You're not going anywhere that I'm not

I've been deliberately avoiding Tasha Baxter for months now, though whether that's because I've not yet been sold on the whole project or because I don't want to get sucked into paying far too expensive import prices for another South African album, I'm not sure. I'll probably end up buying the album in a couple of months and then championing it--that seems to by my usual pattern in these cases. Anyhow, Tasha is from South Africa, was featured on and helped co-write Roger Goode's song "In The Beginning," and her MySpace describes her style as "Powerpop/Drum & Bass/Emotronic" which perhaps get across that her music does sound a bit strange and not entirely mainstream--not that it couldn't be mainstream, but you get the feeling she and collaborator Andre Scheepers were deliberately trying to create music that doesn't sound mainstream--but I don't think fully captures her; though it's a more generic description, I'd probably leave it at electro-pop, sometimes with bits of rock, sometimes maybe even hints of lounge, often with a hint of indie. Speaking of her MySpace, if you have a few minutes, use it to listen to "Who's Sorry Now," the lead single for her album Colour Of Me--it's possibly the best song I've heard from her yet (though I've admittedly only heard a few songs off her thirteen track album). The softer ballad "Useless," which you can also listen to there, is lovely and worth a listen as well; it may even be better than "Who's Sorry Now."

Freefall--perhaps one of her poppy songs, though I mean that mainly in that it's less influenced by rock or chill-out than some of the other things she's done. It's full of electro beeps and blips. I often can't shake the feeling with Tasha that there are some good ideas behind what she does and that she's good in theory but that--at least to fully win me over--she needs to have stronger melodies and stronger hooks. Still, here the almost cute "oh, oh no, oh-oh-oh no"'s manage to deliver that hook I'm looking for. The intro's pretty promising and that final fade out is quite pretty as well (it appears early in the song at the end of each chorus, too), but I'm not sure if I'm totally convinced by the part of the chorus with actual words. For all the reservations I've expressed, though, I do really like the song--I just wish that "too fast, too soon" part was better. I think the audio quality may be subpar--if it is, I'm sorry about that.

To buy Tasha Baxter's album Colour Of Me, go here (physical).

Next up: maybe that German singer, finally.