Disco, Blisters & A Comedown

Joe Holyoake’s driving the pop buggy this week, and he’s got SUMMINK TO SAY

 


This has been a firm favourite in QX HQ. You’d be surprised at how few songs manage to unite the office and appeal to the massively varied tastes that take in everything from Kylie Minogue to Dannii Minogue. But Röyksopp have done it A-GAIN. There’s no Robyn this time round, but Susanne Sundfør provides one of those chillingly off-kilter Scandi vocals which adorn all the best pop music. And it’s a certified BANGER. It’s come first in Which? Magazine’s Electropop Consumer Test. Grace Jones has added it to her ‘Cooking at Home’ Spotify playlist. Theresa May pops it on when she’s feeling a bit frisky in the evening. CERTIFIED BANGER. Which probably won’t be played anywhere. Shame.

 

Carly Rae Jepsen – E.Mot.Ion Side B

 

OK, it came out at the end of August, so we’re a little late to the table with this, but it deserves a mention. Exactly a year after the imperious Emotion established her as the Sultan of Saccharine, CRJ has released a further mini-album of songs that just missed the cut first time round. That’s not to say that they’re crummy offcuts though. It’s still got the same hair-wavingly overblown 80s mix of synths and thumping drums, all wrapped up with sugar-sweet lyrics about love and boys with long hair. And after her euphoric performance at Brighton Pride, she’s joined that elite cadre of popstars that, after being rejected by the mainstream, are nutured by the Gays. The thinking gay’s Taylor Swift, if you will.

 

Solange – A Seat At The Table

A lot’s happened in 2016, hasn’t it. There was the celebrity death spree at the start of the year, the UK bid AH REVOUR (however you spell it, doesn’t matter, it’s European) to the continent, and then the American Alan Sugar ascended to the White House. But the biggest change has been the way popstars have been releasing albums. Yeah, forget stupid things like teaser singles, a set release date, or a sensible number of songs. 2016 has been all about surprises. VISUAL ALBUMS. MAGAZINES. UNVEILINGs. This needs to stop. It’s just tiring. If it carries on like this, then Katy Perry will release her next record solely on tape which can only be found in the Blackpool branch of HMV.

I presume in a bid to match her sister, Solange has gone to similar lengths in defying convention. 22 songs long (many interludes, yes), dropped without a word’s warning, and a massive amount of featured contributors. It’s actually pretty good, especially the slightly wonky, Lil Wayne starring ‘Mad’, but the whole release, along with many others, has made me crave the days of yonder, the suspense, the brevity, the familiarity. It really says a lot when Lady Gaga’s new album release has been the most grounded.

Robbie Williams – Party Like a Russian

You know, thanks to gay marriage and acceptance and everything, there’ll come a day in the future when you’ll be driving round a London suburb in a Vauxhall Astra with your daughter in the passenger seat looking for the house her friend is having a birthday party at. A song will come on Radio 2 that is quite boppy and you’ll start tapping the steering wheel and you might even turn the volume knob up from 8 to 10. That song will be a new Robbie Williams single. He’s got a new one out and it’s just bizarre. He’s back to doing that odd half-rapping, half-cod-Jamaican-accent thing he did on Rudebox and he’s having a pop at everyone’s favourite soviet sexpot, Vladmir Putin. Oh, and it’s all done over a thumping, reggae-tinged remix of The Apprentice theme tune. It must be great to be such a big name that no-one can say ‘NO’ to you. Still, it’s at least 412 times better than whatever beige butter Gary Barlow wants to smear in your ears.

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