Ahead Of The Curve

Some 'music reviews' from the cutting edge of pop:

Stooshe - 'Waterfalls'
A cover that could well be described as anthemic, if only as a result of a mishap involving autocorrect and the word anaemic. (Seriously if you have spellcheck set to US English then there's potential for anything.) It's not exactly going to send them freewheeling towards the dumper, but only serves to further their potential of prematurely becoming a 'remember them?' act - almost impressive at a time when it seems there are hardly any acts regularly in the charts and on the airwaves anyway. (And that's not just uncorroborated perception either, but something proven by science here.)

JLS - 'Hottest Girl In The World'
This is very enjoyable, and that's a vital quality for a JLS single in 2012 because their time is probably running out - there are no guarantees that their singles will be big hits any more, so it helps to make them good, something borne out by the genuine, lasting success of 'She Makes Me Wanna' and the vanishing act played by charity-propelled nothingathon 'Proud'. And on top of it sounding good, it's brilliant to see a pop act launch an album on such a profound, existential rumination on gender. Well done, JLS.

Steps - 'Light Up The World'
If Radio 2 was a song, this would be it. Amazing. In an alternate universe - presumably one in which H & Claire's letters got lost in the post, leading to Steps dominating pop for an additional ten years - it could be the new Bond theme.

Private - 'Everywhere' feat Genasis
The utter beauty of this is exemplified by its very existence in the face of Genasis' attempt at total and complete destruction. Bluntly, the verse he was for some reason asked to provide features the line "putting my butter all over her muffin" early on, before descending into another that begins with the word sucking and leads into a rhyme with a word that's frankly just too uncouth to be printed on these fair pages, never mind, gentle reader, your imagination. As a whole it's sort of reminiscent of Briskeby's 'Miss You Like Crazy' (another A++ bit of Scandipop, fact fans), just more synthy. And yes, there probably are better comparisons than that but if you're after one then you're very clearly in the wrong place. Just listen to it instead.

Martin - 'Show The World'
Speaking of Private, Thomas Troelsen - aka Private - co-wrote this disco track for Martin, the winner of the first series of the Danish X Factor, four years ago and it is incredible. The production is slightly naff, but Martin's voice sounds very good, which should explain how he won the show aged only 15. It was one of two Number One singles he had from his debut album (also a Number One), after which he disappeared off the face of the earth. Now 20, he declined an invitation earlier this year to reappear on the X Factor final, telling newspaper Berlingske he's happy enough without the whole to-do. "I have my home studio, where every day I produce music... I think it's great [for people] to sit and develop themselves in this way. I feel really fat!" :(