The Pipettes – "Earth Vs. The Pipettes : I wasn't a huge Pipettes fan to begin with, but out of curiosity I took a listen to The Pipettes new album "Earth Vs. The Pipettes" as the cover is adorned with the girls in fun space garb and UFOs. What I thought would be a failed attempt at trying to copycat Gaga again, what I surprisingly heard was a pop extravaganza full of glee, enthusiasm and magical disco flavour. Key tracks "Thank You" and "Need A Little Time" pack a serious pop crunch. New single "Stop The Music" brings back the magic of synchronized girl vocals ala Bananarama being the obvious comparison. Some may question the new direction change for the group, but in my humble opinion, I think what The Pipettes are doing now will put them in a new camp altogether – with the serious pop lovers who appreciate a bit of glamour and grit. I mean really in the year 2010, doing album after album of 1950's style music will eventually die out anyways – why not look to the future? Hurrah for doing so girls.
"Earth Vs. The Pipettes" will be releases on June 28th.
Gabriella Cilmi – "Ten" : I wasn't a huge fan of first single "On A Mission" at all and the video seemed a little too forced albeit totally fabulous and glamtastic. Again I thought another "Gaga Effect" was going to take hold, but I was again surprised by the long player as a whole. It's got some real fun flavours on it. From the downright funky "Heart's Don't Lie" to the gorgeous "Love Me Like You Want To". "Superhot" is evocative of Kylie in her prime and "Invisible Girl" packs a lot of attitude. After listening to this album, I was thinking, geesh – what if she did her first album like this? I probably would have been a fan. Then the electro-pop 2010 version of bonus track "Sweet About Me" started playing and I immediately thought – "I'm glad she did that, I'm immensely satisfied now".
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Sugababes – "Sweet 7" : I am so tired of entering into conversations which are all about the demise of The Sugababes lately – it's getting kinda boring. Yes, yes, yes – I'm sad too they had another line-up change, but really people – get over it. I had to and so should you. Let the music speak for itself and stop making judgments about groups based on bad publicity and gossip until you hear the final work. "Sweet 7" in my opinion is one of The Sugababes best because it's so different to what they have done before. "Get Sexy" still remains one hell of a hot stomper while "Thank You For The Heartbreak" and "Miss Everything" ft Sean Kingston really stand on this album. It's really a perfect electro-pop experience. London anthem "She's A Mess" really gets me grooving and "Crash And Burn" brings back The Sugababes emotive vocal style that I really admire. Although I'm not too sure about the choice of "Wear My Kiss" as a single as there are far better songs on the album in my opinion and perhaps this was the reason they had a lower album chart entry than expected – it would have been interesting to see how "Little Miss Perfect" would have panned out instead – it's got that "Too Lost In You" feel about it which I think is what they needed right now instead of continuing the sex pot image for the third single. Any way you look at it – it's good pop music in the end and if you can appreciate that without bringing up the line-up change or their low chart entry – then you are really experiencing the music for what it is.
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Goldfrapp – "Headfirst" : Out of all Goldfrapp's musical genre stylings, I think I really love the current feel that they bring to the table. Who can deny that "Rocket" really sets the standard for electro-pop singles this year. Fans of music old and new can appreciate their obvious sampling techniques and perfect execution. My favourite track on the album is most definitely "Dreaming" – it's got that more hot than hot Depeche Mode sort of feel to it that conjures up a sense of euphoria with it's deep synths and drum machines. I have never been impressed by one album as a whole by Goldfrapp, but what "Head First" did for me was establish them as a group with a mighty and impressive catalogue. Instead of putting "Head First" on repeat for a few days, I created my own "best of Goldfrapp" playlist which intertwines all the hits like "Ride A White Horse" and "A&E" among the "Head First" album, because well at nine songs, it's kinda short. However, the best part of this album is unfolding the cover art into a fantastical little poster of Allison walking on clouds above a city sky-scape in her neon-pink jumpsuit. Definitely that wins most innovative cover art award for me so far this year…
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