We were just having a clearout of CDs over the weekend and found this release by Skandal, which came out last month.
'Everyday' is clearly a fairly unremarkable tune but we thought it probably important to state very clearly that the Skandal above - 'featuring Black The Ripper' - is not (that's NOT) the same Skandal who ten years ago wowed the lower reachers of the Top 100 with their sort-of-hit 'Champagne Highway'.
We always felt that the phrase 'champagne highway' sounded deeply pervoramic, in the "what happened with the girl you went home with last night?" / "oh it was awful, she tried to let one out of the champagne halfway through" sort of sense.
Perhaps that was just us.
One begins to suspect that Skandal is an artist name cursed to land upon a mediocre musical artist or act once every ten years. What, we wonder, will the 2020 version of Skandal look and sound like? We will have to wait and see.
We would have done this as a Song Of The Day if we hadn't already done Shontelle's 'Impossible' as a Song Of The Day a few months ago, so instead we will just give the Jonas Jeberg mix of the aforementioned tune some front page treatment because it is just completely brilliant and might actually be better than the 'proper' verison.
Brilliant. Well done to every single person involved with these three minutes and eleven seconds of popular song.
"Meet Nicole, Olivia and Izzy – the new girls on the block."
That is what it says in the biog for Mercury's new girlband, SoundGirl.
"All hailing from London town, Izzy and Nicole hung out at school and began singing together before hooking up with one of their neighbourhood friends, Olivia – SoundGirl were born."
It says that as well.
"Influenced by the sounds of TLC, Salt’n’Pepa, Aailyah, Destiny’s Child and Rihanna, the girls are bringing back the classic sounds of Old School R’n’B while keeping it fresh with Epic songs and even bigger beats."
And that.
And this.
"Working with the people behind Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Beyonce, Cheryl Cole and Fergie, the girls are preparing to take over the airwaves."
Here is that it doesn't mention in their blurb: THEY ARE FUCKING AMAZING. We don't really know anything else about them but it looks from Twitter as if Betty Bloody Boo might be involved in some capacity (amazing).
Here are two of their tunes.
Very nice. As you can hear this is a VERY 90s-influenced sound and style and that is all very agreeable as far as we are concerned although we have our fingers crossed that the trio have an all-conquering enormohit waiting in the wings for their first single because while 'The Game' and particularly 'Walking On Air' both set out their stall brilliantly we wonder whether the band might benefit from appearing with a little more of a bang. Then again, what do we know. Absolutely nothing, that is the answer to that.
Anyway never mind all that because here they are a-warbling near a window.
The trio are off on tour with Pixie Lott later this year on the so-called 'Crazy Cats' tour. Crazy Cats is what Pixie calls her fans. We don't think Crazy Cats is really up there with eg 'Little Monsters' but perhaps it will just take a while to really take hold.
Disappointingly, given the mid-80s TV ad 'soundscape' of the song itself the video for 'Don't Let Me Start Without You' doesn't discuss fruit drinks enjoyed in the Congo. Nor does it feature a talking monkey trying to sell a breakfast cereal that turns the milk chocolatey. Nonetheless this is, in its own way, an era-defining popcultural artefact.
WATCH THIS AND GASP.
We actually don't know what to say. This is a video that somehow manages to go beyond traditional ideas of good and bad and exists instead on a different plane where concepts of positive and negative no longer exist. Astonishing.
