From The Vaults: Cyndi in Sydney

It is an arresting image. Sydney harbour is bathed in a crystalline light, and the water, as though mirroring the sky, is a perfect shade of light blue. Ferries move with ease as the Harbour Bridge and Opera House stand like silent strongholds book-ending this iconic scene. Inside a comfortable hotel room sitting in front of this classic Australian panorama is Cyndi Lauper. With her blond hair groomed into a rock-chic bee-hive and her eyes dark with make-up she is the picture of a pop-diva, a striking contrast to the placid scene behind her. It is the meeting of two icons, Cyndi Lauper and Sydney Harbour, an image that marries night with day.

As a pop icon, Cyndi Lauper first achieved superstardom with her debut album She's So Unusual in 1983. Not only did this album feature hits like ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’, it also made Lauper the first female to score four top-five singles from one album. Now 55, with her 80’s anthems still echoing across decades and dance-floors, Lauper is back with a new release, Bring Ya to The Brink.

No longer clad in colourful 80’s outfits, she looks, and sounds a little different with an updated dance vibe to her seventh studio album, but she’s still Cyndi Lauper. As she chats away in her unmistakable Brooklyn drawl, you can’t help but notice that in person she has the same just-want-to-have-fun quality that echoes through her music. She’s a living breathing 80’s poster girl sitting in front of a post-card view of Sydney.

Profile: Pop Goes Madonna

As the undisputed Mother of pop, Madonna has well and truly lived up to her name. Ever since she was thrust into the public eye in 1983 in a flurry of teased hair, dangling pendants and black accessories Madonna has commanded attention. Despite her obvious success, she is often criticised as being more memorable for her controversial personal antics than she is for her music. Nay saying aside, Madonna is an example of how image can be harnessed to create a lasting impression. But to say that she has had a lasting impression is an understatement; her Madgesty’s music and the outlandish fashion that often accompanied it have become iconic moments in pop music history.

Born in 1958 in Bay City, Michigan in the United States, Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone originally had aspirations of becoming a professional dancer. A talented young performer, Madonna was awarded a dance scholarship in 1976 to attend the University of Michigan. Anxious to achieve her dream of becoming the most formidable female performer in the world, in 1978 she left Michigan and her degree behind in place of chasing the dream in New York City. As legend has it she left with little more than a one way ticket to New York and $35 dollars in her pocket - an uncertain start to a career that would later be characterised by fame and fortune. Several years, various bands, and many casual jobs later, Madonna had a record deal with Sire Records. In 1982, her eponymous debut was released, giving birth to the hit singles ‘Lucky Star’, ‘Borderline’ and ‘Holiday’.

Madonna’s decision to move to New York may have seemed like a risk, but it was her confident nature, which helped ensure her success. Throughout her impressive career she has constantly re-invented her image and her sound, striving to cover new ground and to push new boundaries with each of her 11 studio albums. And although she constantly changed her sound, her popularity never wavered.

Madonna helped anticipate new trends in music and helped shape the tastes of audiences with each new release. For example, in 2006 Madonna released the dance ready Confessions on a Dance Floor, inspiring a resurgence in electronic music in America. Having sold in excess of 200 million records worldwide Madonna remains one of the most successful solo acts of all time. Madonna may not have invented pop itself, but she will always remain the Mother of re-invention.

She sings, because she can

Laura Marling's music is as rich as the soil from which her rootsy sound grew. A childhood spent lapping up Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell has nourished this young musician, helping her to grow into an observant and ripe folk musician in her own right.

Laura Marling sings with a strength and maturity that belies her age. A modern day Joni Mitchell, Marling released her debut album when she was just 18 years old. Hitting shelves in early 2008, Alas, I Cannot Swim went on to be nominated for the UK coveted Mercury Prize the same year. Now, two years on she’s back with her second album I Speak Because I Can (2010).

Effortlessly avoiding the sophomore slump, Marling has delivered a poignant, engaging and remarkably mature release. At only 20, she is arguably the most promising singer/songwriter to emerge in the past few years. Big things are expected from this misleadingly dainty talent.
Ever since she was thrust into the spotlight as a shy 18 year old, Laura Marling has borne the burden of expectation with surprising poise. This incredibly mature bearing however, is something that characterises all things about Marling, including, most obviously, her music. She sings in a voice husky with experience and writes lyrics weighed down with the knowledge of age.

At the same time, particularly on her second album, her music manages to sound youthful and fresh. I Speak Because I Can simultaneously combines a coming-of-age exuberance with the world-weariness of an old soul. Deceptively simple lyrics like “I tried to be a girl who likes to be used/I'm too good for that/There's a mind under this hat” capture this dichotomy at play. Here, Marling applies the frank and timeless style of folk lyricism to illustrate the foibles of life as a modern young woman.

Another beautifully simplistic element of Marling’s new album is its honesty. The record is steeped in sincerity, the hallmark of a true folk artist. But there’s restraint here too, and complexity. Whilst resoundingly melancholy I Speak Because I Can betrays Marling’s strength. Her sadness, anger and nostalgia are beautifully cloaked in melody and metaphor and delivered with whole-hearted conviction. True talent is clearly an ageless thing.

Real Good

12 years ago Blur’s Damon Albarn established a virtual band called Gorillaz. Now three albums in, what at first seemed like a quirky and ambitious side-project has eclipsed the success of his brit-pop days. This is particularly pertinent in the U.S., where the first two Gorillaz albums have outsold the entire Blur catalog. Read on to find out more…

Gorillaz may be a virtual band, but the music they make is more real than a lot of bands these days. Based on a concept cooked up by Damon Albarn, former front man of Britpop band Blur, the members of Gorillaz are four humanoid cartoon characters – 2D, Noodle, Russel and Murdoc. These cartoons, originally brought to life by English comic book artist Jamie Hewlett, are the front for a rotating cast of musicians and collaborators. Although this idea may seem like pure gimmick, there’s method to Albarn’s madness.

By distancing himself from the music he makes Albarn is ensuring audience attention is placed firmly on the music. Albarn, it would seem, believes the celebrity aspect of the business should take a back seat to the music. And although Gorillaz was formed 12 years ago in 1998, this issue of celebrity saturation has never been more pertinent. In a business consumed by image and ruled by the just-add-water pop stars of the Idol franchise (and similar spin-off shows) Gorillaz’s refreshing anti-image approach is laudable. By drawing attention away from the kind of stuff that keeps gossip columns afloat, Albarn has been able to concentrate on what he does best: making great music.

Aside from being the brains behind the Gorillaz concept, Albarn writes, produces, sings and plays most of the tunes. He’s also the one who lines up the cameo appearances. For the third and latest Gorillaz’s album Plastic Beach (2010) he assembled an impressive and eclectic mix of music heavy-weights. With artists as diverse as Snoop Dogg, De La Soul, Lou Reed, the Clash's Mick Jones and soul great Bobby Womack all making impressive appearances on the new record.

All these names are massive in the music industry – they’re celebrities – which, if you follow the logic behind Gorillaz should pose a threat to the band’s anti-image campaign. However, these artists were chosen for their talent, not their status, which is the premier concern of the Gorillaz aesthetic. It is important to clarify that Albarn does not reject celebrities. He’s simply critiquing the culture surrounding pop stars, where a greater emphasis tends to be placed on a band’s image rather than their music. Gorillaz is Albarn’s attempt to make music more about, well, music.

In short by hiding behind the Gorillaz façade, Albarn has been able to create daring, innovative and impressive music. The first Gorillaz release, a self-title affair, cleverly fused Brit-pop and hip-hop. At the time, the freedom of Gorillaz meant Albarn was no longer constrained by his Brit-pop image; he was now able to explore edgier forms of music like electronica and hip-hop. The album itself was a critical and commercial success having sold over 7 million copies worldwide and receiving praise from fans and critics alike.

Gorillaz sophomore release helped to further cement this virtual band’s very real credibility. Another Top Ten hit, Demon Days arrived in 2005. The album went double platinum in America and enjoyed even more success in the U.K.; it also received a host of Grammy nominations. That the latest Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach, isn’t as pop as the first two is testament to the fact that the band is still committed to credibility and innovation. In short, Damon Albarn is keeping it real.

Lost for words

If you think the terms ‘retro-art-rock’ and ‘British new-wave’ sound more like snippets of dialogue between two cardigan-clad characters sipping lattes and discussing music in an alternative romantic comedy than a comprehensible explanation of the music produced by Bloc Party, there’s hope for you yet.

Ever since they emerged in the mid-2000s, Bloc Party has been lumped into various different categories that attempt to describe their excellent sound. Keeping in mind music is a difficult thing to describe in the first place, as famous musician Elvis Costello once commented “writing about music is like dancing about architecture”, terms like ‘indie-rock’ and ‘post-punk’ do well to help describe a band like Bloc Party, but they fall short. Aside from that fact that terms like these imply an understanding of the history of music, they also fail to capture how innovative and original these lads are.

The fact that they initially struggled to settle on a name, changing it several times before settling on Bloc Party in 2003, says something more about this group than the fact that they’re a little indecisive. They couldn’t find an appropriate name simply because the music they produce is so fluid and genre-bending-blending it is hard to pin down. In the same way people have attempted to pin-point their sound by comparing them to a multitude of other bands. Although Bloc Party has been compared to bands as diverse as Radiohead, The Strokes, The Cure and Joy Division, they are far from derivative. They create music which is built simultaneously on innovation and appropriation, straddling the border of description and an undefinable experience.

As if they weren’t already evasive enough, Bloc Party’s three studio albums were all given titles that seem oddly inappropriate considering the music they contained. Their debut release, entitled Silent Alarm (2005), is anything but silent. It is a pulsing, sonically progressive and poignant album that demands attention. Their sophomore effort, Weekend In The City (2007), didn’t conjure the sunny sounds or breezy beats of a weekend away. It was a gloomy, politically charged and challenging recording that was far from a holiday. Their latest release entitled Intimacy (2008) explores the bitterness, loss and betrayal associated with breaking-up in a very distant fashion. The use of staccato, thumping beats and happy vocals obscure the fragility and honesty of the often highly personal lyrics. The contradictory names Bloc Party chose to give their albums was a deliberate and self-conscious acknowledgement of the fact that their sound is difficult to describe.

It seems the best way to understand Bloc Party’s music is to forget context, ignore music terminology and go straight to the heart of the experience. Just like the pounding rhythm of a troupe of soldiers marching forth into battle, their footsteps echoing in time with the beat of a drum, the rhythm fill on the opener of Bloc Party’s debut album, ‘Like Eating Glass’, is deliberately set too loud to command attention. The rest of the tracks on the album seethe with a sense of desperation that bleeds throughout the lyrics, the driven, frenzied drum and guitar sections and the fragile, angry vocals. This is how Bloc Party introduced themselves to the world, as a band built on a sense of exhilaration and drama, a group of musicians worthy of attention. Although their next two recordings were sonically very different, they still captivated their signature sound; a sound which is consistently progressive and evades description.

Bloc Party, with their unique blend of genres and their inventive, intelligent approach, produce a sound which is ultimately destined to get lost somewhere between the performance and the listeners ears. But don’t take my word for it, listen to this British four piece and you’ll discover their music speaks for itself.

Boy, oh boy!

Forget the dreamy stares and saccharine melodies of popular all boy outfits like the Backstreet Boys; there’s a new style of all boy band in town. These new kids on the block have traded the matching melodies and outfits of boy band boomers from the 90’s like NSYNC and 98 Degrees for skinny jeans and catchy rock hooks. These days, bands like The Kooks are the new kooky kings of the pop music charts.

To say that The Kooks are a boy band is not to say that they belong to the same family of music as the infamous lad bands of the 90’s. The fact is they not only belong to separate decades, they also produce vastly different music. Although there is no one definitive definition of the boy band genre that has become synonymous with groups like the Backstreet Boys, there are certain trends which many of these all boy bands exemplified.

Not only did boy band groups of the 90’s appear to have hoards of screaming female teens following them round the globe, they also tended to incorporate dance moves into their routines to accompany the requisite sweet harmonies of a repertoire composed mainly of heartfelt ballads. In 2008, bands with all male line-ups like the Kooks are ditching the squeaky-clean look and pop-flavoured lyrics that cluttered the charts in the 90’s and are opting for an edgier take on popular music. As Luke Pritchard, the lead singer of the Kooks said in an interview with The Guardian, “My whole thing, when we started the band, was that I wanted to bring back great pop music. Soulful pop”.

Although bands like the Backstreet Boys and the newly re-formed New Kids on The Block are still hanging round the neighbourhood of the pop charts, this isn’t the point. By looking at the shift in style that has occurred from the Backstreet Boys to the Kooks, you can observe a shift in mainstream taste. There are still plenty of all boy bands creeping their way up the charts these days, it’s just that they’re less likely to be singing sweet melodies, and more likely to be rocking out with guitars.

Naming themselves after a song from David Bowie’s 1971 Hunky Dory album called ‘Kooks’, the British boys of the Kooks certainly are the new pretty things of the pop charts. Their debut album Inside In/Inside Out sold over two million copies worldwide and peaked at the number two spot on the UK Albums Chart. Building on this success their latest release 2008’s Konk debuted at number one in Britain. Their bright pop sound is also making waves in America, coming in just shy of a top 40 position peaking at number 41 on the Billboard charts.

With Konk these cheeky, self-effacing lads have made popular music that is at once bold and bubbly, and the only ballads in sight, like the acoustic ‘All Over Town’, are backed with a scruffy rock sound. Infectious sing a long’s like ‘Shine On’ and the debut single off the album ‘Always Where I Need To Be’, which peaked at number 22 on the Billboard charts, are helping to ensure that popular all boy groups are sounding more like the Beatles than the Backstreet Boys these days.

Folk you!

The 1960’s was an era that saw an attitude of peace, love and flower-power waft through the western world like a cloud of sweet smelling incense. It was also a decade which heralded the popularisation of folk music. Artists like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell crooned fables like they were telling camp fire stories, igniting the imaginations of audiences worldwide. Their distinct brand of lyric driven song-writing paid little regard to the fixed rhythm and structure of the rock and blues song-writers before them, and would become a crucial element of the now familiar folk-song. Now, over four decades on, a new crop of similar yarn-spinning singers are emerging. Regina Spektor, Adele and Feist are reinventing the folk song. No longer lit by the light of a campfire these ladies are narrating their urban tales by the flickering glow of an electric light.

That’s where it all began for Kate Nash, the self-confessed story-teller and the latest crooner to hit the charts… bed ridden with a guitar in hand crafting tunes by the glowing light of her laptop. Kate has already reached number 2 on the British charts with her debut single, Foundations, which was outstripped only by the success of her debut album Made Of Bricks which reached number 1 in Britian. This 20-year old Londoner is one of the freshest singer song-writers around and she went from nowhere to number one like the flick of a switch.

Leading up to the biggest ‘break’ of her life, Kate had previously harboured aspirations of an acting career. Having studied acting at the BRIT School, the free performing arts school in London supported by the British Record Industry Trust, little did she know that her future would hold more similarities with BRIT school alumni like Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen and Adele.

Kate, who learnt to play guitar and piano as a child, finished school and promptly auditioned for Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. An extremely talented performer, it was clear she was destined to grace the stage, but not in the way she had planned. The day she received the letter informing her she had not been accepted into acting school; Kate fell down a flight of stairs and broke her foot. This seemingly cruel twist on the theatre tradition of wishing an actor to ‘break a leg’ before entering the stage, was actually just the lucky break she needed.

She was immobilised for three weeks and with ample time to think and not much else to do Kate picked up the electric guitar her parents gave her as a get-well-soon present, and quickly discovered she could use the power of observation that her acting skills had taught her to write songs. She soon recorded and posted these monologues in song on the social networking site, MySpace. Kate then sent the link to her music to fellow songstress, Lily Allen, who was immediately hooked by the frank and simple songs she heard. Lily Allen then posted a prominent link to Kate’s music on her page. Lily’s praise earned her an instant fan base and very soon after, a record deal followed. Kate was hailed by the press as a product of the MySpace age.

Despite being instrumental in ensuring her success, MySpace merely gave Kate Nash a way of reaching people with her music. Idiosyncratic, honest and filled with vivid images, her songs are instantly endearing. She croons witty and wry stories of love and heartache with all the candour of a diary entry. Set against a simple musical backdrop that shifts between pretty piano and low-fi string and guitar sections Kate’s lyrics upstage the other elements at play in all twelve songs on her debut Made Of Bricks.

Kate’s work is often criticised for its simplistic, thrown together quality, but just like Joni and Regina before her, Kate’s quirkiness and her stories are what win you over. Kitted up in brightly coloured vintage dresses she croons her everyday fables, sweet and simple songs filled with personality rather than polish. Kate Nash may not be wearing a tie-died dress, but she’s singing still her own version of folk.