Archive for Album Review

Album Review: ”EI8HT” by Nik Kershaw

August 6, 2012 Album Review No comments

The name Nik Kershaw is without a doubt, a house hold name in the music industry of the eighties and nineties, as the English born singer rose to fame after signing with MCA records in 1983 and dominating the global charts with hits like ‘Won’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me’ and ‘Wouldn’t it Be Good’ for more than a decade.

After a small hiatus, in which the singer focused on working together with stars like Gary Barlow, Elton John, Ronan Keating and Imogen Heap he returned to the front scene of the music industry in 1998 and has today released his eight studio album entitled ‘Ei8HT’. Not only have the years been kind to Nik, his new 12-track album shows there’s more to life than electro pop and brings the genre back to its essence.

”The Sky’s the limit, so dive on it. Go fly your colours, so high above us. You’re just the beginning so don’t look down”, the chorus of lead single ”The Sky’s the Limit”, is powerful and uplifting and lyrically very strong and rich. and that’s what makes ”Ei8ht” stand out! It’s a collection of eleven original ”real life” songs combining irresistible melodies with sharp, intelligent lyrics.

Nothing beats opening the album with an uplifting pop stomper, so that’s exactly what Nik does. ”These Tears” sets an incredible mood for the album, showing straight away what an amazing performer, lyricist and composer Kershaw is. Even though the full album is a pop album, it’s very much pop with a twist; The styles and influences baffle, confound and delight as he effortlessly jumps between genres. Take ”Red Strand” for example, which is a lovely folk pop ballad, and an absolute highlight of the album. There is something for everybody on this album. Not only will the album wow you away, it’s also the perfect reminder why Kershaw has been nominated for three Ivor Novello and four Brit Awards. Absolutely brilliant.

”Ei8ht” is out now. Watch the video for ‘The Sky’s the Limit’ below

Don’t miss Nik playing a special set at BT London Live in Hyde Park this Wednesday August 8.

The singer is also embarking on a UK tour in september. For venues and tickets please go to www.ticketweb.co.uk

Album Review: ‘Good Morning To The Night’ by Elton John vs Pnau

July 25, 2012 Album Review No comments

The idea of legend Elton John working together with the Australian mastermind duo behind ‘Empire of the Sun’, Pnau raised quite a few intrigued eye brows. ”I’ve always wanted to do an electronica album’ Elton John recently said in an interview ‘but I didn’t know how to do it’ . Yet when he heard the Pnau guys while he was touring Australia he was so impressed with them he signed them to his own record label and gave them the rights to do something very special with his collection of hits from the seventies…

…And ‘Good Morning to The Night’ is very special. If you have the idea in your mind about a few Elton John tracks been repackaged into an electronica concept album to set the man himself back into the spotlight,  you are extremely wrong. In fact over the last year, Nick Littlemore and Peter Mayes from Pnau have been mastering the art of creating mosaics by listening to the full back catalog of seventies hits by Elton, selecting fragments and lyrics, editing them and ending up with 8 brand new tracks. In fact 45 samples of Elton Classics were used for the eight tracks found on ‘Good Morning To The Night’

Opening the album is the summer feel good track ‘Good Morning To the Night’ which is recognized as one of the official London 2012 tracks and kicks off as the ultimate electronica party anthem, profiling Elton John as a great asset for the dance world. The second single ‘Sad’, which features samples of the tracks ‘Nice and Slow’, ‘Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word’, ‘Friends’, ‘Curtains’ and ‘Crazy Water’ takes a more relaxed ‘chillax at the swimming pool’ approach, while ‘Telegraph to The Afterlife’ goes into a full lounge setting.

The guys from Pnau have proven to do the Elton John tracks justice and come up with some brilliant tracks for this brand new album. Take ‘Black Icy Stare’ and ‘Karmatron’ for example which sees a fusion of electronica and orchestra in the typical 7oies setting, the latter especially is one of the highlights of the album. ‘Foreign Fields’ on the other hand is a very dreamy track showcasing a side of Elton John we would have never seen otherwise. Topping it all off, is the instrumental end track ‘Sixty’ which is simply the icing on the cake.

If there is one album to be incredibly excited about, this is the one to beat. Currently the number 1 in the UK, already, it is only a matter of time before the rest of the world gets the chance to listen to this special and unique Elton John vs Pnau project. Elton’s legacy in the world of electronica is now a fact and it’s only a matter of time, before the Aussies of Pnau get the attention they deserve.
‘Good Morning To The Night’ by Elton John vs Pnau is out now. Watch the video for ‘Sad’ below

‘Trespassing’ by Adam Lambert gets the GloPop Album Review treatment

July 10, 2012 Album Review 5 comments

Forget what you know about the singer who’s strut his way with black eyeliner and lots of leather during his ‘For Your Entertainment’. The American singer songwriter returns to the charts with his second studio album, Trespassing, which sees a radical change of style into a much more toned down, softer side mixed with a sniff of Queen.

The standard album, consisting of 12 tracks contains a mix of radio friendly pop songs, with a few highlights and some very strong ballads. While the Queen influence is prominent throughout the whole album, it’s never over empowering which allows Lambert to come up with a unique personal album. The list of names, having worked on the album is in fact rather impressive; Pharrel Williams who’s responsible for opening the album with track ‘Trespassing’, Sam Sparro, Bruno Mars, Dr Luke and many others.

One of the first highlights from the album is the co-written Sam Sparro track ‘Shady’ which is such a radical change of style for Lambert and an absolute treat to enjoy. Amazingly Funky and fresh,  which is clearly inspired by Sparro and reminds of his own new album ‘Return To Paradise’ which is full of similar anthemic disco stompers.A similar thing can be said about the track ‘Kickin In’ which sounds incredibly funky and at times makes you wonder whether Lambert could have been a member of the Scissor Sisters, as it is one of those tracks which would amazingly fit into their repertoire as well.

Of course new single ‘Never close Our Eyes’ and lead to the album ‘Better than I Know Myself’ are featured on the album as well. We’re not quite sure why exactly the latter has been chosen as the lead for the album, as the second part of ‘Trespassing’ contains much stronger efforts which could have been better promoters for the album. Don’t get us wrong ‘Better Than I Know Myself’ is definitely not a bad song but it misses a certain ‘Je Ne Sais Quoi’ when its being compared to tracks like ‘Underneath’. That track for example not only shows off the vocals of Lambert, but has been treated to a mesmerizing and haunting arrangement, which would have developed a huge interest for people new to Adam’s material. Bit of a shame, but the track is already turning out to become a fan favourite so who knows it might get a release at some point.

There is a clear distinction between the album with some very pop radio friendly upbeat tracks like ‘Cuckoo’ and ‘Pop that Lock’ in the first part, yet towards the end of the album, Lambert takes on the ballad approach and really seizes the moment to expose his emotions through his vocals. It’s definitely the case for the tracks ‘Underneath’ and ‘Outlaws of Love’.

If you fancy some more Adam Lambert there is of course the deluxe edition which features an extra 4 tracks including the very Queen inspired ‘Runnin’ (do we spot a little bit of We will Rock You, in the arrangement? Yep we do!)

‘Trespassing’ Standard and Deluxe Edition are out for sale now.

Album Review: TEED – Trouble

July 8, 2012 Album Review, UK No comments

Since the release of his first EP ‘All in One Sixty Dancehalls’ in 2009, Orlando Higginbottom better known under his stage name ‘Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs’ has changed the landscape of electro pop for good. Originally from the UK, Oxford based Orlando has been ripping up gigs around the globe with his live show of bizarre instruments, glitter cannons and of course… dancing dinosaurs. No wonder he’s world tours have not only been highly successful but earned him being a headliner on many summer festivals.

Early June, this year T.E.E.D released his debut studio album ‘Trouble’. A compilation of 14 full on mind blowing electro tracks including the singles ‘Trouble’, ‘Garden’ and ‘Tapes & Money’. Delivering such a strong debut album, and a substantial track record as a full on live act, T.E.E.N.D has all the potential to claim Calvin Harris throne in the dance world.

‘Trouble’ is out now with any online retailer.

Album Review: ‘Become the One You Love’ by Artmagic

June 29, 2012 Album Review No comments

What happens when you put two extremely talented individuals together? Magic! Richard Oakes, guitarist from Suede and Sean McGhee, the well known producer ( Imogen Heap, Alanis Morrisette,Robyn ) are Artmagic. And that’s exactly what they have done with their debut album ‘Become The One You Love’, making magic.

‘Become the One You Love’ consists of 11 mid tempo tracks, each strongly individual and empowering.  There’s a clear division between the songs some are rather relaxing and chilled such as album opener ‘The Choice’ which is accompanied by piano and tracks like ‘Half Of You’ while others like ‘Down the River’ and ‘You’ are equipped by electric guitars sounding very edgy and much more up tempo. Their amazing single ‘Forever in Negative’, featured on the album, is a regular  on BBC 6 Music receiving full support. The album has been described as ‘Excellent, classy grown up music…truly beautiful’ which only adds to Art Magic being a top of the bill act!

The album itself has been something the guys had never done before.  Talking about that process Sean explains ”Richard and I have enjoyed a great freedom because there was no giant organization to please, only ourselves, so we could do whatever we wanted. But we’ve tried to make melodic, accessible music that appeals on a mainstream level, so the album has several big open doors people can walk through. ‘Beauty’ is another key word for Artmagic. Even when the music is hard and troubled, we didn’t want to be too thorny and spiky.”

‘Become the One You Love’ is the result of an amazing collaboration between Richard and Sean. The dreamy atmospheric guitar-pop they provide on this album is just simply too good to resist. The track ‘A Homecoming’ represents this description beautifully. If you can imagine sincere lyrics, rich layers of music, and a dreamy atmosphere than you won’t disagree on ‘Become The One You Love’ as a must-buy album.

‘Become the One You Love’ by Art Magic is available on July 2nd.  Watch the video for current single ‘Forever in Negative’ below.

Album Review: ‘Electroshock’ by Kate Ryan

June 28, 2012 Album Review, Belgium 3 comments

Belgian dance diva, Kate Ryan has officially presented her new album Electroshock to the press last Monday. ‘Electroshock’ contains 14 new tracks, all of them mainly in English, is the singers final full studio album.

If the alarm bells start ringing of Kate withdrawing from the music scene, let us tell you, Belgian’s finest dance export is not leaving the music industry but is well aware of the growing popularity of services like Spotify and iTunes where fans buy the songs they like rather than purchasing the full album.

The album, which was originally expected in September last year, has been well worth the wait. As the queen of dance, with a huge popularity scale in Europe, Kate’s transformed ‘Electroshock’ in the party album for this summer, with an incredible amount of songs which could well turn out to be big smash hits all over Europe.

Opening the album is ‘Lovelife’,  the first single featuring a sample of Liquido’s ‘Narcotic’, released in 2011, which is followed by the beat-heavy dance track ‘believer’. The latter has a very international sound which shows the first glimpse of a return to the top of the dance charts throughout Europe.

Electroshock has so far seen three single releases. All three tracks have made the final cut of the album, also ‘Broken’ which was released towards the end of last year.  The track features British rapper Narco and follows last year’s trend of producers and singers collaborating with artists from the rapper world. Though its intentions were noble, Narco doesn’t really own his part in the song and in all honesty ‘Broken’ would have been better off as a Kate only track. Good news for the fans though, Kate allows everybody to download her version for free as a big thank you. Also current single ‘Robots’  is featured and comes closest ,alongside’ Leave it Alone’, to her previous work from the ‘Alive’-era.

Overall ‘Electroshock’ is a very solid, international sounding album which exposures some jams, similar to Goldfrapp. ‘Walk To The Beat’, ‘One More Time’ and ‘Everytime’ are the perfect examples of that comparison. Those three tracks do not only sound perfect for international recognition but proof Kate is much more than the ‘lady from the French covers’ and more than worth her title of Eurodance queen. ‘Madness’, is probably the most laid back track from the album and its Electro R&B midtempo arrangement is simply astonishing

And just when you think it couldn’t get any better, Kate does provide us with French lyrics as she’s gearing up her schlager duet ‘Little Braveheart’ with former Swedish  Eurovision winner Charlotte Perelli. Both ladies have a Eurovision past, and this cheeky, uptempo track wouldn’t have been misplaced for a second try at Eurovision itself, which Kate confirmed she would be more than happy to take on. The best is saved for last however with ‘Run Away’. The track, which is produced by the man behind Avicii, Tim Berg, is a cracker of a tune which complements two of the biggest stars on the scene, and is bound to conquer the world. Kudos!

As a final studio album, Kate has outdone herself again. ‘Electroshock’ is the biggest dance album of 2012!

‘Electroshock’ is out now in Belgium and is scheduled to be released in several European countries over the next few days. The album can also be bought through the official Kate Ryan website.

Listen to ‘Little Braveheart’ below

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