LINNEA HANDBERG Made Up My Mind (Legal Download!)

A must pop album for any pop lover (this is the Japanese hit release of the cd)

Music Download (legal) : Made Up My Mind

Linnea Handberg. Linnea Handberg. Where tho art theeeee begin!?! Real name Linnéa Handberg Lund, Ms.Linnea is pop princess who hails from Denmark and most might know her stage name of Miss.Papaya under which she released her first album simply titled Pink back in 1998. However I want to focus on her second album released two years later and called This Is Who I Am. The album is the sort of CD that the likes of Solid Harmonie, Britney and Precious would have loved to have released. You know the songs I'll Be There For You and Hit Me Baby One More Time? Well imagine an entire CD full of songs of that pop notch quality. Today, Linnea herself has very kindly allowed readers of DontStopthePop to download one of those songs but this is not a case of me picking the best song and the rest of the album are all duds. On the contrary, the collection consists of one of the finest batch of pop songs of 2000. Despite major record company interest, including Maverick, things didnt appear to happen but I highly recommend you track down the album. Its not just a forgotten classic but each song has monumentally poptastic.

This is isnt me going over the top or anything. I declare such claims as I have the backing of other groups who evidently heard the brilliance of the album and grabbed tracks for their albums. Take the title track for example. It was covered and released by the French girlband L5 (who retitled it for their audiences as "Aime"). Following suit, the Swedish girlband, Excellence, covered the Danish act with their take on Linneas "I Believe It When I See It". Going to warmer climates Spains Chenoa covered Linnea's "Why You Doin' It Like That" and god knows about the rest but I highly suspect nearly all of her songs have gone to other acts. Indeed, recent material Jon of Denmark, Tik Tak of Finland and the Chipz albums all feature the song-writing credits of Linnea Handberg. Therefore, it would be only polite to raise a glass of cherry wine to one of Denmarks finest female song-writers (and as a thank you for allowing us to share one of her brilliant songs!).

Come 2007, she now spends her time appearing on one-off dance special releases but really dedicates her love & talent to song-writing. In 2004, she signed to EMI Music Publishing & from then on has seen her name on most album sleeves for pop acts around the world including the theme to Big Brother, working with DJ's and re-settling in London where she says most of the work is these days.

Thank you Linnea!

Critical Linkage

Myspace (Linnea)

Critical Purchase

This Is Who I Am (Gemm)
Pink (Amazon)

Coming up on DontStopthepop: The album from Soccx, something very special from Jonah & something very cool & unique from Robyn that you won't find anywhere else.

B-TWEEN-DANGERZONE

Here the song on myspace

Readers of DontStopthePop!!! Christmas has come early! Today the blog is featuring a song that isn't even out yet but I suspect it will be huge. And its with full permission of the writers-the very talented Gustav who has kindly allowed us all to shimmer in the brilliance that is Dangerzone. This is so fresh and new, the girls themselves have yet to officially announce themselves on the pop scene. However they are on the verge of their international breakthrough....Indeed with the assistance of the same people behind the brilliance that is the Spanish pop princess Edurne, B-Tween have pop domination in their sights...

B-Tween, who consist of Martina Ståhl and Alexandra Pettersson, are simply sublime and produce the kind of catchy pop this world requires right about now. On Dangerzone the girlgroup have infused and incorporated the sounds of September, BwO and ABBA into one perfect blissful pop song. I am so glad that the powers that be have allowed this download for us! Feeling the love! The song makes go all fuzzy at the edges and this happens very rarely.

In fact I can remember them they are so rare-the first time I heard Kylie's Can't Get You Out Of My Head, Robyn's With Every Heartbeat and another song by another Swedish act that I can't talk about at the moment but hopefully they too will appear on DSTP soon!

Last year DontStopthePop predicted the success of LuckyTwice. Last year it was also the first place on earth to talk about the then completely unknown song With Every Heartbeat. It even called it the "Song of the year". That was back in October 2006!!!!! Now its 2007 and I am going all fuzzy over two particular songs. This one and the other one that will also hopefully feature later in the week!

Written by Fanciz Jernberg and Gustav Efraimsson, Dangerzone is a sort of post-modern take on "I Will Survive" re-coded for a brand new generation. Its message of liberation is a old one but they've managed to make your butt wiggle and wash the man out of the hair at the same time! Which is often tried but often falls flat on its face. I've got a funny feeling Dangerzone might be huge. If not this particular song then definitely something else originating from the house of B-TWEEN.

E.M.M.A-back in the day

So who are they? They hail from Sweden and were previously in one of my most loved girlbands'-E.M.M.A! Like Raen and Clea, E.M.M.A came to their name through using the letters of their first names. They released three poptastic albums and produced ultra catchy gems like Hollywood Boy, SMS and Det bästa av allting är du. I would go so far as to say September were in fact influenced by E.M.M.A but perhaps thats too controversial for a Tuesday evening.

The M and the A splintered off and created B-Tween. However, on B-Tweens new material you can clearly hear the sound of their old girlband filtering through their new beats....so perhaps when I say they've "incorporated" September and BwO its a misplaced statement. They've simply re-energized the sound of E.M.M.A that the uninitiated might understandably misrecognise as the sound of September. That is not the case. The sound of September is rather like the sound of E.M.M.A.

With Dangerzone, B-Tween are just reclaiming what was theirs in the first place and with amazing results. Am I splitting hairs? Oh I think I am! Sorry. Forgive me, I just can't get over how great Dangerzone/B-Tween are! Oh and i am so glad that the girls have agreed to give ya'll a little tidbit from their new album! And its all with permission!

So its with a very huge smile that DontStopthePop can claim to be the first place to feature the girlband thats is B-Tween. Moreover, DSTP has declared itself ourselves as proud fans! The last time I ventured a "this will be huge" it was for With Every Heartbeat and Monrose's Hot Summer. With Robyn's song doing rather well and Hot Summer entering the Billboard Euro charts of no.10, Dangerzone/B-Tween could be on your radio sooner than you think! Remember where you heard it all first!

There isn't a site for B-Tween yet but you can check out their myspace here.
I'd like to thank the girls and Gustav for allowing this song to be shared!

*Coming up later this week-an interview with B-Tween and part two of the interview with Robyn!*

MAX RAABE Around The World (La La La)

Lady Marmalade-Much better than the original. Christina-who? Patti LaWhat?
Around The World (La La La)-The best version of the song....
Blue (Da Ba Dee)-A cover of the Italian Eiffel 65 but such is the brilliance of the Max Raabe you start to imagine its the German version that's the original...
Oops I Did It Again-This takes you to the Weimer Republic instead of bald Britneys. Suddenly it becomes a Kurt Weill lost gem. Wait till the end!

Max Raabe is the kind of act that DontStopthePop had always intended to feature but never got round to it. In fact, Max Raabe is a perfect DSTP sort of act and it should shock no one that he's German. A few years ago my boyfriend (from central west Germany!), brought home one of his Cd's and informed my naive brain that it was the best thing since buttered bread. And Max Raabe really is.

While the UK tends to look down on quality pop songs, Max Raabe re-invigorates them with the just fruits they deserve. Classics like ATC's Around The World and Britney's Oops I Did It Again are analysed and mixed with tools that scream 1920's rather than Almighty/Metro. Indeed, Britney's Lucky is remixed and utterly improved into a ode that Edith Piaf might have performed when she was still kicking her little feet.

You might think that this is merely an extended novetly-gag. But the sheer brilliance of the production of, for example, Around The World (La La La) exposes something that the original(s) could have never ever realised. Why? Because Max Raabe knows pop and pays its respect by, and I quote himself here, understanding the "music is the key". This doesn't just re-morph the original song, but collapses time, post-modern pop culture and the Weimer Republic. His takes on Blue (Da Ba Dee), Let's Talk About Sex and Lady Marmalade are comic to be true! But they also contain an absolute musical quality, a sense of macabre and lots of blushing winks. All of which makes his covers absolutely beautiful...

Max Raabe is a revelation.....
Buy his a music on Amazon.de
See his official website here