A God-awful Small Affair

"Dr Luke is kind of at the helm of American pop music and, in the beginning, I felt really excluded from that world. I was like, “Everything sounds the same; I don’t ever want to do that.” Then Katy Perry’s people asked if I wanted to support her in America. I bought her album and I was like, “This is actually really good.” Then I bought Ke$ha’s and obviously I had Britney’s LPs already. Slowly, I changed my perspective. If you’re in a club, you don’t necessarily want to be listening to super-meaningful music, but it doesn’t take the value away from it." The idea of personas and characters in pop music predates Marina Diamandis' birth. Today, though, there are increasing signs that the ability to reinvent one's image in the most commercial sense is a cheap excuse to sell out and aim for chart stardom. Diamandis, achieving somewhat lukewarm praise for her debut record The Family Jewels despite being a collection of excellent new wave pop songs, has thus ...

When I first watched the video for her M.I.A. collaboration 'Sunshine', my initial reaction to Rye Rye was a mixture of horror and disgust. Although a fan of M.I.A., and even more outrageously offensive female popstars like Nicki Minaj, Ke$ha and Peaches, it just stagnated in an odour of "Arulpragasam felt a bit bored". Adding this to an already saturated market of sweet-voiced straight-talkers and it just made me wholly unfazed by the idea of his new popstar. But then the production credits and collaborations kept rolling in and it made me doubt myself. Surely someone who's managed to grab herself work with Robyn, the Neptunes, RedOne, Tyga, Blaqstarr, Akon and Cherry Cherry Boom Boom must have something to her? I should warn you, I've just listened to OK Computer prior to writing this out, and let's face it - nothing's going to match that. I'm sure Rye Rye will try try her best though. Oh God, I'm so sorry. In the jargon of many mus...

When Jack White teamed up with Alicia Keys to produce the theme song for James Bond's Quantum of Solace , 'Another Way to Die' it might well have topped the Finnish singles chart but there was almost the final nail in the coffin of White's obscurity. 4 years later and the omnipresence of White still won't fade: aside from the death of his most famed venture the White Stripes, he continues to be an active member in the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather, has produced tracks and records with Insane Clown Posse, Stephen Colbert, has appeared on Danger Mouse's 2011 album and endeavours to perform at Radio 1's Hackney Weekend and the Rock Werchter in Belgium. Commercial success, this side of the Atlantic, has only been sparse though. Prior to his solo record Blunderbuss grabbing a #1 spot in the UK album charts, only his Stripes records Elephant and Icky Thump had managed the same. I express this with some surprise given the Rolling Stone's placing of Wh...

The latest in a long recent thread of "[Girl's name] and the [noun(s)]" band names - Florence + the Machine, Marina and the Diamonds, Gypsy and the Cat, Esben and the Witch - Swedish duo Malin Dahlström and Gustaf Karlöf and have racked up a plethora of support and hype despite being very much a style that rose and sort-of fell over the end of the last decade. An eye for theatricality, outlandish costumes and alternative influences blended into the Swedes' national fondness for pop music gives them a handful of different fanbases, though: the country that, in recent years, has produced fantastic records from Robyn, Lykke Li, Miike Snow and jj, is surely overtaking the English-speaking countries in terms of eyes and ears for pop excellence. The influences on Niki & the Dove extend beyond their homeland, though: there're airs of Kate Bush's vocals about Dahlström, their synths recall French electropop at its best, and the artwork screams 'Empire of t...

The only other time I've seen another person acknowledge the existence of Neon Trees was when a pair of Americans came to stay with my next-door neighbours. Over here they've made almost no impression at all, but Stateside the band have tapped into an unusual fanbase. Their vocal twangs might scream Tyson Ritter (All-American Rejects) but their sound is a whole lot less pop-punk. In fact, pop might be a more succinct label. Their 2010 debut album Habits might've failed to wow critics but with the aid of monstrously-catchy hit (#13) single Animal they established a pretty solid fanbase. Sure enough it was just a collection of catchy pop songs, but they are Mormons. Expecting soul from them is too much, right? Predictably, their opener 'Moving in the Dark' heads straight for the stockpile sounds - a church organ and a 1985 synth give them their foot-tapping kickstart. Innocently spouting lyrics like "Live fast, it's a feeling not an art" ...

The death of disco made me sad. It gets seasonal revivals lasting about 6 months every 5 years, but then disappears again. The early 21st century was certainly kind to the genre - Daft Punk were in their prime, Stardust, the Supermen Lovers and Kylie Minogue were all enjoying massive hits, and then BAM! Indie. But now the hipsters have taken it to their hearts - Hercules and Love Affair, the unusual Antony Hegarty collaboration (although he's since parted ways) had an incredibly well-received debut album, Beth Ditto had a great EP last year, Justice practically live off of the stuff -and there's a fresh lease of life for the genre. Real name Adam Bainbridge, Kindness is a typically 2010s artist. As the worldwide music scenes struggle to keep up with emerging and dying trends it's become a requirement for contemporary artists to experiment with about 5 different genres - in the hope that one'll click, even if one doesn't. Last year's Thundercat record ...

My gut instincts tell me that Alabama Shakes are very much a band to experience live rather than on record. With a vocalist as incredibly raw and powerful as Brittany Howard at the helm, and a whole range of blues and rock history from their state, there's no denying they'd be show-stealers. But at a stage in their career where the hype's been monumental and inevitably the ticket prices will be too, it's a little difficult to find place for them on your iTunes or Spotify playlists. Nonetheless, that talent is rare in live performers today. And who knows, maybe their niche place in the music business will prevent their songs from being used to advertise sports cars or tampons. Right from the get go the band get down to a stomping bassline on 'Hold On', a track that, aside from older Americana influences, slots in nicely with today's music scene where Kings of Leon once stood (pre-meltdown). Howard even does a quite convincing Followill impression, sc...

With Switch at the helm you're almost guaranteed to have produced a record that'll please me. With Diplo, too, you're going to secure a couple of listens. Q-Tip, Greg Kurstin and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs... now you're just trying to seduce me. I should warn you that I've already been an everlasting fan of Santigold's ever since 'the man' (or rather, a Baltimore jewellery company) forced her to change her name, so perhaps a reasonable amount of gushing might make itself apparent in this article. The 35 year-old Santi White from Philadelphia might well have burst into my subconscious but as of right now has gathered very little in the way of critical or commercial accolades. The song L.E.S. Artistes in particular may have ended up highly on a couple of end-of-year lists among the likes of Pitchfork and NME, but to date Santigold's only received an NME USA award (which I wasn't even aware was a 'thing') and an ASCAP Pop Music Award (me ne...