Electroqueer

EQTV - Watch "Somebody To Love" by Leighton Meester

2009-11-09T14:47:22+00:00

You know what - I'm not a fan of Gossip Girl at all and I'm really not a fan of Robin Thicke for all that matter, but Leighton Meester's new single "Somebody To Love" which brings the two together is just downright sexy. There is no denying that whatsover. It's all about the chorus again for me and it's got that quality that made Janet Jackson's "That's The Way Love Goes" the kind of song that made you feel guilty and a little hot under the collar whenever you played it.

Great collaboration all around.

More Leighton Meester on MySpace.

EQTV - Watch "Take My Picture" by Heads We Dance

2009-11-09T14:28:33+00:00

Ok, let's forget about all this Lucie Jones controversy for a minute and let's just watch the new video to "Take My Picture" by Heads We Dance instead. For me, this electro stomper is all about the chorus. In the video we see a young lass who seduces a slightly creepy guy with a camera into a weird world of bizarro mirrors - a play on stalkerazzi perhaps...judge for yourselves...

More Heads We Dance on MySpace

Discussion: The Real Reasons Lucie Jones Was Booted From X-Factor Last Night

2009-11-09T12:07:16+00:00

I am COMPLETELY GUTTED that Lucie Jones got eliminated from the X-Factor last night. I usually don't get so fired up about this silly entertainment show, but I really hate it when good, raw talent is thrown underneath the bus for no good reason at all.

Last night's decision, as always, rested with Simon Cowell. It always seems to be Simon's decision as to whether to boot an act off or throw the show to the public vote and last night he proved to me that he isn't worthy of making these decisions any longer - I've lost any shred of respect that I had for him after last night. Why is the final decision always with Simon? Why can't the final decision be made by Dannii or Cheryl (or even Louie) - the show is rigged so that Simon Cowell will always have the final say and that really irritates me.

Simon Cowell knew that John & Edward got more votes than Lucie last night and despite his remarks about John & Edward throughout the show - I quote "vile little creatures" - he knew his decision to go to public vote would in fact eliminate the uber talented Lucie Jones.

So here are the real reasons why Simon Cowell threw Lucie Jones under the bus last night...

Lucie Jones was Danyl and Olly's biggest competition when it came to vocals - eliminating Lucie helped him get on step further in one of his acts winning the competition - it's not about the winner is it - it's about Simon.
Ratings prevail over talent when it comes to the X-Factor. Simon has consistently slagged off John & Edward throughout the entire show, but when "Jedward Mania" really reached fever pitch this last week in the UK media - you could see the pound signs in Simon's eyes and suddenly his opinion changed from "vile little creatures" to "sorta good". PUH-LEASE.
Simon did Louie a favour - although they bicker on screen and pretend to be enemies - they really are good friends with a long history. Louie always gets his acts axed first in X-Factor - that's the way the show unfolds historically, so Simon really was just doing Louie a favor.
I really don't think Simon Cowell likes Dannii Minouge at all - Dannii has been getting favorable press throughout the UK ever since she apeared on Piers Morgan's show and the UK are starting to really LOVE Dannii Minouge all over again - this makes Simon look bad, so throwing Lucie under the bus was really a low-blow to Dannii more than anything.
Controversy breeds ratings - we all know that a good controversy stirs up ratings and when Simon is wearing that "TV Executive" hat, he'll do nothing but make business decisions. Throwing the show to the public vote and booting off Lucie was a business decision. As long as John & Edward are on the show, advertising revenue will sky-rocket and Simon's show will still be at the top of the ratings. This is somehow more important than Lucie Jones career.

So that's it - the REAL reasons Lucie was kicked off X-Factor last night. To be fair, I must tell you that I have nothing against John & Edward. I find them very entertaining and look forward to seeing them perform every week. But let's get real here, talent should win X-Factor and when real talent is squashed into the floor for ratings and ad-revenue, well it's just wrong. And if that's the game Simon Cowell wants to play then I hope John & Edward win X-Factor now because it will turn his show into a joke and in the end show him out for the ruthless business man he is - not for the fantastic mentor of talent he is trying to fool the public into believing...

Lucie Jones was a victim of being talented and not having enough PR or hype. She's a normal girl with a great voice that deserves to be heard. She isn't on the cover of Heat magazine, people don't find her annoying and cocky and crying all the time like they do Danyl, she doesn't get votes for being a weird quirky girl from Dagenham and she isn't cashing in on "oh I'll always be a pub singer" or "I can do this silly dance that will drive girls crazy routine" via Olly to get votes.

She is raw talent (alongside Joe) and to me, Lucie Jones is the real winner of X-Factor.

Have your say - discuss this now over on the EQ Facebook page...

EQ Interview With Erik Hassle - "I never thought that my hair could be something that was interesting! "

2009-11-07T11:31:39+00:00

Erik Hassle's "Pieces" is one of the finest pop accomplishments of 2009 and will finally be unveiled to the UK and USA in early February. Already a hit in Sweden with his debut single "Hurtful", Erik hopes to grow his fan base with the universal appeal of his gorgeous pop music. Having recently finished a tour with Little Boots and Ellie Goulding, the soul pop quirkster is quickly gaining fans by the legions all the while being hotly tipped from influential tastemakers and UK newspapers like The Guardian.

I caught up with Erik Hassle to talk about his music, the experience of filming his music video to "Don't Bring Flowers" in Los Angeles and about life as a Swedish musician living in London. And of course we had to talk about his hair too - enjoy!

EQ: Hello Erik how are you today?
Erik Hassle: I'm alright! I'm good. We've been on tour now for two week and the last show we all managed to get the flu!

Oh goodness!
Yeah, but I think I'm going to be ok...

So you just finished a few shows with Little Boots and Ellie Goulding - how did those shows go over?
It's been great - it's been very fun and I just like being on the road. It takes like three days and then you get into the tour mode and you never want to go back!

So let's talk about your song "Hurtful" - I wanted to find out if that song was autobiographical at all?
Yeah it was! The lyrics are quite easy to relate to for everyone I guess. For anyone whose ever been hurt and in love - they can relate to it. It's a knock on your shoulder by your conscious when you're starting to think things over and regret how you maybe handled some stuff. It's definitely autobiographical.

You also recently filmed your video to "Don't Bring Flowers" in LA. What was it like filming - was LA as glamorous as you thought it would be?
(Laughs - hehehehe) The circumstances for that video was crazy because we didn't have a massive budget - we wanted to make it with love. So we hired a guy we loved in Sweden then we sent him down there a week before the shoot was gonna be done. The budget basically then didn't last...so when we came down there, the day before the shoot - we didn't have a crew or a producer or anything and we had to do everything by ourselves and it was extremely chaotic. At the same time, we were jet-lagged from flying all the way from Sweden. But we got to see LA which is something we all wanted to do. But basically it was a very chaotic experience. We only stayed for two days in total before we had to get back on a plane to Sweden, so we were pretty fucked...

Wow, for flying all that way and only having two days to produce a video, it turned out pretty well - are you happy with it?
Yeah I'm happy with it - despite how chaotic the experience was!

So tell me about your debut album "Pieces" that's coming out in the America and the UK - what can we expect?
Well it's twelve pop songs, written in Sweden in the last two and half years. Twelve love songs about anything having to do with being young and falling in love and getting your heart broken. I wrote the album with some friends and the album is the conclusion of something we discussed when we became friends with each other. Basically I grew up listening to a lot of American soul music. The way that I've been singing my whole life has been a bit soulful. When I started writing the album, I got introduced to the big arena of pop music and somewhere there, in the middle - is my album I guess. It's definitely pop, but I'm trying to deliver the soulful and emotion that I was always so fascinated with.

So I understand, you currently living in London - what do you like about living in London being a musician?
Yeah, I just like that wherever you go and live - right now I live in East London - whichever direction I go when I leave my apartment - there's all these interesting places...

Definitely - I live in East London too - I'm off to Shoreditch a little later on...
Oh you are! Oh cool - so you know, the area is just very inspiring to live in - I absolutely love it.

Totally! Do you miss parts of Sweden?
It's so damn cold when you go back now! This time of the year, I don't miss it much because it's so cold. But Sweden is also very nice - it's the opposite to the big city. If you want to, when you go to Sweden you can have the most quiet experiences in your life. Up north in Sweden you can just enjoy how quiet it is - it's a nice contrast to living the life that I do right now. That's what I really miss about Sweden.

I absolutely love your cover of La Roux's "In For The Kill" you did recently - what made you decide to pick up your guitar and do an acoustic cover of it?
There was a competition on my Swedish website where my Swedish fans got to vote for a cover for me to do. La Roux's "In For The Kill" was the winner of the competition - we were happy! When we arranged the song, we started playing "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode and then we sang "In For The Kill" over the top of it. We worked with an upcoming director here in Shoreditch too and asked him if he wanted to film it and he said "yeah yeah sure" and he told us he had the perfect place for it. We went up on a rooftop in London and had very good luck because you could see the sunset!

Note - click here to watch that performance...

Do you feel like right now is maybe the right time for your music with pop quirksters like La Roux, Frankmusik and Little Boots getting so much attention? Do you feel like you fit in that genre of pop?
Yeah! I think it is. I don't really see myself as electronic as they are. I am touching those areas a bit, but my whole view of my album is a little bit more pop and more soul.

Erik Hassle with Ellie Goudling on tour

If you weren't doing music right now, what do you think you'd be getting up to? Always a fun question...
Ooohhhh... I would be traveling I guess. What a boring answer! All my friends now are traveling all the time on vacation though! It seems quite nice. To go away for a few months, I would really like that. Work at some Swedish restaurant, then earn some money and go see the world...and do music!

My last question for you, is ta-dah, about your hair! How important is your hair to you? It seems to be a trademark for your imagery at the moment. Do you spend hours styling it for that look or are you more a get up and go kinda guy?...
Um, I think the second option! When I was ten years old, I never thought that my hair could be something that was interesting! [laughs] I never liked my hair and people never liked my hair either when I was a kid, but all of the sudden people have started to like my hair and it's always been the same - it hasn't changed!

Erik Hassle on MySpace

Erik Hassle Official Website

Lady Gaga Tranny Stalker Alert!

2009-11-06T16:47:14+00:00

Lady Gaga needs to go into hiding immediately - these two stalker trannies are quite scary!

Darryl Haynes From Soundgarden - New Video Blogs..."Your Biscuit Loses!"

2009-11-06T10:18:45+00:00

What do we have here? It's episode 4 of the "making the album" video blogs from my favourite male artist of all time - Darren Hayes!

So let's get into this, my thoughts on part one...

Those synthy sounds from 22 to 45 secs sound really sexy. I want to hear more! Such a tease Darren!
A 20 piece orchestra?! Wow - looks really challenging and very curious as to how it will sound on a Daz record - I'm sure it will be lush and gorgeous as ever!
The floral goodness with a vest look NEVER goes out of fashion...
These video blogs wouldn't quite work without a cheesy impromtu diddy inserted now wouldn't they? "The Greatest American Hero" - Brilliant! Must download that song now...

And my thoughts on this one...

Yeah, your biscuits may be cool - but the McVities dark chocolate ones will ALWAYS win. Always. I challenge you all to a biscuit war. Laughs - "YOUR BISCUIT LOSES!" A new catch-phrase no doubt! I'm going to shout that when Danyl Johnson finally gets kicked off the X Factor.
It's so nice to see more of the elusive Robert Conley!
The album is done eh? Yay! But whenever Darren says "in the can" I can't help but think of a toilet. I don't know if that is good pop vocabulary or not...but it's funny!

Blake Lewis Live - "Heartbreak On Vinyl"

2009-11-06T09:49:06+00:00

You know, I have never got to see Blake Lewis live yet, so you can imagine my excitement when Blake posted this new clip of him performing (according to him) the likely next single "Heartbreak On Vinyl" at The Roxy.

The show looks fun live - you can bet I'd be at the front singing along to every song. Now what do we have to do to lure either the band or the one-man band over to London Town for a showcase - everyone knows that the UK would totally eat his brand of commercial dance-electro-pop right up.

Whatcha waiting for Tommy Boy ? The UK beckons...

Further reading - EQ interview with Blake Lewis from September

JLS Album Advert - Amazing...

2009-11-05T17:41:58+00:00

How bloody amazing does this advert for the new JLS album look?! Can't wait to get my grubby paws on it!

However I'll only be buying one copy - the one with Ortise on the cover because he's an EQ supporter ;)

JLS - bringing back the boy band - one #1 hit at a time!

Simon Curtis Announces New Album "8Bit Heart"

2009-11-05T14:00:53+00:00

Simon Curtis has announced his plans to launch his free download album "8Bit Heart" once he reaches 8000 Twitter followers, so make sure you are following Simon on Twitter because the faster you follow, the faster we'll have this electro-pop gem in our hands!

So what's the album going to be like? Simon had this to say about the album title and forthcoming tunes...

"The album is titled "8-Bit Heart" and is built around inspiration from 80's-early nineties video games, and sci-fi/fantasy. I've been making some seriously HOT tracks using old commodore 64 8-bit music - hence the title. All really smartly themed yet totally danceable, commercial pop - which is how I like my tunes..."

Excited much? I am - Simon Curtis' music really means a lot to me. He's my third most played artist of all time (well, ever since I started a Last fm account)...just right behind Madonna and Darren Hayes and he doesn't even have a commercial release yet!

EQTV - Watch French Horn Rebellion's New Video To "Up All Night"

2009-11-05T13:53:01+00:00

The French Horn Rebellion need to stop hanging out on street corners.

Once again the New York electronic quirk duo have filmed a new UK edit of their video to "Up All Night" which is just as crazy and offbeat as you would expect from them.

Apparently their street corner antics are working though,"Up All Night" has received significant radio support from the likes of Radio 1, XFM and BBC 6 Music. Not bad at all guys, not bad...let's watch the new video then shall we...