Lady GaGa, then.

Viewers, Mp3s and Cookies is having a tough time deciphering what to do with this GaGa woman. We just can't seem to decide how we feel about her. When she first entered our consciousness last year, things were off to a fairly good start. There was a decent amount of "underground buzz" about her (about as underground as someone produced by Akon's team can get), and "Just Dance" ended up on our top 25 songs of 2008 before it even hit big in the mainstream music world.

But then she did get big, and every gay this side of Judy Garland Land proclaimed she was "my biotch!!!!!", and then we heard more songs off her album. And the overall reaction has been..."meh"...

"Just Dance" is as silly and fun as it gets, but frankly we just weren't very impressed with much else. Though "Poker Face" has tickled a few brainwaves here and there, it's still not anything to write home about.

The problem we think is that her image and her music portray two different things. At first, we thought there was something very hip about her. She dresses as if she works with stylists that were beamed down from Neptune, she's gone on all this blabber about the New York club scene and being all into the electro "stuff" that's banging about these days. But then when we actually heard her music, it sounded like any other generic electronic-R&B crap out there. Particularly because she's worked extensively with RedOne, who has produced a number of "hits" for Akon.

Akon, in case you need reminding, is a sworn enemy of Mp3s and Cookies and the first time we discovered that he had a co-writing credit on "Just Dance" we were seriously inches away from completely denouncing GaGa altogether and throwing her into our Beyonce-Aguilera-Nickleback bin.

We'll let you know how our feelings go as time progresses, but just bear in mind that we are not necessarily jumping on the GaGa bandwagon with feather boas flying.

Nostalgia, coming soon...

We've been meaning to do this for quite some time here at Mp3s and Cookies, but other things such as life get in the way so we've sort of been in a "shit or get off the pot" situation with this.

ANYWAY.

Starting very soon (fingers crossed) we shall begin a weekly trip down Memory Lane for things from the '90s. The '90s was a time for fairly incredible (and sometimes fairly gay) tunes, and because we here at Mp3s and Cookies were bonnie little kids during the '90s, all of this is a very wonderful form of nostalgia indeed. Prepare for a fistful of memory that's coming your way, baby.

Nice Girls Aloud reference there, no? (everyone- No.)

Girls Aloud make their greatest video yet

One of the strange ironies of Girls Aloud is that in spite of their catalogue of genuinely incredible records, they are almost just as famous for making some fairly crap videos.

So far, it seems like the "Untouchable" promo campaign is going quite well. A decent radio edit? Check. More appropriately timed promotion leading up to the single's release, unlike what happened with "The Loving Kind"? Check. And now we can add an amazing video to that list.

Here it is. Watch it in HQ...trust us, it makes so much more of an impact.



Things to point out:

1. The special effects are rather impressive. If we consider the fact that seven videos ago, in "Something Kinda Ooooh", they couldn't even get the cars they were driving to look like they were actually in motion, then this whole sci-fi, comets crashing into Earth scenario is an astounding leap forward.

2. Can we just say that basically since "Sexy! No No No...", Nicola has gradually been transforming into the band's tour de force? She went from being the dour-faced one who got a few split seconds of face time in the previous videos to suddenly being the scene stealer each time out. She will eventually become the world's greatest popstar, just you wait.

3. Things get properly dramatic when Nadine wails about dancing robots. It would have been even more incredible if they could have had actual robots for this part, but you win some you lose some etc.

4. It feels like there could be a sequel to this video. Though who knows what they could follow it up with. They could make a video for "Live In the Country" where the recently crash-landed alien Girls Aloud decide to head to the countryside and impersonate human life. On that note, if the Girls ever released "Live In the Country" as a single, I would immediately withdraw all support I have for them. The worst song of their career, by far (I'll listen to "Walk This Way" fifty times in a row if it means never having to hear "Live In the Country" again).

Quite the opposite from the previous entry about the Black Eyed Peas.

If listening to the new Black Eyed Peas single drew up an urge to drink copious amounts of rat poison, then the Pet Shop Boys will surely set things right.

This is "Did You See Me Coming", from their latest album Yes. Yes was released in the UK on Monday but will be seeing an American release on Astralwerks in April.

"Love etc." was a brilliant way to introduce us to the album, and "Did You See Me Coming" is just further confirmation of how this will go down as one of 2009's best pop albums. It's a rather joyous hi-NRG dance tune, featuring the Shop's trademark euphoric choruses and a made-for-the-floor sound courtesy of Xenomania.

It has been on repeat over at Mp3s and Cookies nearly all day, and we have a feeling this is going to join "Love etc." and "The Girl And The Robot" somewhere within the year's top ten songs.

Look, it's only March. We seriously need to stop getting ahead of ourselves. Who wants to bet that by the time July rolls around "Love etc." will probably plunk in at number 20 on our list and "Did You See Me Coming" could very well rank in at number 120 (if we can make a list that long...), but anyway you get the general idea.

Back from the dead to wreak musical havoc

The Black Eyed Peas have reared their ugly heads to deliver more garbage for our ears. Their first single in about 30 years (or since Fergie decided to go at it alone, which was definitely a horror fest of its own, viewers) is called "Boom Boom Pow". In case you didn't already predict this, it is complete and utter shit.

Things were bad enough with "Let's Get It Started/Retarded", and "My Humps" and that whole fiasco. Then Fergie went solo and things really took a turn for the worst. We just don't think it's fair for the general populace to have to stomach another barrage of Black Eyed Peas "songs".

If you absolutely desire to hear what this "Boom Boom Pow" situation sounds like (and it's certainly not recommended under any circumstances), then here you go. Don't say we didn't warn you.



I'm so 3008, you're so two-thousand and late? Somebody shoot me now.

Just in case you were unaware...

The top five best songs of the moment, on this day of March 20, 2009, are...

Röyksopp featuring Robyn, "The Girl And the Robot"

Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Heads Will Roll"

Girls Aloud "Untouchable (Single Edit)"

Pet Shop Boys "Love etc."

Phoenix "1901 (Build Remix)"

And the world keeps spinning. Return to work everyone.

Fancy a go with a robot?

As anyone who happens to be "in the know" is already aware of, Röyksopp have a new album coming out. Don't believe me? Just go to the Hype Machine, search Röyksopp and watch about 80 pages worth of results appear. Röyksopp, just for your info, are two Scandinavian guys (Norwegian, I believe) that are known for creating fairly good electronic music and are considered to be rather "hip".

Similarly, those people who are "in the know" with blogs and Röyksopp and all that nonsense are aware of a lady named Robyn. She is from Sweden, she had a couple of big hits back in the '90s ("Show Me Love", "Do You Know What It Takes") in that sort of Britney Spears-type pop before Britney Spears was even a blip in our radars. Then she reappeared out of no where in 2007 with the single "With Every Heartbeat" that went to number 1 in Britain. Her album Robyn was released in the US last year and has become the pop record du jour for hipsters and that sort of thing.

ANYWAY.

These two parties have combined forces for the new Röyksopp album, and the fruit of their labors is an electro-disco ditty called "The Girl And the Robot".

It is a strong contender for Greatest Song of 2009. Quite a claim considering we're only three months into the year. Check out the clip below to view this incredible work firsthand.



Some notes on "The Girl And the Robot" -
1. The lyrics "I go mental every time you leave for work" and "I'm in love with a robot" are two of the best lyrics to work their way into a pop song this year. They might even be better than Girls Aloud's "Like beautiful robots dancing alone", which shows that the theme for electronic pop tunes in 2009 is definitely ROBOTS.




2. There are spooky human voices in the background and a decidely ominous (in a cheesy '80s sort of way) sound to the overall track, nicely complimenting the obsessive desperation of the lyrics. Like The Police's "Every Breath You Take", only better.

3. It has been on repeat on my iPod literally all day long. Usually the warning signs of a damn good track. .

That's all very well, but what about the new Girls Aloud single?

As previously announced, the third single from Girls Aloud's Out Of Control shall be "Untouchable". Because the album version clocks in at over six and a half minutes, it would be completely illogical to hope that radio and TV would use the full-length track as a proper single.

So, as to be expected, they've gone and banged out a radio edit. It's surprisingly not half bad.

Positives: A dash of new production touches (an extra synth blip here or there never hurt anyone), a bit more of a "stomp" in the backbeat, some vocoders to Sarah's vocals (they should consider doing that for all future Sarah appearances...). Also the fact that the single mix ends with Nadine's "beautiful robots dancing alone" bit is a wonderful idea, indeed.

Negatives: Why was it necessary to only do half of Nicola's opening verse? It is a poignant moment and really does set the tone for the rest of the track. I don't think an extra two lines would have caused an international crisis by adding maybe ten more seconds to a single mix that is under four minutes. Chopping off the "we're swimming with the sharks" portion is also rather disappointing.

Now they've performed it on Dancing On Ice, and though we could have done without the ice skaters in front of them like this was the 1994 Winter Olympics, vocally the Girls actually did quite well (see the debut television performances of "The Promise" or "The Loving Kind" for proof that this indeed is an improvement).