Category: Pop

Fairground – Simply Red

Right yes yes Happy New Year Happy New Year now let’s get on with it.

My first post of 2025 is my top played song of 2024. And it happens to be a song from 1995. Fairground. The dulcet tones of Mick Hucknall, a truly anthemic chorus, plus an arresting samba beat (originally Sergio Mendes’, via The Goodmen). Lovely stuff.

Shout out to the team at Balearic London for reawakening my love for this one on the dancefloor.

Sad Girl – TSHA

Sad Girl, TSHA’s second album, is out today. In 40 minutes the 12 tracks give you an updated take on the sounds of noughties dance and R&B. Modern sounds infused with nostalgia (or maybe the other way round).

Despite its glossy veneer, the release deals with TSHA’s feelings of loneliness and depression. The artwork is inspired by a nightmare in which she fell through the ice of a frozen lake. But in both the visuals and in the audio, we see and hear a human and an artist coming to terms with herself and her art.

And look, it’s a lot of fun. My two picks are Drive and Sweet Devotion (which sounds v. good in a club by the way).

Brooklyn Heat (Feat. Andreya Triana) – Quantic

I’ve been loving this one for almost a year now, since its release last November. It has a infectious little refrain that will, mark my words, get you going “Wooh! Yeah!”

Andreya Triana is one of my all-time favourite vocalists, and she is smattered all over Quantic’s latest album Dancing While Falling. As Wordplay put it, expect “sunkissed guitar licks, breezy percussion and… luxurious vocals”. Here is the full release.

Fairytale of New York (Feat. Kirsty MacColl) – The Pogues

What’s the best Christmas song you ask? Well there’s only one correct answer, and that’s Fairytale of New York*. In a genre ridden with turkeys, this one is a king. That’s right, you heard me, a king amongst turkeys.

https://open.spotify.com/track/3VTNVsTTu05dmTsVFrmGpK?si=31ea101cf5e44846

RIP Shane MacGowan. Here is a link to an obit. It’s worth a read because he was, by all accounts, an utter mentalist.

*Feel free to put your incorrect answers in the comments box.

Hollywood (Jacques Lu Cont’s Thin White Duck Remix) – Madonna

A couple of week’s ago I had the absolute pleasure of being at the opening night of Madonna’s Celebration Tour. Production levels were off the charts. If you get the chance to go to one of the remaining legs, I can’t stress enough that you should make it happen. The show made the most of her insanely rich back-catalogue with hit after hit. She’s an amazing performer, and it was an amazing show.

For today’s track we are rewinding to 2003, and a grinding, nasty remix of Hollywood by Jacques le Cont (aka Les Rythmes Digitales, real name Stuart Price). The speed is lifted and the drones are amplified, giving the track a new, dark energy. Interestingly, this was the version of the track that Madonna performed during the MTV Video Awards. After this remix, Price went onto work as a producer on Confessions of a Dancefloor amongst other collaborations with Madonna.

Bonus track: it wasn’t easy to pick, but this was my highlight from the show.

Jai Paul

Something a bit different today: a video feature on the re-emergence of Jai Paul on the excellent Resident Advisor youtube. They put it out in the run-up to his first ever live show, at Coachella. Apparently his performance didn’t quite live up to the hype, but you best believe he has more to offer the world.

More Jai? You can find his remix of Jungle Drum here and Do You Love Her Now / He here.