Pop Culture Buzz

I am a sucker for a good synth hook and British duo La Roux keep churning out the quirky hits across the pond. Their self-titled debut LP comes packed with plenty of pop appeal and mainstream potential like their first hit single “In For The Kill”. Recently the band made their U.S. television debut on Jimmy Kimmel with their latest single for the video below called “Bulletproof”. The group is sure to turn heads with their glamarous 80’s hipster look, including perfectly flipped Flock of Seagulls hair and glitter make-up. I am pretty sure that La Roux’s 80s influenced tunes won’t turn many heads here in the states, which is a shame.

Watch Green Day’s new video of “21 Guns” from their album “21st Century Breakdown” below. The track is one of the few ballads featured on the pop-punk band’s newest opus. The clip was directed by Marc Webb (My Chemical Romance, Weezer), who is releasing his first feature film “(500) Days of Summer” in July.

The music video kicks off with two ambiguously young adults looking sad and bored. The band is also featured looking sad and bored. The song, which should be kicked up at least a couple of licks, is kinda sad and boring. What do you think?

“Sabali” is the first single from the new album by Amadou & Mariam called “Welcome to Mali” which was co-produced by Blur’s Damon Albarn. Amadou & Mariam are a musical duo from Mali, composed of the couple Mariam Doumbia (vocals) and Amadou Bagayoko (guitar and vocals). The pair, known as “the blind couple from Mali” met at Mali’s Institute for the Young Blind, and found they shared an interest in music.

I have seen this magical duo perform live twice; once at Coachella two years ago and the second a few days ago as they opened for Coldplay here in the San Francisco bay area. I was blown away by the tight performances and all around fun vibe there music has on a crowd. It was a pure delight to watch unsuspecting people witness this group for the first time.

I cannot tell enough music fans how great this band truly is, their previous full length album “Dimanche à Bamako” (produced by Manu Chao) was the best CD of 2005 hands down! Watch the video below and make up your own mind; are you a fan or not?

“Heads Will Roll” is hands down the coolest music video I’ve seen in 2009. The video opens up to what has to be one of the coolest dinner theatres ever with Karen O sporting one of the hottest outfits I’ve seen in a while. The rest of the video’s short 3 minutes involves a Thriller-esque Michael Jackson dancing werewolf killing the dinner theatre audience Quintin Tarantino style. Karen O. and company have been cranking out the dance floor hits recently which has me really excited to hear some “Heads Will Roll” remixes!

Australian electro-duo Empire of the Sun released this video for “We Are The People,” and the clip doesn’t spare us any of the usual Empire of the Sun melodrama, as the outrageously done-up group walks across the desert.

Directed by Josh Logue of Mathematics the clip was shot in the towns of Garcia, Xilitla, and the Icamole Desert in Mexico and used the ancient Mexican festival, Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos), as its inspiration.

“We Are the People” is the second single from their debut album “Walking on a Dream”. The song peaked at #26 on UK Singles Chart and at number 24 on Australian ARIA Singles Chart. If you have not had a chance to listen to this Aussie groups super cacthy 80’s synth inspired music, run out and get some now!

Pixie Lott is a 18-year-old British singer, songwriter, actress and dancer. “Mama Do” is the lead single from her highly anticipated debut album “Turn It Up”. The single is also known as “Mama Do (Uh Oh, Uh Oh)”, which is the full title, but frequently abbreviated. The strikingly attractive blond 18-year-old who is not only beautiful, but has an impressive and rich voice that makes her emergence on the music scene so exciting. Watch her fun video below:

David Lynch directed the video for the latest Moby track, “Shot In Back Of The Head”, from his upcoming album, “Wait For Me” (his 9th studio album). This track didn’t excite me too much, primarily because Moby’s already composed music that sounds very similar to it. I like David Lynch’s funny-crude sketches, but expected to see something more memorable. Moby called in his friends to help record the album, doodled the album art with sharpie on some copy paper and did the whole thing from the comfort of his own home. What do you think of the song and music video below?

The Juan Maclean have released their new single “One Day”, off the American electronic group’s second album titled “The Future Will Come”, which is out now on DFA Records. I love the 80’s throw back music video below, even though I do acknowledge it is very similar to every Human League song ever recorded. The Juan Maclean has been described as disco + electro + indie + funk and with Nancy Whang (of LCD Soundsystem) back on vocal duty this album is sure to rock.

Victoria Hesketh, known professionally as Little Boots, is a British electropop musician. She sings, plays keyboards, Japanese electronic instrument the Tenori-on, piano and the stylophone. Little Boots tours with a live drummer and keyboardist, and says she’s not a fan of playing to pre-recorded tracks. The official video for Little Boots single “New In Town” posted below reminds me of early Goldfrapp meets current Swedish pop diva Lykke Li. I am a huge fan of electro-pop and Little Boots already has me humming her tunes.

Mando Diao are a rock band from Borlänge, Sweden. According to the band, the name Mando Diao has no meaning at all, but rather appeared to band member Björn Dixgård in a dream. The band claims the Beatles as their original source of inspiration. Björn says that the band has been very inspired by movies and television with this album and cites Quentin Tarantino and Twin Peaks. The instantly catchy single “Dance With Somebody” is pretty danceable for a rock song, watch the music video below:

Tommy Sparks released “She’s Got Me Dancing” last month in the UK so you may be hearing it for the first time here on PCB. I think he’s got a great pop vibe that could catch on here in the states. Ladyhawke will join Sparks on a few dates during his U.K. tour. If you happen to be in that part of the world, I am jealous. Watch the 80’s inspired music video below:

The Australian band “Empire of the Sun” owe a lot to the 80’s and the David Bowie/Jim Henson film “Labyrinth” that is for sure. But don’t let their bizarre throw back fashion sense fool you, their first single “Walking On A Dream” is an old school New Wave pop gem! The music video below has made me very curious to hear the rest of the songs off their debut album which was released last October. What do you think?

I never would have guessed that Santogold’s & Lykke Li’s voices would meld together so well, but the funky laid back beat spun by NASA added to Kanye’s cocky rap, is pretty impressive. NASA’s debut album “The Spirit of the Apollo” is crammed full of hot guest vocals that are truly inspired. Check out the trippy and futuristic “Gifted” music video below and judge for yourself.

House-party guru Calvin Harris is releasing his highly anticipated second studio album sometime this year. The first single from the Scotsman’s still-untitled effort is “I’m Not Alone.” Below is a message from Calvin Harris’ MySpace page talking about his new “sound”:

Pete Tong had the first play of I’m Not Alone on friday, that’s my new single, it’s on my music player now. In an attempt to delay piracy i have given it an “I’m Your Nan” remix, so i hope you enjoy that. Obviously I hope you like it, it’s had some interesting reactions so far - a lot of them good, some of them bad! For those hating, please be aware that what i’m trying to do is make memorable music, and given that i have already made songs that sound like “Acceptable in the 80s” and “The Girls”, and indeed “Dance Wiv Me” it’s time to move on and keep it interesting, which involves taking risks, one of those risks being that perhaps nobody will like it…! But i would much rather that be the case than i make some cut up distorted blog house tune, i think there is enough of that around at the moment. So give it a chance won’t you?

Thanks
Calvin x

Hate it or love it, Eminem is back. His latest hilarious single “We Made You” will be dominating your radio waves for the next few months, so get used to it. His album won’t be released until May 19th, but Slim Shady already has everyone talking about his new video “We Made You” after he took stabs at Kim Kardashian, Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohen, & Ellen Degeneres. Whatever your verdict may be, it has certainly brought Eminem back to the forefront. Check out the “We Made You” music video below: