Time for another round (ding, ding!) of some of the newer music to catch our attention lately...
Let's kick this off with a bit of sunshine-y Columbian carnival music, courtesy of Quantic featuring Pongolove, with the marimba-overloaded Duvidó. Look out for "Glitterball Man" in the video!
Here's something most bizarre - a recent discovery courtesy of my erstwhile other half Madam Acarti. It's not new (it's about five years old), but it is truly camp-as-tits. It's Pink Turtle and their version of Walk on the Wild Side!
Those fab Aussies Parralox have been plonking loads of music on their YouTube page lately. Of their recent output, this track Black Jeans really stood out and grabbed my attention. It's synth-tastic, pop-pickers!
'Tis (always) the season for silly band names, and Utah's finest Oh, Be Clever is no exception - but their song Next To You is not bad at all, regardless:
Here's an interesting one from a lady by the name of Kiesza (no relation to Kei$ha, apparently) - with a video featuring some rather good Madonna-circa-1983-esque dancing - it's the extremely catchy Hideaway (no relation to the classic by De'Lacy, either):
Our chum Marcus Reeves is not backward in coming forward about anti-gay discrimination, and was spurred (as were so many artists, I am pleased to note) to release this new song as a reaction to the evil-doings of Putin and his band of bigots - with an excellent video featuring (among many others) another of our pals Roland, as well as the adorable Adele Anderson (of Fascinating Aida), here's Russian Roulette:
According to the Spartacus Gay Travel Index, Sweden has succeeded in coming out on top as the most gay friendly country in the world, edging out the competition thanks to its progressive anti-discrimination laws. The UK has come joint second along with France, Belgium and The Netherlands. At the other end of the spectrum, Iran has been judged the most hostile nation for gay travellers, being awarded the maximum point deductions under the prosecution, murders and death penalty categories.
Thus (as the lovely Muscato thankfully drew our attention to it), the fact that Iran's number one most revered female singer of the pre- (and post-) revolution era in the benighted country formerly known as Persia, the lovely Googoosh has chosen to release this particular song and video is all the more remarkable. It's beautiful; it's Behesht:
Wow.
And, finally... Our Princess Kylie Minogue has issued a pre-release stream of her forthcoming album Kiss Me Once - and on first listen, it's rather good. Here is is in its entirety:
[If the widget doesn't work, visit The Guardian website.]
Enjoy, peeps - and as always, let me know what you think!
Well, let's get cracking...
ReplyDeleteAs you know, I am not listening to the Kylie album until I get my physical copies. But I am quite excited - I just hope that having it available for stream for a week before it's released won't hurt sales (Madonna's latest album was available this way in Russia before it was released - more than 2 million streams in less than a week, but it sold about half a million copies over there. To be fair though, I don't think a lot of people actually pay for music over there). In any case, I am thrilled that the princess is back and I hope she drops that dreadful talent show ASAP and starts to promote the record!
"Quantic" is not bad, and makes me want to be someplace else right now! And that version of "Take A Walk On The Wild Side" is really rather good.
I quite like Parralox and this is a fine song, although not my favorite of theirs. The Googoosh song is quite beautiful and the video is a great one. The same can not be said for "Russian Roulette". I am glad that the has been some much awareness all over the world about what has been happening over there, and there have been some excellent songs and videos made to draw further attention to it. Some have been fantastic (Xelle for example), and some have not really worked, at least not for me. In the case of this particular song, it just felt over sentimental/corny and I couldn't really get through it. But kudos to anyone who uses their position to bring home their views and feelings on the issue of gay rights - I'm sure there are a lot of people out there that enjoy this particular song more then I do. The fact that Sweden is so gay friendly is hardly a surprise - it is after all the country that gave us the likes of Army of Lovers, Alcazar, After Dark, Babsan etc - and of course the Melodifestivalen ;)
Now, on to the really good stuff: "Hideaway" is a fun little track, and yes - the choreography really does remind me of pre-"True Blue" Madonna. Excellent. But my favorite of the bunch: Oh, To Be Clever. Exactly what I needed on a gloomy Tuesday to perk me up!
Thanks and as always, keep up the good work :)
Once again, I am pleased you found the time to listen and found some things you liked - Oh, Be Clever was quite a find, methinks, and I just adore Googoosh (I am hunting down more by the lady as we speak).
DeleteAs for the Kylie preview, I agree that it may not exactly help her sales by becoming a BBC "employee" and therefore unable to adequately promote it, but on listening, I repeat my observations as I posted them over at your own blog: despite the fact Kylie's voice has been somewhat "over-produced" in the autotune department, on the whole this is not a bad album at all (thank heavens)! Standout tracks: "Sexy Love", "Feels So Good", "Les Sex", "Kiss Me Once", "Fine" and (of course) "Into the Blue". Even the duet "Beautiful" with Enrique is OK.
Onward and upward!
Jx
Darling, I shall always find the time to check out your selections - there is always something there I like and several have ended up being big favorites of mine.
Deletethese old ears found "hideaway" quite fun!
ReplyDeleteLet's see you "throw some shapes", Norma! Jx
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