2009 was – for me – the Year of The GaGa. This is a woman who only twelve months earlier was parading around, swearing by the disco-stick that pop music would never be low brow. And now she’s become this… phenomenon. Whether you like her or not, it was hard to avoid the topic of GaGa in the pop world. Bloggers were divided, some were on the fence about her where even I sat for a while; but once The Fame Monster’s leading single “Bad Romance” surfaced, everything changed. And much like with “Bad Romance”, the music on The Fame Monster served as A-grade pop from beginning to end; the breezy-summerpop of her “La Isla Bonita” meets “Coco Jamboo” homage “Alejandro” comes complete with a simple (but effective) chorus-hook, “Dance In The Dark” brings Jon Bennet Ramsay and Princess Diana together in an industrial-goth take on europop, even her Bowie/Queen-driven ballad “Speechless” proved that ballads didn’t necessarily need to be boring. And then, to top it all off, the second disc comes complete with one of the greatest albums of 2008 (which didn’t see a release in most countries till 2009, FYI); her debut The Fame. Bad Romance, Paparazzi, Lovegame, Just Dance, Poker Face; all on the one album? GaGa redefined the way artists should be utilising the opportunities an album repackage presents; she gave us a fresh new album of quality songs and used her debuts inclusion on the record as the bonus, rather than the tested-and-proven method of that very disc being made the central key-point. Surely this makes The Fame Monster more than worthy of being heralded Album of the Year. [Read my original review.]

The day I wrote the somewhat cringe-worthy review of this album on the blog was a day I’d rather forget. The piece, although in glowing praise of this wondrous record, had a bitter-underlay that could only be justified by saying I was in way-too-a fragile state to even try writing about any record, particularly one whose suitcase of emotions, to me, felt so fresh and familiar. That said, I won’t delete the offending review or edit it. Like Florence herself on this remarkable debut, it’s all-out or nothing. “Drumming Song” felt as if it were mine nearly every time I heard it, “Hurricane Drunk” soundtracked almost to-the-word the way I felt partying over the weekends… It’s one of the more personal and private celebrations of music I’ve had. Some may understand why Lungs affected me so much in 2009, others may not, but there’s no denying this was also an era-defining moment in music in pop culture.  [Read my original review.]

I’m hoping that the darling Antigone will forgive me, for I have sinned. As I got together my list of links for previously reviewed albums in this end-of-09 list, I realised that the review I’d penned on this magnificent debut had never actually been published. Because I’m a dickhead. So until I publish that piece in the New Year, let me detail to you briefly just why Antigone’s Land was one of the finer, more deluxe and exquisite places to visit in 2009. “Promiscuity” is still so sonically magical that it serves as one of the most original (and cruelly overlooked) singles of the Naughties, the scattered dub-beats of the L-Word-loving “Palomino” is the actual definition of bringing sexy/back, the stripped-trip-hop beauty of “Life Without You” is entrancing, and my morning-after cure of the soulful “Life Without You”… It’s all just so fabulous. Antigone Land is such an interesting and captivating palate of sounds that I’m surprised things haven’t exploded for Tigs; the talent is undeniable and the music speaks for itself.

Repackaged in 2009 (which is when these guys came fully into my attention), Friendly Fires’ debut was, essentially, the greatest Rapture album that never was. Where The Rapture sometimes fail in their pop-execution, Friendly Fires’ lead vocalist Ed Macfarlane has such a pop-assurance in his voice that it’s hard to fob them off as just some other indie-dance band. The best bits? The Paul Epworth produced “Jump In The Pool”, “Paris”, “White Diamonds”, “Skeleton Boy”, and the years most interestingly crafted remix, the Aeroplane mix of “Paris”, which used the originals backing vocals (sung by Au Revoir Simone) as the lead vocals. A pleasant surprise, and one I’m fairly sure the cocky blokes from The Rapture would never have stood for were it actually their song.

Natalie Imbruglia released the best album of her career in 2009 and, apparently, only about three people knew of its existence. From collaborating with her Silverchair ex-hubby Daniel Johns (on the jilty break-up pop of “Want”), to collaborating with Coldplay genius Chris Martin, Imbruglia’s music truly came to life (pardon me) on this, her fourth studio effort, after going from strength-to-strength with each album prior. Her reward? A number #67 debut on the Australian ARIA Albums chart. Whatever peoples aversion to Imbruglia may be, one thorough listen through the record should change even the harshest of critics minds. Martin-co-penned “Lukas” is Natalie playing with the grand gestures of Kate Bush, the heartbreaking “Fun” lives in the same camp as Leona Lewis’ “Happy”, in that its title is of no suggestion as to your general mood after listening to the song. But everything on here is beautiful, and I’m hopeful that, when she launches this in the UK next year, things turn out a little better for her than they did back home.

One of my best friends Michelle got me onto the Yeah Yeah Yeahs a few years ago; their debut Fever To Tell spawned one of the single greatest love songs ever written (the crushing “Maps”), and the loveability factor of Karen O as a frontwoman was always going to be too hard to resist for the general population at some point. Although big before, It’s Blitz! took the Yeah Yeah Yeahs from alternative radio stations like Triple J and RRR to a more mainstream audience… whilst still maintaining the relationships with those alternative stations. It was the first time that, from beginning to end, it felt like you were listening to a Yeah Yeah Yeahs pop record. And that is why It’s Blitz! is their best effort yet; it’s the strongest collection of songs in their back catalogue. Aside from the killer singles “Zero” and “Heads Will Roll”, it’s all about the tender ballad “Runaway”, which gives the aforementioned “Maps” a run for its tender, fragile money.

I hold this record in a very similar league to Florence’s debut. Swede Erik Hassle was heralded as the next Robbie Williams in 2009, but this first impression of an album demonstrated he was more than just the next anything. His unique sincerity and tender-loving-themes generally made this a Kleenex-happy 45 minutes, but boy, what a thrilling 45 minutes it is. “All That I Wanted Was You” still tugs a little tighter on the heartstrings than the other tracks, but everything on Hassle is worth the namesake. [Read my original review.]

Boasting the likes of Robyn, The Knife’s Karin Dreijer Andersson, Anneli Drecker and Lykke Li on vocals, Nordic ravers Royksopp delivered the kind of neatly polished and well executed pop album – from start to finish – that the likes of Basement Jaxx could only dream about. Robyn served up the records best moment in “The Girl and the Robot”, but it was the vocal-free “Royksopp Forever” that gave us the long players most interesting; think AIR’s Virgin Suicides Soundtrack meets the disco.

Can you imagine if “The Reeling” had’ve been a Kylie Minogue single? Holy Mother of God, that would have been something. That being said, Passion Pit themselves certainly do a corker of a job on the song. Although I’ll agree that last years EP release, Chunk of Change, is the better release of the two, Manners still managed to back-up all of the hype generated behind that very EP and the enormity of “Sleepyhead.” Will they pump out another record in 2010?

Infinitely better than their three-and-a-half-star debut, Alphabeat came through like a bat out of hell with their bubbly follow up, The Spell. From the records title track, to the adorability of “DJ”, The Spell is about as pure-a-pop album as you’re going to get. The Michael Davidson/S.A.W-licking “The Beat Is” remains a solid favourite, but the euphoric nature of everything from “Heatwave” to the explosive “Heart Failure” showcase that perhaps the best is still yet to come from these clever little Danes.

READ NUMBERS 11 – 50: HERE.

Fucking hell. Have you seen the first round (!!) line up for the Australian leg of Modular’s Nevereverland party?

Klaxons
Hercules & Love Affair
Van She
Ladyhawke
The Presets
Cut Copy
Whitest Boy Alive
The Bumblebeez
Muscles
Tame Impala
The Bang Gang Deejays
AJAX
The Lost Valentinos
Mission Control
Temper Trap
Canyons
Pepperoni
Andee Van Damage 

And again; Fucking hell. Is that probably the best line-up for a festival all year? How am I going to cope with so many of my favourite artists playing on the one bill? Seeing as she’s signed to Modular in Australia, will Robyn be a last minute addition? Could someone please make the latter happen?

Whilst I’m on the topic of all things Modular, some interesting news on Muscles has cropped up this weekend. He’s ditching his MySpazz account and urging fans to sign up to his official newsletter should they want updates on what’s going on with his new single and album project. Go to his bit on teh interwebs and sign up to “Muscles Mail” to stay in the loop.

When are Girls Aloud going to be signed to Modular?

Many of you will have heard me talk about my best friend Ben on the odd occasion on this here website. In recent months, every Friday night Ben joins me as a guest on my weekly radio program. In his guest spot, Ben compiles together a list of usually little-known facts about some of your favourite pop stars and cinematic celebrities. In a move that pleases me to no end, Ben has now opened up his very own blog to showcase these lists, which are of legendary status.

* LIST 1 * Janet Jackson: “Janet’s next tour will be a series of lectures about the joys of having your period.”

* LIST 2 * Alison Goldfrapp: “Ms. Goldfrapp once slapped a fan who said they loved her in the movie Cocoon.”

* LIST 3 * Robyn: “Right now, Robyn is thinking about how much more mileage she can get from her last album.”

Add this website to your bookmarks kiddies; the list entitled “Confessions of Madonna’s Cooch” is an absolute hoot and surely on its way…

So my beloved Girls Aloud covered another beloved of mine, Robyn, today on Jo Whiley’s Live Lounge thingy. Whilst With Every Heartbeat starts of shaky (Nicola sounds awfully worried about something as she sings her opening lines; “Did I leave the oven on? Oh fuck, I think I di… Oh mai god… is Elvis taking a shit near Whiley’s bag? Fucking hell, what is he like?!…”) things eventually pick up, with what appears to be all hell breaking loose in the final minute and fifteen seconds. I’m sure Popjustice would approve. Big thank you to the lovely Don’t Stop The Pop for alerting me this had happened!

The girls also performed a nice, stripped back version for Jo of their new single, Call The Shots.

:: LINKS REMOVED ::

Download With Every Heartbeat MP3

Download Call The Shots MP3

Special thanks to Jay1 at GirlsAloudMedia.com for these lovely HQ rips.

Two months after her first show in Melbourne, within the walls of the ultra intimate and trendy Miss Libertines, Super-Swede Robyn came back to our city of lights for a bigger show at Roxanne’s, a trendy new nightspot down a CBD alleyway that used to play an integral part in the cities rave culture. How things have changed. The set was not much different to the one heard at Miss Libertines back in September (review here,) but we did get a very nice acoustic version of Be Mine!, which I managed to video record onto my phone. Hilariously, the picture quality is actually completely amazing, (has there ever been a phone as stunning as the N95?) so here is the YouTube video of (very nearly almost) the full song…

Click here to view the embedded video.

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And a short YouTube clip of Keep This Fire Burning.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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She did a fantastic job for someone who had just stepped off an incredibly long flight on a plane, and was apologetic through the show for not feeling 100% and being a little tired. Was a great gig, but the first one back in September was better, which I’m putting down to the charming intimacy of the venue and also to the fact she was full of much more energy then and raring to go.

Had a fantastic chat up the front with some Robyn fans to my left, and discussed the brilliance of Girls Aloud with some others to my right.

ROBYN @ ROXANNE’S, MELBOURNE
SETLIST 15/11/2007

INTRO
COBRASTYLE
CRASH & BURN GIRL
WHO’S THAT GIRL
BUM LIKE YOU
HANDLE ME
KEEP THIS FIRE BURNING
KONICHIWA BITCHES
BE MINE!
WITH EVERY HEARTBEAT
SHOW ME LOVE
JACK YOU OFF
BE MINE! (ACOUSTIC)

Here are some happy snaps. Clicky for zoom…

I am completely in love with Miss Connie from Sneaky Sound System. Isn’t she just one of the most staggering pop stars in the history of music? My love for this woman runs incredibly deep, so I’m quite excited by the news that work is sending me off to see her and the Sound System crew put on a nice, pretty live show this Saturday night at the god-awful Festival Hall in Melbourne. Even the venue cannot bring down my high! What I’m even more excited about is seeing Van She – one of my most loved Australian groups of all time – play as the Sneaky’s support on the night. Viva la Van She!

The picture up above is photographic evidence of the best dress at last weeks ARIA awards, worn by Miss Connie. It is also photographic evidence of the best performance of the night.

I’m sure most of you will take my word for it, but you should still watch it for yourself.

Magic. When I grow up, I want to be just like Miss Connie.

Speaking of live shows, this coming Thursday night I’m off to see Robyn AGAIN in Melbourne. She just cannot get enough of us sexual (guffaw!) Aussies it seems! For those keen, she is playing at Roxanne, which is behind Billboard Nightclub in the CBD. I’m very excited, as Roxanne is a slightly bigger venue than the incredibly intimate feel we had the other month for her gig at the tiny Miss Libertines. Will have a full report on that next week.

Stop whatever it is you’re doing right now (unless the only thing you are doing right now is reading this post, in which case I’d advise you actually keep doing it.) There is a new remix of a Sugababes song which I think you should download. Remember the cheesy Ultrabeat remix of the underrated and completely ace Easy from last year? Well, Ultrabeat have managed to top that effort with a completely popperific version of About You Now. It’s cheesy, it’s loud, it’s probably going to be seriously offensive to most of you – but I love it. I was driving down the highway last night at an ungodly hour, alone in my car and on the road, with the windows down and this turned up ridiculously loud. It made me very happy. Now you can maybe be as happy as I!

Download – Sugababes “About You Now (Ultrabeat Radio Edit).mp3″
SHAREBEE | MP3 | 4.63mb

And finally, if you’re in or around the Geelong area tomorrow night, tune into 94.7 The Pulse from 8pm till 10pm for my radio show Inside Splinters. On the musical menu tomorrow; Young Divas, Trash Fashion, Bloc Party, Kylie Minogue, Sneaky Sound System, Robyn, M.I.A, Daft Punk, Dannii Minogue, Justice, The Toxic Avenger, Bertine Zetlitz, Cut Copy, and many more. Hopefully I won’t fuck up too much…

Anyways, I’m on a mini-break until Tuesday so, unless something incredibly dramatic happens and I desperately need to blog about it – I won’t be back till then. (Apologies for the long break in between posts of late – I’ve been so busy with uni and family stuff – it’s been a bit crazy down at the residence of Adem. Back to norm next week, I promise. Kthxbye.)

Down she came with her band, consisting of a keyboard player, the super-good-looking drummer, and the seriously cool Kleerup.

Playing at the luscious and not-overly-hip-that-it’s-pretentious Miss Libertines in Melbourne’s CBD, the Swedester played a set comprising of 12 songs (even if my stolen copy of the on-stage set list claims there were 13,) kicking it off with Cobrastyle.

Punching her fists in the air and to her sides, tossing her silky white hair up and down, left to right, Robyn took control of the audiences attention the second she bat her eyelashes at them.

Incredible jolts of energy and ferocious stage presence shone through performances of Crash & Burn Girl, and the stomping electric-drum moment during Who’s That Girl.

Here come the drums.

One of my absolute knock-out Robyn favourites has always been Bum Like You, so I was pleasantly surprised and quite excited to hear and see it performed live. Stunning – and fiery – performances of Handle Me and Konichiwa Bitches (”Australia has been playing this song for ages, something I couldn’t even get them to do in the UK, so thank you!”) followed, with me hitting an absolute musical peak of epic proportions once Keep This Fire Burning began. I even got to share a moment of singing the chorus along with her as she sang it to me up the front. Lufffley!

Be Mine rocked, which was an obvious crowd favourite, but my highlight was most definitely hearing a ravishing live take on the Christian Falk track Robyn sung on, Dream On (musically, a really lush homage to Cosmic Baby/mid-90’s rave) which is so lovely in its original form that you probably wont believe me when I say the live version was even better. But it was, honest. I was particularly impressed to see more than a couple of people actually knew the song in the audience too, which was a moment of self-assurance the gig hadn’t just been filled with people whose history of her begins and ends with Konichiwa Bitches being played on the radio. Finally, time made way for a powerfully intense performance of With Every Heartbeat, which was entrancing to be apart of, especially seeing how the whole band got into the groove of it WITH Robyn.

After some claps and cheers, Robyn and her gang returned with a stunning, slow and melodic rendition of Show Me Love, which turned into quite the venue sing-a-long.

It all ended with Robyn’s cover of the Prince classic Jack U Off, which was superb, funky, and a little bit punky; the perfect way to sign off.

The night delivered a lot of surprises. I had always expected Robyn to be incredible, but I wasn’t prepared to be THAT blown away. Somehow, she managed to surpass the rather high expectations I’d placed on the gig before going. Now THAT’S a pop star!

Crowd was divine, and a complete polar opposite to the crowd the delightful Pop Trash Addicts experienced at Robyn’s Sydney show on Friday (Roxane LeBrasse, the Thirsty Jerc and that gay guy from Scandal’us? WTF?) There was virtually none of that pretentious bullshit I had expected there to be, with a lot of beautiful faces around, but none of the sorts that think their shit don’t stink BECAUSE they’re beautiful. The small venue was mainly made up of genuine Robyn & pop music fans, Electro lovers and the casual Triple J listener. I think the under promotion of the Melbourne gig helped filter out the wanks too; probably a good thing the event was held on a Sunday night, too.

Also, I met some New Zealand fans who had flown down JUST to see Robyn play in Melbourne. Dedication. Turns out they were all hardcore pop fans too, as was another girl whom I had a serious conversation with right before the gig started discussing the merits Nicola Roberts brings to the world of music, and why Girls Aloud are monumental. Then I found out one of the Kiwi guys works for Universal NZ and spent two days in a van with the girls last year during their Aus/NZ promo tour. Bastard.

Had the pleasure (isn’t it always my dear?) of bumping into the brilliance that is Jess Culture, and meeting Mr. eMackinations & Cade, along with other splendid pop fans who were not afraid to chat with strangers. Had a small chinwag with Kleerup at the bar. He loves Popjustice very, very much. Almost as much as he loves doing shots of whiskey apparently!

Just before Robyn made a swift exit, I caught her at the staircase near the loo and got a Modular person to take a photo of us together. A total set of four (!) European kisses and hugs were exchanged before she scurried down the side of the venue. She said she loved Oz and couldn’t wait to come back again soon. Hopefully it won’t be so long next time!

Oh and no, I’m not sure why Modular gave her the Kangaroos Football Club scarf to be honest. I mean, surely there was a Collingwood one in the same airport gift shop, but whatever.

Click on the photos to view bigger versions, and feel free to use the pics on your site if you wish to (all have been taken by me.) BUT please do credit me, my poor feet put up with a lot of standing around to secure that prime spot!

> Read Pop Trash Addict’s ace review of the Sydney Gig.
> Read the fabulous Patrick from PopGoesCanberra’s review of the same gig on the PJ forums.
> See eMack’s YouTube vids of the Melbourne gig.