Pumping for Love

Earlier this week The (very) Mistress MJ was complaining that merely reading the words "Tina Charles I Love to Love" was suffice to get that song - one she hates - stuck in her brain all day.

As it is the (very welcome) end to a week in sight, and a) I'm in the mood to party, and b) feeling generous and willing to help out in a "brain crisis" - here's some advice I gave you, dear reader, back in 2014...

...should you happen to get an "earworm" stuck in your head today, here's the one addictive song I always turn to in order to get it to shift out of my sub-conscious:

Infernal - From Paris To Berlin

Now that one's stuck there instead. Forever. You're welcome.

Thank Disco It's Friday!

Have a good one, peeps.

While we were away...

Now that we are back from our wonderful weekend in Amsterdam for Europride - shell-shocked, admittedly, but with so many memories to keep us on a high for a while - what have we missed?

Obviously, it seems, the world (and certainly our media) is obsessed with the Olympics. At least our favourite houseboy, the super-sexy Tom Daley has won a bronze medal for synchronised sex diving with his teammate Daniel Goodfellow, so that makes up for the fact that none of our favourite telly programmes are on when they should be (or in some cases not at all), then. Not. Lovely to look at, though.



Not much in the way of significant milestones - although we missed celebrating the 65th birthday of Samantha Sang, plus birthday celebrations for various other Leos including Louella Parsons, Mata Hari, Lucille Ball, Esther Williams, Andy Warhol, Randy Shilts, Barbara Windsor and Geri Halliwell; and Britain's third richest man the Duke of Westminster died [without, I assume, leaving me a penny in his will - let alone any of those tiaras he owned that were on show at the V&A exhibition we went to way back in 2002!].

Former Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls has apparently been confirmed as a contestant in the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing contest, as has Will Young; both announcements just make me shudder. The American Presidential race carried on and on and on and on. As did strikes on Southern Rail, which was one of the reasons we thought it wise to get a taxi home from Gatwick Airport.

There has apparently been a major surge in tourists flocking to the UK in the weeks since we voted to leave the EU. Good. As long as they learn which side of the bloody escalator to use on the Tube! A man from China accidentally registered himself as an asylum seeker in Germany, when in fact he just wanted to report that his wallet had been stolen. Oh, and speaking of stupid - apparently, according to a poll, this song by The Proclaimers has been announced as the UK's number one "earworm" [lord knows why; it doesn't do it for me] - I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles):

Proclaimers - I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)

Nah. There is - as I said on this very blog two years ago - only one "ear-worm" that once heard cannot be eradicated easily [and it's not even on the stupid list!] - and that's Infernal and From Paris To Berlin:

Infernal - From Paris To Berlin

All together, now!

From Paris to Berlin,
And every disco I get in,
My heart is pumping for love,
Pumping for love,
'Cause when I'm thinking of you,
And all the things we could do,
My heart is pumping for love
You left me longing for you

Now, that's better...

Na-na-na-na-na-na

The Top 40 will take into account songs that pop into your head for no reason, it has been announced.

After recently being changed to include streaming, the UK charts will now also include tunes that appear in your brain due to completely unfathomable mental processes.

An Official Charts Company spokesman said: “The criteria for entering the charts now include things like remembering your ex liked Will Smith and then having 'Wild Wild West' stuck in your head all fucking day.

“It’s already having an impact on the charts. Thanks to a number of random rememberings, the current UK number one is the 1982 hit 'Centerfold' by the J Geils Band.

“You know, the one that goes ‘na-na-na-na-na-na’ about a bloke who’s unhappy because his girlfriend’s in 'Razzle', or something.

“The new system means next week’s number one could be anything from Phil Collins’ 1985 hit 'Sussudio' to 'You Can’t Get Better Than A Kwik Fit Fitter'. This is a very exciting time for music.”

However, critics pointed out that the songs which pop into your head were usually the ones that made people wish they had been born deaf.

Office worker Nikki Hollis said: “It’d be OK if it was the Beatles or Radiohead, but it’s always things like 'This Beat Is Technotronic' going round my head like a malevolent brain parasite.

“In Bruges was on the other night and thanks to a convoluted unconscious thought process involving Colin Farrell and Miami Vice, I caused 'Smuggler’s Blues' by Glenn Frey to re-enter the top 40.”

The Daily Mash.

Of course.

And should you happen to get an "earworm" stuck in your head today, here's the one addictive song I always turn to in order to get it to shift out of my sub-conscious:

Infernal - From Paris To Berlin

Works every time!

Nouvelle...

It's that time again, to have a little round-up of some of the newer choonz that have given me pleasure lately...

I just have to open with something fabulously cheesy - the return of Gina G!!

I haven't been so excited since I discovered that Tina Charles was still alive and recording! Here is Miss G herself, looking a little startled, with the horribly-titled Next 2 U...

Gina G - Next 2 You (Loud Manners Remix Video Edit)

Here's a rather fabulous electro anthem by a band from Oregon calling themselves Van Go Lion - Body Moves, indeed:

Van Go Lion - Body Moves

Now for rather a novelty; a sublime collaboration between two of my favourite "alternative" artists - the adorable Ste McCabe (who we saw at Polari goes Pope last year, with his song Public Debate remixed by the simply fantabulosa Tingle in the Netherlands: [2019 - ALL GONE]



From the downright eccentric to the "First Lady of Cool". As Miss Sophie Ellis-Bextor releases this month her much-awaited new album Make A Scene, which features several of her hits of the past few years as well as some unheard new stuff, here's a little fave of mine that is on the album - her collaboration with Junior Caldera, Can't Fight This Feeling:

Junior Caldera feat. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Can't Fight This Feeling

And to finish, have you ever thought what a combination of bagpipes and techno house music might sound like? Me neither. However, Denmark's magnificent Infernal are back, this time in the company of someone called Kato (who I thought was Inspector Clouseau's sidekick, but never mind), with a new single Speakers On which features exactly that! Be afraid.

KATO and Infernal - Speakers On

Enjoy!

Pick of the Pops again

Despite this turning out to be a busy week - with the CK drag show at Halfway to Heaven on Sunday, Corrie at the BFI on Tuesday, The Rivals last night, and looking forward to the Lord Mayor's Show fireworks on Saturday - I still find time for collecting new(ish) music! And I do like to share...

First up is a subtle little number from the Scandinavian eccentric Robyn:

Robyn - Don't Fucking Tell Me What To Do

On a lighter note, the new single from those maestros of electro dance trash, Infernal:

Infernal - Alone, Together

From the ridiculous to the sublime... I must have missed this in 2009. I didn't know that Grace Jones collaborated with the avant-garde Breton poet, singer and writer Brigitte Fontaine! This is beautiful...

And finally, ladies'n'gentlemen, I bring you a most decadent piece of video art by someone (or some thing) by the name of PAG. With a soundtrack of In This Shirt by the wonderful Irrepressibles, this is seriously weird stuff!

PAG - The Lady is Dead

Thoughts?

Huge choons for summer

As the glitter of the weekend's Eurovision party, Drag Idol at The Black Cap on Sunday and disappointing Bank Holiday Monday fades away and we start another (albeit shortened) working week, I thought I'd post a few more modern choons that have caught my ear lately. These should provide a decent backdrop to a good summer (if we ever get one)...

First up is a big surprise for me, as the Aussie brat child (she of the hen party chant anthem Sweet About Me) Gabriella Cilmi seems to have gone all grown-up and glamorous with her latest single Hearts Don't Lie. A very catchy number it is, too!

Gabriella Cilmi - Hearts Don't Lie

Next, a distinctly glammed-up Kelis (she of that rather annoying song Milkshake from 2003) returns with a much more sophisticated sound and look (and some fab outfits) in this video for Acapella...

Kelis - Acapella

I am particularly happy for the return of Infernal...

Infernal - Love Is All

And finally, summer wouldn't be summer without some Whores!

Hoxton Whores - Pop the Lights

Enjoy!