mixtape maestro (2.0)

There’s an uncomfortable oddness brewing about Scottish pop newcomer Alex Gardner (the newest act to emerge from the Xenomania House of Hits) and his debut single “I’m Not Mad” that we just can’t shake.

Maybe it’s because the eighteen-year-old’s young Elvis looks present him more as a tween silver screen superstar from some Twilight/ Harry Potter-like franchise than an up-and-coming singer-songwriter. Maybe it’s because we can’t wrap her minds around the idea that his esophagus would produce such a stiff, semi-soulful-leaning, husk-hued voice (think a high-school-aged Rick Astley), or maybe it’s just that said voice never quite manages to perfectly gel with the subdued electro-pop fizz of the single, possibly adding to the record never quite taking off the way it initially hints.

Despite this melange of head-scratchingness surrounding it, or perhaps, because of it, “Mad”, a slightly confusing narrative based around classic soapy love games, manages to stick in your head, repeated listenings eventually elevating it’s overall flatness to sublime pop levels.

Check out both the Xenomania-helmed version and an acoustic take on “I’m Not Mad” below and cop the single through iTunes.

After bringing about more than a few scratched heads over recent track “I Just Love You More”‘s polarizing attempt at a punk chick makeover, Kate Nash makes the world right again with the welcomed return-to-(snarky/ perky)form that is new single, “Do Wah Doo”.

Helmed by producer, and former Suede guitarist, Bernard Butler (Duffy, Black Kids), “Do Wah Doo” buzzes with a playful jumbling of familiar ’60′s pop conventions (radiant girl group harmonies, handclaps, zinging surf guitar, blaring horns) all congealed into a thickened Wall of Sound.

Beneath the happy-go-lucky framing, however, things aren’t as sunny, as Kate is heard spewing all type of “hateration” towards a girl hogging the secret object of her affection’s eye. “Everybody thinks that girl’s a lady/ But I don’t, I think that girl’s shady,” Nash pouts on the sidelines, even going so far as to tag the crush-stealing cow a “bitch”.

Interestingly enough, just when you think she’s about to fight for her man “Jerry Springer”-style and get this fizzy pop confection the happy ending conclusion the upbeat arrangement all but demands, Nash opts to give him up, resigning to “read a book instead” because “I can hang out with myself”.

Hmmm…it’s not the most sassiest way to go out, but whatever, jerk’s loss; we’re just happy to have the undeniably catchy nugget-crafting Kate Nash we love back.

From her April-set second LP, My Best Friend Is You.

Ellie Goulding‘s lightweight wisp of a voice may adhere well to her “Starry Eyed” single’s tender, child-like perspective on first love euphoria, but it’s in NY singer-songwriter Samuel (previously hyped here for his acoustic remake of The-Dream’s “Shawty Is The Shit”) and production team The Knocks‘ cover of the track that a far better song is crafted.

While The Knocks bring a much-needed heft to the tune’s fine, but slightly underwhelming, twee-tronica shimmer in their application of atmospheric synth washes and a toe-tapping downtown strut, Samuel’s breathy tenor acts as the perfect compliment to Ellie’s bird-like chirp, the combined power of their married vocals nicely illustrating (and making far less corny) the giddy lyrical visual of a newbie couple feeling like they’re being struck with lightning from eachother’s caressing touch.

Catch the original’s video below, followed by an MP3 of the Samuel/ Knocks remix.

Goulding’s debut Lights arrives in the UK in March; Samuel’s recently completed LP Trains To Wanderland is set for a later 2010 release.

DL: “Starry Eyed (Knocks Remix/ Cover)” (alt)

Serving a sobering re-reminder of not only a Noel Gallagher-featured Oasis now being a solely past-tense entity, but also of Lily Allen’s long-hinted-at threats of an early retirement finally making the crossover into reality, you can’t help but be stricken with a double dose heaping of lump-in-throat sadness when hearing Lily’s solid Live Lounge take on the former band’s gorgeous 2008 ballad “I’m Outta Time”.

Throw in the song’s already hauntingly touching, Lennon-inspired songcraft and the nostalgia element found in Liam’s lyrics (“Here’s a song/ It reminds me of when we were young…”), and it’s almost too much “ending of eras” gloom to have to digest in one sitting.

Catch Allen’s live performances of “Time” and her own latest single, the precious friendship-to-romance document “Who’d Have Known”, below.

“I’m Outta Time”:

“Who’d Have Known”:

DL: “I’m Outta Time (Oasis Cover)” (alt)

Bonus DL: “Who’s Have Known (Doctor Rosen Rosen Remix)” (alt)

As pop songs go, “Fight For This Love”, the debut solo single from Girls Aloud member/ X-Factor judge Cheryl Cole is definitely an earworm, matching sturdy lessons in love (summary: romantic relationships aren’t meant to be a walk in the park, they constantly require work on both partner’s parts) with a nicely subdued lite R&B-dance production buzz that’s further heightened by string melody snippets ripped straight from K Ci & JoJo’s wedding staple “All My Life” and a percussion thump focused breakdown.

But with as many replay spins we’ve given it since first hearing it a while back, there’s always been something that annoyed us about it that we couldn’t quite put our finger on. After recently coming across the long-ago leaked demo version, performed by co-songwriter Andre Merritt (Rihanna’s “Disturbia”, Chris Brown’s “Forever”), we quickly figured out what the source of our irritation was: Cheryl Cole herself.

Cole’s a decent vocalist, but her overall contribution feels almost too anonymous, especially the icy-cold tone she brings to the verses (only Rihanna really succeeds at sounding like a dead-eyed zombie these days). Merritt’s suave tenor, on the other hand, brings a certain level of warmth to “Fight” that makes it flow so much more better, from the falsetto-lined chorus to the little R&B trills he comfortably sneaks into the verses.

What do y’all think? Peep Cheryl’s official “Fight” video here then check out a slightly humorous meshing of the same video with Merritt’s vocal (dubbed “The Perfect Love”) here and tell us which one you dig more?

DL: “Fight For This Love (Demo)” (alt)

Following 2004′s Throwback, Vol. 1 and 2007′s Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA, ’90′s chart-stompers-turned-oldies-focused-man band Boyz II Men are preparing to release yet another all-covers set with their upcoming Love, and even if you haven’t really cared about a Boyz II Men record in over a decade, there might be at least one or two of the album’s proposed remakes to muster up at least a slight intrigue (come on, somebody yearns to hear their expertly harmonized, adult-soul polish on Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris”, right?).

For us, we were most curious in hearing the Boyz take on Take That’s sole US hit “Back For Good” (also known as one of the most perfect-est pop songs ever!!)…and whaddyaknow, just like that, the track would pop up on the Webs in leaked form. Guess we should point our curiosity more in the matter of “Wonder what it would feel like to have a million dollars?”. Couldn’t hurt right?

But back to the BIIM record.

Unsurprisingly, it sounds just as we kinda imagined it would, with remaining members Nathan, Shawn and Wanya (and featured Girls Aloud vocalist Nadina Coyle) committing a safe and solid reading of the decade-and-some-change boy band favorite that won’t really blow your mind to a million of pieces as much as it acts as a melisma-heavy blanket of adult contemporary comfort for the aural cavities.

A nice backdrop for one of those quiet, “ruminating about life” rainy day periods.

Love drops November 17th.

DL: “Back For Good (Take That Cover)” (alt)

Already dubbed by the press/ blog world as the “UK Santigold”, South Africa-born/ UK-raised newcomer MPHO makes quite the introductory statement on her debut single “Box N Locks”, some of which is because it’s main musical hook revolves around a catchy sample of Martha & The Muffins’ 1980 new wave-punk classic “Echo Beach”, but mostly because she’s already on the usually second or third album topic of yearning to break free from the pigeonholing of others.

Kicking things off with the admittably charming semi-sneer “Feisty little brown girl/ Raised in Brixton town girl/ Supposed to be some ghetto chick/ Making all this urban music”, MPHO spends the rest of the track dishing out these half-hearted apologies for being so left-field and un-”box”-able (“Can’t help myself/ It’s just the girl in me”).

On one hand you’ll want to instantly dismiss her assertions with eye roll-accompanied mutterings of “Why should I care?” and “Who are you again?” and want to cry out “Blasphemy!!!!” for her bold sampling choices, but “Box N Locks” carries such an undeniable breeziness and sturdy enough grasping of pop hook-craft magic in it’s three minute frame, it’s a bit hard to completely loathe it’s existence (Give it a few listens, and, promises, you’ll too come around).

One thing we do know: It’s important that MPHO understand that after unleashing something as attention-grabbing as this, she better have a whole slew of killer tunes to back it up with once her album Pop Art officially drops later this year. Something tells us though, that that won’t be a problem at all.

Catch the video below followed by a clip of her covering Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill”, then snatch up Armand Van Helden‘s eardrum-battering remix afterwards.

DL: “Box N Locks (Armand Van Helden Remix)” (alt)

The last time UK-based girl group giants the Sugababes attempted to break out in the States, seemingly the only corner of the globe they had yet to conquer, they were met with some surprisingly disappointing results: uber-catchy 2003 single “Hole In The Head” couldn’t reach higher than #96 on the Billboard Hot 100, leading to an eventual cancellation of their US debut Three.

Now, six years (and millions of worldwide records sold) later, the girls are preparing another go at US fame, and this time seem to have a stronger shot at success now that they’re being backed by Jay-Z’s new Roc Nation imprint. It’s only a shame though, that the first taste of this exciting new career chapter would have to fall on something as meh as new single “Get Sexy”.

As far as overly busy 2009 club-pop goes, “Get Sexy”‘s lively electro happenings and dumbed-down lyrics about…well, how “sexy” they are, should easily fall in line with the “Boom Boom Pow”‘s and “Patron Tequila”‘s currently getting people to work up a sweat on the dance floor (we’ll even give it points for the “billionaire” line and having the nerve to use Right Said Fred’s ’90′s gift “I’m Too Sexy” as inspiration for the hook). But if you’re not listening to it while half-drunk and/ or shaking your tailfeather, the song (if you can even call it one) does little to make the non-Sugababes-fanatics understand why Jigga would think this threesome is such a hot grab.

Now maybe we’re being a little unfair since, to be honest, if this had been performed by someone like Kelis, we would have been showering it with instant praise, but it just seems to us that if the ‘Babes were really serious about a long-running tenure on the US pop charts, they wouldn’t have opted on dropping such a lazily-sculpted “here today/ forgotten a minute later” entry that their far inferior American counterparts Danity Kane and Pussycat Dolls would’ve smartly left on the editing room floor.

Catch the vid for “Get Sexy” below (the single drops August 31st), then snatch up their far more likable remake of Womack & Womack’s oft-covered “Teardrops”.

DL: “Teardrops” (alt)

Loyal site-watchers have probably gotten the hint that we’re big fans of basically whatever Doctor Rosen Rosen does…and who could blame us, seeing that his darkly shaded, synth-based re-imaginings are always ace.

On his latest project, the good Doc ambitiously opted on remixing the entirety of Lily Allen‘s half-year-old sophomore LP It’s Not Me, It’s You, and damn if he hasn’t gotten us to fall in love with the English pop pixie’s set all over again thanks to his efforts, which basically entail replacing the original’s cutesy, upbeat soundscapes with gorgeously brooding electro-pop arrangements that help plant a clearer focus on her always entertaining penmanship game.

Maestro’s favorites include Rosen’s take on It’s Not Me‘s current single “22″, which makes Allen’s washed-up-at-thirty musings feel even more depressing and hopeless when thrust under a moonlit blanket of gloomy synth-strings, and album-closer/ forgiving-Father ode “He Wasn’t There”, which marries an icy drum march with forlorn lullaby melodics.

An excellent collection that lands as a nice compliment to the original, we can’t help but anticipate what pop album Rosen is eyeing next to give the “Bizarro World” treatment to.

You can snatch up our faves below, but head here to DL the entire set for FREE.

DL: “22 (Doctor Rosen Rosen Remix)” (alt)

DL: “He Wasn’t There (Doctor Rosen Rosen Remix)” (alt)

The past decade-and-a-half has seen so many classic pop and rock favorites sampled, interpolated or chopped up for some brand new pop, hip hop or R&B creation that we probably shouldn’t be too stirred that someone would think of messing with Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. But when we heard London-born R&B tart Cherri V‘s “Til The Sun Comes Up” and instantly recognized it’s utilization of both the ’90′s grunge-pop behemoth’s vocal and guitar melodies, we must admit we were floored: on one hand intrigued by such a ballsy move; on the other, ready to cry out “blasphemy” over someone actually daring to go through with the idea.

To it’s credit, “Til The Sun Comes Up” isn’t a complete nightmare: the combination of it’s “borrowed” rock “edge” and bubbly percussive jubilance generates a lively urban-pop kick that wouldn’t sound out of place supporting a manic Amerie wail or epic-sized Beyonce yowl. But thanks to flat lyrical boasts (“I’ll break you off/ You’ll never find another star shine like me”) and Cherri V’s underwhelmingly mixed vocals, which kind of simmer within the groove when they should be exploding like fireworks atop it, “Sun” lacks the over-the-top fire you would expect from a record made up of a such bold musical foundation, ultimately rendering it this anti-climactic letdown.

Surely the track’s Nirvana bite will attract some major attention Cherri V’s way (precisely the effect her and her handlers are banking on), but it’ll be interesting to see whether the response will ultimately skew positive (and make her pop’s hot new thing) or negative (and force her back to the drawing board to come up with an alternate introductory gimmick) as more and more ears catch whiff of it.

Cherri’s debut, Fast Cars, Silk Sheets and Favourite Guys, is slated for a late ’09 release.