Katy kisses girls

Katy Perry

Wow ..little Ms Perry really has stirred heads and loins with "I kissed a girl". It's number 1 in itunes, was recently performed live on Fox's "So you think you can dance", and is the source of a multitude of gay spoofs and inspired videos. Not since the Scissor sisters has there been music so freshly embraced by the pinkies. Do a search on youtube and get ready Madi Gras heaven. If you have not heard the song yet click here.



I haven't heared it on local radio, wonder if it didn't clear censorship? Oh well, i wouldn't be one to pass judgment if i were the MDA, we've all seen the horrendous video and offenders shouldn't cast the first stone. Honestly, all the people involved in the making of that video should be locked and chained to a monitor , eyes peeled open with clothes pegs and forced to endure hour upon continuous hour of that horror. Indeed DJ, play it relentlessly ...let the lyrics of "Yes yes y'all, we don't stop" be the words of poetic justice.

"I kissed a girl" is but one of the controversial songs Katy seems to enjoy threading the fine line on. Mild Experimental Lesbianism, calling a boyfriend gay , writing about getting drunk , telling some boy he has pms .. yada yada yada . You do wonder if she is a girl kissing booze drinking boy hater or if she is just singing all these just to get your attention. Remember when Alanis came out with "Jagged little pill" ? , and when Meredith Brooks entered the one hit wonders hall of fame with "Bitch"? There was a certain believability that is lacking here. Maybe Katy is just late to the party and is a wannabe but somehow i don't buy it. Time for a commercial break, enjoy the live performance



let's talk about the positives of the album. Katy Perry has got really nice vocal chops, reminds me a little of Pat Benetar. Songs like "I kissed a girl" and "hot n cold" will fill the dance floors for months with their infectious 80s electro clash disco sound. Proving she has an eye on the billboard charts, songs like "Ure so gay" and "Waking up in Vegas" follow the same recipe and will be fun songs to play at parties or hen nights.

The album starts out very strong with its 80s theme and then goes really pop rock by track 4. This is where the discrepancies really annoy me as i get the impression she is really more rock than electro and those 3 songs were thrown in to get her noticed. What is really damning is that those 3 songs she didn't write are by far the best songs on the album. Listen to the songs she did write ( Thinking of you, Mannequin, One of the boys)and you'll get a real sense that she rocks rather than camps out. However, most of us should really choose to enjoy the tracks as they are and as for me ,the jury is still out on who she really is as a songwriter.

Oh yes, I was listening to "I kissed a girl" and "Hot n Cold" whilst preparing dinner and i must say, i had an added bounce to my step as i chopped potatoes, diced garlic and played with my red wine reduction sauce. My lesson? Do not put Mika, Scissor sisters and Katy Perry in the same playlist whilst cooking or you might end up creating some new gay dance move only the MDA could approve of.

Dave Barnes ,,, Not Another Lifehouse!

Dave Barnes



Lifehouse is one of the bands i list under "feelgood", "reliable", "steady" and gasp "boring?!" Jason wade has mad vocals and he writes some damn catchy tunes. You could play their entire catalogue on any Hits station and not miss a beat. Enter Dave Barnes, an honest song writer with some very pop friendly melodies who is waiting for the big time. Let's listen to his single first before i go into the album review



By the way, I've received some feedback that alot of you don't actually load the songs cause you read my blog @ work and so i hear crap like "hey! I'm supposed to be working!" or "The server speed is too slow!". I bet if i posted Jessica Alba breast feeding, none of this "work" rubbish would appear. And no turtle server would come between you and that child's mammogram. Anyway, i would post the songs for you to download if it weren't ILLEGAL. Not to fret, i do value your feedback/suggestions and God knows i live to serve so i will be uploading the songs Ive featured on a regular basis on a myspace page pretty soon. So you can go there and tune out. Look out for the page soon..

Ok! Sorry Mr Barnes, here is what i reckon. Verdict: I really like it. I kinda expected a 2 hit wonder from this fella from nashville but he did surprise me with about 6 keepers on a 13 track effort. He has a gorgeous tone ala Jason Wade but his musicality is much more subtle and he doesn't rely as heavily on tried and tested formulaic chord formations to churn his goodies. Listen to this lovely track "On a night like this" (Rod, Mario, you Pinoys will love this song). When he croons "On a night like this, i could fall in love with you", its perfect for unhooking the bra when you need a closing song.



So , hopefully by now you've listened to the 2 songs and are in agreement with me that he is a standout vocalist with nice hooks. The hits really roll off the album and i'm wondering why radio hasn't picked up on him. C'mon radio stations.. the world is passing by you and you're still ostriched in Flo Rida?? (ssssh but 'Low' is Da song of Da year!!! ) "When a heart breaks" is a trousers warming piece that is begging to be on some night time TV show. It's had about 3 repeat plays from me on my 1st listen and i'm still humming it in the loo.

At times, Dave's out of character gospel roots really shine through and the politically correct side of me can't help but imagine big assed, sweaty black women waving their hands in the air as they harmonize " Swing low.. sweet Chariot". So this is where the similarities to lifehouse end and the ones with fat Negroes begin. Aside from his chart friendly ala lifehouse hits, the rest of the album is speckled with his nashville upbringing and country town vibe. I for one really enjoyed certain pieces. "Believe" is crowd pleasing and really easy on the ears. At certain stages of the album , you feel Dave trying to reach out with messages of love peace and joy by addressing issues like extreme poverty and materialism. What i like is that it's all really light and fluffy without being overly sweet. Listen to "10,000 children" to hear what i mean.

Like i said, lots of treats to take away and play at home or in the car. By the way, as you've come to the end of this post, you would have realised Dave Barnes is NOT another lifehouse. ( Read the title again with the emphasis on the "not".. don't you just love perspective?)

K is for Kerli

Kerli says "Love is dead"



The album cover looks like Tim Burton designed it, the music sounds like Amy Lee from Evanescence went to Estonia , dyed her hair and got a funky accent. Estoniwhat??? Yes.. Estonia, aside from all you RISK geeks, most thespians will agree Estonia sounds like some anal condition associated with piles.



I must admit that the only thing i know about Estonia is an Estonian English Premier League goalkeeper called Matt Pooom who used to play for Bolton Wanderers. These days, globalisation means underground talent like Kerli is accessible to the rest of the real world. The opening track " love is dead" is stellar. The vid is pretty interesting i must admit. Reminds me of the old classic MV of world champion eater Takeru Kobayashi eating in reverse.(can anyone recollect the song?)

Kerli reminds me of of Evanescence and some nightwish thrown in as well. What she has going for her is more diversity within the album. You have the power ballad "bulletproof" , the R&B " Creepshow" and the weird " Fragile" . The second track "Walking on air" is really creepy. The opening lyrics go " There's a really creepy house in a little creepy place.." You could say the same about the song and the album. It's got a queer dark gothic scarehouse tone to it with a haunting string section. I'm sure it would be a joy for some demented psycho killer to play in his headphones whilst he inflicts latex pain.

As usual, I like my music the same way i like my food. Fresh. Kerli certainly sounds refreshing in a dark rock goth kinda way. PLUS she's from Estonia, i mean how many Estonians will you ever get to know? Now u have 1. I have 2. I win

I hate you John.

John Mayer "Where the light is"



Fact 1: We all know John. Fact 2: We all want to be John. Fact 3: We can never smell anything as good as what John has got. The asshole has dated Jennifer love hewitt, Jessica Simpson and now Jennifer aniston. He likes his Js as much as he likes his demi goddesses. Dumbnuts has talent on a 5 string and can pull off a decent performance. Smelly feet also has the whole world waiting on his bloody releases as they are generally very good. PLUS, he's dated "body is a wonderland" Jennifer love hewitt...argghh.... WHY JENNIFER???? WHY????

Which brings me to my review. With all the goodies going for the dickhead, Why the hell is he always singing the damn blues??? He formed bluesy John Mayer Trio with the legendary pino palladino and some dude called steve jordan and they created an album called TRY! I'm not a big fan of the release but the collaboraton did wonders for girlyboy's musical inspiration. Continuum for me was by far the superior album to Heavier things and he owes alot to the influence the John Mayer trio had on that. He really should buy dinner for steve and pino for life; "Here, dinner's on me.......tonight? no no every night...i mean till you all collapse and die" Serious.



The above is Jackoff doing a cover of Tom Petty's classic in the Los Angeles gig that this 2 cd release is about. It's not that bad ( really HATE him) and you can tell he's gotten more comfortable taking someone else's classic and making the original look bad. He's done it with GnR's patience and even Justin Timberlake. This concert listens like his life story on 2 cds. He puts all off his repertoire through their paces. He has soft acoustic guitar pieces on tracks like " Stop this train" and "Daughters". He does a decent effort on " Bold as Love" which is a Jimi Hendrix original if i'm not wrong. Listen to the full band ensemble on this one, very nice. In fact, this 2 cd effort smacks of a mix hot pot. He has tracks like "Good Love is on the way" where he totally rocks out with heavy guitars and crashing drums. Then he goes uber blues on "Gravity". That track btw is my favorite on the album. Check out this live version he did taken from the fantastic Abbey road sessions



(argh.. the solo at the 3 min mark... argh. so good)

OK back to the release. You really get a sense of who Ugly mouth is and where he's come from just by playing the album track by track. Most fans will prefer the 2nd cd but i must say , the whole damn thing is pretty good. Wait for the DVD, i can't wait. like i said... you can't even smell success like this man's B.O. Asshole

Light my Fire!

Fireflight



Let's all make like inanimate objects and rock with fireflight. Much like paramore, flyleaf, this whole rock band fronted by a chick business is really making it's way onto the scene of late. I suppose since Avril wasn't actually a rocker, there is a growing army of lost female teens waiting for a leader to emerge. ( Fiona apple should just come back and kick ass!) Remember Rock Star INXS ? That programme showed me chicks can do it just as good. Here's a picture of Dilana , the finalist from that show. Scary..




Click on the player to listen to a preview of "unbreakable" from Fireflight



Fireflight is a straight up product of Christian rock. Words like "Faith" and "Destiny" get tossed around themes of reliance and comfort in a higher power. The beauty of bands like fireflight, POD and Switchfoot is that they don't hide behind their motivation for their craft. They aren't asking you to go to church, nor are they asking anyone to follow in their footsteps. Recently, Switchfoot was in town and i overheard comments like "Wa .. really like church" etc. Part of me agreed that the show did have a gospel undertone to it , but on the other hand.. did you expect anything different? Part of appreciating a song is also about knowing the songwriter and the lyrics behind a song. When Color me bad sang " Girl, i want to sex you up" , it was pretty obvious you didnt have to dig deep to know what the band was about.

This is the title track and the killer stand out single. More commentary after the video. Click damn it!



'unbreakable' is currently the theme song used in the bionic woman trailer and you can see why. It's a strong, powerful, take it up the nuts song that kinda inspires you to do all sorts of weird things. Like stand in the middle of a warehouse and swing your hair around wildly. ( Really.. could the opening of the video be more predictable?)

The album isn't all rock and power however, in fact aside from 'unbreakable', the other stand out tracks are 'You gave me a promise' and 'Wrapped in your arms'. Both of which are ballads that should be labeled under "Sunday morning music". Fireflight has a penchant for the heavy chorus and big guitars. Listen to 'The hunger' and 'stand up' and you get the sense this band probably isn't adverse to the odd shot of vodka every 10 mins or so. The sound is tight and i must admit to preferring the melodies of fireflight alot more than the more popular Paramore.

So , if you're looking for a good chick led rock band that isn't afraid to be bold and strong, look no further than fireflight. If however, like me, you like your women curvy and pouty, next week's post should be more tasty. I've got some R&B lined up.