Musica becomes quite an expensive habit after a while!!!
Enrique Iglesias – Insomniac : How does a Latino-pop pin-up like Enrique Iglesias recover from three years of writer’s block? Simple, he pens an album’s worth of playful pop confessions about his sleepless night obsessions that complement charismatically catchy macho come-ons ("Do You Know"), romantic bedside ballads ("Little Girl") and sugar sweet acoustic guitar seductions ("Don’t You Forget About Me") with a sweaty bump ‘n grind duet with rapper Lil’ Wayne (“Push”) and a trio of lady-killing Spanish serenades ("Dímelo", "Alguien Soy Yo", “Amigo Vulnerable”). Iglesias’ album sales currently total over forty million, making him one of the best-selling Spanish music artists in the world. Iglesias has yet to overtake his father’s great sales figures, but has outsold Julio in single-album sales, arguably justifying the label his record company gave him as ‘best selling Spanish artist in the world’. He is the best-selling >Spanish language artist of the last decade. Iglesias has said that if he has children and they wish to follow in his footsteps, he would naturally expect them also to be better than he is.
John Legend – Once Again : VIP production from Kanye West, Raphael Saadiq, and will.i.am paves the path for Grammy-gobbling Legend to soundtrack love, life and everything in between on cool love ballad crescendos like single "Save Room", simmering slow seductions (“Heaven”) and even a smiling Hendrix rock resurrection ("Show Me"). Sure, there recipe is still retro, but you can forget any fussy throwbacks of adolescents like Christina. Easing effortlessly between Percy Sledge cool seductions (“Slow Dance”) and unapologetically catchy party starters (“PDA”) Legend’s layered suburban soul canvas finally gives the marriage between old Motown and new downtown his blessing.
Moby Go: Best Of – Ever wondered how a rather awkward looking, vegan electro-pop geek like Moby has managed to sustain his commercial and critical success for the past 11 years? Well, as this 15 track “best of” collection featuring crucial cuts from critically-acclaimed albums such as Play, 18 and Hotel testify to, Moby has never been a one-dimensional beat boy. He segued from the savvy American Primitive synth-pop shuffles of "Honey" and "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" into ecstatic soul-gospel pop anthems such as “In this World”. He introduced a decadent indie-dance cocktail back into the clubs with "Bodyrock" and the hypnotic half-tempo rock ballad “We are All Made of Stars”. Hell, as his breakbeat blancmanged re-version of the 007 theme tune from Tomorrow Never Dies and his delectable new retro disco pop duet with Debbie ‘Blondie’ Harry, “New York, New York” reminds, Moby’s magic is that he’s always been on a mission to renovate the dance floor with an all comers aural feng-shui that anyone would be happy to hear in their living rooms.
Akon – Konvicted : Who does Akon think he is sporting a snappy sweater and buppie blazer on the cover of his new album Konvicted? Hmmm, looks like hip-hop’s loneliest rapper is taking fashion tips from Kanye West’s college dropout couture. Just as well then that Akon’s ‘on the street and between the sheets’ cocktail of club-ready hip-hop cuts and bedroom R&B ballads packs it’s own unique chart punch. “Shake Down” sets a crowd pleasing ragga-singalong pace before mid-tempo thug life street sketch “Blown Away” (featuring Styles P) slides straight into the peeping, pimping playa booty stalk of "Smack That" (featuring Eminem) and the x-rated pole dancing obsession of “I Wanna Love You" (featuring Snoop Dogg). Don’t presume this means that Konvicted is your average bling rap sales pitch though. Akon shows his conscious mettle by sharing his struggle to escape thug-life inevitability and actually challenge stereotyping on downbeat sell-out laments (“The Rain”), retro-soul funk sighs (“Never Took The Time”), gangsta critiques (“Tired Of Running”) and a dancehall-filtered Afro-reggae skanks that reflect on just how far he’s come from his Senegalese roots ("Mama Africa").
Linkin Park – Minutes to Midnight : In their new album finds Linkin Park finally outgrow their nu-metal adolescence and venture beyond the valley of colour-by-numbers rap rock bluster. Relax this doesn’t mean they’ve suddenly turned into Coldplay. The album is as existentially raw as ever, segueing from ominous synth-heavy instrumentals (“Wake”) and heavy rock riff and lung-shredding rages (“Given Up”) to taught string filtered power ballads (“Leave Out All the Rest”), contagious chart meditations on alienation (“What I’ve Done”) and…what’s this a Motown rap-rock party starter (“Bleed It Out”)? Uh-huh. It gets even more interesting when “Shadow of the Day” drops atmospherically spacey keyboards, fuzzed out bass and U2-ish guitars into the mix before MC Mike Shinoda fires off a poetic rap salvo at George Bush’s war on terror on “Hands Held High” and Chester delivers a crooning critique of Hurricane Katrina on the acoustic-kissed ballad climax “The Little Things Give You Away”.
Fall Out Boy – Infinity on High : High octane punk pop anthems that blow their own trumpet careen into young and restless emo-core anthems that simultaneously undermine their own existential crises with outrageously tongue in cheek titles like “The Carpal Tunnel Of Love” and ”Don’t You Know Who I Think I Am?” …oh, cool this is the new Good Charlotte? Nope. Sure, a cursory glance at those smart-ass song titles – okay, "I’m Like a Lawyer with the Way I’m Always Trying to Get You Off" is funny – shows their signature snotty nosed MTV ambition and attitude is still intact. But there’s also something lurking beneath the plethora of infectiously melodic anthems of suburban teen angst that isn’t just preaching to the Jackass generation. For starters, lead single "This Ain’t a Scene It’s An Arms Race" extends the pedal to the metal mosh party machismo into a self-referentially funky R&B flow that takes the piss out of all music biz hype. Okay, so Fall Out Boy are not Green Day just yet. But what saves these guys from being just another power pop punk flash in the pan is that you actually enjoy making sense of their lyrics while shaking your ass to their huge guitar hooks, instantly sing along choruses and sheer brat pack punk bravado.
Basement Jaxx – Crazy Itch Radio finds British dancefloor renovators Basement Jaxx pushing their ongoing adventures in progressive house into new dimensions in funk. It’s a podcast-ready playlist that zigzags from a mock operatic house opening into fresh urban funk ("Hush Boy" featuring Vula Malinga), gypsy folk pop dancefloor delights ("Hey U" featuring Swedish pop songbird Robyn), disco-fuelled hip-hop ("On the Train") and something they’re billing as a banjo house barnstormer ("Take Me Back To Your House"). Basement Jaxx is a critically acclaimed UK dance music duo, comprising Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe, that rose to popularity in the late 1990s. But they are Back!!!