"The secrets that everybody guesses" by Joan Vickers

Beverly Craven did it once and Katie Melua pulled the same trick... Being succesfull without having a noticable talent, I mean. Looking sweet is apparently enough to sell records.
With that in mind someone tries to launch the innocent Joan Vickers and with a bit of dumb luck (literally!) that might even work. "The secrets that everybody guesses" is a collection of harmless songs without taste nor smell.
And looking at the number of sold copies of her debut single "See me" I'ld rather look in the other direction. (That is, if Vickers wouldn't look that good. ;-) ).

"The secrets that everybody guesses" by Joan Vickers

"Situation Comedy" by Chotia Weedhopper

They are loud like Metallica, they're blunt like Status Quo, they're hilarious like Iron Maiden, but first of all Chotia Weedhopper is simply Chotia Weedhopper. And most important of all, they have something most other hardrock bands lack: a sence of humour.
Although all their albums all sound alike, this fourth CD by the name of Situation Comedy tells exactly what it is. It's about enjoying yourself without taking yourself too serious.
And if that makes a lot of noise, that's too bad...

"Situation Comedy" by Chotia Weedhopper

"No Hables Ingles" by Vouillé 2 Sèvres

You have to go a long way back to remember the Australian band Flash & the Pan, the American collective by the name of Deaf School or the Belgian project called The honeymoon Killers...

They all had in common that the musical genre they played never really mattered and that they had a lovely tongue-in-cheek tone in their lyrics.
The French quintet Vouillé 2 Sèvre has the same attitude and their debut album is hilarious. They sing in French, Algerian, Turkish and German. They don't speak Spanish (as mentioned in the title) but for that matter they don't speak Russian, Indonesian or Servo-Croatian either. Do listen to the single "Manche Maenner moegen Maedchen" and the title track. But equally good are "Bonjour concours" (a vivid song about Idols-like talent shows) and "Vaya" (a ironical song about welcoming strange cultures)...

"No Hables Ingles" by Vouillé 2 Sèvres

"Our worst enemy" by Klump

Klump started of as a one-man-project. Jonathan Strikers wrote fragile songs and recorded them (Oh my god, here we go again!) in his bedroom. But he became so succesfull with his debut album that he had to tour. Therefor he formed a band, and since then they've been on the road.
Meanwhile the five piece band has been writing new songs and "Our worst enemy" is the result. The CD became a convincing continuation of the millionselling "At first".
This collection is still stuffed with very charming songs, but I hear more instruments, I hear more voices, I hear more arrangements but above all I hear an inspired band playing with a lot of joy.
Get this album!

"Our worst enemy" by Klump

"A promising life" by Anisoara Cusmir

Anisoara Cusmir is angry. She's very angry. And she's got good reasons to be angry. She was born in East-Germany behind the Iron Curtain. Although she's originally from Çekoslovakya.
She knows what poverty is and what it does to you. Her parents divorced when she was only a child and she is constantly thorn between two parents. So her debut album with the cynical title "A promising life" is filled with anger. It's rather a depressing album but if you keep listening to it you'll discover that there's a warm heart beating somewhere under all this negativity.

"A promising life" by Anisoara Cusmir

"Find the truth" by Jackson Bird

I don't think there's a need for another Amy Winehouse, another Adele or another Duffy, but obviously I'm mistaken because here yet another soul vocalist, by the name of Jackson Bird (it seems she gets really pissed of when you call here a bird). Her debut album "Find the truth" sounds like -well, I'm sorry but she does sound like Amy and Duffy.

It's a reasonable good album, not really original, but she's got a good voice, good songs and -equally important- good looks. But this record might be forgotten after a couple of spins. A shame...

"Find the truth" by Jackson Bird

"The Velvet Underground & Nico" by The Velvet Underground & Nico

About the first album by The Velvet Underground Wikipedia says: "...was originally released in March 1967. Recorded in 1966 during Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable Multimedia Event Tour, The Velvet Underground & Nico would gain notoriety for its experimentalist performance sensibilities, as well as its focus on controversial subject matter expressed in many of their songs."

Talking about inevitable multimedia, ...I've seen animated Stone Age families use a banana for a telephone conversation but I have the slight impression that a mobile phone is a lot more effective.



"The Velvet Underground & Nico" by The Velvet Underground & Nico

"What can't be done" by The Utah Transit Authority

Utah Transit Authority has a huge following for such a young band. They're not fashionable (those beards!), they have a dozen of oldfashioned songs and they sound as if they were born in the sixties.

But maybe that's exactly the reason why they are so popular. I wonder how long this hype and success will last.

I have to admit though that they sound cheerfull and happy. If that ain't positive...

"What can't be done" by The Utah Transit Authority

"Nothing in the world is permanent" by Cimmeria

Cimmeria resides somewhere between the urban rock of Vampire Weekend and the urban pop of the Kaiser Chiefs. "Nothing in the world is permanent" is frivolous, is funny, is bouncy and is powerfull. This album bursts of energy. And yes... Mick Rowend's singing isn't always stable, and the guitars aren't always ...euh, "in tune" but thje songs are saved by the energetic drummimg of Kevin Moore.
Hit it, Kev'.

"Nothing in the world is permanent" by Cimmeria