If it's not too much to ask...

Could this chart really highly please?

We can't think of anything more criminal than The Veronicas returning to Australia a one-hit-UK-wonder. Mind you, judging from a) their cult teen fan-base and b) their excellent ticket sales, even if they don't chart inside the top 10 again, we're sure they've got plenty of achingly perfect pop for youth ahead of them.

1 song, 3 videos...

The Veronicas, who we have previously asserted are much better than you might think, are doing something fairly clever and releasing their best song in the UK, to ensure they are not a one hit wonder, despite this best song being at least 4 years old. The new, and third, video is not particularly up to much (we prefer the first one they did with the swimming pool...) but whatever it takes for them to score a second hit.

A confused and trite blogrant for a friday...

Yes, well... Sometimes we just have to admit we use other blogs as sources. It's not like we get sent things for free by record labels, so usually we're the last to know. This brings us to the news - freshly picked from somewhere obvious - that the next Veronicas single is going to be 4Ever, a song both four years old and plucked from their previous album. There's been some moaning in the usual places that this 'pop/rock' song ain't gonna cut it next to the LA-emo-electro-rock of their second album (and singles), but y'know what?! We don't really care.

The first Veronicas album was a bright little pop/rock gem, of the same shimmery quality as Kelly Clarkson's Breakaway, and the last two P!nk opuses. It's somewhat inventive (without reinventing the rules), chock full of soaring pop melodies, and exactly the kind of thing that teenagers everywhere would have rightfully lapped up... but it never got to see the light of day outside Australasia. Now is its last chance for global recognition, and we say: go for it.

And whilst you're at it, don't let anybody tell you that this sort of music is 'shit' or 'manufactured'. The second Veronicas album, Hook Me Up, has more odd little touches and brave musical choices than most hackneyed, greige indie releases of the past 5 years. So go chew on your Pigeon Detectives CD. That's all it's good for. (Calm down, no one likes a bitter hysteric - Ed)

Recommendations
"Hook Me Up" - The Veronicas
"When It All Falls Apart" - The Veronicas
"This Love" - The Veronicas

Quite the improvement!

The Veronicas are planning to take Europe by storm (about bloody time, too) and this is the new artwork for the rerelease of their brilliant and underrated second album, Hook Me Up.

As you can see, it's quite the improvement on the original artwork:

Although we quite like this one, too (no idea what it's for):

Anyway... our official position on The Veronicas is that they are a very good pop/rock thing. Writing them off as clichéd and emo is foolish and close-minded. Yes, there are tracks on their first album that err on the side of completely derivative, but there are also some blinding and euphoric pop moments (notably "4Ever" and "When It All Falls Apart") that oddly completely capture how it feels to be a certain type of teenager.

Their second album, however, is something that, despite still being fairly rooted in a very teenaged sort of angst, takes the kind of pop risks you just don't see in a lot of other artists. Soaring synth melodies, mournful orchestral string samples and a closing song that starts of saccharine before progressing into something that sounds like it's off an Incubus album.

They are good and we hope that they succeed in their quest for global domination.