2013's Ten Best Pop Songs

Of course, you know, this is Mama Kath so this list is not tracks you heard on the radio this year.  They were not millions sellers.  They will not be nominated for Grammys, AMAs or have a shot at an MTV moonman.  Nope, this is the truly GREAT pop music that the industry does not want you to know exists.  They want you to keep believing the drek they promote is quality art.  IT'S NOT SO WAKE UP!  Fire up Spotify and lets do this.

10)  "The Best Thing (That Never Happened) We Are The In Crowd.  This band is another that stands to take on Paramore and win.  Fun, dance and in your face.

9)  "Give Me Your Hand" remixes.  This was the only way I could legally get The Ready Set into 2013 releases.  This is an artist that is way under-rated.  Jordan is everything Justin Bieber can only hope to be.  He writes his own music and sings it live.  The guy OWNS a stage and an audience.

8)  "Cool Kids" from Echosmith's debut album "Talking Dreams" is a great pop song.  This is a band with some super potential.  After a full run on Vans Warped Tour this summer, they got to play Nickelodeon/TeenNick's Top10 Countdown for New Year's.  Echosmith is a family act from L.A. that is genuine competition for Paramore and Katy Perry.

7)  "I Still Dream" from Young London's 2013 release "Instincts".  These two do an amazing job taking techno dance out of the studio and performing it live.  I dare anyone who goes to one of their shows to stand still.  Sarah and Matt have perfect synergy and are such a fantastic musical team.

6)  "Get Lucky" Daft Punk were another group that came back in 2013 with killer material.  This song was the product of the full-house collab between the robots, wunderkind Pharell Williams and guitar legend, Nile Rodgers.  There was no way this song couldn't be a great pop track. All the collaborations on this record were genius.

5)  "Savior" and "Geisha Dance" by Ricky Rebel.  Two singles released from his upcoming "Blue" album.  This guy has such a solid grasp on pop music and his creative eye should have him everywhere.  His music videos are beautifully theatrical and his sound engineering is impeccable.  I can't decide between these two tracks.

4)  "Benny and Joon" William Beckett's "Genuine and Counterfeit".  This guy was totally on to it as far as phenomenal pop right out of the gate with The Academy Is...  He found his stride again immediately in his first solo release last year and it just keeps getting better.  Beckett also has a hard, steel grip on social media and is using every bit of it to his advantage including the new Stage-It site.  He is touring starting in February with another favorite, previously mentioned, We Are The In Crowd.

3)  "Girls/Girls/Boys" Panic at The Disco "Too Weird To Live-Too Rare To Die".  This album is brilliant but I wouldn't expect less from Brendon Uri.  I picked this track due to it's balls.  The lyrics play with subject matter that is in the headlines and deals with it fearlessly.  The video is even more fearless.

2)  "Fight or Flight" off Sam Sparro's EP Quantum Physical Vol. 1 is that smooth Sparro I love so much.  But honestly I don't think Sam can do a bad song.  This whole EP is on loop often.  The rest of this EP series is highly anticipated and should just keep giving us more killer Sam.

1)  "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'Em Up)" Fall Out Boy.  This song is so anthemic.  Fall Out Boy came back with a vengence in 2013.  They closed this year by performing at the Victoria's Secret fashion show.  They are far from done smashing the pop-punk world.

2014 has a lot more great pop to look forward to.  Feel free to weigh in with your choices.  Nothing from mainstream though.  People already know who the industry is pushing.  Look behind the curtain, beyond the smoke and mirrors.

Sam Sparro is spreading holiday love and cheer

Grab a mug or glass of your favorite holiday cheer, put on your dancing shoes and turn up Sam Sparro's addition to this season's collection of new pop songs.  Teaming up with Lexus for their "December To Remember" sales event, Sparro took their signature "music box" jingle and whipped that sucker into something that is pure Sam.  It has funk, synth and that awesome vocal.  But.."Wait!" you say.  "The commercial only gives a tease of the chorus".  'Tis true.  Only those of us who know Sparro's voice and/or saw his previews on Facebook and Twitter of behind-the-scenes stills and links to the ads on YouTube knew it was our favorite Aussie-English-Californian pop star.

Ah.  But on Tuesday 12/10 Lexus released the full music video and the complete track was posted to Sam's Soundcloud.  This morning Spotify added it to their catalog.  And it is another knock out of the park.  Infectious, fun and full of all those holiday sentiments.  This is one I want to hear on all the mall muzaks when I go do my shopping.  It's also a great addition for all those parties we'll be attending.  People will definitely be dancing to it for sure.

Learn more about Sam Sparro:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sam-Sparro/20672524168
http://www.samsparro.com
http://twitter.com/sam_sparro
http://www.youtube.com/artist/sam-sparro

His new EP "QUANTUM PHYSICAL VOLUME ONE OUT NOW AVAILABLE ON iTunes!!!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/quantum-physical-vol.-1-ep/id715160042

Best pop...Daft Punk sets off chain reaction

Let's start with Daft Punk as pop.  Really?  Well yeah.  The first thing I think of when I think pop is the dance music. The next thing is a whole lot of strong hooks.  Daft Punk draws from the very heart and roots of disco.  In the 70's Donna Summer, George McCrae, The Village People, and Gloria Gaynor were blaring out of our car radios all the time.  4-on-the-floor was the beat of the day.  Daft Punk builds on those models then replaces old Moogs with all manner of current electronic manipulation.

It was no stretch for the French duo to call on geniuses Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers to work with them on "Get Lucky", the first single from the new album "Random Access Memories" which drops next week.  Now this is a track that will see radio play because Pharell is one of corporate radio's latest sweethearts.  But will it get more people listening to Daft Punk?  Will future tracks from the record see any attention?  That remains to be seen.  One thing I will project is that the album does make the Billboard Top5 in its first week due to the size of Daft Punk's fanbase.

But back to "Get Lucky".  On the surface I kind of wanted to hate it because it is just more of the same thing that is currently on terrestrial radio.  The lyrics have no meat or potatoes, just a lot of sexual fluff.  But then I realized when I'm dancing in a club I don't want some deep human condition message coming through the speakers.  I want to dance and "Get Lucky" will get people doing just that.  My other disappointment is Pharell's vocals.  Very thin.  I love all the signature DP elements and Nile's guitar line shines through bringing funk with a real pedigree.  But again, the vocal just gets lost.

Then..........

Other artists started covering the song before it even hit the terrestrial airwaves.  Heck, it's an easy enough track to play with.  Thankfully it wasn't long before one of my favorite artists who already has Nile Rodgers collab cred grabbed this song by the hair at the back of its neck and dragged it kicking and screaming into his studio, beat the shit out of it and came out with THIS:




YES!! Sam Sparro needs to do a lot more of this.

So this week's recommendations for "best pop not on the radio"?  The entire Daft Punk catalog and Sam Sparro once again (and always).

Also watch Nile's episode of the "Random Access Memories" Collaborators Series here:
http://www.randomaccessmemories.com/

He states exactly what I started this post with "They went back to go forward". Nile is also working with La Roux on her new record. I adore this man.

Don't forget to order Daft Punk's new album next week or buy a digital download.  The robots will not disappoint.

www.daftpunk.com
www.samsparro.com
www.nilerodgers.com

Great pop music you won't hear on the radio-Sam Sparro

For my first recommendation I give you Sam Sparro.  Live, this man will send you out the door dancing, singing, and filled to the brim with all the joy that he can't contain.  He is a gentle soul with a fierce vision for his music.  He goes into his own studio, using his own instrumental and engineering talent and writes songs that make you feel.  For live performances he works with incredibly talented musicians and singers.  Personally I'm a huge fan of Vula who is this tiny vocal powerhouse.  Her textures and tones combined with Sam's are magical.  Plus the two of them just have so much fun together on stage.  Actually the whole band has a blast.  All of them are smiling the whole time.  Sam is infectious and the audience can't resist him.  They are all dancing by the end of the first song.

Before the new album "Return To Paradise", if you said Sam Sparro" most people would say, "Who?"  But you'd get a bit more recognition if you said "Black and Gold" from his self-titled debut album which was released on Universal Island in 2008.  Black and Gold became a club dance favorite.  "Sam Sparro" is very electronic and upbeat album for the most part.  One of the things I love about Sam is that he can tell a darker story but put it with a "happy" melody so people get a nice, easily digestible version of the message. It kind of seeps into the cracks and you come around later and see that there are things you need to process and become part of the solution.

In sophomore album "Return To Paradise" Sparro continues with that "joy infused" sound but also adds some funk to it.  As with most great new pop artists, he's been up against it in the U.S.  The album dropped in Europe months before its American release.  Two singles have been released; "Happiness" and "I Wish I Never Met You" which also included highly polished music videos.  Sam likes to play with his resemblance to 1940's and 50's matinee mobsters and heartthrobs in both videos.  There's definite nods to Ziegfield, Cagney, Selznick and Gable.

Sam has also had the opportunity to expand on the funk that has been running through him, working for a second time with fellow pop artist and friend Adam Lambert on his sophomore album resulting in the song "Shady".  Goofing around about improving the guitar line on the track they joked about tweeting funk legend Nile Rodgers to lay down some riffs.  The tweet was answered with a very enthusiastic response from Rodgers.  In the middle of the hectic schedule to master and release "Trespassing", Lambert jetted to NYC and spent a full day in Rodger's Manhattan studio overseeing the recording.  It would be eight months before all three musicians were able to come together on the same stage and perform the song live.  As one who was fortunate enough to be in the Hammerstein Ballroom that evening, trust me, it was THE BEST performance of that song to date.  The event also gave Sam some time to express his thoughts about working more with young people and the issues he and Lambert face in mainstream pop music due to their sexuality.  Both artists have been publicly out since before launching their music careers.

I've had the honor to not only interview Sam Sparro but to meet him.  He is one of the most intelligent, interesting, genuinely happy and humble people I know.  I've seen him perform for an audiences as small as about 75 to over 800.  He puts on a great show no matter who or how many he plays for.

For more on Sam Sparro visit http://samsparro.com/  and friend him on Facebook, follow him on Twitter and add him to your Vevo playlist.  You can find Sam on Spotify and if you like what you hear you can purchase his music on iTunes and Amazon.  If he is touring in your area, definitely get out to one of his shows.  Trust me, you'll become a fan and an addict.