I Couldn't Shake Loose, Not From You, Not From You

The 30th of May sees the release of Nerina Pallot's new album "Year Of The Wolf." From this, her fourth album, we have her lead single. "Put Your Hands Up" as my Song Of The Week. I usually have an mp3 way before I ever decide to watch a song's video, but in this case, a HQ mp3 hadn't leaked yet, so I just settled on watching the video instead. I've been a fan of Nerina since her 1st album dropped back in 2001, LOVING songs like "Patience" and "Blood Is Blood," which still get a fair amount of play on my ipod. She even did a dance track with Delerium, which left me all sorts of excited cuz you KNOW how I love me some remixes. Anyways, one viewing of this video had me hooked, as usual the simple context of people breaking into song/dance in everyday life oft will for me. The fact that the lyrics tell tale of a "I didn't know I was looking for love until I found you" sorta situation even better. For awhile there, I would find myself singing a mash-up of Nerina with Kylie Minogue's own "Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love) [From the album APHRODITE, where Nerina wrote both the title track and one other], but not Nerina's in the one "Put Your Hands Up" that's got A List playing in my head right now.

ALTHOUGH, you will be Hand-Pressed not to fall in love with Kylie's tune after watching this PS22 duet.

And while I'm at it, here's the Nerina penned Kylie track "Aphrodite"

This Isn't Easy, This Isn't Clear

'Twas a big week for concerts for me. Got to see Robyn do an awesome mini set at Jimmy Kimmel, and most recently saw Ellie Goulding and The Knocks rock it at The Music Box. Sandwiched in between those dance-pop shows, was Ben Rector and Matt Werzt at The Troubadour. I've loved the Ben album for months now and was super excited to see him. He looks like hes about 18 but his voice sounds way older than that. Even with the Jesus reference in the song, this one really stood out. Beautifully sung and heart-wrenching, "When A Heart Breaks" by Ben Rector.

I am starstruck...

So it's my turn to be ridiculously late with a post. Jason's been hounding me to get something up here, so I finally kicked myself in the ass. I'm known for choosing more than my fair share of embarrassing songs, but this one is shameful I suppose for a different reason. Released a year and a half ago, the song was unknown to me until last week, when a guy I once dated posted the video for Ke$ha's "Animal" to Facebook.

Ke$ha kind of slipped by me. I of course knew "Tic Toc," and loved "Take It Off" because my gay-as-a-goose spin instructor played it every week—it was the highlight of his class. I even watched her SNL performance and thought she wasn't bad. But I never bought the album, and each subsequent single ("Your Love Is My Drug," "We R Who We R") confirmed her bratty talk-singing was enjoyable but disposable.

Then I'm introduced to "Animal," something that actually showcases Ke$ha's singing ability and musically is aligned more with the Euro dance-pop I favor. And I like her attitude, or specifically, the lack of attitude—I'm a sucker for a sappy, sentimental lyric.

What can I say, the ratty-haired bitchy girl in the ripped spandex and glow-in-the-dark face paint finally charmed me.

I Think I'll Fall To Pieces If I Don't Find Something Else To Do

Yes, the "Soldier Of Love" album was kinda a snoozefest, but I am loving this new track from Sade's forthcoming "The Ultimate Collection." We are promised four new songs, which is exciting, except from the fact that I'm guessing the Jay-Z "remix" of "The Moon And The Sky" is one of them. At no point in this world did I ever need those two to meet, let alone in a recording booth dammit. ANYWAYS, Sade has dug up a Thin Lizzy song from 1983 and covered the hell out of it. I sure as shit don't know Thin Lizzy and listening to their version of the song I don't need to, judge for yourself tho.

(Yes, i know they did "The Boys Are Back In Town" but I certainly don't care all that much.)
Ms. Adu et al have gone ahead and certainly made it their own. It's like a hybrid, "By Your Side" "Love Is Stronger Than Pride." This is some great, sad Sade.

And now for something LESS great..............

As I Recall You Gave Me Nothing At All

LAAAAAAAATE on this one. Apologies. My song of the week, for the week ending on April 3rd, is Erik Hassle's "Sometimes When It Rains." As far as I am concerned, this man can do no wrong. At first, I was weary, for his latest mini-album "The Mariefred Sessions" left me less than impressed on first listen, but now, 2 weeks on, I'm finding it hard to play anything else. Borrowing from the Robyn school of having a depressing song with an amazingly dancey beat, we have "Sometimes When It Rains." In fact, this sounds EXACTLY like a Robyn song. How can you not love a lyric like "You said that you would give me it all, as i recall you gave me nothing at all."?

Plus, here's an awesome acoustic version of the song coupled with another Song Of The Week from this year in acoutic form, "Are You Leaving"

These things can quite endear you

Coming out of left field this week, the Human League crashes the top of my chart with “Never Let Me Go,” off Credo, the band’s first album in 10 years. This one has been a slow-burner; sometimes you have to hear a song tens of times before it worms its way into your mind.

Don’t get me wrong, being a child glued to early-'80s MTV, I have long loved the Human League. “(Keep Feeling) Fascination” and “Mirror Man” are two of my favorite songs of all time, and even their least-successful albums have amazing tracks.

Human League songs are mainly Philip Oakey affairs with Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall handling the incidentals. However, Susan (the blonde) takes the lead here. Apart from her iconic verse in “Don’t You Want Me” and her fantastic solo “One Man in My Heart” (from 1994’s Octopus), the girls don’t headline. Not that that’s a bad thing: When I saw them in 1998 at Radio City Music Hall, Joanne was so off-key during her brief bit in “Fascination” that people around me winced and stopped dancing. Perhaps that’s why she was given the spoken aside in “Human.”

As for “Never Let Me Go,” it’s a welcome return, current yet delightfully retro. And the crazy kaleidoscope video should endear the band to the current generation of electropop fans. My one complaint would be, why such heavy use of Autotune? Leave that crap to Britney.