Mash-up: Adele vs Donna Summer – I Feel Love Rollin’ In The Deep
Electronica godfather Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim recently gave away a rollicking mash-up of Adele & Donna Summer on his Soundcloud for free. Retitled “I Feel Love Rollin’ In The Deep”, it was made for his DJ sets, and finally offered the answer to the question “What if Adele unleashed her inner Giorgio Moroder disco diva ?”. The mash-up surprisingly works, making it one strong addition to your NYE party playlists. Check it out below.
MP3: Fatboy Slim – I Feel Love Rollin In The Deep (Fatboy Mash-up)
Theoretical Girl’s Musical Advent Calendar 2012
It’s not Christmas at PLHQ without Theoretical Girl‘s annual Musical Advent Calendar to look forward to every day, and this year’s proves to be an extra jolly season. Taking song requests from Facebook fans, the English indie-pop maven adds her own charming lo-fi touch to a widely eclectic range of choice selections from The Cardigans, The Strokes, Francoise Hardy, Neil Young, Dusty Springfield, The Carpenters, Ronettes, Buddy Holly and more (and even a forgotten Longpigs classic)! Her sweet voice makes everything sound lovely and festive. For this post, I pick four of my favorites. Make a cup of tea, get comfy, and enjoy them below.
MP3s:
Theoretical Girl – Only Love Can Break Your Heart (Neil Young)
Theoretical Girl – Erase/Rewind (The Cardigans)
Theoretical Girl – Someday (The Strokes)
Theoretical Girl – All Over The World (Francoise Hardy)
You can stream and download all covers for free , including those from previous years, at her Soundcloud. Theoretical Girl is currently working on her second album.
Covercentric: Ellie Goulding Gets Festive, Covers Mariah Carey
UK pop warbler Ellie Goulding capped off an amazing year with a live session for Fearne Cotton’s special Christmas show on Radio 1 yesterday. Beside acoustic renditions of “Anything Could Happen” and “Figure 8”, she also performed a lovely cover of Mariah Carey‘s festive classic “All I Want For Christmas Is You”. Somewhere John Lewis are kicking themselves for not having her back with this. Listen to her version right below.
MP3: Ellie Goulding – All I Want For Christmas Is You (Mariah Carey Cover)
You can stream the entire show here, available for 6 days.
More on Ellie.
Covercentric: Hear Ren Harvieu Cover Joni Mitchell’s “River”
Yesterday, Dermot O’Leary (pictured above in a turtleneck, naturally) had four lovely singing ladies, dubbed his “Choir of Angels”, to spread the holiday cheers on his last radio show before Christmas. Rumer, Ren Harvieu, Emily Baker and Kristina Train (a Radio 2 super girl group right there) joined the host for a chat, then each offered their take on a holiday classic. Disney-noir songstress Ren Harvieu picked Joni Mitchell’s not-so-cheery “River”, which she pulled it off beautifully.
MP3: Ren Harvieu – River (Joni Mitchell Cover)
Fellow mellow chanteuse Rumer also chimed in with her own interpretation of Ron Sexsmith’s “Maybe This Christmas”, previously covered by Tracey Thorn.
MP3: Rumer – Maybe This Christmas (Ron Sexsmith Cover)
You can listen to the whole session here if you’d like, starting around the 2:17:00 mark.
Popforward: Frida Sundemo
Frida Sundemo was previous known as simply Frida in Japan. The breezy-cutesy bossa-nova-tinged songs from her 2010 debut album “Dear, Let It Out” managed to strike a chord with the Japanese audience. Granted, she was not the first Swede indie girl to conquer Japan. Two years later, she has stunningly reinvented herself as Frida Sundemo, the next big Swedish synth-pop starlet.
“Indigo” is the kind of song that came out of nowhere and catch you by surprise. Her sweet vocals against the aggro synth backdrop made for a striking combo. It’s clear she has graduated from the same School of Pop as Robyn, Lykke Li, and Tove Styrke. It’s electro-pop perfection that only the Swedes can effortlessly offer in spades.
And here’s a different side from her early career, the sweet lounge ditty “Towers”:
One of the most promising acts for 2013? I think so.
Pop Labyrinth 
