Two pop songs that may be of interest

The Veronicas' album might not be out yet in the UK, but in a parallel universe (Australia) they're already on to single number three.

Cruel seems pretty generic after the icy chills and hot thrills of You Ruin Me and If You Love Someone, but as a balls-out pop song, it does a pretty good job.

The video sees the leather-clad sisters kidnapping a no-good ex-boyfriend and subjecting him to a humiliating punishment in the desert. But then, isn't that the plot of every Veronicas video?

The Veronicas - Cruel

Meanwhile, over in Sweden, emotional whirlwind Tove Lo has been "lending" her vocal talents to indie-pop outfit Urban Cone.

Come Back To Me has the relentless urgency you'd expect from the woman who brought us Habits (Stay High), and it's interesting to hear her voice in a more acoustic / organic setting.

That said, it's a minor track compared to her solo work or the Alleso assisted "We could be hero-oe-oe-oe-woah-ooooahs".

Here is a lyric video.

Urban Cone - Come Back To Me (ft Tove Lo)

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Pop gem: Veronicas - If You Love Someone

"You don't have to be an activist to want to make a change," reads a banner halfway through The Veronicas' Occupy-themed new video, If You Love Someone.

The visuals just about mesh with the uplifting, uptempo single, whose message is more "stand up for your love rights" than "stand up against the injustices of your fellow man". As protest songs go, it's too adorable to shake the foundations of power, but it's a darn sight more palatable than Russell Brand's revolution of narcissism.

Driven by an acoustic guitar and an irresistible chorus, it was co-written and produced by Syndney production house DNA songs, whose previous high water mark was The Saturdays' Not Giving Up.

Unlike that song, this is quite obviously brilliant from beginning to end.

The Veronicas - If You Love Someone

PS: Here's the interview I did with the band last month for the Beeb. It's not documented in the text, but our conversation was temporarily interrupted when one of the band turned on a radiator and it smelt of raw chicken. You don't get that with Nicole Scherzinger, do you?

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The Veronicas: If You Love Someone

The Veronicas excellent, tear-wracked comeback single You Ruin Me went straight to the top of the charts in Australia in September. It was initially available on iTunes UK but it disappeared a few weeks ago, only to be re-listed with a release date of 9 November.

Hopefully, that means the song will get a huge push in the UK - as it is unquestionably one of the year's best tracks - but I notice that the BBC has shunned it, leaving Heart to champion the band (the station is currently playing it about six times a day, according to comparemyradio).

The Veronicas - You Ruin Me

Back in Australia, meanwhile, the band have already moved on to the second single from their forthcoming, self-titled new album.

If You Love Someone is more like the Veronicas we all know and love - fantastic, feisty fempop. It premiered on Aussie station 2DayFM yesterday and now you can hear it, as well as some inane preamble from the hosts, below.



Excellent work, girls.

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Taylor Swift sings on a street and 12 other songs you may have missed

The "Songs You May Have Missed" post is often my favourite thing to write all week. It's simply a collection of songs I've stumbled across and filed away - some I'm still evaluating, others are too insubstantial for a standalone article, but they've all made my pop radar go ping. Some of the artists may disappear forever, but it's a good way to summarise my listening and the perennial quest to find new and exciting things.

Anyway, here's this week's collection. As always, I'd be interested to hear what you think in the comments field or over on twitter.

1) Taylor Swift - Out Of The Woods / Shake It Off (live)
In the same week that Taylor Swift topped Canada's iTunes chart with eight seconds of white noise (yes, really) she appeared on Jimmy Kimmel's chat show to promote her new album 1989. And she promoted the heck out of it.

This performance, which shut down Hollywood Boulevard, is a proper pop moment.






2) Kiesza - No Enemiesz
At the outer reaches of her vocal register Kiesza sounds like a cross between Kermit and Miss Piggy, but you can't fault her for sheer effervescence.

The dancing in this video is carefree and joyous - which makes the soft-core pay-off all the more unnecessary.




3) Tulisa - Living Without You
I was pretty dismissive of Fergie and Gwen Stefani's underwhelming comeback singles last week, so it's refreshing to hear someone else claw their way out of the dumper after a protracted (and traumatic) period out of the limelight with something that sounds like a hit.

Of course Tulisa benefits from the gift of low expectations - but she sounds confident, hungry and (unlike the other two) current on this track, which utilises her husky vocals to great effect. Fans of Kiesza may notice a few similarities, though... See above if you doubt me.




4) Leon Bridges - Better Man / Coming Home
Leon Bridges hails from Fort Worth, Texas, where NASA has one of its big research centres, so it's not inconceivable that was beamed from the 1950s to the 21st Century in some sort of freak gamma ray accident.

Otherwise, how do you explain these recordings, which sound exactly as if they were ripped out of Sam Cooke's hands and smuggled into the future? Gorgeous music, and free to download via Soundcloud.







5) Bauuer ft AlunaGeorge - One Touch
Whisper it, but this collaboration is better than AlunaGeorge's own comeback record. Chopped-up, wonky pop with a weirdly infectious hook.

Unusually, the song came from a list of unreleased tracks that Baauer posted on his Facebook page last week, telling fans he'd release the one they liked best. You can't fault their judgment.





6) The Veronicas - Line Of Fire
A filthy, low-slung groove marks The Veronica's return to electropop after the devastating balladry of You Ruin Me.




7) The Veronicas - You Ruin Me (live)
Speaking of which, this X Factor Australia performance is a keeper.




8) r.e.l - Plateau
"Time's slipping away from me," sings Arielle Sitrick with earnest urgency on this lush, hushed indie-pop gem. Maybe it's a strange thing for a 19-year-old to come out with, but when you read the lyrics - about a stalled relationship - you begin to understand her desire to get on with life.

The track is taken from her soon-to-be-released debut EP, which was funded by a Kickstarter campaign to the tune of $8,000. Not bad, eh?





9) One Bit - Not About You
Clearly inspired by Disclosure, this Hertfordshire duo were plucked from BBC Radio 1's Introducing Strand and given a few plays on the daytime schedule last week. It's not difficult to see why - this economic dance track is smart, slick and soulful.




10) One Direction - Steal My Girl
One Direction have done the "video directors are morons" plotline before but, in true boyband tradition, why ditch a successful formula? This time, the video comes with added Danny DeVito and, to be fair, the parody of music video tropes is completely on the money. I laughed twice.




11) Seinabo Sey - Pistols at Dawn
Haunting song, chilling video.





12) Rita Ora - Grateful
Rita Ora's break-up with Calvin Harris seems to have delayed her second album, what with his decision to pull all of his songs from her album in the aftermath.

Still, this soundtrack ballad from the pen of Diane "Don't Want To Miss A Thing" Warren should help shift a few copies when it finally comes out. Diane certainly has confidence in the track: "Rita Ora did an amazing vocal," she told Billboard. "I think it can be a career song for her. It shows a whole different side to her and I'm hoping we get to... see her sing it on the Oscars next year!"

To be fair, it's pretty good.

If you made it this far, thanks for sticking around. Hope you found one or two new favourites. If not, send me suggestions for next week's roundup!

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Video: The Veronicas - You Ruin Me

Aussie pop sisters The Veronicas spent five long years fighting their record label over the band's third album.

Last year, the label finally succumbed to reason and let them go.

Yesterday, it was announced the band's new single You Ruin Me had entered the charts at number one.

Jessica and Lisa responded with a simple tweet: "@WarnersMusic Haha".

@warnermusic Haha.

— The Veronicas (@TheVeronicas) September 18, 2014

Then they released the video. It's as beautiful as the song is bleak. Lots of ballet, a little bit of kidnapping, and some stunning visuals.

It's great to have them back.

The Veronicas - You Ruin Me

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Stunning return from The Veronicas

Remember The Veronicas? That not-unattractive twin sister goth pop whirlwind, who released a clutch of thrilling pop singles half a decade ago.

This one was a top 10 hit in the UK.

The Veronicas - Untouched

And this one was even better.

The Veronicas - 4Ever

Sadly, they've been trapped in record label purgatory for the last couple of years - with Warner Bros stalling, delaying and eventually refusing to release their third album. "Its not because they didn't like the record," the sisters explained in 2012, "it's because they have been through 3 different CEO's and 4 different A&R, there has been no focus across the board".

Luckily, last year, they escaped and fled to Sony, who are "amazing" and allowing Jessica and Lisa to put out "the album of our dreams".

To be honest, I'd hoped they'd come back with a barnstorming pop banger - but, not for the first time, my instincts were completely wrong.

You Ruin Me is a bare-bones, gut-wrenching piano ballad. Written and recorded in just five hours, it sounds like an uncensored outpouring of grief.

"It's a heartbreaking song," The Veronicas confessed Aussie radio station B105 last night. "No silver lining".

It is also, I think you'll agree, a stunner.

Welcome back, ladies.

The Veronicas - You Ruin Me (radio recording)



The Veronicas - You Ruin Me (video teaser)

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The Killers on a super neon highway and five other songs you may have missed

A semi-regular round-up of videos and songs I haven't had the chance to blog about over the last seven days. This week's all-star cast includes.

1) The Killers - Runaway
"Urgh," you will think, "this video is as uninspired and dull as the song". But stick around - what begins as a tedious studio performance slowly goes all sci-fi, with the band perched atop intergalactic floating platforms and zooming down a Tron-inspired highway, all designed by former Lucasfilm employee Warren Fu.

I am particularly jealous of Brandon Flowers glowing red mic stand (not a metaphor).




2) Yeasayer - Longevity
More trippy neon graphics abound in this video from Brooklyn's Yeasayer. "Live in the moment, never count on longevity," intones Chris Keating over a drawling funk beat, apparently inspired by Aaliyah. . The band have always straddled the line between experimental and accessible, and this song is no exception. Much love for the middle eastern strings in the fade out.




3) The Veronicas - Lolita
Australia's most successful twins since Gayle and Gillian are back with their first new material since 2007's Hook Me Up. Apparently its taken so long because the sisters fell out during their last tour. "We couldn't stand being in the same room as one another," Jess told The Music Fix. "I just needed to go and read some books, she [Lisa] needed to go and hang out in Nashville and play some blues music."

As you can hear, there is absolutely no blues influence on Lolita, which sounds like Tatu frenching Marilyn Manson in the bondage club from The Matrix Reloaded.





4) Hot Chip - How Do You Do?
This is just odd.




5) Amelia Lily - You Bring Me Joy (WestFunk Remix)
Basically Amelia Lily's fantastic debut single with added lasers. Put your hands in the air like you just don't etc.

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An embarrassment of new songs

We're long overdue a big old metapost of new music. So here, in no particular order, are some songs from the last seven days which you might be interested in hearing.

:: COLDPLAY - EVERY TEARDROP IS A WATERFALL
This has literally just gone up online (and on iTunes). It starts well - as though it might suddenly explode with a massive arms-akimbo DONK. Instead, it transmogrifies into a terrible Big Country poodle perm rawk dirge. Will sound good at festivals.




:: THE STAVES - WINTER TREES
I literally just stumbled across this earlier today. According to their website, The Staves are "three sisters who blend their distinctive voices into beautiful, spell-binding harmonies". Basically, a British female Fleet Foxes. Lovely stuff.




:: THE SUGABABES - FREEDOM
Because nothing says "confidently bouncing back after a flop album" like premiering your song on a mobile phone advert. Oh, wait...




:: THE VERONICAS - SOME OLD NONSENSE BY THE VERONICAS
Is anyone eagerly anticipating a third album by Aussie twins The Veronicas? They certainly seem to think so, if this thrilling teaser video is anything to go by. Interesting to hear that their new single is produced by Nellee Hooper, though.




:: JUSTICE - CIVILISATION
Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay, or Justice, as they are better known, released this track as an Adidas advert earlier in the year. The video, which has just been finished, is nothing short of spectacular.




:: COLOURMUSIC - YES
A vaguely hypnotic chant, of the sort you might hear in a creepy Haight Ashbury hippy commune circa 1968. This is either a teriffic sing-along or a sinister attempt to brainwash you into giving all your clothes to a donkey and walking nude down the central reservation of the M6.

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Acoustic goodies from the Veronicas

Corking Aussie pop twins The Veronicas were in Atlantic City last night, showing off three new songs they've written for their upcoming third album.

One of them was called Heart Like A Boat (hollow, with barnacles on it). It starts off as a pretty routine acoustirock ballad - but then, at 45 seconds, it suddenly drops into a minor key and makes my stomach do little somersaults.

Here is some amateur footage.

The Veronicas - Heart Like A Boat


Well done, The Veronicas.

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Top 10 Singles Of The Year

It's getting harder and harder to tell whether a song is actually a single any more. Now that the certainty of seeing an actual CD sitting on a shelf is gone, so many songs I thought were singles turn out to have been radio only, or buzz tracks, or whatever. But I'm pretty sure all of the following records featured on some record company spreadsheet as "the single" for a particular artist's campaign.

As usual, the top 10 is compiled from iTunes play counts, weighted for release date, so that I can't cheat and suddenly pretend to have been listening to Animal Collective all along. Because I didn't.

1) Marina & The Diamonds - I Am Not A Robot

I fell in love with this the instant the digitised backing vocals kicked in. As I suspect will become a theme with Marina when we hear her full album next year, it is all about self-expression and being true to your id. And, as long as Miss Diamandis' inner demons are producing exquisite alt-pop ballads like this, I'm all for it.

2)Girls Aloud - Untouchable

Gone, but not really gone, but not forgotten, either.

3) La Roux - Bulletproof

Who'd have thunk it? Little Elly Jackson is probably the year's least likely pop star - wan, awkward, and brittle - but she turned out the biggest, killingest hook of them all. The synths envelop her delicate voice like a suit of armour as, lyrically, she builds a wall around her broken heart. That's metaphor, right there.

4) Cheryl Cole - Fight For This Love

I didn't expect this to be so high up the chart, but it turns out I quite liked it, after all. The textbook definition of a grower, it was totally unremarkable but strangely memorable ALL AT THE SAME TIME. How do they do that, etc?

5) A Camp - Stronger Than Jesus

This is a very female-heavy top 10, isn't it? Well, at least there's a change of pace with this song from Swedish misery-chops Nina Persson and her cohorts. My favourite lyrics of the year, too, dismissing love as "the poison hidden in a bon bon". Maybe she should try a different sweet shop.

6) Florence & The Machine - Drumming Song

Everyone else will surely go for Rabbit Heart as the defining Florence song of the year, but as a dyed-in-the-wool percussionist, this is the one that did it for me. I have ruined precisely 42 journeys to work for the passengers of London's E2 bus by banging out the limb-entangling drum line of this song on the railings. And I do not apologise for a single second.

7) Empire Of The Sun - Walking On A Dream

No-one ever knows what I'm talking about when I mention this track, forcing me to sing "we are always running for the thrill of it, thrill of it", at which point they say "oh, yes that song. I thought it was by MGMT". Well, it's not.

8) Jay-Z - Empire State Of Mind

To be fair, Jay-Z could have delivered a Ronnie Corbett monologue over this backing track and I'd still have bought it. Compare the syncopated, pounding piano line to the watery guff that leaks all over Alicia Keys' original and you will see why the Jiggaman (I love typing that) is still at the top of his game after 20 years. At the same time, reading out a New York tourism information leaflet and calling it lyrics is actually a step below the Ronnie Corbett thing.

9) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll

In which Karen O finds a dancefloor, puts her handbag down, and embarks upon a ir-tossing, foot-stomping, necklace shredding dances that is both utter genius and the sort of thing that would get you arrested in Gdansk.

10) The Veronicas - Untouched

This is the result of an unhealthy three-week obsession with The Veronicas album sampler in March, which evaporated like Ribena in a kiln as soon as the full album was released. There is a great (and probably unintentional) lyrical sleight of hand in this song - when Lisa and Jess sing 30 seconds of utter gibberish ("I go 'oooh oooh', you go 'aah ahh', alalala alalala") and then flip it around with "right now you're the only thing that's making any sense to me". Smashing.


PS: I'm as surprised as you by the absence of Lady GaGa from this list. She actually tied with herself for 11th place (Poker Face and Bad Romance got the same score once I'd done all the MATHS), but The Veronicas just pipped her to the post. Unless you discount them for originally releasing their single in 2007. Which I don't.

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Veronicas discuss their next album

The Veronica's excellent single 4Ever is finally released in the UK today. It's a bargain 59p on iTunes and Amazon, but if you need an added incentive, Lisa has promised on her Twitter feed that anyone who buys £10-worth of the song will be entered into a prize draw to win "a necklace made out of Hickeys, from jessica, lisa and all 3 members of the band! Thats right... a NECKLACE OF HICKEYS!"

If that doesn't send the record to number one, I don't know what will.

Anyway, I caught up with the Origliasso twins last week to talk about this record, their upcoming album, and the one after that, too. Here's what they had to say.

Your last single, Untouched, was two years old. 4Ever is four years old. Are you going back in time?

Jessica: We are absolutely going back in time, you are absolutely correct.

It's the song that the record company picked for the next single, so we’re excited about that. It shows the longevity of the music, I guess.

Tell me about the album.

Jessica: Hook Me Up is out October 12th. It's got electro undertones with a pop rock influence.

Lisa: It is a more personal record to us, lyrically. We write about life, our life experiences, our feelings and thoughts and situations we’ve been in and out of.

It sounds so much like other electro-pop records that have come out in the last 12 months - Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, for example. But when you recorded it three years ago, that wasn't the dominant sound...

Lisa: It wasn’t. That’s the thing. It was so new that people were freaking out. Record label people. We were being told that radio was too scared to play it but we were thinking: "Good! That's the whole point. We don’t want to sound like anyone else."

What other artists were you listening to at the time?

Lisa: The Sounds, Under The Influence of Giants, Shiny Toy Guns, CSS, Sneaky Sound System - bands that were kind of big but not on the mian charts.

They're all quite cool, tastemaker bands. Would you like to be seen as a more credible act?

Jessica: Absolutely. Our third record, which we’re writing this year, is going to show even more of that side of us. It's going to be a lot more grown up and we’re going to take time to really experiment and discover a more specific sound.

You hinted that you've clashed with the record label in the past. Will that be a problem if you change direction again?

Jessica: We're going to be able to obtain even more creative control this time. It's just one of those things about being signed to a major record label – you start off having to compromise a fair amount of control.

Lisa: And there’s a big learning process. As songwriters, as artists. You become smarter businesswomen, and how the industry works and marketing. We’re only becoming aware of how much people judge you on your image before they even hear your music. So you become very – you wise up pretty quickly to the way it works.

Speaking of image, you're constantly putting up pictures of yourselves on Twitter. Most girls of your age hate looking at themselves - so how come you're so confident?

Lisa: On Twitter, we have nearly 100,000 followers who are primarily fans. So they’re our biggest supporters and they’re people we want to keep in the know about what’s going on with us. In the past, we haven’t always been in control of what’s being put out there. Now that we have the opportunity, it is nice to be able to put out things that we are proud of – and things that are fun.

Unlike a lot of people, you’re clearly writing those posts yourself and you’re being honest. Sometimes too honest.

Jessica: Yeah. Sometimes gets us in trouble a little bit. We’re not going to change.

The Veronicas - 4Ever


The Veronicas - 4Ever (Radio One Live Lounge)


4Ever is out now. Hook Me Up follows on 12th October. The other bits of our interview (aka 'the good bits') will appear on the BBC News website at some point in the next couple of weeks...

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We are not a-muse-d

About a million (three) people have sent me this clip of Muse playing their Uprising single on Italian TV. It is hilarious, they all tell me, because the band rebelled when they were forced to lipsync - lead singer Matt faked playing the drums in a comedically exagerrated manner, while the actual drummer pretended to sing the song!



But I wonder if it's really that simple. There must have been a producer in Italy who liked Muse enough to book them for the show. They would have had to propose the idea to their boss, put it forward at a programme planning meeting, and then take on the responsibility of booking transport, dressing rooms and hospitality for the band and their crew.

At this stage, the producer would have raised the issue of lip syncing with the band's PR team. "We're not a rich show," the conversation would have run. "We can't afford to pay thousands of euros to half-a-dozen sound mixers and engineers - so we can't guarantee the mix will be as crisp and detailed as the band would like. Would they mind miming to a backing track instead?" The band's representatives clearly accepted this argument.

But Muse turn up on the day of the show and suddenly decide they're not happy. "We're a real band," they complain. "We don't do miming. This is so unfair". They spit out their dummies, call their mum to whine about the injustice and refuse to get off the tour bus until someone sorts it out. The frantic producer runs between the production office and the megastars' coach trying to reach a compromise. Eventually, the band grumpily agree to do the show.

Broadcast time rolls around. The producer has butterflies in their stomach, hoping Muse don't pull out at the last minute. What if the backing track skips? Will the presenter stick to the carefully-researched questions?

As the segment approaches, the singer is sitting in the drummer's chair. That's a bit strange, but it'll be alright, won't it?

No. Muse make a mockery of the show. The drummer takes the interview questions meant for the lead singer - and the presenter doesn't realise he's not who he says he is. The performance is a disaster. Muse fans write in to jeer and laugh. The producer is hauled in front of the TV station's boss to explain why the channel has been made a laughing stock by this English band.

With that (fictionalised but probably represenative) story in mind, doesn't their behaviour seem petulant and pathetic?

Imagine if you worked in a bakery and your boss said you'd have to whisk the cake batter by hand because the food mixer was broken. If you decided to stick it to the man by switching the sugar for salt, would that be an amusing prank or a sackable offence?

It's not a perfect analogy, but it amuses me to think of Matt Bellamy in a chef's hat.


:: Here's the actual video for Uprising, in which Muse take their job seriously



:: Here's the Veronicas covering the song on Radio One proving (a) they can cut it live, and (b) the song is a bit monotonous when you strip away all the whizz-bang production and sound effects.

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Haven't we heard this somewhere before?

Aussie pop twins The Veronicas have created a unique time-travelling PR campaign for the UK release of their album, Hook Me Up.

The record - including recent top 10 single Untouchable - is two years old. But the next single, 4Ever, dates back to 2005. In fact, it's been lifted from an entirely different album, which doesn't say much for the record company's faith in the new material...

Despite its vintage, 4Ever hits you like a laser blast, full of juicy harmonies and wayward rock riffage. If you don't believe me, believe Little Boots:



Try it out for yourself with this newly-filmed British video.

The Veronicas - 4Ever

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Extra-curricular activities

If the blog has seemed slightly neglected over the last few weeks, here's why: A series of "high profile" (slightly desperate) and "expertly crafted" (cobbled together) features on the BBC News website. Links and bonus content as follows:

The Veronicas interview

What were they like? Hungover, flirty, hilarious

Most useless quote: "My favourite thing to do, aside from singing, is laugh" (Lisa)

Best bit that didn't make it: On whether they were pissed off that Katy Perry had nicked the "kissed a girl" line from Take Me On The Floor:
Jessica: "It's true! She totally stole our thunder!"
Lisa: "We're friends with Katy, so it’s cool. Her song is very different from ours. Apart from the kissing girls bit."

Pixie Lott interview

What was she like? Amazingly, for a stage school graduate, really interested in music. Made me give her my copy of Daniel Merriweather's album.

Most useless quote: "When I was younger I'd always sing the Whitney classics and the Mariah classics".

Best bit that didn't make it: "There's a song on the album called Jack, which was written by a girl band called M2M seven years ago. One of them used to go out with Zac from Hanson, and when they broke up she was really upset and wrote a song about it. But she didn’t want to make it obvious it was about him, so she called it Jack. I'm singing their break-up song, which means that, technically, I've dated Zac Hanson."

Black Eyed Peas interview

What were they like? Jetlagged, but polite. Interestingly, Taboo, Fergie and apl defer to will.i.am on all matters, on and off-camera.

Most useless quote: "This record is just more focused on dance sounds. It’s like the dance knob is at 200, instead of 75, 50, the way it used to be." (will.i.am)

Best bit that didn't make it: Will.i.am on the new wave of hip-hop: "Here we are in 2009 and there’s Boom Boom Pow and there’s Kid Cudi and there’s Kanye West experimenting with electro. It’s back to the early 90s when Technotronic did 'pump up the jam, pump it up, yo pump it'."

Britney Spears concert review

What was she like? A high-quality drag act.

Most useless quote: "What's Up London? Awesome!"

Best bit that didn't make it: Britney's voicebox.

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The Veronicas are in the UK

It's only 18 months since we first mentioned The Veronicas and their album Hook Me Up - and now there are only two months to wait before the record comes out in the UK. That's a streamlined marketing process and no mistake.

To launch their imminent assault on the UK charts, the Aussie twins played an industry showcase in London's trendy London last night. Showcases are the absolute worst way to see a band, as (a) they start at the not exactly rock'n'roll hour of 7pm and (b) they're full of journalists and music industry "people" who are to busy maintaining an air of professional detachment to actually do things like clap, sing along or uncross their arms.

Imagine going to a gig with your boss and you'll get the general idea.

Anyway, the Veronicas managed to rise above the cynicism with a short five-song set that turned their album's slightly over-produced electro goth pop into a full-on rock assault. Jessica, wearing an "I hate your band" t-shirt, strapped on a guitar for some vaguely erotic plank spanking, and Lisa wore a pair of fishnets which, I have subsequently learned, were directly inspired by the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

When it all finished, a producer from Blue Peter told me the band were a "bit too edgy" to feature on her show, what with their tattoos and attitude and tabloid-batiting bisexual banter.

So, for those youngsters who might miss out on the whole Veronica "scene" because of the BBC's draconian nanny state attitude, here's a video of them playing Take Me On The Floor on a breakfast TV show in Australia, where they have no such concerns for the impressionable young minds of the next generation.

The Veronicas - Take Me On The Floor (live)

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Back from the other side of the world

After four weeks in Australia - where Delta Goodrem is literally lauded as pop royalty - I was looking forward to coming back to the relative sanity of the UK music scene. But what do I find? Kylie Minogue has failed to make the top ten, Boyzone have reformed and Leona Lewis has been at number one for a month. I mean, seriously. Jesus.

Not that the holiday was completely without musical merit. We were completely bowled over by Justin Timberlake's Futuresex/Loveshow after missing it in London earlier this year. That boy can dance, I'm telling you. Plus, at one point, he threatened to poo on a piano. You don't get that at a Shayne Ward concert.

I might do a full review later this week but the DVD comes out on Monday, so maybe you should just buy that instead. You won't be disappointed.

We also caught melodic acousti-rock troubador Josh Pyke in concert. He's a big deal in Australia at the minute - even more popular than Midnight Oil and Stefan Dennis combined!!! His best track is probably the current single Memories and Dust, which recalls a less wayward Sufjan Stephens covering a Crowded House track. Only with worse hair. Look here:

Josh Pyke - Memories & Dust


But the song that really sent the needle on my discopopometer^TM into the red was by identical twin act The Veronicas. Hook Me Up is the sort of song you could call gazumping, if gazumping was an onomatopoeic word that meant "barnstorming pop stomper" and not something to do with buying a house.

Pop fact one: Hook Me Up is produced by Greg Wells, who is responsible for Natasha Bedingfield and Mika among others.

Pop fact two: The Veronicas had one of their songs stolen by Tatu. In return they seem to have stolen Tatu's gimmick for going all lesbianic in the video. But they're sisters, so that's kind of weird.

The Veronicas - Hook Me Up


Finally, I bring you the song of the holiday - Mental As Anything's 1980s classic Live It Up. As we discovered, any waiter in Australia can serenade you with this song if you ask politely.

Mental As Anything - Live It Up


PS Kangaroos are brilliant

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