The estival season is nearly here and the usual offensive to conquer dancefloors, beach clubs, terrazas and chiringuitos is taking shape in every single A&R department worth its salt. Here’s a look at the first contenders for that oh-so-dreaded and desired in equal measure Summer song title:
The first on arriving was Rihanna’s ultra-catchy “Umbrella”. She already counts with some Rober award nominations for dance anthems of the year (“Pon the replay”; “S.O.S”), this time getting a little -rather unneccesary- help from her record label’s big honcho Jay-Z; the former dancehall diva crosses the few bridges left to reach total mainstream in her third work “Good girl gone bad”. It strangely remind us to the singing style of ex-Cranberries leader Dolores O’ Riordan, must be all that eee-ela-eee-eee the Irish star made once popular. Sorry for the gratuitous commercial on the vid..but hey..Artist don’t sell millions of records anymore, so they have to earn the money for their swanky lifestyle somewhere.
One of “Umbrella”‘s remixes introduces who’s probably the soon-to-be youngest female star in contemporary hip-hop, Lil Mama. Her debut “Lipgloss” could do for the cosmetic industry what Kelis did for dairy refreshments with “Milkshake”.
What would it be of the summer without girls? The lovely Amerie is about to shake off that one hit wonder curse she earned with the Rober award winner classic “1 thing”, while carry on nicking the best songs from Beyonce’s repertoire right in front of her face. Her new album beats the Destiny’s Child effort by a long distance. After the Tropicalia infused “Take control”.(see video).”Gotta Work” with its classic soul intro, should confirm her as a huge star.
Too much RnB? Don’t leave just yet…
Other contenders may well be Brick and Lace, discovered by the ubiquitous Akon, recently notorious for his “scouting teenager” skills, this Jamaican female duo has gone all 90’s retro as if they were possessed by the spirit of “En Vogue”. “Never Never” is not “My Lovin”, even if it tries hard to get there..but the combination exotic teenagers/young looks and flashy urban production will work wonders in the charts…
More young female artists, this time way rougher, Yo Majesty could be the butchest girl trio you’ve seen near your hood, maan…Shon.B, Shunda-K and Jwel B are unlikely to win any beauty pageant soon, but they sound like Salt-N-Pepa reincarnated and have bravely sampled Enya’s new agey “Orinoco Flow” in a remix of their first hit “Club Anthem”. How they managed to made that odd combination work, we cannot explain, but it can easily trigger their way to success. See the original track’s video, without Enya’s finest moment elfic arrangements:
. In the same festive hip-hop spirit, Bonde Do Role, Brazilian hippest discovery since CSS, got ready their debut album with “Office Boy” as debut single. Their energetic live performances remind us at best to early Beastie Boys and at worst to Pop Idol would-be contestants, practising in front of the mirror. Even so, or maybe because of that, they’re still pretty cool.
M.I.A.’s second album with Timbaland promises to be one of the highlights of the year, but so far, none of the leaked tracks has had an equal impact to the ones in “Arular”, which granted her a few Rober awards a couple of years ago. Neither “Bird Flu” nor the Wrecks-N-Effect “Rump Shaker” quoting “Hit That” has caused the same good impression the Sri-Lankan rapper produced with earlier tracks like “Galang”. All of this could change when “Boyz” gets released.
Timbaland will continue to be the most requested producer of the year, not only with his solo album and the helping on returning-to-lunacy he provided for Bjork’s “Earth Intruders”, , whose Spank Rock remix will expand her success in the dancefloors during the summer. Timbo will be busy with new productions for Rihanna, Bobby Valentino, teenage hearthrob Marios’s “Kryptonite” and, coming back to his more straightforward hip-hop roots, the new Redman single that sounds as infectious as a hip-hop recreation of the Chili Peppers “Give it away”.
Other rap newcomers, Plastic Little, got the help of a constellation of stars in their “Crambodia” . Spank Rock, Ghostface Killah and newcomer Amanda Black all contribute to one of the most powerful, yet cartoonish, hip-hop tracks of the moment.
The Summer song race is also the natural pasture for DJ’s trying to lift their profiles by making those money-spinners that will turn them into household names among the dancing masses. This year’s most promising knob-twiddler is Pilooski; his remixes are gaining him a name for putting the cool back in such out of date artists as Alan Parsons Project. But it’s his reworking on a dark Frankie Valli classic, “Beggin'” what’s getting him into the spotlight. Kanye west tour DJ, A-Track, refines the art of the mash up by dedicating a whole album to it, in the same vein that Avalanches or last year’s nominee Girl Talk, “Dirty South dance” is a non-stop danceathon showing an infectious melting pot of hip-hop’s recent hits, Italodisco, soundtracks and electro beats, injecting life in a genre many gave for dead not so long ago. Elsewhere, it’s British band Hot Chip’s turn to compile the new DJ Kicks album, choosing tracks by New Order,Tom Zé, Etta James & Sugar Pie De Santo, Positive K and their new single “My Piano”. French DJ Justice, somehow Daft Punk’s natural heir, has got his debut album “+” ready. “D.A.N.C.E” with an unique (meaning “annoying” ) children choir is its presentation card.
More Daft Punk descendants battling for the Summer song trophy: The ultra-cool german duo Digitalism, ready to storm the trendiest dancefloors with “Pogo”
LCD Soundsystem will carry on revalidating its coolest person in the planet brand by paying visual tribute to Peter Gabriel and recruiting John Cale and Franz Ferdinand covering their second single from “Sound Of Silver”, the epic “All my friends”. Matthew Dear is leaving aside the hard techno antics he practises under the Audion moniker and fueling the indie-dance crossover in “Asa Breed”, one of the most unexpected surprises of 2007, even Four Tet gave a hand remixing the first single, “Deserter”. And in the same cutting-edge side of things, Dan Deacon takes Krautrock to Children’s TV universe in his album “Spiderman Of The rings”, a half-serious, half-joke tribute to cartoons and popular culture characters. One of the most enjoyable musical avant-garde efforts ever. “Crystal Cat” is his first single.
Even if the 90’s revival seems to be the flavour of the jour, many artist are still revisiting those techno-pop days of the Eightees. The masters on that field have to be Canadian duo Chromeo, fresh from remixing Feist, got a new attack ready with the album “Fancy Footwork”, mixing a healthy dose of Paysley Park, sense of humour and anything pastel-coloured. “Tenderoni” will be released as their European single. Also new wunderkind Calvin Harris is already topping the British charts with “Acceptable in the Eighties” and will try and repeat the same degree of recognition with the much inferior follow-up “The Girls”. Kylie has already recruit him to produce some of her new stuff, so theres going to be Calvin Harris buzz for quite a while..
Street vibes will also claim their share of the summer soundtrack: Dancehall has found a new voice in Bunji Garlin; reggaeton master Daddy Yankee got a replacement for the song that put the revolutionary latin style into the charts, Gasolina. “Impacto” is such a solid number that not even Fergie’s vocal appearance can ruin it.
And last, but not least, summer is always the kindgom of the tacky, the stereotyped, the sex hunting at the tourist resorts…Must be the high temperatures that weakens us, making us vulnerable to the shabbiest musical scams. Novelty records boom during the season. And here are are two of the early birds in that category :
Destined to lure the typically hormone-consumed young male, Escandinavian top-model Lene Alexandre happily claims that her “Boobs are okay”. Shame about the music.
And if boobs are not really your thing, Samwell is ready to exploit that lucrative and highly sexed gay market with the self-explanatory musical statement “What What -In The Butt”-…