Archive for May, 2010
Lady GaGa – The Monster Ball At The O2
We went to see Lady GaGa at The O2 in London last night. Before the show we we worried that GaGa would mess around with the arrangements of the songs as she so often does for TV and award showsbut thankfully, we didn’t need to worry – all the songs were faithful to the original and they sounded magnificent for it!
GaGa attacked the stage throughout – there was nothing subtle about her performance, it was commanding and dominating. Highlights included ‘Telephone’, ‘So Happy I Could Die’, ‘Alejandro’ and ‘Bad Romance’, which really is an AMAZING song. A rousing cover of ‘Stand By Me’ was received as well as her own work. Her voice was on point throughout and considering the movement she was doing – it was an impressive display of her vocal abilities. The costumes became more bizarre and outlandish as the show progressed – the dress worn during ‘So Happy I Could Die’ was our favourite, it had wings and it MOVED of it’s own accord, plus the now infamous spark/flame flashing bra outfit was updated to feature sparks coming from the ‘downstairs’ area too. The staging was effective – there was a piano on fire and the gyroscope called The Orbit made an appearance during ‘Bad Romance’… we’ve seen more impressive concerts in terms of stages, props, themes and so on but considering it is her first headline arena tour it was a fantastical start.
The stop start, stop start feel to the show was very distracting, it felt like the show never really got going because the costumes were being changed so frequently – the concert lasted short of 2hours and 20minutes – which, was too long and could have been condensed by losing the irratating ’we’re going to the Monster Ball’ dialogue, the very pointless ‘Posh’ and playing the piano with her foot as well as cutting songs such as ‘Boys Boys Boys’ and ‘Money Honey’ to name a few elements. On the whole though, it was a might performance from GaGa and her band.
Is The New Katie Melua Album Any Good?
1 year ago
by Pop Cart
in Katie Melua
Most people either love or hate Katie Melua – however, there is no denying that she has a widespread, charming appeal and an impressive ability to sell records without having to be controversial or negative about other artists. Her fourth studio album ‘The House’ was released this week… the album is a step forward for Katie, as long term producer Mike Batt has been replaced by William Orbit… so is the album any good?
The hauntingly beautiful opening track ‘I’d Love To Kill You’, is a fragile tale of longing to escape a relationship “I’d love to kill you in your sleep, cause you don’t have power over me”- the arrangement, the tenderness and range within Katie’s vocal and heartfelt lyrics are superb.
The incredibly fantastic lead single ‘The Flood’ is an atmospheric, striking, and deeply powerful statement of the need to accept and embrace change - it’s effortless and supremely addictive. ‘A Happy Pace’ is a jaunty, ethereal sounding song – it’s many layers and hooks are stunning. The lyrics find Katie contemplating the need for peace “I have found that stress and nonsense puts me in zone of avoidance”, whilst the delivery of the song feels almost like a chant or mantra.
‘A Moment Of Madness’ is an over-the-top theatrical sounding tale of desire and obsession, the way in which Katie sings “it’s a moment of madness” is captivating. ‘Red Balloons’ is a pretty, slow burning bluesy sounding number – it’s soothing and peaceful. The chorus is particularly wonderful as Katie conveys great emotion and gentleness “the sky is full of red balloons, red balloons are full of broken hearts, broken hearts are floating by in chance, will they burst or drift into arms”.
‘No Fear Of Heights’ is another stunningly beautiful track, it’s a delicate lament of giving so much in love that you have no fear of losing it all – it’s simple and completely delicious. Katie goes from great love to losing it as she delivers a broken and pained vocal on ‘The One I Love Is Gone’ before producing an upbeat and quirky track called ‘The Plague Of Love’. Sequentially, this set of songs demonstrates the highs and lows within relationships very well.
There are many many highlights on ‘The House’ - it’s an album that can be listened to in it’s entirety, it never becomes dull or boring… instead, it’s glorious, expertly crafted with many surprising twists and turns along the way. It is an album of risks for Katie… it shows growth, maturity and a sense of being in control, coupled with her singing, writing and instrument playing – it makes for a brilliantly rich, diverse sounding and ultimately thoroughly enjoyable album.
The Black Eyed Peas At The O2
1 year ago
We went to see The Black Eyed Peas at The O2 last night. During the show, we felt like we had a very good time – the band got all their hits out, which is always good plus there were lots of effects and thrills throughout. Yet, this morning, apart from the motorbike flying across the arena and our favourite song ‘Meet Me Halfway’ we can’t remember specifically what we enjoyed about the show AND can only remember what made us angry… at times they need to “JUST GET ON WITH IT!!!”, the ending was an anti-climax finish and the self-indulgent will.i.am DJ set was far too lengthy. Also, will.i.am certainly needed to stop banging on about and saying London every five seconds ESP given that he’d done the same routine in Manchester earlier this week! The highlights of his many pointless ramblings included how he’d move to Chiswick (?), whilst listing all the venues the band had played… Will – everyone else was thinking that the show would’ve been approximately 15minutes shorter and better without you going on!!!!! It probably says more about us BUT in our defense our thoughts were echoed and backed-up across the many conversations we were eavesdropping during the tube ride home!
Oh, and Cheryl Cole was also there!!!
More, More, More, More, More, More, More, More, More, More, More, More… Some (More) Stuff
1 year ago
Here is some stuff that we found out and thought you should know too… so, here’s what we know!
The MOST beautiful woman in the world, the extremely talented Frances Ruffelle is gearing up to release new music at the end of July… HURRAH! Frances will release a four track EP entitled ‘Lucky Day’ ahead of the new as-yet-untitled fourth album which, is scheduled for release in September.
Last week, the very AMAZING Natasha Bedingfield released a song entitled ‘Touch’ which is a taster from her forthcoming album. The song is currently only available from the US iTunes store but will be available in other territories soon. Natasha performed the deliciously awesome track live on The Ellen Show this week – click here to see her performance.
The incredible Janelle Monáe also performed on The Ellen Show this week, you can see her stunningly good performance of ‘Tightrope’ by clicking here.
Sarah McLachlan has recorded some track-by-track video’s about the songs that will appear on her forthcoming album ‘Laws Of Illusion’. It’s interesting to hear how she tackled the writing and recording process and the inspiration behind the songs – it’s also great to see short live interpretations of the tracks too… you can see more videos like the one by visiting her official website here.
Christina Aguilera has also recorded some track by track videos about the songs from her new album ‘Bionic’, you should check them out at the newly revamped official Christina Aguilera website by clicking here.
Finally, Shakira has recorded the official theme for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The track ‘Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)’ is included on ‘Listen Up! The Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Album’ which is released in the UK on 31st May. Shakira will perform the track at the closing ceremony on 11th July. Below, is a behind-the-scenes making of the video feature, which shows Shakira and several footballers in action filming the video using 3D technology…
Sia-gate!
It’s always good to admit that you were wrong… in fact, it’s important to re-evaluate old preconceptions and ideas ESP since Goldfrappgate… we’re not taking any chances, no way!
Previously, Sia was on our list entitled ‘artists we don’t really get whilst everyone else gets a big giant hard on over’… we tried with the first album ‘Healing Is Difficult’ and we tried again with the albums ‘Colour The Small One’ and ‘Some People Have Real Problems’- all three album were perfectly fine but we never found ourselves saying ”oooh, lets put on that Sia album”. We did however, like Sia… she always seemed nice, which made us despair even more about not getting it.
It looks like things are about to change with this AMAZING big giant massive pop song called ‘Clap Your Hands’ - it’s incredible! The vocal and the choruses are acely superb. The video is stunningly good – it’s funny, cute and is by miles our most favourite video of the year so far – we love the pink haired, flag pole gyrating Sia puppet most of all, oh and the aeroplane Sia too! The single is the first to be taken from Sia’s new album ‘We Are Born’ which is due for release on 12th July here in the UK. The album was produced by the very talented Greg Kurstin and contains a grrreat mix of styles and includes some fantastic tracks as well as a cover version of Madonna’s ‘Oh Father’.
Funnily, this song makes Sia make sense to us here at Pop Cart, the previous albums now sound different in some way, so here ends the lesson on admitting you were probably wrong all along!
More Humble Pie…
‘Alive’ is the very very excellent new single from Goldfrapp, which will be released on 7th June. The video for the song is brilliant – it’s got everything from vampires to an 80′s exercise work out inspired dance routine. The song is the second single to be taken from their AMAZING album ‘Head First’, which is a completely stunning record – you MUST give it a whirl ESP the sublime and utterly gorgeous ‘Dreaming’! Goldfrapp have been confirmed for the iTunes festival, playing The Roundhouse in London on 22nd July with support from Marina + The Diamonds!
Kylie Teases…
1 year ago
by Pop Cart
in Kylie Minogue
Here, is a sneak peak of the new video for ‘All The Lovers’ the incredibly awesome new single from Kylie. The video will premiere in full next week!
The teaser also includes format details of the single, ‘All The Lovers’ will be available as a digital download bundle, a 2 CD set AND a 7″ picture disc vinyl. The preview also lists the album formats too - ‘Aphrodite’ will be available as a digital download, CD, CD/DVD, 12″ vinyl and an online digital edition – AMAZING!
Justin Nozuka Returns…
1 year ago
by Pop Cart
in Justin Nozuka
Justin Nozuka is a 21 year old, Canadian-American singer-songwriter. In 2007, he released his glorious debut album entitled ‘Holly’, which included the singles ‘After Tonight’ and ‘Criminal’ (the video for which, you can see above). It was in 2007, that we had the complete honour and privilege of seeing Justin sound check at his gig at the Night & Day Cafe in Manchester – it was phenomenal, his voice was gorgeous and his guitar playing was superb as well.
On 7th June 2010 he will release his second album here in the UK. ‘You I Wind Land And Sea’ features the lead single ‘My Heart Is Yours’ which you can see below. The album also features a stunning track called ‘Heartless’ which, has been selected as the second single in other territories.
If you like what you see and hear, you can get your hands on a FREE demo MP3, thanks to Amazon UK. The track ‘Season’s Change’ is available from digital the store by clicking here. To find out more about Justin, you should visit his official MySpace page here.