Bright and sunny days make you want to tap your feet, snap your fingers, and maybe even tackle some basement or living room shufflin’ 🙂
SLOW KNIGHTS, “Shame” and “Under Attack”
Slow Knights is a multi-artist side project put together by Del Marquis of Scissor Sisters, and these two songs which I’ve heard to initiate the album Cosmos show enormous potential. “Shame” (briefly available as a free download) is a contemporary soulful house number in an 80’s Style Council kind of way, with an excellent vocal (Mykal Kilgore, perhaps?) that could dazzle even more in remixes. “Under Attack” showcases Bright Light Bright Light’s Rod Thomas on lead with another 80’s-styled number that oozes with Stock-Aitken-Waterman influences. I’m looking forward to checking out Cosmos in full.
DEPECHE MODE, “Soothe My Soul”
Like a handful of other albums, I’m hoping to spend some time soon with Depeche Mode’s Delta Machine. A second video has surfaced only about a month after “Heaven”, this time for “Soothe My Soul”, another deliberately paced but engaging song more so because of Dave Gahan’s voice than anything. I was thinking “Heaven” might have had a better chance at being a hit (whatever that is these days). I don’t think “Soothe My Soul” has the same immediacy, but it does make me want to hear how huge the band must sound in concert. So perhaps Delta Machine is more of a tie-in with the band’s concert tour, you’ll have to make your own call on that. Check out the video for “Soothe” below.
MATT BLUE, “Outta My Mind”
One of my most promising finds of 2011 was 20 year old Dutch vocalist Matt Blue, who made European fans of Jason Derulo and Usher go wild with his viral covers of their songs. Later that year, Matt surfaced with his own video of “Can’t Help Myself (Keep Dancing)”, a chipper and infectious piece of business whose first minute of its video made me believe a star was in the making. Matt is back with another insanely feel good slice of Europop, “Outta My Mind”, whose video finds the busy singer in the studio but staying in touch with his cute lady friend through various technological means. She even goes to bed with makeup on for our Matt 😉 Anyway, I’m hoping that those powers that be who enjoy Europop will help this one cross the Atlantic. It’s a huge hit in my books 🙂 That it’s a part of Kontor’s 58th volume of their Top Of The Clubs compilations is impressive.
JAVI SILVA, “Across The Floor”
New York singer Javi Silva returns with “Across The Floor”, which will indeed pack dance floors with its graceful melody and its Euro-meets-UK dance pop flavours. The man is a powerhouse vocalist who can sing with the best of them, as we heard in 2010’s “Situation” and his work with his Native Underground project with “Night Vision” in 2011. Enormous pop and dance club potential here.
THE MEND, “Where Were You”
The Mend are four great singers from Manchester who are out to provide you with a grand time, if the video to “Where Were You” is any indication. This despite the fact that the song could be a lovely sad ballad if they had wanted. The vocals seem to capture styles of many eras, including a bit of rap which is not at all out of place. My fellow blogger My Fizzy Pop does indeed know how to pick out lads who can sing and dazzle you from a large indie crowd. Looking forward to hearing more from The Mend!
CHURCHILL, “Change” (Penguin Prison remix)
While Denver band Churchill’s “Change” has done a dandy job with making its presence known at pop and alternative radio, a stylish remix can sometimes reintroduce a song to an audience and there is almost no one out there better to do that than Penguin Prison (aka Chris Glover). While we await new Penguin music, Mr. Glover is traversing North America performing DJ gigs and evidently in-between those gigs more cutting remixes like “Change” are surfacing. Listen and download for free below.
BILLCSMUSIC BLOG 
You must be logged in to post a comment.