Jerry's Pick: "Tilted"

"Tilted"-Christine & the Queens

This wonderfully mesmerizing synth-pop song has been bouncing around in my head ever since  I witnessed Christine & the Queens' choreographed act on stage as part of the Coachella Music Fest last April.  I should have written something about this hypnotic yet danceable Euro-track that day, but -- for some reason -- I let it slide.

Then yesterday -- as I sat numb absorbing news of yet another deranged murderer taking the lives of so many beautiful souls in the name of hate during Bastille Day celebrations in Nice -- I was brought back to Christine and her message of acceptance.  Not only of others, but more importantly of oneself as well.

"Christine" is the androgynous, non-sexualized alter-ego stage-name of five-foot tall French-native Héloïse Letissier, and the non-existent "Queens" is just a tribute to the drag queens she met in London who inspired her to lose her inhibitions and turn all of her energy and uncertainties into a career in music.  Héloïse explained, “Christine was a statement about being an unusual little thing... moving and loving people.” 

I was immediately attracted to her song "Tilted" with its quiet, steady pulsing synthesized beat and its bilingual we're-all-just-a-little-bit-crazy message.  She said it was about, "making an easy song with an uneasy subject.  It’s about feeling out-of-place, not finding your balance, or being depressed even, but with playful images, with a song you can dance on."

Speaking of playful, I was immediately taken by the line, "I'm doing my face with magic marker/I'm in my right place, don't be a downer..." which I perceived as just another way of saying; Go ahead -- it's okay -- let your freak-flag fly!  On the other hand -- although I haven't the slightest idea what she's saying -- Christine's soft and crisp French-styled rap during the middle-eight is delightfully unique and très mignonne.

By-the-way... If you ever have the chance to see Christine & the Queens live, GO!  It's pop performance art at its most tilted.

Jerry's Pick: "This Girl"

"This Girl"-Kungs vs. Cookin' On 3 Burners

This is a story of a French producer remixing a seven-year old Australian single and coming up with a big chart hit this year in Germany, England, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Could the next stop for "This Girl" be the States?

It's a simple song as far as construction goes --  jazzy brass with soulful vocals and an often-repeated yet hooky guitar riff -- but it's one of those charming melodies that has this innate ability to elevate your ever changing moods.

19-year old French DJ Valentin Brunel -- whose performing sobriquet is Kungs (pronounced "Koongs")  -- got his hands on a single from the Melbourne trio Cookin' On 3 Burners and did a bit of remixing.  Not only did he add house drums, horns and hand claps to "This Girl," but a few RPMs as well, eventually creating a popular European club hit.

I was already somewhat familiar with Cookin's vocalist Kylie Auldist as I first heard her soulful voice as one of the singers with the Bamboos after discovering the track "Avenger" a couple of years ago.

After my very first listen to "This Girl" -- eventually credited to Kungs vs. Cookin' On 3 Burners --  I immediately made comparisons to Paul Weller's 80s new wave British band The Style Council and the Robin Schulz remix of Lilly Wood & The Prick's "Prayer in C"  from 2014.

So, the next time you wanna get your groove on, why not kick-up the Kungs.  It's just "something that you got to know... 'This Girl'."

Jerry's Pick: "Hell No"

"Hell No"-Ingrid Michaelson

I've been an Ingrid Michaelson fan going on ten-years now.  Songs like "Parachute," "Be OK," "Afterlife" and "Time Machine" are all still in rotation on my iTunes playlist.  In fact, Ingrid's "Boys Chase Girls" was one of my top-10 best picks from all of 2014.

Well, my favorite bespectacled female indy-singer-songwiter may have just released her strongest pop-single to date with "Hell No..." a you-go-girl break-up anthem that you can dance to.

No doubt "Hell No" was inspired by Michaelson's own recent and somewhat messy divorce.  She told the Huffington Post, “We all have been through being wronged, so we created a powerful break up song. This song is not about one specific relationship but about lots of different relationships and how they culled together into one unified force of anger."

For me, Ingrid's new see-ya-later single is a mix of Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and Avril Lanigne's "What the Hell" with a few dashes of Meghan Trainor's "No" sprinkled over the chorus.

"Hell No" was written by Ingrid in Nashville with country music vets Barry Dean and Luke Laird (Little Big Town, Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw).  Michaelson told James Dinh of iHeart Radio, “I just wanted to kind of go outside of my comfort zone and write in this different world and see what happened.”  She added, “I think there is definitely a country feeling to the vibe of the song. It's just produced in such a poppy way but we just had so much fun."

With clever/cute/cutting lines like, "I should've known better/I saw her wearing your sweater/Nice glasses, fake red hair/Just like me," I feel the Parker Posey of Pop may have just produced her first true mainstream breakthrough single.  (By-the-way, the song's yet-to-be-titled parent album -- featuring more letting-go/moving-on themed tunes -- is set to be released this August.  And her self-made Snapchat Filters-inspired music video is below.)

So, go ahead... give it a spin!  I'm sure you too with say "Hell yeah!' to "Hell No!"