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!*

"I HAVE LOST MY SOUL"-KYLIE RETURNS TO MUSIC & SHOWS POP-WORLD "Actually, this is how its done"

The last couple of days there has been some great pop music that has come my way but its five tracks recorded for Kylie's tenth studio album that actually take the pop biscuit. While Madonna films in my local chemist-she's filming down the road-it would appear Kylie has gone and raised a middle finger to her pop rival and pulped all memories of Confessions of A Dancefloor. Critical influences? KleerUp, The Knife, Margaret Berger & Robyn of Scandanavia. A small overview of the songs:

Lose Control

"I just want it all-I have lost control"

Excuse my French but when did pop become so slick? This track is the best thing Kylie has ever recorded and to think that it might not make the final grade makes me rather wet for the rest of the project. What does this song have? An amazing guitar, Eurythmics baselines and tributes to Adamski's Killer & The Sources You Got The Love. Also the wonderful appearance by the lovechild of Darth Vader and Sugar Puffs Honey Monster on the backing vocals make Lose Control one of the most interesting pop songs of the year. When Kylie says "the tide is turning-I just want it all" you know she's kinda right and she's gonna get whatever she wants. I got the feeling its about sex while on drugs. She even pops pills in the second verse. As such, Lose Control verges on pop brilliance.

Sensitized

"You keep blowing my fuse"

Kylie returns to the rudeness of her 1994 classic Automatic Love. This ode to "flicking the switch" includes rather interesting tribal sounds like you've either walked into a freaky sex dungeon or the jungle. Includes a rather brilliant sample of Bonnie & Clyde.

In My Arms

"How do you describe a feeling"

Kylie asks the listener how to describe a feeling and ignores the answer. Rude? Perhaps! But when the sweeping electro verse kicks in you forgive her! Fans are loving this song and you can understand why. It seems like the song is either one whole verse or one big chorus. It makes little sense but it is rather catchy so who cares about the analysis. Its the type of song that Sophie Elis-Bextor would have loved to have owned. Perhaps, Kylie is attempting to answer the very same question (How Do You describe a feeling) that the metaphysical philosophers of Europe have pondered for years without conclusion. Well done Kylie! This year the charts-next the Hay Festival of Literature.

Stars

"Stars don't shine, Stars don't shine, Stars don't shine"

This the song where you really hear the Scandic influences. This could have been on Robyn's last album. Oddly sensual, the listener discovers Kylie is in yet another philosophical mood when she namechecks the meaning of life. Its very hard to place which is a shame because this could be perfect as the lead single. Its a total heart-warming song and I can see thousands singing along to Kylie when she performs it live. The best way I could describe Stars is if I asked you to imagine Bertine Zetlitz, Sally Shapiro and Malou produced a collaborative track with, strangely, Natalie Imbruglia popping up here and there. You know the sadness of Robyn/Kleerup's With Every Heartbeat? Well its on Stars. Don't ask me explain how or why but its there...

Fall For You

"So why did ya go settin' off the alarms?"

This song is a bit wild. It could be on the new Miss Match album (more on them later this week). Kylie has never done a song like this and is thus out of her comfort zone. It works just. Fall For You could be a lead single if the record company felt brazen. It's like someone's locked Sophie Ellis Bextor, Girls Aloud and Xenomania in a very small confined space and squished them all out. Pinkie over at YouCallThatLife described the song as " Transvision Vamp/Rogue Traders" which climaxes in an epic "spunky and spikey" frenzy.

DONTSTOPTHEPOP DISCOVERS PETROS.......

Music:

Utopia-Sounds like what pop in 2007 should sound like.

V.I.P-The male PAY-TV? Petros channels his GLAM-Bitch side and produces a poptrash classic.

Petros is hot. Deeply connected to trashy electo and pure pop, his music flies far above much of the usual stuff that drenches myspace these days. If you felt Fisherpooner were too up themselves but loved the mix they did of Come Into My World you'll like Petros. The key-note track V.I.P collapses the sound The Flirts and Pay-TV into one monster pop song. We ain't taking about the singer-songwriter territory of Mika or James Blunt as Petros declares "we don't need your rock & roll" but instead "sex, drugs, techno". Fuck yes! A popboy that is finally ticking all my boxes.

Petros has eyed-up the best of scandipop and the long-lost dance-pop scene of America and produced something quite unique. Brilliant, quirky and timeless poptastic anthems. Another American lad tried to this last year and his name was one Simon Curtis. However Petros chews up Simon and spits him out. Indeed, the best Simon Curtis song Put Your Make Up On sounds very much like the average Petros productions. Petros lyrics arn't rushed yet spew out thick and fast, the music takes centre stage and the produced is overflowing with utter-catchiness. The line "the heir to the throne of the microphone" makes me giggle like a giggle-monster riding the giggle-ride at Giggleand. It seems Simon has a rival who has raised the bar, the glam and the music which means a competition might be on! (A bit of competition is always good in my books!)

So where to place Petros musically? I've already mentioned Fisherspooner but he's more catchy than that. I've mentioned Simon Curtis but to me his vocals seem more balanced and less falsetto. Personally I feel he's releasing music that J.C Chasez would cream his pants for. Theres also a little bit of Darren Hayes inside Petros.




Remember the Britney songs Breathe On Me and Before The Goodbye? Although they were criminally overlooked by Jive Records Petros recognises the Spears gems in his stunning song Utopia. This pop music but not as we know it people! Just as you think Utopia is a typical soft-core electro ballad Petros throws in heavy slabs of dancepop of the type I haven't heard since er like Evah!

Petros: a star thats well worth watching. Ladies, gentlemen, girls, boys, queers and dogs, this is pop but not as we know it!

Credit: huge thank you Petros for getting in touch and sending the album! Much appreciated!

Petros Myspace

ROBYN Life on Mars-unreleased

This cover of David Bowies epic Life On Mars features fellow Swedish singer Stefan Andersson and was recorded around Robyn's My Truth era. In other related news Robyn is the artist of the month on LostInLimbo where they explore her music, her past and her future.

Her impending U.K love affair has already kicked off on a good note even before she's released her single Konichiwa Bitches. She's sold out her first live concert and has already announced a second at Cargo in London on March 29th. Be quick cos that will go very soon especially as its a full blown show.