Blog: #1 Hits From Another Planet

Round two is upon us, and it promises to be more exciting than last week! Who will make it through? Three minutes until the fun begins... **It's funny watching this BSB/Nsync opening medley and realizing that all of these songs were written and/or produced in Sweden. **Judging from applause before the show, Ulrik and Timoteij have this in the bag, with Thomas biting at their heels. Here we go! ULRIK: As expected, this is better in full. I don't see any way this guy is not going to the final. He's like [...]

It's time for a sneak peek at Heat Two of this year's Melodifestivalen. Will it be better than last week's (mostly) dire offering? I hope so! As always, my opinions will likely change when I hear the songs in full. ( Listen to clips here ) Ulrik Munther - Soldiers Well, it's good enough. Honestly, I was hoping for more, though I have a suspicion that this will improve upon full listen. But from the sound of this one minute clip, he's got better songs on his album. 3.5/5 Top Cats [...]

"How do you feel about me now?" Prepare yourselves, American readers. I've long since predicted One Direction world domination (in fact, I've been predicting it since they were on X-Factor in 2010) and, with the release of their first US single next week, it's all going to kick off. I've really enjoyed hearing What Makes You Beautiful on American radio. It's so rare that any UK artist/band this poppy crosses over. (On a similar note, while I've been 100% sure of 1D's success since they were formed, I'm pleasantly shocked that The Wanted seem [...]

Chronicle With Chronicle , 2012 has its first great movie. It's easily the most exciting, watchable action/sci-fi film in months. What first-time director Josh Trank was able to accomplish on a shoe-string (at least by Hollywood standards) budget is so cool that it borders on unbelievable. The story will be familiar to most who have watched any superpower origin tale. More specifically, the script owes a great debt to pioneering 80's anime classic Akira . Three teenagers, one of them weaker, more socially awkward, and [...]

"We're running fast through the night" Pearl Fiction is the solo project from one of the singers of defunct Swedish art pop band Zeigeist (remember them? It's been years since I first wrote about them). As a solo artist, Pearl's music reminds me of an experimental Prince album. It's like he's taken songs like "Kiss" and steered them into all sorts of directions. It's not the kind of album that hits you directly the first time, but I think it rewards repeated listens. This is the single, and it's just gorgeous. The hook is [...]

"Maybe it's just my wounded pride" So, Sweden's Melodifestivalen is back for another year and the first heat was extremely underwhelming (though, the more I hear Loreen's winning song, the more I think it could be the ultimate winner. It's really excellent). This Saturday should be more interesting, and Ulrik Munther is one of the reasons. I wrote about Munther ages ago, back when he was still a young hopeful. Now he's a big hit in Sweden. In fact, his first album shot straight to number one. In some ways, it would be easy to call [...]

The live blog is open! Will we get a nice stream and good results this week? We'll see... **Aw, clips of Swingfly and Sanna from last year! Probably my two favs, all said and done. **And a reminder that Sweden nearly won Eurovision last year. If only.

It's that time of year again, folks. Melodifestivalen is back and I'm raring to go. As always, I'm going to give my preliminary thoughts on Fridays, based only on the one minute previews that SVT has given us. but remember, my thoughts can (and sometimes do) change once I've heard the entire thing and seen the performance. ( Listen to clips here ) Sean Banan - Sean den förste Banan (trans: "Sean the First Banan") What an odd choice to kick everything off. The verses sound oddly amatuer, but that chorus is certainly catchy. Of course, [...]

Madonna will be performing at the Superbowl this Sunday (as if any of you didn't already know that), so I thought it was the perfect time to submit her discography to the Top Ten treatment. She's an interesting one. While I can appreciate her work and am definitely a fan, I've never felt a connection with her like I have with some other pop divas (ie: Janet Jackson, Kylie Minogue). Still, at seventy-five singles and counting, it goes without saying that I could easily have expanded this list well past ten. [...]

"You were pulling my hair" Earlier today, the Darkness revealed their comeback single. I'm thrilled that they're back, though it doesn't really feel like they left since Justin Hawkins' side project Hot Leg sounded so similar. Still, I've always had a soft spot for the band and can't wait to see them performing with Foxy Shazam later this month in Seattle. Nothing's Gonna Stop Us (wouldn't it be awesome if it was a cover of the Starship song?) has the classic Darkness sound to it. It's short, at well under three minutes, and honestly [...]

"You know you want it, and you want it bad" Make Out is a Danish band comprised of Jesper Mortensen (of Junior Senior fame) and vocalist Leah Hennessey. Their music is definitely pop, but with a frantic, garage energy to it that makes it quite unique. All of their songs are incredibly short. it's like they took a full pop song, condensed it, and crammed it into just over two minutes. This track, in particular, is a wonderful jolt of raucous energy. Don't let the beginning fool you. It kicks off with Video Killed The [...]

"It doesn't matter what we do" I posted about indie band Chairlift years ago, before their song ended up on an itunes commercial and before hipsters embraced them. Now they're out with a new album, and it's decidedly more 80's inspired. If you like your pop lush and quirky, you should really give it a try. The video to their single, Amanaemonesia , is hilariously mesmerizing. But it's I Belong In Your Arms that was my instant standout. It's got wonderfully surging production and a melody that blossoms into [...]

"You should take a look at who you are" Sometimes artists and albums fall undeservedly through the cracks. It's a shame. And I'm actually almost embarrassed that I didn't know about Mikey Jukebox until this week. After all, the first version of his album was released way back in 2010. And he is AWESOME. I'm talking "top 10 album of the year" awesome. As a one-man band, he specializes in a mix of glam rock, retro rock and roll, and a touch of disco. his vocals are eerily reminiscent of Kristofer's from Melody Club. This is, [...]

Santigold - Big Mouth This definitely has some bonkers M.I.A. influence to it. I like the production (especially that frenetic hook), but I wish there was a little more focus on melody. Still, a promising return. B Alexandra Burke - Elephant I would have never expected such a lush, electronic sound from Burke. It's a pleasant diversion from the more straightforward pop of her debut. In fact, it doesn't sound anything like her. She's following trends, but this totally works. A- [...]

"It is what makes me human" I haven't gotten a chance to throw my two cents in about Sweden's Niki & The Dove yet. They're one of the BBC's Sounds of 2012 selections, which usually means very little to me (their choices tend to be on the more boring and overpraised side). But Niki & The Dove are very interesting. Like fellow Swedes The Knife, their music fuses electronic elements with alien-like, challenging pop soundscapes. They're a little more mainstream than the Knife or Fever Ray, but still delightfully weird. While I think their excellent single [...]

Hallelujah! Seriously, there isn't a better band in America than Foxy Shazam, and this album proves it. Their self-titled 2010 release was my favorite of that year. I can see this making it to the top for 2012, and it's only January. The band have often stated that they want to be the biggest group in the world. They certainly sound like it. While not as thundering and boisterous as their older stuff, the guys have tightened their ear for melody and infused this album with a different kind of bombast. Layered, Queen-like vocals battle with tight arrangements that keep [...]

"I'm trying to break free" It's been a weekend full of Scandinavian pop (don't even get me started on Jesper's song not winning on Denmarks's MGP Saturday), which has put me in the mood for instantly catchy, explosive bubblegum tunes. And when I'm looking for that sort of thing, I instantly go to artists like Neo. Let Go is taken from his just-released second album, Reborn . The sound is just a little more mature than his first release (aka: more ballads, but better ballads), but doesn't sacrifice any of the [...]

"Kick down the door and hold me" Foxy Shazam is back! I'll give a full review of their very good album next week when it's officially released. After all, I'm still digesting it. In some ways, it's very different than their last one. Yet it's also an obvious progression. They've gone further into classic rock territory, while still managing to up the bombast (I mean, check out (It's) Too Late Baby . That's like bombast personified). The band have been nice enough to share one of the album's best tracks a few days early. [...]

"With the lights out, it's less dangerous" Time for something a little different. Vancouver-based musician/producer Doug Naugler has created something very special with his free online album of covers. He's taken classic rock songs, stripped them of instrumentation, and rebuilt them using electronic music. The result is really, really cool. I'm a big fan of mixing rock and dance in the first place, but these reproductions have amazed me by just how seamless they are. I had a hard time picking which one to post (you can listen to them all on his soundcloud ), [...]

"I can turn it around" From Denmark to Norway today, and another Eurovision hopeful. Like Jesper yesterday, Tommy Fredvang was also a participant in his home country's X-Factor. I'm seeing a pattern here! More importantly, Tommy's music sounds like Ola Svensson with more guitars. This is, of course, a very good thing. Make It Better is catchy from the get-go, with big poppy guitar riffs and a driving chorus that propels the song along at breakneck pace. I'm not sure what Tommy's chances are in the competition, but I'm glad he'll at least receive [...]