitely take a listen to that first minute--putting "You Give Love A Bad Name" and "Heaven Is A Place On Earth" together works really well.

You can get the (full) live version of Orbital's "Halcyon + On + On" on the second disc of their album In Sides here (physical) or here (digital).

Next up: a Norwegian song, I think, that is kind of tangentially related to today's post though it sounds nothing like today's song.

Just let your feelings show

And I thought I was shocked after seeing that Fred Ball and Hannah Robinson had a song in the Norwegian MGP! Hah! That doesn't even begin to compare to how shocked I am after reading the following news.

Remember Danny Saucedo? Whose album I was raving about? And who has released three really successful singles?

Well, he's now part of three person Swedish boy band E.M.D. The group's name comes from the initials of its members: Erik Segerstedt, Mattias Andréasson, and Danny Saucedo. All of them were contestants on Idol, Erik and Danny in 2006 and Mattias this year. Apparently it was their own idea and not the record company's...

Now, before you try to be optimistic, thinking, "hey, the Idol supergroup idea resulted in some pretty good stuff from the Young Divas and similarly-named NKD," we already know their first single: a cover of Bryan Adams, Sting, and Rod Stewart's "All For Love." Given that and their statement that it'll be "mature pop," I don't think we can be counting on anything disco-tastic. Edit 2: Expressen reports that the single will be out next week, with an album (half old hits and half new material) in the spring, as well as has a statement from them that they still see themselves as three separate artists and are just committing to do this together in 2008.

Given Danny's solo success, I can only presume that this is a side project for him, but who knows? And I'm still upset that he's probably not in Melodifestivalen, given that he's doing Sweden's version of Strictly Come Dancing.

I reserve the right to completely change my opinion on this if they end up being the vehicle for a good pop song in the future, but right now, I mean...really?!

EDIT to say that if, on the other hand, they decide to release an album of trashy/tragic (take your pick) boy band covers of Cher songs, I AM THERE!