Blog: XO's Middle Eight

Will Young singing Silent Valentine on Graham Norton, February 10, 2012. He's the master of the heartbreak ballad, isn't he? It's safe to say that Valentine's Day can often seem like a cruel, pointless holiday. Regardless, this performance is flawless, especially the middle eight at 2:08. The only thing missing is the shower of paper hearts that rained down on Will at the end of the live version I saw in London this fall. [...]

Quite literally perfect

Offering up EVERYTHING

This week Goldfrapp release a stopgap hits record called, imaginatively, Singles . The cover is dire and setlist is weaker, though they have contributed two new ballads to the set. Here it is: 1. Ooh La La 2. Number 1 3. Strict Machine (Single Mix) 4. Lovely Head 5. Utopia (Genetically Enriched) [...]

Sam Sparro is finally releasing a new album, Return To Paradise , in May. He promises a record that is "a personal journey to self-fulfillment through the music of late 70s and early 80s" with more live instrumentation (versus electronics). Song titles include Bleeding Heart, Happiness and Let The Love In. The promo has begun for Paradise. Sam just did an interview with Idol Magazine that's worth your time, [...]

Darren Hayes hugging a lot of people in London on Sunday, January 29. A beautiful way to be.

I have a hate hate like love hate thing for Glee , which I think is on the slide. Occasionally, however, they nail it. Like this arrangement /performance of Smooth Criminal... Naya Rivera is a star, period. The whole thing - cellos to chairs to vocals - is perfect. This isn't totally down to the genius of Glee producers. Idolator makes the point [...]

The Mary Onettes, who specialize in what reminds me of a kind of dreamy Scottish pop - even though they are Swedes - have a new release, Love Forever EP , out on February 25 on the amazing Labrador label. Love's Taking Strange Ways is first teaser...

Behold. She is coming soon. Give Me All Your Luvin

Showing up to an awards show in an egg carries no message other than that you are showing up to an awards show in an egg. - David Toussaint from How Do You Solve a Problem like Madonna? [...]

A must-see Madonna interview from 1995. It's 8 minutes, all of it great, but the best part is around 2:00 to 5:00.

Let's get this out of the way: Madonna has everyone on tenterhooks. Early indications are pretty vexing, but the presence of writer Jean Baptiste (he did a lot of the last Kelis album) and William Orbit are reassuring. New Dragonette is fixin' to thrill . We have Emeli Sande , whose album is wall to wall [...]

Q Magazine has a small sidebar this month with Elly Jackson talking for the first time about about the forthcoming La Roux album. It seemed to go noticed, but it was the first time I've felt any excitement over the album, the duo's second. Some details revealed: The album will sound "more open and atmospheric." Among the inspirations is Tears For Fears. [...]

Song sample here

First, Emeli's new single, Next To Me , is catchy as fck, no help from a bland performance video... Note, that is the trailer. You can watch the full thing on Vevo , which is not embeddable. But the bad news, as Popjustice said last week: Going by the very brief samples below, Emeli's album is wall to wall balladry of the schmaltzy kind. [...]

Big news! Pet Shops Boys have begun recording their new album n LA with a producer called Andrew Dawson . Intriguing that his background is almost exclusively hip hop/r'n'b, with guys like Drake and Kanye . Just a few weeks now until their new b-sides collection, Format , hits shelves. My lovely friend Doron [...]

My favorite Prince song is, unfailingly, Mountains , from 1986's amazing Parade . Above is footage from various cameras during the shooting of the Mountains video. The amazing moments are from minutes 6 to 8, where Prince has some epic chemistry with backing dancer and Under The Cherry Moon sidekick Jerome Benton . It's pure gold and reminds me of Prince's untouchable magic in that era. I should note the source of this gem came from Felix Howard's blog [...]

Richard Walters crisp new EP, Young Trees, is perfect for the dead of winter. This is folkpop, high on melody and really pretty. Of the songs on the record, my favorites are the title track, Regretless and Infinity Street . Music for a snowy day, a glass of wine or a walk alone. Richard , who seems to tour endlessly, recorded this new music in hotel [...]

Control , the first single/video from London's Autoheart is out now. The video is notable - to my eyes anyway - for two things: a cute white dog trotting along at 1:30 and lead singer Jody's arms and hairy chest. Or is that really 4 things? Whatever, the song is blazing. The full album is due in springtime and will feature some epic ballads and a few songs with very fast singing , among other surprises. In the meantime, it's all about control... [...]

Today is David Bowie's 65th birthday. It appears he is essentially retired now from music, but we can dream... On his 60th, I did a post of favorite Bowie tracks . Read it if you will.