Go Kat!

I thought I'd already posted this in here but it seems not!


Poptimism presents... CLUB ACTION!
Friday, 14 September, 8pm-1am
Ryan's Bar, Stoke Newington Church St, N16 0UL

Pop music, dancing and proper beer. FREE ENTRY. Tell your friends!

(Facebook thing)

Hey dudes!

From the ashes of Poptimism we bring you (for one night only)... HANDPUMP THE VOLUME!

Where: downstairs at Mason & Taylor, Bethnal Green Road, E1
(at the top of Brick Lane, right near Shoreditch High St Overground station)
When: Friday 19th August, 9pm-2am
What: Chart bosh, 90s rave, euro bangers and +24 Hyper Hyper 180BPM mentalism covers of Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals. You are very likely to hear more than one song featuring Bill Drummond. Basically it is Poptimism but BIGGER, BETTER and BOSHIER and there will be tons of nice ale to drink.

Plus it's FREE ENTRY!

We're only doing this once, so if you don't come along you will regret it for ever.

Here's the Facebook event if you want to see a list of all the gorgeous and brilliant people who are already coming along.

[Originally published earlier this year in Re/action magazine]

In a 1997 interview for British television, rapper Ma$e was asked by a female interviewer why his (and many other hip-hop artists') videos contained so much booty-wiggling. He replied in a lazy drawl: "Well if you don't like the song, then at least you've got something to look at." ( Read more... )

It's OCTOBER, which means it's time for the quarterly music round-up (I ended up posting July's list over on poptimists instead).

Here are my top 20 songs of the year so far:

( I been Southampton but I've never been to Scunthorpe )

Next Friday (i.e. a week today, 10th September) is the LAST EVER POPTIMISM! Yes that's right, EVER.

WHEN: 7-midnight, although the usual suspects will be downstairs from after-work-o'clock.
WHERE: Upstairs @ The Horse Bar, 124 Westminster Bridge Road (just by Lambeth North tube or a short walk from Waterloo).
WHAT: Free entry, proper beer at reasonable London pub prices, TOP BANGING POP TUNES.

Please come along and give us a good send-off!

I'll be part of the awesome team of music writer superheroes liveblogging the first Eurovision semi-final tonight from 8pm at The Singles Jukebox. Come join us!

I've also cast my eye over some of the participant's promo videos at The Vids Are Alright - contains a) horses b) giant cardboard heads c) SWIMMING POOL.

I wrote something about Lady Gaga, Rihanna and image issues for female pop stars.

Cor everything is a bit hectic at the moment. Yet I found the time to play Lady Gaga bingo!

Here is what I said about 'Telephone' on Singles Jukebox:

"Bad Romance" may have been an all-conquering stand-alone masterpiece, but at first "Telephone" really does sound like it was cobbled together for a bonus album at the last minute. The lyrics are shoe-horned into the delicate opening melody like a square peg in a dodecagonal hole, and there is no universe in which 'And-I can-not text-you with-a drink-in my-hand, eh' scans well, even over the most basic three-chord off-the-shelf progression. But the awkward, annoying delivery sticks - in fact, it's as awkward and annoying as someone ringing you up moaning about their FEELINGS when you're concentrating on the important business of i) recreating the dance routine to "Tragedy" with your chums ii) managing not to spill your pint over everyone.

The rest of the song is a jumble of brilliant choruses ('call when you want/cos there's no-one home/and you're not gonna reach my telephone') and rep-rep-rep-repeating syllables, which seems to be the closest thing Gaga has to a trademark sound. Most importantly, the guest spot proves key: Beyoncé rises to the bait and throws a massive strop at the caller (backed by her marching band) but Gaga keeps focused, no histrionics, not wanting to waste her time or energy on puny human emotion when there's drunken dancing to be had. Fire and Ice! Doing the Macarena together round their handbags! What better way to let off steam?

( A selection of my recent Singles Jukebox reviews )

Great news for all our readers: I am taking over from carsmilesteve as a regular Poptimism DJ! The next one is Friday 29th January at the Horse Bar (just by Lambeth North tube) and it would be lovely to see you all there. Oh look! Here's a flyer that will make your eyes go funny if you scroll up and down:



More info here: http://freakytrigger.co.uk/poptimism/

And here's my favourite song of the decade: