Wednesday 24 April 2013

Diana Vickers - Cinderella

Diana Vickers is BACK with Cinderella, a typically infectious and upbeat summer dancefloor track that shares all the hallmarks of her recent efforts.

OK, it's no My Wicked Heart - in fact, it has quite a lot in common with Music to Make Boys Cry - but it's still pretty good, and we can already imagine Vickers bopping around on stage while singing it.


The 'lyric video' above is just a preview, so expect a full video featuring Vickers herself before the single is officially released on July 21st (the current expected release date, according to iTunes).

Until then, this is the first time the full-length audio of the song has been published, and the video should help you learn the words if you're keen to sing along.

As always, we'll be keeping an eye out for more from Diana, who's rumoured to be working on her next album.

We're not sure whether Cinderella will be on it, or if it's just a single release to tide fans over until the album is ready, but either way it's good to see a Popsiculture favourite back in action.

Click the button below to preorder Cinderella now on iTunes.
iTunes

Thursday 11 April 2013

She & Him - I Could've Been Your Girl

If you're eagerly awaiting next month's release date for She & Him's Volume 3, you're not alone - we can't wait either.

Thankfully, we're now into the realm of preview tracks, and I Could've Been Your Girl is the latest to make it on to the web for your irregular dose of Deschanel and Ward.

For a change, I'm not going to patronise the pair as being little more than a hobby of Deschanel's; too often, She & Him write-ups are dominated by talk of her TV and film career, and overlook just how good their music together really is.


I have a particular reason to love She & Him, and it's this: they sound like Christmas. Upbeat, bordering on cheesy, but without feeling the need to apologise for it.

They're a glimpse at the festive season at any time of year, without having it hammered home 24/7. In fact, that might make them better than Christmas.

I Could've Been Your Girl is no different, with plenty of similarity to She & Him's Christmas album, A Very She & Him Christmas. But again, it doesn't matter if little has changed in the general style of their 'sound' - we love She & Him just as they are.

For those of you who feel the same, I Could've Been Your Girl is a tantalising taste of what to expect in a few weeks' time, and we'll bring you more previews as and when they drop into our inbox.


Buy I Could've Been Your Girl on .

Volume 3 is due for release on May 6th; preorder it now on iTunes.

Monday 8 April 2013

Fall Out Boy - Save Rock and Roll

Fall Out Boy have described Save Rock and Roll - an album they say was "recorded in secret from the music industry, critics, and even our fans" - as "the first record in a new chapter of Fall Out Boy".

"An artist's first record sound the way it does because it is often made without expectations," they explain on their official website.

"This is not our first record, but ... we made this music for ourselves and no-one else, at the end of the day."

You can draw your own conclusions about the outcome below, as the full album has been made available to preview via SoundCloud; it's an energetic composition with plenty of positives, even if Fall Out Boy are not normally one of your favourites.



Album opener The Phoenix has actually been available on SoundCloud for a couple of weeks, but at the time of writing, most of the other tracks from Save Rock and Roll had only been uploaded for 13 hours.

The title of this album is actually very apt - it's not soft rock, by any means, but the tracks are complex and carefully layered, with a wealth of vocals, instrumentals and effects combining to deliver an epic soundscape that is truly unique to each song.

As is so often the case - particularly with music at this kind of pace - the individual track lengths are not as long as you might first think, with most hovering around the radio-friendly four-minute mark.

However, there's enough going on at any instant to make those four minutes deliver easily as much of an audio experience as you might get with an entire mainstream pop album, making Save Rock and Roll well worth the cover price.

If this is what happens when Fall Out Boy go into hiding, let's hope we don't hear them mentioned again for another 18 months or so.

Rating: 86%

Pre-order on iTunes via the button below.

iTunes