Time once more to inflict on you another selection of the newer songs that have pricked up my ears of late...
Opening this week's show is a gay pioneer and owner of one of the most "Marmite-like" voices in pop (you either like it or you hate it - I like it), Darren Hayes. Having been rather unimpressed by his last effort Talk Talk Talk (I preferred the bonus track, his cover of Madonna's Angel), the lovely Mr Hayes has a new, and rather fabulous, single out - Black Out The Sun. With its swooping orchestration and its anthemic melodrama, this has a feel reminiscent of some of Take That's recent material, and I love it!
From swooping to spooky, this is a real discovery. Majiker (alias Matthew Ker) is a long-term collaborator with the first lady of cool, French singer Camille (of Nouvelle Vague fame). His solo album House of Bones is apparently inspired by "ghost stories, haunted house movies from the 1940s and Norse mythology" (and indeed Neil Tennant, I guess), and from it the new single (free to download from his website) is the strange but compelling The Struggle:
Taking more of an electro curve, here's a new collaboration between the incredibly cool SirPaul (who I featured back in June) and Noo Yawk DJ Alex Lauterstein (who has worked with everyone including Danny Tenaglia, Peter Rauhofer and David Guetta). Calling themselves Simulover, this is their new number, the rather kinky and rather brilliant Tourniquet:
From the sublime, etc, etc... This is a bit of a "guilty pleasure". For as much as I tried to hate this new song by some juvenile called Selena Gomez (apparently another Disney Channel "star" a la that Bieber creature; she reminds me of one of those awful child beauty pageant entrants from the inbred American Midwest), Love You Like A Love Song has unfortunately crept into my consciousness...
And, finally - "When you're down, bring your inner diva around!" What better an uplifting message do we need from a song? This anti-gay-bullying demi-anthem Sparkle is the latest production of the splendid Sir Ari Gold, featuring guest vocals by a genuine diva - Sarah Dash who was one of the original members of 70s superstars Labelle (with Patti Labelle and Nona Hendrix)! The rather cute Sir Ari (when exactly was he knighted?) continues his sterling work to bring awareness to gay rights issues - and more power to his efforts!
[Thanks to the lovely JD Doyle over at the magnificent Queer Music Heritage for the heads up!]
Enjoy!
A fab selection as always dear.
ReplyDeleteAs you know I do like Marmite and indeed the voice of Darren Hayes.
'Majiker' was a little too dark for me.
Loved 'Tourniquet', tried to dislike 'Love You Like A Love Song ' but failed its actually very jolly.
Sarah Dash was wonderful as was Sir Harry's lounge jacket
Keep up the good work
xxx
t