Da1000's European Tour : United Kingdom

Hey hey! It's day 14 and the last of our European Tour. We've finally reached the last country just in time for the last day of the year. As you know, the United Kingdom is, perhaps, the biggest music exporter in Europe. There's tons of british acts like The Beatles, the Spice Girls or Robbie Williams. Today's artist also were part of a band. The S Club 7 exploded into the music scene back in 1999 when they released music from their own TV series. The group soon became a huge favourite in the UK, only to break-up in 2003, after band member Paul left earlier to join an nu-metal band. After the disbandment, Rachel Stevens (formely known as the dumb girl on S Club) started a solo career with the huge hit Sweet Dreams My LA Ex. This song was originally written for Britney Spears as a response to Justin Timberlake's Cry Me a River, altough Britney didn't wanted to record it. Rachel Stevens' albums scored moderate hits, with the biggest of them being Richard X's production Some Girls. Recent news tell Stevens is quitting on music to focus on an acting career. A talent is lost in the music world, I say, as she kinda mixed Kylie with the Girls Aloud in her sassy music style. Today's song, her second single from her follow-up album, So Good is even considered to be the I Will Survive of the 21st century, but only you can judge for yourself. And now, this is when I say goodbye. My european tour came to an end, thank you so much for making part of it and thank you for the comments. I will meet you in 2007 then, and wish you the best of new year's resolutions...

Rachel Stevens - So Good



Sunday, December 31, 2006

Da1000's European Tour : Ireland

Hello! It's day 13 of my tour and we're almost in the end of this fantastic trip. Today, I left France and just arrived to the magnificent Ireland. And of course, there's plenty of Irish bands and singers out there like celtic pop rockers The Corrs, boybands Westlife and Boyzone, now solo star Ronan Keating, rock bands Snow Patrol and U2, or even Bob Geldof. Today's artist rose to fame back in early 2000 with her debut hit single Gotta Tell You. She even scored number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. After all 6 releases from her first album scored well on the charts, she released the first single from her follow-up album Woman. The track, I'm Right Here, failed to sell well and consequently the release of her second album was cancelled. After a long break from music, and after acting and modeling jobs, Samantha Mumba is back on the studios for a third album due to release next March with a previous first single in February. Meanwhile, you can see her here with her second single Body II Body, which samples David Bowie's chorus from Ashes To Ashes. Enjoy, and meet me again tomorrow for the final country of our fantastic trip through Europe.

Samantha Mumba - Body II Body



Saturday, December 30, 2006

Da1000's European Tour : France

Hey again! Day 12 of my european tour, and today I've just reached France. Of course, being one of the biggest countries in Europe, France also takes part in the european music scene. Taking the french language globally are, among others, world famous Édith Piaf, teen-dance singer Alizée, Johnny Depp-owned Vanessa Paradis, cartoon dance hit Ilona Mitrecey (who is actually a 13 year-old girl), or french DJs like Bob Sinclar, Cassius, Daft Punk, Modjo or David Guetta. I like to define today's artist as a mix of all the above. She has a pop/rock electronic sound that instantly gets stuck into your mind. Altough her great sound, Maroccan descendent Najoua Belyzel didn't made an huge impact with her debut solo single Gabriel on foregein lands like, for instance, Alizée did with the anthem Moi...Lolita. And the formula is almost the same. Alizée took fictional carachater Lolita, Najoua takes an angel, Gabriel, that is... Nevertheless, is still a 5 stars song, along with a nice video. You can also hear the resemblance between this song and the Norwegian Samantha. Anyway, enjoy, and meet me tomorrow on, perhaps, your country!

Najoua Belyzel - Gabriel

Friday, December 29, 2006

Da1000's European Tour : Belgium

Hello there! It's day 11 of my tour, and I've just left The Netherlands and arrived in Belgium. Belgium is as nice as The Netherlands, altough a bit more frenchy... Nevertheless there's also some belgian acts on the international music scene. Back in 2000 Belle Perez had an european hit with her debut single Hello World, Lara Fabian also had hit singles and albums over europe, and then there's the belgian DJs like Danzel, Lasgo, Dave McCullen (who is actually part of Lasgo, but had a solo hit with the anthem Bitch) or even Junior Jack! Today's artist also was very popular on the european clubs back in 2003 with the hit single Desenchantée, which is actually a cover of french singer Mylène Farmer. That's the main reason you may recognize Kate Ryan, altough she also was a contestant for Belgium on the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest with her now europop flavoured style. Je t'Adore failed to win anything altough she was one of the big favourites to win the competition. Details apart, here's Kate Ryan from Belgium with her hit single Desenchantée. Enjoy, and meet me tomorrow on yet another European country.

Kate Ryan - Desenchantée



Thursday, December 28, 2006

Da1000's European Tour : Netherlands

Hey hey! It's day 10 of my European Tour, and today is time to visit The Netherlands. Dutch acts are also quite international, like rebel girl Anouk, pop chanteuse Do (which was featured on DJ Sammy's hit single Heaven), fantasy group Ch!pz, professional DJ Armin Van Buuren, gothic rockers Within Temptation or early 90's electronic sensation 2 Unlimited. For the tour though, I took the liberty to choose not one, but two artists. But don't worry, just one song. Kane has alwayas been a quite huge band on The Netherlands, but it was only with their 2002 hit Rain Down On Me that they broke through Europe, altough releasing it internationaly only in 2004 with DJ Tiësto's remix. The song became a hit all over the continent, either radio friendly Kane-only version, or club anthem with Tiësto. That's actually today's song. Of course the original is really good, but Tiësto (being one of today's best DJs) took it to a whole new level. Enjoy, and meet me again tomorrow on, perhaps, your own country ;)

Kane & Tiësto - Rain Down On Me (Tiësto Remix)



Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Da1000's European Tour : Germany

Back on the road again, my European tour is back after a 2 days break for Christmas. And what a lovely Christmas... what about yours? ;) Anyway, it's day 9 of the tour, and it's time to move to Germany. Germany has probably the most important music scene of Europe, if you don't consider the british one of course. Now and then, Deutschland has given us some big names, like Rammstein, Nena or Boney M, and has plenty national super stars like Jeanette, Sarah Connor or former girlband No Angels. For the tour, I chose less-phenomenon rock band Revolverheld. The band's first german hit was Die Welt Steht Still released last year, then they released Freunde Bleiben which was their contestant song on the Bundesvision Song Contest 2006, a Eurovision-type show on which all the German provinces take part. But it wasn't these songs that caught my attention to them. Their fourth single, Mit Dir Chilln' did. It's a rock ballad, perfect for the end of the summer, sang entirely in German, and it's video is just one of the most amazing I've ever seen. Simple, but amazing. So, here's Revolverheld with Mit Dir Chilln', and I meet you tomorrow on some other European country... Enjoy!


Revolverheld - Mit Dir Chilln'



Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Merry Christmas (Part II)

It's Christmas day! And I couldn't not write you today, so I'm just passing by to give you my Christmas presents.
The first one it's one of my favourite Christmas songs this year. British girl band Girls Aloud made a version of the very traditional Jingle Bell Rock. It's a bit similiar to the version presented on the motion picture Mean Girls, but this has more...Girls Aloud into it. Nevertheless, it's a quite good version, so here's their performance of the song, as well as the mp3 ;)


Girls Aloud - Jingle Bell Rock


Also one of my favourites this year, the Pussycat Dolls' version of Eartha Kitt's classic Santa Baby. The song has been covered by a whole bunch of artists, such as Madonna, Kylie Minogue or even Calista Flockhart on Ally McBeal, but it was the Dolls' version that really got me into it. A version by Cynthia Basinet is most of the times mistakenly credited to having been sung by Marilyn Monroe, although Marilyn never recorded the song. Anyway, here you go, video and mp3!

The Pussycat Dolls - Santa Baby



Also so you can compare, here's other versions of the song :


Finally, we had some bad news today unfortunatly. The godfather of soul, James Brown, passed away today. Here's my tribute to him.


Monday, December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas (Part I)

Christmas finally arrived! And I couldn't possibily stop writing you this days... So, as I'm on a short break from my european tour, I can now close the votings of my Christmas poll. Earlier this month I started to ask you what was your favourite Christmas single. And out of 31 total votes Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You is the big winner with 32% of the votes. Last Christmas by Wham! earned second place with 19% of the votes, and in 3rd comes the Pussycat Dolls' version of Santa Baby with 16% of the votes. Songs by Ashanti, Jessica Simpson and N'Sync didn't got any votes, but they all celebrate Christmas in the end. You can check the whole voting charts in the end of this post. But I couldn't just tell you the winner and leave. Of course, you'll get my Christmas present today! To celebrate Mariah's victory, I'll leave you the three videos she made for the song (one of them a remix featuring Jermaine Dupri and Lil' Bow Wow), and also the oppurtunity to download the song, either if you want to pay or not... So, enjoy and until tomorrow!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!...

All I Want For Christmas Is You

All I Want For Christmas Is You (1964 Video Version)

All I Want For Christmas Is You

(Remix Ft. Lil' Bow Wow & Jermaine Dupri)

Free Download or Buy

Free /Amazon /itunes

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Da1000's European Tour : Denmark

Hello there! It's day 8 of my european tour and I've just reached Denmark. This country also contributes to the european music scene with such acts as dance groups Safri Duo and Infernal, early 90's wonder Whigfield, the now extinct Aqua (front woman Lene was actually Norwegian), hip-hoppers Outlandish, indie rock band Mew, and reggae-influenced Pop chanteuse Natasha Thomas. Natasha hit it big on Germany back in 2004 with her singles It's Over Now and Save Your Kisses For Me. In 2005 she released a brand new album, Playin' With Fire, with a more mature image, and attempted to hit also the UK. Altough she didn't reached higher status on British grounds, and her latest singles didn't sold much even on Germany. She was picked by Lacoste to promote the brand. On many TV commercials for the Lacoste brand her hit singles were featured, especially the first effort from her second album Skin Deep. Skin Deep is today's choice to represent Denmark on my tour. It's a cool song, and has a nice video. The tour will now rest for two days as I'm going home for Christmas. It'll be back December 26th on yet another European country... Enjoy, and Merry Christmas from Denmark!



Natasha Thomas - Skin Deep





Saturday, December 23, 2006

Da1000's European Tour : Norway

Hey there. Today I've reached half-time of my european tour. It's day 7 and I'm in Norway. Norway is not very known for it's musical acts, but there are some norwegian artists who brokethrough Europe, as girl rock band Lilyjets, former girlband M2M, famous Lene Marlin, Norwegian Idol (spin-off of UK series Pop Idol, or American Idol in the US) winner Kurt Nilsen, or Eurovision famous Wig Wam. For my tour, though, I've chosen less-european famous, and runner-up on Norwegian Idol, Margaret Berger. She recently released her second album, Pretty Scary Silver Fairy, and also her new image. The album's first single, Samantha, it's today's featured song. Altough it's not known across Europe, the track itself contains influences of Eurodance music, and it's quite futuristic, as well as it's video. The video is quite simple, though original and fresh. But check it yourself. Enjoy, and meet me tomorrow across Europe...

Margaret Berger - Samantha



Friday, December 22, 2006

Da1000's European Tour : Sweden

Day 6 of my european adventure. Today I've came to Sweden, a beautiful country with loads of cool music. Sweden it's actually one of the European countries that contributes more to the spread of european music. You have ABBA, A*Teens, The Cardigans, The Vines and so so much more... But apart of all of these great artists, I've decided to include a less known chanteuse to my tour. Velvet had a club hit about 2 or 3 years ago with her cover version of Electric Avenue. She came back to the spotlight this year with her track Mi Amore, which was a contestant on the swedish show Melodiefestivalen, the winner of this show is qualified to represent Sweden on the Eurovision Song Contest. Altough she haven't won the show, her song could be heard across Europe during the summer. And it's really a summer track. So, with no further talking, here's Velvet with Mi Amore. Enjoy, and meet me tomorrow on, perhaps, your country ;)

Velvet - Mi Amore






Thursday, December 21, 2006

Da1000's European Tour : Russia

Hello there... It's day 5 of my european tour. Today I'm in Russia. A very known big country but we don't know much of it's music (except for girl group t.A.T.u. of course), so I decided to introduce to you a bit more of it... To represent Russia on my tour, I chose Dima Bilan. You may remember him better from this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Athens, which he won 2nd place with Never Let You Go. He also was in Portugal for the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards where he won the award for Best Russian Act. The song I chose for today is See What I See. I think it sounds really great, and the video is also very imaginative. I don't know much about the song, don't know if it was a single or not, but either way I'm glad it has this video. So, from Russia with love, here's Dima Bilan with See What I See... Enjoy and meet me again tomorrow on yet another european country ;)


Dima Bilan - See What I See




Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Da1000's European Tour : Greece

Today I'm touring on this fantastic mediterranean country. Greece has lately proven to be a fantastic host. In 2004, Athens hosted the Olympic Games, in 2006 the Eurovision Song Contest, among other events... Also, today's chanteuse is the 2005 winner of the same song contest. Helena Paparizou (actually it's written like Elena, but they thought Helena was better for the international public) was actually born in Sweden, but it's Greece that holds her roots. She started a career in music back in 1999 in the duo Antique (which also represented Greece on the Eurovision Song Contest in 2001). Antique broke up in 2003 and Helena released her first solo effort late in the same year. In 2005 she was invited to represent Greece at the Eurovision, which she won with her single My Number One. Since then Helena has been investing on an international career, releasing an English album back in October this year. The album, The Game Of Love, features today's track Mambo!. This track proved to be a hit throughout Europe, though it's still a bit underground. Anyway it's a good summer track... Check the video, Enjoy and meet me again tomorrow somewhere in Europe...

Helena Paparizou - Mambo!


Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Da1000's European Tour : Italy

Hey hey. It's day three of my european tour, and today I came to Italy. This country is very rich on pop culture, even though we don't know much of it, the italian music scene is quite huge. Anyway, for the tour I've chosen Tiziano Ferro. You may remember Tiziano from the 2002 hit Perdono. Quickly after that, he almost disappeared in front of our eyes, coming back later in 2004 with Jamelia on Universal Prayer, the anthem for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Also in 2004, Tiziano was given another opportunity to perform for the european crowd, when he closed the MTV Europe Music Awards Rome 2004 with his hit single Sere Nere. This is also the track I've chosen for the tour. I really like the chorus, and the video is quite simple. Enjoy and meet me tomorrow!



Tiziano Ferro - Sere Nere




Monday, December 18, 2006

Da1000's European Tour : Spain

Day two of my European Tour. Today I came to Spain, which always gives us great beats... For the tour I've chosen Edurne. She was a contestant on the TV show, Operación Triunfo, kind of American Idol,where she came out as the 6th finalist. Her debut album, Edurne, was released back in March this year, and features today's song Despierta (Wake Up in English), which hit number 5 on the spanish charts. Her album also features a song written by popular spanish group La Oreja de Van Gogh, Amores Dormidos (something like, Sleeping Loves), which was also her second single. The concept of the video for Despierta is quite simple, it's basically the singer performing while the lyrics surround her in the background, on a similiar way the press is represented on music videos. The press concept is also on the cover of her album, which looks like a magazine cover. Meanwhile, watch the video! Enjoy, and meet me again on another european country ;)


Edurne - Despierta

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Da1000's European Tour : Portugal

Since today and until the end of the year, I'm going on an European tour. Each day I'll present you a cool singer, song, or video of each country. And I'm kicking off the tour on my homeland, Portugal. For Portugal I've chosen singer/actress Lúcia Moniz. You may remember her from the 2003 motion picture Love Actually, where she starred as Aurelia. Lúcia has a career of both music and TV series over here, and she released her latest album Leva-me P'ra Casa (Take Me Home in english) just last year. Her first album Magnolia was released back in 1999, three years after she scored the 6th position on the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest, and features the song I've chosen for my European Tour. Try Again is a duet between Lúcia and Nuno Bettencourt. Nuno has been quite busy in the US. In 1991 his band Extreme reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with their ballad More Than Words, after some bands he started, he is also presently the lead guitarist for The Satellite Party which Jane's Addiction's former front man and Lollapalooza co-founder Perry Farrell started. Also Bettencourt provided the guitar solo on Janet Jackson's song Black Cat. So I think that was a clever choice for Lúcia to work with. Also the video for Try Again is quite great, possibly one of the best Portuguese videos ever. Enjoy and meet me tomorrow on another european country!

Lúcia Moniz & Nuno Bettencourt - Try Again

Saturday, December 16, 2006

No Batteries Required

When Steps were around, I had no clue who Lisa was. Later in 2003, with the release of her solo single Lately, I got to know her a bit more, but I quickly forgot about her, until 2005, when Electric comes up along with the MTV's Totally Scott-Lee. I really dig the track, it's indeed electric, and the video is also very appealing. I first saw it on the british music channel the Vault, when brand new videos by Charlotte Church, Girls Aloud and Rachel Stevens were also playing; and I remeber to think that this Lisa's single would be a perfect top ten, or even top 5 hit, suprassed only by Girls Aloud and Rachel Stevens. Now, how wrong was I? Girls Aloud did reach the top 5 debuting at number 4, Charlotte Church almost missed the top 10, she dubuted at number 10, Rachel Stevens debuted at number 12, and poor Lisa Scott-Lee made a debut at number 13, missing the top 30 next week...

Now, it's not a bad song, so why was this? Nevertheless, I like it, so I had to made a tribute to Electric... Enjoy !

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Stop! Give Me a Beat!

I first met the work of Ms Jackson back in 1997 with her track Together Again, but as I was still very young (and the Spice Girls craze was on), I quickly forgot about her... Then in 2001 (my MTV wonder year), with the release of All For You, I got to know her whole portfolio, and she became instantly one of my favourites. I was loving That's The Way Love Goes, Nasty, If, Runaway, Got 'Til It's Gone, The Pleasure Principle, Miss You Much, What Have You Done For Me Lately, and the best video I've seen so far Rhythm Nation. After I got my copy of the All For You album, I got the chance to also get the Janet. album. I can't believe I didn't knew this album for so far. What a master piece! It's not actually the Janet album I wanted. I'm looking after Rhythm Nation 1814, but it's quite impossible to find it in this country... Anyway, after her "wardrobe malfunction", her follow up albums were not this good. Not because of the super bowl incident (all that national scandal was quite stupid), but the Damita Jo album didn't had the flow of her previous. 20 Y.O. though has a lot of flow, but unfortunatly it's not running the charts so good, So Excited is a great track paying tribute to her 80's sound. So, paying tribute to Janet's career today, here's the Rhythm Nation 1814 Film...


Part 1




Part 2




Part 3



But if you're into just listening instead...



Rhythm Nation


Miss You Much

Tuesday, December 12, 2006