Janet Jackson, Discipline
If Blue Peter were making a Janet album, they'd put lots of good hooks glue it together with some sparkly bits, then cut away the excess, fold it in half and come up with a much better tracklist...

1. Feedback
2. LUV
3. Rollercoaster
4. Rock With U
5. 2Nite
6. So Much Betta
7. The One ft Missy Elliot

Alphabeat, are finally top ten, and the amount of times i play it at work must have the whole of the northwest humming along to its infectiousness. Alphabeat woke me up most days in japan, as i tend ot oversleep my alarm, and cycle hurriedly to work in the humidity, they kept me going with their bouncyness. The fact ive had the album a year and theyre only jut getting big makes me forget about them so consider this post a well deserved bump, and a preview of the singles of the summer.

Rihanna, for some reason, is about to 'Take A Bow' for the re-release of her album Good Girl Gone Bad. The song is quite subtle and not immediatly worthy of being a single, especially if this means pre-empting 'breakin' dishes' yet again, yet for all that i really think it works lyrically and vocally to produce yet another Neyo penned / Stargate mashed hit.

what ya waiting what ya waiting for...

Jesse Mccartney is looking hot and sounding cuter. I'd played this song about 5 times and i was beginngin to like it, but id instantly fallen for the hooks in the clips that popjustice played ten times better. This video guarentees the lead track will be played enough for the song to infect ur brain: jesse is on course to be this years hilary duff, a disney poppet with a surprisingly amazing album.

So while you enjoy that clip, take some time to think about all the good things coming soon, but which for now we shall all patiently wait for...

Dear imaginary giver of things pop, if im a good boy, in the future i would like you to deliver:

a new Long blondes album, single/video? 'Century' is a really cool song it definatly builds upon what has always been a part of the long blondes style but shoves upfront a new avant garde approach to conveying that message. its in sync and in fashion.

a high quality leak of '4minutes', a video and some airplay of Madonna's new material.

a copy of Annies catchy little album bridge track 'girlfriend'

a clip of Sophie Ellis Bextor singing 'yes sir i can boogie'

Frankmusik to make it onto the jukebox at work

Girls Aloud's 'hoxton heroes' b-side on my ipod now

a nice copy of Panic at the Disco attempting to be pretty. odd.

and for L.A Reid to have had the guts to tell Janet to just make a ten track dance album, consider that positive feedback, cos i love the best of it 'so much betta'.

Lemme tell you a fairytale....
Once there was a girl with a paino and she sung an amazingly catchy yet sad song...
the video started off a little something like this....

...But wait! this video then goes into some sort of 'fairytale of new york' (except it doesn't contain the word fa**ot and won't clog up the charts come xmas time)

...But wait some more, while that might well be the lead single 'Nolita Fairytale' from Vanessa Carlton's album Heroes and Thieves this next video is from the even more amazing song that i urge you to fall in love with.

Vanessa Carlton - Hands On Me
Uploaded by yardieiz4life

MGMT: 'Time To Pretend'

Although im seemingly a pop boy through and through i think living in japan helped with that a lot, after all its much easier to think wow Mika's quite catchy and fun without having to see his media saturated face bouncing around at the Brits.
Returning to work with our mostly indie boy jukebox has reignited my indie boy leanings and this band stand out as my current favourite... i'd never heard of them before today but they have been tipped for big things by many people, the single is out march 3rd, the video below is utterly mesmerising and perhaps all too familar to any viewers of weekend televisions The Tribe, it all has a klaxons stylee pale naked boys playing dress up feel and the lyrics recount a similar tale as Nickelbacks Rockstar but this is all done in a much more laconic -and seemingly less irritating- manner.

in at number 1!

Frankmusik: until maxxie from skins releaese a pop single a la adam rickett the person i truly think shouldve been bigged up as the only thing to matter this year in terms of artist breakthru's is mr frankmusik.
can't believ id almost forgot about him. buy his ep now online so like me you can pretend you knew him all along like a long lost friend.
heres his new single 3 little words (fan made video) (real video via popjustice)

innnn 2!

Dont Panic, my favourite all male rock band as in proper band with pretentions to be the next radiohead is back! yay!




Panic at the Disco, Nine in the Afternoon, Pretty. Odd
i loved their first album so i hope this change in sound suits me, so far the catchyness of this single is infected my entire bus journey home from work each day, it really suits those 5.30 sunsets over lancaster.

innnnnn 3!

3) Janet Jackson, Discipline


Mariah came back with a whimper this week with a limp invitiation to Touch her Body, but Janet succinctly slides amongst the timbaland sound dominating the charts producing lots of positve Feedback.

It's a great lead single with some lovely synthetic vocals although the lyrics are perhaps best left undeciphered, yet scarily the phrase 'heavy like a first day period' perhaps lacks any metaphor.

This video cemented her return to form:



So far i am loving the slinky sound of Rock with You which seems to steal from Kylie/Uffie, but possibly even takes back what was rightfully Janets to begin with. A playful sexiness and an elctro beat.

yet saving the best to last, here is LUV yay:

Emerging From Hibernation:
After the bleak january popscene here comes a belated valentines to sort things out...

All the hype is paying off for the Adele's, Duffy's and David Jordan's of this world...but none of them could get a hit at any other time of year.
Basshunter gives us 2008's biggest selling song of the year so far... with a measley 200,000 sales.
Nickelback reach a new peak of number 2 with a song that charted first way back in october '07...

...and so while pop seemingly slumbers on here is my rundown of the small stirrings going on that give me hope that pop wil soon bloom again:

10) NZ band Cut Off Your Arms: Oh Girl, stealing the building blocks from with every heartbeat to provide the type of indie boys pop that might make some people think pop is newly credible and others think that indie boys are newly hot or something... anyway there it is for you:

9) Two sweet singles should encourage anyone to find out this album: here is the cover so you know what to look for when u enter a record shop or when u want to paste into itunes to add to your illegally downloaded copy.

8) Black and Gold: Sam Sparro : hotpants : hit single

7) she dont rush the bus: snoop / robyn / sexual eruption

6) im a lyckle bit in love with her: lykke li, little bit

5) Kylie, do it again, cherry bomb, carried away: three new b-sides that add to that whole nintendo/kawaii/mecha/candy thing she almost had goin on with her album. The album is still good but hopefully some of these tracks get merged into the tour setlist to make things a bit more cohesive and thereby resembling artisitc integrity rather than capitalising upon a mix of potential singles.

4) simon curtis remains lodged on my album and hopefully this year you will have heard of him hear him here see him here: