Halloween Hit: Toto Coelo - Dracula's Tango

"Dracula, I'm a sucker for your love"

Any Halloween track that opens with a creaking door is okay with me. This was the follow-up to Toto Coelo's only big hit, I Eat Cannibals. It did little on the charts, but for a kitschy holiday track, it's kind of brilliant. I love this kind of overdramatic, uber-poppy novelty stuff. I'm all for your Monster Mashes and Thrillers, but add this to you Halloween mix this year and really impress your friends with your knowledge of obscure pop music!



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy the track here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Icona Pop - We Got The World

"We're just living life and we never stop"

Icona Pop burst on the scene this year with their breakout single I Love It. That's still one of the best tracks of 2012, but it's time to move onto a follow-up. We Got The World is not quite as aggressively performed, but it does borrow the sing/shout style we've grown accustomed to from the girls. This is more of a dance track, and slightly more conventional because of it. Still, it bridges the gap well from the unfiltered statement-of-intent that was I Love It to something more mainstream. But more than that, Icona Pop represents a new hope for me. Sweden used to be my number one go-to country for new, exciting pop music. However, the past couple years very little exported from the country has really caught my imagination. I'm hoping a band like Icona Pop paves the way for more upcoming artists to follow in the big footsteps of folks like Robyn, the Ark and Melody Club (to name only a very few!).



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy the EP (which unfortunately doesn't feature this song) here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Reece Mastin - Beautiful Nightmare

"She keeps me up all night"

Unfortunately, this season of X-Factor Australia has kind of devolved into a boring non-event, particularly after one of their best contestants inexplicably left the competition and the should-have-been-winners were voted off in a "shock" elimination in week two. But, putting that all aside, last year's competition was awesome. The main reason was Reece Mastin, who won the season and was pretty much predetermined to since his first audition. Some things are just that obvious, and Mastin's vocals, charisma and style are something the show was very, very lucky to have. Now, after a string of successful (and good) singles, he's finally released his debut album (his covers cd last year doesn't count). It's chock full of harmless, but addictive, punk/pop/rock and this, the title track, is one of the best examples of his brand of music. Actually, this kind of reminds me of the final material from another Aussie band, Short Stack. Not bad at all.



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy the album here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Matt Cardle - It's Only Love (7th Heaven Radio Edit)

"You don't have to fall, lean on me"

Not only is this an absolute revelation, but it's also the single biggest musical surprise of the year. I severely disliked Matt Cardle on series 7 of X-Factor UK, where he came in first over acts like One Direction, Cher Lloyd and Rebecca Ferguson. I wasn't alone in this dislike, as Cardle's winner's album died a quick death on the charts while all three runners up have been amongst the most successful acts ever to come out of the series. Even though I never cared for Cardle's perceived bad attitude or complete lack of presence, what I could at least admire were his vocals. Now, with this remix of his new single, those vocals have finally been put to brilliant, downright soul-stirring use. This track sounds exactly like I wish the Delays still sounded (and would fit in quite nicely on their 2006 album, You See Colours). Cardle simply has the voice for dance music. It's powerful, androgynous and textured. I'd count this as being in the top five singles to come out of that year of X-Factor, and that's saying something considering he was one of my least favorite contestants of the series. Drop your preconceptions and listen.



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Preorder the album here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.