Mike Posner may possess one of the most hardest-to-easily-love voices in modern day pop (his slightly Timberlake-ish, raspy and paper-thin croon ranking up high with Ke$ha’s Auto-Tuned yodel-squeaks in the lane of “Is this person serious singing like that?” initial reactions), but that hasn’t stopped the singer-songwriter-producer from being added to plenty of recent One To Watch music blog lists, mostly due to the heavy buzz generated from last year’s two mixtape releases, A Matter of Time and One Foot Out The Door.
This year marks Posner’s transition into the big leagues (he signed to J Records last July), and he’s smartly decided to launch this “official” era by releasing mixtape highlight “Cooler Than Me” as his first single.
Upgraded from it’s acoustic beginnings with a trendy dance-pop thump, “Cooler” exudes the sound of a “future smash hit”, the combination of its newfound club polish and Posner’s catchy calling-out of some chick’s uppity ways (“You got designer shades just to hide your face/ And you wear ‘em around like you’re cooler than me”) solidly establishing the record as the summer-pop earworm to beat.
Are we fully convinced we can handle an entire album of Posner, especially if it doesn’t bear the appealing sample and cover-heavy twists of his mixtapes? Nooooot entirely, but we’re definitely sold on dude when it comes to this one jam.
Check out the video for the “Cooler Than Me (Single Mix)” below, then afterwards, cop the Big Sean-blessed rough draft version as well as Posner’s take on Soulja Boy’s “Kiss Me Thru The Phone”.
In an effort to prove that we’re not completely out of the loop when it comes to what’s been making waves within the music blog scene in recent weeks, enjoy this quick run-through of some of the more high profile new videos/ releases we’ve missed out on commenting on due to…uh, we’ll just say “real life” (and a few WordPress issues) getting in the way:
Sleigh Bells “Tell Em”
Anything you’ll ever read about this Brooklyn boy/girl noise-pop duo (vocalist Alexis Krauss and songwriter/ guitarist/ producer Derek E. Miller) is bound to note the band’s love for insane volume levels just as much as it’ll hype how crazily infectious the tunes hidden beneath all the ear-punishing distortion are.
Believe these words on both accounts.
“Tell Em”, the first single from the Sleigh Bells’ debut album Treats (due May 11th on Mom + Pop/ N.E.E.T.), may lead to one having early deafness, but bet you won’t be able to resist repeat doses of it’s rat-a-tat drum, turned-up-to-eleven guitar riffage and laser sound effects assault, nor Krauss’ pureform coos sweetly encouraging today’s young’uns “you can do your best today” betwixt it all.
Last summer’s chillwave/ glo-fi movement taught us the glories of music that was meek-sounding, of shitty quality and awesome; expect the upcoming warm weather season to be all about start-up bands/ acts co-signing the equally awesome louder-than-loud and shitty quality formula of the Bells.
We’ll politely decline from adding to the increasingly tiring “Is she copying Gaga?” rattle concerning Aguilera‘s new (meh) one, and just say this: when it comes to desperate slutty Christina, we’d rather give “Dirrty” a re-spin.
Is it bad that we wish we could just fast-forward to the next Aguilera album era already?
Christina’s Bionic drops June 8th.
Ciara featuring Ludacris “Ride”
Looking to get her career back on track after the commercial fumble that was her last album (2009′s Fantasy Ride), Ciara smartly hearkens back to a previous career highlight on new single “Ride”, re-heating the winning, “seductive ‘crunk & b’ crawl + Ludacris cameo” formula of “Oh” with an extra slathering of naughty sex kitten on top of it.
“I can do it up and down/ I can do circles/ To him I’m a gymnast/ This one is my circus,” she sings, nicely illustrating such bedroom talents with a slew of eye-popping body gyrations (amongst other “I’m not a little girl anymore” visuals) in the accompanying video.
Yeah, the hook claims it’s the “beat” that she’s riding “like a mother-[bleeping] freak”, but a ten-year-old could figure out what she’s really talking about.
Eminem “Not Afraid”
Capping months of track-owning guest appearances on joints alongside Drake & Kanye West, Lil’ Wayne and B.o.B (not to mention the killer freestyle track “Despicable”), Em‘s “Not Afraid”, the first taste off his next full length Recovery, lands as another lyrical stunner, with him surprisingly coming across as equally compelling when preaching positive about living a “clean” lifestyle as he does when he’s flexing his more loony and murderous-minded material.
Only problem is, while we’re excited to hear he’s become aware of how awful the various “accents” and pop star/ tabloid staple-spoofing had become, “Not Afraid” feels less and less interesting with each successive listen (maybe it’s that ’80′s arena rock-styled hook), and we’re not necessarily sure we’re ready for an entire album of Eminem getting all uplifting on us.
Surely Kim has done something scandalous in recent years to inspire at least one Recovery song that throws back to his bat-shit crazy rhymes.
Josh Ritter “Another New World”
From the critically-acclaimed folk singer-songwriter‘s newly released sixth set So Runs The World Away (currently streaming in full over at NPR.org), a seven-minute-long story song set atop beautifully sedative acoustic guitar pluckings and dreamily sirenic muted horns about an Arctic explorer and his crew and the tragic horrors that befall them in the midst of a voyage in search of the “new world”.
Doesn’t sound like your cup of tea? Take a chance and hit ‘Play’ and you’ll be surprised how misty-eyed you get once it gets to the part where the protagonist is forced to set fire to his beloved ship in order to stay alive.
Most attention concerning this final single from the nearly two-year-old I Am…Sasha Fierce will more than certainly fall on it’s strange, but definitely sexy, retro-themed video (with Bey once-again rocking the Bettie Page ’50′s pin-up look) rather than the song itself; but the cut (co-penned by sister Solange) manages to be somewhat fascinating in it’s own right with the steely-voiced diva turning herself inside-out trying to figure out why a man would choose to willfully bypass such a catch (especially one with “beauty”, “class”, “style” and, most importantly”, “ass”) to a tightly-wound ’60′s soul strut.
Back in 2008, 16-year-old Aussie Gabriella Cilmi emerged with one of the better Winehouse-wannabe tracks with debut single “Sweet About Me”, a seducing slow-burner that found her naughtily winking to boys that she wasn’t one of those goody-goody girl-next-doors.
Fast-forward a couple of years and Cilmi has conveniently done away with the retro-soul trickery for sophomore album Ten, trading in one overdone pop trend for another in a somewhat jarring makeover that sees her targeting the futuro-dance diva niche.
On first listen, Ten lead-off “On A Mission” registers overwhelming in it’s intent to throw everything (Hi-NRG electro pulses!!! ’80′s aerobics-pop synths!! Disco guitar flickers!! “I am woman/ Hear me roar” chutzpah done with a loud Anastacia growl!!! Cheerleader B-girl-isms!!) at the listener at once at rapid speed. But once you’ve grown accustomed to all it’s overdramatic, heavy metal-meets-Studio 54 goofery, the song enters the realm of being an irresistible slab of awesomely bad guilty pleasure Velveeta, the laughably determined combination of faster-than-fast tempo and hefty vocal firepower making like the aural equivalent to a loudmouth physical trainer trying to get you in tip-top beachwear shape for the summertime.
Loses points for Cilmi not being able to deliver lyrics that paint her more inside the joke though (cause the corny, self-serious “super-heroine theme song” songwriting fails miserably).
Catch the video below, then peep the Eve-featured remix (which should evoke a giggle or two out of it bringing to imagination Ruff Ryder’s First Lady being trapped in some weird, arcade game 8-bit hell).
In which Lady Gaga reminds us of the old days when a “World Premiere Music Video Short Film Event” (as well as corded land-lines) really meant something.
We can’t help but think (or hope) that somewhere Missy Elliott has just finished watching this awesomely WTF!!-to-the-infinite-power (and obviously Quentin Tarantino-influenced) smorgasbord of mass murder, girl-on-girl kissing (and prison fights!!!), bizarro fashion sense (where does one buy still-lit, half-smoked cigarette butt shades?), early Madonna eyebrows, purposefully flat acting, shared Honey Bun snacking, vogueing boy dancer chefs, future Twitter-hyped one-liners (“Once you kill a cow, you gotta make a burger“) and…erm, Tyrese, and has immediately got her record label on the phone, demanding that they get her a music video budget big enough to include James Cameron as director and the actual Moon as a set location, just so she can end up besting GaGa’s “Telephone” as the owner of 2010′s best clip.
That’s the reality for pop newcomer Ke$ha and her debut single “Tik Tok”, an air-brainy, white girl rap concoction about on-the-budget “swagger”, Jack Daniels-assisted dental hygiene practices and spending booze-filled nights dodging “boys trying to touch my junk” at the local hot spots while in search for her ideal boy-toy: Dudes that “look like Mick Jagger” (cue puke in mouth).
It’s as unabashedly trashy as it is horrifically catchy (oh, who could deny that classic DJ-directed pop hook or the Twitter-iffically now opening line, “Wake up in the morning feelin’ like P Diddy”?) and basically pleading for some rapper to attach some equally hedonistic sixteen to it.
No surprise at all that that rapper ends up being guilty pleasure-magnet Pitbull, who fronts this remix with a verse that re-heats old ’90′s rap dialogue (“There’s some freaks in the living room getting it on and-”, yeah, we all know how that one ends) while providing other Spring Break in Cancun-centered lyrical fluff that will have your grandparents S-ing their DH’s in disgust.
Whether you dig it’s glitchy dance-pop inanity or chalk it up as Reason No. 5,864,221 why today’s music sucks balls, be prepared to hear it ad infinitum well into the Two Thousand and Dime.
Ever since it’s premiere a couple months back, “Alejandro”, Lady Gaga’s The Fame Monster-housed ode to letting go of old Latin lovers, has inspired plenty of giddy “This reminds me of…” chatter amongst her ever-growing fanbase, with many targeting those two aforementioned records.
But for anyone who kept their ears glued to Top 40 radio in the early ’90′s, “Alejandro” read the best as a tribute of sorts to ABBA via the slow, pseudo-reggae lope and weighty, Euro-dance-pop galumph relied on by that other mega-selling Swedish quartet Ace of Base, an idea succinctly proved through this inevitable mash-up of “Alejandro” and Ace of Base’s fifteen-year-old sound-alike “Don’t Turn Around” spliced together by award-winning Vegas DJ/ producer Morningstar.
Not only do both tracks own virtually the same backing track and melodic structure, allowing for near-seamless back-and-forth transitioning, but the concluding relationships depicted in both numbers nicely compliment eachother, the combined requests of “Don’t turn around/ Cause you’re gonna see my heart breaking” and “Don’t call my name/ Don’t call my name, Alejandro” helping add an entire new layer of brilliance to this appreciated novelty.
For a Hot 100-topping entry that finally sees Britney embracing a more straight-forward approach to her brand of pop sluttery (rather than continuing to feign innocence while hiding behind schoolyard wordplay, Neptunes-assisted Vanity 6 dress-up and wink-winkaward showperformances), the ménage-à-trois-celebrating “3″ sure doesn’t amount to much.
Some temporary giggle-worthiness does arise from the whole “Peter Paul and Mary” bit (oh Brit, you so nasty-goofy), but, aside from the “let’s slow it down” bridge portion (the makings of a cool song all on it’s own), “3″ mostly comes across as this cheap sounding, half-finished throwaway cut that the powers-that-be unnecessarily “rescued” from the Blackout/ Circus sessions’ cutting room floor. Oh, how Max Martin should leave the crunk-pop stylings to the other folks.
It doesn’t help much that Spears, who has increasingly sounded less and less…well, human, on recent albums, seems to register here as only another low-budget synth noise, or that the recently premiered video (equally as cheap feeling and filled front-to-back with now-signature Brit “choreography” that mainly consists of Cover Girl commercial model poses, sharp arm movements and bored stripper shimmy/ grinds) only leaves us wondering why we ever thought she was this great dancer in the first place.
We know, we know: much shouldn’t be expected from a Greatest Hits add-on, but still…sigh.
While most of the blog-crit-hype that rewarded Basement Jaxx‘ comeback-of-sorts “Raindrops” was justifiable-it definitely ranked near the top of the list of the past season’s most summer-tastic entries-it still felt a little too reined-in, serving as an only quasi-reminder of the bursting-at-the-seams dance euphoria the duo reigned with on their first two masterpiece albums. Not to mention the lingering feeling that it would be mostly forgotten about by winter time.
Follow-up single “Feeling’s Gone” feels just as temporarily likable, but at least it serves the bonus treat of being the second greatest thing Sam Sparro’s Prince-spiked divo voice has ever been aligned with (for the hopeslessly confused, “Black & Gold” would chart first, of course).
One of the more straight-forward dance-pop entries to emerge from Basement Jaxx’ “mad scientist” lab, “Gone”‘s dense modern disco frame carries a few moments of pizazz (the single-finger keyboard plinks, the 4/4 hand claps), but it’s main selling point lands firmly on Sparro’s electric performance, which starts off all soulful assuredness before evolving into bursts of back-of-the-throat tingling shriek histrionics.
Can’t wait to hear what remixes come of this.
Bassment Jaxx’ Scars arrives September 22nd (Pre-order here).
Following up his surprisingly effective flashback to arena-sized ’90′s rave “I’m Not Alone”, Calvin Harris unleashes yet another irresistable foot-mover with “Ready For The Weekend”, a feel-good dance-pop entry focused on the anticipated thrills of a post-work week break.
“So if you’re waiting, jump out your skin/ To find a cure for whatever state your in”, advises the robo-nerd voiced-Harris as prancey keyboard hits surround him with their giddy, child-like tone. But all of his thinnish singing efforts bear little importance once UK singer Mary Pearce enters the picture for the chorus, bringing to light this euphoric high of big diva wailings and contagious house delirium as she prepares herself for the good times around the corner.
Catch the babe-heavy video below, then proceed to set your Friday afternoon off right by snatching up the High Contrast Remix afterward.
Harris’ much-anticipated sophomore release,Ready For The Weekend, arrives August 17th.
Ragga-froggy-voiced curioso Sean Kingston is back, and while his latest effort “Fire Burning” might not have the power to distance him from the novelty whispers that will probably always surround him, it’s conveniently armed with a dancefloor-ready charge that’ll surely earn him lots of spins alongside the Lady Gaga, Flo Rida and Black Eyed Peas tunes currently dominating Top 40 playlists.
In need of someone to blame for your inability to break from under “Fire Burning”‘s spell? Target producer RedOne, the man behind GaGa’s trio of Top Ten hits. He envelops Kingston’s disinctive growls about some dame’s mesmerizing “birthday cake” (read: ’09′s version of a badonkadonk) in a spirited assault of gleaming synth work and buzzing bass sounds that may come across a bit chintzy when heard while alone, but when heard blaring from the DJ’s speakers while stuck within a mass of drunk and sweaty party-goers, feels like the peaking moment of an excitement-filled Friday night out.
As nice as it is to get free music, think of how much better your soul would feel if you purchased it the old-fashioned way.
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(MP3 posts are for promotional and/ or previewing purposes only; if any artist or their representation wish to have the links removed, contact me and I will happily comply!)
Mike Posner may possess one of the most hardest-to-easily-love voices in modern day pop (his slightly Timberlake-ish, raspy and paper-thin croon ranking up high with Ke$ha’s Auto-Tuned yodel-squeaks in the lane of “Is this person serious singing like that?” initial reactions), but that hasn’t stopped the singer-songwriter-producer from being added to plenty of recent One To Watch music blog lists, mostly due to the heavy buzz generated from last year’s two mixtape releases, A Matter of Time and One Foot Out The Door.
Who would’ve ever thunk that the uncredited female voice that co-signed Flo Rida’s Dead or Alive & oral sex pleasure-meshing hook on 
“It sounds like ABBA’s ‘Fernando’”. 
For a 
While most of the blog-crit-hype that rewarded 
Following up his surprisingly effective flashback to arena-sized ’90′s rave 
Ragga-froggy-voiced curioso
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