Best thing after Def Leppard

I'm in sort of a Vanilla Ninja-ish mood today, so that's who this post will be about. I'd heard about them for quite some time (I think I remember seeing them on the front page of Wikipedia once) before I actually got around to listening to their music, but now, though I'm still no expert, I like some of their songs a good deal. Vanilla Ninja are a band of girls from Estonia that have had a couple of lineup changes during the course of their four non-compilation albums (they've also released one greatest hits album). They really became famous when they entered Estonia's Eurovision-selecting contest with "Club Kung Fu" in 2003 and, though they didn't get to represent Estonia that year, they would take eighth place for Switzerland in Eurovision 2005 with "Cool Vibes."

Heartless--this was the first Vanilla Ninja song I heard that really caught my attention. It's from their second album, Traces Of Sadness, but was never a single. I guess you could call what the girls do "pop rock," though the instrumentation to their songs is often more rock than that categorization would imply. It's not as cute-fun as songs like "Club Kung Fu" nor as edgy or hard as songs like "Black Symphony," instead being driving but not overly aggressive. The "oh"'s here are excellent (pretty critical to the song's appeal) and, overall, "Heartless" is just really catchy. Full credit (and thanks, for introducing me to it) goes to the sadly no-longer-updated Girls On Pop for this song.

Club Kung Fu--stealing Asian elements, this song is just danceable fun. It sort of sounds like a novelty song you'd expect from a one-hit wonder, but this was the song that launched Vanilla Ninja at the beginning of their career. Watch the video of their audition to represent Eurovision and, dubious and cheesy as it is, just try to fight back the impulse to dance along with them.

Liar--back to their second album, we have a song that manages to mix a really catchy chorus with spewed hatred ("LII-AAR!"). One of the great things about Vanilla Ninja's songs is that, even though I have no clue about their singing ability, the guitars never overpower their voices, which is a problem I have with a lot of pop-rock nowadays (especially Kelly Clarkson imitators).

Dangerzone (Long Version)--don't worry; even though it's the "long version," it's less than three and a half minutes long. Fast, rocky, with an almost yipped "to-night!," this was the lead single from their most recent album Love Is War.

To buy Vanilla Ninja's debut album, Vanilla Ninja, go here (physical) or, for the "Club Kung Fu" single, here (digital; you'll have to search for "Vanilla Ninja"); to buy second album Traces Of Sadness, go here (physical) or here (digital; you'll have to search for "Vanilla Ninja"); to buy most recent (fourth original) album Love Is War, go here (physical) or here (digital).

Next up: this was a rushed post, since I'm leaving for the weekend again; however, I should be back this Sunday in time for a post, which might be a review of Jesse McCartney's new album.