The Midweeks and More…

- Diana Vickers is MILES ahead in the UK charts now, with 2 new Glee songs popping into the top 40, whilst Alexandra Burke has just put her head round the end of the charts.

- Sugababes are recording their eighth album. That’s, um, exciting, right?

- will.i.am, according to Cheryl Cole, is a fairy… Godfather. It’s his fault she did a solo album; however the blessing in disguise is that she had the choice of doing that or starting a family… although I did think girls were meant to be able to multi-task?!

- Stevie-Bloody-Wonder is going to play the MEN on the 29th June. I will accept ticket donations from anyone who either wants to take me or wants to give me one/some.

- Kate Nash is said to want to learn to produce records. I recommend she take a masterclass in music making, incorporating production, writing, singing, styling and marketing… I will happily pay for these classes so I never have to hear another song like her last one – *vomit*

- In news perhaps as surprising as Mika having a inflatable stage on his tour; Adam Lambert, everyone’s favourite gay American Idol runner up, wants a “theatrical” and “sparkly” tour.

- More surprising news; Lady GaGa’s new album is due to be ‘crazy’ according Akon. Very profound. Unfortunately, he’s been working on the album with her… so bad times could be round the corner for us GaGa fans!

Kiddie Pop At It’s Best

Remember the good ol’ days of the ’90s when pop music was at it’s most unashamedly cheesy? Those were the days of S Club 7, Steps, Cleopatra, Billie (before she was Billie Piper). God, just thinking about my music tastes in those days make me moist.

There was one certain little gem which no one really caught onto on this side of the big pond. He released his debut album in the UK in 1997 and drew much attention due to his Backstreet Boys big brother Nick. I am, of course, talking about Aaron Carter.

Now, I should disclose at this point that I, once upon a pre-teen time, might have had a very little crush on Aaron Carter. I had the following picture on my wall:

which I kissed a few times. I shouldn’t be ashamed of the fact that I once hoped his was opening his arms like that for a boy like me should I??

Anyway! His music after his debut was pretty bad; but his first 4 singles were awesome. His videos were triumphant – in ‘Crazy Little Party Girl’ he and the other children looked like Muppets whilst he was reminiscent of an orange Teletubbie in that ridiculous orange puffer jacket, and ‘Surfin’ USA’ saw a, what, 10 year old Aaron hangin’ out at the beach with kids about 23 years old with massive boobs. Touch!

All 4 of these singles hit the Top 30 in the UK, in fact, 3 of them made top 20 and 2 of them made top 10, meanwhile his debut album peaked at number 12 in the UK album chat… that’s a pretty good achievement since ex-X Factor contestants can barely get a place in the Top 40 these days, and whilst great pop acts like Steps and S Club 7 disbanded and moved on, you’ll be more than pleased to know this little muppet is still going strong, with a new record due out this year… having said that, none of the last 9 songs he has released since 2001 have managed to chart! He has been on Dancing With The Stars and also got done for possession of the happy-smokey stuff. Who says child stardom doesn’t have a price!!

Now, I think that’s enough waffle from me on the subject – let’s all kick back and enjoy the fantastic music of the pre-teen pop sensation that he was, Master Aaron Carter!

Crush On You:

Crazy Little Party Girl:

I’m Gonna Miss You Forever:

Surfin’ USA:

Exciting Kylie News!

THIS PIECE OF HAPPINESS was put onto Kylies website at exactly (well, actually, 4 minutes past) midday today. It’s a bit of tune from her new single, her new single AND new album details.

The Persuit of Good Music

This is a really outdated review I couldn’t upload months ago… but it’s a fabulous album so I’m putting it up now!!!

Frankly, any album which has an exploding piano featured as part of it’s artwork should not really need reviewing. Add in the most famous and popular British jazz musician of the last decade and really, when you think about, we already know this is going to be fantastic.

Jamie Cullum, everyone’s favourite piano stomping, gravelly voiced, jazz making hobbit has finally returned with his new album “The Pursuit”, his first album since his cracking 2005 release of “Catching Tales”.

There is nothing in his back catalogue which has been disappointing; ‘These Are The Days’, ‘Pointless Nostalgic’, ‘Oh God’, ‘My Yard’ and ‘Twentysomething’ were all amazing songs; so with high hopes I clasp on to his new album which was released this week.

Here is a track by track walk-through of his new record.

01. Just One Of Those Things.
Amazing Cole Porter song, beautifully arranged and performed by Cullum. Classic sounding, smooth and catchy, the song returns Cullum’s sound to that of those tracks seen on “Twentysomething”. Reminicant of ‘Too Close For Comfort’. Excellent opening track.

02. I’m All Over It.
Jamie’s lead single from the album, simple and lovely, it’s not his strongest track ever, but it’s a catchy little ditty with a great piano riff and jazz undertones, yet remaining quite commercial. Wouldn’t be out of place on a James Morrison or Will Young album.

03. Wheels.
Awesome track. Original and wonderful, Jamie’s vocals are deep and soothing. The chorus is lovely and the piano riff is ambient and refreshing. The amazing percussion on this track sounds like a train… stunning.

04. If I Ruled The Word.
Lovely arrangement of this beautiful blues/ballad. Soft and moving. The track shows off Jamie’s ability to make classic jazz sound current, and to make gentle blues refreshing to hear. Very piano bar. Very lovely.

05. You And Me Are Gone.
Mad and amazing. Uptempo and finger-clickingly good. Like ‘Twentysomething’. In the album credits, it states, “Handclaps and general revelry: The Band”. That alone should give you a very good idea of what to expect from this song!! Jazz-pop at it’s best. Really great track. As catchy as swine-flu!! This will be one of the tracks which will see Jamie climbing over his piano on stage. Cannot wait to see this live!! By far my favourite track on the album!

06. Don’t Stop The Music.
Yes. This is Rihanna’s “Please Don’t Stop The Music”- jazzified. It’s actually much better than you would expect; slower, piano, bass, drums and Jamie. Simple and fantastic. Really impressive cover. In many ways it’s so much better than the original, just because it’s vocally played with in a much better way than Rihanna does it!

07. Love Ain’t Gonna Let You Down.
Another blues-ballad. It’s an alright track. But nothing really stands out about it. Not that it’s bad at all… it’s just clearly an album filler.

08. Mixtape.
For almost no reason at all, this reminds me of ‘Photograph’ – but it sounds nothing like it at all. The song is uptempo and enjoyable, flows very smoothly between verses and chorus. Good song, very enjoyable, a jazz anthem.

09. I Think, I Love.
From the original overpowering piano solo at the start; I loved this track. It’s not over-the-top at all, it’s not a Leona Ballad, but it’s a gentle and modern love song and it’s really lovely, and beautifully performed.

10. We Run Things.
Very experimental jazz. Will grow on me a lot I imagine. Very enjoyable, uptempo number, again another one which is going to be ace performed live.

11. Not While I’m Around.
Great song. Love it. Vocally great, beautifully crafted and arranged. Jamie’s vocals really are moving on this track. A slower tempoed track, written by Stephen Soudheim. It’s quite Snow Patrol-esque in places (if Snow Patrol knew how to develop and execute a track beautifully). I really love this track.

12. Music Is Through.
Just wow. This is the most experimental track on the album, it’s jazz, but it’s not jazz at the same time. Amazingly written by Jamie and Ben Cullum; the chorus is shockingly good – when it kicks in I almost stopped breathing!!

Curious…

I distinctly remember the first time I ever heard Amy MacDonald’s music. I was driving along, happy as Larry one crisp afternoon, listening to ‘Steve Wright in the Afternoon’ on Radio 2 after University. Then this song comes on the radio; kicking in with the beat of a drum and a catchy guitar rift. Then the vocals – melodic and soothing, with a Scottish twist and fabulously dark lyrics hidden behind a happy-go-lucky tune. Within 20 seconds I loved the song; it was “Mr. Rock and Roll”.

Amy’s debut album was joy to behold; both big singles, ‘Mr. Rock and Roll’ and ‘This Is The Life’ were catchy, fun, upbeat whilst being dark and tantalising at the same time. Tracks like ‘Let’s Start A Band’, ‘Poison Prince’ and ‘Barrowland Ballroom’ popped up, catchy and mini-anthems in their own right. It was a folksy-county-indie-pop affair riddled with the innocence of youth and the searing eyes of a woman who knows her own mind. Genius.

I was quite excited about the March release of her follow-up album “A Curious Thing” – and I’d love to be able to report that the ‘difficult second album’ saw a huge leap in musical developments. Sadly, if anything, it lacks.

The substance of the album is poor. Some songs, such as ‘Troubled Soul’ and ‘Give It Up’ start out well, but I find myself getting bored very quickly; there’s no advance in the songs – no massive rousing chorus, no fantastic guitar instrumental. Nothing.

The album has clearly had more work than her debut by way of production, but rather than enhance the album, it deteriorates. What was, and is, great about Amy is how she puts her fun and melodic vocals up against cynical and critical lyrics about the world around her. With the amount of production surrounding her on this album, it practically drowns her out. Tragic.

That said, there are some good songs on this album. ‘Love Love’ is a positively great song; there’s a certain element of Blondie about the track, mixed with a certain je ne c’est qua which reminds me of the great up-and-coming indie bands of the mid-noughtys. ‘Spark’ is also very good too – puts me in mind of The Killers when I listen to it which is good; it’s got a big and fantastic chorus and has the sing-a-long quality her debut albums songs had.

There’s use of a honky-tonk piano in ‘This Pretty Face’ which is an obvious win, making the song sound like it’s taken out of some modern-Western musical. And ‘My Only One’ is lovely, stripping the music back to basics and with some lush vocals on it.

Meanwhile the cynicism is still there. “I don’t care who does her hair / Or what clothes she wears … I don’t care if it’s Chanel / What matters to me is a strong belief that beauty is skin deep” from ‘This Pretty Face’ is a key example of this, which is great… when you can hear what she is singing!

But like I said, the album disappoints with the combination of not being able to hear her properly on many of the tracks and the lack of development on the rest. It literally feels like your running up to take a giant jump but then just give up halfway through. ‘What This Happiness Means To Me’ is a beautiful ballad, for example, which could easily be one of my favourites on this album, but as it comes to, what I assumed, was the end, it builds up into this big drum, guitar and strings instrumental which had me thinking, oh god – this is going to be even better. Do you know what the song did? DO YOU?!! It faded out. FADED OUT. It was the most disappointing aspect of all the disappointing aspects of this album.

It’s not that bad I guess – it’s pretty listenable, but it’s lack of substance will mean that I’ll not leap onto the album when browsing through iTunes and I highly doubt any tracks will get the 167 and 134 plays ‘This Is The Life’ and ‘Mr. Rock and Roll’ did.

We can only hope she reads this (Hi Amy!) and learns from her mistakes for album number three.

Once – Diana Vickers: A Review

2008s X Factor line-up was filled with promising new acts. From big voiced divas Alexandra and Ruth, through to too-cool and very hip boyband JLS, including mouthy Amy Winehouse wannabe Rachel.

One act stood out amongst them all; a certain Ms. Diana Vickers.

She was favourite to win the show from the beginning, with her soft and delicate voice, her Topshop model styling and those unforgettable meandering hands. Ultimately she finished up in fourth place, behind Eoghan Quigg, JLS and eventual winner Alexandra Burke.

Not that it matters any more, but I always thought Cheryl and the X Factor team took Diana in completely the wrong direction for her voice. Whilst they had her doing the likes of Blonde, Dido and U2; I would have taken her in a much more Norah Jones, Imogen Heep, Damien Rice sort of direction; it would have suited her wispy and gentile voice much more.

Despite saying this, I cannot deny that some of the numbers she did were unforgettably good; U2’s “With or Without You”, Michael Jackson’s “Man In The Mirror” and my most favourite, Blonde’s “Call Me”.

Post-X Factor, Diana has been staring in the West End production of ‘Little Voice’ in the lead role, got herself signed up with RCA and has been working on her debut album, due for release on 3rd May, called “Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree”.

From thus said album comes her debut single, “Once”.

Due to be released on 19th April, “Once” was co-written by songwriting superstars Eg White (‘Leave Right Now’ – Will Young, ‘You Had Me’ – Joss Stone, ‘Shiver’ – Natalie Imbuglia) and Cathy Dennis (‘Never Had A Dream Come True’ – S Club 7, ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ – Kylie Minogue, ‘Toxic’ – Britney) – so you already know the song is going to be a cracker.

It’s an unexpected catchy electro-pop number, fuelled with guitar riffs and the lovely voice of Diana; far more tamed than her X Factor days, still delicate but much much stronger, belting out the lyrics “I’m only gonna let you kill me / once / once / once / yeah”.

The video for the song is brilliant – Diana Vickers and a million costume changes, with big hair, fabulous makeup and handsome men! The costumes alter between teenage-girl-H&M-chic and fabulous diva numbers which would have Sarah Jessca Parker frothing at the gash!

It’s not the best song to ever be released; Eg and Cathy have both written far better numbers before, but it’s still bloody good – Diana sounds wonderful and song is incredibly catchy; the resounding “once / once / once” loops in your head for hours after hearing it; so kudos for that.

Ultimately it’s a promising debut from Ms. Vickers, and with an album filled with an assortment of collaborations, including Lightspeed Champion, Ellie Goulding and Patrick Wolf, and an exicting upcoming tour planned – I think we can expect great things from her!

N-eye-gellaphonic News Overview: 17/04

• Diana Vickers has been confirmed as support for JLS on their upcoming tour. Now, don’t get me wrong – sure JLS beat her on X Factor and have been running their career successfully ever since whilst Diana is just releasing her debut material – but PLEASE! We all know who is the more superior artist and singer… we didn’t see JLS invited to be in Little Voice did we?!!

• Mika is going to be having an inflatable stage on his tour. I’d be more surprised by news he wasn’t going to have an inflatable stage!! Didn’t Scissor Sisters do this at the Brits a few years back?! The only thing camper than an inflatable stage would be to copy the Scissor Sisters in having an inflatable stage!

• A woman who was sent abusive texts by N-Dubz’ Dappy is getting free tickets to their gig… I’m sure he meant well but isn’t someone adding insult to injury there!

• Ke$ha’s new video for her next single ‘Your Love Is My Drug’ features her fully body painted with florescent paint. Nice. Also features elephants by all accounts; but we have no confirmation as to whether they will be rocking the dayglo body paint look.

• More video news – Boyzone will be naked in their next one. Oh dear.

• Finally, some devastating news: Frankie from The Saturdays and Dougie from McFly are meant to be getting back together. Sad news for everyone there.