Hot Damn Jammz 45: The POP! Damn Jammz

Oh no! The jammz have gone pop! No scuzzy lo-fi noiseniks, no art-broken synth duos, no mutton-chopped garage howlers. No two-bit 8-bit electro bands, no neo-psych post-punk combos from Wales. No Brooklyn! No collectives who make their own clothes. Just shiny, happy tunes with big dumb hooks. Synths that go whoosh, guitars that are mostly invisible, and singers who may have taken a lesson or two, but still need some digital help to get by. Boy band revivalists, singing drummers, Alphabeat tribute bands, sparkly hands and Autotune. Gotta have Autotune!!

Florrie
Young Florrie spends her days toiling away as the drummer in Xenomania (Girls Aloud, Mini Viva)'s house band. In her spare time she's training to be a pop star, probably hoping to make everyone she's ever played drums for look like second-rate chancers. Judging by her first single "911" (get Fred Falke's remix here), she's well on her way.

Ellie Goulding
She's got the kind of voice that could drive you crazy if it was backed by just a piano or acoustic guitar, but wrapped up in glittery electronics and discoball beats she sounds perfectly lovely. "Starry Eyed" is her jam, hopefully the rest of her debut album delivers on it's promise.


 
2 AM Club
Who's ready for the Boy Band revival? These guys have it all, right down to the hilariously bad raps.

Cassette Kids
They're from Australia and they are rocky, poppy, synthy and able to write big hooks. Sort of like a Cut Copy produced version of Metric or the Sounds. Their debut album Nothing on TV is out in March.


 
Tinashé
He's from Zimbabwe but lives in England now. He incorporates African sounds into his very modern, Autotuned pop. He sounds nothing at all like Akon. "Mayday" should be blasting out of car radios around the world sometime very soon.

Donkeyboy
Short hand blurb - Alphabeat before they started to go bad. Longer blurb - This Norwegian band has the same flashy pop sensibility as Alphabeat once had, only they have a much more serious outlook on life and love. Their chart topping song "Ambitions" has a beautiful melody and a very disturbing video. Let's watch a live clip instead: