It's not often you get a pop star who combines good looks with a voice of elfin beauty and the ability to write her own wacky songs, so it's no surprise to find that every blogger and broadsheet this side of Stockholm is going nuts for 22-year-old Swede Lykke Li. While I'm not denying the brightness of her star quality, there is an off-the-wall side to her that rankles with me. Li clearly enjoys messing with the conventions of pop music; loudspeakers are employed, handclaps are scattered over traditional percussion, and there's even a saxophone solo nestled in the folds of I'm Good, I'm Gone. But there's an aloofness too, that means her bouts of experimentalism come off sounding cold and tactical. Her determination to be innovative appears to have overridden her judgment on this song, which leaves I'm Good, I'm Gone sounding about as avant-garde as skiffle, and leaves its singer sounding like she takes it all just a little too seriously.
Lollipop, Lil' Wayne feat Static Major
While it's difficult to find evidence of Lil' Wayne's claim that he's the "best rapper alive" when you actually listen to his rhymes - limited here to little more than grunts, distorted vocals and a New Orleans drawl that sees "hair" become "hurr" - there's no denying that he knows his way round a sluggish bounce beat or two. Lollipop is a massive hit in the States already, proving that, unlike 50 Cent's remonstrations, America hasn't yet had its fill of lascivious candy-orientated hip-hop. This is good news for Lil' Wayne, who's combination of groans, talk of "lady lumps" and promise to "make it juicy for her" accumulates to such an explicit degree that you wonder why he bothers with the lollipop metaphor and doesn't just come right out and say he really likes blow jobs.
Epic Last Song, Does It Offend You, Yeah?
Given that Epic Last Song revolves around rousing chord changes and the poignant refrain "Baby, babe, I've loved you a long time, I grow happy knowing that you're alright", you'd be forgiven for thinking you've stumbled across a new-rave remix of the latest single by the Feeling, as opposed to that of Berkshire power-nerds Does It Offend You, Yeah? While it may make them sound like wholesome chart-pop boys, the absence of druggy synths and hyperactivity on Epic Last Song appears intent on showing the world that there's more to this band than a satirical mash-up of techno, metal and anything else earsplitting. Happily, the relative calm also reveals sincerity in the band's lyrics, albeit one normally buried beneath the chaos.
10,000 Nights, Alphabeat
"I was not looking for arty-farty love," sing duo Anders SG and Stine Bramsen as an introductory reminder that you can always trust a Dane's fundamental grasp of the English language when it comes to writing pop lyrics. You can't, however, rely on them to avoid clich�s like "you came like a thief in the night and stole my heart". Neither is a lack of lyrical originality the worst thing about this song. Shrill and juvenile, there's little in this dollop of ecstatic pop to differentiate Silkborg's Alphabeat from the likes of S Club 7, except that, unbelievably, music like this exists without the malignant influence of Simon Fuller. It's either a stroke of genius or an unintentional irony that 10,000 Nights is a paean to deep and everlasting love, neatly packaged in a disposable, superficial and entirely forgettable pop song. I'll leave it up to you to decide which.
Chainsaw, Daniel Merriweather
Last heard assisting Mark Ronson in giving the Smiths' suitably dour Stop Me If You Think That You've Heard This One Before a fresh and funky makeover, it was only a matter of time before Australian singer Daniel Merriweather moved from cover versions to original material. He hasn't yet graduated from Ronson's tutelage, whose slicker-than-slick production is slapped all over this unassuming R&B jam. Taking his cue from a pleasant stretch of Hammond organ, Merriweather croons his way through a remarkable number of chainsaw metaphors with all the confidence of a man fully aware that he's sitting on a radio-friendly goldmine. Sadly, he also seems to be unaware that this is because Chainsaw sounds like it was written by Mike and the Mechanics.
MySpace of the Week: Telepathe
Brooklyn-based experimentalists Telepathe mess around with drones, high frequencies and spooky sounding harmonies, so when they say that their music is like "the future", it doesn't come off as far-fetched. Neither is it a surprise that with a brilliant batch of tunes, such as Chromes On It and Bells up their sleeve, the band's current UK tour is earning them praise and fans in heaps. See them in a town near you for the rest of May, or simply listen to them.
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