NEW MUSIC: SIA - CLAP YOUR HANDS (FRED FALKE REMIX)

Australian singer-songwriter Sia is back with latest single Clap Your Hands from fourth solo effort album We Are Born, to be released June 8, 2010.  This time around she will be referencing The Pretenders, Blondie, Talking Heads and The Cure.  In contrast to her last album, 2008's Some People Have Real Problems, this new album is more on the up-tempo.

Interestingly, the album will contain a cover of Madonna's Oh Father from her Like a Prayer album.  Greg Kurstin whose most recent work on the phenomenal The Bird and The Bee's Hall & Oates tribute album, will be producing We Are Born.

As many of us know she contributed a track on Christina Aguilera's forthcoming Bionic album, which should prove worth the wait.  Sia has been selling-out club shows around Europe and she will be touring North America in tandem with the release of this new album.  To view a full tour schedule, visit her official website.

In the meantime, check out this infectious Fred Falke remix to Clap Your Hands which brings back the Disco back with that irresistible bass line and chords which say classic New Order. The guitar bits just which come to the forefront late just take this track to a new level of fantastic. Enjoy, courtesy of Sony Music:

(Thanks Vinylandvodka for the artwork!)

CD GIVEAWAY: GOLDFRAPP - HEAD FIRST | THE BIRD AND THE BEE - INTERPRETING THE MASTERS VOLUME 1

EMI Music Canada and Mr. Will-W.: Pop Maven are excited to offer you a chance to win copies of  2010's most anticipated releases thus far.  Up for grabs are copies of The Bird and The Bee's Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates and Goldfrapp's Head First. As featured here previously, both are exquisite and out in stores today, March 23, 2010.

To enter, simply send an e-mail to mrwillw@mrwillw.com with either the subject header "Goldfrapp" or "The Bird and The Bee".  Please indicate your mailing address in the body of the e-mail.  And for the first time ever, this contest is open to my international readers too.   One entry per CD only please. The contest deadline is Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 12:00 PM EST.  Good luck!

Also coming soon is an exciting Lady Gaga giveaway.  Details will be announced shortly.  Stay tuned, Mavenati.

REVIEW: THE BIRD AND THE BEE - INTERPRETING THE MASTERS VOLUME 1: A TRIBUTE TO DARYL HALL AND JOHN OATES

Okay, I'm finally sold on them after being underwhelmed by their last album, Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future.  The electro-jazz pop duo of Greg Kurstin (Little Boots, Kylie Minogue, Lily Allen) and vocalist Inara George, known as The Bird and The Bee, are dead-set on  commercial success this time around.  Their latest studio effort, Interpreting The Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates, really needs no explanation.  The title says it all really and the disc is absolutely exquisite.

The Bird and The Bee cover eight Hall & Oates classics, plus one new track, and I'm sure even they would be extremely flattered to have received such a tasteful tribute.   The album is heavy on 'late 70s and early '80s-inspired synths, which add tons of AM Radio nostalgia to its sound, and the duo keeps all original melodies and song structures intact which is commendable.  Nothing grates on my nerves more than a cover version trying to be something it isn't - why bother if the result will just become another entity altogether?  They  manage to stay true to the original lyrics even on tracks like One on One, which has George serenading a woman.  But really, with her spot-on phrasing and butter-smooth tone, George could sing me an obituary and I'd probably love it still in my state of hypnosis.