Umlauts:

On the stereo in Casa Umlauts at the moment.

Since I no longer care about being up-to-date, or with it, these are simply the last three songs I listened to.

Linda Bengtzing - Diamanter

Thankyou, Patrick, for forcing me to listen to this, though of course I only had to be forced to do so once. It gains immediate points for the intriguing string beginning which hints that it might be a ballad, but a good one, before completely shattering that illusion with the requisite big Swedish beats and the big Swedish hooks. Certainly it helps if you've already surrendered to the gigantic collective charms of Shirley Clamp, Lena Ph and company. Oh, and it's in Swedish, but it doesn't matter. Love the 80s pop-rock (that is to say, female singers in the 80s whose producers said "Let's give this a bit of a rock feel, rather than actually making a rock song) touches in the verses, and the shamelessly expansive choruses with the supremely confident, infatuated delivery Linda musters to take it into the stratosphere. Basically, listen to it and be stupidly happy.

Texas - Can't Resist

Oh, it wouldn't be exaggerating the matter to say that I've disagreed with Popjustice quite a bit recently (i.e. "Don't Play Nice" > "Wake Me Up", the Goldfrapp album isn't all that, and the Kaiser Chiefs, REALLY NOW!), but for all of you who snickered when he said that this track from their forthcoming album, pencilled in as the third single, was a Xenomania classic, commence eating your words NOW, because liking, or at least grudgingly respecting Texas is now mandatory, or will be soon. If "Summer Son" had had the guiding hand of Brian Higgins to take it exactly where you wanted it to go, basically. Sharleen Spiteri is actually rubbish at conveying desire or recklessness or passion, but she's pretty good at doing resignedly helpless, and when the song's called "Can't Resist", that's what it's all about.

I love the chorus's repetitious verbosity. I love the breakdown in the middle where some comparatively less treated guitars provide a ghostly backdrop for the narrative's tender-trapped lament. I like the chorus which is nimble without the slightly ill-fitting attempts to "break free" that Texas tried on still-quite-good single "Getaway".

T & F vs Moltosugo featuring Moony - De Fact

Well, it's just gone into spring here, so I'm finally properly in the mood for this. Moony, you'd of course remember from DB Boulevarde's "Point of View" and her own minor classic "Dove", and every sound out of her mouth basically is pure Venetian disco heaven emanating from the down-top of a car down the coast. I mean, in essence, it doesn't matter that lyrically, it's half rubbish about a DJ who can spin all night, and half generic love, her voice soars over both incongruous halves with most of the same effect, bringing a sun-kissed romanticism that is often left out of this kind of thing. In essence, if it sounds like love when she sings about the coolest track, why not stuff that into the mix too?

Sonically, this is a bit fantastic, too, the purest kind of ear confection - crisp, danceable beats, nothing jarring or squalling to kill the feelgood and that voice, I've gone on about it before, though never on a blog, but the way she holds those notes with this amazing degree of warmth - it's a magic thing. I just wish she'd get more regularly fantastic material to do it on - surely this woman will make the next great disco single, maybe the last.

posted by Edward O @ 7:03 PM