Vertigo Shtick

"Can See Can Do" and the Politics of M.I.A.

2015-03-07T10:57:00.002-08:00

Sometimes, when I need to check myself, I put on M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes." Popularized by the trailer to the stoner film Pineapple Express, it was the first big hit for the British dance artist (and for her producer and then-beau, Diplo), peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earning a Record of the Year nomination at the 2009 Grammys (she performed at the ceremony, nine months pregnant). And I was baffled, and perhaps a little offended; "She can't even sing!" was my general response. I didn't get it. A year later, I launched this blog, as a reaction to, and toward, the people who "don't get it." Thus often goes the story of the evangelized.

Of course, whether M.I.A. can even sing is irrelevant, because it's not really the point. M.I.A.'s music isn't about tuneful warbling, it's about rebellion and radicalism, in the lyrics and in the beats. At it best, it stows social commentary away within benignly appealing thematic frameworks, transparently enough that even if you notice it you don't feel like you've been tricked. Even when the topic is directly political, as on her new song "Can See Can Do," released this morning on Soundcloud, she tends to hew more to the broadly applicable style of 60s protest songs than the expressive specificity of rap.

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Let's Rate Some iTunes New Artist Spotlight Singles with Emoji

2015-03-06T05:47:00.000-08:00

The Billboard Hot 100 is in one of its regular ruts at the moment. Seven of the current top ten singles are stagnant or on the decline, and the other three aren't much more inspired (Maroon 5, Taylor Swift, and barrel-bottom Pitbull); meanwhile, Mark Ronson's Bruno Mars single "Uptown Funk" spends a ninth week at #1, Ed Sheeran holds a seventh week at #2 and Ellie Goudling's 50 Shades of Grey song clocks a fourth atop the UK Singles Chart, a sales- and streaming-based chart where turnover at the summit is usually high. It'd be one thing if any of these singles were making some sort of imprint on the societal moment beyond themselves, but as a non-radio listener, I've barely been aware of them. From the look of the charts, you'd think we were in a real post-Grammys, pre-Spring Break creative drought, like we often are early in the year.

Australian band Sheppard say "Geronimo"

Except, for once, we're not. After a real snooze of a year, 2015 has come front-loaded with more good new music released in the first two months than 2014 had put out by about October. We've gotten great albums from Jazmine Sullivan, Fifth Harmony, and Drake, with promising releases from Madonna and Marina and the Diamonds imminent and monster returns by Kanye West, Rihanna, and Adele on the horizon. And the spate of exciting rookie acts that kicked off last year hasn't let up, with solid big-label introductions from Eden xo, Rae Sremmurd, Tori Kelly, and Ella Henderson making impact on radio and streaming.

In fact, it looks like the major labels are starting to show willingness to put some real budgetary and promotional support behind new artists on their rosters (following the huge success of Iggy Azalea and ClearChannel's "On the Verge" new artist program). Even iTunes is getting into it, offering "New Artist Spotlights" on its main page and genre main pages. So why is everyone still just listening to the same ol' Bruno Mars song?

Maybe you're like me, and this whole "new artists being promoted" thing is still a little foreign to you and you don't really know how or where to even start with all these weirdly named new acts on your iTunes page or Spotify playlist. Back in the day we used to have these things to help with this sort of dilemma, called "blogs." Maybe you've heard of them? Anyway, I'll get to work on that for y'all. Here's a starter batch for the weekend.

I'm trying out the first 12 songs from the US iTunes "New Artist Spotlight" (Pop) and will rate on scale of 🙌 👍 🌓 👎 💩 pic.twitter.com/14w07pzIZ3
— Vertigo Shtick (@Vertigo_Shtick) February 26, 2015

1. "Shut Up and Dance" - Walk the Moon (Talking is Hard)

1. Ugh. Capital Cities + All American Rejects x Of Monsters and Men = WTF is this wussy alt-rock bullshit? Rating: 💩 pic.twitter.com/jLMQFw2dz8
— Vertigo Shtick (@Vertigo_Shtick) February 26, 2015

2. "Geronimo" - Sheppard (Geronimo)

2. You feel like you've heard it 10 zillion x & didn't care for it. What's w/ all the arcade fire wannabes? Rating: 👎 pic.twitter.com/XK5ZsalaAV
— Vertigo Shtick (@Vertigo_Shtick) February 26, 2015

3. "Goodbye" - Who Is Fancy (Single)

3 Biz insider predix have this blowing up soon; Scooter Braun signee (@whoisfancy); pipes! Perfect Pop Song. Rating 🙌 pic.twitter.com/zhsXFRa7Ug
— Vertigo Shtick (@Vertigo_Shtick) February 26, 2015

4. "Budapest" - George Ezra (Wanted on a Voyage)

4. Less insufferable than Mika, less lovable than Ed Sheeran, less je ne sais quois than Paolo Nutini. Meh? Rating: 🌓 pic.twitter.com/qgJeFLTrme
— Vertigo Shtick (@Vertigo_Shtick) February 26, 2015

5. "I'm An Albatraoz" - AronChupa (Single)

5. Self-consciously Duck Sauce/Sak Noel-style techno-pop weird - I wanted to dislike it but failed. Rating: 👍 pic.twitter.com/127mVlYfYW
— Vertigo Shtick (@Vertigo_Shtick) February 26, 2015

6. "Reflections" - MisterWives (Our Own House)

6. Starts out kinda ho hum (especially when saturated) but ultimately feels like a more fun Clean Bandit. Rating: 👍 pic.twitter.com/xDyXt7Ls01
— Vertigo Shtick (@Vertigo_Shtick) February 26, 2015

7. "Cheerleader (Feliz Jaehn Remix)" - Omi (Single)

7. Tiptoes up to the edge of Too Precious, treatment of women iffy, but enjoyable as hell & not cloying. Rating: 🙌 pic.twitter.com/m1NlOxOmhn
— Vertigo Shtick (@Vertigo_Shtick) February 26, 2015

8. "Roll Up Your Sleeves" - Meg Mac (Single)

8. Heart is in the right place, w/ piano & claps & Florence-meets-every alt pop girl ever, but it's boring. Rating: 👎 pic.twitter.com/lVS0jDimHi
— Vertigo Shtick (@Vertigo_Shtick) February 26, 2015

9. "You Know You Like It" - DJ Snake feat. AlunaGeorge (Single)

9. I like this in theory, and the first half-to-2/3rds are fine, but by the end I was losing interest. Rating: 🌓 pic.twitter.com/Q1XrpLL6wX
— Vertigo Shtick (@Vertigo_Shtick) February 26, 2015

10. "Electric Love" - BØRNS (Candy)

10. Has sheen of BlØgger-ApprØved White BØys all over it, but it's underwhelming as a single statement. Rating: 🌓 pic.twitter.com/Q3JMn25xdr
— Vertigo Shtick (@Vertigo_Shtick) February 26, 2015

11. "We'll Be The Stars" - Sabrina Carpenter (Single)

11. Are you someone who misses Vanessa Carlton really really bad? No? Then this has nothing for you. Rating: 💩 pic.twitter.com/zrbwaxhOtN
— Vertigo Shtick (@Vertigo_Shtick) February 26, 2015

12. "Real Love" - Clean Bandit feat. Jess Glynne (New Eyes)

12. Clean Bandit! People love 'em. They aggravate me. This=a very Clean Bandit song, do w/ that as u will. Rating: 🌓 pic.twitter.com/CaWghnACnJ
— Vertigo Shtick (@Vertigo_Shtick) February 26, 2015

57th Grammys Have Actually Made Some Good Choices (So Far)

2015-02-08T17:52:00.000-08:00

The Grammy Awards are...problematic. NEWS FLASH. Peer awards for an intensely conservative, artistically sprawling industry about ten years behind the times, with baffling voting procedures and no guild or critics' awards to act as a check and counterpoint? What could go wrong?

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga win Best Traditional Pop Album

Complaining about the Grammy Awards is a familiar trope (Why are there so few awards during the telecast? Hey, that's not a New Artist! What's the difference between a record and an album? Best Polka Album hahahaha oh they got rid of that one.), and for those of us who care about good music, this can be an aggravating event.

But with most of the awards having been presented during the pre-telecast "Premiere Ceremony," it looks like the Recording Academy has made some decent selections within the imperfect framework they've given themselves with variously shambolic nominations.

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The Top 10 Katy Perry Songs of All Time

2015-01-30T15:48:00.000-08:00

The Super Bowl is coming up, and Katy Perry is playing the halftime show. Maybe you've heard? It'll be her biggest audience ever, and while she's no Madonna or Beyonce, she's still done a few good things in her short career.

Here is the definitive list of the ten (okay, eleven) best Katy Perry songs out there - and yes, I listened to them all to make sure. Argue if you dare.

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Katy Perry Kissed A Girl - Should We Like It?

2015-01-29T19:35:00.000-08:00

.This piece was originally published on June 4, 2008 on the once wondrous but now defunct Gaywired.com, which was owned, as presumably this piece still is, by Regent Media, now Here Media. It is reprinted here without express permission because it's relevant and you can't find it anywhere, but if the folks at Here Media should have any objections I invite them to get in touch - I'd like to write for you again.

It's not what good girls do

This week saw the coronation of a new head-bopper hitting Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart: a catchy song entitled “I Kissed a Girl,” made even more interesting because the singer is 23-year-old brunette bombshell Katy Perry.

Critical reaction to this upstart single has been decidedly mixed, as much for its social context as its musical construction. TheStar.com called it "a lesbian-friendly tune that's sure to cut a swath through...Pride events,” and a UGO.com review of Perry's album One of the Boys, which features “I Kissed a Girl,” says the singer is “appealing as skinny-dipping in August - I guess we can't resist a tease.”

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The Vertigo Shtick Top 40 Pop Singles of 2014, Part Three

2015-01-20T16:25:00.000-08:00

The best pop singles of 2014 were a motley crew, but slowly and surely we're getting to the best of them. The second tier is a collection of ten powerhouse jams from ten powerhouse women, some new, some shedding an old skin, some returning, and some legendary. There are several great singles from not so great artists, and discussions about what that could mean for each one. One's explicitly about sex, another implicitly about masturbation, and another about sex clubs, weed, and DILF hookups, and one of the others mentions menstruation. Three times.

Kiesza keeps on dancin'.

Read on for #20-11 of the VS Top 40 Pop Singles of 2014!

Part One: #31-40 Part Two: #21-30

Honorable Mentions

That New New: Erica Gibson's Charming Debut Single, "Out of My Mind"

2015-01-16T20:31:00.002-08:00

It's been a good week for new music, especially considering how desolate the first few months of the year tend to be. There's a lot worth sifting through at one time, but if you're in the mood for some new new over the weekend, I recommend checking out the charming official solo debut single by Philadelphia songwriter Erica Gibson, "Out of My Mind."

Produced and co-written by frequent collaborator Scott Stallone, "Out of My Mind" is a format-savvy, sonically playful record about overthinking that voicemail from that guy, which I'm sure hasn't happened to anyone ever. There's a neat tonal shift on the pre-chorus I always find "ooh ahh"-y, and a big old chorus that, and don't hate me for this, has actually proven difficult to get out of my mind. Ooh whoa ohhhh, whoa ah ohh ohhhhh!
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Anjulie's "Love Sick", Continues to Make Music That's Better Than You

2015-01-15T20:31:00.001-08:00

Look, the streets of Los Angeles are paved with the broken dreams and unreleased music of many thousands of pop stars, also-rans, and would-be pop stars. It's just that some of these streets are nicer than others. If you're Canadian dance-pop philosopher Anjulie, it's more like Melrose Place.

Anjulie is love sick! (Haahh.) (Hooo!)

Like many artists before her, Anjulie spent the better part of the current decade working on a brilliant yet challenging pop project for her sophomore album, one that messed with both the typical label-artist career path and the genre boundaries and definitions to which label marketing teams cling fearfully, and I'm betting you can guess how that went.

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The Vertigo Shtick Top 40 Pop Singles of 2014, Part Two

2015-01-12T16:23:00.000-08:00

The best pop singles of 2014 were a motley crew. The third tier is populated mostly by established or major-label acts (not as true in the lowest tier, and, you will find, remarkably untrue as we get closer to the top), some of them dialing down the star power for lower-profile work and others making big career-launching smashes often as problematic as they are massive. Throw in two standout tracks from heroic final albums from differently but undeniably pop career victors and some uniquely British pop sensitivities and you've got ten more of the best tunes of 2014.

McBusted's "Air Guitar"

Read on for #21-30 of the VS Top 40 Pop Singles of 2014

Part One: #31-40 Honorable Mentions

The Vertigo Shtick Top 40 Pop Singles of 2014, Part One

2015-01-02T21:18:00.001-08:00

The best pop singles of 2014 were a motley crew. The lowest tier at the top included intelligent songs and brilliantly stupid songs, by thrilling debuting rookies, much anticipated returning stars of old, current A-listers, and legends of past pop eras; some maximized the potential of electronic sound while others nodded back to the studio sessions of Phil Spector and his contemporaries. Some were by men, most by women, and all of them better than almost anything else out there this year.

Alexandra Stan dances with the boys

Read on for #31-40 of the VS Top 40 Pop Singles of 2014, and check out the Honorable Mentions here.

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The VS Top 40 Pop Songs of 2014: Honorable Mentions

2014-12-31T20:28:00.001-08:00

Another year draws to a close. And while I will be expanding a bit on summing up 2014 for pop music over the next few posts as I present a fully annotated rundown of the top 40 "Top 40" pop songs of the year, I did want to take a moment to shout out some more releases that, while they didn't make the arbitrarily limited list of honor, are still quite worthwhile.

5 Seconds of Summer looking so perfect

So take a gander at the Top 40 Pop Songs of 2014 That Didn't Make the VS Top 40 Pop Songs of 2014, in alphabetical order - and just think, if the tunes on this list seem pretty great, imagine how epic the real Top 40 will be!

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Madonna Gets Her Groove Back With the 'Rebel Heart' Six

2014-12-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

Madonna, it seems, has managed to surprise everyone once again. Following last week's massive leak of unfinished material from her upcoming album, the Queen of Pop was understandably upset and characteristically vocal about it (although her comparisons of the incident to "rape" and "terrorism" ruffled some feathers). Because the album wasn't finished, nor did it have a title or release date, it was unclear how, and if, she would recover from the damage.

The answer to that arrived on Saturday, and it was a bit more ingenious than most would have expected. The album, now entitled Rebel Heart (a phrase that first emerged on Madonna's Instagram, in April), appeared on iTunes for pre-order, with a release date of March 10, 2015 - with six tracks available for immediate download, including lead single "Living for Love."

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"More Like 'Dick Jonas'" And Other Top Vertigo Shtick Tweets of 2014

2014-12-21T17:43:00.002-08:00

I don't know if you know this, but Vertigo Shtick has a Twitter account. It's pretty good - a mixture of witticisms, critical and cultural commentary both thorough and off-the-cuff, the rare pop-related joke or meme, some links, and the occasional balls-out take-no-prisoners rant. It's quite entertaining. You should check it out.

Earlier this year, Twitter introduced Twitter Analytics, a fabulous new tool that shows in depth data on your individual tweets beyond the simple retweets and favorites count. As I discovered, retweets and favorites can be a poor indication of how widely one's tweets actually reach, and the data provides a fascinating look at the bizarre, often unpredictable, and sometimes entirely baffling popular life of the tweet. So I decided to compile my Greatest Hits from the year (although analytics only began August 1, so "year" is loosely defined) and take the navel-gazing self indulgence of the End of Year list toward its logical extreme.

Enjoy. And follow me on Twitter, why don't you?

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Britney Spears is 33 Today, So I Listened to "3" Eleven Times in a Row and It Was Amazing

2014-12-02T13:57:00.000-08:00

As you probably know, Britney Spears turns 33 today. It's so emotional, the sky is literally crying its goddamn eyes out. It's always fun to find some creative way to honor the greatest pop star of my lifetime on the anniversary of her birth in a manger somewhere, and this year I thought I'd listen to her 2009 hit "3" eleven times on repeat (you know, cuz it makes...33 ok you got it, sorry) and share if I had any thoughts while doing so. Here's how it went.

Britney doing "3" on tour, no fucks given

I am about to listen to "3" eleven times in a row for @britneyspears' 33rd birthday. The event will be live-tweeted. #britney3x11
— Vertigo Shtick (@Vertigo_Shtick) December 2, 2014

Popjustice 20 Quid Prize 2014: The Definitive Rankings

2014-10-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

Every year since 2003, a panel of judges bestow the Popjustice £20 Music Prize to the artist behind the best British pop single of the year. The debate takes place in a pub in London on the same night as the Mercury Prize, which pompously purports to honor the best album of the year from the UK and Ireland. It’s not unlike the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, except that the UK already has one of those in the BRIT Awards; the Mercury Prize is really more like the Golden Globes of the UK music awards circuit: just another group of music snobs whose opinion matters because it comes with £20,000 and a heck of a jump in album sales. Popjustice’s £20 Music Prize is, in some sense, the Razzie Award, except instead of honoring the worst (see, we do that enough ourselves on the charts) the award goes to the best of an overlooked genre. (The last time a pop album won the Mercury Prize was… ha, fooled you! A pop album has never won the Mercury Prize, come on. There's not even one nominated this year.)

Little Mix's "Move" is Vertigo Shtick's pick for the 2014 Popjustice 20 Quid Prize

Although I had to sit out this year on Vertigo Shtick's annual rundown of the Popjustice 20 Quid Prize shortlist, that doesn't mean I neglected to become familiar enough with the twelve shortlisted songs to establish a final, authoritative ranking by which this year's crop ought justly to be judged.

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Google Is Literally Giving Away Copies of "Prism"

2014-08-28T19:43:00.003-07:00

Remember when Amazon, to promote its fledgling digital music service, sold Lady Gaga's sophomore album Born This Way for 99 cents during two days of its debut week, and it broke the Billboard 200? Lady Gaga (or, more accurately, her label) was laughing all the way to the bank, since Amazon paid full price for every download sold, and Amazon began a habit of digital music-as-loss-leader that it continues to this day. Now Google, to promote its own third-place digital music operation through Google Play, is offering Katy Perry's third album, Prism, for just a click of a mouse and maybe a little piece of your soul.

It's all about the price tag

Prism, which came out in 2013, is obviously not the kind of draw Born This Way was, but it's almost certainly going to be a major windfall for Capitol Records, Perry's label, and a boost to Perry's sales record, even if Billboard probably won't count the free "sales" on the Billboard 200 (I've reached out to Billboard for confirmation, and will update if and when I hear back). It's uneasily clear that Perry and her team have little shame when it comes to promoting an album that, perhaps unavoidably but perhaps deservedly hasn't lived up to the enormous and record-breaking success of the smash Teenage Dream.

The Best 'New Yorker' Pop Music Articles to Catch Before the Paywall Returns

2014-07-31T11:14:00.001-07:00

The New Yorker magazine recently lifted its paywall temporarily, and all articles published since 2007 are available for free until later this year. Since the New Yorker is basically my life force, here are some great pop music-related articles to check out while you can.

K-Pop group Girls Generation from the New Yorker article "Factory Girls"

Get More of Your Weird Al Fix With the Iggy Azalea Parody "Handy"

2014-07-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

Another day, another "Weird Al" Yankovic video (not that I'm complaining!). For today's fourth out of an eight-day video per day release strategy, Yankovic released "Handy," a parody of Iggy Azalea's just-deposed #1 hit and arguable Song of the Summer, "Fancy." With the comedy singer in a blonde wig and mustache and with two hilarious overweight fix-it man backup dancers, "Handy" had me skeptical at first and by the end rolling on the floor.

"Weird Al" beez in the trap

You'd think the handyman shtick would run cold after a while, but between his impressive array of puns and "glue dat, glue dat, and screw dat, screw dat" rhymes and the uproarious choreography, "Handy" is a real knee-slapper. Yankovic even gets in a sly reference to Azalea's feature verse on Ariana Grande's "Problem" - see if you can find it! Also, what he does with Charli XCX's "ow!" is...I mean, it's all just too much, in the best way.

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Weird Al's New Lorde Parody Celebrates "Foil," Goes Hilariously Off the Rails

2014-07-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

The "Weird Al" Yankovic farewell tour is really going strong. After releasing two well-received viral music videos over the past two days from his (possibly) final conventional album, Mandatory Fun, the parody mastermind continues his eight videos in eight days offensive with "Foil," a sneakily uproarious parody of Lorde's "Royals."

"Weird Al" Yankovic and the 60s girl group blondes extol the virtues of "Foil"

"Foil" starts out as a somewhat ho-hum ode to the joys of wrapping up leftovers in the titular kitchen commodity, with Yankovic as a public access television cooking show host and a trio of 60s girl group blondes singing the arresting harmonies that first made "Royals" stand out to me. There's a nice pre-chorus that will tickle the fancy of the scientifically inclined:

But then I deal with fungal rot, bacterial formation,
Microbes, enzymes, mold and oxidation
I don't care -
I've got a secret trick up my sleeve!

But beyond that it doesn't seem like much of note is going to come of a joke that seems played out by the end of the first chorus, where he sips "a nice herbal tea." Then shit goes hilariously off the rails.
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Rejoice and Sing, Grammar Nazis, for Weird Al's "Word Crimes" Is Here

2014-07-15T15:44:00.000-07:00

Grammar Nazis; you either know one (at least) or you are one yourself. I feel like there's a sense that grammar Nazism stems from or feeds into some sort of superiority complex, and although I'm sure that's true for plenty of people, in my case it's more an obsessive compulsion, and I react to grammatical misdeeds because of their effect on me rather than for the edification (or chastisement) of somebody else. I subconsciously correct grammatical errors in the lyrics of familiar pop songs when I'm singing along, usually out of subconscious habit; whenever I hear someone misuse "less," I involuntarily say "fewer" out loud, even when I'm by myself. Don't get me wrong - I do think that anyone beyond elementary school who can't handle your/you're or they're/there/their needs to examine his goddamn life. And I, too, struggle with my own abusive habits with the language: my proclivity toward the passive tense probably makes my dad want to hurl himself (or me) over a cliff, and I never use three words when nineteen will do.

The sexy stars of Weird Al's "Blurred Lines" parody, "Word Crimes"

In general, therefore, I am the textbook example of the type of person "Weird Al" Yankovic panders to in his second music video from his new album, the Robin Thicke parody "Word Crimes."

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All Your Favorite People Are In the New Weird Al Yankovic Video, "Tacky"

2014-07-14T16:07:00.000-07:00

Obviously, "Weird Al" Yankovic no longer has any sort of monopoly on the pop song spoof; the internet has allowed anyone who wishes to make and distribute their own. What continues to set the veteran musical comic apart as he prepares to release his fourteenth (and possibly last) album, Mandatory Fun, on July 15, is the budget for meticulous production and professional-grade music videos. Yankovic released the first video from the album today, a reworking of Pharrell Williams' relentlessly cheerful hit "Happy," called "Tacky," and, like the work it spoofs, it's a satiating crowd-pleaser that hits all the spots.

Aisha Tyler spoofs Pharrell with her boobs

The video, filmed at the Palace Theatre in Los Angeles, is a single continuous shot that follows Yankovic and a handful of exactly the other people you want to see strutting "groovily" like the aggressively charming Williams in the video(s) for "Happy" in hyperbolically loud, tasteless neon clothing. Aisha Tyler wears a wacky hat and plays with her boobs; Margaret Cho serves up her full-body character comedy with faces to match; Eric Stonestreet plays his Modern Family character Cam's nominally straight but probably more than bi-curious twin brother; Kristen Schaal does "airhead hedonist in elevator" with Janet Jackson/Lady Gaga-evoking pink handprints on her tits; Jack Black shimmies, leaps and twerks through the auditorium like Miley Cyrus doing West Side Story. That pretty much covers it all, right?

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Here Are a Bunch of Pairs of Pop Songs That Are Essentially the Same

2014-07-09T20:13:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I posted this online:

"I am listening to a self-curated playlist of pairs of songs that are essentially the same. If this interests anyone I can put it on Spotify."

Turns out a number of people were interested, so I've done you one better: a Spotify playlist and a whole post of commentary and notes.

Katy Perry, one of the most prolific offenders

Take a look, and a listen, and feel free to share what you think about any or all pairings. Can you think of more? I'm sure there's more than one post in this topic.

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Queen of Hearts Has Just Stealth Dropped Her Debut Album, Cocoon

2014-06-30T10:24:00.000-07:00

The British electropop act Queen of Hearts popped onto our radar in late 2011, with a sleek debut EP that positioned the young singer as the successor to Goldfrapp we'd been waiting for, the one who could bring the glammy club vibe of Black Cherry and Supernature into the post-EDM new decade. Since then, she's been one of the rare developing acts that pretty much seems to have been doing everything right in the leadup to a hopeful (and expected) full-length debut, and without any apparent big-label machinations going on publicly behind the scenes. And today, with little - okay, no fanfare whatsoever, that debut arrived, available for purchase and streaming worldwide. It is called Cocoon.

Review: Robyn and Röyksopp "Do It Again" at the Hollywood Bowl

2014-06-30T07:35:00.001-07:00

Los Angelinos often joke about our limited notions of architectural history ("the columns date back all the way to 1972!"), and indeed the Hollywood Bowl, erected in 1922, is one of the city's most elderly monuments. The famed amphitheater, among the oldest in the country, has proven a remarkably apt venue for styles of performance its creators couldn't have anticipated, particularly rock (the Beatles, the Doors, and Genesis all had notable concerts there). But despite a major acoustic overhaul in 2003, the Bowl remains fundamentally unsuited to the modern electronic pop concert, with its particular demands in sound and showmanship. While most such acts wisely stick to the more apropos venues in town, some have let the allure and glamor of the historic venue overrule practical concerns, and the result is too often a bit of a letdown.

Robyn dances on her own during the new "Do It Again" tour

Robyn and Röyksopp met such a fate in October 2011, but that didn't stop them from returning Sunday night for round two and largely, if not entirely, conquering the sold-out arena with a thrillingly offbeat electronic disco burlesque show appropriately called "Do It Again."
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Taking Over the Dancefloor: Havana Brown - "Warrior"

2014-05-22T16:09:00.001-07:00

Taking Over the Dancefloor is a weekly column highlighting the current #1 single on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart. Read why here.

It's the third week of our coverage of the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart, and, as promised, the top spot has already shifted hands from the superstars to the relatively unknown, as the peak previously occupied by Beyoncé and Avicii gets a new tenant in Australian DJ Havana Brown, with "Warrior."

Brown got her start in 2011 opening for Chris Brown (oh dear), and released her debut EP, When the Lights Go Out, in 2012, following the success of her breakthrough single, "We Run the Night," which was remixed for its US release by RedOne with a guest rap by Pitbull (natch). "We Run the Night" was Brown's first single to top the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart; another track from the EP, "Big Banana," also hit #1 on the chart.

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