Rated Capitals.

The first time I heard Capitals I instantly thought of The XX, Beirut and some other, folksier sounding bands/artists. They are, however, not in the slightest bit folksy. Capitals are an electronic-pop outfit that veers just far enough away from mainstream to beam with originality. With Angus Carbarns on vocals and Keir MacCulloch twiddling the knobs, this two-piece is as fitted as a fine Armani suit.  

The tracks that are available on their official Myspace page are quite startling. “Hello World” is a fitting introduction, with its up-tempo, pulsing beat and electronic-dance vibe. It’s on ‘A Specter is Haunting Europe’ that we’re really indulged. Sounding like a new-age Soft Cell production, this is where the duo really glistens. “Where are we? We’re lost at sea, we’ve lost our war, we’ve lost our life...” sings Carbarns, his vocals intensely ‘haunting’. The build up to the first chorus is spine tingling and quite unexpected, as the track bursts into a luminescent electro euphoria (due to MacCulloch’s expertise, no doubt). Other highlights from the band’s catalogue are ‘The Grace’, ‘Walking Life’ and ‘Hands Divided’. ‘Walking Life’ is a dream of a song, with violins playing softly in the background, amidst an array of synths. It has a playful chorus, and at times Carbarns sounds like a less shaky Marcus Mumford. ‘Hands Divided’ begins sounding like an XX album cut, but swiftly maneuvers to being (by this point) an identifiable Capitals record.

With the combined effort of these two, clearly, gifted and aspiring men, there’s no doubt in my mind that they will go far. There’s plenty space for them in the industry right now, what with the orgasm of female vocals that is dominating air time. Maybe Capitals can be the ones to break through this and subsequently take some truly brilliant music across the country.

Rated Recommended - You Lost Me.

After a racy performance on the Xfactor final, Christina Aguilera saw a huge boost in sales, especially for her soundtrack to debut feature film/musical Burlesque. With any luck these sales will transfer to her latest studio effort, Bionic, which proved impotent in the race for platinum. However, the second single from said album, 'You Lost Me' should have made some chart impact, with its stripped back production and lyrical beauty.

It may not have the 'oomph' that made 'Beautiful' and 'The Voice Within' huge hits and huge vocal showcases, but 'You Lost Me' is a lovely little song. "It feels like our world's been infected and somehow you left me neglected", whispers a restrained Christina. I say restrained because there are few growls from the diva on this ballad, her vocals seeming a bit 'held back'. It sounds great, but I can't help but feel that she wasn't really there when recording this potential belter. Things pick up toward the end (as they always do) and it's nice not to have to keep up with her vocal gymnastics, but it would have been good to take a bullet when listening to this one.

3.5/5

Rated Flashback - A Strange Education.

The Cinematics debut album A Strange Education is a glorious venture into contemporary rock music. With brilliantly written and produced tracks like ‘Break’, ‘Keep Forgetting’ and ‘Human’, the band should have been propelled into the higher echelons with the likes of Kings of Leon. Though they aren’t stadium rockers, the band has achieved much. A key example being their performance on American talk show ‘Jimmy Kimmel’, a show that has hosted performances from superstars like Eminem and Lady GaGa. 

The highlight from their debut outing is the exhilarating ‘A Strange Education’, a song that takes epic moments from other bands and stomps all over them like CoCo Chanel stabbing her 6” heel into a Primark Ugg. Sounding a bit like a less gritty Paul Banks (Interpol), lead singer Scott Rinning’s stunning voice glides through with ease. With its immense vocals, huge chorus, and intense build up, this is a song that needs to be heard by everyone. 

5/5

Rated Solveig et Dragonette.

Having worked together before on the catchy as hell ‘Boys and Girls’ in 2009, French DJ/Producer Martin Solveig and Synth-pop fox Dragonette are reunited on new single ‘Hello’. It sounds like a summer dance anthem, with Solveig’s fresh production and Dragonette’s unique and intriguing vocals going together like me and a Burberry trench coat. I hope this collaboration gets some strong airplay, even if just to gain Dragonette some of the media attention she sorely deserves.

Rated Nyah.

With Ms. Dynamite absent, Alesha Dixon’s music career flopping about like a harpooned halibut, and N-Dubz being decidedly attitude-free, there’s space in the British r’n’b scene for a new (female) face; Princess Nyah might just be that. New single ‘Take Control’ may not be the most vocally illustrative piece, nor the most original song around, but love it or hate it, its aggressive rap segue and synthy hip hop beat are guaranteed to make your bones rattle in a club. 

Rated 'Shoulda Been Singles'.

Everyone knows the fury that comes with an inferior album track being released as a chart single, when there’s far better material available. If only we could be ‘their’ manager! Anyhoo, here are the top 10 album tracks that I feel should/could have been singles and torn up club dance floors and/or radio playlists, the world over. 

1: ‘Freakum Dress’.

    B’Day.

    Beyonce.

This is potentially the best track from her sophomore album (bar ‘Get Me Bodied’ and ‘Upgrade You’). Performed live it’s got some hot electric guitar riffs ploughing through it and is a key example of the feminist attitude that continually rears its head in Beyonce’s own brand of pop music.

2: ‘Howl’.

     Lungs.

     Florence and the Machine.

My favourite track she’s made so far, this is an absolute beast. It shows off her unique vocals at their best and is one of the most uptempo songs on the record.

3: ‘Could Have Been You’.

     Colour Me Free.

     Joss Stone.

Yeah yeah, so everyone hates Joss Stone and her shoddy album artwork. She’s annoying, yes, but her voice is stunning on this should have been single. It has potential to be her best song to date and has a nice, crisp, live jazz-bar quality to it. Me likey.

4: ‘Mannequin’.

    One of the Boys.

    Katy Perry.

She’s got some belting material on her second album Teenage Dream, true. However, her debut still has a potent charm that it’s hard to forget a track like ‘Mannequin’. A shiner on her first outing, the song is totally unforgettable.

5: ‘Monster’.

    The Fame Monster.

     Lady GaGa.

All the songs on her ‘sort of’ second album were/are brilliant. ‘Alejandro’ is sumptuous pop inspired by ‘La Isla Bonita’ and, ‘Bad Romance’ is aneurism inducing Euro-pop at its best. However, ‘Monster’ is a sadly overlooked single choice. With its brilliantly catchy bridge it should have been out there with a filthy music video to boot.

6: ‘Exo-Politics’.

     Black Holes and Revelations.

     Muse.

I love Muse, but I’m not a huge lover of their attempts at down tempo tracks. Thus why I adore this percussion heavy, rock monster. Love Love Love. ‘Uprising’ is good, but it’s got nothing on this behemoth.

7: ‘Unusual You’.

    Circus.

    Britney Spears.

Instead of releasing the OMGSOPOINTLESS ‘Radar’ a year after it was created, ol’ Spearsy should have launched this stunning, haunting track into the airwaves. Produced by Bloodyshy & Avant, the masters behind ‘Toxic’, it’s a total glory of a song. 

8: ‘Fire Bomb’.

    Rated R.

    Rihanna.

One of the highlights of her brilliant Rated R album, ‘Fire Bomb’ is a superior track to the fun but melody-less single ‘Rockstar 101’. Why Rihanna? WHY?

9: ‘Time Machine’.

     Body Talk.

     Robyn.

It’s early days, but I can’t see Robyn releasing anymore Body Talk era single anytime soon since each segment only got one song as promotion. ‘Dancing On My Own’, ‘Hang With Me’ and ‘Indestructible’ are epic electro pop tracks, but one more tasty morsel wouldn’t go a miss. ‘Time Machine’ is just that. So ridiculously fun, melodious and just damn awesome, this HAS to make an appearance on radio soon.

10: ‘Kiss and Resolve’.

      Wall Of Arms.

      Maccabees.

The single releases from this massive leap forward for the British band were pretty damn good. My favourite however, ‘Kiss and Resolve’ got overlooked and I wasn’t pleased. Definitely a highlight of an album that stomps over their debut by having far more direction.