Love Is All We Need by Adam J featuring Amelle and Nightcrashers

Dear Poptastic Readers.

While the Sugababes are on hiatus, and the original members reform under the name MKS, current-Sugababe member Amelle Berrabah has been working on a solo album. Yay! And before her official solo single comes out, she is featured in a new song called "Love Is All We Need" by Adam J featuring Amelle and Nightcrashers.

Amelle Berrabah

The song is aimed purely at the dancefloor. Amelle wrote the lyrics and melody. I think the song is fun and it makes me wanna dance. I'll think I'll like it more when the video is out.

The video should be out soon. And the song should be available for download on August 18 (I think). There is a cute behind-the-scenes video on YouTube. However, there is also a lyric video that you can watch here ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pYCxoV-5Zw

I believe her solo album will be out in September or October. And then the Sugababes will be back in 2014 with new material! Hooray!

Sugababes: Jade, Heidi and Amelle

Last year, a song that Amelle sang on called "God Won't Save You Now" was leaked. I'm not sure if it was officially released. And Amelle was also featured on a UK#1 song with Tinchy Stryder called "Never Leave You."

Amelle performed the new song on a UK TV Show last week. You can see her performance here.

I'll let you know when the video premieres!

Cheers then,
—Davearama

World On Fire and On Our Way by The Royal Concept

Dear Poptastic Readers,

I've been listening to a song now for a few weeks and I've been waiting to write about it because the version I love of it isn't on iTunes, although the regular version that I like is on iTunes. Confused? Sorry. The song is called "World On Fire" and it is by a Swedish group called The Royal Concept.

The single was released earlier this year, and I'll admit, the original version that is on iTunes is pretty good. My only problem with the song is that it drops the "F bomb" twice, and it has a middle 8 part that about cigarettes in coffee shops. Both of those things, I could do without. Especially when listening to the song with kids around.

The Royal Concept is Filip, Magnus, Povel and David

Luckily, there is a remix that features Rebecca & Fiona singing on it. And the remix makes a great song extraordinary. And there is a fab video for the remix. Here it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrzMrvHM-Vc

Isn't it fab? Unfortunately, this mix isn't available on iTunes. Booooo! And the "F bomb" is still dropped. But the middle 8 is sung by Rebecca & Fiona with different lyrics. I love it!

The Royal Concept have already released their next single called "On Our Way."  And it is pretty good, too! I like it! But I think I'm still hung up on "World On Fire." You can watch the video for "On Our Way" here.

Both "World On Fire" and "On Our Way" are both available on iTunes! Hopefully the Rebecca & Fiona Mix will be available on iTunes very soon! And it would be even better if it were a clean version with the "F bombs" buzzed out!

Cheers then,
—Davearama

P.S. Perhaps Rebecca & Fiona will remix and sing on "On Our Way!" Ha!

Electric by the Pet Shop Boys

Dear Poptastic Readers,

I took a week off from the blog. Sometimes, it is just good to have a little break. Well, the past week I bought the Pet Shop Boys new album "Electric" and I wanted to listen to it for a few days before giving my review. As always, click on the song title to hear the track.

The album cover for "Electric."

The album starts with the track "Axis" that was a teaser single as the group made it available on iTunes first. You can read what I wrote about it by clicking on the song title.

The single cover artwork for "Axis."

The second track is the fun "Bolshy." Although it is mostly fun for its beats and saying "Bolshy-O" over and over. It's kinda mindless, and that is part of the charm.

Pet Shop Boys are Neil (Vocals) and Chris (Music).

Track 3 is the glorious "Love is a Bourgeios Construct." It has uplifting strings and lovely melody. The lyrics are quite clever. And it has that classic PSB feel to it. And even a male chorus that comes in at the oddest moments. I hope this is the next single. However, this clocks in at 6:42 so we definitely need a 4-minute radio edit. **Update! This is the next single!**

The fourth track is called "Fluorescent" and it is dark and groovy! And has some cords that remind you of the new wave sound without sounding retro at all.

"Inside a Dream" is the fifth track. And while being a good song, I think it might suffer from being right in the middle of the album as I don't think it is all that memorable. Having said that, I like it.

Track 6 is called "The Last to Die" and it is a remake of Bruce Springsteen song! Don't recognize it? Well, it was on Bruce's 2007 album called "Magic." I'm not sure what made the PSB to cover it. I think they did a good song. The lyrics seem a bit out of place for them, but oh well. It's more dance/pop than the original. You can listen to the original version here.

The seventh track is "Shouting in the Evening." And it has the honor of being the shortest track on the album as it clocks in at 3:36. It's aimed directly at the dancefloor and the pace is really picked up with this number. It's a good thing it is a short song, as it is rather relentless.

"Thursday" is Track 8. And a lot of people are hoping this is the next single and I wouldn't mind if it is. It features the British rapper/singer Example. And I loved his song "Kickstarts" from 2010. But this song is great. The music is foot tapper. And the lyrics and melody just come along so easily. It's really good. But at 5:03, we need a shorter radio edit.

The last track of the album is "Vocal." Technically, it is the second single. But I almost kinda view it as the first proper single. I first wrote about it here and then here when the video was released. There is a radio edit out there, but unfortunately the PSB haven't made it available for fans to buy. Hopefully soon, as the album version is 6:35 long!

The single artwork for "Vocal."

Overall, I think the album is good. After their album "Elysium" that came out last year, it is nice to have the beats back. I didn't even review the album last year because I wasn't all that impressed with it. However, it did have an amazing electro-chill track called "Invisible" and the main single last summer "Winner" came in at #17 in my favourite songs of 2012.

So while it is nice to have the beats back, I think some of the melodies that PSB are famous for are missing here. Well, perhaps not missing, but you have to get in and find them since most of the songs are 5+ and 6+ minutes long.

This album definitely has 3 stand-out tracks that make the album worth buying and they are "Vocal", "Love is a Bourgeios Construct" and "Thursday."

If you like dance music and dance beats. You'll like this. I can't wait to see them in concert for the very first time in October! Yay!

Cheers then,
—Davearama

P.S. Now we just need the Pet Shop Boys to collaborate with Bananarama.

Mutya Keisha Siobhan ... A Year Later

Dear Poptastic Readers,

It was last year in July that Poptastic Confessions featured the original Sugababes as they had reunited under a new name: Mutya Keisha Siobhan. You can click on their names to see what we wrote last year. If you don't know the history of lineup changes for the group, click here.

Mutya, Keisha and Siobhan

It's a year later and they have finally debuted their first single. The song is called "Flatline." It's a midtempo number with a nice melody. Perhaps it is a grower. We keep reading that it sounds like Coldplay, but we don't listen to bands like Coldplay so we couldn't tell you if it does or not. Here's what we really like about it: It reminded us of how much we missed hearing Keisha sing. Keisha has a lovely voice and hearing her sing reminds us of her time in the Sugababes. Mutya sounds great and it is refreshing to hear Siobhan sing with them again. 


UPDATE: Here is the lovely music video. We like the desert parts best!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaQh-TTeUWs

One thing is for sure, the campaign for this single is going to be stretched out. As the single won't be able to be purchased until September. It almost sounds like the dreaded campaign for the Sugababes' last single "Freedom." You can read what we wrote about that campaign by clicking on the link.

Cheers then,
—Davearama

Sneaky Sound System

Dear Poptastic Readers,

Sneaky Sound System is from Australia. They are a duo consisting of singer Connie Mitchell and Angus McDonald (aka Black Angus). There have been other members and they were a trio for their first two albums. You can read their full history on their Wikipedia page.

Sneaky Sound System: Angus and Connie

Their self-titled debut album in 2006 went to #5 in Australia and spawned the singles "Hip Hip Hooray" (#78), "Tease Me", "I Love It" (#24), "Pictures" (#19), UFO (#11) and "Goodbye" (#33). Take note, Connie wasn't in the group during the first two singles.

Sneaky Sound System's sophomore album in 2008 went to #1 in Australia and featured the singles "Kansas City" (#14), "When We Were Young", "16" (#53), and "It's Not My Problem."

In 2009, the group did a song with DJ Tiësto called "I Will Be Here." And in the US, it went to #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Airplay Chart. Sadly, I had never heard it. My clubbing days were long over by 2009.

Their third album called "From Here To Anywhere" was released in late 2011 and it went to #11 in Australia. It featured the singles "We Love" (#29), "Big" (#58), "Really Want To See You" and "Friends."

"Big" at the top of my playlist. I just can't get enough of that song. Thankfully, all of their albums are available on iTunes in the US. Definitely download the singles first, and then you'll want to pick up the rest of the albums. Start with the the song "Big" and then I'd highly recommend the song "Really Want To See You Again."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_be-2uK3TnI

And the super-good news is that Sneaky Sound System is touring! And they will be in San Francisco on Friday, July 26th. Looks like I found out about them just in time. Thank you, Maarten. Here's their Summer Tour schedule ...

Apparently there is a new song on the horizon coming out soon called "Sunlight." Yay!

Cheers then,
—Davearama

P.S. You can check out the group's official website and like their Facebook page!

The Young Love EP by The Lovely Wars

Dear Poptastic Readers,

Last month, Poptastic Confessions featured the new single from The Lovely Wars called "Young Love."

The EP was released last week through the BandCamp website. The website helps indie artists make more money than going through iTunes. And as a bonus, you can actually pay more for the EP if you wish to ... think of it as a tip to the artist, if you will. After all, The Lovely Wars are releasing music on their own label — ILOW Records.

The EP starts off with the title track. And you can read my review of it here. And here is the video ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRPKy42ojXo

The second track is band's first single "Let's Blow The Whole Thing Up", which was featured in Poptastic Confessions in January. However, this version is slightly different from the version released earlier this year. I can't really put my finger on the difference, but I like this version better.

Track 3 is called "Through The Darkness" and somehow when I listen to the music, it reminds me of an early Duran Duran b-side, and that isn't a bad thing at all. It's like The Lovely Wars are channeling that famous Duran Duran sound, but instead of Simon Le Bon, we get the fantastic Ani Saunders!

The Lovely Wars: Bill, Alice, Ani, Ceri and Dan.

"Oh! It's a Lovely War!" is the next track and what a fun song it is! I hate to draw comparisons to The Pipettes, but it does have that fun magic of an early Pipettes song. In case you didn't know, lead-singer Ani was in The Pipettes.

The final track is the Y Pencadlys Remix of "Young Love." It's not really a dancefloor remix, but just a mix offering up something a tad bit different. I reminds me of what was used to called a dub ... a remix with limited vocals.

Dan, Ceri, Ani, Alice and Bill are The Lovely Wars.

All in all, this is a wonderful EP for summer listening. So don't delay and head over to BandCamp to purchase the "Young Love" EP. You won't be sorry.

Cheers then,
—Davearama

P.S. Ani recently did an interview with our friend Aug Stone on a Welsh Music site called "God Is In The TV." Check out the interview by clicking on the name.

Where is Whigfield in 2013?

Dear Poptastic Readers,

Last year, Poptastic Confessions reviewed the fantastic dance-pop album "W" by Whigfield. And I told you to watch out for three potential future singles from the album. Unfortunately, 2013 is now half over and there have been no more singles from the album.

Some history ... the first single was "C'est Cool" and it was released in 2011. However, I didn't know about last year. 

The second single was the FABulous "4ever", which came in at #4 in my year-end list. It really is a sweet song.

The third single (and final?) was "Jeg Kommer Hjem" and it got a very interesting lyric video.

But there are three more songs that deserve to be singles. They are "Stay In My Head", "Devil Called Love" and "As I Go."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e-TVTSMD9U

I couldn't find a link for the regular version of "As I Go" ... but you can hear it here in this fabulous album megamix ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmyY4D1Cv_Q

Singles these days don't have to be very expensive. And so many artists are making iPhone videos because they are budget-friendly and hip. Someone get Whigfield to make some iPhone videos for these three songs! They are too good to be passed up. I think you will agree.

Please buy the album on iTunes and support the artist. You can also like Whigfield's official Facebook page.

The best way to get more singles is to support the artist. So get busy!

Cheers then,
—Davearama