Tag Archive for album

Album Review: ‘London with the lights On’ by Stooshe

Stooshe-London-with-the-Lights-On-2013-1200x1200Fans of Stooshe can relax… 6 months after its original release date, the London trio are gearing up to release their debut album ‘London with the Lights On’ this coming monday. A creative and inspiring wave of sound and lyrics was originally mentioned as a reason for the push back. Something the girls felt was necessary especially as their third single ‘Waterfalls’, yes a cover of the TLC classic, was released under pressure by the record company and failed to impact the charts. Did they do the right thing?

Kicking off the album, is the brand new single ‘Slip’ which has a funky motown feeling, similar to the group’s UK chart topper ‘Black Heart’ (though slightly more uptempo). ‘Slip’ felt like a new start for the trio, and it does sound a lot better in their repertoire, comparing it to its predecessing singles. Their ‘Love Me’ ft Travvie McCoy, also good for a top 5 position in the UK charts, couldn’t be forgotten. These three signature tracks (we’ll forget ‘Waterfalls’ even exists) proof what an intriguing and exciting pop trio Stooshe are. And there is plenty more new material on the album that has the distinguished Stooshe sound, which would make up for great singles. Buzz single, appearing online end of November with a fantastic lyric video, ‘Hoochi Mumma’ is another great tongue-in-cheek example of pop music.

It’s great to see how the girls, decided to go back into the studio and add some brand new tracks to the album, despite having to see the original album being leaked on the internet. Yet for those fans we would still recommend to go and get this new album as the tracks which were on the leak have been tweaked. In all fairness, we preferred the original version of ‘One Man Music’, though the new version is definitely still single-material if you ask us; the same counts for ‘Your Own Kind of Beautiful’ which takes us back to the era of the Supremes. It’s heaven! The other new tracks include ‘Round 2′, ‘Put the Kettle On’ and the track which the girls boost about most themselves ‘Fly Again’ as it’s the most stripped back we’ll ever hear Stooshe. Just a piano and the girls. It’s breathtakingly beautiful.

In general, pushing an album back, is not the smartest move to do for your career or for fans who are really looking out for the album, yet the little break for Stooshe has been a blessing and shouldn’t give them a backlash. In fact more than ever has it made it possible for the group to deliver an outstanding debut album. Not to mention the showcase of a band who knows what they want, and do not want to compromise! And that’s girl power we haven’t seen since the Spice Girls. We very much approve! Thank you for Tongue in cheek pop music, Stooshe!

‘London with the Lights On’ is out on Monday May 27. Pre-order the album via Itunes or Amazon.

 

No one does Eurodance as good as the Swedish; Check out Belle

BelleWe kind of said it already in the title didn’t we? Surely no one does Eurodance as good as the Swedish. Take Swedish artist Belle e.g Earlier in the year she released her single ‘Sisters Anthem’, which went straight to the top on the Itunes Electronic Charts in the home country, getting her all excited to release the first of three remix albums.

album number one is called “Sisters Anthem – Remixes Part 1″ and has been released on December 5th. It includes some fantastic remixes from System B, Mark Vox & Marco Angeli, Angel Trance Pres AT System among others and can already be found on beatport.com. for the lucky Swedes. Here in the UK, we have to wait until the 2nd of January, so mark the date in your diary!

We love a bit of Eurodance so it’s a tripple yes from us and a hell of a Heja Sverige!!! Come on Sisters!!!

Listen to ‘Sister Anthem’  the radio edit below:

A special mention goes to Mysco Photography who have created the album cover for Belle.

 

the return we’ve been waiting for: Hurts are back!

Hurts ExileWe can’t believe it’s been a wait of nearly three years but  Manchester based electropop duo Hurts have at long last revealed the title and release date of their much anticipated second album, ‘Exile’.

The trailer below, shows a much darker and experimental sound for the duo which consists of Theo Hutchcraft and Adam Anderson. It’s moodier and darker from the singles taken from their first album and we’re intrigued to find out more.

 

Fans can expect a standard and deluxe edition, of which the first features 12 new tracks and the deluxe has sees a 14 tracks. But there’s more, the album is available now for pre-order from the iTunes store and by pre-ordering we’re allready getting new track ‘The Road’ instantly. What are you waiting for. Go and get it.

The duo are also embarking on a 12-date UK and European headline tour in March and April 2013 to promote their new album which is due in spring time. Below you can find all the info in regards to the tour:

February

Thurs 7th London Heaven

Sat 9th Berlin Postbahnhof

March

Thurs 14th Cologne Essigfabrik

Fri 15th Munich Theaterfabrik

Sat 16th Hamburg Uebel & Gefaehrlich

Mon 18th Stockholm Strand

Wed 20th Warsaw Palladium

Sat 23rd Zurich Kaufleuten

Mon 25th Milan Magazzini Generali

Wed 27th Vienna Arena

Thurs 28th Prague Lucerna Music Bar

Sat 30th Amsterdam Melkweg

April

Mon 1st Manchester Academy 2

Tues 2nd Glasgow Garage

Tickets are on general sale since Friday 14th December. Listen to ‘The Road below. Exile is out on March 11 2013.

Got your copy of Robbie Williams new single ‘Different’ already? – Review

With a number one comeback single and album under his belt already Robbie Williams surely can say 2012 robbiewilliamshas been his year. After becoming a dad in September, a highly successful tour and new album the enfant terrible of the world of pop returns with a big ballad for the festive season.

It’s nice to see Williams chose for a ballad which reminds us of golden Robbie track ‘No Regrets’, which is can you believe already more than a decade ago released. The difference is that Williams has gone bigger and better by managing to give ‘Different’ the anthemic chorus, which firstly doesn’t get out of your head easily and secondly shows a much more serious side of Williams to his career.

Robbie, mate, can we have more of this please? ‘Different’ is out now as a single. The track also appears on Williams number one album ‘Take the Crown’. Watch the video below:

Album Review: Evolution by JLS

The four lads of JLS are returning with a new album that will surprise many of their fans and critics. ‘Evolution’ is the fourth studio album of the band who became successful after appearing on the British TV show, The X Factor in 2008.

Since appearing on the show they have had a rather successful career, including numerous awards, singing the official BBC Children in Need song in 2011 and many more highlights. Long life expectations for groups are  rare but the remarkable thing for JLS is their genuine friendship and by the sounds of it, the chemistry these guys have is not to be stopped anytime soon.

‘Evolution’ is their best work to date and is pretty much the result of a radical style transformation. ‘Evolution’ is much more R&B than the guys current pop catalog. Not a big surprise considering they’ve been working with some of the biggest American hip hop producers on this album, such as The Runners [Rihanna, Chris Brown, Rick Ross] and Midi Mafia [Brandy, Frank Ocean] to legendary R&B hit-maker Rodney Jerkins [TLC, Kanye West, Beyonce].

Embrace yourself for a cracker of an opening tune, which will set the record about their evolution completely straight. ‘Dessert’ is pretty much straight in your face, oozes business and determination. With a little sample of Another Level’s ‘Freak Me’ (can you find where it is?) the track has got to be one of the contenders for a future single. Sounding like a Tinie Tempah production, this is an amazing start to the album.

Current single, the sleek, modern club song ‘Hottest Girl In The World’, which was produced by the courtesy of Bangladesh [Lil Wayne, Beyonce, Usher] brings a ‘Justin Timberlake’ feel to JLS, a style which sounds true to them.. If you thought ‘Hottest Girl in the World’ couldn’t be topped, watch out for ‘All The Way’ which is rightfully another fantastic club stomper. And don’t get us started on ‘Troublemaker’ (not to confuse with that other X Factor runner up, Olly Murs). There’s no stopping to potential hits on this album;

‘Evolution’ is pretty consistent and for the first time we embrace the fact that JLS have opted for a lot more uptempo tracks than mid-tempo or ballad tracks. Having said that, the few ballad tracks which have made the final cut, do sound amazing (without sounding cheesy) and can be classified as the the proper R&B ballads. The fresh sound from when the guys appeared with their first solo singles in 2009 is back and for the very first time in their career we feel they have literally arrived home and embraced the musical direction which suits them naturally: R&B.

‘Evolution’ the new JLS album is out November 5. Listen to a sampler of the album below:

Tracks You have to give a spin and download: ‘Dessert’, ‘Hottest Girl In The World’, ‘All The Way’, ‘Give Me Life’, ‘Troublemaker’

Watch JLS perform an acoustic version of ‘Hottest Girl in The world’ below.

‘Without You’ new single for Scouting For Girls. Watch the video here

The long awaited return of Scouting For Girls to the charts was quite a success for the guys as album ‘numero trois’ went straight to number 10 upon its release.

Their first new single ‘Summertime in the City’ was let’s be honest not the biggest chart success, despite being a cheeky witty pop number but don’t worry the main theme surrounding the new album is full of references to carrying on and battling for what you believe in.

So no wonder Scouting For Girls decided to release album stand out ‘Without You’ as their next single. The track, a mature and cleverly constructed love song that is steeped in optimism about rekindling a relationship is beautiful piano pop, anthemic and set to be released November 4. t’s a good one this!

New album ‘The Light Between Us’ out now, the new single  out November 4. Watch the video for ‘Without You’ below:

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