¡Nuevas melodías!

Madonna, GaGa and Christina Aguilera approve.

Frustratingly, it was a delightful Spring day today while I was stuck in the benighted office...

How about a little selection of the "newer" music that has caught my ear of late, to cheer things up a bit?

To open proceedings, here's a queen who's definitely overdosed on old Todrick Hall videos:

Boy Blu - Platinum Pleasure

Next - quite a surprise, as the artist formerly known as "Sporty Spice" makes a very welcome return, more than twenty years since her last solo Top Ten hit. Why no video? It's a mystery. Great song, though!

Melanie C - What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Side-stepping a little bit from the mainstream, it's always good to know that the icon that is Iggy Pop can still be dragged out into the light to make new music. When it's the eccentric Anna Calvi doing the asking, I guess it's hard to resist...

Anna Calvi feat. Iggy Pop - God’s Lonely Man

Our absolute favourite Spanish goths-turned-dance-act Fangoria never fail to please - and I adore their new one! "A little bit of everything", apparently:

Fangoria - Un poco todo

Miss Jessie Ware is rapidly becoming a firm favourite here at Dolores Delargo Towers, and for the video for her latest faboo (Ennio Morricone western-inspired) choon, she's only gone and roped-in [geddit?] the lovely James Norton as "The Cowboy". Lucky bitch!

Jessie Ware - Ride

And finally - saving the best to last, I am eternally grateful to our Blogger chum Mr DeVice for alerting me to this one! A meeting of true minds, where Neath's finest son and the legend that is Ana Matronic are concerned, methinks:

Bright Light Bright Light & Ana Matronic - Cold Sweat, Hot Boys

My kind of evening!

As ever, dear reader, I love to hear your thoughts...

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STOP PRESS:

The UK's entry for Eurovision in May has been announced. I love it!

Look Mum No Computer - Eins, Zwei, Drei [United Kingdom entry, Eurovision Song Contest 2026]

[NB If you can't see the video, try here]

Ana Matronic's kiki is over

In the latest round of "why the fuck?" reshuffling at BBC Radio 2, another of our all-time favourite shows (presented by one of our all-time favourite Divas) has been axed - Ana Matronic's Dance Devotion!

Aside from her stint with the campest band of the past few decades, Scissor Sisters, Ms Matronic's musical influence and knowledge is far-reaching, and I have picked up many, many choons and/or remixes that I have never heard anywhere else except on her show - and, inevitably shared them here with you, dear reader... Back in August last year, I highlighted loads of such faboo tracks for which I owe the lady a great debt.

I am utterly pissed-off at this decision by Auntie Beeb, so, before she disappears to pastures new - let's have proper send-off party with another selection of highlights - tracks first heard, or on heavy rotation, on her brilliant show, for your delectation:

Tim Deluxe feat. Sam Obernik - It Just Won't Do

Camelphat and Elderbrook - Cola

Boris Dlugosch Presents Booom (feat Inaya Day) - Keep Pushin'

Magnifique - Magnifique

Kariya - Let Me Love You For Tonight

The Shamanic Feat Andrea Love - Fire

Sub Sub - Ain't No Love, Ain't No Use

Crystal Waters & Musique Boutique - Gypsy Woman (Gianni Coletti vs Keejay Freak Remix)

Janelle Monáe - Dance Apocalyptic (Chocolate Puma Remix)

Oceanic - Insanity

Now that's what I call a "leaving do"!

Ana Matronic's last-ever Dance Devotion show will be on Radio 2 on Saturday 18th June 2022 - miss it if you dare!

One last thing...

Scissor Sisters - Let's Have A Kiki (instructional video)

Ha-ha-honey!

We salute you.

Madonna has a Kiki

It's Our Glorious Leader Queen Madge's 63rd birthday today, and she's looking rather fab...

All hail!

She even has the Scissor Sisters round for tea, h-h-honey...

Many happy returns, Madonna Louise Ciccone (born 16th August 1958)

Mighty and real

Me, Madam Arcati and Baby Steve, doing what we do...

Normally, on a Sunday I might choose to feature something typical of the sort of music BBC Radio 2 used to play; we call it "Sunday Music", indeed. You know the sort of thing - Big Bands, Dance Bands, crooners, Lounge music, general laid-back-ness.

Not this Sunday!

I have been so utterly pissed-off by the fact that I have had a fortnight's leave [admittedly relaxing, with lots of lie-ins, and all that] which was meant to encompass a picnic in Regent's Park (cancelled due to the fucking shit weather - which also meant any chance of lounging/pottering in the garden was out of bounds until Tuesday this week - and replaced by a drinking sesh in a Wetherspoons), a long weekend in my fave city on earth Amsterdam (which was cancelled due to onerous COVID restrictions) for my birthday, and to be topped-off with a mass gathering for our first post-lockdown live on-stage musical Anything Goes (which was also cancelled at short notice due to fucking COVID stuff), that this Sunday - my last day before returning to the joys of working for a living - I am determined to rave till my tits fall off!

A good enough excuse for a blow-out is the fact it happened to be the birthday yesterday of our "Patron Saint of Dance Music" Miss Ana Matronic - so in her honour, here's a collection of choons I either originally heard on her radio show or I know she has featured over the years...

Enjoy, dear chums!

Erick E - The Beat Is Rockin'

Vikki Love with Nuance - Stop Playing on Me

Mr. Tophat - Time Lapse (DJ Tennis Disko Bang Club Mix)

Delerium ft. Sarah McLachlan - Silence (Airscape Remix)

Crystal Waters - 100% Pure Love

Joe Goddard feat. Valentina - Gabriel

Moloko - Sing It Back (Mousse T Feel Love mix)

Freaks - The Creeps (Get On The Dancefloor)

Sylvester - You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) [Ralphi Rosario Dub Mix]

Now THAT is how to end a disappointing fortnight's "holiday" - with a bang!

I'm a classy honey kissy huggy lovey dovey ghetto princess

Oh! The relief...

I have finally had my hair cut - the first time in five long, long months!

Because I am in such an ecstatic frame of mind, how about an old favourite from an appropriately-named band to whip up the mood a bit more?!

Scissor Sisters - Filthy/Gorgeous

I am filthy. And I'm gorgeous.

You gotta wrap your fuzzy with a big red bow

It's the Feast of Our Lady of Sleazy New York Disco, otherwise referred to as Miss Ana Matronic's birthday! All hail.

Most famous, of course, as the frontwoman of one of our all-time fave bands here at Dolores Delargo Towers, the Scissor Sisters, it is quite sad that (just in time for her birthday party), her erstwhile partner-in-crime the gorgeous Jake Shears has confirmed that the Sisters' "hiaitus" [which has been going on for six years] is more-or-less a permanent break-up, after all. I'm wearing a black armband as we speak, sweetie...

Never mind, by way of a tribute to the great lady (and the sexy man) - here are the Sisters at their very best. It's my life's anthem.

All together, now!

Scissor Sisters - Filthy/Gorgeous

When you're walkin' down the street
And the man tries to get your business
And the people that you meet
Want to open you up like Christmas
You gotta wrap your fuzzy with a big red bow
Ain't no sum bitch gonna treat me like a ho
I'm a classy honey kissy huggy lovey dovey ghetto princess

Cause you're filthy oooh, and I'm gorgeous
Cause you're filthy oooh, and I'm gorgeous
You're disgusting oooh, and you're nasty
And you can grab me oooh, cause you're nasty

When you're runnin' from a trick
And you trip on a hit of acid
You gotta work for the man
But your biggest moneymakers' flaccid
You gotta keep your shit together
With your feet on the ground
There ain't no one gonna listen
If you haven't made a sound
You're an acid junkie college flunky dirty puppy daddy bastard

Cause you're filthy oooh, and I'm gorgeous
Cause you're filthy oooh, and I'm gorgeous
You're disgusting oooh, and you're nasty
And you can grab me oooh, cause you're nasty

Cause you're filthy, oooh, and I'm gorgeous
Cause you're filthy, oooh, and I'm gorgeous
You're disgusting, oooh, and you're nasty
And you can grab me, oooh, cause you're nasty

Remarkably, given my utter adoration of that track since I first heard it way back in 2004 - unless my blog search facility or, indeed, I have gone completely tits-up, I don't believe I have ever featured it on this blog before!

To redress the balance somewhat, how about a mash-up of Scissor Sisters' magnum opus with an all-time classic from the Rocky Horror Picture Show...?

[2020 UPDATE: gone from the interwebs, unfortunately.]

Pop-tart-tastic-ness

There has been another shockingly long gap between my posts showcasing the "newer music" that has caught my ear. For that, I apologise (as if anyone is champing at the bit - I wish I had that many fans...)

Enough of the bullshit, on with the show.

Fist up, inevitably, are a couple of stalwarts. Madonna's Ghosttown is a remarkably beautiful song - her voice hasn't sounded better in years, in my opinion. The video, too, is excellent. She is the renowned mistress of promotion. So why was this not a smash hit? It never even reached inside the Top 100 in the UK...

Madonna - Ghosttown

"Our Willy" - Will Young - is another brilliant artist who has never really managed to recapture the brief, heady days of his initial success, despite releasing several utterly fabulous singles in recent years. He is a trillion times better than such current world-beating dross as Sam Smith or Ed Sheeran! I was chuffed to bits when his latest album 85 Percent [read a fab interview in The Guardian with Will about the album] overtook both those whiners to hit the top of the charts a couple of weeks ago - and from it, this:

Will Young - Like a River

Speaking of comebacks, whoever thought these two would ever dare show their faces again? All "grown up" now, the former-irritating-yoof-chanters Daphne And Celeste have made a surprise return (in a collaboration with a hipster art-pop weirdo by the name of Max Tundra) - and it is surprisingly good!

Daphne & Celeste - And I Alone

A discovery of the faboo Henry (again) at Barbarella's Galaxy (he who scours the underbelly of (mainly) European pop, so you don't have to), here's a lady by the name of Therese and her ever-so-camp Missing Disco. Love this!

Therese - Missing Disco

Our favourite houseboys Kazaky are in demand (not only by my lustful groin), it seems - they've teamed up with top Ukrainian band The Hardkiss on this rather magnificent number:

The HardKiss ft. Kazaky - Strange Moves

Speaking of team-ups, house fave Welsh wannabee-pop-sensation Bright Light Bright Light has as a very special guest on his new single... none other than the diva-goddess herself, Miss Ana Matronic!

Bright Light Bright Light & Ana Matronic - Good Luck

Another familiar artist with a new choon out is the complete oddball Garek - with a sleazy'n'kinky video, to boot:

Garek - My Animal

Those sexy harmonising gay students from Oxford Out of the Blue have released another saucy promo for one of their fundraising efforts (remember Hips Don't Lie last year?). [To donate to their cause, Helen & Douglas House hospice, visit their website]. This time around, they've decided to wiggle their tushes to Lady Marmalade. "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?" Yes please...

Out of the Blue - Lady Marmalade

Another underrated fave artist here at Dolores Delargo Towers is the lovely Miss Róisín Murphy (she of the original extraordinary dressing-up ideas that gradually, bit-by-bit, were subsumed - like Grace Jones' before her - by the Mother Monster GaGa who claimed them as her own invention). After her brief experimentation with the wonders of Italian torch songs, she's back in her own little world again, we're pleased to say:

Róisín Murphy - Exploitation

And finally...Thank Heavens! Uriel Yekutiel is back - continuing his sterling work in adding a load of much-needed camp to the benighted Middle East, he's popped up in yet another promo for Tel Aviv nightspot ARISA, "performing" Sarit Hadad's Circus:

ARISA feat. Sarit Hadad

As ever, enjoy! And let me know what you think...

Magnifique, fantastique

One of the highlights of Saturday nights on BBC Radio 2 (if, as is sometimes my wont, one finds oneself at home alone on a Saturday night) is the delightful Miss Ana Matronic from Scissor Sisters presenting her own singular selection of obscure choons from the dancing days of the disco era.

And, this being the traditional countdown to the weekend - with a distinct likelihood I may be in, listening again, tomorrow night (not tonight, of course - it's pay day!) - here's one of those fantabulosa oddities she played for us last week.

Accompanied by brilliant footage from that eternally kitschy favourite Roller Boogie [2022 UPDATE: Gone from YouTube] - it's the camp-as-tits Magnifique.

Have a great weekend, folks, whatever you do - and Thank Disco It's Friday!

Magnifique - Magnifique

Are you ready for this?
The question is can you take it?
And would you know what to do if you had it?
She say Magnifique!

Magnifique, fantastique
Wow this guy, he's got style, he's so sweet
Magnifique, elastique
Slick and tall, all of them makes me weak
Magnifique, fantastique
How he glides, how he sides, how he speaks
Magnifique, fantastique
It's so nice, say it twice, it's so nice
Come on y'all...

Magnifique, magnifique
Every shake, every twist, with his hips
Magnifique, erotique
I'm so glad what we have in the sheets
Can it be, fantasy?
Sugar boy, make me fly, magnifique
Magnifique, voulez-vous?
Me and you? Not tonight!
That's alright

Magnifique, fantastique
Wow this guy, he's got style, he's so sweet
Magnifique, elastique
Slick and tall, all of them makes me weak
Magnifique, fantastique
How he glides, how he sides, how he speaks
Magnifique, fantastique
It's so nice, say it twice, it's so nice

Going out tonight to the Panorama bar
In my skin-tight knee-highs
All the guys going crazy for my juice
Cut loose, stepping on the coco puffs with the shoes
Don't ya know that there ain't nothin' left to lose
On the dancefloor, search and spectate
You're strange to me when your eyes get googly
Oh...that feels good...and really hot stuff...
C'est Magnifique!

The Scissor Sisters used to cover this song on stage.

Understandably.