Pixie

Isn't Pixie Lott a brilliant pop star name? Coming out of Mercury Records in 2009, Pixie is a 17 year old singer songwriter who was plucked from stage school and sent to American to make amazing soulful pop with the likes of Darkchild and Babyface. Is this a formula for an instant diva?

Pixie's songs have an instant American hit quality to them, with the Ryan Tedder-eque 'Without You' a reminder of something like Jo-Jo's brilliant 'Leave Get Out'. The soulful 'Mama Do' sounds like it was originally destined for Mutya (are Mercury re-using a song perhaps?), 'Boys and Girls' is super cute and 'The Fall' showing off a less annoying version of Natasha Bedingfield. 

Interesting to keep an eye on, there are big bucks behind this project and you'll no doubt be hearing her all over the radio come summer. File next to Leona rather than Amy.

Listen to Pixie on her myspace (def. Mama Do!)

(props to Ben!)

A Christmas Duel

"I bought no gift this year and I slept with your sister."

"That's ok honey, cos I bought no tree this year and I slept with your brother"

Could there be any more magical (!) Christmas lyrics than these? They come from an unlikely duet between the deep voiced Hives and the helium filled Cyndi Lauper who've teamed up for 'A Christmas Duel'.  Utterly charming, pounding with Spector-esque production and bursting with fun, I doubt there will be a Christmas song to top this for a few years to come. It's been 'stuck on repeat' for the last half an hour.

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=My5Bzf0PQhc[/youtube]

Download it for free between 28 - 30th November at The Hives website or pay (and get it into the charts!!) from December 1.

Stronger Than Nina

In between Cardigans albums, the magnificent Nina Perrson teamed up with a dude from Sparklehorse and created the amazing A Camp. Now the band is back, 7 years later, and with a slightly different indie line-up. Nina is still at the helm but this time round she's joined by her husband Nathan Larson, drummer Kevin March, Joan As Police Woman, Nikolai Dungar and the Smashing Pumpkins' James Iha.

Their album 'Colonia' is out in February but it'll be preceded (for about 47 people) by the single 'Stronger Than Jesus'.

Listen to it here.

Review: Take That - Circus

Staging a comeback far bigger than any of us could have imagined, it’s now time for Take That – The Man Band to release their 2nd album since returning to their adoring fanbase looking slightly crinkly. Circus, coincidentally released on the same day as Britney’s album of the same name, is it, and we’re pleased to report it’s pretty damn amazing.

Modern day Take That are like the drama faces of Melpomene and Thalia. Gary Barlow, the graceful swan of the group, is cementing his position as the country’s premier pop writer by dripping tragedy over soaring, epic ballads. Melancholy lament ‘What Is Love’ has Howard shining on lead vocals, questioning ‘the science of fate’ while title track ‘The Circus’ says it best with ‘I’m the only clown you’ll ever know. I love you was too many words to say’. The brilliant ‘Rule The World’ might be hard to top but opening track ‘The Garden’ and the perky ‘Hold Up The Light’ have that same magical feel. With songs like this, we’re left curious why they went with the relatively lacklustre ‘Greatest Day’ as lead single.

Then there’s Mark Owen, representing comedy, still happily bouncing about like ‘Clementine’ was as big a hit as it should have been and creating adorable upbeat pop songs Paul McCartney would be proud to sing. If Morrisons have ruined ‘Shine’ for you, then the cheeky ‘Hello’ will happily take its place in your heart. ‘Julie’ puts Mark in story telling mode and almost feels like a sequel to Babe, but the real highlight is the utterly catchy ‘Up All Night’ complete with a proper oom pah pah band and skip down the street chorus – we can just imagine the video with Take That clad in drummer outfits with big shiny silver buttons.

A stunning album, Take That are the vintage champagne of pop fizzing with playful bubbles and happily maturing with age.

Originally written for BBC Music.

Dirty Diegos

In a brilliant moment of pop / tv crossover, Fascination Records (home of GA & The Saturdays) have signed up Hollyoaks very own band, the Dirty Diegos to release a single at the end of November. Now I love Hollyoaks and love Fascination, so to me this is hilarious but brilliant news.

They're treating them totally in character and the promo cd reads, "The Dirty Diegos are a local band from the Chester suburbs. They met at Hollyoaks High where they are all currently studying. The band first started life as the baby Diegos with Amy as the lead vocalist but she stepped down when she gave birth to Leah. etc etc" Brilliant.

Of course, you would expect the song to be properly rubbish. But it's not. Instead it's a fierce 2.36 of Michaela McQueen actually on vocals sounding pretty hot. It's originally a song by Dimestars, a short lived band in the early 2000s fronted by Roxanne Wilde (sister of Kim) and featuring Morgan who's now in DoesIt Offend You Yeah. It's snarly, snazzy and I'd be able to play it pretty much immediately main set at Popstarz and get people dancing with them having no idea what it is. Just listen to that middle eight.

Fascination are, however, RUBBISH because they won't let me embed the video. I don't understand when people do that on youtube, so lose your prejudices and go watch it here. The single is out on November 24.

Here's the original:

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hSqUUWXQn3E[/youtube]

The Good Natured

I'm so predictable. If you have a pretty female singer with a synth chances are I'll love it. So when my friend Ben passed on The Good Natured there was a good chance I was going to think she was the new best thing ever! And I did.

The Good Natured is black haired, red lipped 17 year old Sarah McIntosh.  Don't let the over enunciated accent put you off though, this is gorgeous synth pop that raves away with a church organ & drum machine going at rocket speed.

She released her debut ep Warriors in October and it sold out almost instantly. Think Kate Nash meets The Postal Service and wallow in it's excellence.

Download The Good Natured - Warriors [MP3]

Review: Girls Aloud - Out of Control

Even before Queen Cheryl of Cole sharpened her perfectly manicured judging nails to become the nation's new sweetheart, Girls Aloud were adored by everyone from misery guts Noel Gallagher to toff David Cameron. Now teaming up with hit factory Xenomania again for their fifth studio album, our girls show no sign of giving up the hunt for the perfect pop song.

That perfect song might not, however, be exactly what you're expecting. Instead of compelling us to race to the dancefloor and jump on our tutu, Out of Control has taken its lead from the success of icy ballad Call The Shots and brought us a shimmering album of heartbreaking electro pop with the tearstained melancholy of the Ashley baiting Love Is Pain its defining moment.

Forgetting about hugely disappointing Neil Tennant collaboration The Loving Kind, the Balearic bliss of epic seven minute marathon Untouchable and the haunting swirls of Turn 2 Stone (which cries out for a big trance remix) prove that you don't have to be brassy to be brilliant. That said, if you're running back to Tangled Up frantically searching for Girl Overboard, you need not fear. Although there aren't as many stompers as usual, the sarcastic country of Love Is The Key and drum and bass anti-anarchy anthem Live In The Country, in which Sarah begs for a ''stall selling strawberry shortcake'' will go some way in cheering you up. Miss You Bow Wow impresses as one big non-stop chorus and the dancehall mayhem of Revolution In The Head mean there's no chance of an overly serious 'we are no longer pop' edict being issued.

Pop music at its finest, Girls Aloud have opened up their hearts, and finally won their battle against drippy, re-hashed ballads. Long may they reign.

Originally published at BBC Music