LANA DEL REY - THREE UNRELEASED SONGS

These three new unreleased tracks by Lana Del Rey are really lovely.  "Puppy Love" and "Paris" especially are pleasant surprises.  Not because "Children of the Bad Revolution" is any worse of a song, but just because the sound of the other two is actually literally surprising.  They represent a softer side of Lana than what we're used to.  And while her image (and sometimes lyrical content) is retro glam, "Paris" actually goes for more of a 60s sound than anything on Born to Die.  If they were recorded during the Born to Die sessions, it's easy to see why they were left off, but they are quite nice.

It's weird.  Her album just came out this year, but I already feel like it's time for her to release another one.  I guess because we'd already spent so much time talking about her before it came out.  Anyway, enjoy!

FLORRIE - LATE EP

It's finally here!  Florrie fans have been waiting quite a while for her third EP to arrive.  I think the original estimated release date was November of last year.  But with her recent announcement that she will be signing to a major label soon, the delays are understandable as it's obvious that the young woman has been a bit busy.  But it's here now and we can put all those Florrieless nights of torment behind us.

So, was it worth the wait?



Yes.

Honestly, even if the entire EP had just consisted of the first track, "Shot You Down", I would not have been disappointed at all.  It's the first time Florrie has sounded a bit menacing and it is a very, very good sound for her.  It immediately stands out as one of her best songs yet, right up there with "I Took a Little Something" (her best song, don't argue with me) from her previous EP, Experiments.  In fact, it's a highlight of the year so far.  Also, it's obviously a song about how our sweet, innocent Florrie has actually murdered someone.  (I don't believe in metaphors.)

The other three songs on the EP aren't quite as good, but only because the first one is so great.  It's above average pop all around.  Of the remaining three, I especially like "To the End".

But even while this EP is incredibly enjoyable, you can't help but wonder what she's holding back.  If all goes according to plan, this will be her last independent release and over the past several months, she has mentioned recording a lot of material.  I know at some point she said she had 18 new songs and I'm sure she's recorded more since then.  Obviously she intends for a lot of those songs to go on her debut full length.  In her announcement about signing to a label, she even mentioned that she has two songs in particular with which she will be launching her big ol' popstar career.  So, while none of this is meant as an insult to the songs on the EP, it just seems like maybe we are on the cusp of something even bigger and better from our dear Florrie.  This isn't a complaint.  There is nothing bad about getting a great EP now and then hopefully an even more amazing full length album sometime further down the road.

Also, in her transition from "our popstar" to everyone's popstar, I'm sure she'll be collaborating with lots of producers she hasn't worked with previously.  And I am completely fine with that (I don't expect Florrie to start making any LOLpop anytime soon), but I really hope Xenomania and Fred Falke stay involved in her future.  I don't even know to what extent they were involved on this one, but those are incredibly good friends to have around.  And speaking of Fred, when can we expect the inevitable fantastic remix of at least one of these songs?

Late is out now on iTunes and probably several other digital retailers.  And you can also stream the whole thing on her website here.

THE SOUND OF ARROWS - CONQUEST

I think it's pretty obvious from the things I've posted on this blog so far that I generally prefer female vocalists in pop music.  I don't know whether I'm just really picky when it comes to male vocalists or if the ladies are actually just generally more interesting.  But I love The Sound of Arrows.  And not just in a "they're pretty good for guys" sort of way (Does anyone actually say things like that?).  They are genuinely up their with my favorites.  Their album, Voyage, would have to be somewhere in my top ten favorite albums of last year.  I never actually took the time to make a list last year, but when I say they're in the top ten, it certainly doesn't feel wrong.

Anyway, here's their video for new single, "Conquest".  The song is amazing.  The video is gorgeous.  But there are some naked (painted) lady breasts on display.  So, don't watch around the breast-sensitive.



Was this article a bit  sexist?  I literally do not know.

KYLIE - TIMEBOMB (VIDEO)

Oh, my pop god.  I don't really understand the "plot" of this video, but I DON'T CARE.  It starts off with Kylie being very rude to a couple of people and then she walks into a club and then I think the rest of the video is about her being the most amazing person on the planet.  She also reveals that under her clothes she is wearing a ridiculous not really a dress dress.

So, to sum it all up... PERFECT PERSON.

KYLIE - TIMEBOMB

AHHHHHHH!!!!!!


KYLIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!


*Deep breath*

Okay.  The new Kylie single is online!  It's pretty great!  On the first five listens, it's not one the greatest Kylie songs ever.  But that's nothing to be disappointed about.  When your discography includes songs like "I Believe in You" and "Love at First Sight", you can't be expected to reach those heights every time.  But what it is is an incredibly fun, summery electro jam courtesy of the princess of pop.  And that is a truly amazing thing to be listening to in the summer of 2012.  The only bad thing about the song is that I want more.  I don't want this to just be a K25 single.  I want a proper new Kylie album.  It's hard not to be greedy when you love someone so much.



I'll post the video tomorrow morning and probably freak out all over again.

FAYE - WATER AGAINST THE ROCKS

Good lord, I love Sweden.  And I have a few theories about why they churn out so much amazing pop music year after year.

1.  A team of Swedish scientists spent many years studying pop and finally developed and put popbots into production.  Now there is a secret popbot factory hidden somewhere in Sweden and incredible popstars like Faye come out on an assembly line.

2.  Swedes grow up being trained to become brilliant popstars.  As babies, their parents put them in their cribs and then place headphones on their ears and they listen to Swedish heroes, ABBA, as they slumber.  As they grow a bit older, they are sent off to pop boarding school where they take several intense courses on how to be amazing.  And if they are caught listening to anything terrible, they are quickly and severely punished.  Harsh, but it gets results.

3.  The final and most likely theory is that they are the direct descendants of the Pop Gods themselves so it is literally in their blood.

Faye is a former member of the girlband, Play.  I vaguely remember them from when I was in high school, but I can't speak for their quality (I will be doing some youtube searching later).  But one thing is for sure and that is that this song, one of two songs launching her solo career, is remarkable.  It is a delicious slice of electronic pop pie.  And I don't even like pie that much.  But I will make an exception for this. It was produced by Stockholm duo Montauk who are doing more (all?) of the production work on Faye's upcoming album. The digital single is coming to iTunes on June 25th and there is a 7" with these two songs coming out in July.



And here is the previous single, or promotional piece, or whatever.  And predictably, it is also incredible.  And the video is quite nice, too.


And here are Faye's online presences:
Twitter
Facebook

KELLY CLARKSON - DARK SIDE

THIS IS A REALLY GOOD SONG.

That's really all I have to say about it. 

But speaking of Kelly Clarkson, I'm going to be watching Duets tonight.  Pretty much just for her.  And I have a confession to make.  I have never watched an episode of one of these singing competition shows all the way through.  I don't really know why.  But I am trying to turn over a new leaf.  And I am starting with Duets.  I'm really not convinced it'll be the best one to start with, but it does have Kelly in it so it won't be all bad.  And of course, I'm excited about Britney being on X Factor USA this year and if I lived in the UK, I would be properly excited about seeing Geri Halliwell on that one.  Shmanyway, maybe I will report how I feel about the show and MAYBE I WON'T.  Can you handle the suspense?  Do you care? (No, you don't)

Oh, and back to the reason I started this post in the first place, the video for "Dark Side".  It is appropriately one of those inspirational sort of deals, which is nice if you like that sort of thing.  Enjoy. (I command you.)

JENNIFER LOPEZ - DANCE AGAIN (solo version)

I think rap songs with pop choruses work way more often than pop songs with guest rap verses.  Usually it seems like the guest rapper is just thrown into the studio with little to no idea what the actual song is about so you end up with this break from the song's natural progression in order to accompany someone who is just rapping about being awesome.  And so the song slows down and loses focus for no reason other than, "Wouldn't it be nice if we had two popular people on this song instead of just one?"  Don't get me wrong.  I'm not saying it never works.  For instance, I really like "Oh" by Ciara and Ludacris.  And sometimes even when it does work well, it's not really necessary.  Would "Crazy in Love" or "Umbrella" be any less incredible without Jay-Z?  The answer to that question is, "No," in case you were wondering.  And as much as I love rap music, more often than not, I just find these pairings detrimental to the song.  Feel free to prove me wrong by offering other wonderful examples, though.  If being proven wrong means being introduced to or reminded of amazing songs, I'm all for it.

But in this case, I am extremely happy to have a solo version of "Dance Again".  Now it's finally allowed to be the song it should have been all along; a song about dancing and loving and dancing again all the way through.  And it's brilliant.  It's totally one of those hands-in-the-air, "OH MY GOD I LOVE MY LIFE SO MUCH RIGHT NOW," songs.  And what more could you want from a dance song?




P.S. Sorry for the lack of updates recently. My internet hasn't been very dependable lately. Sometimes it's normal and sometimes it's so ridiculously slow that I can't even watch YouTube videos (Life without Girls Aloud videos is very cold, indeed) or listen to Soundclouds. Hopefully it'll be back to normal soon.

CHERYL - TELESCOPE

Two b-sides to "Call My Name" have surfaced online.  This one, "Telescope", is really lovely.  I was not expecting one of the b-sides to be a ballad.  And being really picky when it comes to ballads, I also was not expecting to like it so much.  Especially since it's not an electro-pop ballad, but a proper piano & strings ballad.  Perhaps it's the handclaps that do it for me.  It is short and sweet and not overwrought.  And because Cheryl doesn't have the strongest voice (that's not an insult), there's no ridiculous, unnecessary vocal acrobatics to bring it all over the top.  Thank you, subtlety.  Thank you, Cheryl.

SOMETHING AMAZING.

Here are the 1989 Miss USA contestants singing Kylie's "I Should Be So Lucky". BRILLIANT.


The credit for finding this incredible piece of American/Australian history goes to Lucy Holmes (Kylie impersonator extraordinaire) who tweeted Steve Anderson. Thank you for finding it!

DONNA SUMMER 1948-2012

HAIM - FOREVER EP

Well, this was a surprise.  I was on Twitter earlier today scanning through the hundreds of tweets that all of the UK people had posted because they'd already been awake for most of the day (admittedly, I didn't wake up til around noon) and I saw one from songwriter extraordinaire, Hannah Robinson.  It was a YouTube video of a song by a band called Haim she said she'd been listening to.  And when Hannah Robinson says she's been listening to something, you listen to it, too.  So, I favorited it because Twitter doesn't have a "save for later" option.

So, after eating lunch and doing some work around the house, I came back to my computer to play the video.  But I didn't really look at it (it's just a still photo anyway) and didn't read any info under the video.  I was wandering around my bedroom doing whatever while the song was playing, but pretty soon after it started, I was paying less attention to what I was doing and focusing more on dancing all over the place and singing along (I never let not knowing the words stop me).  And I was thinking to myself, "Why have I never heard of this incredible 80s pop band called Haim?!"  So, after the song was over, I looked them up on Wikipedia and only found lists of people with Haim as a surname or given name.  "Huh,"  I thought, "Must not have been that popular."  So, I looked them up on Discogs and couldn't find them there either.  So, I finally decided to actually look at the video.

Turned out it was actually uploaded by the band in February of this year.  And there was a link to download the EP for free (which is very nice of them).  And yep, they are a new (or at least newish) band from Los Angeles, but I literally thought I was listening to an actual pop band from the 1980s for a full eight minutes, at least.  And I know for some people, that's going to be a turn off.  But seriously, if you are going to deny yourself the pleasure of a ridiculously amazing pop song just because it sounds like something that came from a decade that is not this one, then you are a masochist.  And that's a fact.  You cannot argue with me on this one.

Here is the song that blew my mind today.



And you can download the Forever EP here.  It has two more really great songs on it.  "Go Slow" is really quite beautiful. 

Thank you, HAIM.  And thank you, Hannah Robinson.

QUEEN OF HEARTS - NEON / TEARS IN THE RAIN OUT TODAY

There's a lot of artists out there actively trying to sound just like the classic Italo disco/Italo house bands of the late 70s and 80s.  Some of them are great and some of them not so great.  But most of them don't really give me the same feeling as listening to masterpieces of the era like Valerie Dore's "The Night".  Maybe they're not trying hard enough or maybe they're trying too hard.  Or maybe they just don't get what made the genre so great in the first place.

Queen of Hearts gets it.  She is the second coming of Valerie Dore.  And not knowing what her influences are, I'm not even sure if it's something she was aiming for.  She's certainly not as focused on emulating the style as some others.  But it's the spirit of her songs.  The feelings they inspire.  The sheer heavenliness of her voice and every other sound you hear on each of her songs.

The Neon/Tears in the Rain double a-side single is out today.  You've already seen me rambling about how much I love the two a-sides, but if you buy the digital version you get the bonus tracks, "Forgive Me" (produced by Ercola) and "No More" (produced by John Myers).  And they are both incredible.  This thing could have been a quadruple a-side.

I'm going to make a bold statement.  For my particular tastes, no one will make better music in 2012 than Queen of Hearts.  Her music is so good that it makes my writing about ten times sappier.

You can buy the 7" here at ATG
and the digital version (with the bonus tracks) on iTunes or 7digital

GIRLS ALOUD IN THE STUDIO WITH XENOMANIA

Nadine Coyle tweeted yesterday about being back in the studio with Brian Higgins and Xenomania.  But she didn't say whether or not it was for new solo material or for the Girls Aloud reunion.  Well, now the speculation can come to a close because Xenomania has tweeted that they have been in the studio with Nicola, Kimberley, and Sarah over the last week.  (!!!)  And they are prepping to go into the studio with Nadine for GA sessions.  This is THE BEST DAY EVER.  Until the new single/album/whatever actually comes out.  Please, pop gods, let it be a full album.  Let's celebrate by watching this.

GRIMES - NIGHTMUSIC (video, NSFW)

Visions is one of the best albums of 2012 so far thanks to Grimes' unique brand of helium-pop.  At first you may be struck by its weirdness, but once you sit with it for a while and become familiar, its charms become more immediate.  Underneath the hazy, otherworldly atmosphere is really just a load of lovely pop tunes.  And now Grimes has released this video for "Nightmusic".  Which is very nice indeed because "Nightmusic" was a highlight of the album.

If you were planning on watching this video at your place of employment,  BEWARE!  For it is unsafe!  It features a few butts and at least one instance of a female nipple... eek!  Although, I've always wondered; if you have a job where it is okay to watch music videos, would it really be that big of  a problem to watch one like this?  Anywhoodle, aside from from a few naked folks, I'm pretty sure Claire Boucher is portraying a fairy/wood nymph, or something.

I'm really hoping "Vowels = Space and Time" or "Be a Body" are the next single (is it still called a single if there is just a music video and no physical or digital product?).

So, yeah, to sum it up, good song, good video, good job. THANKS, GRIMES.

QUEEN OF HEARTS - NEON (video)

I hope there's not a long amount of time between the release of "Neon/Tears in the Rain" and whatever she has planned for after that.  It would be kind of depressing not to have a reason to talk about her all the time on this blog.

Anyway, this video is her best one yet.  "Neon/Tears in the Rain" comes out via ATG Records as a 7" and digitally with bonus tracks on May 14th.  Buy it, buy it, buy it!

HANDS - WAKE UP

Got an e-mail (My first one for this blog. Yay!) about this pop duo from Norway (land of the pop gods) the other day, but didn't see it until about an hour ago.  They are called HandS and the band consists of two attractive people named Hakon and Sofie.  And from what I can tell so far, they're also pretty great.

Their debut single, "Wake Up", is a very smart r&b/electropop hybrid that brings to mind The Weeknd, Robyn, and Rihanna without being really blatant about any of those influences.  It gets better with each listen.  It grew on me more and more each time I listened to it, which is quite a nice thing for a song to do.  Thank you, song.  Hakon and Sofie's voices sound perfect together, the chorus is a stunner and the production is top-notch.  I don't know what record labels/bands have to do to make songs go from being an amazing song some people are talking about on the internet to being an amazing song everyone has heard.  But they should do that.  So simple, right?

The song is out now on Elsker, which is an imprint of Tellé Records.  I'm not sure whether or not it was released in a physical form, but you can find it on iTunes.  The band is currently working on its debut album and I'm really looking forward to it.

I also imagine that with a name like HandS, they might be a little hard to Google so here's a link to their website, which has links to their Facebook and Twitter and stuff:  http://hands-music.tumblr.com/

ICONA POP - I LOVE IT

Icona Pop were already great pop artists in my book by releasing the Nights Like This EP which included four amazing songs.  I especially liked "Manners".  But with this song, they should become superstars.  And the best thing about it is they didn't even change their sound in order to achieve that deserved promotion.  It's just like they came around and said, "Oh, hello, you weren't paying close enough attention earlier, but we are actually even more amazing than you thought."

And actually, I lied.  Them not changing their sound is not the best part.  The actual best part is how infectiously, joyously, defiantly fun the whole thing is.  It's basically an almost three minute long megachorus about being young and ridiculous, but pulls off the magic trick of making you want to be young and ridiculous again.  Unless you still are and then I'm assuming it will just make you feel like you are one of the most awesome people in the world. 

And to everyone else who wants to make the summer anthem of 2012, you better step up your game.

AMAZING UPDATE: I just found out this amazing song was written by the amazing Charli XCX. Amazing.

QUEEN OF HEARTS - TEARS IN THE RAIN

I'm starting to think that I should just turn this blog into a Queen of Hearts fansite.  I had actually wanted to post some reviews of more artists before she released anything else, but I was really busy the past couple of days.  And then this came out.  And I couldn't not review it.

I seriously wonder if Queen of Hearts can even make mistakes.  This song is absolutely gorgeous.  It's at once sad and triumphant.  It's awe-inspiring.  It's flawless.  The "oh oh, oh oh, oh oh" part just absolutely slays me.  I feel crushed under the weight of it and uplifted simultaneously.  It's delicate and invincible.  This track positively soars.  I can't wait to drive around in my car at night listening to this song over and over again.  This isn't hyperbole.  This song is perfect.  I'm on my fifth listen already and I just downloaded it.  She is quickly becoming one of my favorite artists and the day that she comes out with a full length album will be one of the best days of whichever year that happens.  I'm really hoping it's this one.  Following her career promises to be extremely rewarding.

The song was produced by also incredible person, Stefan Storm of Sound of Arrows.  You can download it for free for a limited time from http://www.arjanwrites.com/arjanwrites/2012/05/free-mp3-queen-of-hearts-tears-in-the-rain-exclusive-premiere.html

Thank you, Queen.  You're the best.

CHERYL - CALL MY NAME (video)

So, here's the new Cheryl video.  She walks through a tunnel, she dances with some guys while wearing Hammer pants, and she drives around a bit.  But who am I kidding?  This is Cheryl so even if she was just sitting in a chair the entire time, I would still get excited.  Plus, the dancing seems like it was really good.  (Editor's note: This writer knows nothing about dancing. (Editor's note, pt. II:  The editor is also the writer.))

PLUS, this song is really great.  I'm hoping the rest of the producers on the album can live up to what Calvin Harris has done with this one.  Because as it stands right now, I am really pumped up for A Million Lights.  Third plus, Lana Del Rey collaboration (!).

But really, I just want this album to hurry up and come out and sell a bajillion copies so we can all get on with this Girls Aloud reunion and all can be right with the world again.  Thank you very much.

QUEEN OF HEARTS - NEON

This song has already been making the rounds on the bloggernet for a bit so you may be getting sick of hearing about it.  But I don't see how that's possible considering how absolutely INCREDIBLE it is.

As if The Arrival EP and her guest appearance on Johan Agebjörn's album, Casablanca Nights, wasn't enough to make one profess inordinate amounts of love for this brilliant woman's music, Queen of Hearts had to go and drop this gem on us (Did I just accidentally reference Mobb Deep?).  It is one of those rare songs that is a total banger, but you could probably cry to it if you were in the right (wrong?) mood.  It has huge, fist-pumping, steering wheel pounding moments, but those moments are more visceral than purely physical.

If this song doesn't end up on my best of 2012 list, then it will mean one of two things.  Either the rest of the year was absolutely out of this world incredible or the much more likely scenario being that the Apocalypse has actually occurred and I am too busy trying to survive zombie attacks or something to make music lists.

But the amazingness doesn't stop there.  After two great remixes by Lightwaves and Ghost Beach, legendary electronic musician and producer, Mark Reeder, decided to have a go at the track.  And of course, it's also quite impressive.

Personally, I still prefer the original, but all of them are genuinely worth listening to...a lot.


The Neon/Tears in the Rain double A-side 7" is available for preorder now at http://atgrecords.com/2012/04/atg-records-003-queen-of-hearts-neontears-in-the-rain/

Official website:  http://iamqueenofhearts.com/

INAUGURAL POST

Hello!  Welcome to Positively Pop.  This is my new music blog.  I'll be posting reviews and news and opinions and not news, etc, etc.  And as you can tell from the name, I'll be mostly focusing on pop music.  Dance-pop, synthpop, indie pop, Europop, bubblegum pop, and just plain ol' pop pop.

But that's not to say that I won't sometimes wander outside the warm embrace of pop.  If there's something else I feel is worth telling people about, I will straight up tell you.

My main reason for making this blog is that I have felt for a long while now that there is too much negativity on the internet (and in real life, too).  I understand that negative music reviews serve a purpose, but sometimes it seems like journalists are just having fun eviscerating an artist more than they are actually writing honest criticism.  I feel especially bad for new artists who get bad or even mediocre reviews.  For example, if you are on one of your favorite music sites and they post several reviews a day and you read a review that gives a band you've never heard of a 5 out of 10 score, chances are you're not going to feel the need to check out that band's album (even though they may actually be amazing).  It's just a matter of not having enough time to check everything out.  So, I wanted to create a place free from negativity.  A place where music can feel safe.  If you see me reviewing something, I definitely think it's worth getting or at least investigating further.  If I don't like it, I won't review it.  (Full disclosure:  I may occasionally have mixed feelings about something and mention that)

In the next few days I'll be posting some reviews of songs I've been digging lately.  You've probably seen them posted elsewhere by now, but I'm just trying to play catch up/get into the swing of things.

So, pop fans, hope you enjoy it.  And pop creators, send me your music!  I can't guarantee I'll review it, but I can guarantee you won't see me needlessly bashing your tunes.