Snap, Crackle (Fizzy) Pop: Weekly Catch Up - May 23rd 2010 (ft. Bright Light x2, Bailey Tzuke, Todd Alsup, Sam Taylor + Sergey Lazarev's new video!)

Summer is here and I automatically turn into a sun hating version of Ebeneezer Scrooge. I'm not a summer fan - the hayfever, the sweaty blokes on the train, the stifling heat. Bah humbug I cry, bah blooming humbug! The one positive thing about the summer though is it seems to put everyone else in a proper bonza mood and there is lots of delightful skybound anthems to get your feet tapping along. Here are some of the latest that I've discovered via Larry Flick's Morning Jolt/Feel The Spin - always a great source for up and coming artists :)

WEEKEND ESSENTIALS:

• Bright Light Bright Light ~ Love Part II: Apparently this will be the engaging Rod's first single proper later in the year (around September 2010 I believe)... It's a deliciously synth driven, very smart, melody drenched pop anthem in waiting, and one that makes me think he'd do an outstanding job of writing for Kylie Minogue. It's all about finding love after a probably rubbish experience with some cad. It's so giddily optimistic and uplifting that it is incredibly difficult not to feel entirely joyful each time you listen to it. Based on this and his free download single A New Word To Say, his forthcoming album is shaping up to be quite the enticing prospect. Absolutely essential...
• Bailey Tzuke ~ Strong: Big things are happening for the lovely Bailey - Larry Flick has been promoting the heck out of this song; it's the number one track on gaydar radio; and rather thrillingly, Kylie Minogue is a fan! Bloody nora! Equally as wonderful is the physical cd package which looks like a vinyl single with grooves and everything. But the song - oh the song! What a particularly gorgeous slice of powerful, emotive music with insightful lyrics, a glorious vocal performance and a chorus so instantly endearing and raw that it delivers a hefty wallop of gut wrenching honesty. I feel like the song is screaming "good grief have some faith in us" and is full of lyrical genius like "I know your heart like the back of my hand". Hauntingly brilliant (or amazingly danceable in the dealer version). You must check this out (live acoustic version here).
• Todd Alsup ~ How I'm Made: I've been grossly negligent in reviewing Todd's rather top notch album. I'm getting round to it, i promise - i just want to give it the words it absolutely deserves. This track is just one of those instantly timeless, classic soulful pop songs - driven by some deeply luxurious piano, some muted choir background and the most soaring vocal from Todd that just gives me goosebumps each time I listen to it. Candidly honest, emotionally devastating - it's not just a song you are listening to: it's a full experience of love, heartbreak and disappointment. Be prepared!
• Sam Taylor ~ It's A Mistake: Young Sam has certainly built up a lot of good will and support over the past couple of years based on his plainative ballads on the Beautiful People soundtrack and his flawless reading of I Don't Know How To Love Him. This latest track is written by Charlie Mason, who has also penned tracks for Kyle Brylin, Eric Saade and many others. It's a downbeat ballad that shows off Sam's vocals to fine form and would perfeectly soundtrack a melancholy evening, glass of wine in hand watching the sunset.

Top 21 songs of the week:

Thanks to the rather good video above, my interest for Sergey Lazarev's fun but generic track Alarm has been totally reignited. For many reasons - Sergey looks quite good in a high class dirty rent boy sort of way; it has some quite good dance moves including the slow running on spot style of Eric Saade's Manboy (52 seconds in vid above; 2m02s here); i'm not a huge fan of the studded jacket and boots, but I do like a guy in a suit; the touching of the vagina area ruffles; the way the jumping in the chorus is essentially exactly the same as Same Difference We R One; the visuals somehow make the song pop a lot more for me, particularly when the boy kneels in front of him at the end. Hurrah, etc.

21 ~ Mariah Carey, 100%
20 ~ Simon Curtis, Super Psycho Love
19 ~ Mika, Kick Ass
18 ~ Kimberley Locke, Strobelight
17 ~ Sophie Ellis Bextor, Bittersweet
16 ~ Gabriella Cilmi, On A Mission
15 ~ Gabriella Cilmi, Hearts Don't Lie (NE)
14 ~ Eric Saade, It's Gonna Rain (NE)
13 ~ DeeDee, Endure
12 ~ Donkeyboy, Sometimes
11 ~ JLS, The Club Is Alive
10 ~ Gravitonas, Kites
09 ~ Sergey Lazarev, Alarm (RE/VID)
08 ~ Adam Tyler, Friction
07 ~ Maria Mena, All This Time
06 ~ Chanee & N'Evergreen, In A Moment Like This (NE)
05 ~ Josh DuBovie, That Sounds Good To Me
04 ~ Lovestoned, Thursdays
03 ~ Eric Saade, Manboy
02 ~ Scissor Sisters, Fire With Fire
01 ~ Kylie, All The Lovers (2 weeks)

Coming this week (best laid plans, etc) - the Eric Saade album review because it's bloody perfect pop; the return of one of two of my fave acts... and maybe some other stuff. Who knows?!