If u cant conceive it muffin, just let it be nuffin.

Remember Lumidee? She had that incredibly annoying 'Uh ooooooh' song (yes it's brilliant now) during the summer of r&b hell that was 2003. I stayed at Warwick that summer making SRA awards, kissing an MA student and djing events for children who were inexplicably involved in events on campus. And all they wanted to hear was bloody r&b (this was in a particular era where I was turning my nose up at anything non-pop). It was Sean Paul this, Blu Cantrell that, Eminem, Black Eyed Peas etc etc

Anyway, Lumidee is back and I can almost hear your sighs of relief across the webwaves. In fact, thank god she has returned to us in these 'Beyonce having become a bizarre mash of Tina Turner and Diana Ross' days. And she is back with something rather odd - She's Like The Wind. Yes, everyone's favourite weep-a-thon Swayze classic from the ditzy Dirty Dancing has been reworked into a soulful grinder-  with Lumidee joined by Tony Sunshine -   ripe for overplaying on Radio 1.

It's "doing damage on the airwaves" in America and I've got no doubt that it's going to be absolutely pounded in the UK too despite it being a tiny bit shonky. I have no idea when it's coming out over here but I bet it'll be blaring out of every car cruising down Blackpool promenade on a Saturday night come Summer. New lyrics include: Listen baby I’ve been around // I know that you like how I wear my crown // And I know that im something that is so profound
// So far what im hearing look I like the sound . What??

Listen to it here.

p.s. Can someone explain to me how Cascada keeps getting top 10 hits? Have we travelled back to 2001? Are the charts accidentally only counting sales in the North West?

For Gods sake

Can everyone STOP with the Doctor Who spoilers please? Every surprise, every twist, EVERYTHING, is being ruined. The worst offender is the bloody radio times who spoilt the last two episodes of season 2 with their damn front page.

Today it's reported that the lovely, on my eligable celebrity boyfriends list, John Simm, will star in the series soon. I will not go any further because I do not want to spoil for anyone who manages to avoid the damn things. This is good because he is ace but bad because I totally had him down for the eleventh doctor. BOO HOO.

The 2 Coolest Drummers in 1 Photo

I've been a little bit quiet here because I've just got a new job. Hooray! It's somewhere I've wanted to work for ages and combines both my radio and web skills. Ace. Now I just need to get back into coping on little sleep after djing. A call to arms Londoners - where is good for lunch around Brick Lane/Shoreditch High Street area?

Mika was astounding at Popstarz. Various people have accused him of miming but I can confirm he was live. In any case I can't really pay much attention to Mika when his drummer is on stage with him. Last time I saw our #1 at Ronnie Scotts, I stared and stared at his drummer for ages wondering why I knew her. Then I got home and thought 'huh maybe she's the drummer for The Faders', and then dismissed it thinking I was only thinking that because she was a a girl, black and a drummer.

But no, I was right! Mika's drummer is Cherisse Osei, formerly of short lived girl band The Faders. They were to the UK what The Like are to America in terms of having famous parents.  Hooray for fact based (rather than race based) deduction! Anyway Cherisse totally rules when on stage with Mika - she was born to be a star. Even if that birth was an offensive 1986 one.

Here are some other facts about Cherisse:

• Her full name is Cherisse Amma Loren Ofosu-Osei


• Cherisse passed grade 8 drums at 15 and got her first kit when she was 3.


• She started out in a heavy metal band called Fuse and her first gig was a Muse concert.


• She has worked with Richard Ridings and John Blackwell. When I first read this I excitedly though it said Richard Blackwood :-(


• PERSONAL FACT: I passed Richard Blackwood at work yesterday and gave him a totally starstruck face.


• The Faders debut single No Sleep Tonight was used on Veronica Mars, one of my favourite TV shows.


• She is like totally BFF with someone gaypop would pay good money to snog.

These are probably enough facts for someone you've probably not heard of. However I hope to be doing a mini interview with her for F*@K Magazine if she says yes. What form this will take I do not yet know but hopefully she wouldn't google my name and find this slightly stalkerish post. F*@K is a new gay magazine set up by the gods behind ghetto and popstarz by the way. It's totally ace and I've so far contributed a Fischerspooner interview (in issue 2) and have a Charlotte Hatherley and Maximo Park piece in forthcoming issue 3. Ace. Cherisse for #4!

Booking of the year?

Mika - at Popstarz - while he's no.1! See you Friday? [Coming soon: CSS (2/2) and Long Blondes (9/2)]

Just a quick note to say it is really really cold in London, particularly in my bedroom where my stupid sash style windows appear to be letting in all air possible. GRRRH.

Does anyone have an opinion on music festivals to try in Europe? I've already done Exit (woo!) and Benicassim (boo!) and am thinking something Scandavian as I'd quite like to see a lot of Scandavian pop acts.

My Maximo Park interview went well. Paul even sang a bit of Billie down the phone to me. My life couldn't be more complete.

Annie-tastic

So remember how I love Annie? She's a Norwegian DJ and pop singer whose debut album Anniemal was released on 679 [who may I point out have signed Dead Disco!], had a pretty big push from the label and  was dug by lots of bloggers and critics but no-one who would actually use a shop to buy it.

Well today, Universal Records signed her for a UK deal. She'll be working with Xenomania to make an album which'll be out at the end of 2006. Yippee. I wrote more on the subject over here. 

A quickie

As John Legend would say Holler holler holler!

I have just been given short notice that I'm interviewing Paul Smith from Maximo Park in the morning.

Now I will obviously do my own research but the fact that I'm going out
to see Client at Nag tonight leaves me with little time to prepare.

So if you happen to know anything wildly fascinating about Paul or MP
that I might not know please tell me. Alternatively if you have any
questions that I'd be stupid not to ask please hand them over.

In return I'll tell a good pop fact.

Thanks

x

A Rockstarz set

I love Rockstarz. I know I go on about it all the time but it's ace. Here are some songs I played this week.

Mark Ronson - Stop Me / Connan & The Mockasins - Sneaky Sneaky Dogfiend / Mr Hudson & The Library - Too Late, Too Late / Jarvis - Don't Let Him Waste Your Time / Air Traffic - Never Even Told Me Her Names / Kasabian - Me plus One (sadly not a cover of Annie) / Vines - Don't Listen to the Radio / Modest Mouse - Dashboard / L7 - Pretend That We're Dead / Charlotte Hatherley - Behave / Metric - Handshakes / The Violets - Forey / Soulwax - Conversation Intercom / The Whip - Trash / Teddybears - Punkrocker / Bloc Party - 2 More Years [MSTRKRFT remix] / Lilllix - Little Things / Shiny Toy Guns - Le Disko / The Killers - Bones / LCD Soundsystem - North American Scum / Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby / Just Jack - Starz in your eyes / Gossip - Jealous Girls / CSS - Let's Make Love / Klaxons - Golden Skans / Cazels - Poor Innocent Boy / Jarvis - Fat Children / Switches - Lay Down The Law / Young Knives - Hot Summer / Young Love - Discotech / Metric - Dead Disco

Come. Mondays at Ghetto, there's always a band playing too and it's only about £3 to get in. I'm back on Feb 5th with the Schla la las.

I know it instinctively

My wish on the wishing tree, originally uploaded by trixie.

In what is perhaps the booking of the decade, Mika, currently set for this week's #1 slot on downloads alone is playing Popstarz next Friday (26th January). Woo hoo. And while the battle for #1 between Mika and Just Jack, never mind the entire exciting chart of last week (seriously klaxons downloads only at 15? WHAT?) should be spoken about, I'm far more excited about the re-entry into the charts of our glorious leader of pop - Billie Piper.

I've not heard it myself, but Chris Moyles has been running a campaign to get Billie's 4th single Honey to the Bee back into the charts to demonstrate the flexibility (exploitability?) of the new charts. Why he's picked this song I have no idea, after all it's totally her 4th best single falling way short of Day and Night, Something Deep Inside and She Wants You, but who am I to argue? The public seem to have picked this campaign up and run with it with a current iTunes chart position of 15. Whether this translates into a real top 40 placing is yet to be seen but wouldn't it be fabulous if it did? After all we're never going to get any new Billie pop material. Buy, buy, buy.

Stop me, you will have heard this one before

I listen to a lot of music. Some of it is pants, some of it is good.
Sometimes it's really good and I blog about it, tell other people about
it, play it at clubnights and generally think 'huh, that's good'.
Othertimes it's so good that as I listen to it I get a feeling that
builds and builds until I think my head is going to EXPLODE with it's
goodness. Tell me it's not only me, because writing that down I sound a
bit berserk.

Anyway this is one of those times. Thanks to a link on Stereogum, I've been listening to the Jan 5th edition of Mark Ronson's Authentic Shit radio show, originally broadcast on a New York station. This particular radio show is AWFUL. I'm sure it's not normally but
this particular edition is presented by Mark's sister Samantha covering
for him. Wikip tells me that Samantha is a big-ass DJ in New York but
this show does nothing to give that impression: links are all over the
place, wrong tracks are played and everything sounds really shonky. The music, of course, is brilliant.

ANYWAY we all know Mark Ronson is really cool don't we? In November 2003 he made his first impact to the masses with the astounding Oooh Wee which sampled Boney M's Sunny (before the Boogie Pimps) and featured Ghostface Killah and Nate Dogg amongst others. The track was taken from his debut album 'Here Comes The Fuzz' which I've not actually hear. I assume it is great though and must try to listen soon. In 2006, Mark Ronson really reappeared on my radar producing large parts of three of my favourite albums of the year Back to Black, Alright Still and Rudebox and putting in an amazing performance at Bestival. We also got a single release from him in the form of an ace cover of Radiohead's Just. This was a teaser for his 2nd album Version which'll be released on April 16th and features reworkings of famous tracks in that horn-ridden, groovy way of his. I've heard a few tracks from Version and particularly love Lily Allen's version of Kaiser Chiefs' Oh My God but today, in this radio show, I heard a spectactular version of one of my favourite Smiths' songs: Stop Me If You've Heard This Before.

The thing with Mark Ronson produced tracks is that they're generally brilliant but they occasionally fall into the COMEDY HORNS label (as Just does a little). I'm No Good uses the horns to a slightly less comedic effect and Stop Me does the same. Vocals are provided by Australian Daniel Merriweather  and it even blends the Supremes You Keep Me Hangin' On in at the end.

Of course, every other pop blogger under the sun has already written about it, but as ever XO London in the most concise, brilliant manner. And I agree with him entirely, it makes me want to run round my room screaming too - oh the breakbeat bassline, the silky smooth vocals and the unbearably, oh so yearning strings building and building and building. XO alerts me to the fact that you can hear it in full at Mark's Columbia page. So go, go go go this instant and listen to what is perhaps 2007's Crazy. I've been sitting there on repeat for at least the last 4 hours.

Bextor Gets The Best of Me

Finally after gaypop's tempting way back in November the new Sophie Ellis-Bextor video is finally with us. Looking like a crazed Shirley Henderson, Sophie, complete with two red dresses and two hairstyles, seeks out a man in what is probably Venice. The song is awesome, hence it will probably chart at about 34.

Metric live in London

Hairy Dan alerted me to the fact that the quite exceptional Metric (who in this photo seem to think they are in Spooks) are playing a headline date in London (and Brighton and Oxford) as well as their sold out Bloc Party support gigs. If you're in any of those locations I really can't urge you enough to go. The band are from Toronto and they are very, very hip but still remain fun. The critics and bloggers love them and the hype really is deserved. In America they've been used on Grey's Anatomy (who have a LOT to answer for in this bloody Snow Patrol debacle) and in the UK I nearly leapt out of my warm bed when Monster Hospital opened Hollyoaks last week. I saw them in Hammersmith last year, and they were ace, complete with bullet nipples.

If you're looking for tracks to get you started I'd recommend the aforementioned Monster Hospital as well as Dead Disco and Combat Baby. The main thing here though is that you should come and see them at Dingwalls on 30th January. Ticketweb will get you tickets for £9.65!

Up 4 at 35

It's no secret that I'm quite a big chart geek. Like everyone else I used to tape the chart off the radio every so often trying really hard to capture the songs and cut it off before Mark Goodier started talking, but I've also had a rare pleasure of working on the Official Chart Show (with Wes as presenter) for 6 months back in 2004. This is when the real chart geekiness started and now I seem to pride myself on being the personfication of everyhit.co.uk whenever possible.

So, with the chart rule changes that came into force on 1 Jan, yesterday was the very first day of the new style chart. This is incredibly exciting, anything could happen and a re-entry for Snow Patrol in the top 10 means it all starts kicking off. Of course, I'm too late to write anything intelligent about it, the awesome Mr Discopop has already done it.

Top Class Emop

Josh, Zack and James are disgustingly young, and together they make up a band called Go:Audio. They used to be called The Vacancy (I have no idea why they aren't now) but are signed to Sony and make top class emop. Emop is a word I have just made up which unsurprisingly means Emo Pop. The always hilarious Urban Dictionary instead claims emop means: basically an emo, but more dramatic. They are female and tend to have black hair, purple lipstick and navy eyeliner. They love Green Day and make harming use of razors. Emops love their Mommy's. Ace.

 

Go:Audio have been mentioned on a couple of blogs which until tonight I've blissfully ignored. Now I've finally paid attention to I'm Always Right who mentioned the band in their Great Hopes for 07 post. It's bouncy, it's fun and given the current teenage music temprement of the UK I think they could do very well indeed. The very ace Made Up Stories totally channels the vibe of big scorers such as Panic! At The Disco and Fall Out Boy and I'm pretty sure will at the very least get Seldo bouncing around his bedroom, if not the whole of Popstarz. Plus going by the over analytical karinski ruling that if your a boy and you don't put a status on myspace, you are at least a bit gay if not completely, the band themselves might be dancing around Popstarz.  Hopefully I'll have an interview with them soon, but until then, unless emo makes you want to vomit, check their myspace .

Lie on my futon

Futon are playing at Rockstarz tonight. Monday nights at Ghetto are brilliant, I DJ every other week (although am doing 3 consecutives: last week with the surprisingly ace Diskoboy and next with Fleeing From Finales) with the very lovely Laurence. It's an ace night because the people are really open minded, they've come to see a band they probably don't know and they'll dance to anything. This is dreamy, so fantasy free me! Seriously, DANCE TO ANYTHING. I love being able to play stuff like Scissors for Lefty or Metric that would normally clear dancefloors at other nights. Swoon.

Anyway I don't know a lot about Futon, but one of their members is Simon Gilbert, formerly the drummer with Suede . They are based in Bangkok, have had two #1 singles in Thailand and were recently named Thailand's most stylish band. They're over in the UK at for 4 shows promoting their single Strap It On which is taken from their 4th album. They've played at Ghetto before, at Nag Nag Nag, in 2004, but I'm quite excited about tomorrow as I quite like the sound of them on myspace. Suede have always had a strong connection to Popstarz being a core band for the club when it was originally set up in 1996. I think they may have done a PA there at some point (although I'm not sure) and Brett djed at our celebration of Simon Popstarz in 2005, so it's cool to have a spin-off band keeping us in their clubs to visit list.

To make the people dance…

Tonight, like nearly every Thursday, Friday and Monday night (yes I never sleep), I was djing. And I played some ace music.

Thursday is Miss-Shapes where nearly anything goes but is mainly indie and pop. Our first set was brill, it went something like this (there are whopping gaps as I forgot to photo it and can't remember):

Brad Walsh - Two of Hearts
Lo-Fn-Fnk - City
Linda Sundblad - Lose You
Annie - Anniemal
Bertine Zetlitz - Midnight
Jarvis - Don't Let Him Waste Your Time
Air Traffic - Never Even Told Me Her Name
Just Jack - Starz in your eyes
Beck - Cellphone's Dead
Mika - Love Today
Elton Montello - Jet Boy, Jet Girl
The Rakes - Work Work Work (Pub, Club, Sleep)
White Rose Movement - Love is A Number
The Gossip - Jealous Girls
Lady Sovereign - Pretty Vacant
Ashlee Simpson - Boyfriend
Amy Winehouse - You Know I'm No Good
Peaches - Boys Wanna Be Her
Le Tigre - TKO
The Pipettes - Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me

In the late set we played Sophie Ellis Bextor - Catch You and it went down a storm. HOORAY.

I Don’t Know What’s Worse

- This bonkers video

Blogging

This little blog has been going under various names since January 2001 I think after Relly started writing a blog and lots of us followed like sheep. I've used blogger, MT, and now typepad, but for 2007 I think it's time for Wordpress. I don't really know why I'm paying for typepad when WP seems to do the same things for free. But now the mission is that I need to find a banner. I'm looking through license free photos on flickr but not having much inspiration. Any ideas?

Bummer

So Happy New Year one and all. We celebrated it with the busiest Popstarz in it's 11 year history. I was a little bummed about having to work NYE as we did Popstarz last year, and this time round all our friends were going to the fantastic Unskinny Bop and we wanted to be there too. However, Popstarz absolutely surpassed itself and was amazing good fun, thanks in no small part to a special area Tommy had created for staff and friends filled with gallons of alcohol. Hooray! I also sang Jolene on the special karaoke in the glass bar with Sheila which was pretty ace, despite not really being able to hear the backing track. Kamikaze karaoke starts at Trash Palace on Sundays very soon, maybe even this week.

Anyway today I got the news that my shiny (although now a little dirty) iBook has gone KAPUTT with that old 'oh your logic board has failed trick'. I came home the other night and instead of being asleep it was off and trying to boot it up resulted in beeps. This seems to mean a ram failure and the genius bar at Apple seemed a bit confused that I hadn't added any extra ram. They did not seem confused when they told me that fixing it would cost £640. :(

So now the dilemma is what to do? I use a PC as my main computer in my room, and my laptop if travelling (so not regularly) and when not in my bedroom. It serves as a great little device for writing/web browsing while watching the TV in the lounge, and I really like being able to do other stuff while sitting in the lounge. I don't particularly want to spend £700-odd on a new MacBook though. The options seem to be: exist without a laptop, look for a bargain on the refurbished store, just buy one, or go for a dirt cheap PC one that would be perfectly fine but not as pretty and lovely and everything apple-y. Plus if I was spending a lot of money with Apple I'd really want to get an iMac, but that wouldn't at all help my portability issues. I don't really understand why my iBook has broken though - should they really just break for no apparant reason after about 2 1/2 years? I am eyeing my housemates suspiciously.

To cheer me up I bought Pokemon rescue for my DS and tomorrow I think I'm going to buy a new digital camera as I handily threw my new very heavy phone at it and smashed my lcd while at Gaz's flat over Xmas. BOOO HISS.