Wheeee! Another weekend's on the way...

#adecadeago today, dear reader, it was sunny and warm - quite unlike this current bleak, cold, dank weather [We have had the heating on most evenings - in June!]. - and we were preparing to move house to Dolores Delargo Towers #3 a few weeks later.

On that occasion it was a Friday 13th - hence the reason for this choice for our traditional end-of-the-week slot to get the party started. I need no excuses to play it again, however - it cheers me up every time!

Thank Disco It's Friday!

As I said at the time, "I doubt Pharrell and Daft Punk were even born when that film was made"...

Have a great weekend, folks!

The weather's been "up and down, like a whore's drawers" (as my Nana would say) lately - one minute it's warm enough to go out in shirt-sleeves, the next moment, torrential storms. Just right for a three-day Bank Holiday weekend, of course.

Hey ho - we're off to the impressive London Palladium tonight, dear reader, to see this lot (and it would be curmudgeonly of me not to play them, as they are our "house band", after all)...

However, let's not just leave it there, shall we - how about a selection of "newer" music that's caught my ear of late?

Let's open with one of our all-time fave bands Pet Shop Boys, who continue to outclass the rest - and here's their latest, a tribute to Rudolph Nureyev, no less:

A surprisingly funky number from Miss Cyrus and Mr Williams:

Here's an irresistably catchy choon, as heard on the Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show on BBC Radio 6 Music:

A rather faboo little slice of electro, with a very odd video indeed:

Rather uncharitably described by one commenter on the video as "The kind of song that'd be playing at H&M while you're trying on new jeans.", nevertheless I think this is rather good:

Our Princess teams up with a fellow pop powerhouse:

And finally... [thanks to Madam Arcati for discovering it] a little bit of pop nonsense from a French ensemble that cleverly incorporates a raft of familiar 80s classics into one!

As ever, dear reader, I welcome your thoughts...

Could an orange maniac finally be facing justice?

It's the middle of a short week, and I am going to spend the day closing down shit and preparing my handover for my well-earned extended Easter break [I'm off all next week], as I have loads of meetings tomorrow.

The weather's been quite fab, there's a "gathering of the clans Film Club" on Saturday, and much plant shopping (particularly fuchsias) to look forward to when I bugger off to Essex with Baby Steve and Houseboy Alex afterwards. Just two more days to go!

Meanwhile, it happens to be [the peculiar-looking] Pharrell Williams' 50th birthday today, so how about a little midweek joy?

We've come too far
To give up who we are
So let's raise the bar
And our cups to the stars

Indeed.

Any excuse, really, for another picture of Tom Daley in his skimpies

The walking sex god that is Tom Daley has not only recovered from his hip injury [I wonder how that happened? Dustin: we're looking at you!] to win his fourth Commonwealth Games gold medal (alongside his synchronised dive partner Dan Goodfellow), but he has also had a very public dig at many of the countries with whom he is participating:

"Coming to the Gold Coast and being able to live as an openly gay man is really important," said Daley, 23.

"You want to feel comfortable in who you are when you are standing on that diving board, and for 37 Commonwealth countries that are here participating that is not the case."

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Daley added: "I feel extremely lucky to compete openly as who I am, not worry about ramifications. But for lots of people living in those countries it is not the case.

"We have to talk about these things and shine a light on them in order to get change.

"By Birmingham and the next Commonwealth Games [in 2022], I really hope we see a decrease in that number of countries that criminalise LGBT issues.

"I feel with the Commonwealth, we can really help push some of the other nations to relax their laws on anti-gay stuff."

Good for him! We need more people in the public eye to speak out against anti-gay bigotry and discrimination, especially in the Commonwealth - an organisation supposedly dedicated to upholding "democracy, human rights and the rule of law" - which is so dear to Britain and HM The Queen...

Changing the subject completely, however, we have reached the crescendo of yet another gripping week's work - and for the superstitious among us it is also Friday the Thirteenth!

Pah, I say - I am not paraskevidekatriaphobic. I just wanna fucking dance! Thank Disco It's Friday, and let's let Daft Punk and Pharrell get the party started:


Have a good one, peeps!

It's Friday 13th, peeps! Oo-er...

To end our week in traditional fashion, let's have something "lucky" to ward off the bad omens - how about a bit of tight-trousered Roller Boogie to get the party started?


I doubt Pharrell and Daft Punk were even born when this film was made...

Thank Disco It's Friday!

Have a great weekend!

It's been ages since I've compiled a selection of some of the newer music that I've discovered, so let's have a go...

Played on BBC Radio 2 - apparently for the first time - by Dave Pearce on his Dance Years show on Saturday (I was listening!) was Pet Shop Boys' newest single from their forthcoming "return to dance-pop" album Electric. Here's the fabulous Vocal:


And, just because I haven't mentioned it before, the Boys' most recent release Axis - and its video - is wonderful, too:


Speaking of music that I have completely omitted to mention before, how about the mega-over-hyped comeback of Daft Punk? Their world-beating Get Lucky featuring Pharrell Williams just spent four weeks at the top of our charts. It also (surprisingly) happens to be collaborator Nile Rogers' first Number 1 in the UK - so let's feature the (inevitable) mash-up with another of his classics, Good Times by Chic:


Back to the new...

Hailing from Rennes in Brittany, here's Juveniles with their rather good new single (somewhat reminiscent of OMD, methinks), Strangers - and a most bizarre video indeed:


Appropriately described as "shimmering flecked electro house", here's an excellent collaboration between music maestro Kris Menace and a vocalist calling himself Black Hills - Waiting For You:


A jaunty, funky little number, Only You Can Show Me by Goldroom crosses old-school disco and Ibiza house rhythms to create a likely summer hit, I reckon...


The lovely Little Boots continues her obsession with the darker side of discotheque with her new song Broken Record, and its roller-boogie-inspired video - I love it!


However if we really want kitsch, then... the latest outing for Steps support act Kamaliya [complete with samples from Puccini's Flower Duet, of all things] makes every effort, and succeeds, in producing a (very) Ukrainian impression of a Pepsi commercial - it's I'm Alive:


And finally, with an uplifting sound that harks back to the handover between Hi-NRG and Eurobeat dance music in the 1990s, Canadian popstrel Gali (and her dreadful hair extensions) got my glitterball spinning with her new wannabee anthem - coincidentally, the same title as Kamaliya's - I'm Alive:


As always, enjoy - and let me know what you think!