Girls Aloud "Tangled Up"

They spawned from a UK reality show entitled Popstars: The Rivals, in which two pop groups -- one male, one female -- were formed by popular vote then set against each other in a sales battle royale to determine which one would get the full record contract. And yet somehow, ultimate victors Girls Aloud don't totally suck. Quite the contrary, they remain one of Britain's most consistently surprising and entertaining musical exports, even six years after their questionable formation.

However, despite all that members Cheryl Cole, Nadine Coyle, Kimberley Walsh, Nicola Roberts and Sarah Harding bring to the proceedings, the real reason for the group's continued success -- both commercially and critically -- is the somewhat mysterious production house known as Xenomania. Led by Brian Higgins, Xenomania thrills in exploring new sonic avenues with every record they make, and their thorough control of the Girls' fourth studio album, "Tangled Up," lends it a subtly experimental and progressive edge that's generally very rare in straightforward pop music.

Take first single Sexy! No No No..., which opens with an oddly layered vocal echo effect and little else before launching into a pounding, frenetic beat laced with quirky sound effects and continuing the lyric with a call-and-response chorus before finally hitting the first verse. So strange was it that it left even some die-hard fans balking but is in fact the single that really put them over the top for me. Made me realize that G.A. may just be the bee's knees.

So I pre-ordered an import of "Tangled" and when I finally got the chance to slip it into my stereo, it dizzily, ecstatically delivered on the promise of that single and left me pleasantly surprised at every turn, if not dancing, in whatever weird way that presents itself through my uncoordinated body.

Opener and second single Call the Shots is a glorious mid-tempo ballad that puts a G.A. spin on a dying relationship with interesting, original lyrics and a keyboard-driven sound that's as entrancing as it is ultimately affecting. Close to Love is a killer dance joint with an even freakier beat and enough nifty sound effects to make every listen as fun as it is revelatory. And on top of all that is another fantastic hook with memorable wording: "Got so close to love, I can almost taste the kill."

And, not to take anything away from this fantastic set of songs, but the same could really said about the majority of them: they have interesting, diverse sounds and killer hooks. Xenomania draw from a wide range of influences and yet their jumble of sound never comes across as such. It's inspired and even intellectually stimulating, always holding a listener's attention without wearing their senses down.

...Until the end of the record, where good but comparably lesser songs like Damn and Crocodile Tears are buried. Even as the weaker entries, they still hold up better than the even the strongest entries on most records in this genre (I'm looking at you, Pussycat Dolls).

As for the actual Girls themselves, they are actually invaluable to the whole process, even if their input is relatively limited in a lot of ways. Whatever blenders or layering Xenomania puts their voices through, they all come through crystal clear and are beautiful instruments. In addition, these women (who currently range in age from 22-26) just get what the producers are trying to accomplish. They know how to sell everything from bitchy one-liners to glamorous posturing to heartbroken remorse. Despite the set-up of it all, they are more than just mere puppets.

In fact, Girls Aloud are the kind of group who inspire a kind of confidence in pop music's ability to still surprise and even amaze you. As well, most of their back catalogue has held up remarkably well, with too many standouts to list in this space.

"Tangled Up" was released overseas last November and more than a few savvy U.S. music connoisseurs have already caught on, with only the rest of the States left to discover the joy that lies beyond the moniker, even if it is "just" pop music...that happens to exist as the result of a reality show. Whatever. As Girls Aloud proudly state on their MySpace, " If you know someone who sounds like us, we’ll give you a tenner. If you like someone better than us, frankly, we don’t care."

Well, how can you top that for a sassy sales pitch?
A-

Download: Sexy! No No No..., Call the Shots, Close to Love...basically the first eight tracks. I mean, for real.

Avoid: Damn, Crocodile Tears

Panic at the Disco "Pretty. Odd."

Panic! at the Disco has returned! Oh I'm sorry, it's just Panic at the Disco now. It seems the band that won me over with the phenomenal single The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is the Press Coverage has matured a bit.

Up to now P!@tD was best known for their top ten single I Write Sins Not Tragedies, their biggest hit from their 2005 debut "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out". Now they return to the music scene and promise that they haven't changed. On the opening track to "Pretty. Odd.", We're So Starving, we're told that Panic is sorry that they've been gone for so long, but they were busy writing songs for...YOU! And I can't help but believe them. The song sounds like something you'd hear at the end of a movie, after the struggling band has made it through all the hardships thrown at them only to end up stronger.

Without a break in the music we're thrown right into the first single Nine In The Afternoon. It's upbeat typical Panic! song that is best described as "ear popping", or as some would say "head bopping". Regardless the song is good and leaves you wanting more.

Then you get more and you realize why they took the exclamation point out of their name: Panic at the Disco has gotten boring.

OK, boring may be a bit harsh, but they have gotten more mellow, definitely. The album is full of catchy lyrics and hooks, but it sounds like something you'd hear in Garden State or Juno. There's nothing wrong with this, but I always find it kind of upsetting when a band changes their sound so much that they no longer sound like who you feel in love with.

Instead of Panic at the Disco I feel like I'm listening to the Beatles. Which is good for P@tD - Beatles are huge. Bad for me - I don't care for the Beatles.

If people are done booing and hissing at me, I'll continue.

Done? OK. Good.

Panic plays with other kinds of music too, other than emo, rock, and Beatles-ish. One of the best songs on the album is Pas De Cheval, where they let out their inner surfers. It sounds like a leftover track from Sugar Ray's "In the Pursuit of Leisure", which is definitely a good thing; that's one of my all time favorite albums.

So Panic! is back. Only now they're just Panic. And while it isn't the music style I was expecting it still has that special something that makes P@tD who they are. Once I got past the initial let down of the musical styling I realized that I actually quite liked almost every track on "Pretty. Odd." However, I'm still hoping that next time we see more of Panic! than Panic. A-





Download: Pas De Cheval, Folkin' Around
Avoid: The Piano Knows Something I Don't Know, Behind the Sea

Leona Lewis "Spirit"

At 22 Leona Lewis has won a national television talent program, broke records with her first two singles, and had the fastest selling debut album of 2007 in both The UK and Republic of Ireland. It really makes me think about what I'm doing with my life, when at 22 I was still sleeping until noon, missing classes, drinking until 3 in the morning at parties thrown by people I'd never met before, and panicking to write an essay three hours before it's due.

Next month marks Leona's official descent on America with the release of her debut album, Spirit. While I have yet to hear the American version with new song "Forgive Me" and "Misses Glass" I have heard the UK version released last November.

I first became aware of Leona when I heard her debut single "Moment Like This" in 2006. It's a song most of us have heard before sung by Kelly Clarkson when she won American Idol season one. Leona's version is lovely but for me it doesn't live up to Kelly. It's her second single that Leona will be known for.

"Bleeding Love" is one of the best songs to be exported in a long time; a beautiful love song with a beat that only adds to it. Unfortunately it produces high expectations - higher than Spirit can reach.

There are several songs on the album that can give "Bleeding Love" a run for its' money, such as "Whatever It Takes" and "Angel". Most of Spirit, however, provides a less than moving experience. Which isn't to say that Leona doesn't have a beautiful voice - she shines on every track. Unfortunately the tracks prove to generally be forgettable at best.

This raises the question: What to do with forgettable tracks to make them unforgettable? The answer is that you make a video to highlight the vocals and give a message that will be with you for a long time. A perfect example is Leona's newest U.K. single "Footprints In The Sand".

At first listen I thought that it was a pretty song, but by the middle of the next song I couldn't remember anything about it. That all changed since I saw the video. It's a charity video, so you know it will tug at your heart.