Give me your heart, give me your soul, give me your heart

In case this post and the one below it don't make it obvious, I was checking in on the Romanian charts today. It's something I don't do nearly as often as I should. Romania's music charts don't feel full of hits to me like, say, the Swedish charts do, but the prevalence of generally good even if not mega-international-success-in-waiting house-meets-chill dance-pop (not bouncy cheery Europop like Danny's "Tokyo" or swooshy '80s dance pop like Velvet or Star Pilots) means that those charts are generally easy and pleasant to listen to. At times, they run the risk of just washing over you, but it's a nice sort of wave even then.

Starting with something from nearby country Moldova, we've got the latest project of former O-Zone member Radu: he's co-created DJ Layla featuring Alissa's new song "Single Lady." This isn't catchy fun dance-pop in the vein of former bandmate Dan's "Crazy Loop," being much more that typical Romanian gentle house-influenced style, and so isn't as straight-up pop-style catchy, but it's a good listen if you enjoy this sort of music...and I do.



I used to be able to count on Akcent (minus one member at this point) for at least one brilliant (and brilliantly ridiculous) song per album. Songs like "Kylie" and "King Of Disco" made them the closest I was going to get to a spiritual successor to O-Zone, and the slightly more "Romanian" sounding "Jokero" was great as well. I feel as if they've been unable to deliver that one killer single recently, though. "That's My Name" is fine, but it lacks the impact of their earlier hits, which had poppier hooks--it's that "washes over you" side of things.



With Akcent not delivering in quite the same way, Crush & Alexandra Ungureanu have a chance to challenge for favorite Romania act going if they play their cards right. Their latest single is "2Nite We'll Rise," taken from their second album, which takes its title from their brilliant 2007 single "Hello" (which I'm still upset I didn't find out about until too late to make my 2007 singles countdown). Their style is still generally that gentle house-influenced one, but when they're at their best, the beats are often a bit stronger, the hooks better, and the tone more intriguing.



Swiss-Romanian singer Keo is more on the pop (maybe light pop-rock) side of things than he is electronica, but even with his new single "Falling High" that side of Romania's music scene can be seen.



Inna has a new-ish (few months old) single called "Love" out, but her single from late last year, "Hot," is still much better and, since I never wrote about it here, here it is instead. It's got that typical Romanian commercial radio dance sound, but the hook is memorable and it becomes hypnotizing if you hear it enough times.

Iubire, tu aduci lumina-n inima mea

(Picture credit to Discogs.)

Dance group/project Crush & Alexandra Ungureanu have had a series of hits in Romania. The group, which may be going by just Crush & Alexandra now, is made up of two behind-the-scenes sort of guys and (female) singer Alexandra. They've released two albums so far (and maybe even a single in the Netherlands?), with the song I'm posting today, which was released in late 2007, being from their second album.

Hello--don't be fooled by that title--though the group records songs in both English and Romanian, this one is in Romanian. That's a good thing, though: Romanian can be a lovely language to listen to. "Hello" has a trance-inspired backing, but it's never "hard trance"--the base backing music has this washing over you type feeling to it. There are enough effects layered on top of that backing music, though, that the song isn't just background music-worthy, and there's a beat underneath it that keeps it moving forward; on the other hand, the song never feels busy--"pretty" (or "beautiful," depending on how much you're won over) would probably be just about the right word for it...or maybe "lovely." Side note: the well-intentioned if melodramatic (is there a better word for something that's all on the happy side of the spectrum?) video clip is worth watching just because it captures the upbeat feel of the song so well.

To buy Crush & Alexandra Ungureanu's second album, Hello, go here (physical).

Next up: maybe a singer from a nearby country or that Belgian singer.