Showing posts with label Fangoria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fangoria. Show all posts

Thursday, 5 March 2026

¡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:

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!

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...

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:

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!

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:

My kind of evening!

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


STOP PRESS:

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


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

Wednesday, 22 January 2025

Impudence!

As the weather here in London remains stubbornly cold and miserable, our thoughts (of course!) continue to be preoccupied with our pending return to the delights of the Costa del Sol (one week on Saturday) - and I feel in the mood for one of Spain's most entertaining bands, one of our favourites, and one we haven't featured for a while...

...the ultra-camp sort-of-Goth-cum-dance duo Fangoria!

It may be nowhere near Hallowe'en, but that's not going to stop the terrifyingly startling Alaska and her chums. They're in full haunting mood - forgive their Desfachatez [impudence]...

Facts about (lead singer) the magnificent Alaska:

  • Born Olvido Gara Jova in Mexico, of Spanish/Cuban exile parents, she apparently told her mother when she was a child that she would love to be a boy just to be gay.
  • Her earliest bands Los Pegamoides and Dinarama were heavily influenced by punk and post-punk bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees and Depeche Mode; on forming Fangoria her musical style changed more towards electro-dance.
  • Alaska is widely regarded in Spain as a "gay icon" and is a fervent supporter of Madrid Gay Pride.
  • She had a starring role as Bom in the Pedro Almodóvar film Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón.
Fangoria on Wikipedia

Friday, 1 June 2018

It don't matter


The splendid Hesperis matronalis in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers

I have been making the most of the fact that the rain has held off for the past few days, spending most of my daylight hours [for me on holiday, that usually means - ahem - from 11am] in the garden. Yesterday, I was so pooped with potting and sorting that I - heaven forfend! - didn't even post a blog.

How remiss of me. To make up for that - and to mark the end of another week in our traditional manner (albeit with a Spanish twist, of course) - let's revel in the delights of Señorita Thalia (paying due deference to house faves Fangoria, whose song this originally was) - and Thank Disco It's Friday!!


Have a good one, dear reader!

[ NB A Quien Le Importa means "It doesn't matter" in Spanish]

Monday, 7 May 2018

From Braintree to Benalmadena, and every disco I get in


Blossoms at RHS Hyde Hall

Whew! What a scorcher!

It has been (officially) the hottest May Day Bank Holiday in recorded history - the thermometers reached 28C (82F) today - and (as you, dear reader, may have noticed) I have been away. When people ask in the office tomorrow why I have such a tan; have I been on holiday? I shall answer yes! To Braintree...

The boys - Baby Steve and Houseboy Alex - were very good hosts; driving me across the highways and byways of Essex, to plant nurseries, antiques centres and to the Royal Horticultural Society's excellent gardens at Hyde Hall near Chelmsford.



Needless to say, I left (on the bus from nearby Stansted Airport) today weighed down with plants to fill our new garden - including sixteen new fuchsias from our fave specialist grower B & HM Baker, to add to the four we recently purchased from The Gardening Club. We're on our way to recreating our collection, peeps - fingers crossed the bloody gall mite doesn't get to this new locale...

I have not, of course, forgotten that it is (regardless of bank holidays) still a Tacky Music Monday! The boys and I (obviously) also spent a lot of time sat in their large and rambling garden, enjoying the sunshine - and playing loads of camp music. Like this one...

A block-buster of a collaboration, it not only features the divine Alaska of house favourites Fangoria, but also Baccara(!!), La Prohibida, La Terremoto de Alcorcón, and myriad other Spanish popstrels such as Marta Sánchez, Chenoa, Ruth Lorenzo, Nancys Rubias, Soraya Arnelas, Rosa López, Vicky Larraz, Boris Izaguirre, Javiera Mena, Innocence, and Alberto Jiménez (Miss Cafeína). ¡Muy bien!


That's just the thing to not only round off a lovely long weekend, but also to remind us that is is less than two weeks before we will be back in Spain... for our twentieth anniversary!

Have a good week, one and all...

Wednesday, 1 February 2017

A party in Hell



Our holiday draws ever closer, and a countdown to Spain would not be complete without featuring one of the great wonders of that country - after the Alhambra, the Mezquita de Córdoba and Gaudi's Sagrada Família...

I am talking about that fantabulosa triumph of art over nature Alaska, and her band - house faves here at Dolores Delargo Towers - Fangoria, of course!


Un cuento de hadas desquiciado ["a crazy fairy tale"], indeed!

Sunday, 14 February 2016

Ni tu ni nadie - nadie puede cambiarme



We're back. Sod it!

From unseasonably warm Spain to grim, wet, cold Britain was a bit of a shock to the system last night, but at least we had a fabulous week - sunshine, booze, fun, friends old and new, good food, booze (did I mention that?) - and (of course) the uber-camp Fangoria!

Here's the wonderfully OTT Ni tu ni nadie:


Showgirls and safety gays? - and it's not even a Tacky Music Monday!

Es bueno estar en casa? Realmente no.

Sunday, 25 January 2015

Fang-dabi-dozi!



We're continuing our countdown to Spain today, and it's the turn of a favourite band we haven't featured for a while - the magnificent Fangoria!

It may be nowhere near Hallowe'en, but that's not going to stop the terrifyingly startling Alaska and her chums. They're in full haunting mood - forgive their Desfachatez [impudence]...


Facts about Alaska:
  • Born Olvido Gara Jova in Mexico, of Spanish/Cuban exile parents, she apparently told her mother when she was a child that she would love to be a boy just to be gay.
  • Her earliest bands Los Pegamoides and Dinarama were heavily influenced by punk and post-punk bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees and Depeche Mode; on forming Fangoria her musical style changed more towards electro-dance.
  • Alaska is widely regarded in Spain as a "gay icon" and is a fervent supporter of Madrid Gay Pride.
  • She had a starring role as Bom in the Pedro Almodóvar film Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón.
Fangoria on Wikipedia

Saturday, 2 March 2013

Música pop



It is really about time I shared with you once again, dear reader, some of the weird and wonderful musical discoveries I have made over the last - ahem! - few weeks. The last one I did was in January, after all...

First up, our pop Princess Kylie has had rather a busy time of it over the past year, what with 2012 being her Silver Jubilee'n'all. Concert tours, special appearances, The Abbey Road Sessions, she even starred in a lesbian horror movie Jack & Diane! And to celebrate the coming of the new year, she not only changed management - to RocNation (sigh), home of such favourites (not) as Rihanna, Timbaland and Solange - but has released one of the songs from the aforesaid movie. Here's the very unusual Whistle...


To cheer us all up, Boy George protegés The Supreme Fabulettes' latest single is the camp-as-tits A Drag Queen Is A Cowboy's Best Friend:


Speaking of stalwarts of the "alternative" gay clubbing scene in London, Shinky Shonky impresario Boogaloo Stu has a new single out, a typically retro-sounding track - Magic Soul. It gets under your skin after a while...


I have absolutely no idea what the next song is all about as its description is in Hebrew, but it appears to be some kind of promotion for an Israeli restaurant. I don't give a toss, dears, it is from the same producers who brought us Uriel Yekutiel, it has pretty boys and good music, and that's worth something!

I will always have a soft spot for the outrageous Iberian pseudo-Goths Fangoria. Once again I have no clue what they are on about, but they certainly appear to have thrown everything but the kitchen sink into their new single and video:


Apparently the strangely-named Blitzkids mvt entered this song in the contest to decide Germany's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, only to lose to bloody Cascada. Shame, it's quite a good song:


From their forthcoming album of the same name, here's the saviours of electro music Hurts with a taster video for the track Exile. The most recent single is actually Miracle, but I think that is a bit too Coldplay for my liking. I may get used to it eventually. This, on the other hand is excellent...


Known-in-cool-circles Mr John Grant is one of those "poetic" singer-songwriters whose music has never attracted me. Until now, that is, when - on the recommendation of The Guardian no less - I heard the "No Ceremony Remix" of his track in collaboration with Biggi Veira from Icelandic dance pioneers Gus Gus, Pale Green Ghosts. It's rather fab, actually!



Canadian band Young Galaxy have a new single Pretty Boy, which sounds remarkably like Yellow Magic Orchestra. And that is no bad thing:


With eternal thanks to "AyeM8y" at Mean Dirty Pirate blog for the tip-off, here is the remarkable Miss Guy - lead singer of a band called the Toilet Boys, apparently - and Take It Off with a rather - erm - interesting video: [2023 UPDATE: Gone from the interwebs - here's the track on Soundcloud.]

We welcome once more with open arms the utterly brilliant Gossip - featuring one of our contemporary heroines Beth Ditto - and their newest release Get a Job!


And finally, with the gayest video on the planet, here's the lovely Del Marquis' first effort away from the Scissor Sisters (since they announced their hopefully temporary hiatus last year) - its Del & Xavier with Tickle Your Fancy!


Enjoy! And let me know what you think...

Saturday, 5 March 2011

Juke Box Jury?



It's Saturday already and I haven't done a "Pick of the Pops" for this week yet...

So here they are! First off the mark is this rather fabby little number - White Horse by some large-breasted bird who calls herself Jessica 6:


There is always time for the fang-tastic Spanish weirdos Fangoria here at Dolores Delargo Towers. Here's Mas y Mas:


Thanks to the lovely Marky Marc over at Shine On And On for drawing our attention to this fine remix of the Kylie classic Slow by an obvious fan DJ Mattias Segnini:


And then there's the return of Russian/Ukrainian boy-band Kazaky (who I have blogged about before), possibly the cutest, campest (and most bendy) dance ensemble you're ever likely to have the good fortune to meet. Or indeed Love...


To complete this selection of the sublime and the bizarre for this week, The crazy Icelandic cutie Henry at Barbarella's Galaxy has pushed all the buttons in the category known as "Tacky Music" once more with his regular posts from the Melodifestivalen 2011 (Sweden's annual contest to select their artist for the Eurovision Song Contest). Here are just three of the contenders and, you must agree, it is very difficult to select which of them is most deserving of the prize (hee! hee!)...

...the Abba-esque Jenny Silver?


...the cute Eric Saade?


...or (my personal favourite), the magnificent Babsan?


You choose.

Tuesday, 18 January 2011

A year of musical memories...

I am reminded that I haven't yet posted my "Songs of the Year" for 2010!

How remiss of me... Anyhow, before January slips out of the back door, and while the slough of despond is still upon us as we wait eagerly for the first pay day of the year, here are ten songs that sum up my year for me quite succinctly.

This is not (and could never be) a complete and comprehensive list, as there are many more I could have included (and many more I have no doubt forgotten completely in my ditzy fashion!).

Nevertheless, enjoy...











What a year...

Thursday, 28 October 2010

Pick of the Pops



"Not 'arf, pop pickers!"

So we have survived the middle of the week (Wednesday is always the worst of all days), and we've had so much trouble with the cable connection at Dolores Delargo Towers lately (no TV nor internet again for three hours this evening!) I decided to embark on a new(ish) music fest to cheer myself up once I was back online!

It would be rude of me not to share my chosen delicacies...

The ever-reliable Freemasons have come up with yet another corker of a new single, Believer:


Despite this being the big summer hit of 2009, not 2010, I am still madly in love with the charms of Romanian megastar (and it's not often you get those two words together in the same sentence) Mr Edward Maya...


I am always cheered up by the news that our beloved Princess Kylie is releasing a new single. The next track chosen from Aphrodite is the fabulously chirpy "Scissor-Sisters-esque" Better Than Today - enjoy the Happy HotDog Remix Edit:

Better Than Today (Happy HotDog Remix Edit) by kyleongwl

Just in case anyone missed it in my blog about the fantabulosa 82-year-old Spanish diva Sara Montiel last week, I remain absolutely fascinated, nay obsessed, with this collaboration with the marvellous Alaska and her band Fangoria!


Finally, here's a real work of art - a recent video by Brooklyn indie band The Drums, that pays a remarkably bizarre homage to another uber-cool band, the Shangri-Las. This is genius!


And here is the original - Out In The Streets by the Shangri-Las:


Thoughts?

Thursday, 21 October 2010

La Leyenda!



Here at Dolores Delargo Towers, there is little we like better than discovering a new Diva!

Courtesy of a girl I work with, my eyes and ears have been opened to the delights of Spain's eternal favourite, the living legend that is Sara Montiel.

At the venerable age of 82, with a seven-decade career as an international movie, TV and recording mega-star behind her, she shows no sign of stopping! Senorita Montiel in her heyday co-starred with the likes of Gary Cooper, Burt Lancaster, Joan Fontaine, Charles Bronson, Mario Lanza and Rod Steiger before retiring from movies in 1974 to concentrate on her television career.

Her private life is a feast for the gossip columns - she married four times, divorcing twice (outraging the deeply conservative Catholic country under Franco's dictatorship in the process), and carried on a long affair with Italian actor Giancarlo del Duca for 40 years. To top it all, husband number four (who she married when she was 74) was a Cuban videotape operator 36 years her junior!



La Leyenda's flamboyant image is legendary - she is famous for her scarlet talons and for puffing Havana cigars - and her music is embedded in Spanish culture. Her biggest hit Fumando Espero ["While smoking, I wait"] is apparently instantly recognisable to young and old alike.

A bar in Barcelona called "La Concha" is dedicated to Sara Montiel and has vintage photos of her on all the walls. A restored 16th Century windmill located close to Sara Montiel's birthplace in the La Mancha region of Spain has been officially turned into a museum of the star, housing memorabilia, gowns and many other items connected with her and her career.

Now that's a Diva!

Here she is as a young actress, playing the vamp in Carmen la Ronda...


And the vamp role persists - Alma Mia!


Her classic Fumando Espero:


Just this year, Sara Montiel was invited to co-star in the latest magnificent production of Dolores Delargo Towers favourite Spanish band Fangoria - how fabulous is this?! Absolutamente!


Of course any diva worth her salt will always be clasped to the hearts of queens, and drag queens in particular... Here's the glittering Manuel Arte paying La Leyenda due homage:


Visiting Sara Montiel fan website

Sunday, 24 May 2009

Mas es mas



Recovering from our week in Spain - another wonderful mix of incredible sunshine, excessive booze, good food, good friends and very late nights - I just had to share a little discovery from the bizarre musical mix at Men's Bar in La Nogalera - from Fangoria...