Cheeky Velvet - "The Adventures Of Velvet (EP)"

Artist: Cheeky Velvet
Released: October 2015

Cheeky Velvet (aka Jackie Boccaccio) is a Brisbane pop singer who has been on the local scene for a couple of years, and issued her debut EP last October.  However, it's only over the past week I've been aware of her after she released the video to the song "Hickey".

It's not often that you get modern aspiring pop stars seeking to reach out to a variety of generations other than the rap, R&B and reality music fodder and having fun at the same time.  With Boccaccio's first EP, she sounds like she has had a Friday night slumber party with the girls and raided her parent's secret record collection whilst sloshing down a load of goon and party mix candy.

Opening up with an obvious pastiche of Toni Basil's "Mickey" called "Hickey", the song brings a welcome smile to any Generation X-er who misses the times when MTV was genuinely enjoyable. Her voice sounds like a combination of Blondie and Kim Wilde with it's pleasant cool and collected sexiness minus Wilde's nasal tones.

"Velvet World" has nice stringy synths which could have come from a Yamaha DX-7 and a cheap drum machine, whilst "Crazy For You" tells the story of a shameless girl willing to do anything to get attention from the man she wants with some chopping air guitar riffs and a searing guitar solo that you can't get out of your head.  "Bittersweet" is more clubby and contains very 80's-ish arpeggio synth riffs and a thumping bass drum beat.

"Toy Boy" rocks and tells of every girl's frustration of having to live with an immature, co-dependent man-child and seeking a more immature and interdependent man.  You can just see Wendy James from Transvision Vamp and Rancine doing this number.

The closing cut "Placebo" sees her slow down to a slinky jazz pop number containing some nice sax solos and cocktail piano playing, and I'm taken back to remembering Kiley Gaffney's cover of The Buzzcock's "Orgasm Addict".

If you like your pop cheesy, cheeky and with an un-selfconscious silly smile then by all means check out this EP.  She sounds like she is going to go onto great things in the future if she builds up on her reputation with her wild and camp live shows delivered with humour and panache.


5/5  

The Veronicas - "In My Blood"

After their previous single "Cruel" just bubbled under the Australian Top 50 last year, The Veronicas have surprised their fans and critics by posing nude covered in body paint and glitter for the teaser video for this single as a means of embracing their bodies and sexuality, as well as fighting back against the trolls on Twitter and their Facebook fan page who have teased and bullied them over their weight and body shape.

Fans of 90's house music, especially that of Urban Cookie Collective and Kylie Minogue will take to this one easily.  Good pulsating beats, jiggly keyboard riffs and lyrics telling the story of how Jess met the current love of her life.

For someone who was young in the 1990s, this song is a grower for me.  Unlike many of the pop/dance music in the top 40 charts, The Veronicas don't need auto-tune or other technical wizardry to pull of great songs.  They could do this as an acoustic guitar only number and it'll still sound good.

Definitely worth a number of listens.

4.5/5