Who would have thought a few years ago that the Locomotion girl would follow in Madonna’s tracks and manage to reinvent herself and actually become hot property again? She did team up with Nick Cave on Where the Wild Roses Grow, yes, but otherwise, her early attempts at a renaissance failed miserably.
Then she amazed everyone with her funky disco-pop album Light Years, which hit the shelves, music charts and dance floors last year. The album’s success shunted her into pop-princess status once more. Now she follows up with Fever (EMI), a groovy collection of dancey beats and sexy singing. The highlight of the album is doubtlessly the first single, Can’t Get You Out of My Head, with its simple but completely irresistible bassline and catchy lyrics — a track set to become one of those huge summer hits.
She revisits the disco vibe on tracks like opener More, More, More, and gets funky on the title track and Love at First Sight.
It’s all very lightweight, sure, but the album works very well as a collection of fun party tracks. Just don’t take it too seriously, because despite all its perky playfulness, the album doesn’t really leave a lasting impression.
Fuel: Something Like Human (Sony)
The second album from this band right out of the Creed stable of heavy-rock-but-not-quite-metal, moving craftily between melodic choruses and driving riffs. Not revolutionary, but still a satisfying listen. — Riaan Wolmarans
Standfast: Standfast (EMI)
Sweden has a knack for producing hit pop outfits and this duo, Suzanne Mosson and Patrick Tucker (who has also written songs for 98 Degrees and Ronan Keating), is no exception. It’s laid-back, melodic and gentle — the opener and hit single Carcrashes is a good example of what to expect from the rest of the album — but it’s versatile, too, with dancey beats coming up on tracks like Be My Sun. The lyrics are not just empty pop rhymes — even the Internet and Bill Gates are addressed alongside the expected love and relationship material. — Riaan Wolmarans
Way Out West: Intensify (Distinctive)
Bristol-based Nick Warren and Jody Wisternoff team up as Way Out West to brings us an enjoyable dance voyage on their second album, featuring plenty of atmospheric melodies and floaty female vocals that make it catchy without being cheesy, with delectable trip-hop flavours here and there. It kicks off with The Fall, which samples Coldcut over a flowing trancey beat. The seven-minute Secret starts with flowing chants and then moves seamlessly into a lose-yourself-in-it beat, and it comes to an end with the excellent, two-part Intensify. Play it at six in the morning when everyone’s tired of the heavier stuff. — Riaan Wolmarans