anything at all

i always admire people who can consistently produce material that keeps people coming back for more: lady gaga, michael jackson, harold camping. the list goes on and on. you can add hey champ to that list, too. their songs, like their latest "anything at all," are always solid and dependable, like a stick of long-lasting deodorant. and if you ever get a chance to see 'em live, do. they put on a helluva show.

Hey Champ - Anything At All - thepopsucker.blogspot.com by the Pop Sucker

shoot the moon

yeah, that's right. i'm posting an owl city song. this is from his forthcoming sophomore album all things bright and beautiful. don't judge. you know you love it. and hey, at least it's not ke$ha.

they synth by night

the only reason we have memorial day is to remember the gods of electropop past. this is why hallmark never created any memorial day greeting cards. they were too stumped and, over the last five decades, too limited by technology to appropriately create cards to celebrate this holiday. so, they leave it to the bloggers. and they way in which we celebrate this holiday is to celebrate the gods of electropop past is to showcase the gods of electropop present and future. here, for example, is expo, a belgian electropop group whose song "i don't mind" is so good, it deserves a holiday in and of itself.

Expo - I Don't Mind - thepopsucker.blogspot.com by the Pop Sucker

mighty real

yes! yes! yes! yes! YES! this is one of those this-is-why-i-love-music songs. u.k. tyson channels sylvester and gives us a vintage-inspired disco masterpiece with a modern electronic twist.

Tyson - Love's On The Line - thepopsucker.blogspot.com by the Pop Sucker

turn your dial to...

'70s AM radio gets a bad rap. carpenters, captain and tennille, jim croce. they're music is often thought of as soft, perhaps weak. but like them or not they produced some of the biggest, best-loved hits of the era and it's quality music that's stood the test of time. brooklyn's the aviation orange shouldn't be considered soft or weak, but their tune "ingenuous us" certainly evokes the AM '70s feeling. one of wistful love and greener pastures. soak it in like solid gold sunshine.

The Aviation Orange - Ingenuous Us - thepopsucker.blogspot.com by the Pop Sucker

cherry red

if this song doesn't bring a smile to your face there's something wrong with you. "cherry red" by norway's ida maria is filled with such vim and verve you might be able to retire that morning starbucks as your daily jolt. it's got '60s doo-wop, wall-of-sound charm mixed with modern day sexuality.

lost days

the first thing that grabs you about villa cola's "lost days" is the bass line. (and who doesn't like a melodic bass line?) the next thing you hear is ranya dube's throaty, slightly husky vocals crooning a delicious melody with an instantly hummable hook over trippy, drippy synths. the three-piece u.k. band says they're heavily influenced by '80s music and it's easy to hear it in songs like this one. you can download their entire EP she, which includes "lost days," for free over at their bandcamp site. (p.s. that dress dube is wearing in the picture is the hottest dress i've seen in a long time. totes want it.)

Villa Cola - Lost Days - thepopsucker.blogspot.com by the Pop Sucker

inner smile

here's a song that almost made it onto my recent mixtape, the wild party. it didn't quite work in context with the other songs on the mix but it's a good song in its own right and  deserves to be shared. inner smile are an israeli duo very much out of the iiO playbook. their trance/house/electro-dance pop won't be winning any awards for originality, but it's very accessible, club-ready and great fun. check out "know me better" below.

Inner Smile - Know Me Better (Radio Edit) - thepopsucker.blogspot.com by the Pop Sucker

born early

it's here, kids! gaga-fy yourself with one of the tracks from lady gaga's upcoming new album born this way. club banger, summer soundtrack, perfection. this, little monsters, is "heavy metal lover." learn it, live it, love it.

Lady GaGa - Heavy Metal Lover - thepopsucker.blogspot.com by the Pop Sucker

the wild party: a mix-tape

a nasty chest cold invaded my body last week. as such, i've completely neglected the Pop Sucker along with other personal items. booooo! thankfully the cold is working its way out of my system although i'm still coughing up obscene amounts of phlegm. (totes sexy, i know.) to make up for the lack of postings, i'm unveiling my latest mix-tape called the wild party. 

when synchronized sound was introduced in film in the mid-1920s it revolutionized the industry. the first sound film was 1927's the jazz singer, although in 1927 silent films were still in vogue and sound was considered a novelty. that all changed a mere two years later when the public demanded sound be incorporated in all films. the film community was turned on its head. now actors, directors and the rest of the crew had to abandon pantomime for stage acting and learn to be aware of their voices. some stars made it, others didn't, but most of the early sound films are nothing more than photographed stage plays with stilted direction, dialogue and a company still learning its way through a new technology. the biggest star in the world at this time was clara bow and her first sound feature, the wild party, became a box-office bonanza. pictures like these set the stage for movie musicals and new improvements in sound technology. sound in films, in the grand scheme of things, is not an entirely old technology but is one we certainly take for granted today. yet without sound, or music in general, where would we be? so this, dear readers, is your soundtrack to summer. a tribute to sounds of the past, present and future. music is oxygen. breathe deep and breathe often.

the wild party: a mix-tape

teenagers - japayork // up all night - alex clare //live those days tonight - friendly fires // skeleton - the good natured // the nerve (nervous dancing) - the republic tigers // on a train - yuksek // heaven is a dancefloor (radio edit) - baby alice // white flag - september // rolling in the deep (bosley remix) - adele // hocus pocus - nadia oh // paradise - sam la more // back to zero - ira atari // i won't let go - monarchy // kitchy kitchy - pandora // fair warning - penguin prison // responsitrannity - rupaul // watch the world go by - johan agebjorn feat. lake heartbeat // good times - swimming with dolphins feat. mod sun

p.s. thanks to my best buddy, daniel, for helping me with the cover art. clara would be proud ;)

can't be tamed

Other Lives - Tamer Animals - thepopsucker.blogspot.com by the Pop Sucker

does this song make me look fat?

being attractive is by no means a necessity when you're a musician, but it helps if you are. nor does being attractive have any bearing on whether or not your music sounds good. or does it? ask yourself that the next time you hear a song for the first time by an artist you've already predetermined to be utterly fuckable. does physical attraction have anything to do with aural pleasure?

clearly it's been established that sex sells and sexy, good-looking people are utilized ad nauseum to hock products, following the idea that if you buy the product the person is selling, it'll make you as sexy or as attractive. clearly it won't since physical beauty is a gift and something predetermined by genetics, DNA, and how much plastic surgery you can afford. but it poses an interesting question: can a sexy person sell a song, and more importantly would it sound better, than a song sung by an unattractive person? think about it. haven't you ever fallen in love with a singer's voice even before knowing or ever seeing what he or she looks like? the same could be true if you've fallen in love with someone's looks before hearing their music.

in listening to the hundreds if not thousands of songs that cross my eardrums each week, i have been known to give a second or even third listen to a song that didn't grab me right away just because the artist is someone with whom i would desire to make hot monkey love. but is that really fair? would i give the same opportunity to someone i didn't find attractive? honestly, i'm not sure. would you?

i liked yuksek's music even before i saw what he looked like. i'm not sure if, upon seeing him, i was drawn to his music any more. but it's possible. besides this whole diatribe came about because he's totes fuckable.

Yuksek - Dead Or Alive - thepopsucker.blogspot.com by the Pop Sucker

blooming

heartbreak, regret and uncertainty never sounded as good as they do on mike bloom's "til it's over." and, uh, is that a mandolin i hear? swoon! keep an eye out for his debut album, king of circles, out next month. it's bound to be filled with more delightful acoustic melodramas. p.s. head on over to mr. bloom's facebook page. dude's got only 30 fans! he deserves at least 30 times as many.

Mike Bloom - Til It's Over - thepopsucker.blogspot.com by the Pop Sucker

going, going, gone!

the bio for auction starts off like this: "The five of them grew up in and around Croydon and became friends at sixth form college." i have no idea what that means. where is croydon^** and what the hell is 'sixth form college'?^** not that any of this matters. these five lads got together to produce some stellar dance-rock as evidenced on their debut single "statues." their name, by the way, comes from the fact that they rehearse and record in a large auction house owned by the drummer's dad. cool! could the gavel replace the cowbell?

Auction - Statues - thepopsucker.blogspot.com by the Pop Sucker


^* "Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name." (wikipedia)
^** "A sixth form college is an educational institution in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Belize, Hong Kong or Malta where students aged 16 to 18 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A-levels, or school-level qualifications such as GCSEs. In Singapore and India, this is known as a junior college. The municipal government of the city of Paris uses the word "sixth form college" as the English name for a lycée." (wikipedia)

no disguise

it's no secret that i have a penchant for swedish pop. the preeminent swedish music blog is swedesplease, which i have come to rely on as the best source for all genre of swedish music. this is one of the gems that recently surfaced. masquer, the stockholm duo of kicki halmos and pelle lundqvist, channels early '80s groups like the motels and delivers lo-fi grittiness, synths and a big hook on "happiness."

Masquer - Happiness - thepopsucker.blogspot.com by the Pop Sucker

the future

last month we introduced you to toronto band austra whose debut album feel it break comes out next week. austra's already been generating a lot of blog buzz and it's easy to hear why. their unique blend of beats and electronica almost have a classical slant to them, and they're all punctuated by katie stelmanis's distinct vocals. "the future," one of the tracks from the album, has almost a music-box delicacy about it. but it's a music box played inside a steel mill.

Austra - The Future - thepopsucker.blogspot.com by the Pop Sucker

mystery weekend

this one's been kicking around for a bit, but that doesn't make it any less worthy of a post. the band remains a bit of a mystery. at first i found that annoying. then i was reminded of a conversation i had with a friend last night. we live in such an over-saturated, instant-access kind of world. all of our pop stars are almost too accessible and available. there's hardly any mystery anymore. they're all tweeting and facebooking and youtubing. what happened to the romanticizing and glamorizing and fantasizing about what your favorite band or artist are really like? so kudos to black light dinner party, whoever they are, for remaining evasive. now fans can dream up exactly who they want BLDP to be, and probably end up more satisfied.

Black Light Dinner Party - Older Together - thepopsucker.blogspot.com by the Pop Sucker

the cat's pajamas

trudging through the hundreds of daily emails with new music can be laborious and tiresome. some songs are only OK, others are outright terrible, and some are so inappropriate for this blog i wonder if people actually read previous posts to see what we're all about. then every once in a while something special arrives. it's those moments of discovering a cool new song that keep you digging through all of the emails. new artist new pyjamas recently sent a few tunes. the one that stood out was "so much alike." there's something unusual and unique about it that's got me hooked. it's part DIY pop, part video game, part '80s casio keyboard, part TV theme and all kinds of awesome. check it out below and grab a free download.

So Much Alike by new pyjamas

teenagers

although my latin is a little rusty, as in i've never taken it before, i'm almost certain that japayork is derived from the latin phrase that means "ridiculously hot synthpop musician." japayork is the moniker of someone whose name and identity remain largely elusive. what is known, sort of, is that the name japayork came about after life-changing trips this young man took to japan and new york. there's been plenty written about him in the last 10 months, but it all asks the same question: who the heck is this guy? if you came here to find an answer, i'm afraid i'll have to let you down. but you can stay for the music. that's more important anyway. like his debut single, "teenagers," a dynamic, forget-your-troubles-c'mon-get-happy high-powered party jam.

Japayork - Teenagers - thepopsucker.blogspot.com by the Pop Sucker

super soaker

following in the footsteps of other timeless tunes such as "i will survive" and "these boots are made for walkin'," neighbors' "watergun" might just be the next great kiss-off ever recorded. swirling synths and guitars are juxtaposed over lead singer noah stitelman's nearly emotionless delivery. but it's stitelman's drone-like vocals that make the sardonic lyrics all the more biting, especially on the song's killer chorus: you should have stopped from the start as far as i can tell / and i'm not sure that i should even wish you well / you said 'love me' / i said 'baby, like hell.' effective and evocative, "watergun" is the super soaker of bitter break-up songs.

Neighbors - Watergun - thepopsucker.blogspot.com by the Pop Sucker

watch the world goes by

if lead single "watch the world go by" is any indication, johan agebjörn's debut album casablanca nights is going to be the soundtrack for the summer, and one of the best albums of the year.

and if you want to we can disappear into the darkness // we can float into the light // then you can tell me that you want to start a revolution // or just waste a little time // i never wanted to be special // i just wanted someone that was special to be mine // don't say you understand // just take me by the hand // we can watch the world go by

Johan Agebjörn - Watch The World Go By (feat. Lake Heartbeat) - thepopsucker.blogspot.com by the Pop Sucker

worming in

some songs should be appreciated like a fine wine. tasted, not gulped, to appreciate their delicate flavors. consequently it may take several tastes before it truly envelops the palate. u.k. singer florrie, who heretofore has produced some tasty though not altogether satisfying pop, has just released her new single "begging me" to worldwide audiences. like the aforementioned wines, this one had to be tasted several times, slowly, before it wormed its way into my pop consciousness. now that it's been tasted, appreciated and savored, it's something to keep on chugging. time to get drunk!

Florrie - Begging Me - thepopsucker.blogspot.com by the Pop Sucker

never enough

Dirty Vegas - Never Enough - thepopsucker.blogspot.com by the Pop Sucker