The finest thing I've seen

Yesterday was so rainy and cold that about the only good thing to result from the weather was me being forced to turn to one of my instant pick-me-ups: Patrick Nuo's "5 Days." Don't Stop The Pop introduced me to the Swiss singer's work a while ago and it was love at first listen: I love this sort of musically upbeat, catchy male pop-(light)rock, an offspring of the teen-pop boom. In fact, the only problem with "5 Days," Patrick's 2003 debut single, is that you can't simultaneously listen to my favorite version of the song and watch the video.



Even if you don't agree, why you'd want to watch the video should be fairly self-explanatory (yes, I realize he's the generic Abercrombie & Fitch mail order model, but that's good enough for me). The video, though, includes the album version of the song, which lacks the bounce and piano riff of my preferred remix (though it's the tweaking sort of remix, not the total reworking kind). I'm not actually sure which remix it is since its length doesn't line up exactly with any of the tracklistings I can find and the quality is slightly subpar, but I still prefer it to the original.

On an unrelated note, "You," the lead single for Bosson's latest album (with the single being from 2006 and the album from 2007), still holds up as one of my favorite Swedish pop songs of this decade and probably my favorite Bosson song ever...and when a song manages to win out against "One In A Million" (both, incidentally, produced by Bassflow long before I was aware of that fact, and with the former being introduced to me by Catchy Tunes Of Sweden), you know it's got to be great. Forget the video--just switch away from it and listen to the way the song soars over that Europop beat. Please, Bosson, come back soon and come back with music like this...so that we can write off "Wake Up" as just a one-off.

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.

That's right, our love is overrated

Music I'm loving on other blogs at the moment (and as I write, it's expanded to just things I love on blogs in general):

You can never have enough Lena love, can you? You Don't Know Pop features Lena Philipsson, Helena Paparizou (if you like pop and haven't heard her music before, you absolutely must--start with "Mambo," "Gigolo," and "The Game Of Love"), and loads more.

Poplicious has a great song by Polish girl group Queens, written by a Swede; very catchy.

I know it's old, but the more time passes, the more I wonder: how did blog world not flip out over Dhany's song "Miles Of Love"? This is what dance music with pop sensibilities should sound like! The definition of a storming dance anthem. Find it at A Kind Of Love In.

I somehow missed the fact that Swedish artist Montt Mardié had a new (well, it's not even really new anymore at this point) album out, despite it being mentioned all over the place (including, most notably, on It's a Trap and Swedesplease) but I love current single "Metropolis," floaty pop with electronic influences that features one of the former members of Le Sport. Find it over at Swedesplease. With my love for the new Tough Alliance album and a personal Lo-fi-fnk revival going on, I'm thinking I may go through a mini Swedish indie pop phase.

Everything Don't Stop The Pop posts is a must-listen, but I have to single out the new Patrick Nuo song, even if only to give me an excuse to include a picture of him; catchy pop with guitars with chorus lyrics that, despite not being anything that should be particularly memorable, I love (note that the title of this post is not a coded message to these blogs; I just wanted an opportunity to quote the song).

Not actually mp3s, but I can't not mention Adem IAR's amazing post about McFly--you have to love his writing.

Why is everyone in the world not reading Thnairg's work? Some of my favorite writing on the Internet--well thought out but never pedantic. You know those sort of blogs where you know you'll at least search out samples of anything the writer mentions, just because of their writing and your trust in their taste? This is one of them.

The Zapping interviews up and coming Swedish singer Jonathan Fagerlund; "Playing Me" is still a great boy pop song I can't wait to hear the rest of.

Pop Unlimited must surely be one of the best blogs around. I was just thinking I wanted to hear more from the Tamperer when we get a post with three songs; I could go on and on and on about the great pop songs on this blog, but just visit it already! Poppy and international.

Great mini-reviews of a bunch of albums, including Just Jack, Maroon 5, Mika, and Mutya, over at XO's Middle Eight.

This news is ages old, but you absolutely absolutely must go listen to a clip of Darren Hayes's upcoming single "On The Verge Of Something Wonderful" over at Popjustice; it'll probably be a contender for my favorite song of the year when it comes out, based just on that clip. Still electronic, but so uplifting in a "wow, suddenly everything seems just that little bit better" way. Everything I could have hoped for from this album.

It's hard to know what's the best part of Chart Rigger sometimes--the pun-filled or blatantly honest titles? The writing? And you can't visit without reading the comments. Whether it's Shayne Ward in Sweden, Rihanna's new video for "Shut Up And Drive," or Enrique's single finally starting to rise up the U.S. charts, even if it's only still in the 20's, it's news with a slant--and that's a good thing.

Mobius has been writing about Jason Donovan's new single for a while now, and with good reason--it's really good! Definitely worth buying.

Worrapolava is back from France, bearing great songs like Christophe Willem's "Double Je" and a dance song by Tom Snare.

Ever wondered what it would be like to see Sahara Hotnights, Fibes, Oh Fibes, the Ark, Laakso, Laleh, Juvelen, Marit Bergman, Those Dancing Days, the Pet Shop Boys, Lisa Misokovsky, and amazing acts you didn't know existed yet in the space of three days? Read #1 Hits From Another Planet's report to find out.

Roxane's song "I Ain't Playin'" is so summery and so poppy! Featured on Pop Trash Addicts, which is also writing about drama surrounding Salt 'n' Pepa's "Push It," Sophie Monk, and Roxane.

Just in general, I'm loving Work Your Magic, a blog which loves Russian music and Dima Koldun, and EuropeCrazy, which loves European music, Måns Zelmerlöw, and Sebastian Karlsson.

The return of one of my favorite blogs--Digital Technique is back!

My new obsession

Oh. My. Gosh.

Huge huge huge thanks go out to MaryCherry of Don't Stop The Pop, who just wrote about Patrick Nuo and his song "Watchin' Over You." This video is for his first single, "5 Days."

Seriously:

Oh. My. Gosh.

I'm speaking purely about the song, of course.

Shall we watch--I mean, listen to it again?



Swoon.