Hot Tips for Pop Pickers in 2008

OK, this might not go very well.

I did this last year but I actually snuck all the band names from Napster's 2007 "Tips for the Hot Bands of 2007" and by the end of that year all of the bands on the Napster list were still drifting out there in obscurity somewhere.

So this time I will steal my list of hot tips from somewhere else...

1. Duffy - the PR blurb for this bint tells me that she is the next Dusty Springfield to which I ponder, "does the world really need another Dusty Springfield". She certainly looks like Dusty Springfield but I would have thought that modelling yourself on a singer who, lets be honest, wasn't really that popular in her heyday - ok so she sold out The Cats Whiskers in Meanwood but then again so did Max Jaffa and his Orchestra - is not a masterplan to instant success, especially if you have to wait to die and be adopted by the gay community to make a name for yourself.

Her Myspace site is right here and has some sample tracks and there is a feature on her on The First Post right here with a full length video of her which quite frankly I can't stand.

My ratings ...
Could I listen to a full CD of hers ? No
How quickly would I eject said CD of hers ? Track Two
Who/What does her voice remind you of ? A small child pestering their mother for sweets at a supermarket checkout


OK, I'm blagging off Napster again now...

2. Laura Marling - You see this is more like it, I've only played the 30 second preview of one of her songs on Napster Light (I accidentaly unsubscribed myself last month and haven't got round to sending my credit card details back to them) and I already want to hear more. Classified as "Female Folk" or "Easy Listening" she also has a Myspace site right here with some right folky stuff on it - stick one finger in your ear, grab a pint of Theakstons and hum along.

My ratings ...
Could I listen to a full CD of hers ? Probably, I'd give it a go anyway
How quickly would I eject said CD of hers ? Track Four
Who/What does her voice remind you of ? Suzanne Vega, maybe, sometimes.

3. Beth Rowley - In a very similar vein (sometimes) to Lily Allen but this one can actually sing and hold a note and leave you feeling like you've listened to serious music instead of Ed "Stewpot" Stewart's Junior Choice - Myspace site right here

My ratings ...
Yes
Is very easy on the eye too.

4. Jack McManus - Sounds like every other solo male performer at the moment in the same way that the above three female solo artists all sound like every other solo female artist, but thats not necessarily a bad thing if the quality is good although it makes you wonder where the music business is going at the moment - anywhere but into the hands of messrs Cowell and Walsh, please god.

My ratings...
Is he any good ? Sounds OK
Will you be gloating in Jan 2009 at having tipped him for fame ? I doubt it.



On a slightly related topic, I have used Napster's £9.99 a month unlimited streaming service for several years now and it became our households jukebox with the three (the wife doesn't count when we speak of technology) of us having a PC with access to it we didn't buy a CD at all for two years.

Then just before christmas in a fit of curiosity I downloaded Winamp to use as an alternative media player, its OK, nothing more, but it did offer me the bargain of the year in a service called eMusic where, for £8 a month I could download 30 tracks, and better still I could have 50 free tracks just for signing up.

I signed up, I let the Napster account lapse, Napster converted me to their "light" user status which means I only get previews now, not to worry I thought, I now have eMusic for my downloading delight each month.

eMusic is complete shite.

eMusic boasts of having billions of tracks just ready and waiting for your musical delight, it may have millions, but it doesn't have any of the ones you want to listen to - if you are into obscure artists or recordings of you favourite artist that you'd wish they'd never recorded, you know, the ones that get dropped off the album and are then released ten years later as "extra material never before heard" (theres a reason why they were never heard before) then eMusic is for you - it specialises in shite music that no-one wants to listen to and specialises in not having the music that you do want to listen to.

I have cancelled my subscription to eMusic after managing to snaffle 40 of my 50 free downloads (I've tried but just cannot find those last ten tracks anywhere on their site) and will get around to re-subscribing with Napster again any day soon.