If you are a fan of 80s synth electropop (who isn't?) - or The Hurts you may well be in luck as Kid Kasio fits perfectly into this genre. Kid's music is epic 80s pop and I love it! Over & Over is so far my favourite and has a great video to it too - filmed in an abandoned theme park, it gives off an eerie retro pop vibe.
I have been fortunate enough to be sent 4 of Kid Kasio' tracks, 'Living My Life, Not For Turning, Over & Over and The Reason' all very catchy pop songs of yestertime, all reminding me of growing up in the 80s a kind of revisit to a time forgotten, but keeping it modern in a naughties type style.
I believe Kid Kasio to be a very talented individual with fantastic style and a sound that needs to be heard. Also I love love love the Kid Kasiowebsite- its like a retro vintage shop where looking through it you discover things yo remember from back in the day, which I love a bit of nostalgia.
Keep an eye out for Kid Kasio, as I get a feeling we will be seeing a lot more of him in the future!
I have loved Robyn since Every Heartbeat featuring Kleerup, but my all time favourite song by Robyn is Dancing On My Own, which is a fantastic piece of music, in the may years of her career Robyn has released some dance tunes that in time will be known as true classics.
Robyn is back with Call Your Girlfriend and what a comeback, last year she released 2 albums Body Talk pt1 & Body Talk pt2, both amazing albums, and if you have never bought a Robyn album then you must! Call You Girlfriend is just another part of a winning formula, every time Robyn releases she has a new take on her sound and evolves her lyrics sounding more mature each time, and we all know part of life is about evolution.
This song has been on a constant loop on Mi-Pod because it is just a big grande soft dance ballad that makes me wanna fist pump the air at each chorus.
Robyn is also huge worldwide now, which is great, she is a real individual in a music industry consumed by how people look, or act and she breaks the 'normal' mould of popstars, Robyn is super talented and a great performer live.
The single is out now and taking from the third installment of the Body Talk series of albums - the newest album being called simply Body Talk which is also available now.
I am fully aware I am a little late with Nicola Roberts solo career but I love this song so much so I have to blog about it! Basically my computer died and come back to life again and during this time I was unable to blog, devastation don't come close... Anyway - we all know who Nicola Roberts is, the Girls Aloud dainty doll has gone solo with the epic Beat of My Drum and soon to be released album Cinderella's Eyes which has a scheduled release of October 2011.
Beat of My Drum is produced by Diplo & Dimitri Tikovoi and was written by Nicola herself, showing she has the talent! I have always liked Nicola, she has a self doubt about her that makes her a normal person in a world that can eat you up and spit you out, and she remains grounded and reminds me of people I know in reality which sometimes, people just want someone they can relate to. I recently watched the making of the video for Beat of My Drum, and she says how weird it is filming a video with all these eyes on you, and that is how I feel I would react, I am massively camera shy and I imagine it to be a totally surreal experience.
I fell in Love with Nicola when she performed Shout on Popstar's the Rivals, which at the time I feel, was when she shone through with her voice, and then to become a member of Girls Aloud and have the success she has had it was inevitable that she would go on and experience a taste for the solo life. What I love most, is that while Cheryl Cole and Nadine Coyle have tried to go down the big American produced tripe, Nicola has kept it real and kept it British!
Beat of My Drum is out now, and the sound she has opted for is a funky pop feature, it reminds me of a Justice vs Simian track - We Are Your Friends, which trust me, is a massive compliment. According to Wikipedia as well, Dragonette lend a hand on the production of the forthcoming album, and as most of you know by now I am obsessed byDragonette, so this pleases me HUGELY.
Chasing Pluto recently took time to answer a few questions I had for them in an interview styled format, albeit a non conventional slightly old skool way due to technical 'difficulities' my end. However, Chasing Pluto are an exciting band who hail from London, they are Jamal and Corinne, an electro pop funk sensation that I hope and pray become bigger and bigger over the coming years. I believe they write genuinely good music that I want to own as part of my collection and thanks to the wonders of the world wide web, I now do. Below is the video for single Hold On, followed by my interview with the band. I Hope you enjoy their music as much as I do.
Witin the interview Chasing Pluto answered the questions I personally wanted to ask, I love thinking about where people get their inspirations, I want to know what making music video's are like and I want to know who they would like to work with in the future. Jamal would like to feature his Mum on a track while Corinne opts for Tinie Tempah, I personally do not see a problem with the 4 of them getting on one epic track? Read also how their tacks were inspired by Kate Nash, furthermore, their highlights so far.
Some of the reasons I am liking Chasing Pluto can be found on their soundcloud:-
1) What 1 song do you wish you had written and produced and why?
C: Wow that's such a hard question! There are too many. I think I have to go back to my classical roots with this one and say the Schindler's List theme by John Williams, its not a pop song but scoring for an orchestra or group of instruments would be such a personal challenge.
J: Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers, because I love it.
2) If you could feature anyone on a Chasing Pluto track who would it be and why?
C: I think a lot of our tracks lend themselves well to rappers, although they are loads out there I like right now I would love to get Tinie Tempah on a track.
J: My mum because I love her.
3) What inspires you to write the songs you write? I Won't Fall In Love is my favourite song of yours and I relate to the words! Voices & I Won't Settle are highlights on soundcloud for me also.
C: As cliche as it sounds life is enough inspiration for me, I think the best thing about writing songs is making something productive/positive come out of the worst situation. Its like therapy.
J: In general for me: alcohol and insecurity. Although specifically speaking, well "I won't fall in love" is pretty self explanatory. "Voices" is about suicide, and "I Won't Settle" was inspired by Kate Nash.
4) What has been the highlight so far of being in Chasing Pluto?
C: I'm a bit of a cheeseball so in all honesty all of it! Its been amazing finding somebody (Jamal) that I can bounce off of/work with in the way that we do. But of course, its been great seeing that people share and enjoy what we do, so getting all of our good feedback from bloggers and journalists as well.
J: No one thing in particular, we're still chasing. although i agree with what Corinne just said... completely.
5) Who are you loving at the moment in the music industry?
C: I've got a lot of respect for all those artists that are making moves on their own and creating their own hype which is making the labels have to take notice.
J: This MC called "Terminator".. check out his F64 on SBTV
6) What are your guilty pleasures in your musical collection?
C: Mr President Coco Jambo (although I do find the woman's vocal on it mildly annoying)
J: Straight Up Now Tell Me - Paula Abdul
7) I have decided to review 'Hold On' for the blog, as there is a video for it, and I wanted to know, what was it like making a music video & how long did it take? Did you have much input to it and who filmed it for you? Basically I am fascinated with music video 'treatment' etc. So tell me all please..
The video was directed by Yasha Malekzad of Jacuzzi films and we shot it in a day. We did have some input on the day although Yasha is a great director so already had loads of ideas before we had even got on set.
8) Do you have any gigs in the pipeline? If so where and when?
We're reworking our band set up at the moment and will be out gigging in the summer. Keep checking our website www.chasingpluto.com for updates, in fact facebook, twitter, soundcloud - all /chasingpluto
9) There are not many singing male and female duo' currently dominating the chart, but I see you both have the potential to change that, would you ever consider reality TV to get ahead?
C: I guess it depends in what capacity. If you're asking would we audition for X Factor? Then I personally wouldn't because we're trying to be recognised as writers getting our own music out there. If you're saying would we use TV as an outlet full stop then I would depending on the situation.
J: I'd like to think that the music would be enough, but who knows :-//
10) Where do you see yourselves in 5 years time (a bit of a job interview question sorry).
C: I do hate predicting the future because I think life is going to pan out how it will and how it should but I would like to think that our music could reach out to as many people as possible by that time and that we're recognised and respected for what we do. Until then we just keep on keeping on. J: I just want lots of people to enjoy the music, and to be in a situation where it puts enough food on the table to keep us and our loved ones from hunger.
I want to take this opportunity to thank Corinne and Jamal aka Chasing Pluto for taking time to answer my questions and wish them all the luck and thanks for being so lovely on twitter.
