http://www.youtube.com/p/E32DC3A64FA3031F
MC Lars – IGeneration
Rap is my least favourite genre of music and white rap is often worst of all (think Eminem, Eamon, ouch my ears hurt just thinking of it!) but MC Lars is one rap artist who I don’t mind at all. Admittedly his music is combined with rock and dance and very catchy, but he is setting an example to not just rappers but all artists with fun songs you can sing-along to but also intelligently convey a message that makes you think about the crazy consumerism of the 21st century. He also has a single called Download This Song which complains about behind the times record labels who just don’t know what they’re doing, a message I agree with completely.
Moneybrother – They’re Building Walls Around Us
Here’s a great Swedish hit from last year, with an equally ace video. You’ll be singing along within minutes and humming the background music for the rest of the day. Moneybrother is the alias for ex-punk rock band member Anders Wendin and as a solo artist he has been very successful in his home country of Sweden and elsewhere in Europe, with 2 albums released so far of eclectic music comprising pop, rock, reggae, disco and soul sounds.
LFO – Girl On TV
You’ll probably remember this boyband’s best-known hit Summer Girls with it’s amusing lyrics about New Kids on the Block and Chinese food that makes them sick, but it was the follow-up single Girls On TV that was my favourite, and actually did much better in the charts. It was about Jennifer Love Hewitt who stars in the video and amusingly went on to date Rich from the band for 2 years. The group became pretty popular in the USA as they were managed by Lou Pearlman, who of course managed and then was dumped by both *N Sync and the BSBs, but LFO’s success was not long-lasting as their second album was not hugely successful and nothing has been released since. Sadly the last news I heard of the group was that Rich had been diagnosed with leukemia, but luckily he announced earlier this year that he is in remission and there have even been rumours of an LFO reunion.
The Click Five – Pop Princess (live clip)
Apologies for the boyband overload (not that you can ever have too many good boybands of course) but I think it is my duty to point you in the direction of US pop-rockers The Click Five’s only really good original song before you hear their BBMak-esque singles and aren’t quite sure what all the fuss is about. They also do an excellent cover of I Think We’re Alone Now. The news that they are touring with McFly in the UK soon suggests they will also be releasing here which is good news for me as I predicted they would be one of the successful bands of 2006 at the beginning of the year, although I do wonder if they’ve left it a bit late. With Rooster’s comeback making little impression even on the teeny-rockers, Son of Dork and Matt Willis failing to light up the charts and McFly needing to cover Queen and make it a charity single in order to get a no.1 these days, it seems the old Busted and McFly obsessives have moved on to ‘proper rock’ so will they have any time for this sweet but samey ‘power-pop’?
Jeanette – Heat of the Summer
If you’ve wondered why I haven’t posted in a few days it’s because I’ve been on a short holiday to Berlin. I will post more on my pop findings in the land of a million hot dogs soon but here is one of the videos that’s popular at the moment. Jeanette is one of Germany’s few ace pop acts, and this is a pretty good single although not quite the same standard as her brilliant past hits such as Rock My Life and Right Now. She’s a big star in Germany and I much prefer her output to that of her rival in being the German Britney, Sarah Connor, although only the latter has had any UK success, Jeanette only being able to claim a duet with Ronan Keating!
Now the top 5!
5. Alesha – Lipstick
4. Justin Timberlake – SexyBack
3. Scissor Sisters – I Don’t Feel Like Dancing
2. Nelly Furtado – Promiscuous
1. Bertine Zetlitz – 500
I’m so excited that Bertine is no.1 this week because she’s not a very well known artist compared to past DP:UK no.1s such as Justin and Rihanna so it’s a great and well deserved achievement. Instead of posting 500 as I had it on DP:UK a few months ago, here instead is Ah-Ah, a hit from her last album which is my favourite of her singles and also has a really ace video, although all her videos are visually amazing, helped of course by Bertine being so ace-looking herself.