Niki N. Phaser

              Well, we can all sigh with relief, Manic Street Preachers are brave enough to do a follow-up to their Richey Edwards written album, Journal for Plague Lovers. In a letter to fans posted on their official website, the three Manics are talking about working on new material: “We have been writing/demoing in Cardiff, songs, ideas and coffee have been flowing”. They also mentioning the movies and the music they are currently into, but that’s less important.

             Some reports say that the working title is It’s Not War – Just the End of Love, which sounds pretty Wire-esque (I mean, it’s long enough). It will be the band’s tenth album and it will have the difficult task of following this year’s acclaimed Journal for Plague Lovers, which has the Manics feature in about every Best Albums of 2009 Top there is. And they deserve it, no doubt about it. If you still wonder why…

Question Time

    2010 comes with the promise of new talent, as all years, for that matter. One lady we should keep an eyelid on is Marina Diamandis aka Marina And The Diamonds, whose debut album, The Family Jewels will grace us on February 15. And if you’re wondering what’s with all the excitement, just listen to Hollywood, the single which gives us a taste of what’s to come. Despite Marina’s voice sounding more suitable for 90′s feminist grunge, Hollywood is the perfect upbeat new-wavey pop pill, with plenty of wink sarcasm (“Oh, my gawwwd, you look just like Shakira”) to differentiate it from the r’n'b pop we are used to. Another omen (or is it a clue?) is the fact that Hollywood‘s video is directed by Kinga Burza, who just so happens was the author of Katy Perry’s video for I Kissed a Girl. It’s also cool that Marina looks her Greek/Welsh origins, so maybe we’ll get our generation’s very own Irene Papas. It woun’t be long now till ‘we’re all obsessed with the (beautiful) mess that’s Marina’…

See What I’m Talking About

           Well, I have to say I stand corrected… After complaining that Placebo have a well-defined singles M.O., I’m pleased to see that the recently EMA Best Alternative winners have decided to take a slightly new direction by choosing Bright Lights as their new single from Battle for the Sun.

            It’s one of Placebo’s more  (if not the most) upbeat and bright-sounding tracks and they haven’t got too many of those, at least, not in such a mainstream sense of the word. Besides being a different sounding Placebo, Bright Lights is also an interesting lyrical work for Brian Molko. Thematically, this is for him what Ashes to Ashes was to Bowie — a cynical and ironic look at his “crazy livin”’. It feels as if, for the first time, he doesn’t hide behind a character anymore and acknowledges his real life persona, expressing regret over the choices he has made (speaking a lot about his life in the early days, thus distracting the attention from the music).

             The Heroes for Zeroes-directed video is also in tune with the song, as it starts with a dark setting only to end with Placebo playing on a background of blue skies — the journey from darkness to light that Battle for the Sun supposedly embodies. The single version of the song is slightly different than the album, as it features backing vocals by Val Etienne & Hazel Fernandes (Kylie Minogue, Jamiroquai).

BRIGHT LIGHTS VIDEO