In my youth, I volunteered at the local symphony (my niche during that time was the coat room) and it was cool to watch them perform. But I also know I wasn’t the average youth, and for most people in my middle and high schools, the most classical music we were exposed to was the math teacher playing Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” while we were taking a test (because, he said, it would improve our scores). Continue reading
A quick update for you this morning; Kylie Minogue’s “Into the Blue” video has been released, as the march to “Kiss Me Once” approaches. See the video after the jump! Continue reading
It seems like not all that long ago that I discovered Kylie Minogue’s “Light Years” album, which was a bit before she rebounded in the states with megahit “Can’t Get You Out of My Head.” But it’s been more than a decade, and now she’s preparing to release her 12th (!) full-length album, “Kiss Me Once.” Continue reading
If it hasn’t been clear in the year plus I’ve been blogging, I’m an unabashed fan of Brooklyn duo Hank & Cupcakes. I’ve been keeping you posted on the progress of their second album, “Cash for Gold,” which has already seen the release of first single “Countdown.” But this week, they released their first music video connected to the album, for the song “Cocaina.” Continue reading
In the late 2000s, veteran dance indie label Robbins Entertainment was seeing major success with one of their artists, Cascada, which had a number of Billboard-charting hits that broke through into the pop realm, a few years before EDM finally became mainstream. Another artist on the label, September, probably should have seen at least the success of Cascada, with a diverse, pop-friendly set of songs that were many times stronger than Cascada’s output. Continue reading
Music with a 60s retro theme has had an enduring presence in music, particularly artists from the UK. Swing Out Sister certainly pops up on that list, although they were ahead of the game; the Austin Powers movies (particularly the first two) certainly put an emphasis on the era. The late Amy Winehouse, Adele, and most recently John Newman (who will be featured here soon) have utilized the sound and feel of the era in some of their work. But one artist who did it particularly well never really had her solo material noticed here in the U.S. Continue reading
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s82ALeqqeCw
When a new year arrives, there’s always a tendency to revisit the year that’s ending. There’s all sorts of ways to do this, from the fun to the serious, but I think Robin Skouteris‘ mashup, featuring more than 50 pop songs from 2013, not only shows the tenor of pop music this year, but expertly blends songs that don’t on the surface seem like they should match together. Continue reading
While reading comments on the video to one of Annie’s newer songs, I noticed a reference by one commenter to U.K. artist Ronika. While I normally don’t tend to follow up on these sorts of comments, the mention of the retro leanings and production caught my eye, so I began to look into her, and was pleasantly surprised with the results. Continue reading
The dance genre is a particularly fickle one; careers aren’t made often, and even when they are, many people are more familiar with the songs than the artists behind them. To a certain degree it’s always been a bit of a faceless medium, with producers driving multiple “groups” under different names, fronted by different singers. Sometimes singers record with different groups. It’s a somewhat incestuous beast, making it all the more remarkable when a career develops. As such, Ultra Nate’s story is pretty amazing. Continue reading
The second Christmas Present season comes to a close today, given today is Christmas day. To give you something to enjoy the holiday, this year I’ve compiled 20 posts of Christmas Present selections (at least what’s available anyway) into a Spotify playlist. Continue reading