Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Pop Art Illustration
Mexican Pop
Check it out it’s Mexican POP! Ok my friends here is your daily slice of Mexican pop culture: MV by band Camila, SONG: “You Lie”
If ya like what your listening to visit Camila’s offical home page can be found in Eng/Span the adress is http://www.camila.tv/us/home
Follow Camila on Twitter:CamilaMX
Watch Camila Videos on Youtube at their Vevo page :http://www.youtube.com/user/camilaVEVO
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Josh Doyle Interview [The Music Magazine]
Josh Doyle Interview
March 20th, 2010 → 8:08 am @ Rahsian Parris
It has been ten years since the Dum Dums first rocked their way onto UK airwaves and into our hearts, but one underrated album, a string of catchy singles and a breakup later; ex front man, Josh Doyle, still delivers the goods as an independent solo artist. Josh sheds some light on what it is like being an independent artist having come from a mainstream pop background.
It’s a decade since the Dum Dums first single was released, how do you think the industry has changed?
Completely. We were popular during a boom time, the biggest year ever for music. If we would have brought [our music] out today with our sales from then, we would have had all number ones! Back then it would have been impossible to be independent but now there are avenues opening up all over the place.
It is commonly thought that your record label dropped you (the band), what actually happened?
Hahaha! Sometimes people want the quickest story possible to tell their buddy but its not like they lost interest and said, “you didn’t sell enough records, you’re dumped”. You can watch our documentary at dumdums.com to see how it panned out.
How much pressure is there to conform to what is popular?…
TO READ THE REST OF THIS INTERVIEW CLICK HERE —> www.themusicmagazine.com
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Cha-Cha - The Fellowship (Popnoodle Records)
If you are a fan of the eccentric author Roald Dahl you might have come across his novel ‘Georges’ Marvellous Medicine’. Now if you have read it you might re-call that the story follows George as he tries to concoct a medicine to cure his Grandma of her horrible ways. To do this he uses all sorts of ingredients and time. What he doesn’t realise is that a simple cure for his grumpy Grandma is currently hidden away in London.
You see, Cha-Cha are the musical equivalent of valium. One beat of this band’s latest single ‘The Fellowship’ – a free download no less, is enough to zap any old hag out of their bad mood and into a dance frenzy.
Which, come to think of it seems to be regular occurrence when listening to Cha-Cha. ‘The Fellowship’ is funky, fun and quite exceptionally fabulous. That’s not mentioning how addictive it is (VERY). The guitar riffs in this song will have you bobbing up and down as if some trickster has super-glued a space hopper to your backside. And boy, do you have to love the singer’s voice which sounds like the musical equivalent of a strawberry smoothie.
It’s going to be very difficult to wait until May to hear the album.
5/5
Welcome to the latest blog dedicated to Pop Culture
It seems that everywhere you go online there is a blog dedicated to Pop Music and Pop Culture.
So what is the difference between this blog and the others being offered
Honestly? I don’t even know but this is a work in progress and will only get better as I work on it more and more.
I’m working on a logo and registering the name, creating a website and merchandise among other surprises along the way so please stay tuned.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Unsung Classics Pt. II: ABBA's "The Visitors"
In 2010, we all know that ABBA were master purveyors of quality pop, but that wasn’t always the case. Often derided as kitsch or somewhat outmoded, it’s really since the release of their final new material in 1982 that ABBA’s tenure as pop’s leading group for that decade before has achieved the acclaim it deserves.
The arrangements and production were top notch, the vocal harmonies often beautiful and surprisingly intricate (owing to a love of the Beach Boys), and the melodies were invariably sublime, infused with a wistful Scandinavian melancholy.
ABBA’s final studio album, 1981’s The Visitors, pretty much broke all the rules as far as the “ABBA formula” went. You could really only count the hit single “One of Us” as an ABBA single in the classic mould; the rest bears the influence of early ’80s synth-pop and a dark stage-musical quality (presaging Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus’ work on the Chess musical.) There are no “Dancing Queen”s or “Fernando”s here.
This is not happy, singalong stuff. Opener “The Visitors” is a creepy cold war anthem, all chilly synths and distorted vocals, with one of ABBA’s most inventive but somewhat unfriendly hooks. Minor hit “Head Over Heels” is quirky, offbeat synth-pop-meets-Euro-melodrama, with one of Agnetha’s finest vocals, while “When All Is Said and Done” is a panoramic, anthemic pop gem that finds Anni-Frid Lyngstad, rather oddly, proclaiming that she is “not too old for sex.”
Other oddities include the Bjorn-sung “Two for the Price of One,” which strays uncomfortably into the prospect of threesome territory; the wonderful, dramatic “I Let the Music Speak,” which features one of Frida’s best vocals and is one of ABBA’s finest examples of merging their classic pop sound with the stage-musical style they had flirted with for a number of years; and the haunting closer “Like an Angel Passing Through My Room,” where all the extraneous arrangements and production are completely stripped away. It’s decidedly un-ABBA, but pretty great. And I haven’t even mentioned the utterly superb “Soldiers” yet, an indisputed highlight with its atmospheric arrangement and beautiful, sad minor chord melody.
The CD editions of The Visitors bolster the original nine songs with some extra tracks from ABBA’s later recording sessions, the highlight of which is definitely “The Day Before You Came,” quite possibly the most miserable ABBA song of all time (with a brilliantly matter-of-fact vocal from Agnetha), but this is also one of the prime examples of ABBA doing that grey, lonely, isolated Scandinavian melancholy to perfection. The synths are cold and bleak, and it’s one of the jewels in the group’s catalogue. Needless to say, it wasn’t a hit.
The Visitors wasn’t exactly a huge leap from ABBA’s previous works; songs like Super Trouper’s “Me and I” had introduced a quirkier, synth-laden quality to the ABBA sound, and they had been playing with stage-musical melodrama from the mid-’70s on songs like “I Wonder (Departure)” and “Thank You for the Music,” but still, The Visitors was a surprisingly cold, bleak record borne out of the group’s personal turmoil (divorces galore.)
No ABBA record is really found in those ‘Best of All Time’ lists, which is a shame because they’re all great in their own way. I suppose they are seen more as a “hits” group than an album-driven one. Certainly, The Visitors features some curios that won’t be to everyone’s taste. But it’s actually one of ABBA’s best and most significant records. An odd, yet oddly fitting, note on which to end a glittering career.
Green
Today is St. Patrick’s Day.
Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, it’s always been a pretty big deal. I’ve donned something “South Side Irish” since I was born, I think. My earliest memory is a satin green jacket with my name embroidered on the upper right front…and South Side Irish on the back. So cool. No satin jackets anymore, but I do have a pretty sweet t-shirt and winter hat. I wore both to work today…even though it was about 55˚ outside today.
3:30 pm rolled around and the potato skin bar was unveiled. As were the kegs of green beer. One by the potatoes. The other was a rolling keg bar that was carted through the office for all to enjoy…complete with Irish music. I still had a lot of work to do, but since I wasn’t able to go OUT to celebrate this year, the work festivities were very welcomed.
M came over yesterday to hang with the kiddo. It was a nice night. And I think that we were able to work together to put a quick stop to a certain 2-year old trying to bargain, manipulate and work us before bedtime. It was one of the few times we’ve actually been in a place to do this. It was kind of nice to have the back-up. Even if only for a night.
The pugs got a bath and their nails done today. (Much needed) Isabella got a bath too. And while I’m B would have preferred it to be WITH the puggies, that was not the case.
Sounds like M went to the DBSA group this evening, which I think is great. He was talking about trying to apply for disability. And I think that there may be some good resources there of others who have gone down the path before him.
** I wanted to wish a belated birthday to one of my blog-reading-friends: ASP. HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRIEND! I see big things in the upcoming year for you…and couldn’t think of someone more deserving of big things and good times. 
Oh, and on a “me” note, I decided to try to give up pop. Nor for lent or any of those “I’m going to go to hell if I do XYZ on Fridays” kind of things. This is one thing that I’ve tried to do in the past, but just haven’t been able to shake it. This time I’m going with the switch to Crystal Light Tea in lieu of pop. And then I’ll slowly move to just water. I’m hoping that this is one move I can make to help get my health back on the right track. Then I need to figure out the whole “get my ass to the gym” thing. And “don’t eat french fries and shitty food” thing. Baby steps. Right?
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