Gonna be sunshine and rain, gonna be pleasure and pain

I'm still in extreme Espen Lind appreciation mode, but I really shouldn't post two songs by him back to back, so let's go with something he wrote instead. Speaking of writing, though, I noticed yesterday that he, virtually perpetual partner Bluefish/Amund Bjørklund, and...guess who--James Bourne (he out of Busted and Son of Dork) had written several songs together! They've not come out as far as I know, though they could have been released by some group I don't know of, and I have no idea how old they are, but with titles like "How To Succeed In The Music Industry" and "No Casanova," they sound very James Bourne-y, don't they (the others are "Brand New You" and "Obvious Tonight")? I'm not sure how they'd sound--no guarantee they're good--but I'm intrigued.

Anyhow, skipping back to what I was supposed to be writing about, today's song was the debut single from the late and frequently lamented boy band V, who released three singles and an album back around 2004.

Blood, Sweat and Tears (Almighty Radio Edit)--I should probably be posting the original and I'm sure it shows more of Espen's influence, but the first time I ever heard "Blood, Sweat and Tears" was in its Almighty version and I've never been able to listen to the original since--it just seems too slow. I've been spoiled for life...so beware if you like the original! Though V were a "regular" boy band (i.e., not a boy band with guitars), their music often had acoustic guitar strums in it. Well, forget those in this remix--it's all about the sort of spacey electronic sound effects. The song really benefits from having the tempo kicked up, too.

You can buy V's single "Blood, Sweat and Tears" here (physical), but you're probably better off picking up the album, You Stood Up, from here (physical) or here (digital).

Oh, and while we're talking of V, I only noticed yesterday that a British-turned-Maltese singer named Aaron Benjamin has released a song charting on some Maltese radio stations that Aaron out of V had on his MySpace (in my defense, I haven't checked his MySpace for...oh, three quarters of a year now) a while ago, "In My Head". I'm curious: does anyone know if he wrote the song or was just singing the demo? I'd like the idea of him at least working as a songwriter, since V as a pop group didn't seem to work out.

(I do have to admit that I liked the "original" better--it was less fuzzed up with guitars.)

Edit: it's practically criminal that I did a post on V (well, sort of on V) and forgot to include the video of one of the definitive live boy band performances of all time, their performance on TV show Top of the Pops. I'll just say this: rain. "You Stood Up" should've gone to #1 just for the genius promotional effort of this alone.



Next up: maybe a South African group.

When you're moving up with...

The best concert line-up ever (for me) was last year's series of concerts where the Click Five opened for McFly--my two favorite bands, both at their peak (well, McFly have improved with every album, so that's more like "peak so far"). It narrowly beats out the whole V/McFly/Busted thing, though it's close.

Now, though? We've got another rival. I don't expect it to ultimately win out, but it'll put up a good fight.

BWO
Army Of Lovers
Alcazar (!!!!!!!)

At G-A-Y on July 21. Can you imagine? I'm a little confused as to why Alcazar would perform in the UK, especially if it's a one-off--surely this would be huge if in Sweden?

(By the way, some of Sweden's summer tours should be in contention, but I guess I think of those as somehow different--more festival-like, or something. Illogical, but whatever.)

I'm feelin' that this is my time

I was planning on writing about V today, but looking at the MySpace of one of its former band members has inspired me to do a MySpace check-in. Be prepared for some subpar audio quality, though.

Aaron "formerly of V" Buckingham has a new song up on his MySpace, as well as a blog entry. The new song is "Once In My Life" and, like "In My Head," it's a nice, sort of laid back pop song, although "Once In My Life" is a "moving on" and hopeful song (unlike the worry-filled "In My Head"). He hasn't lost his sense of humor, so his blog entry is worth a read, too. I'm really liking his new music; hopefully we'll hear more from him beyond MySpace in the future.

Simon Curtis has a very different style from Aaron, but his songs are great, too. His style of pop is darker and more electro-influenced. I'm currently loving his Broken (Show Mix) (beware if you're going to listen to it--it's addictive!)--it definitely has that dark electro-pop sound going on, but it has a really catchy melody and strays away from the minimalism so popular in electro now (which can work well, but it's nice to mix it up every now and then). It's going to sound even better in high quality--I cannot wait for the album, though I have no idea when it will be coming out. Check his MySpace regularly, though, because it will definitely be worth buying. (In addition to his MySpace, you can also check out this one for another of Simon's songs.)

I'm not going to post any Heinz Winckler songs, because I finally found a place to order his album (here, if you're interested and don't mind spending far more on it than you probably should) and I'm going to wait until I have them in high quality. However, his MySpace blog has a rather odd message up--maybe this isn't really his official MySpace? But it did have songs from his album up before the album was released and it's got a message from someone who I know really interviewed him... I'll review Moment Of Truth whenever it arrives (which could be in two weeks or three months, who knows).

I just found out about Gavin Mikhail recently, when he was featured on Zappin' It To Ya, but I'm already in love with "Brave" (I was reluctant to post this, because I really think higher quality audio will add a lot to it, but I'm not sure when the album will show up on iTunes). It's gorgeous piano-based pop that is worth checking out.

And, in the ongoing series of periodical Ben Adams updates...Ben has a new picture up on his MySpace (this is it). Thrilling news, yes? Still waiting for any actual news about, say, the album or something. I really am going to get around to posting about Ben soon--I'm thinking next week or early in the week after that; even though he's only ever released one single, it'll probably be a two-day event.

Next up: I really think Josh Hoge will be the next topic. Given my track record with predictions, though, that probably means he won't be.

Kissin' with him in my bed

Today's post will be mainly news and updates, so it'll be a little light on the music side; hopefully, though, after being bombarded by Click Five songs, you all can take a low-mp3 day.

Aleksander Denstad With's (of Norway) debut album will come out on October 23, preceded on October 9 by his second single, "The Other Side." You can listen to most (though not all) of the single at his official website. It's very ballady and slow and my first instinct is to write it off, but there's a possibility it might be a grower, especially if the rest of the album isn't like it. The ominous-ness of the verses is sort of nice and I think the chorus might sound better in higher quality. I'd still prefer a more upbeat song, I think, but I suppose every album is going to have some ballads on it. I think I was just hoping for something more...fun from Aleksander, so it's too early to judge whether I'm not in love with "The Other Side" because of its quality or because it's not what I was hoping for. On the other hand, I still quite like his debut single "A Little Too Perfect." The video for it is nothing to write home about (just Aleks performing in a big room), but the song is still good--mid-tempo, sort of pop-rock, with nice piano parts.

In news that's about a week old, Matt Willis's second single, "Hey Kid," went in at #11--I'll take that! I was pretty worried, even if his statements about being dropped if it flopped were probably jokes. His next single, due out November 6, is going to be "Don't Let It Go To Waste," which is more balladish and not quite as good as either of his previous two singles (it has no helicopter noises, so it's already at a disadvantage), but I'm hoping getting to release three singles is a good sign for the album. In all likelihood, I'll end up posting a B-side from the "Hey Kid" single on the day "Don't Let It Go To Waste" comes out, unless I get overwhelmed by the good guitar-strumminess of it and post it earlier (a strong possibility).

Aaron "out of V" (a boyband I missed the first time around, then didn't quite get at first, and now love) Buckingham has a new song up on his MySpace, "In My Head." I think it's mid-tempo (it's also sort of sad or worried-sounding) and I know it's good. I'd love him to have a solo career, though I'm not sure how successful it would be, but it's really good to see that he hasn't "gone indie" or rocky just to increase his chances of success. He's funny, loves pop, and makes great pop music--we need more artists like that. There's already a MySpace page representing his fans, so hopefully that's a good sign?

Speaking of MySpace brings us to artists who know how to work the Internet to their advantage. I love it when artists use "unconventional" techniques to promote themselves and when they acknowledge the importance and power of the Internet. Far too many artists ignore it and, be they established or not, that's one of the worst things they can do (established artists, if they don't provide updates on what they're doing, risking losing not only the fringe fans but, if they leave people hanging long enough, even the very core of their fanbase, and Internet buzz can make all the difference for someone trying to "make it big"). One artist who exemplifies the idea of working the Internet, especially the blogosphere, is Chris Price. I read about him on Spark*Pop back in May (and a bit of research reveals he's been featured on many other blogs, too), so, when an e-mail from him popped up in my inbox, I knew I would be willing to feature him here. His song "And She Was" is minimal electro-pop ("minimal" might not be the right word, because it's not lacking for effects, and the chorus builds--Chris just has a laid-back and distant delivery that reminds me of what you would hear in a minimal-esque song). I'm not familiar enough with the genre to be able to describe it in detail, but it's good--what else do you need to know? Well, probably the addresses for his website and MySpace. And that you can buy Chris's song "Charge Me Up" on iTunes (and not just in the U.S. either--yet another thing to be praised! An artist who recognizes that his songs might have appeal beyond his own country and is willing to allow people elsewhere to purchase them legally! I think we need to rope Chris into giving some other artists some lectures about how things should be in music and music promotion).

Heinz Winckler's spiffy but slow new website now says that his album Moment Of Truth will be "in stores latest September 11." Is this the third release date pushback? "Another Day" has grown on me, though, so, worry about the other tracks notwithstanding ("Runaway Lover" has potential to grow, though), I'll probably end up getting the album, whenever it finally gets released.

Thierry Amiel (of France) has a new album due out this November and a single, "Coeur Sacre," out this month (he also has a new image, complete with stubble, not pictured here). You can listen to some of it at his official website. It's not very poppy (though, if you don't want to categorize it in that special genre for distinctively French music, it would probably fit best under the genre of pop), but I'm sort of liking it--it's got a very hushed delivery over an electronic backing. I've never gotten around to buying his whole first album and I'm still not sure how I'd feel about a whole album's worth of Thierry's songs, but I'm open to going either way on the issue--Thierry's at least got me listening.

Next up: convient that we ended with Thierry, because the next two days' posts will probably be about French artists. In a week or two weeks or so, I'm planning a huge special (at least four days, possibly more) about a certain boyband--hint: I've mentioned them here before, but never posted any of their songs.

aleksander denstad with matt willis aaron buckingham chris price heinz winckler thierry amiel