So i probably should have mentioned this one sooner...

...but I have been in the process of moving and getting to grips with London. This song dropped online about a week and a half ago (and if you're clever enough you can find a file share download somewhere), and it blew me (and everyone else, namely popjustice) away! 'Battlefield' is Jordin Sparks newest single.

Written by Ryan Tedder, the singer of 'Apologize' and the man who wrote 'Bleeding Love' for Lewis and 'Halo' for Knowles (speaking of which i am off to see her at the O2 on Monday), the man who seems to be, if you like, a Jim Steinman for the 21st century, single handedly writing the best power ballads of the day.

'Battlefield' is like an almighty cry, like Bodica leading her charging army straight into the worlds most generous percussion. In a word 'Battlefield' is devastating.

Bang! Bang! Elly Jackson Shot You Down

'Bulletproof' is the next La Roux single, and it's safe to say that, after approximately 9 listens, it is brilliant. Sounding slightly like 'You Spin Me Right Round', with Robotic hand claps and a lesser screechy vocal from Ms Jackson, 'Bulletproof' is far more poppier than it's predesessor. Sounding more like 'Quicksand' than 'In for The Kill', it has a killer hook 'This time, baby, i'll be bulletproof'. As for the video, well for parts of it it looks like neon was sick all over 'Tron' with a bit of 'Take on Me' by A-Ha thrown in for good measure. Jackson looks mad in it too, further adding fuel to the fire that she's a girl with a bit of a 'ttude. PS. that quiff is immense.

Watch out...this summer this song will blow your mind.

'Shark in the Water' is V V Brown's third single and looks set to be her mainstream breakthrough. 'Crying Blood' was the big opener; 'Leave!' has the artsey (i.e. rather brilliant) video and accompanying banner ad campaign; 'Shark in the Water' is the radio hit.

The vocals on the first verse are sick-hot, a breezy guitar leads the way for a devastating chorus, it's the kind of song one could imagine Girls Aloud pulling off rather well (live lounge anyone?!). Brown is an artist one is unlikely to forget once they've seen her, the Japanese schoolgirl-come-fifties pin up look is the most unique in pop at the moment. I cannot wait for the album, and I cannot wait to have this song on my i-pod. Until then be satisfied with the video.

S.E.B.'s back

I thought it was about time i featured this disco dancer of a track from the Freemasons feat. Sophie Ellise Bextor. All the other blogs have been going wild for 'Heartbreak Make Me a Dancer', and i can see why. It'll have those club hoppers in a trance and the poppets ready to dance. After the rather lackluster performance of 'Trip The Light Fantastic' most had written Bextor off. This should see her treading on 'Murder on the Dancefloor' chart positions once again. Anyway have a listen.

An amazing yooooooutube singer

I can't enough of this guy, Airto, on youtube. His covers are amazing. He was first brought to my attention by his cover of 'Warwick Avenue' which is just as special as the original. His most recent is a cover of the 1960s song 'Sunny', both are embedded below. His voice is very soulful and his versions are always slight adjustments on the originals and these two definately work.

Warwick Avenue


Sunny

Geography - A Lesson from Music

For years the world has inspired artists to create masterpieces based on it's many varying countries, towns and cities. Music has been no exceptions. Whilst shuffling through my i-pod I fished out (nearly) all the songs I had that were related to a country, city, town or place. Below is a list of 95 songs that were inspired by best and worst places in the world.
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge

No.	Song	Artist	Place
1	Tahiti	Bat For Lashes	Tahiti
2	Drinking in L.A.	Brand Van 3000	Los Angeles, California
3	Sweet Dreams My LAX	Rachel Stevens	Los Angeles, California
4	Welcome to Hollywood	Beyonce	Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
5	If You're Going to San Francisco	Scott McKenzie	San Francisco, California
6	Macarthur Park	Donna Summer	Macarthur Park, Los Angeles, California
7	Hollywood	Madonna	Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
8	Do You Know The Way To San Jose	Dionne Warwick	San Jose, California
9	Californication	The Red Hot Chili Peppers	California, USA
10	Orange County Girl	Gwen Stefani	Orange County, California
11	California Girls	The Beach Boys	California, USA
12	California Dreaming	The Mamas and the Papas	California, USA
13	Leaving Las Vegas	Sheryl Crow	Las Vegas, Nevada
14	America	Razorlight	USA
15	Waking Up in Vegas	Katy Perry	Las Vegas, Nevada
16	Breakfast in America	Supertramp	USA
17	American Boy	Estelle feat. Kanye West	USA/London
18	American Idiot	Greenday	USA
19	Loco in Acapulco	The Four Tops	Acapulco, Mexico
20	American Life	Madonna	USA
21	America's Suitehearts	Fall Out Boy	USA
22	Born In The USA	Bruce Springsteen	USA/Vietnam
23	Surfin' USA	The Beach Boys	USA
24	Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa	Gene Pitney	Tulsa, Oklahoma
25	Walking In Memphis	Cher	Memphis, Tennessee
26	Nutbush City Limits	Ike & Tina Turner	Nutbush, Tennessee
27	American Woman	Lenny Kravitz	USA
28	America	West Side Story	USA/Porto Rico
29	Georgia On My Mind	Ray Charles	Georgia, USA
30	Miami	Will Smith	Miami, Florida
31	Midnight Train to Georgia	Gladys Knight and the Pips	Georgia, USA
32	Why Georgia	John Mayer	Georgia, USA
33	My Jamaican Boy	Grace Jones	Jamaica
34	Kingston Town	UB40	Kingston, Jamaica
35	My Uncle John From Jamaica	The Vengaboys	Jamaica
36	Haiti	Arcade Fire	Haiti
37	Theme from New York, New York	Frank Sinatra	New York City, New York
38	Philadelphia Freedom	Elton John	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
39	New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down	LCD Soundsystem	New York City, New York
40	A Weekend In New England	Barry Manilow	North-Western States, USA
41	Massachusetts	Bee Gees	Massachusetts, USA
42	New York City Boy	The Pet Shop Boys	New York City, New York
43	Across 110th Street	Bobby Womack	110th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York
44	Lullaby Of Broadway	Jerry Orbach	Broadway, Manhattan, New Your City, New York
45	Amazon	M.I.A.	Amazon, South America
46	Girl From Ipanema	Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto	Ipanema, Brazil
47	Mama Africa	Akon	Senegal, Africa
48	Diamonds From Sierra Leone	Kanye West	Sierra Leone, Africa
49	Rockferry	Duffy	Rock Ferry, Birkenhead, Merseyside, England
50	A Town Called Malice	The Jam	Woking, Surrey, England
51	Strawberry Fields Forever	The Beatles	Strawberry Field Children's Home, Woolton, Liverpool, England
52	Made In England	Elton John	England
53	Penny Lane	The Beatles	Penny Lane, Liverpool, England
54	Spanish Lessons	Madonna	Spain
55	Mi Chico Latino	Geri Halliwell	Spain
56	Barcelona	Freddy Mercury & Montserrat Caballe	Barcelona, Spain
57	We're Going To Ibiza	The Vengaboys	Ibiza
58	Can't Speak French	Girls Aloud	France
59	Paris Is Burning	Ladyhawke	Paris, France
60	Paris To Berlin	Infernal	Paris, France/Berlin, Germany
61	Waterloo	ABBA	Waterloo, Belgium
62	Amsterdam	Coldplay	Amsterdam, The Netherlands
63	Mein Herr	Liza Minelli	Berlin, Germany
64	Edelweiss	The Sound Of Music	Austria
65	Italians Do It Better	Alesha Dixon	Italy
66	Walk Like An Egyptian	The Bangles	Egypt
67	Nights Over Egypt	The Jones Girls	Egypt
68	Mykonos	Fleet Foxes	Mykonos, Greece
69	Jerusalem	Classic	Jerusalem, Israel
70	Bombs Over Baghdad	Outkast	Baghdad, Iraq
71	Babylon	David Gray	Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq
72	Rivers Of Babylon	Boney M	Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq
73	Stranger In Moscow	Michael Jackson	Moscow, Russian Federation
74	Oh! Calcutta	The Meters	Calcutta, India
75	One Night In Bangkok	The Pet Shop Boys	Bangkok, Thailand
76	Khe Sanh	Cold Chisel	Khe Sanh, Quang Tri Province, Vietnam
77	Chinese	Lily Allen	China
78	Xanadu	Olivia Newton-John	Inner Mongolia
79	Paris, Tokyo	Lupe Fiasco	Paris, France/Tokyo, Japan
80	Lovers In Japan/Reign Of Love	Coldplay	Japan
81	Singapore	Girls Aloud	Republic of Singapore
82	Timor	Shakira	Timor
83	Down Under	Men at Work	Australia
84	LDN	Lily Allen	London, England
85	Warwick Avenue	Duffy	Warwick Avenue Tube Station, London, England
86	Chelsea Dagger	The Fratellis	Chelsea, London, England
87	Cemeteries of London	Coldplay	London, England
88	Werewolves of London	Warren Zevon	London, England
89	Swinging London Town	Girls Aloud	London, England
90	West End Girls	The Pet Shop Boys	West End, London, England
91	London Beckoned Songs About Money By Machines	Panic! At The Disco	London, England
92	Waterloo Sunset	The Kinks	Waterloo Station & Bridge, London, England
93	Hometown Glory	Adele	London, England
94	London Bridge (Oh Shit)	Fergie	London Bridge, London, England
95	Hoxton Heroes	Girls Aloud	Hoxton, London, England

#6 - Macarthur Park by Donna Summer: The title of the infamous Donna Summer cover of a Jimmy Webb classic was based on a real life park situated in the Westlake area of Los Angeles. Following it's poetic homages, the late 80s and early 90s saw a stark decline in the park, with drug dealing, shoot-outs and drownings in the artificial lake all common place. When the lake was drained during construction of the metro hundreds of handguns and firearms were found in it.

#22 - Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen: Wrongly misconsued as a patriotic anthem, Springsteen's best known standrad actually deals with the effects of the Vietnam War on Americans. Name checking the Viet Cong, Saigon and the battle of Khe Sanh (more on that later) the song peaked in the US charts at number 9 in 1984.


#39 - New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down by LCD Soundsystem: New York has long inspired songwriters, and LCD Soundsystem are on different. A bitter sweet love song to the capital of the world. The message here is clear, New York just ain't what it used to be. You could also look at it as New York as being a metaphor for a loved one, who's changed seemingly for the better. Our protagonist is perhaps changing his mind about whether his love would have been better off as they were.

#63 - Mein Herr by Liza Minelli: A polite way to address one's gentleman friend in German, the title of Caberet's second finest moment ('Maybe This Time' being the best), is used to tackle the issue of no man being able to keep up with Sally Bowles. Bowles being our American heroine based in a Berlin that's adapting to the rise of the Nazis. A raw, persisitant and fierce performance from Minelli thoughout the song, and the movie, is what saw her nab the 1973 Best Actress Oscar.


#70 - Bombs Over Baghdad by Outkast: Based on a news report that stated there are 'bombs over Baghdad' Andre 3000 became complelled to construct a song with the title. Suitably fitting for the theme, the song is frantic and electric.

#76 - Khe Sanh by Cold Chisel: Another song based on the horrific Vietnam war. Khe Sanh was an American military base situated in the north of Vietnam. The song is a tale told from the perspective of an Australian 'nam veteran. However it is interesting to note that there were few Australians based at Khe Sanh when the famous battle took place.

#92 - Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks: A soliatry man witnesses couples engaged in romantic or intimate moments at Waterloo station in London. He then takes a walk across the Waterloo Bridge. The name Waterloo is, of course, based on the historic battle of Waterloo in Belgium, which the ABBA song also takes it name from. Waterloo Sunset reached number 2 in the UK charts and became The Kinks most famous song.

#95 - Hoxton Heroes by Girls Aloud: This B-Side was an ironic take on the trendy, indie types that hang out in the Hoxton, Shordeditch and Primrose Hill areas of London. Written by Girls Aloud's powerhouse producing and writing team Xenomania the song addresses bands who think they are better than pop bands simply because they play guitars, get wasted and hang out in "trendy" areas of the city.

If you have some personal favourite 'Geography' related songs then please let me know and maybe i'll do an update!